A commenter to one of my recent posts asked whether more personal, “slice of life” style content — such as posts about staff days out and/or office antics — is appropriate for a corporate or business blog. Here’s my response.
It depends on your goals
Every blog needs to have a reason to exist. Let me suggest a few:
- Inform or educate the public
- Encourage dialogue with current and potential customers
- Convey a sense of company personality and culture
- Entertain readers and customers
If either of the last two are goals you have for your blog, such “behind the scenes” content could (and should) be included.
Relationship marketing
It has long been established that blogs are useful relationship-building tools. They put a human face on a company and allow customers to connect with real people, not just brands. As Future Buzz blogger Adam Singer put it, “On the web, people are what matter, not brands.”
Frankly, I believe that people would rather do business with people rather than businesses and, better yet, people they know. While that may seem to be less important where B2B is concerned, think about this: It is not so much a matter of making prospective customers like your company, products or services, but helping them to like you and gain a greater sense of loyalty and trust as a result. What better way to do that than through your blog.
One client of mine a few years ago, a fitness equipment manufacturer, maintained a blog largely focused on fitness and health tips. Its goal was to do #1 from above, educate and inform.
On occasion, however, posts would be included that share some insight about the people who made the products. Those posts were at times informational, inspirational, or even humorous. One that was especially memorable showed a photo of the CEO sliding down the rail of an escalator at an airport while on his way to a tradeshow. That photo told a story and gave readers insight into the CEO’s personality. (“He is a fun guy.”)
Not only that, but now that brands are connecting on what is the most personable of social networks, Twitter, there seems to me to be natural relevancy to including some anecdotal-style posts.
How much is enough
Whille there is no rule-of-thumb to what makes for a healthy balance of informative posts vs. slice of life, let me suggest that “less is more” and “a little goes a long way.”
One B2B company that does a great job of mixing fun posts with informative ones (and sometimes a given post is a mashup of both) is Hubspot. Their Hubspot TV video series is affable enough to tickle anyone’s funny bone (take their You Oughta Know video as a case in point), yet doesn’t predominate, but fits comfortably in with more informationally-oriented ones.
We’re attempting to use the same tact with our company blog at Bizzuka. Mixed in with posts on CMS workflow management and announcements about new sites and platform components you’ll find a post about snow in south Louisiana, our COO’s trip to Alaska and an inspirational one about Thanksgiving. While I admit it’s a bit hodge-podge, the blog serves each of the purposes listed above.
Keep it in good taste
I realize that is a) stating the obvious and b) very subjective. My preference is to err on the side of caution. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. It’s not just a matter of taking care not to offend customers and prospects either, but members of your board and investors as well.
Search engine optimization issues
Not only are blogs useful for relationship marketing, they serve a vital SEO role as well. Sometimes, those two benefits can run counter to each other. In an effort to tell your company’s story from both more personal and professional angles, you can send mixed signals to Google.
For the sake of search engines, it’s best to keep your company blog singularly focused. That does not, however, prohibit the occasional inclusion of ancillary information. Again, I reiterate, “less is more.”
The aforementioned commenter included this well-stated remark: “It sounds as though the best thing to do is to try and strike a happy medium between the individuality and character of a social blog and the professionalism and content of a business blog. Am I on the right track?”
Again, depending on your company’s goals, I’d say the answer is yes. What do you think?
Tags: bizzuka, business blogging, corporate blogs, hubspot
I agree with your take on this, Paul. It depends on the goals of a company blog. There are no hard and fast rules, so as long as it’s in good taste and somewhat relevant, then why not let a blog show some of the human side of an organization?
Nice post, Paul. And let me add my two cents, if I may.
We think showing the culture of your company – especially if you are a marketing company – is SUPER important. Because it shows you practice what you preach in many different ways.
People make up companies and brands – so why not show the people and an inside look (opening the kimono if you will)? I know when I go to a site, I look for faces. I look for people. I want to know about them.
People come to our company because they want to know what makes us tick. And it’s our people. If the place burns down, we still have a company, because we still have our people. And people connect with people. Without the human element you’re just another business blog. And god knows we don’t need another one of those.
We have a category on our blog that’s called “slice of life.” We have videos where we play pranks on each other. Show the HAKA chant we created for the Holiday party. We made the Tequila Shots book – which is an internal book of our beliefs – available to the public. We live and breathe Brains on Fire. And we know it’s important to communicate that when you hire us, you don’t hire a company. You hire people that believe whole-heartedly in what they do. So how we communicate that is very important to us.
It’s not for everyone, but as marketers, I think it’s imperative.
A lot of it boils down to customer expectations. If you’re a small company providing a niche product to large organisations, it might not be the best idea to blog about what your CEO had for lunch last Tuesday. Conversely, if you’re a large organisation a personal touch might be just the trick.
The key is always strategic alignment.
I think you’re right on the mark here – objectives and balance are key. From the b2b perspective, trust is paramount and the company blog is one more way to build that trust, and reveal personality. As you say, less is more – or – all things in moderation. In the professional services sector, research shows that about 25% of buyers find providers via social media (blogs, podcasts, etc.) – so a well-executed blog can be a tremendous opportunity to build trust, reveal personality, and attract clients.
I think it gives a slightly more intimate connection between the reader and the company. But def. I think it is also great for company branding.
Culture of the company plays a huge role. It will give the broader guidelines as to what “fits” and would be considered okay. The blog will reflect the company personality to a great degree.
At my company, an Industrial PC outfit, everything is quite serious and impersonal, I wouldn’t see “slice of life” posts fitting in a company blog, if we had any.
I agree with you Paul. It certainly depends on the company but in general, I think it’s great to see the people that make the company. Another company that does this well is BlueSky Factory. Take a look at their staff page. Instead of being the same ole boring bios, they are fun. You get to know the individuals better.
This is one of the best business aspects of social media, in my opinion. You get to know the people behind the company which helps to develop trust, build relationships, diversify networks and link other customers together.
Thanks for the comments everyone. As Rohit says, you need to craft a story people can believe in and retell. I think that’s best done when some personality is added via ’slice of life’posts. It’s not a one-size-fits-all for every organization to be sure, but useful in most I would think.
Depends who your audience is. Since time is scarce, and there is so much stuff to read on the web, I think blogs have to get down to saying something important / useful / interesting to the audience (unless it is a special section about: what it’s like to work here type-thing).
One possibility is to relate something from life to a business problem or marketing idea. For example, someone at our company related his experiences with Aikido to marketing.
It is then a captivating “slice of life” story that includes useful content to the reader.
I was thinking of doing a blog post about scuba diving as a metaphor for life and business. I will tell the story of my first time scuba diving and how the basic lessons there apply to business and to life itself.
What the readers want is interesting stories – not any story – so if office antique is suitable for your audience, or it aligns with the blog’s purpose well, then it’s okay.
Well, that’s just another way to tell that it depends on your goals.
You make a great point in your post Paul. I would say though that even in B2B, the personality is critical. If it wasn’t the world of B2B sales wouldn’t be oriented around field sales teams as much as it is. People buy from people they like, and whether that personality is expressed in a blog or face to face, it’s just as important, even in B2B.
Thank you very much for your in-depth response, Paul! I’ve just come back from my Christmas holidays and the post was a great surprise, and a great help too.
Your point about the conflicting SEO values of personal vs. professional posts is especially pertinent. One way of avoiding getting too wrapped up in one side of the blog over another would be to write out its business objectives, as you’ve done at the beginning of your post, and weight the personal content appropriately. Defining a potential audience would be useful too: I try to put myself in their shoes and ask, ‘are they going to want to hear about this?’ It may sound obvious but I find it always helps to remind myself regularly.
Also, Spike, I just wanted to say I thought your post was a fascinating insight into the mind of a potential blog audience member; I really enjoyed it.
All in all, 2009 will have to be the year we get our B2B business blog really going.
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