Corporate Blogging Feature with Steve Rubel

For those just trying to figure out corporate blogging (and most are in that boat; just 10.8%, or 54, of Fortune 500s have corporate blogs, according to this fantastic wiki), you may be interested in this article from India's Financial Express by one of my favorite podcasters, Kamla Bhatt. While in the article you have to put up with some of my drivel, Kamla makes up for it by quoting Steve Rubel extensively, so you'll come out ahead in the end. Between Kamla's analysis and the slew of quotes, there's a lot anyone can learn from it.

As one VP of product management of a New York-based interactive marketing company pointed out, “How do I carve out the time from my busy schedule to plan and write the blog? Plus, how do I measure my return on investment on the blog?” But, even those companies that have corporate blogs appear to have stumbled upon their strategy and learnt from their mistakes.  "The biggest mistake companies make is simply using it as a publishing platform. Most don't use their blogs as a platform for collaborative action with stakeholders around shared desired outcomes," says Rubel.

Corporate blogging seems to have taken a backseat to all the frenzy around social networking, widgets, and other channels (get ready for mobile mania to ramp up in earnest), there's so much value from branding to consumer insights to search engine optimization. When I recommended it to the marketing team for a major retailer, it almost felt like a throwback, like I'm digging up Web 1.0's greatest hits. I also can appreciate why most companies don't do it (lack of strategy, no internal resources to do it right, no one who can properly understand and communicate the benefits internally, legal concerns, and many others). Yet there are still new entrants from the corporate side thoughtfully finding great ways to do it, as Kenneth Cole has shown recently with its Awearness blog. Even more exciting is the opportunity to use the blog as a focal point for a range of social media activities. It can tie in with a Twitter account, a Facebook page, Flickr and LinkedIn groups, and countless other pieces of lego blocks to create something meaningful. Warning: some assembly required.    

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Tags: blogging, social media, kamla bhatt, steve rubel, corporate blogging, blogs