So, you’ve taken the plunge and launched a corporate blog. Congratulations! All of the people that have been telling you for years that it’s a must finally won out, right? Now, the hard part is here…making it actually worthwhile. If you just said “Wait, what?” I don’t blame you. Nobody told you that it was going to be difficult and time consuming. Nobody told you that it’s not just as easy as throwing up a random thought here and there. So, if that was your strategy, think again. Here are 3 common mistakes businesses often make with their blogs, and some tips on how to improve them.
First things first, if you have a blog, you have to update it. No exceptions. No taking weeks at a time off. Consistency is key here, not only for readers, but for search engines as well. Nothing can kill a little momentum like an extended gap of silence.
Combat this by creating a lot of content at once and scheduling that content to be released on a set schedule. Shoot for 2 blog posts a week starting out. Sit down at the beginning of each month and map out 8 blog topics, content associated with those, and which images are needed. This may be a full day’s work, but it’s crucial for consistency.
Corporate blogs aren’t meant for just PR and news items. Sure, adding some of those types of posts in from time to time can be beneficial to your branding strategy, but news and PR should not dominate your blog. The truly valuable content comes from thought-leadership, interesting conversation, and new ideas. Try to avoid reliance on the PR type of article, as that content is better used elsewhere.
Your corporate blog is your chance to showcase your expertise and explore interesting topics. Utilize sales and marketing collateral, find and explain industry trends, or showcase case studies. As a general rule, one case study can often times be broken down into multiple blog posts. Focus on one specific topic per post and create a series. Here's a link to other ideas blog post topics.
Your blog is part of your website (hopefully), but it doesn’t mean that it will gain any traction without some amount of promotion. Why spend all of the time creating this great, original content if you’re just going to publish and forget about it? These posts need promoted if they are going to get any value whatsoever.
Social media is a great way to promote content and gain new readers. Focus on popular topics (hash tags on twitter) and be sure to promote the post via a simple tweet. Look for opportunities to guest post on other blogs and be sure to reciprocate as well. Growing your following on social media can have a tremendous impact on your blogging. Here's a link to other social media blog posts.
