Just finished watching the super bowl and I couldn't be more satisfied with result (Colts/Manning lose and everyone at Mardi Gras will be going even crazier when I arrive in NO later this week). This week I read 10 Harsh Truths About Corporate Blogging along with Conversational Marketing: Word of Mouse.
I think that corporate blogging and advertising on social media sites are very much the same with corporate blogs being less visible. However, they both encounter the similar problems. With that being said marketers need to adapt. I feel as though most corporate blogs/Facebook fan pages treat their sites purely as press releases and are missing the point completely. They are just following the crowd and making these pages because everyone else is too but with no real direction as to why they are doing so.
In order to connect with consumers in a social setting, marketers need to realize that people need to feel engaged and as though they are communicating/making a connection with a human being and not just become another number apart of the corporation's blog circle/fan page.
I believe that facebook, myspace, and twitter have and will continue to change advertising but I do not believe corporate blogging will have the same effect. I think that creating a following via social media sites is much more feasible than creating a corporate blog because it is easier to get your voice out. I understand you can post links to your blog from these social media sites but lets be serious...no one is going to click on these links.
In the end, marketers and corporations should focus more time and effort into developing their presence on social media sites as opposed to corporate blogs because they present more opportunities to connect with users.
No school tomorrow...think it's time to start another snowball fight! Hope everyone enjoys the day off as much as the Bosssssssssss. Until next time y'all.
Corporate blogging and corporate presence on social networking are complementary ways for companies to bring brand awareness and market its products and services. Although both mechanisms servce to engage customers, they do not quite function the same way.
ReplyDeleteCorporate blogging is geared toward telling brand's stories, presenting point of views, testing product ideas, addressing customer concerns, and soliciting feedback for improvements. The mode of communication requires more initiation to get people engaged in conversation. Thus, companies need to update their blogs routinely to keep their readers interested.
On the other hand, social networking reaches out to a larger audience - young and old - in a more spontaneous way via news feeds. It is more social in nature and posts announcements, special deals, networking events, fans' questions and answers, and the like.
I like your title and I agree with it. Marketers need to catch up. I think that there are many companies out there that engage in corporate blogging without any direction. They have blogs because everyone else has one. Then you have those companies that use their blogs as press releases and don't update or posts regularly. On the other hand, there are those blogs that appear salesman-ish...where the company forces their ideas and opinions on their customers. But I understand when you say that corporate blogging can be useless. Hey, I haven't found anyone that reads or is interested in it. And if the case may be that only investors are following these blogs, then it really is a waste of time.
ReplyDeleteI like your post a lot this week BOSSS. Corporate blogging is not the future as social media is. Focusing on social media will defintely be advantageous to marketers as opposed to creating blogs for corporations
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