Does your business have a blog associated with its website? Business blog examples are now standard in every industry, from car manufacturers to cereal brands. However, not all company blogs were created equal – the best business blog examples are managed much more successfully than others.
Social isn’t a new way of marketing, it’s a new way of doing business.
What are blogs really?
Blogs, short for weblogs, are online platforms to create specific types of content, share them and interact with others around those content objects, known as blog posts. They have a number of common features such as comment possibilities and trackbacks. Business blogs should focus on non-promotional and regularly updated content posts.
They typically aim to attract prospective customers and/or other stakeholders, provide information to pre-defined target audiences or buyer personas, and drive conversions, including social conversions. While the content-type is not directly promotional, business blogs obviously serve direct and indirect business goals.
Blogs are essential parts of most social media programs and still often the hubs of content marketing strategies. In practice, we see this view of content marketing coming back in the approaches of many organizations: the blog as the hub and different other channels and content formats as the spokes. Yet, the real hub of any content marketing strategy is the customer value which generates business value.
Company blogs have great potential value. They can use these platforms for a range of purposes, from developing a reputation as an industry thought leader, to engaging with customers and building brand loyalty.
One of the most difficult aspects of running a good company blog is generating the right kind of content. Posts need to be consistently interesting and innovative, remaining on-brand without resorting to generic sales-speak.
Here are our favorite corporate blogs we highlight to our customers for the best examples of blogging success:
Marriott International
One company that always strikes the right tone is Marriott International. Their blog, ‘Marriott on the Move’, is universally recognized as an excellent example of corporate blogging.
Bill Marriot founded and grew the hotel group into one of the largest in the world and his blog is one of the best around. He doesn’t always write about the hotel business, which is a good thing. The posts are a mix of his own insights on the hotel industry, tips for business success, celebrations of Marriott milestones, and his personal life.
He also uses the blog to share his insights on current affairs – in the aftermath of 2013’s Boston Marathon bombings, he posted a message of condolence and support to those who had been affected.
Whole Foods
Whole Foods is one of our favorite social online sites. One of the best brands when it comes to healthy foods in the world, it also has an excellent blog that is well-designed and packed full of interesting content.
Food blogs have always been huge online and this one fits into that space nicely with tips and recipes as well as company news.
Virgin Atlantic
The Virgin Group and Richard Branson are marketing experts. Their social media accounts are always full of dynamic and interesting content, so it comes as no surprise that their company blogs show the same creative flair. Although all of Virgin’s blogs are excellent, the Virgin Atlantic blog is one of the best.
The Virgin brand as a whole is about the experience – holiday upgrades become ‘Mojo Boosters’, and Virgin Galactic’s on-board safety measures are the company’s ‘North Star’. The Virgin Atlantic blog follows this brand tone – visitors to the site can enjoy posts about extreme sports, fine dining, and the airline’s myriad destinations. They do also write about their own services and products, but these posts are in the minority.
Ikea Design Blog
The Design Blog team is a group of IKEA co-workers sharing DIY and decorating tips and ideas to help you improve your life at home. Check out their diversity in blog categories: before and after, behind the scenes, colors, done in a day, sustainability, and organization. Some cool ideas, yes?
Southwest Airlines
One of the most original airlines in the world has been blogging for a while now and it shares tons of information about itself as well as content that could be useful for any traveler. You’ll hear about new services it’s offering as well as tips on keeping children happy while flying.
While the company clearly focuses on aviation, Southwest Airlines’ content is more diverse than you would initially assume. Covering an area that is linked to travel (like an entire two-part series on roller coasters), its posts are lighthearted and easy to read.
Zappos
Zappos has built its entire culture around social media and wonderful customer service and it has a number of blogs. Its main one is where it shares a bunch of information about products and services and selects the best from the others. Lots of contributors.
ComScore
ComScore is one company we check out consistently. It is an online company first and foremost so you would expect it to have a very good online presence. Its blog is so original and features such good content that it always pops up in the mainstream news.
Dell
Another company we follow closely for its ability to do new things. Proving that more can be better; Dell has a vast number of blogs that it links up together in the one landing page to create a comprehensive resource. Dealing with enterprise IT, customer tips, consumer service, and education, new articles are regularly posted so you’re always kept up to date with new subjects.
Adaptive Path
This San Francisco design company focuses on the technical side of things, covering design and development. Keeping a personal touch and making sure most of its employees contribute to the blog means that you will get something different every time with lots of viewpoints.
Adobe
Like Dell, Adobe makes great use of its employee blogs, allowing them to post tutorials, guides, and other bits and pieces that help enrich the reader experience. Another important part is that they’re not required to reference Adobe products in their posts meaning that the reader gets more value as a result.
The bottom line
It starts with researching your target readership thoroughly. Understand who your audience is, and what type of content they’ll enjoy reading – and, more importantly, which posts they’re likely to share on social media.
If you have the expertise, share it. Sharing your insights can drive traffic to your blog, and raise the profile of your brand.
Be authentic. Personality is a vital ingredient for any company – it separates great companies from the rest.
Research your target readership thoroughly. Understand who your audience is, and what type of content they’ll enjoy reading – and, more importantly, which posts they’re likely to share on social media.
Find the story. Top bloggers find interesting angles, and approach stories in unusual and innovative ways. If your product or service isn’t exciting on its own, find a way of making it dynamic.
Engage with your readers. Interacting with your audience is one of the best ways to encourage social media shares – hashtags are one way of doing this, although you could also open a conversation in the comments section under each post.
Blog about current affairs. Diversity is always appreciated by blog readers, and topical posts often tend to do well in terms of page visits.
Do you have a lesson about making your customer experience better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to you.
It’s up to you to keep improving your customer attention and focus. Lessons are all around you. In many situations, your competitor may be providing the ideas and or inspiration. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.
When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy to be creative in your social media strategy?
Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.
More reading on marketing and advertising from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Does your business have a blog associated with its website? Company blogs are now standard in every industry, from car manufacturers to cereal brands. However, not all company blogs were created equal. The best business blog examples are managed much more successfully than others.
Business blog examples.
More to review: Network Connection … 23 Actionable Tips for Relationships
Social isn’t a new way of marketing; it’s a new way of doing business.
What are blogs?
Blogs, short for weblogs, are online platforms to create specific types of content. Bloggers share them and interact with others around those content objects, known as blog posts. They have some common features such as comment possibilities and trackbacks. Business blogs should focus on non-promotional and regularly updated posts.
They typically aim to attract prospective customers and other stakeholders. They provide information to pre-defined target audiences or buyer personas. They also drive conversions, including social conversions. While the content typically is not promotional, blogs serve direct and indirect business goals.
Blogs are essential parts of most social media programs and still often the hubs of content marketing strategies. We see this content marketing view coming back in the approaches of many organizations. This view is the blog as the hub and different other channels and content formats. The real hub of any content marketing strategy is the customervalue.
Business blog examples.
Company blogs have great potential value. They can use these platforms for a range of purposes. These include developing a reputation as an industry thought leader. They also include engaging with customers and building brandloyalty.
One of the most difficult aspects of running a good company blog is generating the right kind of content. Posts need to be consistently interesting and innovative. They need to remain on-brand without resorting to generic sales-speak.
Here are our favorite corporate blogs we highlight to customers for examples of bloggingsuccess:
One company which always strikes the right tone is Marriott International. Their blog, ‘Marriott on the Move’, is universally recognized as an excellent example of corporate blogging.
Bill Marriot founded and grew the hotel group into one of the largest in the world, and his blog is one of the best around. He doesn’t always write about the hotel business, which is a good thing. The posts are a mix of his insights on the hotel industry. They also have tips for business success and celebrations of Marriott milestones. He even includes instances of his personal life.
He also uses the blog to share his insights on current affairs. For example, after the 2013’s Boston Marathon bombings, he posted a message of condolence and support.
Whole Foods is one of our favorite social online sites. It is one of the best brands when it comes to health food in the world. It also has an excellent blog that is well-designed and packed full of interesting content.
Food blogs have always been huge online. This one fits into that space nicely with tips, recipes, and company news.
Virgin Atlantic
The Virgin Group and Richard Branson are marketing experts. Their social media accounts are always full of dynamic and interesting content. Hence it comes as no surprise that their company blogs show the same creative flair. Although all of Virgin’s blogs are excellent, the Virgin Atlantic blog is one of the best.
The Virgin brand as a whole is about the experience. For example, holiday upgrades become ‘Mojo Boosters,’ and Virgin Galactic’s on board safety measures are the company’s ‘North Star.’ The Virgin Atlantic blog follows an awesome brand tone.
Visitors enjoy posts about extreme sports, fine dining, and the airline’s myriad destinations. They do also write about their services and products, but these posts are in the minority.
Ikea Design Blog
The Design Blog team is a group of IKEA co-workers sharing DIY and home decorating tips and ideas. Check out their diversity in blog categories. For example: before and after, behind the scenes, colors, done in a day, sustainability, and organization.
Some cool ideas, yes?
Southwest Airlines
One of the most original airlines in the world has been blogging for a while now. It shares tons of information about itself as well as travel content. You’ll hear about new services it’s offering as well as tips on keeping children happy while flying.
While the company clearly focuses on aviation, Southwest Airlines’ content is more diverse than you would initially assume. Covering any area that is linked to travel, its posts are lighthearted and easy to read.
One diverse example is a two-part series on roller coasters.
How to create a business blog … Zappos
Zappos has built its entire culture around social media and wonderful customer service. And it has some well-written blogs. Its main one is where it shares information about products and services and selects the best from the others. Lots of contributors.
ComScore
ComScore in one company we checkout consistently. It is an online company first and foremost so you would expect it to have a very good online presence. Its blog is so original and features such good content that it always pops up in the mainstream news.
Business blog examples … Dell
Another company we follow closely for its ability to do new things. Its goal is proving that more can be better.
Dell has a vast number of blogs which it links up together in the one landing page to create a comprehensive resource. They deal with enterprise IT, customer tips, consumer service and education. New articles are regularly posted, so you’re always kept up to date with new topics.
Adaptive Path
This San Francisco design company focuses on the technical side of things, covering design and development. It keeps a personal touch and makes sure most of its employees contribute. This means that you will get something different every time with lots of viewpoints.
Here is another good reference:
12 ESSENTIAL SKILLS TO BE A PROFESSIONAL BLOGGER!
Adobe
Like Dell, Adobe makes great use of its employee blogs. They allow them to post tutorials, guides, and other bits and pieces that help enrich the reader experience. Another important part is that they’re not required to reference Adobe products. This means the reader gets more value as a result.
It starts with researching your target readership thoroughly. Understand who your audience is, and what type of content they’ll enjoy reading. Most importantly, this clues you to which posts they’re likely to share on social media.
If you have expertise, share it. Sharing your insights can drive traffic to your blog, and raise the profile of your brand.
Be authentic. Personality is a vital ingredient for any company. It separates great companies from the rest.
Find the story. Top bloggers find interesting angles, and approach stories in unusual and innovative ways. If your product or service isn’t exciting on its own, find a way of making it dynamic.
Blog about current affairs. Blog readers always appreciate diversity, and topical posts often tend to do well regarding page visits.
So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to you.
It’s up to you to keep improving your customer attention and focus. Lessons are all around you. In many situations, your competitor may be providing the ideas and or inspiration. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.
When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.
Need some help in capturing more customers from your marketing strategies? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with potential customers?
Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.
Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
Are you devoting enough energy to improve your marketing, branding, and advertising?
Do you have a lesson about making your marketing strategy better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed how reasonable we will be.
More reading on business process from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
