Think Before You Blog

July 3, 2008 | Posted by: John Conrad

I recently had a call with a client about how to differentiate your company blog in the blogosphere. With the number of IT blogs popping up everyday, I think this is a very good question. Like most of the work we do for our clients, we are always trying to develop messages that differentiate our clients from their competitors. Depending on the client and the products and services they offer, this can be a simple or rather challenging exercise.

So how do you differentiate your blog from a competitor or an individual "expert" in the blogosphere? Do you come up with a snazzy title for your blog, hire a cool graphic designer, create awesome content, leverage notoriety of a high-ranking executive or just hope other influencers in the blogosphere link to you to drive traffic?
It seems to me that content is still king and that won't change even in the blogosphere. You are not going to drive Web traffic to a company or executive blog if the content is consistently bland and boring. Because I have had this conversation with a few of my clients in the past few months, I had a few more bits of advice.
Typically I'm talking with my clients who are in the PR and/or marketing department at their organization. They are excited about the potential of blogging, so their enthusiasm is never lacking but it may be elsewhere in the organization. Below I have compiled a few pointers. There are several other points to be made, but this is a good starting point.
Point #1
Don't even think about launching a blog if the expert bloggers are not willing to participate. Quite often company experts are stretched thin and don't have the time for another PR activity. You may find that experts who are enthusiastic about blogging at first become less interested over time, so search for a reliable and responsible expert who is committed to the effort. This person might be lower ranking and that is fine. I think this is one of the most important points.
Point #2
Make sure the blog is relevant and the content is fresh! Identify bloggers who have a visionary mind and keep up with current events and news. Blog readers like to know that the blog authors are "plugged in," so keeping the content fresh and insightful is a great way to differentiate your blog from others in the blogosphere.
Point #3
Develop topics and define parameters for discussion. Because assigned bloggers might get busy at certain times of the year, it might be helpful to outline a schedule with deadlines for when to hand in their content.
Point #4
The onus is not on PR to supply the content. The blogging experts need to understand that the content must come from their thoughts and experiences to keep the readers engaged. Once readers feel they are being fed "marketing jargon" or "PR messages" they will see expert advice elsewhere.
Point #5
A blog takes a great amount of effort and time. Don't launch one if you don't the time to give or have buy-in from company experts who would be doing the blogging.