Robyn Aber defines how corporate Blogs provide business benefits:
· They are not expensive, easy to set up and do not require HTML expertise.
· They facilitate group works and build up communities.
· Both internal and external business relationships benefit from corporate blogs; productivity takes advantage of information exchange.
· They do not force people to read the comments; users are free to do it.
· In comparison to PR, they provide more authentic information, which considerably improve the brand image of the company.
· Compared to e-mails and instant messaging, readers feel more involved. Corporate blogs are also more searchable than those two tools.
I think that one of the major particularities of corporate blogging is that companies do not intrude in the customers’ lives. As Robyn Aber says, only people who are interested in the products of a company read its corporate blog: the relationships between the company and the customers are then much “healthier”. We could also add that the historic of those relations last on a corporate blog: thus, if an employee leaves the company, someone else can replace him/ her and maintain the relationship with the customers (he bases his/her work on what has been done before).
Ø Article: Ganapati Priya (April 2005), ‘Business blogging on the rise”, www.inc.com
According to Priya Ganapati, corporate blogs have become very popular over the last year because they are based on the following strong communication advantages:
· As few companies have launched a blog, it is a good way to differentiate itself from the competitors and to gain a competitive advantage
· The ratio between investment and benefits is very attractive
· According to a survey carried out by Hostway, 45% of the 2 500 persons interviewed feel that blogs are as or more credible than internet advertising
· It is also a good opportunity to reinforce brand equity as Internet users think it is a reliable source of information
I 100% agree with the remarks of Priya Ganapati. What she writes refers to one of my previous comment on the “fist step advantage”. It is today very strategic to set up a corporate blog and it shows customers that the company is innovative and that it proves that the company aims to improve its relations with them. Moreover, most of the customers appreciate corporate blogs because it is an excellent mean for them to say what they think; the other communication channels generally do not allow them to express themselves.
Susan M. Heathfield defines five main benefits for the companies to set up a corporate blog:
· A business blog is a very good opportunity to offer informal information to the customers, which brings the company closer to its customers
· Employees do not need to wait for the weekly one page updated or for the monthly company magazine: they have instant access to the information which is available for everyone at the same time.
· Corporate blogs make customers more involved in the development of products and they make employees more concerned about the company.
· If a company goes from blogs to blogs which are linked to its activity, it might find information which will help it to gain a competitive advantage.
· A company can also go on its employees’ blogs and know exactly how they perceive the organization
I think Susan M. Hethfield has the upper hand to draw up those benefits. I would just balance her third and fifth points: customers feel more involved and employees more concerned if they receive feedbacks; it is very interesting to learn what employees think about the company, but the enterprise has to keep in mind that people might not write all their thoughts because of the possible consequences.
Ø Magazine: Peyer Mar-Olivier (February 2006), “Qu’attendez vous pour ouvrir votre blog”, Netizen, p.44-46
Marc-Olivier Peyer writes that some software allow the company to save and extract the content of its corporate blog and to change its format. Moreover, the company can benefit from the technical support of the hosted website platform. As the comments generally integrate links to other blogs, it is then very easy to have access to a large amount of information which is linked to the activity of the company. Finally, a corporate blog consists in mastering its own communication channel.
I would add that the blogosphere (blogs linked together) also allow customers to easily find the information they look for. Moreover, the last point developed in this article is essential: with a corporate blog, a company is (almost) free to communicate the way it wants with a minimal investment (Priya Ganapati wrote previously that the ratio between investment and benefits is very attractive).