I finally set-up Google Alerts the other day and am as always impressed by the amount of information that is relevant to me that Google is able to find (my continuous ode to Google continues). One news article caught my eye "The Corporate Blog's Dying Off." The article basically outlines that corporate blogs are not as popular as they once were (which I would love to argue); but after reading this article I understand the headline and couldn't agree more. The idea of a "corporate blog" circa 2002 is dead. The unsustainable model of a top-down blogging approach that is outlined in this article is dead.
Another line in this article that is remnant of "old school blogging" is made apparant in the following excerpt: "Some companies' executives say they choose not to post regularly because they want important news to be prominent for some time." Obviously the point of blogging is being missed by these businesses. Recency and frequency are key to a successful blogging campaign.
The major point that is being missed is blogging for acquisition; these companies seem to have been looking at their blog as a 'news' section of their website. The final point that was made in this article was that one corporate blogger felt as if when they were blogging they knew that they weren't doing what they were supposed to. Hmm...I guess these companies don't see winning search, employee engagement, acquisition and conversion of prospects as a worthwhile cause for their employees to spend a couple of hours a week blogging for the business.
All in all, the article is right on --- corporate blogging in the old mindset is dead, it has to be; however, how about looking at some new blogging solutions that are focused on blogging for SEO with the "blogging torch" being carried by everyone in the organization instead of a couple of over extended executives?
