Get to grips with business blogging

The RSS connection
A particularly useful tool to look for in blog systems is RSS feeds. These provide a way for visitors to be automatically notified of updates to your blog, without the hassle of managing a mailing list. Good blogging systems will automatically create a feed, and you can provide an icon on the blog’s main page so users can add it to their RSS reader. When you have company news or new products appearing frequently, they can be a good way of spreading the word.

Another useful way of using RSS is to help aggregrate content, with some blogging software allowing you to include items from other RSS feeds on your own page. You could, for example, include the latest news headlines or items from key industry websites, if they’re available via RSS.

RSS feeds are also useful for keeping an eye on the blogs of your competitors or critics, enabling you to respond swiftly if the need arises. There are many RSS readers to choose from, including Newsgator, Bloglines, Feedreader and Pluck.

Trackbacks can be useful too, both for seeing how many people are linking to your blog and for following links from other sites where people may be discussing your company. If you’re serious about blogging, you should try to make sure there’s time set aside in your working day to keep on top of the comments and links to your blog, so that you can react appropriately.

Up and running
Clearly you need to be careful when you use a blog for your business, and bear in mind some of the points in our box on the next page to avoid any awkward legal problems. And remember that while the community of readers you build up can be a useful sales resource, your message must be relevant and the people you are speaking to have to be receptive.

Appearing patronising or not seeming to listen to feedback left on your blog won’t help build a good relationship with the readers. On the other hand, if people feel like they’re receiving frank inside information, or that they are having constructive input into new products and services, they’re likely to become much more engaged with the blog, and potentially with your company.

Of course, blogs can also be used by dissatisfied customers to attack your business. One high-profile attack in recent months was mounted against the computer giant Dell. A customer who was unhappy with the laptop they had bought and the service they received posted their views on their own blog, which attracted hundreds of responses. Market researchers concluded that the blog had damaged Dell’s brand image.

It’s therefore vital that you understand how blogs work in your business and how they can be a great help in your marketing, while also being aware that they can open your business to direct attack. Pay attention to the other blogs, and try to keep abreast of developing trends. If you do see a blog making a direct attack on your business that is untrue, rebuff it via your own blog or by posting a comment on the blog where the original statement was made.

Blogging has become a powerful marketing weapon for many businesses, but in order for it to be effective, you must understand how blogs fit into the wider marketing mix, and how they are being used by both your competitors and your customers.

It’s important, too, not to try to be too clever; companies and individuals alike have suffered when comments on blogs have been revealed to be made by people who are working for a company, rather than just innocent consumers.

If you’re commenting on a competitor’s blog, for instance, it’s better to be honest and make clear who you are than to pretend to be a customer of theirs; also resist the temptation to encourage employees and friends to react strongly to any negative comments that are added to your blog.

Future blogging
What does the future hold for blogging in business? It would be easy for any business to fall victim to blogging hysteria.

As Waddington of Rainier PR says, “I can only hope that blogs are not seen as the main marketing tool for businesses. They should be used as a secondary support for campaigns. I think that the general public is becoming increasingly cynical of business blogs and the only way organisations can continue using blogs is if they offer more than just a corporate message.”

So the key to successfully implementing a blogging strategy for your business is to ensure that you view it not in isolation but treat it instead as a component of your company’s communications, customer service and marketing.

As a channel through which to connect with your customers, blogging is unparalleled, but as with any new business venture, remember to look before you leap. Spend time looking at other business blogs to get a feel for the possibilities and the type of ideas that work. You would never launch an ad campaign without researching it first and the same is true of blogs.