Forrester Research recently reported that only 16% of people surveyed say they trust corporate blogs. And in the 18 categories Forrester asked about (including print newspapers, radio, web portals and personal blogs), corporate blogs were ranked as the lowest-rated source of information.
As someone who trolls the blogs of technology companies on a regular basis, I wasn’t terribly surprised. Most of the time when I click on the “blog” link on a company’s home page I’m brought to what amounts to a scrolling platform for self-promotion. While there’s something to be said for making entries well-written and coherent, treating the company blog as something akin to a press release dump or a place to excerpt printed materials negates the benefits a company can realize from this medium in the first place.
One Boston-area tech firm, Netezza, has a blog that I really enjoy going back to. The tone is conversational and has personality – I never feel like I’m being “pitched” even when the bloggers are talking about Netezza products. What I also like is that you begin to get a feel for each of the contributors by their unique voice and it makes me feel a little more like I know the people behind the company. I recently learned where to get great sushi in Chicago, courtesy of a blogger who attended a trade show out there. And yet I also continue to learn more about Netezza, its approach to data warehousing and their POV on the market. And that just-right mix keeps me coming back.
Contrast that with another blog of a local tech company. This one is also written by multiple contributors, but the tone is decidedly more corporate and the entries feel like nothing more than a platform for selling. It’s almost as if they’re excerpting white papers rather than creating a conversation with customers and users. The resulting experience is one of scrolling through promotional propaganda under the guise of “blogging” – and readers can spot the difference. So, sure, the company has a blog, they checked the “have a blog” box for their website, but it’s really not working that hard for them. Or maybe they’re working too hard for the blog.
Continue reading "Not All Blogs are Created Equal" »