In a previous blog, Social Media and B2B – Let’s Get Started, I listed the three key benefits of social media as:

1. Brand
   
2. Relationships
   
3. Information
   

Today, I will specifically discuss blogging.

Why Blog?

The specific benefits of blogging are as follows:

1. Brand
   
   1. Tell stories and share information that reinforces your key brand promise
      
   2. Personalize and humanize your company and brand
      
   3. Increase visibility to build the brand    
      
2. Relationships
   
   1. Enhance your credibility with key customers and stakeholders
      
3. Information
   
   1. Share information that shows your customers and potential customers that you know what you are talking about and understand and care about their needs
      
   2. Internally share collective stories and learning better informing all employees about the company goals
      

Blogs are written in a more informal, more personal style than what is written in marketing materials or on a website. The purpose of a blog is to let the customer hear the “voice” of the company. It is this more personal voice from blogging whether through stories, anecdotes, examples, or other insights that gives support to all the promises in your other marketing materials.

How?

Let’s say your brand focus is on relentless customer service and technical excellence in coming up with innovative solutions. You can write about these brand attributes in a website and have it as part of a mission statement. But, it is better to blog about different customer stories (hide the identity of the customers, of course) and how you responded and followed up with customer service and innovative solutions. By continuously blogging over time at a set interval (say, once a week), you can build up a treasure of stories that would be related to the brand attributes and highlight the many problems that you have solved and the industries that you have served.

Why is this important? First, stories “stick” much more than promises. Second, these stories and anecdotes show your customers that you know, understand, and are able to respond to their issues and challenges.

Third, these stories can be excellent sales tools. As an example, let’s say that a sales call leads to a discussion about responsiveness in product warranty. The salesperson responds that the company is excellent and thorough in standing behind their products. That night, he sends a follow up E-Mail attaching and also giving the link to a blog that discusses a time when the company did an outstanding job in solving a product warranty issue. As something given to a customer after the fact, but written down before the meeting, the blog and the related story truly resonate, reinforcing this brand promise of the company and differentiating the company from the competition.

Further, these stories and blogs are important in giving employees an understanding of the goals and objectives of the company and of highlighting the company’s successes.

Finally, blogs will also increase the visibility of the company and its brand promise. First, insightful, well-written blogs are often shared and tweeted across the internet, exposing your company to numerous other potential customers. Second, regular blogs improve your position with SEO (search engine optimization) tools, helping move your company onto that magical Google first page and making your company more likely to get that call when someone is searching for a solution to their problem.

To get started with a blog, go to WordPress.com or other sites, set up your blog, set up the appropriate URL’s, link the blog to your website and your LinkedIn profile and you can be up and running within 30 minutes, telling stories about how great your company is.

Next Time, we will discuss LinkedIn.

Until Then.