Company Blog: Should You or Should You Not?
I've noticed conversations around the blogosphere and offline about whether a company should start a blog. Here are three:
- Bruce Prokopets at SocialCaster shares his bottom line on a conversation between Mike Manuel and Jim Turner. Does it make sense for a local pizza company to blog?
- Carolyn Manning's recent comment here poses the question of whether its more beneficial to form a cooperative effort among like-minded businesses.
- An academic, overhearing a conversation I was having yesterday, asked why even have a blog when a website is less expensive and easier to modify (huh?)
Embracing these one-at-a-time:
- Let's have Google answer the first point:
- Search: cannoli pittsburgh and you find Aldo Coffee
- Or: patent attorney iowa and find Brett Trout
- Or: landscape lighting houston and find Illuminations Lighting
- even: call center iowa or upselling basics and find QAQNA
- Carolyn offers a great suggestion with the co-op, but we may think about that as an addition rather than a substitution. Is the co-op also co-branded? What becomes more findable, the co-op or the business?
- To reach a localized audience, you almost have to talk with a national audience.
- To reach a national audience, converse globally
- To answer my academic listener:
One solution is Merchant Circle, which provides a lot of tools for a small business to use - including the customer reviews that Mike Manuel talks about. And if you're searching for a dog groomer in Delmar, DE...
Should all companies blog? Nope.
If a company wants to build valuable relationships, engage with their customers, extend their reach, become more findable and improve their bottom line in the process (and in this order) - they will probably find value in blogging.
Reverse the order above, and its probably best not to blog at this time.
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