Article by Camille Dominique Javier
It’s not easy to start a corporate blog; you need to balance out your corporate identity while appealing and connecting with your clients, customers, readers and the masses. You need to find the right recipe to make your blog fun and readable, but still professional and respectable.
Take it from WhenInManila.com CEO, Vince Golangco, who shares these 10 important tips for corporate blogging to spice up your company website and give your brand that online push it needs!
Corporate Blogging: 10 Important Tips for Your Company Blog
10. Avoid talking about yourself.
No matter how famous or important you think you are, the world doesn’t revolve around you. Talking about yourself too much can be a drag to read. Chances are, your content might only relate to people within your circle. Challenge yourself to extend your audience reach by exploring more topics beyond yourself, your interests and the things familiar to you!
Find ways to add value to people who read your articles or watch your videos, rather than just bragging or talking about yourself.
9. Deal with negativity through positivity.
In the online world, it is inevitable to run into trolls who constantly spread negativity. Learn to sort out the trolls from those who give genuine constructive criticism. Choose to listen and pay attention to comments that are constructive and respond to them in a way that doesn’t negatively affect your blog or compromise your blog’s brand; but instead can be used to improve it further.
8. Treat each article as your product.
People on the Internet are known to react fast, especially when mistakes are made. Mistakes tend become the source of jokes, or worse, memes, which will forever be immortalized on the face of the Internet, potentially tarnishing your brand or image forever. You’re lucky if a mistake leads you to instant fame or to some positive impact for your brand. But what if it doesn’t? Better to be safe than sorry.
that was the moment Trump became prsiduvhirw pic.twitter.com/fKVPPNVFH0
— Anthony Brian Smith (@AnthonyBLSmith) May 31, 2017
Vince suggests having the article you intend to publish run through a “product phase”, wherein edits can easily be made and where you can test the waters by observing your audience’s reception to the article.
7. Prepare to grab headline opportunities.
The early bird gets the worm.
Part of making it big as a blogger means being able to cover a headline before everyone else does. Grabbing the headlines and coming up with a cohesive article to match will not only put you on top of everyone’s feed, but will also help you build a reputation for your blog as being quick and reliable.
Vince suggests training people on your blog team to handle rush projects or events that need to be covered. Have a backup system, too, just in case processing needs to be quicker and more efficient.
6. Interact.
Part of why people enjoy going on the Internet is because it is easy to connect with others on it. Whether you’re managing a corporate entity or a blog, it pays to respond to readers’ comments and queries. Don’t be a monolithic block that just keeps posting stuff. Taking the time to craft unique and detailed replies to help readers helps build a good image, customer rapport and customer satisfaction.
Vince recommends that you assign a person or a team specifically for responding to posts and comments on social media or your blog itself.
5. Listen.
On that note, don’t just reply for the sake of replying. Understand the query first and then plan out your reply. You may learn something new about your readers or customers that can help you improve that way.
4. Invite guest bloggers.
Build some hype for your blog by inviting bloggers, celebrities, and influential people to write for your blog, or better yet, feature them yourself. Doing so won’t just help build audience traction through shares and more exposure, but will also help your readers associate your blog with something more tangible.
According to Vince, hiring ghost writers to write in place of your chosen busy influential personality can also be effective. Bloggers can contribute to other blogs to help build a name for themselves in the industry.
But don’t stop with the big names! Featuring ordinary, everyday people, especially through testimonials can be powerful tools that can help humanize and build trust for your brand.
3. Establish an editorial dream team and editorial guidelines.
Vince says it’s always good to be prepared with assigned and well-planned out teams, so that strategizing for event coverage and for article angles an be more accurate and efficient.
2. Avoid PR and corporate tones.
Press releases in corporate tones are a thing of the past, says Vince. These do not get shared often. Instead, focus your efforts on what your audience wants to hear. Create hype when necessary and avoid overly formal tones as much as possible.
1. Humanize.
The feeling of human interaction on an online interface is a very powerful and sought-out experience on the Internet. Blogs that can recreate the feeling of talking and interacting with a fellow human are more likely to be shared and followed.
Vince says that blogs need to “feel human” rather than feel like a corporation that wants to take your money. Let your readers feel like you’re making a genuine and sincere effort to reach out to them and they will most likely reciprocate.
If you’ve always wanted to create a corporate blog of your own or simply want to build yours up, these tips can be very helpful into turning it into a bigger and better one. In fact, even if you’ve never thought of starting a corporate blog before, now is a good time to start. What have you got to lose, anyway? Connect with your audience in a more personal way by starting your own blog now.
If you’ve got any questions for Vince, feel free to contact him through the following social media accounts:
https://www.wheninmanila.com/contribute
