Time Warner Telecom - Business Trends

Blogging: Worth the Effort?

Pew Research reports that more than half of all consumers in North America use the Web to create, share, and retrieve content. As a result, companies across the board want new ways to use the Internet to their advantage.

What is a blog?

A blog, short for a Web log, is an organization's online journal. A person or department holds responsibility for creating content, publishing, and maintaining it on the company's Web site. Information can cover anything from the hottest industry topics to opinions and viewpoints from corporate executives, even announcements about new products and services. Companies typically update blogs frequently, on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

Who's blogging?

An increasing number of businesses have turned to blogs as an effective way to communicate directly with their existing and potential customers. In fact, a market research study conducted by Jupiter Research shows that 34 percent of large companies had created Web logs by mid-2006, with an additional 35 percent planning to establish a one before the end of the year.

Advantages

Corporations can experience tremendous value from a blog. Companies that have established blogs have noted many benefits, including:

• Reach a broader audience, faster. While print media can take days or weeks to get an announcement out, blogs allow for immediate distribution of important news and information.
• Engage in bi-directional communication. Blogs provide a great way for a company to gather important feedback from their target audience. Readers can leave comments and messages, allowing an organization to better identify consumer needs and preferences, and gain an understanding of how it, and its offerings, are perceived by the marketplace.
• Improve branding efforts. Blogs can be a useful branding tool, helping a company to increase awareness and name recognition.
• Enhance search engine optimization (SEO). Links back to blog postings often find their way into other blogs and online articles, as well as social media and networking sites. Using these links, along with traditional SEO techniques, can dramatically increase rankings in Google, Yahoo, and other major search engines, making it easier for potential customers to find a company's Web site.

Make the decision

If blogging isn't the right fit for a company, having a blog may backfire. Consider the following factors when deciding if a blog's right for your company:

• Consider your audience. Does your company have an audience who would actually read a blog? Even the most interesting blog accomplishes little if clients don't want to read it.
• Include marketable content. Whether the blog helps customers get to know an executive or helps spark discussion about new products, it must serve a specific function. An unfocused or content-lacking blog will only diminish your company's standing.
• Cost-benefit analysis. Do the benefits of a blog outweigh the time and effort of creating it? Does the blog play a specific role in your company's vision?

While a company blog can be a useful marketing tool for gathering feedback and communicating with clients, be sure that the benefits outweigh the effort. While a blog may seem like a simple and fun tool, it should be regarded as seriously as any other communication piece.

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