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To Blog or Not to Blog
With millions of blogs reported to be available on the net
these days many businesses have to be wondering, "Should I
Blog or not"? First, let’s look at what Blogging is and what
it isn't. Some bloggers have the mistaken impression that a
Blog is only and should only be used to deliver personal
feelings, observations and thoughts regarding topics they find
interesting. Of course the idea is that others will find this
information useful and interesting as well. Another school of
thought perceives blogging as a money making endeavor where
corporate speak is pumped out by the combined efforts of the
media and legal departments.
Here is how Wikipedia defines a Blog:
"A Blog (an abridgment of the term web log) is a website,
usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of
commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as
graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse
chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb,
meaning to maintain or add content to a Blog."
You will notice that "online diary" and "corporate pr" isn't
mentioned in the Wikipedia definition of Blog. I believe the
key terms used in the Wikipedia definition are "regular
entries of commentary" and "descriptions of events". Does
either of these terms exclude personal or corporate blogs?
Absolutely not, but it certainly opens up the world of
blogging to a much larger group than either of two groups
mentioned.
The question still stands, should you be blogging? Can a Blog
help a business? It certainly can. A well written Blog can be
important to a business by helping to define its market and
establish its brand. It can also be useful to deliver
information to its customers and associates. Guidance on
product uses, upcoming product lines and using your products
with other companies products are all legitimate advantages of
a company Blog. Service tips, regulations etc can also be
delineated through regular Blog posts.
If you start a Blog, stick to it, keep content current and
consider in advance whether or not you will allow comments on
your Blog. Micro blogging, where a person posts short
informative commentary may be better suited to your business
but only you can decide that. Avoid a stream of self serving,
press release type posts or your audience will dry up in a
hurry.
I can think of many company blogs I would rather read before
reading someone’s personal, online diary. |
New & Exciting Trend(s)
We have spotted a recent trend that we find
both exciting and challenging. Over the past year we have seen
several companies looking to their websites for ways to save
staff time, manage information, serving clients to a deeper
degree and providing systems that allow more interaction
between themselves and their customers.
Is this new technology? No, but it is
something that small to medium businesses have not utilized to
a large degree. Large Corporations have been moving in this
direction for years and the recent trend highlights how the
same technologies can be beneficial to medium and small
businesses as well.
A few examples of this are an in-depth
contact management system, a client contact system which
records client contacts and tracks responses and response
times. A client download system including an employee message
board and a contact system that auto responds with customer
fulfillment pieces are a few of the online systems that have
met customer requests for utilizing their websites in new and
productive ways.
Some of these are solutions anyone can use,
others such as an online vendor and pricing distribution
system are more in the realm of custom solutions. Whatever
category they fall in to, each seems to be utilized in ways
that save both time and money.
I have highlighted just a few of the recent
online systems, there are several more. This trend makes sense
when we factor in the price of gas, serving customers more
thoroughly through our websites makes it easier and more
economical for everyone. |
