In Corpore sano...

Having seen a few Corporate blogs around, some are good and some are very bad. It's a risky medium and getting it wrong is worse than not doing it at all...

I remember working for a company that set up a forum for employees in which it promised to discuss real issues with no censorship. In the end it became a management mouthpiece that no-one believed because all negative opinion was censored. Moral of that story is 'Don't expect your readers to agree with you!'.

Ten things that Corporate blogs should attempt to do:

- Engage the audience in a dialog (but not in controversy)
- Tell the truth and make it visceral, personal (let the audience know you)
- Acknowledge your peers and show some 'link love' (peers being others blogging about your company or subject)
- Listen as well as speak (i.e. read and comment on other blogs)
- Answer questions posed in comments!
- Avoid the temptation to be self-congratulatory (see BBC blogs as an example of what not to do!)
- Don't post press releases, link to them as part of a real post
- Assume your readers are very smart and treat them accordingly - no need to spell things out
- Controversy and argument will happen; hire an editor/negotiator to help make sure they don't escalate beyond control
- Use the Long Tail; build the relationships that will improve your hit rate. (A blog post is for life, not just for Christmas)

The goal of the blog should be clear as well, and I think there are definitely different types of blog for different goals.
- The Community Builder
- The Support/Information provider
- The "Look at me" cheerleading blog (don't try this at home, kids!)
- The "Humanizer" (we're not all grey-suits and ties)
- etc

Given the amount of press and advice that seems to be around, it's surprising how many corporate blogs are either just plain dull, or self-congratulatory.

"Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." -- Mark Twain

Hmmm, perhaps I should refrain from commenting on Corporate blogging....Ooops, too late..