Make The Most Of Your Corporate Blog

As blogging has grown and become one of the leading means of communicating news and opinions in the modern world, the interest of the business world has been aroused by its potential and corporate blogs are now very common. Corporate blogs are of two distinct varieties – the external blog and the internal one. The internal blog takes the place of the "what's happening in the company" memos of the old days and allows for the management to keep in touch with every employee directly and also permits the employees to communicate with the management is a way that has never before been possible.

And for the huge number of people who are not part of the company but play a huge role in its success – suppliers, bankers, customers and so on – the external corporate blog keeps providing them the latest news about what is happening in the company.

While the corporate blog is a powerful tool, many companies do not use it properly because they do not understand its potential and have stated their blogs only so that they are not looked upon as being out of date. These companies create blogs with no long term aim or focus, either for the employee or the external stakeholder and because of this, the result is often the reverse of what they expect it to be.

Aimless wandering corporate blogs with no clear focus or apparent objective create an image of a management that is also drifting and without clear goals. It is not just that the blogs will be ignored – blogs are interactive media and a blog that expects responses from the reader when it has nothing of interest to say to them will not just be ignored, it will put the readers off.

A internal corporate blog done in the right way, on the other hand, can be a huge morale booster by allowing employees to express their thoughts and opinions and thus giving them a feeling of being actively involved in the running of their company. Gauging employee mood and attitude to the company and the work they do is important in any modern company and the internal corporate news letter will provide the management an opportunity to do this by inviting employee feedback.

In the case of the external corporate blog, by presenting issues and aspects of the business that will be of interest to the externals stakeholder, the company will be able to obtain valuable feedback on a variety of subjects at almost no cost. Like the internal blog by giving customers the chance to connect with the management, a bond is formed that will translate into customer loyalty.