Curated tips for a successful corporate blog

What is a company blog?

A company's weblog, also known as a corporate blog or company blog, is an instrument used in content marketing. The aim is to increase visibility and bring more traffic to the website. The articles in corporate blogging deal with topics that are relevant to the company and in the broadest sense relate to their own products and services. The trick is not to advertise directly, but to tell stories around it.

Which content belongs in a corporate blog?

On a company-owned blog, you can write stories and articles about your services and products. But the company itself can also be the content of the texts. For example, it’s possible to present individual areas, to let employees have their say or to report news from the company. In addition, companies publish campaigns or industry-specific articles where they can showcase their expertise in their own subject area. No matter what theme, all articles aim to increase access to the page and generate new leads. In this vein, all contributions on the corporate blog should be detailed. Microblogging services such as Twitter or Tumblr are ideal for short updates or statements.

Why is a blog good for any business?

We think every company should have a blog! Because every company can benefit from entrepreneurial blogging. With the corporate blog, the company sharpens its public profile and gains new customers. Benefits include:

• A corporate blog is free advertising.
• Constantly new content brings life to the website.
• A blog has a positive effect on the ranking in search engines.
• The content can pick up on the target group’s questions and needs.
• Users will find further links (internal and external) to topics they are interested in.
• The articles can solve problems from the reader.
• In the best case scenario, a new customer is gained in the first few minutes.

How do you create a corporate blog?

Before you start blogging, you need to do some good planning. Determine the target groups and think about the topics and content that you will write about later. You should also decide of the rhythm of the blog posts. An editorial calendar can help provide an overview.

Who is the company blog aimed at?

Blogging is only successful if the target group is clear. Who should read your corporate blog? It’s only when you know the readers and their needs tat you can publish appropriate content that is fit for purpose. Target group analysis is based on the goals of the content marketing strategy. It is important to define the readers as precisely as possible. Characterise your buyer personas, fictional people who represent the audience. You’ll soon see the advantage when you start blogging - it’s much easier to write if you have a specific person in mind and can tailor your work to their needs. The blog can have more than one target group. If you are targeting different countries that speak different languages, you should also set up multiple blogs and localise the texts for each one.

What do you want to blog about?

A well-thought-out concept is the basis for a successful corporate blog. Even before blogging, you should think about the structure and set up. Loose articles make it difficult for the user to find their way around the site, or to find what they’re looking for. So consider which categories fit your content strategy. Are they specific topics, services or products, or various campaigns? The categories give the websites structure, readers grasp the content faster and they find it easier to navigate. All blog articles must later be sorted into categories, so they shouldn’t be too narrow. In addition, the concept defines how you should address the reader, and the writing style. Internal workflows, responsibilities and controlling are also part of the strategy.

How often should you post?

A new post every few months, or just static information isn’t enough to create a successful corporate blog. Regular, fresh content is the secret. Set your own rhythm, for example, one or two new articles each week. It makes sense to think about the topics in advance to keep the process running smoothly. You can keep track of this in an editorial calendar. In addition to the title or topic, the editorial action plan should also include the category, the target group and a short description. You should also consider who should write the article and, of course, when it is planned to be published. With an editorial action plan, you can gather all the important information at a glance, you can plan significant dates, such as company anniversaries or posts for public holidays, and avoid getting yourself in a spin.

Can you publish internal communication on the company blog?

Disclosing company secrets or personal stories as well as photos that embarrass employees should be avoided on corporate blogs. But a few insights into the company are always great. Stories and faces of the company create closeness and generate emotions for the reader. They convey a sense of exclusivity and reinforces the relationship with the user. The selection of topics and articles should be done sensitively, taking into account your own company philosophy. For example, a travel company can report on personal connections to the country or their own trips, or a restaurant might introduce an ecological farmer as a supplier.

Which is right - the web log or the corporate blog?

You've probably come across this question both in forums and specialist articles. We think it should be called a blog, because whilst it is a web log (or logbook), quite honestly: that just doesn’t sound right. Marketeers simply take the freedom to do it differently, so let’s stick with "the blog". In the same way no one says "personae" to the majority of the target group-specific characters, although that would be correct in Latin.

Is SEO important for entrepreneurial blogging?

Search engine optimisation is central to a company blog. After all, a primary goal is to make new readers aware of the company. If your blog ranks well in the search engines on the topics that interest your target group, you will increase its visibility. The ranking takes into consideration not just the placement of keywords and technical factors, but also the content. If you publish valuable content for the readers, people will stay on your site for longer.  This information is transmitted back to the search engine, which feeds into the algorithm for the ranking and pushes you further up the ranks. This effect is virtually infinite and makes content marketing so efficient in the long term.

How expensive is an article for a corporate blog?

They say a corporate blog is free advertising. That is true, but only to a limited extent. Because, of course, blogging requires resources. If these are not available in the company, outsourcing is a good idea. If you have already created a briefing, the external text creation for blog articles is inexpensive and easy to calculate. External assignments are particularly useful if you plan to regularly order texts. You can work directly with freelancers, to assign articles on text exchanges or to cooperate with a text agency such as greatcontent. Depending on the style of text, your industry, the length and the desired quality level, as well as the level of difficulty, you can receive content for as little as 0.02 GBP per word.

How do you create an editorial calendar?

You can build an editorial calendar yourself in Excel or with a table in Word. This is usually enough, especially for small businesses. All employees involved can have access when you share it via a cloud or on the company network. It’s even easier when you use a template, of which there are plenty of the internet. Just adapt the formatted sheets to your company requirements. Tools such as Edit Flow, Divvy HQ, Co Schedule, trello, Asana and many others allow flexible editing of editorial processes in the team and are also helpful when it comes to more complex structures. Calendars help provide a clear overview. Practical checklists and helpful reminders are often integrated. In summary: a corporate blog is not only fun, but also generates new revenue.

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