The Swiss Knife of Digital Communications?

Many companies have launched their own blog or are preparing to do so, mainly because they know that a blog can help them increase:

• the traffic towards their site
• their search engine visibility
• their business opportunities and partnerships
• their bottom line, through increased sales

And that's not all: they also know a blog can also help them attain several other objectives:

• Breathe new life into their Web site.
• Enhance their image, through enlightened and knowledgeable content that  can be light and funny, or thought-provoking, passionate, informative, curious, innovative, controversial, visionary... there is no shortage of possibilities!
• Get closer to their target customers and build trust by informing them on a regular basis and offering them the possibility to express themselves.
• Obtain feedback that proves invaluable in communications and product development.
• Offer their customers, members, students, etc. , a discussion forum.
• Answering customer service questions.
• Finally, blogs can also be used as internal communication tools, within the framework of projects, strategic thinking or simply on a day-to-day basis.

A positive effect on the company culture

A research undertaken by Backbone Media on the influence of blogs showed that company blogs had an in-depth effect on large companies such as Microsoft and Macromedia, to name but two.

Since all departements can access all the customer comments through the blog, observers believe blogs helped turn around the corporate culture because of the customers' feedback. This helped develop a more transparent, open and client-centric attitude.

Despite its  innovative format - and numerous payoffs - a corporate blog does not radically differ from traditional means of communication. More on creating a blog.