Top 5 corporate blogging mistakes and how to avoid them

Like many of you, I regularly follow a bunch of business-related blogs and check out dozens of others each week. Most of the new ones I check out have no value (for me) so I never return. I've been thinking about why I choose to pay attention to a blog vs. just cruise by after a quick check.

I've come up with my top 5 corporate blogging mistakes. These are the mistakes that I see again and again.

1. Start a blog without first following other similar blogs (and commenting on them)

Many people start a blog for the wrong reasons. They read an article in BusinessWeek or The Wall Street Journal about the power of blogs and want to write one of their own. Or a CEO will hear about someone like Jonathan Schwartz at Sun and want to do the same. These newbies create their own blog before they have read and commented on other similar blogs. That's like trying to write a thriller without having read hundreds of thrillers to see how they are put together.

I suggest a 3-step plan to start a blog. 1) Enthusiastic blogger wannabes should follow a bunch of blogs for a month or two. 2) Then begin commenting on blogs for another month or so to "exercise your blog voice" (using someone else's blog real estate). 3) Finally, and only if you have done steps 1 and 2, you will discover what you like to blog about and you should begin your own blog.

Interestingly, the majority of people who follow my suggested 3-step process quickly learn that blogging is not for them and never start a blog. Good information to know before you actually start a blog!

2. Write excessively about their company's products and services

Many marketers steeped in the tradition of product advertising naturally feel drawn to start a blog to prattle on and on about their damn products and services. But I have news for you. Nobody cares about your products and services (except you). When I visit a product-oriented blog, I immediately leave. And judging from the lack of comments on these blogs, most everyone else leaves too.

You must resist the urge to blog about what your company offers. Instead blog about a subject of interest to the people you are trying to reach. What problems do your buyer have that you can write about? How can you create content that informs and educates and entertains?

3. Focus on one-way propaganda and don't involve other blogs and bloggers

Many corporate blogs are nothing more than an alternative channel for the PR department or product marketers to spew their "messages" and "product vision." Yuk. The telltale signs of this sort of corporate blogging mistake are the lack of links to other blogs. Any links that are there tend to point to stuff on their own site and to articles about them in the media or analysts. It's like going to a cocktail party and only talking to your spouse.

Become part of the online community by linking to other blogs and leaving comments on other blogs. Let someone else start a conversation that you add to in your blog. You'll generate much more interest in what you're doing if you are inclusive.

4. Accept all the defaults in the blogging software package

You know how when you open a new PowerPoint presentation, the software prompts you with a white background and then encourages you to "Click to add title" and "Click to add subtitle"? How boring are the presentations where the presenter actually accepts all those defaults? Well that’s exactly what many bloggers do, establishing their blog look and feel with cookie-cutter blandness. Boring, boring, boring!

You need to pimp out your blog to show your personality. One of the best ways to do this is to hire a great graphic artist to create a killer blog masthead. Once you’ve got a custom masthead, you're totally unique in the world of the web.

5. Fail to realize the importance of the "About" page.

I've found that more than half of the blogs I look at for the first time have a crappy "about" page. That's the place on a blog where you tell the world who you are, what you blog about, your company and job (if appropriate) and contact information. Yet what the majority of bloggers have is something like "I'm Suzie. I'm a Sagittarius and I love to garden." This is just plain silly. (For some reason, I've found that blogs built in Google Blogger have the worst "About" pages.)

If you care enough to blog, you should care about letting people know who you are. At a minimum, you should have your full name, information about what you blog about, and some contact information. Beyond that, you might want a photo, some details on your job, employer, and career as well as other relevant details. When people get to know you, they are more likely to engage.

Comments

[Scott Clark]

Every time I see a client who's considering use of social media I try to explain these points to them. Unlike "mad scientist" work such as SEO and PPC optimization, this area requires true engagement within the organization to succeed.

The chasm between the social media reality and where most corporations actually exists can be quite wide, however.

The challenge is to find the path between where they are and where they need to be - so that it satisfies the blogosphere and the boardroom as well.

[Rick Smith]

David. Absolutely spot on. I need to be telling more people to follow your blog. This also applies to small shops, as well.

[Dana Marruffo]

Excellent David; validates the counsel I have been giving clients - now if they only would listen! :)...keep it up!

[mattresses]

i am fairly new to blogging, i found this post to be very interesting.

[Scott Hepburn]

DMS...one of my frustrations with the technology we use to blog is that, in order to join in the great conversations happening on blogs all over the web, you need to constantly revisit those blogs. It's a bit like having to move from one water cooler to another all day long to stay engaged.

Have you encountered any tools that make it easier to participate in multiple on-blog discussions?

[David Meerman Scott]

Thanks all for you comments. Scott, RSS feeds are good for finding new posts, but you obviously know that. Many blogs have an ability to email you when new comments are posted. (Alas, I don't have this feature... yet. Anyone know how to add this in TypePad?)

However, technology can get us only so far. Like a cocktail party, you still need to mingle.

David

[Adi]

As Scott mentions there is often a large chasm between this ideal perception of blogging as a long-term channel for interacting with customers, and a short-term means of 'getting the message out'.

Something many marketing departments I've experienced suffer from is having to go through IT for changes to content, so having a blog that they can update themselves is obviously attractive. But there remains an inherent insecurity that ensures that they often talk solely about their own company (and certainly never about the competition) because they have to gain short-term ROI to justify the work they do on the blog.

Hopefully posts like this will reach not only those that do the blogging, but also the superiors of the bloggers, because it's them that bloggers have to justify their time and efforts to.

[Rebekah Donaldson]

DMS fan challenge:

Is there any other business blog with the words 'pimping' and 'crappy' in a single post?

And now, back to pimpin'.

[Shaun Dakin]

Good Post David. I'd add another one, and probably the biggest one, NOT ALLOCATING THE RESOURCES to get it done.

This is not about money it is about people's time and energy.

Great blogging requires 2-3 hours a day to do it right. That could be split amongst several people, but they need to do it.

EVERY DAY.

There is nothing worse than going to a blog and seeing that the last update date was months ago.

I immediately move on.

Shaun Dakin
CEO
StopPoliticalCalls.org

[David Meerman Scott]

Hi Shaun, While agree that you need to allocate the time, I don't think it needs to be 2-3 hours a day. For example, I'm probably doing 3-4 hours a week. Others I talk with also manage with less than you suggest. I don't want to scare people off because there is a larger perceived time suck than is actually required.

By the way, it was great to meet you in person last week.

David

[jenn]

Roger at USA Cares sent this to me. Thanks so much for this post. i have #1 down, but now i need to work on the other 4!!! Great information.

~jenn

[Craig]

Good post and I agree with most of the tips, I'm confused with other aspects. I understand that you may not like a company bragging, but at the same time the company's blog is mainly for its users first. I think including company updates and features that the users will find beneficial will inform them and should be fine.
Also I agree you need a good About page, but for a company, they already should have an About page on the site. I don't think the blog About page should be as intense as the company's one, the main information and contact should be highlighted though. What are your thoughts on separating the company's About page with their blogs About page?

Craig
www.budgetpulse.com

[Colin Clark]

You could not be more right-on! I write about this stuff all the time on my marketing blog. The key issue that 'bandwagon bloggers' don't understand is that BLOGGERS TAKE WHAT THEY DO SERIOUSLY! It's important to them, and when some corporate hack pops in and starts contributing crap that isn't relevant to anything, we either get pissed, or we just don't care at all. Either way, it's not a good place to be.

[Lid]

One thing I've noticed with corporate blogs that I don't find appealing is the requirement to register if you want to comment.

For instance, www.nowwearetalking.com.au, the blog of Australia's biggest Telco, expects you to go through a three step sign up.

While I understand they want to accumulate as many contacts as possible, surely there is a better way, because this is really off putting

[David Meerman Scott]

Rebekah,

Ha! Two of my favorite words. Thanks for noticing.

David

[Angela M]

Great post David, I have been in the blogosphere for a long time and I identified some of my own mistakes here. Thanks for always educating me to be better! When is your next book?

[Chel]

Such great advice and dead on to what I've been finding for myself while reaching out to people.

It's painfully obvious that our About page needs some work and I'm working on that currently trying to get some facts in about our team. I know it's important to let others get to know us better as people.

I really enjoy reading what you have to say David. Keep it up!

[John P. Kreiss]

David,

I have to confess that I've been guilty of some of the sins described in this post. Fortunately, I know that I'm a better blogger today thanks to the tips I've learned from you and it's appreciated.

John P. Kreiss
MorganSullivan, Inc.
http://www.johnpkreiss.com

[JP]

Your post is spot on, David.

So glad you wrote about the About Page, which is still the second most read post on my own blog. Your About page also helps readers decide whether or not they will return, too.

And, as you know, many companies prefer to maintain the “built it and they will come” perspective when it comes to blogging. But even if “they” do come, what matters in blogging is whether or not they’ll stay. So what are you offering to get readers to hang around?

You also mentioned a default role for IT, a department which is not really necessary to support blogging. Even so, a couple of my clients are housing their blog in IT. I would strongly recommend that companies instead house their blog in Marketing, PR, or Communications, or even the department of the subject matter expertise, but not IT.

I like your suggestion about "pimping" the blog out, too. But wondering about data to support that in terms of readership - not just with design, but also with more advanced plugins. Been digging around but haven't found any substantial data. If anyone has any leads or can point me in the right direction, I'd be obliged.

Thanks for the post!

[Joe Pulizzi]

Excellent David...another one would be failing to choose a niche topic. Some blogs I've checked out are all over the place - politics, marketing, stories about their kids, etc. To create a following, you need to focus on topics that are at least in the same ballpark to gain a following and start a conversation.

And congrats on the 1/2 Amazon.com punch for the book. Well done.

[Kevin Behringer]

David:

Great post. I especially agree with number two. Far too many companies see blogging as a new channel for an old way of advertising.

The problem is that if the "higher-ups" don't understand the concepts at play, they will disagree with the approach. While a proper tactic to use is to keep your offerings on the periphery...only raising them when it is truly a solution, the execs may not see that. They may see it as if you are not talking about your products, you're not doing it right.

Being a part of a the industry/community, rather than just shouting at the members of it, is the only true way to be successful at blogging.

Kevin

[Tim Rueb]

I would add another:

- Fail to start with the end in mind, define success before you submit your first post.

[Jamie M.]

David,
Great advice, thanks. Re. point 1: getting into blogging by reading and commenting before starting your own blog -- well, I'm taking your advice: this is my first post, and so far it feels ok.
I work in the marketing department of a big multi-national corporate in the UK, and we don't use blogs or actively monitor blogs about our company or our business.
Anyway, I plan to quit at the end of the year in order to start my own business (great time to start a business, huh?) and I intend to make my blog a cornerstone of my marketing strategy.
So thanks for all the tips. Keep up the good work, and I hope that this is first of many comments that I post on my journey to blogdom.

[Dobes Vandermeer]

As an alternative to commenting on other people's blogs, I would suggesting starting a personal blog somewhere and write about something of personal interest.

I think this may be better for practicing writing than commenting on other blogs, because comments often short and a reaction to something - a new post requires a bit more creativity.

[David Meerman Scott]

Dobes - Great idea on starting a personal blog first and I totally agree. That would be a great way to get experience. However, I still think people should comment on related business blogs to get a sense of the things they enjoy to write about in a corporate blog (like Jamie above who just submitted a first comment. Good for you Jamie).

Then person can then find an appropriate topic to write about based on what they like. And it is easier to find an appropriate niche topic (as Joe urges in his comment above).

Cheers, David