www.b2bmarketing.net/social-media MAY 2011 B2B MARKETING MAGAZINE 3534 B2B MARKETING MAGAZINE MAY 2011 www.b2bmarketing.net/social-media

KNOWLEDGE BANK SOCIAL MEDIA KNOWLEDGE BANK SOCIAL MEDIA

Blog your way to the topBlogs are a great way for brands to position themselves as thoughtleaders and increase their reach, says Lucy Fisher. But don’t just blogfor blogging’s sake

Don’t blog for blog’s sakeUnfortunately, some companies havebecome so keen on using blogs to boosttheir rankings in the search results thatthis has come at the expense of thecontent. Keywords and links aresometimes sprinkled so liberally that thevalue of the content gets lost, withreaders being directed to other sites thatmay not be of interest to them. This canbe annoying and put an audience offreturning to the blog altogether.

A blog must always be viewed as agenuine communications channel and notbe approached in an overly calculated orcontrolling fashion, warns Tim Gibbon,director at communications consultancyElemental. “By all means look at how tomake it search-friendly, but do so in anethical way, so that the focus remains ondelivering what the audience is interestedin. It should be about sharing knowledge,not thrusting stale messages out there,”he says.

Experts also advise breaking up thetext with images and video. Even in abusiness context your audience will notwant to read something that is overlytext-heavy, demands a lot of attention, orworst of all bores them.

Create connectionsWhat is particularly crucial in a B2Bcontext is to really know your audience.According to Rax Lakhani, director ofOnlinefire, “It’s better to have 50 reallytargeted readers than 5000 untargetedones.”

After all, the world of B2B needs to beeven more targeted than B2C, where thenumbers tend to be greater. As such,nurturing close connections with readersis crucial.

“Develop connections with people,”says Lakhani. “Follow them on Twitter,link to groups on LinkedIn, and phraseyour blog in such a way that it posesquestions. Actively welcome people toleave comments.” And it is sometimes awise strategy, he adds, to initiate aconversation on a third-party blog, andthen link back to your blog.

approaches as he puts the finishingtouches to the Brother blog, due tolaunch any time now. Jones says that it isextremely simple to get started withblogging – especially since platformssuch as Blogger and WordPress areavailable for free. But the majorchallenge, he says, is deciding whetherwhat you have to say will be of any valueto others.

he term ‘blog’ was abuzzword in marketing,advertising andcommunications circlesmany years ago. However,it’s not a concept that hasfallen off the radar, rather

one that many business brands have beenworking on quietly in the background.Now, with a company blog pretty much amust-have accessory for manybusinesses, how can B2B marketers getthe most out of them?

“When the whole social media thingstarted, writing a blog was a bit of abandwagon,” says Charlie Thorogood,copywriter at agency Mason Zimbler.“People got a blog but didn’t necessarilyknow why.” It’s important, then, to askyourself what you are trying to achieve. Is your company blog purely forpromotional purposes, for use as avehicle for broader industry comment, or both?

Moreover, with so many businessbrands now boasting blogs, it’s importantto position your company’s voice in sucha way that will cut through the clutter.“You may need to come at things from aslightly controversial angle,” advisesThorogood. “That kind of approachgenerates debate and gets people linkingto your blog.”

Be sincereIt’s not enough to incite controversy inblogs. You have to believe in what you aresaying, or any insincerity will comeacross and almost certainly turn peopleoff. What’s more, if you’re writing abouttopics you are genuinely passionateabout, you are far less likely to struggle togenerate content. The litmus test is to askyourself whether you would genuinely beinterested in what you are writing. If theanswer is no, why would anyone else be?

Phil Jones, UK sales and marketingdirector at global office technologymanufacturer Brother, is an activeblogger in his spare time. He says that hispersonal blog, about road cycling, hasproved a valuable test-bed for ideas and

there to be some business benefit toblogging on behalf of the company.

Lamb himself, however, admits that hehas found it a struggle at times to find thetime to blog, despite seeing clear benefitsin doing so. He says that he has been‘distracted’ by Twitter lately but is keen toblog regularly again given the potential itoffers to increase the reach of messaging.“Blogs tend to be more verbose thanTwitter but they should not be too long –say 1000 words max,” he adds. “Theytend to be there for longer, whereasTwitter is a more rapid channel, wherecomments or conversations disappearmore quickly.”

Stick to the day jobLamb advises anyone who wants to blogto view it as a means of facilitatingexisting tasks, rather than creating newones. “For many, blogging is like a hobbythat they want to get into, that quicklyloses its appeal when they realise thecommitment that is involved. My advice isto see it as a means of getting your workdone,” he says.

And, above all, don’t force it. “Wouldyou put your chief executive on stage andask them to make an impromptu speechand be funny? I’d say perhaps not, unlessthat comes naturally,” adds Lamb. Clearlyit can do more harm than good to compelpeople to blog unless they arecomfortable with it.

Integrate with other platformsBlogging should form just one plank of awider social media or digital marketingstrategy. Emma Roffey, director,communications and digital marketing atCisco, is keen to point out that Twitter isa great platform to amplify what you’resaying on your blogs. She explains thatCisco views its blogs as part of a widerwhole: Cisco has “dabbled with” LinkedIn,she says, and within Europe has 12Facebook pages, 16 YouTube channels,19 Twitter handles and 13 blogs.

“It’s all part of an integratedcommunications mix now,” Roffeyexplains. “The term ‘trans-mediaengagement’ is not a new concept butnow with social and mobile it’s absolutelycrucial for brand storytelling.”

Train, don’t compelWith such a proliferation of social mediaplatforms, large companies, in particular,have realised that training needs to bereadily available inhouse in order for staffto be able to reap the benefits of thesenew channels. Often staff members areactively encouraged to blog, given thatevery individual should have something ofvalue to contribute to debate.

“We host WebEx training sessions sostaff can train in their own time,” addsRoffey. “Just because it’s social doesn’tmean it’s casual. It’s important toremember that you are representing thebrand at all times.”

Some business brands have moreprescriptive blogging and social mediapolicies than others.

Steve Lamb, technology audience PRmanager at Microsoft, says that thecompany policy is to ‘blog smart’. “If youwouldn’t be able to defend your claims ifchallenged by a senior executive, such asBill Gates, don’t post them. If in anydoubt, ask a colleague,” he explains. “ButMicrosoft’s rules are quite open,” he says.“In other companies the approach mightbe more controlled.”

There are over 5000 bloggers withinMicrosoft. For these individuals, bloggingis not their day job, but they have found

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PHIL JONESUK SALES AND MARKETING DIRECTORBROTHER

“Lots of small ormedium-sizedbusinesses have noidea what blogs cando for search enginevisibility”

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Blog like the big boysHow are well-establishedlarge corporates blogging?Lionel Menchaca, chiefblogger at Dell, provides histop tips

• Blogs are about fostering atwo-way dialogue. You have tolisten to customers. It’s important tolook at comments, to see whatpeople are discussing, and whatquestions people are asking. Look atwhat’s happening on the weboverall. Identify trends and what isdriving conversation. • Offer a variety of voices. Youdon’t necessarily need your seniorexecutives to be the voice of thebrand. Offering a variety ofperspectives makes it moreinteresting. Write from the heart andmake sure that personality comesthrough. And always think aboutwhat’s important to your customer.It’s not just about what’s importantto you. • It’s not always about beingcorrect, either. A blog is a differentmedium to a press release. You needto take into account otherperspectives. When you fixproblems, customers tend to be veryloyal. So don’t just stick to safeterritory. Customers pick up on that. • Link to other blogs. Don’t writea post that doesn’t link to otherplaces. It may go against the grain tolink outside your core property, butit’s important. Links provide context.There’s a broader discussion goingon that you need to think about.• Use blogs to aggregatecontent. Blogs are a greataggregator – a vehicle that canhighlight content of value on otherchannels. For example, we havefound there is real value inSlideshare, for sharing anddiscussing presentations. AndYouTube is great for videos. With ablog, you can stitch all thesechannels together.

EMMA ROFFEYDIRECTOR, COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL MARKETINGCISCO

“Just because it’ssocial doesn’t meanit’s casual”

Another challenge is finding the timeand the energy to keep going with yourblog. “It’s hard work but if you’re stillblogging after 100 days, you’ll probablymake it,” he says. “The first time I started,it fizzled out and I stopped for six to ninemonths. Then when someone told methey really liked my posts, I started againand never stopped.

“It does take a while to find your style,and decide upon your key topics,” headds. “And remember that if your contentis too random you’ll never really breakthrough the clutter on the searchengines.”

Yet despite acknowledging that theydemand a lot of hard work to keep up themomentum, Jones is a firm believer in thepower of blogs. He believes that theyrepresent an untapped marketing tool forbusinesses of all sizes. “Lots of small ormedium-sized businesses have no ideawhat blogs can do for search enginevisibility,” he says.