Legitimizing the Corporate Blog (and Ghost-Blogger)

Photo credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital

Earlier, I defined corporate blogging as a new marketing medium that invites direct, authentic and personal interaction with the corporate authority. That definition places access as the central value of the corporate blog. If it was just about the posted content, then there’s nothing to distinguish a corporate blog from a press release.

Unfortunately, as a rule, CEO’s and their ilk have little time to compose thoughtful content – much less respond to comments – which invites the impulse to delegate. But delegation raises its own issues.

For one, the C-level blog loses marketing cache and credibility with each rung it descends down the ladder. Leveraging a ghost-writer, meanwhile, compromises the content’s authenticity, and undermines the ability to respond to comments.

So, by traditional standards, ghostwriters have no legitimate use on the corporate or company blog. At best, they make it an ineffective marketing platform, at worst… Well, just go here.

It would appear then that the corporate-level blog is doomed to failure, beset by the conflicting interests of credibility, legitimacy and the executive’s higher priorities. That prediction, however, is only half right…

The fact is, the corporate-level blog isn’t going anywhere. No need to go out on a limb to make the following three predictions:

1. There will continue to be the aberrant CEO or CTO who finds the time and voice to prove the C-level blog can be done effectively
2. This will encourage hundreds if not thousands of other corporate execs to launch me-too blogs that will remain largely unread, and lastly,
3. As long as there continues to be corporate blogs, there will continue to be corporate ghost-bloggers

In other words, corporate blogs built on C-Level vanity are doomed to mediocrity, then obscurity, and then failure.

I’ve always been fond of the quote, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” So, I’d like to propose a fourth possibility, one that could reinvent the corporate blog as a genuine marketing instrument that generates credibility, authority and a loyal readership. And, best of all, it enables content to be delegated freely and legitimately.

An immodest proposal
First, let’s discard the notion that a corporate blog must be written by a C-level blogger. Admittedly, the Corner Office can offer a unique perspective into the company, the brand and the industry in which it competes. Yet, this model really defines a celebrity blog, not a corporate blog. It’s personality driven.

One alternative is to pull focus on the CEO, and create a company blog. I view this as more of a B2C platform, however, since it’s generally aimed toward building community around a brand. Also, since brand management is better handled internally, the company blog falls outside my jurisdiction.

The third alternative – and the one which I aim to propose – is to pull focus even further, and launch an industry blog. Think of it as a self-interested, online industry trade magazine focused on larger trends within the company’s value chain, end-markets, IP, government involvement and/or global competition.

If this sounds more ambitious than a vanity blog, that’s because it is. I never said this marketing model would be easy, just credible, legitimate and logistically viable. Plus, done correctly, it can reap benefits unattainable through conventional marketing collateral. Consider:

Credibility and authority: As Forrester Research reported last year, people intrinsically distrust company blogs. I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that’s because people distrust companies. Expanding the scope of your blog to the market in which you compete puts legitimate distance on the company agenda.

Influence: The goal isn’t to abandon the company agenda, but rather frame it against a larger context: namely what’s best for the market in which you compete. By creating a clearinghouse for information and perspective on industry trends, your blog can attract media as well as prospects, and establish you as the go-to authority for answers. No need to be totally objective. You’re entitled to a point of view, as long as you educate readers in the process.

Lead-gen via education: Social media in general, and blogs in particular are about attraction, not promotion. If done correctly, an industry blog can first attract and then educate prospective leads about an unfamiliar or complex technology. This is particularly effective for businesses fielding early technologies, such as advanced batteries, nanomaterials, smart grid technologies, video-over-IP or even social media.

An open channel: As an active player in the industry on which you blog, you’re entitled to occasionally use that blog as an open channel to broadcast corporate announcements. Standard rules apply: If you flood the channel with news only a CEO could love, then expect the Chief to remain your only loyal reader.

Delegation: Lastly, this new model of the corporate blog legitimizes delegation. But don’t be cavalier in your selection. This isn’t an intern position or piecework for a freelancer. Ideally, you’ll find a corporate strategist or consultant who can become thoroughly familiar with your company’s collective expertise and capabilities, as well as the issues and challenges confronting the industry at large.

Candidates should also know how to build and enforce an editorial policy to imbue the blog with a consistently representative point of view. This last skill is not only essential when deciding what issues to cover, and how to cover them. It will also be critical if, when and how the blog must address negative comments.

Overall, we’re talking ghost-blogger candidates with conventional editorial skills, which are in plentiful supply given the state of industry trade magazines these days.

Tell me what you think about this proposed model. Did I miss any benefits, or drawbacks? Do its benefits warrant a place among corporate strategy? Is it even a new idea? If not, I’d love to see some links to representative blogs in the comments section.