Business Blogs to Model Yourself After
Forrester Research compiled a review of ninety different Fortune 500 blogs, and found most to be lacking the proper amount of stimulation.
Sadly, two things of these corporate blogs barely ever received any comments, 70 % of them stuck completely to topics of their business without ever straying, and sadly, more than half of them simply regurgitated press releases and other news that was already pubic.
Because of blogs like this, the general consensus on corporate blogging has been that it is not really worth the time and effort, and this is a true shame because when a corporate blog is done right, it can actually have a tremendous value to the owner.
Below is a brief list of some of the corporate blogs out there that are shining examples of what this activity can do for your business because they really “get” corporate blogging.
Signal v. Noise
You could consider these guys to be the poster children for corporate blogging, with more than one hundred thousand RSS subscribers and a blog full of advice and insight about design and business, editorials and so much more.
Adobe
Adobe actually offers a large collection of different employee blogs, and many of them happen to be excellent reads.
Because Adobe is allowing its employees to blog, it has given them the power to evangelize the company’s products through reviews, tutorials and advice without actually forcing them to talk only about these products.
Amazon Web Services
Amazon’s Web Services blog is one of the greatest corporate blogs in existence, because it reads like the blog of Amazon’s greatest fan.
The great mind because the Amazon Web Services blog is actually an evangelist for the company, but his blog posts read like they’re from someone who is really truly amazed by the things that people are building in Amazon’s suite of different web services every single day.
This blog is a true pleasure to read, which is what corporate blogging is about.
Freshbooks
Freshbooks seems to be taking the lead from 37 Signals, utilizing their corporate blog in proactive ways by sharing insights and advice into how they do things to create true fans out of their blog users and readers.
Lenovo
Lenovo is a computer making company that has a collection of blogs, which prove in no uncertain terms that they understand what corporate blogging is all about.
They post about their products, but also musings relating to business, life, design and technology.
One of their best blogs, Design matters, is a must read blog for anyone who is into design, and can be found at http://blog.lenovo.com/
Southwest Airlines
The Southwest Airlines company has a “Nuts about Southwest” blog that does not take itself seriously, but rather it blogs about the airline industry and the company itself with a really important personal touch that allows the company to produce interesting and enjoyable content with only a slight hint at seriousness.
