Corporate Blogging : A new marketing communication tool for companies.

It is undeniable that blog has become one of the most popular communication tools on World Wide Web especially in today technology era. It is because blog offers everyone the opportunity to create their very own free website as well as encourages opinions and interactions among each other.

Corporate blogging refers to a company producing a blog to accomplish its business objectives. It serves as a channel between a company and its customers. The use of a blog allows a company to provide a destination of information for consumers, from commercials to promotional coupons, to directions on how to use products. Corporate blogs are primarily used for national branding. They allow companies to deliver accurate information without the filter of the media or advertising. Participating in the blogging world gives company a competitive edge. Those companies which start blogging could learn the skills at gathering competitive intelligence, language and etiquette of blogging.



Besides that, corporate blog can be divided into two types which are internal blog and external blog. An internal blog refers to access through the corporation's intranet. It helps the communication between different layers of management to share their experiences, opinions and thoughts which will help to improve their daily work. While an external blog is a blog that can be viewed by public. Public can leave their comment in the blog. It is useful for organizations to get the direct feedback from the customers. By using the external corporate blog, there is availability of updates about company new products or services on the blog. It becomes a platform between the corporate organizations with outsiders and will definitely help in building better relationship with customers.

There are a number of successful blog sites that keep public updates on the products they sell so as to attract more traffic through blogging. Below are the five types of corporate blogs with examples.

Company Blog
Examples: Google, Yahoo, Flickr, Facebook, Adobe.

CEO Blog
Example: Sun CEO – Jonathan Schwartz’s blog.

Industry Blog
Example: Miller Brewing’s Brew blog.

Department or Product Blog
Example: Google’s Product blog (blog roll on the sidebars)

Customer Service Blog





References:

http://www.businessknowhow.com/internet/corporate-blog.htm

http://mariosundar.wordpress.com/2008/05/19/the-5-types-of-corporate-blogs-with-examples/