They might surprise you.

1. 5 Key Myths
of Corporate Blogging
The Conference Board
May 21, 2010
Debbie Weil
Author | Corporate Social Media
Consultant
www.debbieweil.com
debbie.weil@gmail.com
mobile: 202.255.1467

2. Myth #1
Corporate blogs
are out. Twitter and
Facebook are in.

3. Fact
No! A corporate blog is
your home base. You
own and control the
content.

4. Aside
Jason Calacanis, founder of
Weblogs, Inc., is deleting his
Facebook account because
of privacy concerns.

5. or
Start
With
Social
Media
Mindset
a social media hub
Southwest Airlines’ blog lives on
Blog
Over 1M followers on
Twitter @SouthwestAir
www.blogsouthwest.com
Southwest Air CEO Gary Kelly
on LinkedIn

6. Myth #2
You shouldn’t sell
on a corporate blog.

7. Fact
Nonsense. Your blog
should be designed so
it’s easy to click back to
your main site and buy.

8. Bill Marriott’s
blog drives
millions of
dollars in
bookings via
click thrus to
Marriott.com

10. Myth #3
You have to produce
brilliant, provocative
content for your
corporate blog.

11. Fact
Up to 80% of the traffic
to corporate blogs is
first-time visitors.*
*Compendium study http://yhoo.it/9NMiPP

12. Your blog may NOT be building a loyal community of readers

13. Fact
No one reads all the
words online. Be brief.
Be useful to first-time
and repeat visitors.

14. Were you
fooled?

15. It’s
(Always)
tsecrets of effective blogging
7 he
Content
1. Choose a topic that relates to what your stakeholders
are interested in
2. Find a conversational voice you’re comfortable with
3. Use self-deprecating humor
4. Embed videos
5. Package your content - 10 Tips, 5 Rules, 7 Mistakes
6. Always, always link
7. Publish consistently
From Chapter 7 of The Corporate Blogging Book

16. Myth #4
Measure success by the
number of RSS or email
subscribers to your blog.

17. Fact
Those are the wrong
metrics. Set measurable
communications and
business objectives.

18. Business objectives for a corporate blog
Proof Point: • Increase awareness of your brand or agency
Dell’s social media efforts
resulted in negative online
• Increase positive / decrease negative mentions
sentiment declining from • Improve customer service
48% to 23% from August • Drive traffic to a specific site for sales or downloads
2006 to mid-2008,
according to Dell’s • Create platform for 24X7 crisis communications
Richard Binhammer • Collect feedback from stakeholders
(Senior Mgr, Corporate
Comms) • Internally: improve knowledge management
• Innovate through collaboration and crowdsourcing
http://bit.ly/c8KMgM
• Platform for thought leadership by senior managers

19. Aside
Include a clear CTA (Call
to Action) on your blog.

20. Calls to Action
- Download our white paper
- Join us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube
- Ask us a question
- Download our e-book
- Sign up for our free Webinar
- Request our toolkit
- Sign up for our e-newsletter
- Request a demo

21. Myth #5
Your blog will turn
your company into a
thought leader.

22. Fact
Probably not. But it
doesn’t matter if your
blog is the pivot point
for conversations about
your brand.

23. Cont.
Forget the word “blog.”
The best corporate blogs
are next-generation social
Websites.

25. Required Reading
Required Reading
Blogs / Sites
AllTop to find best blogs on every topic
www.alltop.com
Web Strategist blog by Jeremiah Owyang
www.web-strategist.com/blog/
Subscribe to SmartBrief on Social Media (free e-newsletter)
www.smartbrief.com/news/socialmedia
Books
FREE by Chris Anderson
Linchpin by Seth Godin
Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith
The Corporate Blogging Book 2010 Updated e-book edition
with new preface, new section on Twitter and updated resources throughout

26. Contact
Debbie Weil
Author | Speaker | Corporate Social Media Consultant
Buy The Corporate Blogging Book
2010 Updated E-book Edition on Amazon
Twitter: @debbieweil
www.debbieweil.com
mobile: 202.255.1467
debbie.weil@gmail.com