Business Blogs: Find a Hero; Don’t Be Evil

Two interesting takes on what a corporate blog should and shouldn’t be like.

Copyblogger’s Brian Clark says to avoid blatant self-promotion. In his post How to Become a Heroic Business Blogger, he suggests working promotion into the blog by using customer testimonials and quotes from the media to tell your company’s story for you.

Better yet, tell a hero story:

“A hero story is similar to a testimonial, except that it transcends praise and becomes a compelling, engaging narrative that your readers can directly relate to. Instead of you or your business being the center of attention, your customer or client is the “hero” who solves a problem utilizing your solution.”

From Blogwrite for CEOs, Debbie Weil offers some lessons from Google’s recent blogging miscue, in which an employee used Michael Moore’s documentary Sicko as an example of propaganda that health services companies should battle by … buying ads from Google.

Can you say blatant self-promotion?

Weil’s three lessons to be learned:

1. Be authentic

That means use an “authentic voice” and say what you’re really thinking. Lauren Turner’s Sicko post had the ring of a salesperson’s spin. It sounded like she was using her “opinion” about Sicko as a way to promote Google’s AdSense program.

2. Be transparent

If you’re one of numerous authors on a corporate blog, be absolutely clear when you’re expressing your own opinion vs. your company’s.

3. Apologize if you make a mistake

Google got this one right. And even went further. As a Google spokesperson told the San Francisco Chronicle:

“We try to ensure that what is in them (Google’s over 50 blogs) represents the company, but we also try to make them interesting and not too traditional and corporate,” he said. “We hope to get even better at it over time, but we’ll probably also make more mistakes.”

Always be aware of your audience. Are they reading your newsletter or blog post because they want to receive a sales pitch? Not likely.

They’re looking for useful information that helps them make business decisions. If you work the occasional example from your company’s experiences, all the better. But use finesse, not blunt force.

Tags: blogging, business, corporate, ceos, finesse, google, debbie weil, pr, communications, narrative, copyblogger, brian clark