If you want to add your company to the best corporate blogs list, we can teach you how.
At the end of 2014, we created a best-of list highlighting 10 company blogs we thought were doing really great things. As you can imagine, these blogs are killing SEO, writing the best content, and amassing a bunch of comments on each post from loyal readers. They’re also speaking to niche personas, showing up in search engines, and pulling in some great company revenue.
When we wrote the post, we wanted to highlight some companies that we really admired. As you know from our Marketing Genius series, we like to showcase companies we think are doing great things, and explain why we think their approach is working for them. Now that we’ve highlighted these 10 companies, let’s talk about what they’re doing that makes them the best corporate blogs.
Social Connections
When comparing corporate blogs, you can find out a lot by how socially engaged a company is. Wistia is a great example of a company who is really leading the social front. As of this posting, the company has over 14.5 thousand Twitter followers and just short of 8 thousand Facebook friends. When they amplify any of their blog posts to their followers, everybody clicks, listens and replies.
With almost the exact same stats as Wistia, Catchafire is able to harness the power of social media to help them recruit professionals to assist with their nonprofit projects. We always recommend that you share your blog posts regularly to your social media crowds, but what are you doing to build up your social media followers? The best corporate blogs are those that are widely read and highly amplified. Take the extra steps to insure that someone is listening when you amplify your posts.
Be Transparent
If you’re looking for a company whose middle name is “Transparent” look no further than Buffer. They regularly post company updates – geared toward investors, but written with all readers in mind – which discusses their revenue (currently over $421,000 monthly recurring), company hierarchy (they’ve just gotten rid of their management system), and anything else that majorly affects the company.
As they’re a highly regarded company with a huge blog following, this seems to be working for them. Unbounce recently posted about the company’s 2014 year-in-review. It was a detailed post highlighting everything from revenue to statistics to company culture to charity work. Readers want to feel engaged with your brand. By sharing information others may keep hidden, you’re likely to gain their trust.
Have High Standards for Your Content
If you want to read no-holding-back content, find your way over to The Middle Finger Project. As you may assume from the title, nothing is held back on this blog. Author Ashley Ambridge immediately gets to the point and drives it home. She sells with her words and has a loyal readership because of it.
Another company with very loyal customers is Marriott. Their blog, Marriott on the Move, gives customers a behind-the-scenes look at the company, by exploring company culture and activities. Readers go there to read the content. How many times have you checked out your hotel’s blog before?
Know Who You’re Talking To
Before we even begin writing for our clients we identify personas who will be reading their blog. That way, when we start writing, we know exactly who we’re speaking to. A few of the best company blogs that we showcased should be commended for understanding and connecting with their reader base.
What type of consumer do you think would be reading TaxAct’s blog? Someone who is financially savvy and looking for money advice. They don’t wait until tax season to create content, they keep their blog thriving year round. Just like we said in our original post, Close.io’s posts are to the point and contain “legit content.” They know they are speaking to people involved with sales, and that’s the only message they are trying to share. Have you identified your client personas yet?
Consider Your Comments
Now, we never consider tell our clients to consider comments as a guiding factor whether a post is doing well or not, because sometimes great posts don’t get a lot of comments. That being said, you can learn a lot about reader engagement and investment from highly commented-on blogs. In the aforementioned year-in-review post by Unbounce, they had 19 comments which simply praised the company on having a good year. Those are the best kind of comments.
Wistia did a similar post with 54 comments. Your users care enough about your success as a company that they are taking time out of their day to congratulate you. Don’t rely on comments to guide whether or not your succeeding with your blog posts. The analytics will tell you that. If you’re lucky enough to have highly engaged blog readers, be appreciative of their comments, and take that as an opportunity to open a conversation.
SEO
Wondering how these companies made our list of best corporate blogs? Chances are SEO played a role in their success. We’ve said it before and we will say it again (and again). You can write perfect content, but if you aren’t optimizing it, you’re missing out on a great opportunity.
We bet CoSchedule isn’t missing out on the opportunity to optimize and promote their posts. They are a company who practices what they preach on their blog, and that’s a company you know you can rely on. Posts are well-written, detailed, and ready to be shared all over the interwebs. Have you checked out The Creative Group’s blog yet? As we said in originally, “Every element of their content delivery is airtight.” They’ve carefully created and curated a blog with a strong marketing perspective.
What of these best practices do you find is your company’s strong suit? What’s your weakness? Let us know in the comments, and remember, we can help make you one of the best corporate blogs. You simply need to contact us.
