My friend Easton Ellsworth has written a very on-the-mark article called Why are most business blogs lamer than a two-legged dog? (great headline!). In it he asks:
How many corporate blogs - official company blogs - do you read regularly?
If your answer is greater than 5, congratulations. You’re a rare (ahem) breed.
Long gone are the days when you could make heads turn just by saying, “We’ve got a business blog.” That’s so far past jumping the shark it’s not funny. It’s like pouring a gallon of meh all over yourself.
Now, that is a great point, and it brings up one of the similarities between regular blogs and business blogs: success comes by focusing on meeting the needs of your audience. In the case of a business blog, that niche audience is the business’ customers and industry peers. But the goal is the same: to continually engage the audience in order to convert (perform the most desired action, such as buy a product).
Easton says companies have to raise the noise level of their blogs, because otherwise, they’re just not very interesting to read and they lack value. I think what he’s talking about is buzz. The word noise makes me think of the phrase “signal-to-noise,” as in a high signal-to-noise ratio is desirable. The more signal and less noise on a blog, the better, because that means the blog is focused on providing value to its intended audience while accomplishing its mission for the company.
I think the reason why so many business blogs aren’t worth following is because there isn’t enough signal coming from them–it’s mostly noise, because the company doesn’t know how to make the blog further the company’s objectives and the company doesn’t know what its customers want from the blog. This is exactly the problem Gateway Blogging is designed to address.
Eastons’ metaphor of lameness is apt–most business blogs are lame. They lack boldness. They lack controversy (let’s not rock the boat). They take no risks (the lawyers will never approve that). The same edginess and humor that some companies put into their commercials should be put into their blog.
Photo by chicanerii
