Company Blogs Can Provide Big Insights
August 21st, 2008 (12:00pm) Scott Blitstein 15 Comments
One of the things I like to do when evaluating an application or service is to also look to see if the company has a product blog, and how frequently it is updated. I have found that regular posting on a blog is a great indicator of a companies general attitude about the importance of communicating with their customers.
A good company blog lets us know about new features, gives us tutorials and tips, and presents us with useful information related to their product or service. It gives us a glimpse into what they do and often why they do it. It also makes my experience more personal by giving me names and faces to associate with the company.
Some companies really seem to get it. Folks like CrossLoop, BatchBlue, FreshBooks, 37signals, and Wufoo are all excellent at keeping me in the loop via their blog. These regular glimpses into their company and their services enhance the quality of my interaction with them immeasurably.
The bigger companies seem to struggle with this a bit. While I subscribe to the various Google product blogs, I find the are updated much less frequently. Meanwhile, our own Judi Sohn has written about the state of blogging at Apple.
Microsoft actually has a staggering number of bloggers, although quality and frequency can vary. I highly recommend Geek in Disguise as the best place to start, he’ll point you to the others you need. Steve is quickly becoming the face of Microsoft for me.
A well written, frequently updated blog certainly goes a long way to keep me as a customer happy.
Does your company have a blog? Which company blogs would you recommend?
15 Comments Post your own comment
Dameon Welch-Abernathy says: August 21st, 2008 1:31pm
Nokia’s “Corporate” Blog is http://conversations.nokia.com, and it is getting updated multiple times a day.
I think the challenge with big companies is that there is so much going on, it’s hard to capture everything into a blog. At least that’s what I find working at Nokia :)
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steve clayton says: August 22nd, 2008 1:51am
thanks Scott – appreciate the kind words and congrats on a great blog of your own.
cheers
Steve
John Carson says: August 22nd, 2008 7:50am
Hi Scott,
I maintain a company blog called Fine Print. It is part of GCI Canada, and talks about social media, PR and other random happenings. It is updated daily, sometimes more depending on time.
http://blogs.gcigroup.com/fineprint/
Cheers,
John.
Krista says: August 22nd, 2008 8:20am
Hi Scott. Kodak has been blogging since Sept. 2006 and now has three blogs – A Thousand Words, Plugged In and Grow Your Biz. There is a new post everyday from our employees. We also have a Chief Blogger who oversees it all. Our blogs help us communicate with our customers, share information about our products and services and as you also pointed out, give our company a human face.
Mrinal says: August 22nd, 2008 12:39pm
Scott – thanks for recognizing our/CrossLoop’s effort. Building relationships with our users – one at a time – is our core value.
Michael E. Rubin, Blog Council says: August 22nd, 2008 1:42pm
Scott,
The “bigger companies” actually do a ton of great blogging. A great list can be found on the Blog Council’s blog at http://www.blogcouncil.org/blog. Yes, they are our members, but they’re doing great work and I would recommend them anyway.
Here’s the list:
http://www.blogcouncil.org/blog
Cheers,
Michael
—-
michael@blogcouncil.org
312-932-9000
I am a Blog Council employee and this is my personal opinion.
Scott Blitstein says: August 22nd, 2008 6:15pm
Thanks to everyone for the great comments, it looks like I have a lot reading to do this weekend.
Why do you think the bigger companies sometimes have trouble getting the same traction from their blog presence as the little guys?
SB
Richard Rabins says: August 25th, 2008 5:52am
I completely agree Scott! I try to post to our company blog (http://blog.alphasoftware.com/) at least three times a week because I enjoy it! I like having a means to share insight with out customers about new products and updates. And I’ve found that being honest with them, and even letting them in the creative process, has fostered some fantastic relationships. It’s even a way for me to share personal or humorous stories with our customer base so they can learn about who the man behind the curtain really is. Nice post!
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Tsahi Levent-Levi says: October 6th, 2008 9:55pm
Scott,
We’ve got a small blog network in RADVISION with 3 bloggers (http://blog.radvision.com).
At the moment, we give our employees who blog the ability to blog to their heart’s content about things that are related to work (more or less).
Tsahi
Spencer says: October 7th, 2008 6:20am
I have several blogs that I write for Stardock, depending on what the topic is.
http://www.impulsedriven.net
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