Why aren’t more companies blogging by now?

In May 2005, Business Week issued a bold cover story; Blogs will change your business. Almost Two years later Gartner is predicting that blogging will reach its apex in 2007. This prediction is misleading if you’re trying to gauge the adoption rate of corporate blogs. I think that a distinction should be made between random individual blogs and company blogs. Considering the fact that only a tiny fraction of companies are blogging now, the only logical conclusion is that the rate of corporate blogging will exponentially increase as workforce familiarity and the competitive nature of the market ensue.

Brian Edwards at the new Cedar Mill Communications blog recently posted an insightful review of the Northeastern University and Backbone Media Blogging Success Study’s findings in a post, What makes a corporate blog sing?”. Brian has offered three very good insights into understanding why adoption of blogging will take some time. Here’s a summry of his main points…

  1. "First, is time. The CEO is supposed to be the one blogging, but rarely will blogging take precedence over closing big deals or keeping the board happy…"

  2. "Second, companies aren’t convinced that blogs are a good idea and will be effective…"

  3. "Third, the blogging and social media skill set is non-existent at most companies…"

I would add a fourth to the list; ‘the Keeping up with the Joneses factor’. C level support is crucial for a blog to make it out of the gates and through the first year. Chief Executives and Directors that remain on the sidelines are not going to apply a sense of urgency to blogging until they see their adversaries / rivals / competitors doing it. I’ve seen it happen. As soon as a key competitor pokes its blog through the corporate membrane, the ‘blogging thing’ becomes part of this week’s agenda.

I’m just a biased CEO Blogger so take this for what it’s worth; corporate blogging will become a standard tool for companies in the years to come. I would compare the adoption of corporate blogging with the adoption of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO practices have been around since 1995, but they were not really embraced by a critical mass of companies until after the Internet bubble burst in late 2000. Before the crash, Search Engine Marketing was a fast growing industry but many marketers preferred the glitz and familiarity of the CPM banner advertising over the arcane practice of positioning a company website on target keywords. The turning point for SEM was when the new economic realities forced marketers to explore new ways to market on a shoestring budget. It took a major shift in thinking and the SEM professional community to show companies reports on missed keyword opportunities, relative position of competitors and ROI to finally establish critical support from industry influencers.

In my opinion, Search Engine Marketing is a simple concept, but the glories of corporate blogging and social media are not so cut and dry.The act of corporate blogging crosses major disciplines such as PR, Legal, IT. Brand Positioning, Customer Service and more. Executives are faced with a much steeper learning curve and larger barriers to entry than simply hiring an SEM firm. Therefore, I am not surprised that the adoption of social media by companies is not wide spread. I think it will take three to four more years before we see widespread adoption. I believe it will be brought on through

  1. Greater understanding of the benefits of blogging among the C suite

  2. More high profile case studies of successful corporate blogging strategies

  3. The inevitable influx of a new workforce that is familiar with what it means to participate in social media prefer text messaging and IM over email, phones and fax machines.

There is nothing wrong with treading lightly when it comes to social media. As we reported in the Blogging Success Study, there are several Factors to Consider Before Starting a Company Blog, not least of which is having somthing to say. Blogging is not something that every company needs to be rush into. It’s certaily not for every company. There are many companies that should not blog. However, every company has a responsibility to its stakeholders to explore the possibilities and then make the call based on their own set of goals and circumstances. 

Tags: blog+adoption, company+blog, corporate+blogging, growth+rate+of+blogging, online+marketing, search+engine+optimization, social+media
Filed under: Blogging Strategy

Posted by Stephen Turcotte on February 20, 2007 1:58 AM | | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Comments

Good discussion. I've seen CEOs either get motivated by what their peers are doing, or if they perceive competitors are getting an upper hand through something like a blog. Given the upheaval in the publishing world -- it's no longer as effective of a way to push company messaging -- corporate blogging seems inevitable.

Posted by: Brian Edwards | February 20, 2007 9:30 PM

Stephen,
I respectfully disagree. Companies are still just getting decent at web strategies in general, let along blogging strategies. The communicators within public companies that might have once had the time to blog are now chasing their asses trying to be compliant with SOX. I grant you that blogging might benefit a smaller, privately-held B to C company in some ways, but I remain convinced that they can acheive the same benefit by using their website more effectively.

Posted by: Dee Rambeau | March 2, 2007 2:08 PM

Dee, Sorry it took me so long to notice that you submitted a comment. I've been traveling and sick for two weeks stright. I don't get too many real comments, so this one slippeed by. Here's my response to your comment. Sorry, it's kind of long winded...

I want to stay on your good side, so first let me agree with you on this point - many companies could do a better job at using their website more effectively. Point two, not every company needs to make blogging a priority.

A blog is just another form of a website but there are a lot of things you can do within the world of social media that do not adapt well within the standard framework of a corporate website. I know that you were once a blogging advocate so please forgive me if I'm preaching to the choir with these examples...

1. Blogs offer a platform for a company (b2b or b2c) to discuss industry related topics in a non scripted informal way. Web sites in the traditional sense are great for publishing information about the company's products and services, providing service channels and help, press releases and white papers but not so good for un filtered discussion.
2. Blogs offer a platform for individual personalities to cut through the official company mantras and connect on a more human level. Steve Rubel and Robert Scobel are the obvious A list examples, but I think we could find many examples of how previously unknown personalities developed a positive presence in their own niche blogosphere.
3. The culture of blogging is very different than the culture that pervades how we think about and use websites. Bloggers are usually very enthusiastic about their particulars subjects. Want to find and connect with a group of people who enthusiastic about certain subject? Type your subject name into a social search engines like www.Technorati.com, or www.blogsearch.google.com, or www.icerocket.com) to see who's the latest to have something to say on "name any topic". I guarantee that within a few hours you will be well on your way to identifying the people who represent the tip of the iceberg on any given subject.
4. blog content is easy to search
5. blogs strategies make for great search engine optimization strategies because the culture of blogging is all about links and content. Not all web strategies make for great seo strategies.
6. blog Content management systems are relatively low cost compared with most website CMSs.

The bottom line is, I don't think the question should be compare improved website strategy vs. blogging strategy. I think having a website and a cohesive website strategy is essential. What a company needs to know about blogging is that it should not be ignored. I happen to believe that you've got to take a look at it from your goals perspective. What are the goals that you are trying to achieve and why. A company should also examine whether there is a critical mass of their competitors or customers participating in social media. It's a case by case decision.

Posted by: Stephen Turcotte | March 19, 2007 3:02 PM

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