SCOUT Corporate Blogging

Writing Style Archive

3.5 Entertaining Writing Style and Personalization

posted: November 2, 2006 2:03 AM

Many of the bloggers we interviewed suggested that both personalizing blog posts and making a blog post entertaining were techniques that a blogger could use to build a successful blog. 

The bloggers in the study suggested that bloggers should write to entertain their readers and not just to give an opinion or inform.  Success in part then can be said to come from the personality of the blogger.  The personal writing style of a blogger will influence the interaction and reading habits of the audience.  And this “personality” can stem from humor, unique personal experience or passion expressed for their topic. The more entertaining a blogger is, the more captivating and riveting the content, the higher the chance for blogging success.  In addition, attempts by a blogger to conduct a dialogue with their readership, other bloggers and the community at large will have a positive effect on the success of a blog.  Conducting outreach with the blogging community will enhance a blogger’s reputation and draw people to their blog because their content interests the reader. That outreach also has to be personal and hopefully entertaining.

We must consider some different findings from the study that questions whether personalization really is a successful blogging strategy to follow, however.  For example, while many bloggers suggested a personal approach will bring more success to a blog, Eric Anderson from Adobe stands out as counter to the argument that content which includes personal information fuels blogging success.  Eric writes his blogs and concentrates on technical content avoiding personal details.  Interestingly, one of the authors, John Cass, has previously interviewed Macromedia bloggers for the Backbone Media Corporate Blogging Survey 2005.  In those interviews, the other Macromedia bloggers suggested non-personalization of blog posts was a company-wide strategy and that this non-personalization strategy has been shown to be successful for the Macromedia blogs.

It is our hypothesis, that it is a matter of audiences. Adobe has a technical audience that demands technical knowledge.  Thus, Adobe’s audience is most interested in finding technical information on a blog. Eric Anderson’s blog content might not be entertaining, but it is riveting to a highly technical audience who are affected by Adobe’s product development with Flex.  Similarly, the amount of personal reflection might be different depending upon the industry culture you work within.  The way people write technical material might include humor or personal reflection, but to the non-industry observer, any such comments would not come across as revealing very much, or be perceived as entertaining or personal. Yet in the context of the industry, those blog posts might be very entertaining and personal. 

Dave Balter from BzzAgent feels that the entertainment and personalization component derives from providing an inside scoop on the inner workings of the company. Dave started blogging because he thought it would be a way to explain simply and directly exactly what BzzAgent does.  Dave discovered the blog had a powerful impact on the reader.  Dave believes discussing the inner workings of BzzAgent is really powerful for clients and creates a bond with customers, investors and readers in a way other traditional communications media could not.  In addition to their regular blog, the BeeLog, Dave's company ran a blog called 90 Days of BzzAgent. This blog describe a period of 90 days where the company went through a financing round, and how the company evolved during that period.  This is an example of how a blog can be compelling because of the intimate personalization of the content that revealed much of what happened at BzzAgent during that short time period.

If the content on a blog is interesting, a blog has a higher chance for attaining success.  The personal perspective of a blogger in a unique role is one way to develop interesting content for a blog. The Stonyfield organic farmer blog is an example of a blog that provides compelling content and provides the average reader the opportunity to talk directly with an organic farmer.

Blogging can be successful not just because of unusual content or related content as in the case of the Stonyfield Farm blogs.  Blogs that reveal the inner human from inside the corporation can help to pull down some of the barriers between a company and its audience. Aliza Sherman Risdahl’s comments illustrate a recurring theme in corporate blogging, that is, blogging allows a writer to reveal more about their life, experiences and opinions.  And a company has a lot to gain by letting its employees be more open and different in the voices that are revealed through their blogs.

Paperback Bazaar, Greg Chick

posted: October 28, 2006 9:48 PM

1.1.16 Company: Paperback Bazaar

Blogger: Ralph Wayne
Student Interviewer: Greg Chick
Blog: No longer working.

Ralph started his blog because he looked at forums in the comic book industry and discovered that many forums did not get a lot of participation.  He thought a blog would help promote his company without the need for much participation initially.

Discussing the issue of commenting Ralph described what generates the most comments on his blog, "We pick the content that will annoy people the most.” “One example is this week we were arguing about the new Batman comics, where everyone hates it but they keep buying it.  It would be like arguing about the new King Kong movie if you were a movie store."

Ralph went on to say "If they are going to blog they need something interesting to blog about and something that will get conversation going.  If you ask them how they feel about something, that’s not going to get a reaction from people.  If you get down there and say you hate this comic book it is the worst thing ever written you will get some reply to that.  You have to be entertaining. The web is either advertising or entertaining.  You have to give them a reason to be there."

Blogger: Jeremy Pepper

posted: October 28, 2006 9:43 PM

1.1.17 Blogger: Jeremy Pepper

Student Interviewer: AnneMarie Martel
Blog: http://pop-pr.blogspot.com/

Jeremy Pepper is one of the earliest PR bloggers in the US market.  He started his Pop PR blog when he started his own PR agency.  Now working for a larger agency he continues to write his personal blog.

Jeremy thinks that any company can blog, but a company needs to have either the right person or the right corporate culture.  Jeremy went on to describe how Robert Scoble of Microsoft has really changed the impression of the company among its customers.  Jeremy said, "I can say without any issue that Robert Scoble has given Microsoft a friendly persona out there on the Internet. He’s given a face to the organization that’s different than Steve Balmer or Bill Gates. He’s made it warm and fuzzy. It’s no longer the evil empire. It’s just, “Oh this is the company Scoble works for!” It’s – It helps take off the taint that the company has had."  Jeremy went on to say, "He (Scoble) doesn’t talk about Microsoft all that much, but he is known as a Microsoft blogger."

Discussing the issue of what makes his blog successful, Jeremy said, “I think what draws the attention to my blog is my honesty.” And went onto say, “People know that I’m not going to sugarcoat anything. That I’m going to be out there. I’m going to be honest. I’m going to say what I’m thinking.”

Jeremy stated that that bloggers have to conduct a conversation with their audience, and that it’s important to reply to people who comment on a blog, to comment on other blogs, but not to comment for the sake for commenting, only when it fits in with a conversation.

Jeremy discussed how he thought that bloggers in the PR community should focus their blogging efforts on helping the PR community to improve their community.  Jeremy thought that to be successful in blogging takes a lot of time and a thick skin and some passion.

Stone Creek Coffee, Tom Pionek

posted: October 28, 2006 8:11 PM

1.1.18 Company: Stone Creek Coffee

Blogger: Tom Pionek
Student Interviewer: Krista Grosser
Blog: http://sccv3.stonecreekcoffee.com/blog.cfm

Tom Pionek works at Stone Creek Coffee, a coffee roaster and retailer of specialty coffees. He has over ten years of Internet database marketing experience.  Tom helps run the Stone Creek Coffee blog.  Stone Creek Coffee has nine retail stores in the Wisconsin area.

Tom told us that the ability to change content on the website more frequently was a big factor in setting up the blog.  Nearly everyone at the roasting plant can blog although employees at the retail stores don’t blog, as those employees are more often than not very transitory, and so Stone Creek Coffee prefers to have those employees blog who will write over time.

Tom thought it was important for the people in his company to blog, "from the heart and not try to put a spin on something."  The employees try very hard not to make the blog seem very corporate by talking about their everyday work experiences.

As a measure of success, Tom tracks if his blog receives good feedback.  Tom said the blog has generated a lot of publicity for the company. Other non-company bloggers had a big impact on the company blog by commenting and linking to the blog.  Those links have helped with higher rankings on Google search terms such as “wholesale coffee”.

Tom said that he is trying to use the blog as a content generator for printed materials and newsletters.  He reuses the posts in such printed material for customers.

According to Tom, the content that generates the most comments are the posts about the coffee and the unique properties of their roasts.  Most of the content is about the product, stores, and community projects.  One of the posts that generated the most comments was when one of their store managers left the company.  Many well wishers to the store manager left comments on the blog.

Tom recommended that a company decide who is going to blog and have a schedule of content.