Blog Growth for B2B; No Longer Just for the Kids
Corporate and employee blogs are gathering momentum as a thought-leadership brand development tool and one that also has positive impact on search engine performance. From the Demand Gen Report:
“Corporate or executive blogs can help in profiling of your company as an expert and using the knowledge of the collective,” says Guy Powell, President and Founder of Altanta-based agency DemandROMI. “Blogs and social networks can also serve as a business development tool as they provide a number of capabilities including backchannel information on particular prospective clients, advice, key informational contacts, prospective partners, etc.”
According to a November 2007 report from Nielsen Online, the major blogging sites have shown significant traffic spikes over the past year, with Blogger growing 58% to 34 million unique vistors in October 2007. WordPress jumped 444% to 11 million unique, followed by Typepad, which climbed 20% to over 10 million.
Research has also shown that the influence of blogs and other social media is increasing, particularly among technology buyers. A 2007 study from Universal McCann and Knowledge Storm found that IT buyers trust social media more than traditional content sources, with 80% of business and IT professionals saying they read blogs and 53% indicating blog content impacts their work-related purchase decisions.
In another sign that blogs have arrived as a staple in the overall marketing mix, an association was recently formed to address the topic. The Blog Council (http://blogcouncil.org/members.php), an organization made up of top global brands, was officially launched this month with a goal of sharing corporate blogging strategies and developing standards-based best practices. Founding members include Cisco Systems, Dell, Microsoft Corp. and Wells Fargo. The council will also address issues such as managing employee blogs and engaging and responding to bloggers who write about individual companies.
Filed Under: News & Careers
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