Social Media
10 Great Corporate Blogs
Blogging is tricky. It is part information, part personality. Part entertainment, part education. There are so many directions to take a blog, many of which are not that entertaining or informative. One key stumbling block is we all like talking about ourselves, a lot, and as Chris Brogan points out, we might be addicted to giving our own opinions.
What do I like to see in a corporate blog?
- self deprecation
- humor
- photos (please add some life to your posts)
- video
- interaction
- update more often (I assume you guys come to work every day?)
- talk about me not you (AKA solve my problems)
Who is Doing it Right?
10 Great Corporate Blogs
Zappos – The wild and woolly culture blog at Zappo’s is a great look inside of a fun company.
Southwest – Very true to the Southwest culture, this blog lives on service, family, and helping Southwest customers.
Marriott – No sexy design awards here, but the content is genuine and the community around the blog is strong.
GM – Strong in almost every category I can think of. Big splash, big content, rich media.
Quicken Loans – Quicken’s Whats the Diff blog is a nice mix of company culture and a dissection of “exposing the gap between average and excellent”. Stepping back to such a broad view is a unique a engaging strategy.
Vans – Heaping spoonfuls of culture here with plenty of video, photos, and stories about the consumers and celebrities that dig their shoes.
WordPress – Most of the WordPress blog success can be attributed to an understanding of the audience. They know their bloggers, they know what they love, they give it to them.
Sharpie – Sharpie truly embraces the creation their product allows. They do a great job of using rich media and telling engaging stories.
Kodak – To be fair, Kodak really does not even have to think about including photos. It is kind of required. But still, A Thousand Words really goes above and beyond to feature real Kodak consumers and fans.
PlayStation – Feeding the vast, rabid community that is video game enthusiasts is tough. For most, this blog might be a little overwhelming, but for PlayStation addicts, it is heaven.
Give Thanks, Help Kids in Tanzania #Tweetsgiving
Last year for Thanksgiving, Twitter gathered around a cause to raise $10,000 for a small Tanzanian school. It was a simple rally to help, to give a few kids that are a world away a shot at education, a chance for a new start. [Donate this year, details at the bottom of the post]
Today that school has grown from 6 students to over 350. The students are on Twitter, they are blogging, and now have laptops and some nice books.
TweetsGiving 2009 from LittlePurpleCow Productions on Vimeo.
Scheduled for November 24 – 26, 2009, the 48-hour event created by US nonprofit Epic Change will encourage participants to express their thanks using online tools and at live events. Join the celebration: www.tweetsgiving.org
If there is not a Tweetsgiving near you, give thanks by donating $10 by just text ‘thanks NY’ to 85944. Multiple texts = multiple donations
Simply Remember to Take It Offline
We all know real world relationships are the goal of our networking. We talk to people a world away online. We form relationships with people all over the country on Twitter. But the real tangible benefit of these relationships, personal and business, happens offline.
It is important to not get stuck inside of social networks and the virtual interactions they make so easy. Take the conversation to email, call someone, meet them for coffee. When you go to conferences or visit other cities, look for people from your online networks there.
Experiences within social media are most engaging when they echo the real world. Audio, photos, video, etc. The ability to use Twitter and other social media to make easy introductions with all kinds of great people is truly valuable. But if it stops with an online introduction, you are missing out on the most rewarding parts of these relationships.
Social Media: The Bad and The Ugly
In response to Patrick O’Keefe’s ManagingCommunities.com post on his BlogWorld Expo Panel “Social Media: The Bad and the Ugly”. My ugly social media is simply the knee jerk attack responses that I seem to see more and more of each day.
I try not to be negative at all online outside of customer service complaints. But especially when a more constructive response or the offering of a solution would be a better response.
I hope more people will decide to stay positive when reacting to individuals and companies that are making a strong effort to enter the social media space.
Patrick’s Blogworld Expo panel will include Patrick, Wayne Sutton, Amber Naslund, and Robert Scoble.
4 Free Tickets to Social Media Business Forum
Social Media History Trivia
- October 9th, 1pm EST
- Follow @jakrose for questions
- Random draw from the first 5 correct answers wins a ticket for each question
- 4 Questions
4 Free Tickets to Social Media Business Forum (October 23rd – Durham, NC)
