A business might wonder if blogs are of use to them now, especially with the new popularity of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. Yet blogs still have a valuable place. After all, many companies realized a few years ago that customers were turned off by fact-heavy websites that looked like pages from an Annual Report. Once they made their websites more interactive, often by means of blogs, the whole company-customer dynamic changed and became more positive and interactive.
Dell computers has aways been seen as the leader in the blogging community, being one of the very first companies to make such a change. Even as successful a business as Dell was, a barrier still remained between the company and its clients, many of whom had quite frustrating complaints that weren't being resolved. When the company set up to receive blog comments, the turnaround in its relationship with customers was remarkable. General Motors, too, had a similar experience.
While some customers still prefer regular email newsletters with the latest business news, others are eager to unclog their inboxes and check a company blog instead. A business can reach people in all of these ways, each serving different needs. One advantage of using the blog, however, will be that the posted information won't vanish off the bottom of the page as quickly as Twitter updates. Nor will the responses from customers.
Businesses do need to be cautious about raising clients' expectations, however. Although an almost one-on-one relationship might be achievable between a small business and its clients, larger companies may not be in a position to respond to all questions or issues, and this could ruin its good reputation if the company is not careful.
But another use for blogging, and one that businesses might not even think about at first, is for internal communication. Although employees can keep in touch by way of email, meetings or conference calls, an internal blog can center on one department or a individual project, supplying a main place for a sales team to receive frequent updates or make an informal record of their progress. This will keep these employees up to date without their own email inbox piling up to an unmanageable level.
Blogs were not the first tool in the social networking arsenal, but once the internet really became established and blogging software such as wordpress was created to make online interaction easier, blogs became valuable tools to help a business exchange information and feedback with its customers. These blog posts can supply up-to-date news, in a more stable form than on other media, and keep the essential lines of communication accessible.
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