Blogs

6 Ideas to Create Content for Your Corporate Blog

January 17, 2012 by Raul Colon

It still amazes me on how many people don’t see the purpose in writing a corporate blog. On many occasions someone wants to establish their online presence and they just want a static page. When I ask business owners why there is only a static page, their answer is that they don’t know what to write about on their corporate blog, or even worse that they don’t have time to be online.

When individuals are so resistant to set up a corporate blog it is obvious that they don’t see the value in establishing one. But maybe if they could get an idea of what they can write about it might sound more appealing to them.

5 Suggestions on what to write about in your corporate Blog that can save you time and money:

1. Answering the FAQ’s of your prospective clients

It is great to have a FAQ page on your site but if you can also use your blog to clear answers with more detail, I can guarantee that in the long run it will be useful for you. It can even save time because instead of writing an explanation you can just point them towards the details on your blog.

For example, we answered the question in our blog regarding what music you can play on a website. Thankfully the post has been viewed by many people and in researching the topic, have come in though Google which can be converted into clients.

2. Client or Customer Accomplishments

In our case, customer accomplishments are very important. So if we can find a way to congratulate our customers it might be a good idea to write a few paragraphs about their accomplishment and how that client is tied to you. If the outcome or accomplishment is directly tied to any of your team’s efforts it makes it even more important for you to include a post regarding your client.

Example: When we launched Food Truck Freak a few months ago for a client they received good press coverage andwe highlighted their accomplishment by writing:

“CIMA goes along for the ride with Food Truck Freak in Chicago”.

3. New Products or Services

If you are launching a new product or adding services it is a good idea for you to let your customers know via your blog. Communicating things via your blog can help you reach your audience directly and also clear any questions that your prospective customers might have at a faster pace than publishing a Press Release or any printed material.

Example: We announced how we started our translation services and also changed our website into a Bilingual One.

4. Previous Comments

Make sure your posts have an area to comment. This is another source for future posts. Based on what your audience is asking via the comments area or conversations that are going on in that area, you can generate future blog posts. If you can answer the question quickly answer it in the comments section. If the answer is complex or detailed, I recommend writing a follow up post so your answer can clear the questions of others.

Example: Based on previous questions we had in our comments when @margieclayman offered to write a guest post for us we took the opportunity to have her straight to the point post on ” Five Keys to Look For When Searching for a Website Development Partner“

5. Partnerships

If you join up with another organization it is great that you share the great news of the new partnership. This not only shows your new partners that you are excited about the relationship, it also allows your clients and customers to know who you are aligning with to serve them better.

Example: Soon we will share more insight into our partnership with our business partners Chris Brogan, Rob Hatch and the rest of the Human Business Works Team. (News & Press area).

6. Tutorials

Similar to answering questions, you can create a post with a tutorial of a process in order to further educate your customers. Instead of running them through the process in an email, you can create a resources section in your blog that is available for everyone to review and understand.

Example: We love to learn from other blogs so we make sure every once in a while we add a tutorial or answer questions that might be useful to our readers like “Exchanging your LinkedIn Info via QR Code” and “3 Ways To Make Your Keywords Useful On Twitter“

Do you have any other suggestions on what things you can write about on your blog?

photo credit by Keith Williamson

Join the Alliance of @PapaHeroes

June 22, 2011 by Raul Colon

In collaboration with @RickLipsett of UNDODigital.com , CIMA IT Solutions co-founders Raul Colon, Lucilla Feliciano, and several parent collaboraters, a new group of Super Heroes have emerged in the form of @PapaHeroes !

Why the name Papá Heroes? At one point or another we thought and might still think that our parents could leap tall buildings, bend steel with their minds, or fly to our rescue when we needed them. And they did all of these feats without today’s new technological tools. But when these tools fall into the wrong hands, they can be a dangerous thing for children and families.

We launched on Father’s Day , June 19th, 2011 with the hopes that dad’s and parents would share the information and sign up to be contributors and receive updates. Badges and banners were also created to post on blogs.

You can follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Weekly Useful Blog Posts

January 23, 2011 by Raul Colon

I found these posts very interesting and would like to share them with you.

3 Ways to Capitalize on the Opportunity Economy – @ambercadabra Author of Now RevolutionThe NOW Revolution: 7 Shifts to Make Your Business Faster, Smarter and More Social (amazon affiliate link) gives tips on communicating to potential customers and engaging with them via geo-location, questions, and customer interests.

MY FAVORITE QUESTION – @webby2001 does a great job by giving every brand manager, employee, business owner, or anyone involved in a company a great question.

“If [brand in question] were to go away tomorrow – to die (and I like to say ‘die,’ btw), and you had to deliver its eulogy, what would you say missed the most? What would make you genuinely sad?”

I think this question can be very useful for everyone that is trying to define where their brand is placed and get a better picture of what they do.

The New About Us Page Is a Social Beast – @ducttape author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide (amazon affiliate link) give some great ideas on how to create, edit, and/or enhance your about us page. Mentions a few tools that will make anyone’s About Us page very useful.

5 Reasons Why Homemade Onion Rings Are Like Original Content? – I am not the most objective on this one but I get asked on many occasions if it is ok to use other people’s content on your blog for business. I guess it could have not explained it better based on my interpretation of the book by @cc_chapman & @MarketingProfs Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business (New Rules Social Media Series)

9 Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Apps for Small Business

Did you find any other posts that might be useful to our community?

How often should you update your Corporate Blog?

January 14, 2011 by Raul Colon

I have heard many people ask different people how often they should update there blog. I use to have that question until I had the opportunity to see the following speech by the awesome @unmarketing author of UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging.(affiliate link) at the Inbound Marketing Summit last October in Massachusets.

If you really want to get an overview of how you should handle your blog I recommend you to watch this video on @unmarketing’s presentation. ( I would Recommend you to go to minute 12 unless you want to see the whole video)

Here are our recommendations on how often to update your corporate blog:

When you have something interesting to share with more than one person! On many occasions we go through the trouble of reciting the same event or information over and over again with clients. If you create a post you allow many people to have access to it and those who are interested can get as much detail as they want.

If you have something that is valuable to your community! On multiple occasions I run into many resources like videos, articles posts, and experiences I know my community would take advantage. If that is the case you should definitely create a blog post.

When you have the time! Many people create schedule on blogging and if you need to do that that is fine but in my case I try to write when I have the time. My main goals in life is primarily my family and second growing my business. If I stop focusing on the clients I have acquired because I have to post something on my blog I will start getting into trouble very quickly. The same goes with not taking care of family and friends. Try to make time to blog but if you are too busy then you should definitely leave it for another occasion.

If you have an Event you should write a blog post about it. It is key that you write a post previous to the event preferably with a significant amount of time to get those who might be interested in the event engaged. During the event it is good if you provide resources for people to use especially if it is a multiple day event. Posting schedules, pictures and videos can actually increase the reach of your event outside of those who are attending. After the event it is a great opportunity to get your attendees engaged and set up the stage for the next event making them part of your community.

When YOU can create an Awesome Post! In the words of @unmarketing the best time to update your blog is when you have something Awesome to post. If you go to his blog un-marketing.com he posts periodically with no set schedule.