Please name me 3 corporate blogs that you regularly follow.

Being that I keep asking my colleagues and friends this off-line I thought it high time I bring it up online. Do you folks follow corporate blogs?

Cuz I don't.

I mean really follow them. Like, can you name 3 company blogs that you read every single week?

Cuz I can't.

Even offerings I'm "engaged" with I don't follow.

Take TV shows that I like. I don't go to the TV Network's blog.

I follow independent fan blogs.

I won't follow celeb magazine blogs.

I follow independent ones (yes, reading trashy stuff about trashy celebs is a guilty pleasure of mine).

The closest I come to a "corporate" blog is reading The Daily Fix. I find that to be a marketing community though, since all the bloggers there are contributors. I did a quick search through the 100 Top Blogs and the only company blog I found was for google (you have to send email in order to comment).

And when I want to buy a product? I don't got to a corporate blog for information. I go to google and technorati and type in the respective "Product's NAME + SUCKS," and that leads me to customer reviews that give me insight on whether or not to buy a product (yes, I also type in product "NAME + AWESOME" :-).

Am I saying companies shouldn't have blogs? Nope. But in this economy companies need to Listen. Not Lead. And they need to "join the conversation" when they're invited and when it's appropriate (this doesn't take strategy so much as common sense).

So what's the implication for companies?

Create exemplary products, services and experiences that your customers will want to buy, and maybe even want to talk about. Use social media to focus your energy on listening to what they're saying, not what you're saying.  And listen to what they're saying about competitive products, too.

Then act upon that feedback to...you guessed it!...create more exemplary products, services and experiences.

Companies should still launch blogs and provide easy ways for customers to voice-in. But companies needn't be as concerned with their "social media strategy" (Web 2.0) as with their core marketing processes (Marketing 101) on how in-tune they are to their markets' preferences and purchasing habits--and how aligned their products are on these fronts. Be amazing what they'd learn and how much they'd lower their risk, simply by listening. Instead of leading.

Becuz it's all too apparent that the leading blogs aren't sponsored by companies.

But do please tell me if you follow 3 corporate blogs. Or even 2.

Comments

[Mike Sigers]

Not only do I follow more than three corporate blogs, but my staff has built, we maintain and add content daily to "several" corporate blogs.

It's been a profitable market for us, so we're probably the 1 in 10,000 that would be able to answer this positively.

Sorry to be the only one, but I'd trade 10 of the blogs in our network for 10 more corporate blogs and what they pay.

I'd also be retired in a cabin on the lake if I were to, or when I'm able to accomplish this goal.

[CK]

Hey Mike: On the corporate blogs that you guys maintain, are your clients good about monitoring outside convos (meaning outside of their blogs)? I'm assuming so since you know this space and are advising them.

I'm finding, and this is my experience, that most of the convos on a company (or its product/services), are happening on independent blogs. That's where I'm finding the "gems" for either improving a client's products or finding new opps/inspiration for new products those clients can develop. Would love your feedback.

[Tangerine Toad]

Zero corporate blogs. Closest is a weekly (at best) look at The Unofficial Apple Blog. (But it's unofficial.)

I will read nba.com's blogs on occasion. Paul Shirley, who's probably the best working sports writer (his book "Do I Get To Keep My Jersey" is a gem) started out blogging on there, and the other bloggers are sometimes funny. But it's certainly not something I read every day.

I will check out the blogs/websites of TV shows if well done. "Jericho" the CBS series that was my guilty pleasure, has a very well done website, very rich features, and since it got good traffic, it was useful in helping to figure out WTF was going on. "The Office" (US version) also has a well done site.
But again, those are once-a-week-at-best reads.

One of the things that gets me going back to a blog/site is traffic. If other people are commenting and (just as importantly) if the blog author(s) are responding to comments, then I want to go back to see what's been said.

But as for corporate blogs... bottom line is there just aren't any corporations I'm that interested in.

[Lewis Green]

Hmm, zer0, zip, nada. Not a one. Although I am very familiar with Dell's blog because it has achieved success where others have failed.

You raise a difficult issue, and one that I am struggling with today as I write an article for a publication about why corporations should engage in social media and how they should go about doing so.

Listening is key, but to listen we have to have readers. So here is my first strategy once the blog is launched: Just as you must with a web site, use traditional marketing to drive readers to your blog.

[Mike Sigers]

You're way ahead of me, CK. Without us to show them how and tell them to do it, they'd never have known how to monitor the conversations about them and their products.

And as for those "gems", you already knew that was where the real innovations and fixes would come from.

The real problem, for most of those corporations, is getting those "gems, innovations and fixes" implemented, because the marketing and development teams are not willing and don't know how to really listen to those that spend the money to pay their bloated salaries.

The sales people, on the other hand, want all of them implemented right freakin' now !

We sales minded people always were the smartest ... weren't we ?

[CK]

@Toad: I too have checked-out websites of TV shows, but it's for a quick check and if I'm really into the show I look for other blogs (and many times I find the URLs to them posted on the network's message boards).

@Lew: Yep, it's a difficult one. I'm all for getting companies into the social media space...but, while I want for them to launch a blog (mainly as a feedback vehicle), I want them to really understand that in this space the "independents" are the leaders and their job is to really listen--which means monitoring other blogs.

This is tough for many as, of course, the thinking is to implement the tools (e.g. blogs, wikis) but the emphasis is really on listening to the broader, richer convo...and--and this is a biggie!-- participating when it's "right". That's a hard one in and of itself because sometimes it seems right for co's to jump in when they're mentioned but that's not at all the rule. Many times people want to have those convos without the company "meddling". Other times, it's very helpful for the companies to voice-in. It's truly a case-by-case basis. But my opinion is that, along with social media empowering "the little guy," the attraction is just that (the little guys' blogs). I'm long-winded here and I apologize, it's just that I want to be clear in my opinion -- yes, companies should blog. But when I'm advising them to join the convo my emphasis for them is to first understand the trends, learn the art of listening in this space and then launching a blog to yield feedback/add value. It's just not nearly as easy as one would think ;-).

@Mike: It's a steep learning curve, a sell, a balance and a juggle all in one. It surely isn't a case of just "launching and maintaining a blog". Alas, everyone wants an easy fix. I sure hope your clients understand how much value you bring--because it's so easy to fall in this space. Moreover, it's so easy to miss out on the true value (all those gems given freely...if they know where to look).

[Easton Ellsworth]

I read every post at Google's official blog, plus similar blogs for several other tech companies - Yahoo!, Six Apart, coComment and some others. I could rattle off a long list of non-tech corporate blogs that I know about and maybe even like, but don't follow. It's an interesting problem. I think the vast majority of company blogs could be FAR more interesting and useful.

Thanks for provoking thought here, CK!