Corporate Blogging Topics Hard to Come By
When Mark Hermann, an excellent corporate blogger, bid farewell to his blog, he pulled back the curtain. Among the frank observations he made, one in particular stuck with me: you’ll run out of topics faster than you think. I’ve been there, and it’s awful.
You get started thinking about how much there is to say about your company and your industry, and soon enough, you’re flipping through trade magazines for inspiration. Well, it isn’t always that bad, but the reality is that you’ll soon find yourself struggling to find an insight to provide. Why is that? With rich marketplaces and unique developments in every market around the world, you’d think there’s no shortage of fodder.
Stop thinking about potential for a moment, and turn yourself over to the cold clutches of reality. Most of what you’re thinking you’d never put on a corporate blog.
Make a list of 10 ideas for your company’s blog — you probably have more than that in mind already, but stay disciplined. Then, read them over. How many of them can you use? Now, come up with another ten topics and repeat the exercise. It’s getting harder. But, if you’re committing to daily posts, 10 ideas only buys you two weeks. You’ll need 20 to get through the month, 60 for the quarter.
Why do so many ideas hit the cutting room floor? Well, it’s just a side-effect of being in the business world.
Independent blogs can cover anything they want in the niches they choose. You can’t. You aren’t going to reblog positive stories about your competitors, and you certainly aren’t going to run their press releases. You also shouldn’t write about your clients, and you’ll probably want to steer clear of topics that would portray your company, your industry or your clients in a negative light.
Continued on the next page
Follow Technorati