Companies jump on the blog band wagon for a variety of reasons. The ones I hear most often have to do with developing content in hopes of prospects (and search engines) thinking that your stuff is relevant. While I commend those that try to attempt such a daring feat, let me remind everyone that hope springs eternal.
The fact of the matter is that blogs are ridiculously easy to setup, but much harder to maintain. I knew that going in, but I (conveniently) ignored the truth.
What I learned from this exercise in futility was that blogs should come from the heart - not from a content schedule. And that posts should come from passionate and knowledgeable people inside the organization - not from interns or employees learning as they go. As you'd expect, we didn't see any direct (or indirect) results from having a company blog, so the decision was made a few months ago to completely scrap it.
I'm sure there were plenty of things we could have done to make it one of those half-way decent blogs chock full of web design tutorials and freebies, but then we'd be following another set of played-out formulas just like every other fucking web design shop out there. We drew a line in the sand and decided that we're about building great websites, not teaching others how to do it.
Then there's the issue of transparency. The entire UG team already engages with social media - but more on a personal level. So we plan to promote more of our personal properties since that comes very naturally. I'm sure this direction will open up a whole new can of worms. However, by doing it this way, you'll see first hand how our people really define our culture and produce some pretty awesome solutions. In my mind, this supersedes the need for even having a company blog in the first place.
So if you're gonna have a company blog, then the one thing I would challenge you with is to post something with teeth. If its about a product, then tell me why I should pay for it. If its about a process, then show me how you do it better than anyone else. Don't copy and paste a bunch of bullshit I can find on Google and expect me to agree with it. If you can't do that, then there isn't any need (or value) in having a company blog.
Word.
