Yes I love it, but not because it can give a face to a stand-offish organisation, humanise it, make it more approachable and the rest of them ol’ chestnuts. These are the very positive byproducts, but the real root of why blogging is brilliant lies in the flexibility it offers.
Length: Five lines or a hundred? Doesn’t matter: in a blog you can do either and not cause a stir.
Frequency: Every day or once a month? Doesn’t matter. You’re not pushing your content – your readers choose whether they want to receive it, so you can publish as often as you like. In fact, the more the better (within reason.)
Type: Short post leading to content somewhere else or a fairly long analytical piece? Both are fine.
Am I stating the bleeding obvious? Yes, but the bleeding obvious often isn’t apparent to most organisations’ communications teams, who are in the business of winning over hearts and minds. And it’s a real loss. As they fritter away valuable resources on conferences and white papers, little do they know that a steady stream of all sorts of content in a blog is both easier to produce than the rigid and linear articles or press releases they’re allowed to publish once in a while – and often more effective.
A simple post mentioning the eminent professor who backs their position and leading to his white paper which they didn’t spend a penny on? Five morose paragraphs written on a rainy day which really cut to the core of the author’s passion for his/her sector? A full-on analytical piece? All are allowed in a blog – nowhere else is that the case.
Steffen Moller 