The Components of a Strong Company Blog

Corporate blogs are at the heart of many companies’ marketing and public relations efforts. It’s easy to see why: blogs are terrific ways to grab search engine traffic, attract prospects, show thought leadership and provide target audiences with a real sense of a company’s culture and capabilities.

Like all components of a PR campaign, a corporate blog needs careful and strategic thought. It’s one thing to have a blog, but it’s another to make sure it’s populated with the right kind of content.

So what kinds of posts should you consider for your company’s blog? Below are some suggestions.

• Thought leadership. These posts are the foundation of a strong blog. They should avoid self-promotion and provide insight into the issues and topics that are of interest to the audiences you’re trying to reach.

For example, if you’re an apartment fee manager and you’re trying to reach owners and investors, perhaps you should have a post on cutting-edge lead management practices or the best ways to encourage and secure resident renewals. Whatever the specific issue, you want your target readers to come away impressed with the expertise displayed in the post. That will encourage them to reach out to your company.

• Corporate social responsibility. Both employees and customers want to be associated with a company that contributes to the greater good. But getting the word out about corporate philanthropic initiatives through the media is usually an uphill battle; a blog is the perfect forum for spotlighting these efforts.

• Media coverage and speaking appearances. Posts highlighting press coverage of your company and its executives show that your company is a major player and one to be taken seriously. Dittos for posts that summarize any speaking appearances your team members make at industry conferences or civic events.

• Executive and employee spotlights. Does your company have an employee of the month award or something similar? Dedicating a blog post to your recent winners is a great way to further honor them and also provide readers with a glimpse into your company culture and values.

Also consider regular Q&As with executives and other employees. These posts also serve the dual purpose of showing team members some appreciation while giving readers insight into the caliber of your leaders and associates.

In addition to putting informative and compelling content on your company blog, you will want to make sure you’re publishing new posts frequently and that they adhere to SEO best practices. A company should also promote posts across its social media channels.

In the end, when a corporate blog is filled with compelling, thoughtful and non-salesy content, it can serve as an extremely powerful tool in a company’s PR and marketing campaigns.