Blogging Overview for PB Marcom Pros
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What's the difference between Blogging & PR/Marketing Comms
The anatomy of a successful blog post
Frequently asked blogging questions
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Take away
Blog post check list
PR
Marketing
Blogging
TONE
formal &
authoritative
promotional
casual, relaxed, conversational
YET professional
CONTENT
news-related, informational
& free of personal commentary
focused on buyer's needs
& product-benefits
thought leadership focused often
containing personal commentary
AUDIENCE
focus: media
prospects & customers
GOOGLE & anyone who uses it
GOAL
sell
inform
attract media attention
branding tool to showcase the new "face" of PB through our employees
mouth piece for communicating corporate initiatives (e.g. philanthropy, thought leadership)
communication avenue for initiatives that do not require a formal press release
TONE
TONE
CONTENT
CONTENT
GOAL
GOAL (for PB corp. blog)
AUDIENCE
AUDIENCE
Insights: leading-edge thinking & novel perspectives

Great finds: resources, blogs, essays

Responses and comments to blog posts of other bloggers

Original research, surveys, benchmarks, quantitative analysis

Personal stories, experiences, lessons learned

Reports from events

“Aha” moments in your professional life
Example of corp. blog content
Example of casual blog tone
TITLE & 2 BEGINNING PARAGRAPHS ARE KEY

Blog readers generally pay attention to the TITLE and the FIRST TWO PARAGRAPHS of any given post, and then decide whether to read the rest. This means your title, and your first two paragraphs are your chance to entice them to read the rest of the post.
tips on constucting your blog title
Make a bold statement
Make a confession or tell a secret
"Why your blog doesn't need an audience of thousands"
"5 confessions of a worker turned workaholic"
Identify a problem and hint at unusual solution
"Want 1,000 blog subsribers? Just INVENT them"
Appeal to search engines
"Ten ways to fix your Google reputation & remove negative results"
Don't be too vague
NOT THIS -->"Learning to Listen"
BUT THIS -->"Learning to Listen - how the "glue guy" helps your customer communications shine"
USE SEARCH KEYWORDS

A major advantage of having a blog is to improve your search results on Google and other search engines. You do this by making sure your post titles and posts contain keywords that your customers and prospects search for.
IMAGE

Pictures draw the reader's eye to your content. Posts with images get read 30% more often as those without images. Best images to use are the personalized ones that complement the post. If you don't any images of your own use Flickr Creative Commons (with attribution)
LINK TO USEFUL RESOURCES

Don't be afraid to direct users away from your blog as long as these links are to useful resources incl. other blogs. Your blog search engine optimization will depend on incoming links to those who reciprocate when you link to their blogs/web pages
RESPOND TO COMMENTS

Be sure to continue the conversation in the comments – every real comment should get a real response.
WRITE FOR THE WEB

Use short sentences & short paragraphs with headlines marked in bold.
Add visual interest by using bullets and ordered lists.
END POST WITH CLEAR CALL TO ACTION

Make it clear what you want readers to do next: if to leave a comment - end your post with a question - if you want them to sign up for newsletter/webinar - make the webinar link the last link of the post.
How often should I blog?
How long should my blog be?
What do I do if I receive unfavorable/negative comment?
What do I blog about?
Be authentic to yourself and to the brand

Write what you know (what you are an expert on)

Write with a human voice (no corporate-speak allowed)

Take risks (don’t be boring agreeing with everyone)

Invite conversation (blogging is NOT a monologue)

Develop relationships with other bloggers in your topic niche
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What's blogging?
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Rule of thumb is for a blog to have an entry no less than every 10 days.
Remember though that blogs with multiple authors are the best way to distribute the work. Use a blogging calendar to keep on track and assign writing blog posts to individuals ahead of time.
There is no perfect length to a blog post. Rather than counting characters concentrate on getting your message out succinctly yet effectively. Pay attention to scannability of your text by breaking long passages into short paragraphs with headers, inserting bullets and using images to add visual interest.
The best way to build your blog’s credibility is to engage in honest dialog with others. If the content of the comment is positive or negative and in context to the conversation, then we approve the content, regardless of whether it's favorable or unfavorable to Pitney Bowes. But if the content is ugly, offensive, denigrating and completely out of context, then we reject the content.
BUSINESS FOCUSED
Create a video tutorial on how you use your product (don’t be sellsy).
Blog about your customers pain points your sales people hear about the most.
Give 5 reasons to sign up for your email newsletter.
Write what keeps you up at night and how you plan to tackle it.
Share a time when you got it wrong in 2010 and what you’ve learned.
Blog about the 5 most asked questions about your product (be honest).
Profile employees who worked on designing your product.
Profile customers who are your product evangelists.

INDUSTRY FOCUSED
Write about 10 ways your industry will change in 2011.
Break down new laws/trends affecting your industry in 2011.
Attend an industry event and blog about it.
Write about 3 people in your industry you want to meet & why.
Interview someone well-known in your industry and profile them.
Have a chat with a competitor & blog about it (with permission).
Create a list of 5 books that someone in your industry should read.
Rewrite an old post with fresh eyes and new ideas.
Profile best industry blogs.

blogging calendar
What are the key steps to blogging success?
Thank you and ask away!
email:    aneta.hall@pb.com
twitter:  @AnetaH
blog:      anetahall.com