Blogging Success Study

Northestern University and Backbone Media have recently published a study of the factors that make a business blog successful. They interviewed twenty highly successful corporate bloggers and asked each one a series of stndardized questions.

While there were no surprises for anyone who has read Naked Conversations, I did find a few recurring themes:

• Engaging other bloggers in online conversation is crucial to your blog's success. Locate and read other blogs in your industry and leave thoughtful comments on them oftem. Even before you write the first post on your blog, you should be searching the online world for places where conversation and discussion about your industry occurs.
• Create interesting, compelling content. Write about your industry, your marketplace, and the concerns of your customers related to your industry. Write about ideas and events that encourage reader feedback, and then leverage that feedback.
• Be open, transparent, and real. Don't be afraid to reveal the human side of the inner workings of your business. Be open and forthcoming about how or why decisions are made that affect your customers.

"What should I write about?" is a question I am often asked. The following paragraph in the study is one that I will quote often:

The Stonyfield Farm blog was the most successful blog run by Stonyfield Farm. Jonathan the farmer, Stonyfield’s organic farming blogger, writes about whatever is happening in his life, the calving season or maple sugar season. The success of the Stonyfield Farm organic farming blog is because it is all about a farmer’s unique experiences in farming an organic farm. What must seem mundane to the farmer is refreshing, compelling and entertaining content to most readers.

I can't emphasize enough how important I think this is. This is the kind of content that creates a bond between you and your customers or potential customers.

Comments

[John Cass]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the mention, your right personal content that connects with an audience is what blogging is all about. I've been conducting some interviews with blog readers recently. Several readers from the Masi Guy blog all describe how the connection with Tim Jackson has helped them to become interested in the Masi brand. Content is important, but its how you put a personal spin on the content that will grow relationships with your audience, and pull down the barriers that customers have against advertising to really listen to a company's message.