5 posts that will blow up your lame corporate blog

Is there any piece of content more neglected and pitiful than your corporate blog?

Just look at the flies buzzing around it and the vultures circling from above.

Remember when you started it up? You had all these grand plans and sincere intentions about sharing best practices, case studies and building a recruitment brand. But now all you have is a seven-month-old post with a picture of Wally from accounting playing Santa at the holiday party. And Wally got fired four months ago.

Here are a few quick and easy ways to inject some life into your corporate blog:

5. Free T-shirts!
Despite working as a movie critic for 10-plus years, where free public screenings are free T-shirts battlegrounds, I’m still amazed at how fired up people get about free T-shirts. Or more specifically, not getting free t-shirts. People hate it when the person next to them is standing within the perfect trajectory of the T-shirt cannon. I once saw a man almost get decapitated by a cotton/poly blend as two attendees wrestled for a youth small “Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins” T-shirt at a movie screening. It’s a fact: swag builds loyal brand ambassadors. T-shirts, old pens and mugs. Anything. Use the blog to clean out the storage closet of all your “vintage” dusty giveaways.  Just make sure you have an intern who can mail stuff.

4. Compliment your competitors
Without snark. Without sarcasm. God, I know it’s hard. But it makes you look like a good guy and it’s totally refreshing. But you need to really mean it, otherwise we’ll all know. Just be sure that compliment is somewhat strategic, for example, “Great job on developing, [this thing we don’t sell!]”

3. ‘Ummm, people, what should we write about?’
Soliciting user-generated ideas is not desperate. OK, it's a little desperate but your blog needs a slump buster. You might be surprised what your customers ask you about. But don’t be surprised if this quickly turns into a customer service avenue, so staff up appropriately.

2. ‘Working here is pretty cool.’
People want to interact with and support fun companies. It’s why you’ll slap on some deodorant before heading into Wholefoods but will wear yesterday’s pants into Food Lion. Because at Wholefoods, there might be a party – downward trending stock be damned. Just know that the best way to invite readers into your hip corporate culture is not through someone in marketing impersonating the CEO or some anonymous third-person voice. Look for volunteers at all ends of the org chart to talk about why they like working for you. If nothing else, it’s a great way to weed out those harboring secret, pent-up aggression about working for you. Just kidding…

1. ‘Man, we royally screwed up…’
Digital contrition from your own blog – before the trade rags, media and trolls poke you with virtual pitch forks – will draw eyes and respect. Sure, you accidentally released 5 million credit card numbers and SSNs on Black Friday. But you’re sorry. Really sorry. And to make up for it, you’re offering free T-shirts!!!

Of course, if you’re not sure what to write on your corporate blog, you can always take my cop out: blog about ideas for others to write about.

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