Anyone connected to the internet these days has certainly heard of blogs –an internet medium that has become increasingly popular among internet users from a wide variety of backgrounds, including business. Unlike a traditional website, a blog does not require complex programming skills to develop and frequently costs little to set up. All facilities related to programming are provided by the internet service provider at no cost for basic services. The popularity of blogs, or the act of “blogging”, which is creating and maintaining your blog as well as continually visiting other blogs, has grown in leaps and bounds in recent years. Once the purview of individuals, blogging has recently spread to other areas including the business sector with the emergence of corporate blogs.
Corporate Blog
A corporate blog is a blog developed by or with the support of a company in its effort to achieve its goals. A corporate blog mainly serves a medium for corporate communication.The choice of blogging as a communication tool is closely linked to the increasingly cheap and easy access to the Internet. A company can set up a blog at no cost by utilizing blogging websites such as www.blogger.com or www.wordpress.com. With a blog, the need for companies to communicate internally and externally can be met without additional costs.
Corporate Blog, A Communication Tool for Companies
As a communication tool, a corporate blog helps a company in such areas as:
- Customer Relationship. Getting to know the market is something a company must do. Deep knowledge of situations and conditions of a market will allow companies to get a clear picture of what products its potential customers need. Knowing the market means forging a closer relationship with customers. This relationship is aimed at capturing the needs of customers, both expressed implicitly and explicitly. By using a corporate blog such a goal can be achieved. Through a corporate blog, a company can provide information such as tips on how to use a product, after sales service information, etc. Likewise, customers can lodge complaints and make suggestions to the company through the blog.
- Media Relations. A corporate blog can serve as a tool to convey important information related to a company in an interactive manner, both internally (among staff members) and externally (to suppliers, partners, creditors).
- Product/Idea Testing. A good product is one that meets the needs of customers. To measure the market acceptability of a product, market research is needed. A corporate blog is one medium that can solicit feedback for market research. Furthermore, a corporate blog can serve as a medium to test the prototype or idea of a product before it is launched to the market.
Blogging will continue to develop as one of the tools that support a company’s competitiveness. Due to the ease with which it is adopted, the emphasis should be on creativity and innovation in the content of a blog.
[Mamat Rohimat, contributor.]
Source: Competitiveness at the Frontier: A Monthly forum promoting Indonesian economic competitiveness. A monthly forum which jointly published by the Master of Management Program at the Faculty of Economics Universitas Indonesia and SENADA, a USAID project. July 2007.
Categories: Articles · Theory-Communication
