Strengthen a Brand by Blogging: Best Corporate Blogs

Strengthen a Brand by Blogging: Best Corporate Blogs

After reflecting on my last post on why all companies need a blog (see Why All Companies Should Have a Blog), I thought that great examples would be necessary. Companies with effective blogging, create brand awareness, engage customers, build on innovation, and drive digital research while differentiating and building its brand, credibility and trust (also addressed in Product Launch Perfection – Promoting the Pitch). Effective blogs should convey a specific message and branding, whether it is to prove competency and expertise in a new field/product/service or to gain a new audience, there should be a mission and a vision for corporate blogging and the following companies are some great examples on how blogging can gain and audience and transfer that message to build a brand.

GE

My personal favorite corporate B2B social media presence is GE (www.GEReports.com). GE uses every platform wonderfully in portraying a message through Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and its blog. GE has embodied the passionate, likable engineer who is telling the story about every aspect of the GE brand: its new machines, fascinating applications, great new ideas, possible future predictions, interesting engineering tests, fun facts and a history of the company and its people. The reason that this is my favorite blog is because you can see the passion that goes into the content. When the author is excited and passionate about the subject the information is conveyed effectively captivating its audience. Using each of these media sources, GE is building a brand beyond just light bulbs, while being relatable and informal. The GE blog (GEReports.com) has a great use of media (animations, pictures and videos) and articles to engage audiences. Based on key research, growth and development initiatives the GE Blog covers a huge amount of topics and active projects throughout GE’s technical businesses. One of my favorite series of messages is the “Hey Girl” engineering pickup lines (example shown below) which showed the companies fun side, winning audiences throughout the internet.

Caterpillar

One of the most effective corporate blogs I have seen is from CAT (https://caterpillar.lithium.com). CAT has established a largely popular blog which is separated by industry (construction trades, electrical power generation, marine power systems, parts and services, or oil and gas) and sub-categorized by industry (products, applications, sustainability, idea generation, etc.). This is a very good forum of engaging customers, building loyalty, solving product problems and generating customer ideas through a direct dialogue with the company. Though not as polished or perfected as GE, the utility of the website does a great job of building the brand, credibility and trust of the CAT brand.

General Motors

Using a wide variety of media types and infographics, General Motors has created a blog rivaling most car websites and blogs on the internet (http://fastlane.gm.com/). Using their vast product lines and tests, GM has created a site for gear heads which interests every aspect of automotives, from technical specs to burnouts from sustainability to auto shows they incorporate their blog into the lives of their products, their company and their brand. This blog is launched as another selling platform for their innovative products to create viral material. Similar to CAT, GM focuses the blog around its pillars to build its brand: car trends, brands, technology, green initiatives, company culture, company background and the people who work at GM.

Other Honorable Mentions:

American Express

Having a brand that targets a specific customer segment is a highly effective strategy in gaining market share (www.openforum.com). American express has launched its blog “Open Forum” to target the small business owner segment. The forum is used to build trust and loyalty through the expert guidance and advice given through the blog. Another key to the blog is the way in which American Express uses this forum to generate and share ideas between customers, experts, employees and forum members.

IBM

IBM runs a more traditional blog forum which has excellent article summaries from a variety of contributors and topics showcasing the company’s expertise within its fields of business (http://www.ibm.com/blogs/zz/en/). With such diverse and technical articles written for their target audience the messages are clear and convey the brand in which IBM is building and the direction in which markets (and its business) is headed.

Cisco

Showcasing its technological expertise, Cisco has created a showroom for its valuable content in a forum outside of its traditional website (http://blogs.cisco.com/). Cisco has created a multitude webinars and videos giving advice, tutorials and launching new ideas to its readership. Cisco is continually telling its story and addressing all feedback ensuring a positive digital footprint and successful product launches, while being engaging and entertaining. It also doesn’t hurt that the marketing manager leading this initiative was a former writer for Conan O’Brien, SNL, Comedy Central and The Onion.

Deloitte

As a professional services company, building a brand and proving expertise in your fields of service is paramount. Deloitte has dedicated its blog to proving its knowledge by sharing enough to lightly guide its audience and entice them to ask for more (www.deloitte.com/Perspectives). Deloitte’s discussion boards also create an area in which topics can be contemplated and discussed in an open exchange where topics range from mergers to health care to big data. Similar to IBM and American Express, Deloitte is clearly trying to target the executive suite positions in corporate technology, operations and investments.

-thePonderingNick