Why has blogging become so popular with companies?

Q: Why has blogging become so popular with some community associations and organizations?

My A: Blogging is popular for several reasons.  Most companies started blogging when they became entangled in an online controversy or had someone bad-mouth them or offer mis- or dis-information online and the company just did not have any way to engage in that controversy and correct that particular attack.

They were the dumb companies but they’re learning.  The smarted companies realized that their web sites were too thin on content and personality and that commenting in message boards and on blogs — or in traditional press releases that nobody reads any more — is neither effective or worthwhile.  What companies and organizations need to do is to get down from the dais and speak more intimately and more textually and more long-form that one can in the well-sculpted and over-edited (controlled).

There is a lot of work that needs to be resourced for a blog.  It should be updated with both “ever green” content that will always be useful as well as some focus on what’s going on, the company’s processes, and more casual and business-related things.

There are another two reasons to blog: reputation promotion and reputation protection; however, sometimes — like any insurance policy — you may never receive double indemnity on thepremiums you have been paying into blog-writing by ever having to go through the ordeal of “accidental death” — but you will realize many valuable gains anyway — and the benefits are two-way.

You will surely benefit from search engine benefits on Google, for one.  You will build a two-way relationship with your community and customers even if that back and forth isn’t 50-50 but rather 90-10. You will add to the confidence and reputation of anyone who blogs for the company, helping them with their personal brand.

Your blog will become a go-to place for expertise and your employees and your organization will better be associated with smarts and insight.

And, in terms of reputation, you will fortify your gates and moats and get your villagers AKA your community AKA your consumers AKA your customers safely on your side so that if you are ever truly attacked with great abandon my an online Internet rogue you will be not only kept above water in the search results but you will also be actively and fiercely defended by the people who have had amazing experiences with you in the past.

(Awesome questions from Madelaine Paterson — more to follow) Via Chris Abraham