Forrester: People don’t trust corporate blogs…

As a tenured social media consultant I felt it important I address this important revelation with some pointed analysis: Yep!

According to a Forrester study, only 16% of corporate blog readers trust them. Unfortunately tis number isn’t all that shocking. Too often corporate blogs are hijacked by overzealous PR consultants who  fail to understand the value of social media. In my experience a good number of corporate blogs are the result of a PR person saying you have to a blog ’cause “everybody’s doing it.”

Even company’s with the best intention can end up with a ghostwritten executive blog, take for example Company A. Company A had been working with  PR Lady Inc. for several years and one day PR Lady says you need an executive blog. Being a shrewd man Mr. CEO says he doesn’t have time to write a blog and even if he did it just wasn’t his thing. Rather matter of factly PR Lady explains that no  CEO actually writes their own blog, just like no one writes their own press releases. So for the next year PR Lady Inc wrote monthly blog posts, signing them Mr. CEO and no one read them. Â

Unfortunately I’ve walked into this situation on multiple occasions. Often times the corporate blogosphere fails to understand that the true value of blogging is the conversations that it creates between executives, employees and their customers. To this end I recommend that first-time executive bloggers stick to two rules:

1.  Post with consistency.Â
2. Don’t talk about your company or your product.

Now the second point may seem counter intuitive but here’s the thought process. When developing a blogging strategy, I recommend finding an area of focus, within your market, that impacts your customers’ business. This will allow for the creation of engaging blog posts and help position the blogger as a thought leader in the market. Just as important, by establishing these boundaries it takes some of the pressure off of a first-time blogger, freeing them up to develop a voice that can actively engage their audience. Â

Moral of the story, customers don’t trust marketers, they don’t trust salesmen and they certainly don’t trust PR-speak. So if your corporate blog has any semblance to any of the above, your time and resources would be better spent elsewhere.