A corporate blog can be a key component to any marketing strategy for B2C and B2B companies. Most corporate blogs are authored by multiple employees, which means your company will be able to create a larger volume of valuable content for your target audiences.
Even though multiple authors spread out the work, there is one individual who is essential and ensures the fate of a corporate blogging program: the blogging administrator.
So, why is this one person so important?
The blogging administrator develops the overall plan, gets buy-in from the CEO or president of the company, and works with the other employees on meeting their goals.
The eight key responsibilities include:
Set quarterly and annual goals for the blogging program
Select a blogging platform that suits your company’s needs and goals
Distribute descriptions of your company’s target personas to employee bloggers to help them focus on the appropriate audience when writing their blog posts
Develop a list of target keywords that best represent your business and distribute it to the employee bloggers
Train employees about blogging best practices
Engage bloggers and helping them understand what it will take for the initiative to be successful
Educate yourself on SEO best practices and show employees how they can attract more visitors to their blogs through search engines
Market the blog through numerous marketing channels and various social media sites (see 12 things you should do after you’ve written a blog post)
Choosing a Blogging Administrator
When first starting out, it may be wise to keep the blogging administrator role internal, especially if your company does not have a set of target keywords and target personas.
It may make sense to assign these responsibilities to a marketing manager or director until the program has some legs. This way, you can ensure that the program will be set up correctly from the start.
If your company’s marketing strategy is well-defined in terms of target keywords and personas, it may make sense to use an external resource as your blogging administrator. You may consider using Craigslist to find cost-efficient freelancers. Specifically, consider looking to Craigslist if you are looking for someone to edit your content for spelling and grammar in addition to optimizing for SEO. Be sure to conduct a phone screen and reference checks for anyone you find on Craiglist.
An alternative is to find an expert who has created a successful blogging program for another company before. External consultants like this can be found using matching sites like Junta42.
Getting Started
If you opt to keep the blogging administrator in house, here are some realistic time commitments:
Plan for about two weeks to get the blogging program completely off the ground if you break the work into stages. This time estimate includes the eight key responsibilities above. If you dedicate yourself completely to launching the blogging program, you could be up and running in less than a week.
Dedicate enough time (at least two hours) to a solid training session to ease new bloggers’ concerns, explain the technology, set expectations and motivate all bloggers.
Dedicate about 30 minutes to an hour for each contributing blogger each week. This time estimate includes editing content, coaching bloggers, marketing the content and creating weekly reports about progress against goals. Note that this time may decrease as bloggers become more comfortable with the overall process.
Consider having short meetings over lunch to answer questions, brainstorm new blog topics and track progress against long term goals.
Do you need more tips for blogging administrators? OpenView Labs has packaged a complete guide to help all companies start a corporate blogging program. (Note: This requires registration). This eBook includes an introduction to corporate blogging, checklists and quick start guides for each person responsible for kicking off a successful blogging initiative. The eBook features unique tips from content marketing experts Ann Handley, Jonathan Kranz and Joe Pulizzi. Get your copy today by visiting OpenView Labs.
If you are a blogging administrator, share your ideas with us!
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