Sivan Cohen | Mashable
How many tech companies do you think have corporate blogs? Given the buzz around content marketing and its importance to branding and reputation building, you’d think most would.
Think again. Fewer than 21% of technology companies have a corporate blog, according to a recent report from Percussion Software. That’s problematic since the same report also suggests that companies with great content on their blogs are perceived to have better, higher-quality products and a more established reputation.
To be clear, we’re not talking about the official Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook blogs, as their audiences are brand loyal and even product updates count as a good read. It’s the smaller or lesser-known brands that need a bit more creativity to turn visitors into dedicated readers.
The following five companies not only have innovative products, but are great examples of insightful blogs that provide their audiences with valuable and compelling content.
1. KISSmetrics
The Product: KISSmetrics is an online analytics platform for websites and e-commerce platforms.
The Target Audience: Website owners who want more conversions.
What Their Blog Does Right: The KISSmetrics blog provides effective tips and tricks for navigating the online world. It’s information like, “8 Habits Of Conversion-Focused Copywriters,” which is useful for just about any site.
How They Engage Readers: There’s a consensus among tech industry influencers that the KISSmetrics blog is where you go to find concrete advice that you can immediately implement. The blog serves up information about a variety of online and content marketing areas, including A/B testing, list building, web design, and analytics.
The blog’s high-quality content reflects how the product is perceived. Even a reader who may not be a direct customer gets the sense that KISSmetrics is a powerful analytics tool. The result is plenty of recurring readers subscribing to the blog by email so as not to miss out on the latest tips.
2. Instagram
The Product: Snap a photo, add a filter. That’s Instagram. If you can’t see the value, that’s okay. At least a few folks thought it was worth $1 billion.
The Target Audience: Any human being with a smartphone will work.
What Their Blog Does Right: Instagram’s blog serves as a platform for users to tell their stories via images. Rather than directly promoting itself, Instagram gives users the power to share themselves via the Instagram product.
How They Engage Readers: The greatest blog feature is “This Weekend’s Hashtag Project,”, which encourages users to take pictures according to specific instructions and add the hashtag of the week to them. Now that’s how a brand really engages their users.
3. Eventbrite
The Product: Eventbrite is an online tool that helps individuals put together events.
The Target Audience: Event creators and their attendees.
What Their Blog Does Right: They connect event attendees to the real people behind the events.
How They Engage Readers: As stated in their manifesto, Eventbrite’s mission is to make events as easy as possible to create, find, and attend. Their blog helps companies achieve this goal through the “meet the organizer” section, which spotlights various event organizers who explain their event and what they’re trying to accomplish. This is a really effective way of drawing in a bigger audience.
4. Buffer
The Product: Buffer is a smart tool that helps you schedule your social posts at a prime time so most of your users actually see them.
The Target Audience: Anyone who is looking to get a lot of shares, re-tweets, mentions, and likes will find this useful.
What Their Blog Does Right: The Buffer blog takes social sharing to another level, providing very unique insights into the world of social media, such as how certain human behaviors impact our sharing behavior.
How They Engage Readers: The company’s blog voice is what makes it special, giving their topics a pseudo-philosophical twist with posts like “how our brains work.”
5. Wix
The Product: Wix is a great platform for creating HTML5/Flash websites.
The Target Audience: Anyone with a need for a website that looks awesome and who doesn’t necessarily have the means to create one from scratch.
What Their Blog Does Right: They emphasize the fun and creative aspects of website creation.
How They Engage Readers: The Wix blog consistently offers sassy articles on web design, mobile development, and new technologies. Following the announcement of their new HTML5 platform, they started emphasizing the new technology by filling their blog with great infographics, like “The History of HTML5.”
