Are you blogging for your business / run a corporate blog to gain mind-share, market-share or profit-share?
And you don’t know what to blog about?
If I had to create a Blogging FAQ( Frequently Asked Questions) on what I get asked most of the time, the top questions would be
1) Why blog?
2) What to blog about?
If I had to answer Why should a business / corporate blog? – The answers are manifold :
(i) To share their views / voice
(ii) To engage / nurture your industry ecosystem by connecting with customers,partners, suppliers, analysts, solution providers, etc.
(iii) To learn yourself and stay updated with market / industry trends
(iv) To generate leads and
(v) To create a brand!
The next question is What to blog about?. In this post, I’m listing blog post ideas for a business blog which can last you for 1 year – if you publish at least 1 post a week.. The key to success is consistency over a long period.For that, focus, plan and a commitment to invest in your blog is most important.
I usually recommend a healthy mix of different content formats on a corporate blog – including blogs, pictures, infographics, video content, etc.
So choose a topic from the list below, decide on the format, and publish publish publish away 🙂
1) Why did your business / corporate start? What was the idea and how it came to be?
2) The initial phase – Challenges and Lessons. What you learned from setting up your business?
3) The founding team – Who they were and How they came to be? A fun or lesser known facts about the team. It always makes an interesting read if a reader knows a “personal / human” side to you.
4) A timeline which highlights key dates / milestones since inception.
5) What are your offerings (services / products)?
6) Recent innovations in your business / which affect your business – This could be done once in 3 months, so you can have at least 4 posts / year
7) What is unique about your offerings?
8) What difference will your offering make to a customer?
11) An industry timeline – Infographic (How the industry came to be?)
12) Less known facts about your business / industry – – With interesting trivia, facts and figures (well researched and data accuracy is important)
13) Industry survey / trends – Infographic (What all the latest market surveys are saying – for your industry as a whole).
14) Video from your CEO on any topic he is passionate about
15) A blog post on the current trending topic (technology / business / process) and your view on it – Even you do this once in 2 months, you’ll have 6 posts for a year
16) A success story for your business | Who was the client? What was the problem? How you solved it? This could be done at least 2 times / year
17) Lessons learned from a not-so-successful customer project | What was the problem? What did you learn? This could be done at least 2 times / year
18) A Must-Read monthly round-up of 8 – 10 interesting industry articles, news, views, opinions, perspectives – from your customer, partners, competitors | as an online curated resource which anyone can refer to (With 1 / month, this adds up to 12 posts for the year)
19) A Must-Read monthly round-up of 8 – 10 interesting articles, news, views, opinions, perspectives – on life hacks, productivity, getting better at work, general inspiration | as an online curated resource which anyone can refer to (With 1 / month, this adds up to 12 posts for the year)
20) Interviews with Experts – What your industry experts are saying about the future? Even if you do 1 / quarter, you will have 4 posts in a year
21) Choose any topic that is currently trending and get the 3 or more alternate views on the subject. for e.g.: if the topic you are currently interested in is around next generation analytics solutions, write a post with the views of a customer, technology provider, product vendor and analyst. Just bringing together voice from different perspectives can make a truly unique and compelling read
22) A note of CSR initiatives (Corporate Social Responsibility) and what your company is doing towards specific causes
23) 10 reasons why anyone should join your company
24) A post on Marketing – Its relevance and importance for your business
25) A post on Digital – Its relevance and importance for your business
26) A post on Social – Its relevance and importance for your business
27) A post on Big Data – Its relevance and importance for your business
28) A post on Analytics – Its relevance and importance for your business
29) A post on Cloud – Its relevance and importance for your business
30) Your company’s view on “The Next Big Thing that can change the world”
31) Your company’s view on Innovation
32) Your company’s view on changing role of Leadership
33) 10 Must-Read books – for your business / industry, and Why?
34) Open Letter to anyone joining your company
35) 5 – 10 Blogs you suggest anyone to follow to stay updated / relevant in your business / industry
36) 10 – 20 Twitter thinkers / influencers you recommend others to follow and Why?
NOTE: Some of the above may already be part of most company websites, but a blog post is usually more informal and can be written by the CEO / founder/ core team in an anectodal / story-telling fashion.
Suggested Readings
Understanding the Hype Cycle of a Blog
Why you should were the 6 Thinking Hats on your blog
Focus on Diversity on your blog
Nischala’s Space, Thoughts, Expressions… 
Well Explained ..Such an knowledgeable article. Thanks for sharing this.