A business acquaintance was telling me that he hoped his company might emulate the style of Dell Computer’s corporate blog. Not wanting to throw cold water on his hopes, I kept silent. But Dell’s blog is not my concept of a contemporary transparent and open interface with customers. Rather, it is more focused on product promotion, chockful of predictable corporate hype and jargon. Example - “Providing Mission Critical Assistance to ProSupport Customers …” That’s self-aggrandizing ad copy, and simply not believable.

Here’s a clue that Dell’s blog is not engendering great support - the miniscule number of comments. Corporate blogs that are successful focus on creating a transparent, interactive online environment.  Dell, on the other hand, is just pushing corporate sales fluff.

You want to read a good, no b-s CEO blog?  How about Scott Ragsdale, CEO of NASEBA.

Want to see a really good corporate blog?  Outpost Worldwide, the independent film and TV production company in Kansas City.

Here are eight tips to successful corporate blogs:

1. Ask “why” - Why do you want to have a corporate blog? What’s the real purpose, the objective? If it’s to sell, advertise or overtly promote, go buy an ad. The objective of a CEO or corporate blog should be to engage customers/clients in an online discussion, no-holds-barred. If a company has a damaged brand image or reputation, a corporate blog is a good way to give unhappy customers a voice and hopefully win new friends.
2. Post often - get to the point - be brief - invite comments.  No one will bother to read long-winded corporate jabber.  Make it clear that you want to hear what people really think, especially if they don’t agree.
3. Develop a thick skin.  If a corporate blog is genuinely successful, it needs to be a forum for anyone to express any opinion about the company, profanity excluded.
4. Be responsive.   A key is to engage customers in a conversation in the Comment section of a blog posting.  Actively converse.  Praise an open discussion.  Deliver solutions that make them happy.
5. Develop a personality.  It’s okay for a group of professionals or corporate leaders to collaborate on a blog but show their pictures and a little about them on a page of the blog.
6. Create a scorecard.  Use the blog to measure improvement in corporate image.  Develop a simple method for customers to grade how good you are at responsiveness and finding quick solutions.
7. Few CEOs have any business having a blog.  In my opinion, if a CEO has time to actively blog, he or she is not spending enough time doing their job.  Besides, in most cases, the CEO is not the person who is really maintaining the CEO blog, and, guess what?  We all know that, and it detracts from credibility.
8. Promote a corporate blog only AFTER it starts building traction and a following, not before.