Hypertext

It’s a common scenario: you’ve put a lot of time and effort into the strategy and design of a corporate blog and you’ve built a strong pipeline of content that’s posted frequently. More than six weeks (or longer) have passed, and while you’re seeing some comments, you’re not sure the blog is worth the resources you’re putting into it. Is it too soon to quit? How do you know if your corporate blog is successful?

It’s easy to make the assumption that your blog is failing when you’re receiving few comments. But don’t forget, Forrester classifies social media users into six “profiles” based on their behaviors online, and the vast majority fall into the “spectator profile,” where they are consuming social media content, but not yet commenting or creating their own content.

This data tells us measuring the number of comments may not be the best metric for determining the success of your blog. Don’t assume no one is reading your blog just because there isn’t a steady stream of comments. It could simply mean you could have more readers who fall into the spectators’ profile.

Still unsure whether you should continue to blog? Before you throw in the towel:

Revisit your goals

What were your objectives when you built your blogging strategy? It probably wasn’t to get a boatload of comments. For example:

• Was it to start a conversation with potential customers? Look beyond the comments. Are sales and marketing teams sharing posts with their prospects and having subsequent discussions via e-mail or in person?
• Was it to drive traffic to other corporate Web sites or content? Look at your site’s Web analytics. How much traffic is being driven from the blog?
• Was it to establish your executive or company as a thought leader on a specific topic? Look for message resonance. Are other blogs or media linking to your posts or including your commentary? Is sales or marketing receiving more customer inquiries on this specific issue?

Remember: the numbers are just part of the story

While Google Analytics data for your blog is just one element you should consider, there are some key figures to weigh more heavily in your decision:

• Is there steady growth? While overall visitor numbers are important, track your traffic over time and look for steady improvements. Steady growth is obviously an indication of your blog building a readership.
• Who’s reading? By taking a close look at IP data for your visitors, you may be able to get a better picture of who’s reading your blog. For example, the majority of readers are from a specific region or country that is important to your business or the blog is being read by someone at a specific prospect’s location.
• Are people coming back? When looking at traffic numbers, unique visitors is usually the first place your eye is drawn, but don’t overlook returning visitors. How many people like the content enough to come back? Map that to their IP address and you have an even better picture of who finds your blog appealing.
• What posts are getting the most traffic? Data on the posts that are getting the most readers should be used as a tool to create future content. What about this post made it the most read? Was it multimedia post? Did it have more links to relevant content? Was it about a controversial topic?
• What keywords are driving people to the blog? This data helps you understand how people are finding your blog. If the majority of people are coming to your blog because they searched for health care reform as opposed to digital records management, be sure you’re creating more content focused on the larger reform topic or strategically using that keyword to keep people coming back.

Analyze your content/activities

After a refresher on your goals, spend some time looking at your posts, SEO and promotional activities to ensure your execution matches your intent:

• Have all your posts been about company news or products? If you wanted to create a platform for thought leadership, you may want to adjust your approach and see if you get a stronger response.
• Have you used SEO tactics in your posts? Strategic placement of keywords, metatags and links make your content more discoverable and help point readers to specific sites.

Don’t forget to promote it

Unfortunately the “if you build it, they will come” philosophy doesn’t apply to blogging. To generate awareness of your blog you should be putting just as much effort into promoting it as you are building your pipeline of content.

For each post you write, try to incorporate links to posts from other relevant and influential bloggers. They will see your posts in their trackbacks and will likely investigate your blog further and possibly link to it – making their readership aware of your blog. Also, be sure to identify other posts on your topic where you can make an interesting comment linking back to your blog for more on your perspective. Lastly, don’t forget the power of making your network on other social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, familiar with your blog. By teasing your posts in status updates on your Fan Page or tweets from your corporate account, you are putting the link to your blog in the hands of people you know are interested in your perspective. Facebook and Twitter also serve as an excellent platform for link sharing.

Ask your target audience/readers

Consider going straight to your target to get their opinion on the progress of your blog. This insight can help you tailor your approach if you decide to continue or help you understand why it may be time to quit blogging:

• Publish a post on your blog that asks your readers for their feedback. What do they like about the site? What do they want to see more or less of? What are some of their other favorite blogs?
• Outreach to someone you’re targeting who might not have seen the blog before. What do they think? Do they find it interesting, entertaining or useful?

Before you quit, I recommend applying some of the insight you learned in your analysis for another month. Ideally, you will have a stronger set of metrics to benchmark against and will see a marked improvement in the progress toward the goals you established when you started blogging.

This exercise will ensure you don’t make a hasty decision to shut down your blog. However, a corporate blog even with the best execution is not going to be the solution for every PR challenge. Know that it’s ok to move on if you continue to find that this tactic is not helping you meet your objective or your priorities or resources change.

Have you thought about abandoning your corporate blog? What did you do? What was the deciding factor?

Related posts:

1. The Corporate Blog: 10 Community Building Tips
2. Join the Conversation – Corporate Blogging and Blog Relations
3. Looking for a New Year’s Resolution? Breathe new life into your blog with video
4. Most Influential Blog Series: The Full Report
5. Corporate Blogging Event – Boston