Hello! This is Keroppi. This time I would like to write about the planning process leading up to launching a corporate blog.
Introduction
"We've decided to launch a technology company blog, and you've been assigned to the blog team, so please look forward to it!" I was told, and so I started making a company blog, even though I had no experience or anything. I was like, "Yay!" for a moment, but the more I thought about it, the more questions started to appear in my mind: "What should I do?" First of all, I had to get a grasp of the big picture of what I needed to do!!!
First, organize what you need to do using a "process sheet"!
First , create a process sheet that summarizes the tasks required to start from zero and release the blog . Connect the items that need to be done with a line and illustrate which steps need to be completed before other steps can start. The image looks something like this. For reference.
Use your imagination to write out the steps you need to take, as shown below. Imagination is extremely important, as is the rest of the process.
- If you don’t set a goal for running your blog, your direction will become unstable, so set a goal first.
- Decide what kind of articles you will write to achieve your goals, and decide who will be reading your blog.
- Decide what kind of article to post based on your target audience.
- Conduct research on other companies' blogs to find out what information is being posted on their corporate blogs.
As you write it all out, you will be able to visualize how many steps are required. When you actually start these steps, you will see the necessary steps in more detail, but it is important to first grasp the overall framework.
However, without experience, we didn't realize what was missing, and we ended up creating it while running around in confusion. Of course. We got a glimpse of the other side of the idea of projects that are as numerous as the stars in the world, yes, yes. For someone who is used to it, it might take a day or two, or even less. This time, three people with no experience in starting a corporate blog gathered together (although they were not full-time) and it took nearly two weeks (destruction). Where is the wisdom of Manjusri?
Set goals to determine the starting point of your policy!
Now that you have written out the necessary steps on the process sheet, you can carry them out one by one. First, decide on the purpose of starting the blog. If you can't decide "why are you starting and running this blog?", you won't be able to decide who your target audience is, what information you want to send out, and what functions you need for that. Conversely, if you have decided, even if you are unsure of what to make later on in the production process, you can use "what was the purpose of the blog in the first place" as a basis for making decisions.
Also, since this is a corporate blog, there is a view that the mere act of disseminating information is not enough as a goal. It would be better to decide the purpose by looking ahead to the end of disseminating information , such as getting people to know about our company and leading to project acquisition, or improving our industry presence . Whether it's a blog or a life goal, everything starts moving when you establish the meaning of what you are doing.
Use "Blog Targeting" to decide who you want to reach!
Once we have set our objectives, we decide on the target audience for our blog and what kind of people should be viewing it in order to achieve that objective. If our goal is to get people to know about our company and use it to acquire projects, then our target audience would be people in charge of potential client companies looking for development companies.
We thought about who we should be targeting in order to achieve the objectives of our blog, and just like with the process sheet, we wrote down a rough image before breaking it down into something concrete. This is when we became convinced that words are the last hope for those who have nothing.
Make your content more specific by "considering the content to post on your blog"!!
Once you have decided on the target of your blog, you need to decide what kind of content you will send to them. If you are targeting potential clients who are looking for a development company, you might want to talk about the output of your engineers and your development track record. After deciding on the content, you need to think about how to collect the information that will be the source of the content. Wow, it's so hard to even imagine it (sigh). It reminds me of the scenery of my hometown, where you can see mountains in all directions.
You can also set multiple objectives, targets, and content. In that case, you will have a target for each objective, and set content that matches that target.
Expand your imagination by "researching other companies' blogs"!
Once you have decided on the content to post, you will be able to see the outline of the content you want to share. So far, we have been looking at the inside, so next we will look at the outside.
Observe other company blogs, whether they are from the same industry or different industries. Keep a broad perspective and observe the following:
- What kind of content are you sending out?
- What layout is easiest to see?
- What features does the blog have (categories, search, etc.)
I set aside the idea that other people must be having a hard time and looked for elements that could be used as references for our own service. It is often said that imitation is the father of invention. In order to find out what was cool, I ended up browsing quite a lot of blogs. This took more time than I expected, while contributing to the number of views without even realizing it (sigh).
In "Blog Feature Selection", check the star rating chart to find out which blog is best!
After you have decided what you want to communicate in line with your purpose and have taken a look at other companies' blogs, think about what features your blog needs. Write down each of the necessary features in bullet points.
When starting a blog, if you are using a service such as Hatena Blog or Livedoor Blog, create a matrix diagram with the functions you have written out on the vertical axis and the services on the horizontal axis.
This allows you to analyze which services have the functions you want to achieve. Even if you are building something from scratch, it helps you to select which frameworks and libraries you need to use. Even though it's a pretty voluminous thing, we're not unaware that this is just the beginning of the mountain, so we just have to go ahead without thinking about it!! (Sigh)
What are the "blog posting rules" for?
From this point on, there will probably be a lot of work that can be done in parallel. Since it will be difficult to achieve our goals with chaotic behavior, we will establish rules for posting on the blog. We will establish rules based mainly on the following points:
- Posting Frequency
- Post content not allowed
- Other principles necessary for continuing to post and operate the site
Posting frequency is set according to the content and purpose of the post. It is a good idea to refer to the rules of other existing services when deciding what content to block, assuming actual operation. Make it clear even about obvious things, such as not posting personal information or anything that goes against public order and morals. It's not particularly moving, like passing on genes to the next generation, but it's important to learn from history at this moment.
After formulating the "blog posting flow", the image of how it will work is now clear!
In line with the company's rules, we will create a flow for creating, approving, and posting articles . We will also think about each step while imagining actual operation. We will illustrate the steps we have come up with like a process sheet and create a flow diagram like the one below.
Once created, I would think in my head about whether it could be put into practical use and make any necessary revisions. The more I created these documents in advance, the more I was able to see things that I hadn't seen before.
Establish analytical indicators and get ready to know your users
In order to continually develop articles tailored to the reader, it is essential to analyze which articles were viewed most frequently and how they were viewed. To do this, we will write out the items necessary for analysis, such as the number of users who visited the site within a certain period of time. We will also consider whether it is possible to measure this by introducing tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console.
Summary
I've thought about a lot of things up to this point, but when launching a corporate blog, at least these are the contents that need to be decided. Depending on the purpose of the blog and the content of the posts, you may need to decide more things in advance.
And above all, from here, you will make a development schedule, get to work programming and testing, and create the substance of the blog. Yes, you may have forgotten, but up to this point, I'm just preparing to start a blog, so to speak, standing on the starting line .
However, even just that was a lot to think about from the perspective of an inexperienced player, and it was extremely difficult (sigh). Fatigue compilation!! Still, I would be happy if this record has not been buried and has caught someone's eye.
I hope this article will be of some help to you.