Blogs (or weblogs), as we discussed last issue, are quickly becoming a highly effective tool for communication in the business world.  Many readers are wondering, however, how they can incorporate a blog in their business.  Here are a few ideas:

• An Expert Forum of Intelligence and Knowledge:  Whether external or internal, a blog can provide an information-sharing platform where experts can share their intelligence with large groups of interested people.  Extending beyond opinion into the world of data sharing, these blogs can quickly become rich repositories that are used frequently by those seeking information on the topics of discussion. For external examples, we can turn to MarketingSherpa’s recent Readers’ Choice Best Blog Awards on the subjects of marketing, advertising, and PR.  The awards were presented to seven top sites that provide a wealth of information for marketing executives.
  
  
• Communication Platforms for Information Sharing:  As Symmetricom shared with us in our last issue, a blog can be used to broadcast information to a large group of people within a company or with external partners.  A blog is a perfect platform for information on company policies, product releases, employee benefits, or other information that is updated on a regular basis.
  
  
• A New Breed of Customer Service:  Intuit, Inc, the software company that specializes in business and financial management for small businesses, accounting professionals and consumers, has a QuickBooks weblog that is extremely comprehensive, with categories of information that includes client stories, development news, product features, and events, to mention only a few.  An excellent example of how using a weblog can help service customers with up-to-the minute news and services.
  
  
• Work Group and Project Management:   A recent prospect shared with us the need to gather input from several different people within several different divisions of her company for a communication project that is produced on a regular basis.  A blog would be a perfect forum for this as it can be used as a central repository for idea sharing so that each division can understand what other types of information are being provided. 

Do you have an interesting use for a blog?  Tell us about it in the space below!  And if you’re interested in finding out more information about IMN’s DirectBlog service, contact us at info@imninc.com.