Corporate blogs and their usage in marketing communication

Abstract

With mass usage of the Internet and popularisation of social media there emerged the necessity to develop new marketing tactics that would enable companies to reach target groups and communicate effectively and efficiently in the new online media. Using blogs for different marketing purposes is one of these tactics. Today corporate blogs are mostly used as tools in public relations, marketing promotion and relationship marketing. Within the research of such usage of blogs, the analysis of Northern American companies'corporate blogs written in English language was conducted. The analysis comprised three parameters that were followed during 2014: authorship of posts, publishing frequency, i.e. the average number of posts per month, and content categories, i.e. topics covered in posts. Research results showed that companies use their blogs in different ways in terms of aforementioned parameters. What all analysed corporate blogs had in common was mixing promotion with original content. Through different blog stories companies placed marketing messages about products/services, presented business activities, communicated corporate values and culture, as well as the image of socially responsible company, an expert in the professional field and a desirable employer.