Corporate blogs are one way social media is being used strategically by companies and organizations. Think of a blog as the hub of the wheel, the home base of your social media strategy.
From your blog, you link to your Twitter stream, your Facebook fan page, your YouTube channel, a Flickr photo page, a SlideShare page and more.
Don’t make it too complicated: a blog is a next-generation Web site. Call it a social site. The purpose of a corporate blog is to make your site interactive and engaging and to develop relationships with your customers that ultimately drive sales.
As a useful reference, I’ve compiled a list of 67-plus close to 100 Big Brand* corporate blogs. I also include some large association, governmental and non-profit blogs. A few takeaways:
- Most of these corporate blogs are written by multiple authors
- CEO blogs by Big Brands are still rare (that’s for another list)
- An increasing number of Big Brands have more than one blog
The companies that get it understand that a corporate blog should be written in an authentic, conversational voice. The blog should be about an issue or topic that interests their stakeholders – not about the company’s products or services. A great blog sells without selling.
If you have a suggestion for an addition to this list, please leave it in the Comments below. [List more or less current as of May 2017]
List of Big Brand Blogs
- Accenture
- Accuquote
- Adobe (multiple blogs)
- Amazon
- American Express
- American Red Cross
- Ask.com
- Avaya
- Avis (UK)
- BearingPoint
- Benetton
- BestBuy (CMO blog here)
- Best Western
- Bigelow Tea
- BNP Paribas (in French)
- Boeing (VP Marketing)
- Chevron (event blog)
- Cisco (12 corporate blogs)
- Clorox
- Coca-Cola
- Chrysler (also Jeep.com community)
- Daimler (in German)
- Delta
- Dell (hands-down the winner as far as use of social media)
- Edelman (and CEO Richard Edelman’s blog)
- EMC
- Fandango
- Fiat
- Finnair
- Fiskateers
- Flickr
- Ford?
- Forrester Research (multiple blogs)
- GE (Global Research)
- Global Crossing
- GM (multiple blogs)
- Graco
- GSK
- Harley-Davidson
- Hitachi (multiple blogs)
- HP (includes Communities)
- IBM (one of the original corporate bloggers)
- Intel
- Indium (multiple blogs)
- Intuit (multiple blogs)
- Johnson & Johnson
- Kaiser Permanente
- Kodak (also here and here)
- Kryptonite
- Lenovo
- LuLu
- Library of Congress
- Marriott (CEO blog and also VP Chef blog)
- Mayo Clinic
- Microsoft
- Mint
- Molson
- McDonald’s (CSR blog)
- Monster.com
- Nike (also here and here)
- Nokia
- OpenSkies (subsidiary of British Airways)
- Palm
- Patagonia
- Oracle (multiple)
- Patagonia
- Pitney Bowes (CEO Mike Critelli’s blog)
- PricewaterhouseCoopers UK (multiple blogs)
- Quicken Loans
- SAP (multiple)
- SAS (multiple)
- Second Life
- Sharpie Markers (Newell Rubbermaid)
- Skype
- Sony (Electronics Blog)
- Starbucks (more than a blog)
- Starwood
- Sun Microsystems (and CEO blogger Jonathan Schwartz)
- Southwest Airlines (more than a blog)
- Texas Instruments
- Toyota
- U.S. TSA (Transportation Security Administration)
- Tyson Foods
- Verizon
- Walmart
- Wells Fargo (4 blogs)
- Whole Foods
- Yahoo!
- Yoplait (in French)
- Xerox (multiple blogs)
- Yum! Brands
- Zappos (multiple blogs)
- Zillow
* My definition of Big Brand is somewhat arbitrary. Some of these are smaller, private companies or startups. Some are Fortune 50s. All are recognizable brands here in the U.S.
Useful Links
Check out this SUPERLIST of social media case studies (and another llst which also points to internal use of social media).
More background information in Top Posts on Corporate Blogging in 2008 – 2009.
How I Put This List Together
The industrious Peter Kim compiled (and continues to add to) a comprehensive list of social media marketing examples. He has also created a Wiki of Social Media Marketing Examples.
I looked at the 35+ examples of corporate social media posted to Mashable by Aaron Uhrmacher and scanned the members list over at the Blog Council.
I perused the invaluable NewPR Wiki list of corporate blogs. And cross referenced the 58 61 entries on the Fortune 500 Business Blogging Wiki. I consulted a few more lists here and here.
Thanks also to Mario Sundar, LinkedIn’s chief blogger and persistent chronicler of corporate blogging for his Top 15 Corporate Blogs lists.