Balancing Informality in Your Business Blog

Businesses that carry a running blog on their website typically do it for one key reason: a blog, simply put, is a great way to interact with customers and amass further degrees of exposure. Many of these businesses, however, don’t stop to consider the type of interaction a blog can foster.

While the relationship between business and consumer in most settings is a highly formal one, the blog atmosphere allows for the presentation of an otherwise unsuitable level of informality. The blog writer can use the words “I” and “we” to describe the company. He can refer to trivial office happenings, local stories or weather events, and upcoming product launches in a highly conversational manner. His posts – whether long or short, relevant or rambling – can allow the business to connect with the consumer in a new and novel manner.

But, as always, there are limits to the appropriateness of this type of informality. The key piece of advice I usually give clients is to be “conversational” rather than too personal (at one end of the spectrum) or too professional (at the other). While it’s ok to write about the great times had at the company holiday party, it’s probably less advisable to talk about anything more specific that may have occurred. It’s also inadvisable to provide insights into the company that are not purely product-related. Telling readers about your year-end bonuses or promotional ideas tucked away in your Chicago self storage unit is usually not the best of ideas.

Here are a few more Dos and Don’ts of business blogging:

Do:

-Be conversational and informal

-Talk in generalities

-Mention new products, seasonally-appropriate products, or recent promotions

-Relate news coverage of your company in the press

-Talk about charities or programs that your company supports

-Comment objectively on world or local events

-Write about company history

Don’t:

-Be too personal or too professional

-Explicitly push a company product or service

-Talk unnecessarily about older company products with which the reader is already familiar

-Give specifics about workplace stories or long-term plans

-Use shoddy language, grammar, or punctuation

-Be negative for any reason

Hopefully these tips can help you better navigate the business blogging landscape. If done correctly, a blog can help your business connect with consumers in a highly productive way. But make sure to preserve the appropriate level of tone and content. A blog is a great vehicle for informality, to be sure, but it can be all too easy to take that informality a step far.