Most executives are pretty smart, capable people, but many (if not most) get a failing grade for social media, particularly blogs. While there are always exceptions to the rule, there are in fact very few good executive blogs. I’ve read many “leading” or “top 10” executive blogs (based on traffic and word-of-mouth, more than anything) and most are not bad, but few are really great.
Having examined many of these blogs, including other well-known and lesser-known blogs, here is a compilation of 8 key ingredients to a truly great executive blog, with good and bad examples for each:
1- Audience specific content (well-written & subject focused).
В· Good example: John Dragoon (CMO, Novell).
В· Bad example: Jim Estill (former CEO, SYNNEX).
2- Current, fresh content (timely).
В· Good example: Paul Levy (CEO, Beth Israel Hospital).
В· Bad example: Jonathan Schwartz (President & CEO, Sun Microsystems)
3- Easy to navigate (content categories).
В· Good example: Bill Marriott (Chairman, Marriott).
В· Bad example: Ross Mayfield (CEO, Socialtext)
4- Social media integration (bookmarking, sharing options, Twitter).
В· Good example: Matt Blumberg (CEO, Return Path)
В· Bad example: Bill Marriott (Chairman, Marriott).
5- Audience engagement (user comments & responding to comments).
В· Superb example: Paul Levy (CEO, Beth Israel Hospital).
В· Bad example: Jason Calcanis (CEO, Mahalo.com)
6- Clean design (not cluttered with ads and crap).
В· Good example: Paul Levy (CEO, Beth Israel Hospital).
В· Bad example: Huffington Post (not an executive blog mind you, but so, so terrible)
7- Cross promoting the business (without blatant advertising).
В· Good example: Mark Cuban (CEO, Dallas Mavericks et al)
В· Bad example: Ray Lutz / GM Fastlane (GM)
8- Text + Multimedia (large blocks of text turn-off readers)
В· Good example: Ray Lutz / GM Fastlane (GM)
В· Bad example: Mark Cuban (CEO, Dallas Mavericks et al)
ADDITIONAL READING:
Blogs are about content & context, not technology
Intranet 2.0 becomes mainstream
(intranet blogs on the rise)
I just wanted to express my gratitude to everybody who has anything to do with the creation of this resource. Here's my site – rapidshare search engine. Will be glad if you give it a try )
Thanks for this good information. this is a really good blog. http://www.narutohits.com