More and more companies go social every day. The virtues of online communities have been under discussion for days and days, thus causing morre companies embrace the web 2.0 techniques.

However, as with all the other concepts, there are pitfalls that marketers have to take care of on this road. Below is the list of mistakes the marketers tend to make when thinking of blogging for their companies.

1. Blog is for selling

Often corporate blogs are introduced by marketers who set the major objective for this kind of activity as increasing sales. You have to understand one thing here: a blog is a tool for communication in the first place. It is a sales tool in some cases…but in the last place. It’s easy to start a blog, it’s a bit more difficult to attract visitors, but probably not so much for a well-known company or brand. And once you have attracted a certain amount of visitors, the content is not a problem – they’ll help. But it is the easiest to lose it all when you start selling instead of talking. You will sell more, but indirectly, through increased loyalty.

2. It will go along by itself

Ok, I said it’s not the most difficult task for a good brand to attract visitors to its blog. But it won’t work as you want it to. Unless you follow up on it every minute of every hour. Customers will have problems – you will have complaints. You deal with them – you win, you ignore – you lose. Simple.

3. I won’t need speak to them

Again, once you start a blog, you have to be ready for direct and open discussions with your clients. If you don’t have time for that – forget about starting it at all. If you don’t wish to deal with people in a transparent manner, forget about the blog at all.

4. I’m in control

No, you are not. You control your website. You control the news block of your website, even if you have the comments module attached. You can even technically control your blog. But what’s the point of the blog in that case? A weblog or a community is for you to share with people. Whatever it is – they have to know and you have to deal.

5. I don’t need a strategy

You don’t need it, that’s true… if you are Google, Apple, Microsoft or the like. If you are not, do not start without it. You need a strategy, you need to set goals and objectives. Just like with the business you are supporting with the blog. Take it as a separate project with its tasks and resources. Friending with a brand just for the sake of friending is not an option for users. They need to know what the point is, what objectives are set for the project, what problems it solves and how it can be valuable for them. The value doesn’t have to be monetary or materialistic, but it has to be there some form.

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