If you're interested in blogs but aren't sure what the right way to use them is, we've outlined some common scenarios that apply to any size business. (Note: We haven't covered the use of blogs for professional publishing companies. For information on those topics, see "The benefits of blogging for media companies".)

Marketing and promotion

The earliest adopters of blogging technology in many corporations have been marketing, public relations, and promotional teams. The combination of immediacy, authenticity, and flexibility makes blogs a natural tool for talking to audiences you care about. So, if we've said that blogs are "a safe, easy way to share information with the audiences you care about", then exactly which audiences should you be addressing?

One blog per audience

Most products and services are targeted at a number of different audiences, but traditional mass marketing requires some compromises in order to reach the widest variety of possible customers. Blogs don't have that same constraint; While many blogs are aimed at a broad audience, it's possible to target a single specific audience with your blog and communicate to them in their own language. Best of all, it's cost-effective to target a narrow niche with a blog, which might be prohibitively expensive in other media.

For example, Stonyfield Farm is well-known for their organic dairy products. But while yogurt is a product that can be purchased by almost anyone, one of their key audiences is new parents. As result, Stonyfield created the Baby Babble blog, focused on the health concerns that new parents have about their children's diets.

One blog per brand, product or campaign

Just as you can target a single product to multiple audiences, it's common for more than one of your products to be appropriate for your audience. In this case, your customers may have more of an understanding of or appreciation for the product they're most familiar with. Or, you might have a particular campaign which isn't appropriate for all your audiences, but has a particular resonance for one of them.

To take advantage of that connection, it often makes sense to create a single blog for each distinct product or brand that you offer. During the 2006 Winter Olympics, Visa wanted to communicate a specific message behind their sponsorship of athletes in the games, as opposed to a general promotion of the Visa brand. To that end, Visa created a blog called "The Journey", with contributions from a number of Olympic athletes, each using Movable Type to share their own perspective on their games with the world.

This unique channel reinforced the core branding message Visa was looking to promote, but was addressed specifically to an audience that was invested in these individuals and their stories. By using TypePad as a simple platform for sharing that message, Visa was able to cut through the clutter that may have resulted if the blog were trying to address all of the campaigns Visa promotes.

Industry thought leadership, or a voice for executives

Regardless of what line of business you're in, it's valuable to be seen as an innovator and leader in your space. This can be accomplished in a few different ways, each of which emphasize the creativity and innovation of your company.

First-person blogs from a company's founders or executives can speak to the vision your company is defining. Talk about challenges that face your entire industry, describe overarching strategies that explain new products and services, or provide examples of the traits that make your company unique - any of these are perfect fodder for a leadership blog.

For example, Alacra (http://www.alacra.com/) provides business information services to financial and professional services firms. As part of their effort to demonstrate Alacra's expertise in managing and presenting important business information, Alacra CEO Steve Goldstein maintains a blog at http://www.alacrablog.com/, using the TypePad service to easily keep customers (and potential customers) up to date.

It's important to note, though, that leadership blogging doesn't have to be the exclusive domain of founders and C-level executives. Almost any member of a marketing organization can make valuable contributions to a leadership blog. And in many companies members of a customer service team or product development team have unique perspectives that are fascinating for customers, offering a behind-the-scenes peek at your company.

Even if your CEO or other senior executives are blogging themselves, they don't have to do all the work alone. Let's look at popular food store Whole Foods for an example.

We looked with interest at the recent post by Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey. Mackey embodies the Whole Foods philosophy of open and timely communication by using his Movable Type-powered blog to help tell the company's story from the inside out.

But take a closer look at a recent post called "An Open Letter to Michael Pollan". (see http://www.wholefoods.com/blogs/jm/archives/2006/05/anopenletter.html) The post itself is compelling, a stirring response to author Pollan's recent blockbuster book The Omnivore's Dilemma, which has had the blogosphere buzzing for months with talk of food miles and corn syrup. More interesting from the perspective of business blogging best practices, though, is the sentences that precede the heart of the post:

I want to acknowledge that the following letter was not written by me alone but was a joint product of several people, including valuable contributions from Margaret Wittenberg, A.C. Gallo, Edmund Lamacchia, Jim Speirs, Kate Lowery and Anna Madrona. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Hey, what do you know? Busy CEOs don't always have time to do all the homework and writing for a blog all by themselves. If you acknowledge the team that helps write a blog post, just like you'd acknowledge people who help do research for a presentation or a business meeting, it's completely okay to have people contribute to a blog that's "by" a CEO.

Here's the key points, if you've decided to use a senior executive as the voice of one of your company's blogs:

• It's okay to update infrequently. Mackey only updates when he has something significant to say, and tools like email subscriptions or feeds make it easy for people to get the updates in a timely fashion.
• It's okay to get help in writing a blog. Some executives aren't natural writers/bloggers, and even the ones who are will have busy schedules that might preclude extensive research or copy editing. Just make it clear that there's a team effort involved, and readers will be happy just to see you engaging in a dialogue.

Now, since our office is down the street from a Whole Foods Market, we're hoping the next step is a blog for each of their locations. The question-and-answer board in the front of the stores are one of the best examples of community interaction of any retailer or food seller; They're a natural next step for using blogs to connect with the Whole Foods community. In many industries, it's as important to be recognized as an authority as it is to promote one's products or services. For these scenarios, blogs can provide an almost-instantaneous way to broadcast or respond to issues as they arise.

Next: Creating a Blogging Policy