Photo by Salvatore Vuono

Figuring out a blog for corporate purposes isn’t easy. First there’s the hurdle of requiring the skills to “think like a publisher” — when the company does anything but write content. Then there’s the whole raft of policy questions (and input from legal, of course). Then there’s finally the job of the writing itself: who will blog, about what, when, etc.

Here are two great posts on the topic. You may also want to check out my own post on IT blogs: The three big lessons of tech blogs that succeed.

Corporations get big on blogging, but why do so many still fail?

This great post from Ian Greenleigh over on the Bazarrblog starts off with some new data by eMarketer showing that corporate blogging continues its strong adoption rate. About one in three companies have blogs but that’s expected to rise to 43% by 2012.  But Greenleigh delves into data that suggests corporate blogs still lag in the “trust” department, and asks social media biggee Jay Baer and others to weigh in on the topic. What follows is a virtual “what not to do” list for corporate bloggers.

You no longer control your company’s brand

Gini Dietrich’s post on the Spin Sucks blog (may favorite name for a blog btw) nails this topic — which is that people are already talking about your company on social media whether you like it or not. And she even includes a great anecdote that drives the point home about the benefits of getting involved and taking action.