I somehow didn't think blogs have a spot in the construction and engineering industry. Found it funny to envision a tin hat blogging in the middle of building something. However, after researching on Caterpillar’s business blogs, I realised that my thoughts are totally passé and I'm stuck in the past. Maybe its not the tin hats who are noobs anymore, maybe its just me.
It seems to me that, all businesses must have blogs today, maybe for the simple reason that business blogging is probably the cheapest promoting strategy that gets your business more online perceivability. I reckon that, Caterpillar, a construction giant thinks the same, because its one of those few corporates that knows not just how to blog right, but also knows how to impress marketers and clearly make it in the list of best corporate blogs. Caterpillar has separate blogs focused around various industries, construction, electrical and marine with sub-classes under every industry. Blogging to that much of detail shows just how seriously Caterpillar has taken to social media, especially blogging.
I listened to an Itunes Podcast by Brian Stokoe of Caterpillar where he talks about Caterpillar’s global social media strategy works, and found it quite amusing, especially the way in which Caterpillar’s blogging strategies blend into Mckinsey's value levers. Like for example Caterpillar has built an awesome social community by engaging its customers, encourages brand loyalty by rewarding customer ideas, and how at the same time it solves customer problems and issues socially (Spark Boutik - Digital Marketing & Social Media Agency, 2014). So, Mckinsey's marketing and sales value levers as well as customer service value lever is already ticked off in their social media blogging strategy.
CATERPILLAR’S EXTERNAL BLOGGING TACTIC
The external blogging strategy which the “electric industry” blog uses to communicate with it’s clients, is to allow customers interact directly with employees of the company and get to know them (Convinceandconvert.com, 2014). The idea is to let the customers have a conversation starter with the employees, allowing them to comment and kind of really having a conversation by keeping it going. So the company encourages the customers to participate and give their opinions on articles, also if a customer appreciates someone else’s comment, then they give it a “kudos”. The top Kudoed posts and authors are shared on the blog main page which encourages more and more users to participate in this sort of a thing (Weiss-Roessler, 2011). The best part is that the employees share a bio, so that the customers know who they are chatting with and get comfortable with the author.
Brian Stokoe says that that they wanted to make the interaction between the employees and customers so personal that the employees even put their picture to the conversation (Convinceandconvert.com, 2014).
So tin-hats say, go ahead and blog, but first let me take a selfie!
CATERPILLAR’S INTERNAL BLOGGING TACTIC
An example of internal blogging in Caterpillar is the “Safety group” blog which is basically a safety culture blog which is always updated by an employee who writes content on safety all the time. Its truly incredible stuff for employees in the safety culture and is perfect for any of the individuals who need to manage wellbeing concerns on employment locales and all that kind of stuff (Convinceandconvert.com, 2014). This blog gets all the attention internally in the organisation. Consistently, in this way Caterpillar makes it very simple for customers to unite with each other as well as with the employees from the organisation, thereby enhancing its business by going live!
References
Convinceandconvert.com,. (2014). Retrieved 26 August 2014, from http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-pros-podcast/social-media-success-for-global-enterprise/
Spark Boutik - Digital Marketing & Social Media Agency,. (2014). 8 Brands Doing Corporate Blogging Right. Retrieved 26 August 2014, from http://sparkboutik.com/attention-management/8-brands-doing-corporate-blogging-right/
Weiss-Roessler, J. (2011). Corporate Blogging: Caterpillar Builds a Community | The Intechnically Savvy Blog. Intechnic.com. Retrieved 26 August 2014, from http://www.intechnic.com/blog/corporate-blogging-caterpillar-builds-a-community/
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