Why Would Your Company Need 13 Blogs?

Jeff – please ensure you remain a powerful evangelical believer in blogs. Please continue discussing success stories – even if you highlight Zappos. They’re good. If someone is unhappy that Zappos is good – by all means – they are free to do whatever they must do to outperform Zappos or whatever other successful competitor might exist in their segment.

As for the root question of THIS blog, there’s a very simple answer and probably a dozen more complex ones. Why have 13 blogs? The most compelling reason (the simplest reason)for having 13 blogs is because putting the effort, time, resources and money into having 13 blogs is beneficial to customers, employees, owners…

Additionally, having those 13 blogs provides exposure, as you mentioned, to 13 marketing sub-segments. I think that is a company focused view on it. A customer focused view would be to say that having 13 blogs provides information that is useful to 13 segments of customers. I think that if you distilled Zappos success into a single statement, a single tweet perhaps, that statement might be almost zenlike: “By putting customers’ needs, wants and satisfaction first, Zappos finds success.” In that respect, putting 13 blogs out there delivers a quantity and segmentation of information that meets and exceeds customers needs, and facilitates customer satisfaction.

All companies should find value in that approach.

Jeff-

In reply to your question of ‘why’, I’m in agreement with this particular theory:

‘I have a sneaking suspicion that they feel they have 13 different persona’s (market sectors) that buy their products so they have a blog for each type of customer’

Zappos is wise to expand on each of their market segments through the use of multiple blogs. There’s a drastic difference between a fashionista eyeing a pair of Kate Spade pumps and a 15 year old skateboarder searching for a pair of new kicks to match his board’. Multiple blogs succeed in bridging this gap, enabling Zappos to hone in on each individual brand beneath their massive umbrella. More importantly, it encourages reader participation and engagement and offers a richer experience.

I work with a client who has 25 segments within their overall brand, each with a unique target audience. We recently implemented a similar strategy to support each sector- so for me, your post is timely.

Last, it seems that Zappos is your muse, and I don’t feel you need to apologize for that. We write about what inspires us, and the Zappos success story is nothing if not inspiring.

Jeff,
You have demonstrated very clearly why multiple blogs are great for businesses.

I have 1 going but at least 5 others I want to get going on various interests and topics. They all somehow relate to the core though whichis jobs, careers, how to find a job, recruiting, etc…

Zappos does a great job of keeping it in line with the overall Zappos corporate umbrella s they provide many types of shoes.

Imagine the power if Nike did this. Wow!

Keep writing.

Bill Morgan
The Job Swami Career Advice Site

Hi Jeff.

Thanks – I like this article and it’s good to see an example of a company that puts so much effort into the creation of relevant content for each particular set of buyers. I have no doubt that it pays off for them.

On a smaller scale I have a client who takes a similar approach. Inspired by your article I’ve just posted an overview of their strategy on my blog: ‘One mid-sized recruitment consultancy, 10 different blogs: why?’ See: http://tinyurl.com/yc3g8a7

The MD of this firm is relatively new to the world of social media and blogs and would love feedback and advice on his approach. Do comment on my blog if you have any thoughts.

Thanks,
Sonja

As always, a very insightful post. Thanks Jeff.

Hello, Jeff
try to read every your post) good content

have question: what do u think about translating blogs to other services? from livejournal to blogger, for example
is it good or not?

For all of the folks reading this that think their company needs thirteen blogs I would have to say to think hard and long about that first. Zappos is a special company that understands social media tools from the top down. They use it in interesting and engaging ways as shown in the article. However, I do digital audits all the time and find the biggest companies that “can” and do have multiple blogs to be either 100% self promotional and dry or I find barren wastelands. Someone gets excited about blogging, tweeting, facebooking or whatever and they lose interest quickly.

It’s super important to do tests. Blogs have the ability to be segmented by topics or categories. If yu have a division that wants their own blog make them add to the enterprise blog first. If they show promise, conversions and the ability to keep it up then give them their own playground.

Social media sites and blogs generate tremendous SEO. The worst thing for a customer, potential employee or anyone for that matter to see is an abandoned blog or twitter presence. Don’t let your first impression to a potential client be an old blog with tumbleweeds blowing through it.

All that said, blogging is absolutely one of the most underutilized and powerful tools out there!
Thanks for writing this!

Thank you Jeff – this is a really useful blog. I am particularly interested because I run a training company that appeals to different sectors and we have tried to incorporate that in one blog and it doesn’t work – so thank you. Back to the drawing board.

By the way I also run a company that has a fashion arm and as you guys were obviously feeling left out over the bags – I shall write a feature on men bags and send it to you!!

Beverley

Also, if these are high ranking blogs they can be used for SEO purposes to create backlinks to the other blogs.

Why not just use 13 different blog categories?

We were having a conversation about just needing three separate blogs at Infusionsoft. In the end, we all (meaning blog content creators) had to define both the purpose and the target audience to justify having multiple blogs. When it comes to blogs, it’s almost always best to avoid the “everything and the kitchen sink” approach. And when I went to Zappos blogs, I wasn’t so interested in their marketing content, I wanted just the Insights/company culture content. In fact, I unsubscribed from the blog when it was EATKS because it simply wasn’t targeted enough. Not every company needs 13 blogs, but if they’re going to develop a blog, it should be targeted. And if the need arises for something that doesn’t fit the target, it’s time to launch a different blog.