Over the last few weeks, we’ve been deconstructing how major companies use blog content management to increase digital presence and brand awareness. We were curious how (or even if) the top brands on Interbrand’s Best Global Brands list were blogging for business. Turns out a huge portion of those heavy hitters rely on blogging to reach followers. This week, we turn our eyes to the automotive giant Volkswagen.
Volkswagen or VW certainly knows what it’s doing when it comes to online marketing. The company has long received kudos for its social media campaigns and addictive viral commercials. So when it comes to VW’s blogging, the company takes a different approach: No fewer than 8 mini-blogs tell 8 different stories about what’s happening at VW. As we’ve discussed before, multi-blogging is a great idea when you’re a company like VW with a lot of subsidiary brands and campaign initiatives. Jetta, Beetle and Passat each have its own blog, while “My VW” is a blog devoted to questions VW owners might have. Other blogs include “Think Blue” which covers all of VW’s environmental efforts and, for the hardcore fan, there’s the blog VW Enthusiasts.
Snappy videos and cool social media tricks are missing from VW’s blogs and we think it’s a wise move. VW is really talking to folks who’ve gone beyond sort of looking at cars and are now here at its website doing serious research. Still fun and well-written, the blogs are more informational in nature as they report on awards won, new safety features and upcoming cars.
There’s a lot any company can take away from VW’s blogging brilliance, but our favorite is how photo-centric the blog is. After all, if you’ve come to VW’s blog, you probably want to see some cars — and they deliver on that. Too often companies with merchandise (clothing retailers, restaurants, etc.) don’t include pictures of the goods in the blog. Huh? If you’ve got stuff to sell, then by all means show it off! Adding photos and videos of your merchandise to your blog is easy and gives your blog that extra “oomph.” VW clearly realizes it can have all the smart commercials in the world but if it’s not using social media and blogging to sell its product, then it has truly missed the bus.
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