Now this is a tough one and really speaks to the angry raving lunatic in me (the guy who writes probably 85% of the content on here).
Companies tend to have two sorts of blogs – corporate and employee. At infurious we just really have employee blogs. We aggregate them into one but they’re really just space for us to muse loudly about the things we like to talk about which may have a tenuous connection to software development for the Mac.
Corporate blogs are slightly different. The message is controlled and often peer-reviewed. If you read a selection of “Mac” blogs out there on t’internet then you’ll see that some of them are definitely indie Mac guys who have very “employee” focussed blogs (Daniel Jalkut, Gus Mueller) and some have a more corporate line (Martian, SpanningSync, Pixelmator).
A blog is really just the new way to communicate with your customers. If updated it provides them with some transparency. It’s understood why we don’t tell everyone everything but it can really help in a PR situation (in terms of reducing costs and increasing awareness). Enabling comments means you can have fully fledged dialog with your customers – and that can only be a good thing (if you’re actually trying to please them).
Commenting on a corporate blog is not as intimate as on an employee blog but that’s because the subjects are, for the most part, more detached and drier. It should therefore be handled in much the same way. Keep to the facts – engage with them – if you’re taking time to comment you obviously care but keep your angry head locked down if the comment is going to be negative.
I guess it’s no different to any other method of communication if you’re trying to achieve something. Be on topic, be polite and be friendly. Don’t jump on their latest PR blog post with a customer complaint, they’ll likely ditch it. There’s a good time and a place for anything.
Of course, if they’ve been ignoring you then by all means! 😉