First local edition of the official Nokia blog

Over the last two years, Republic Publishing has been working with the Nokia Social Media team to develop and run the official Nokia blog. Almost two years to the day since the launch of the global English language edition, we rolled out the Chinese edition in , together with the local team in Nokia China.

In the works for the last three months, the site mirrors the look and feel of the global edition, but is completely localised to make it easier for both readers and the team working on it. Although hosted in China, the site was built and is maintained by Republic Publishing.

To help get the site off the ground, and the local team up and running, JBC spent a week in Beijing working through the key functions of running an official corporate blog.

If you’re fluent in Chinese, then head over to Blog.Nokia.com.cn

One of the best ways to do this for a brand, is to step inside the business and bring it to the outside. This happens day in and day out on Nokia Conversations, which works tirelessly to bring the myriad untold stories to the people who want to read them. This not only helps break down the barrier between a brand and its customers, but gives us as editors something to write about when typically there might not be. It also gives users a reason and an excuse to visit a brand’s website more regularly. And Google loves this.

We hear all the time about Search Engine Optimisation (Snake Oil) but with little real understanding of what it means. To us, it means simply having something worth searching for. For that, it must be both interesting and relevant. Typically, that which is either interesting or relevant is also previously untold. New. In other words. The days are long gone when you could create a site, stuff it full of “optimised” “content” and hope for the best. Today, a site needs to be living and breathing, updated daily, continually developing and evolving and backed up by a solid editorial strategy. The best way for a brand to do this? Open up. Tell the stories that don’t normally get told. Allow the outside in, and crucially, allow the inside to venture out.

See, Google (the search engine, not the company) likes it when sites are updated regularly, when they offer something new or previously untold. Those same tales will initially be read by the very interested few. Quite quickly some of them will write about them elsewhere (linking back to the original in the process) and the few will turn into a few more, when the whole process will start again and ultimately, the few more turn into many. All the whilst Google (the search engine, not the company) loves it even more as the more links pointing to the same story, the higher up the results page the story will go.

It can’t be faked, it must be real, genuine, interesting and engaging. To do that, brands need to get comfortable with the concept of opening up and telling those stories they wouldn’t previously consider telling, in an environment where people aren’t just welcome but actively encouraged to share, comment and react. It’s the very antithesis of the traditional closed corporate mindset. Sure, brands could put any old stuff up on their site and hope for people to come. But if people aren’t searching for it, they won’t find it. Telling quality stories, that reveal something more about a brand, in an open and honest way is a great way to be found.

And that’s how Google is changing corporate culture.