The Cedar Point Blog

On Point, the official blog for the Cedar Point theme park, is an interesting example of a corporate blog (and not just because it's about theme parks, which regular readers will know that I love).

They seem to have got the tone right, with named writers (albeit a duo - Tony & Tyler), an informal style, and lots of detailed content about behind-the-scenes stuff, not just marketing hype. They use lots of photos, and the design is pretty nice.

Whilst comments are pre-moderated, which is pretty much unavoidable on a site like this, one interesting thing about the comments is that each one gets an individual reply from Tony & Tyler, indented within the entry itself. This makes the comments look a bit more like the letters page in a magazine, but I think this is quite a good model for commenting on corporate blogs.

Corporate blogs like this are exciting because they allow the audience access to the closed-circle of employees, not because they allow communication among the users, which is secondary. Therefore, guaranteeing that each comment gets an individual reply is a great incentive for people to post. It also helps make up for the disappointment of not seeing your comment appear straight away. Of course, there's no way of telling how many comments simply aren't published, but I'd guess that the figure isn't that high.

The blog also does a good job in being able to respond to the requests and desires of the readers, and I imagine that it's a good way for the theme park to evaluate what their visitors are after.

All in all, companies looking to exploit the marketing potential of blogs could learn some good lessons from OnPoint! If marketing is now about 'conversation' (I look to you for the buzzwords, Mr Boardwell) - then this kind of blogging has ticks in the right boxes...