Salesforce.com Blog Guidelines 2014

Nuts + Bolts

Our Purpose

The primary purpose of the Salesforce blog is to attract new readers to our brand of intelligent, helpful content. We publish useful, interesting, topical, top-of-funnel content that helps our customers solve their business problems. By writing for us, you’re not only helping thought leaders solve their business problems—you’re adding your own voice to the Salesforce brand.

What We Do Not Publish

We do not publish product news and information, product launch news, general corporate news or other content that is aimed specifically at existing customers or people who are already knowledgeable of and interested in salesforce.com. And we don’t pitch. Our blog is not advertising—for us or for you.

What’s in it for me?

279,574 followers

Audience and influence. Our blog gets around 200,000 visits each month, and we promote all of our blog posts across various social channels from Salesforce accounts. See above for some key stats.

192,000+ followers 351,000+ likes

Top of What?

Our mission is to engage with a wide range of readers, many of whom may not even know what “CRM” means. This means that our content is never overly technical, and we don’t talk like insiders; instead, we offer general tips, insights, news, and thought leadership articles that any business-savvy reader will find interesting and helpful.

Examples: Example 1 Example 2 Example 3

When, What, and How of Submitting

When to submit: At least a week in advance of the desired publication date. How to submit: If you have a Typepad account, login and submit your post. If you don’t have one, send the following materials to aschirtzinger@salesforce.com: • your blog post (title + body ⇒ see details below) • a brief professional bio that includes your Twitter handle (if you have one) • a headshot

What to submit: Timely, interesting, important top-of-funnel posts of 400-700 words that help our readers solve their business problems.

Before You Blog: Some Questions to Answer

1.  What am I sharing that’s new or different?

2.  Why should anyone care?

3.  Is what I’m saying important? Does it have a sense of urgency?

4.  Is it user-friendly? (Lists are; long-winded narratives aren’t.)

Answer each of these questions, and then use that insight to inform the way you write your post.

Exclusivity

We ask that you refrain from syndicating or publishing your post on any other site, including your personal site, until 7 days after its publication on salesforce.com. We will promote your post on our social channels during that time.

Anatomy of a Blog Post

Title

This is the most important part of your post—your first (and sometimes only) chance to pique a reader’s interest. With that in mind, your title should be: •  short and pithy (70 characters max) •  value-oriented (tell the reader how your post will help her—by offering “5 ways to close deals faster,” for instance, or “how to manage up”)

• not cheesy! (don’t go all Upworthy on us)

Body

This is the 400-600 words you have in which to state your idea and offer your value proposition to the reader. Some tips: • The most successful blog posts impart one big idea (which may be divided up into several digestible pieces, such as in a list).

• Most people share content before reading it! So it’s particularly important to deliver value in the first few sentences of your post.

• Sections are good! Use numbered or bulleted lists or bolded section headers to break up the post into bites.

• Remember 8th-grade English: intro and conclusion paragraphs help readers know what to expect and carry forward an easy takeaway.

Style + Tone

Think of our blog style as business casual. We’re smart, informed, and we’re here to solve our readers’ business problems just as much as Harvard Business Review is—but we’re not stuffy, and we know how to have as much fun as BuzzFeed.

FAQs

When should I submit? At least a week in advance of the desired publication date.

What if the deadline has passed? Too bad. No, just kidding. We understand that these things happen, and we can make exceptions. But we’re busy, and you’re busy, so it’s easier if we don’t have to.

Will my blog be edited? Yes! We proofread everything we publish—carefully. We do reserve the right to edit for style, clarity, grammar, spelling and ease of understanding. We're all writers ourselves, and will do our best not to change your "voice." We'll also do our best to alert you if we make any changes beyond what's mentioned above. But please do keep in mind that deadline pressures may not always make that possible.

I still have questions and/or need favors. Email and/or bring chocolate to Alexa Schirtzinger: aschirtzinger@salesforce.com