The Washington Post has an interesting article on how companies benefit from blogging and how they engage customers online. The article includes examples of writing a blog by small businesses and multinational companies including Marriott blog.

Kathleen Matthews came up with the idea for chief executive Bill Marriott’s blog. He saw it as a good way to communicate. Moreover, Marriott has made more than $5 million in bookings from people who clicked through to the reservation page from Marriott’s blog.

“That’s the importance of public relations, of advertising, of everything we do,” Marriott said. “And this is just another channel.” Marriott also likes how the blog shows that he’s “a human just like everybody else.” He sometimes breaks from writing about corporate issues to post about the movies he sees on Saturdays with his wife.

Marriott has thousands of employees around the world, who make up about one-fifth of the blog’s readership and comment frequently. “It is the virtual substitute for Bill Marriott visiting every hotel,” Matthews said.

Get the full story at washingtonpost.com