Dude, Blog Your Business!

I came across a useful blog post on socialtrenz.com which highlighted a recent survey into the the reasons why companies haven’t yet adopted social media in their marketing strategies. The top reason was ‘lack of knowledge’. This is certainly what we are finding out in the field. However much you tell a group about the benefits of blogging and social media as a marketing tool it is not until we get into a one-to-one situation, where we can both sit down in front of a computer that business owners really understand what it is we are offering.

Some businesses have a vague notion that social media is something they should be doing but don’t know what it is, others have more awareness but don’t realise the intricacies of how to get the most out of social media.

The socialtrenz.com study is “the third in a special six-part research preview series from MarketingSherpa’s 2009 study, Social Media Marketing and PR – Benchmarks and best practices for harnessing the power of the social marketplace“. The book is due out this month and, I would suggest, should be appearing among the marketing books on the bookshelf of any company marketing executives that wish to be in their job in 2010!

And don’t forget, we are here and can get you up and running very quickly – all you have to do is give us a call!

I actually won something! Woohoo! I have just received a copy of ‘Radically Transparent – Monitoring and Managing Reputations Online by Andy Beal and Dr. Judy Strauss, which I won in a draw for people who commented on a particular blog post, of all things. It looks a good book – all about building, managing, monitoring and, if necessary, repairing your online reputation. Now, I haven’t actually read it yet, but I wanted to share with you their outline of Chapter 9 which is on the power of blogging, because it is very pertinent to all you companies and non-profits out there who may be contemplating setting up your own blog. I quote:

“Building and launching a blog can add a lot of value to you and your business but is not something that should be done halfheartedly. The software you select, the style of blog you use, and the way you engage your readers all play an important role in determining your success or failure in the blogosphere. Understanding what your stakeholders expect from you an how to reach them with an authentic, radically transparent voice will ensure your blog is a positive reflection on your reputation”.

That, my friends, is why it is worth paying the money!

There are several different styles to blogging – you have your basic online diary type of blog, usually attached to MySpace or a similar social networking site and describing daily activities and musings for friends and relations.

Then there is the ‘geek’ blog where somebody interested in a technical or niche subject writes about that subject to inform and connect with others interested in the same niche subject. Both these types of blogs are done using free blogging software from Blogger or WordPress etc, and presentation is not as important as the information and the ideas that they are conveying.

Then there is blogging in order to attract more business. This is a whole different ball game, and it is important for businesses and non-profits to understand the difference between the different types of blogs. With businesses or non-profits you are trying to attract people to spend money with you – bottom line. This is marketing – using the blog as a marketing platform. Therefore things like presentation and how you blog are much more important – in fact, they are vital.

Ultimately, customers buy more from people they know. We help your customers get to know you. And that is the power of what we are offering.

 
I was delighted to hear from Darren Stevenson of Darren Stevenson Photography LLC following a comment I placed in answer to a question on LinkedIn. Darren asked me to take a look at his blog - www.poppa-d.blogspot.com/ and let him know if there were any improvements I could suggest.

I have to say that, overall, Darren was very much along the right tracks with his blog. The one big plus that is often absent in a lot of blogs is that he has great images in both the sidebar and with every post. Being a photographer he is fortunate to have access to an unlimited number of his own images and, of course, images are a vital part of using his blog to market his photography business.

Probably the one single greatest bit of advice I could give him was that he could make far more of the SEO opportunities with his images. Dave and I have written about this in other posts – just click on the “Blogging Advice” link in the category menu, or “SEO” in the Tag cloud if you want to read the post – but suffice it to say images are a vital part of SEO in blogs – everyone needs to use them.

One of the things Darren had very much got right with his blog is the establishing of himself firmly within the context of the area (Arizona) where his business was located – what we like to call ‘geo-targeting’. If your business is firmly tied to a specific geographical area it is very important that visitors (potential clients), get a sense of you as a ‘local’ businessperson. In order to achieve that you need to talk/post about your activities within that context.

Blogging is a very powerful medium and a little knowledge can make an incredible difference to how successful your business blog is in terms of online marketing. That is what we are here for.