You’ve heard enough about how blogging is an integral part of online marketing; but how could a blog help a small business owner increase brand awareness and where does it fit into the social media mix?
According to Technorati, a web site search engine for user-generated media, there are more than 133 million blogs and 70% of those bloggers, blog about brands. Of that number, more than 346 million people read blogs daily. More than 77% are active Internet users. With a crowd of that size online, how can you stand out to connect your customers and audience?
Last fall, I attended Blogworld, a major conference for bloggers and social media enthusiasts in Las Vegas. At the conference, many topics related to blogging were covered and I felt the following tips were important to share:
• When blogging, be passionate about what you talk about. Make sure to use your own voice and don’t be stodgy. Make it personal. Take a look at “Running a Hospital” blog (https://runningahospital.blogspot.com/). The blog is written by the CEO of a large Boston hospital and talks to his audience as if he knows them personally. It really is an engaging blog and makes you feel as if you would go to this hospital if you needed medical care because you know the person in charge.
• Make sure that you blog every day and have frequent posts. To try to come up with story ideas, research topics that interest you that you would like to write about and share. For example, if you are blogging about finances, see if there are any new regulations that you could blog about. You may also consider tips to offer your readers or reviews on new products on the market. Steve Rubbel from Edelman PR said, he posts three to five times a day on “Micro-persuasion (https://www.micropersuasion.com/),” his blog site, and as a result has more than 60,000 subscribers.
• Connect with your audience. At one of the sessions the speaker spoke about Best Western’s blog called, “On the Go with Amy.” If you take a look at it, you will see that you will connect with Amy and want to know where her next adventure will be. Smaller companies have blogs too. In my blog, www.hilarytopper.com, I include educational stories about social media, public relations and marketing. To get people to come back, I also include personal posts and guest blogs from experts in the industry. This boosts my audience figures and keeps my community engaged. After a post is made, I microblog it around to all of my networks from Facebook and Twitter to LinkedIn and Plaxo.
• Write in an informal style. Blogs should be written as if you were speaking to someone. They should be conversational and engaging. Use simple language, be creative and have fun.
• You are not alone. Blogging is a big time commitment so make sure you offer your community value by giving opportunities to your staff, clients and business associates to guest blog on your site.
• Be clear about sponsorship. If you sponsor or if you are being sponsored in any way by receiving anything free in return for blogging, you must, according to the new Federal Trade Commission law, disclose this to your audience. I was given a ticket to see KA, a Cirque Du Soleil show when I was at Blogworld. When I reviewed the show, I said up front that I was given a press pass to attend the show.
• Lastly, there are many different affiliate-marketing programs that will underwrite your blog with ads. Google Adsense and Share-A-Sale are popular sites to look at when researching these types of programs.
Many people ask if blogging is a fad, but take a look at newspapers, magazines, television and radio. Were any of these forms of media fads? While blogging may be here to stay, it will constantly evolve with technology making it crucial to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to trends in blog communication.
