What Distinguishes Blogging From Other Social Media?

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Came across a very useful blog post the other day, written by Jeremiah Owyang of Social Media and titled “Understanding the difference between Forums, Blogs, and Social Networks”.

As a freelance blog content writer and corporate blogging trainer, I agree with Owyang that there’s a lot of confusion out there about what distinguishes blogs from other social networking tools.

Backtrack a bit: Social media, as defined by ESCP Europe Business School marketing professor Andreas Marcus, consists of “a group of Internet-based applications that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.”

But, with so many platforms out there, it’s easy to get the tools mixed up, says Owyang. Forums, he explains, are like social mixers, where everyone mills about and discusses things with others. Social networks, in contrast, are like topic tables at a conference luncheon. People connect through common interests and share information.

Owyang compares blogs, on the other hand, to keynote speeches. (As a longtime member of the National Speakers Association, I can relate to that comparison.) The blogger is in control of the discussion, but allows questions and comments from the audience. Blogs, he adds, are journals often authored by one individual or by a team, used to talk with the marketplace.

Why do I find the Owyang blog post particularly informative for business owners and professional practitioners (and of course for us content writers telling their stories)?

 “It’s important to know the many different tools in your tool chest as every type of accessory fulfills a different need. Before you jump to tools, you should first understand who your community is, where they are, how they use social technologies, and most importantly, what they’re talking about.”

Yasmin Bendror of Marketing Matters sums up the topic in this potent paragraph:

 “It’s obvious that social media will continue to have a significant impact in 2014 on marketers and business owners: They now have the ability to reach out and communicate on a personal level with their target audience on a daily basis. This is a game changer for businesses engaging in marketing, sales, customer service and other business activities.

At Say It For You in Indianapolis, we couldn’t agree more!

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Wise “Why’s” of Blogging for Business

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“But everybody’s doing it!” was never a successful pitch when it came to Mom letting me do something back in school days.  And, frankly, “everybody’s doing it” isn’t a very good reason for starting and maintaining a business blog, either.
Business owners, I find, start blogs (or have me start one for them) for different reasons, too. At Say It For You, we spend a great deal of time discussing business blogging, particularly with entrepreneurs who’ve heard about blogging but aren’t completely sold on the strategy.
One of my idols, Seth Godin, says he’s noticed the same thing about the variety of motivations business people have getting into any new activity, blogging included.  There are four types of people in the world, Godin remarks.  Some people want to do things because those things are interesting.  Some people want to do things because everyone else is doing those things.  Some people are too satisfied, too scared, too shy, or too lazy to do anything.  And then, says Godin, some people want to do things because those things work!
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/10/kinds-of-people.html
Blog content writing is definitely not for the lazy or scared, or even the too-satisfied. Maintaining an effective business blog is simply too difficult and challenging to undertake just because it’s an interesting thing to do, or even because everyone else is doing it. That leaves just one valid reason – blogging works!
But, does it always?  Of course not. Your customers and prospects encounter content every day. Some of it’s good, most of it is forgotten immediately, says Sean Royer of Social Media Today. It is your job, Royer adds, to make sure that your business content is remembered and has a positive impact on your customers. But if you’re still debating whether to pour effort and resources into creating and maintaining a blog, he says, “the answer is, of course, a resounding YES.”
http://socialmediatoday.com/seanroyer/2007981/blogging-really-necessary-marketing-tool

Content marketing is now an essential component of an effective SEO campaign, because Google values high quality content,” confirms Seb Atkinson of Social Media Explorer.
http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/how-to-double-your-marketing-effectiveness-by-combining-content-marketing-and-social/

Some “why’s” of blogging listed by quickstudy.com include:

A blog provides an online platform where you can express your point of view.
A blog is a low-cost marketing tool that will reinforce and enhance all the other marketing you do.
Your blog can be emailed as a newsletter, and can also serve as inspiration for content on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other networks.
Each new post you write is an opportunity to attract search engine attention.

Don’t create a blog just because “everyone else is doing it”.  There are plenty of wise why’s for blogging for business!

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Keeping Your Business Blog in the News Feed

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“Out of news feed, out of mind,” quips Reader’s Digest in “Updated Sayings for the Digital Age.” The point, so crucial for business owners and professional practitioners to understand, is that nowadays it’s only recently updated information that is likely to impact the success of their online marketing.

That’s because reality in the digital age Age relates to recency. That’s exactly why once-in-a-while blogging just doesn’t do the trick, even if it’s high-quality stuff.  To satisfy a search engine, your blog material must be updated frequently, and I mean very frequently.  To stress this point in a corporate blogging training session, I put it this way: When it comes to blogging for business, search engines are saying, “Never mind what you’ve done. What have you done for me lately?”

But don’t take my word for it.

“Google loves fresh, relevant content,” says Simon Tayler of Hykano. “The more regular the updates, the more ‘fuel’ it provides for Google to rank you on.”

“There isn’t any doubt that blogs on the website play a part in SEO, “ says Cristine Bentonnot of Iconi.

“Unless you’re steeped in SEO terminology, you may not have heard of the acronym “QDF” or Query Deserves Freshness. QDF, simply stated, is that for every query (“search term”) a search result list should include one (or more) piece of content that’s been recently published,” points out Sean Jackson of copyblogger. The caution, though, is that, “While QDF is a powerful benefit… it does not last.”

According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, over 43% of Americans go online to get news on a daily basis. To stay plugged into news consumers on a consistent basis, you have to share your own “news” and opinions frequently.

At Say It For You, we freelance blog content writers understand the “out-of-news-feed-out-of-mind” principle: We’ve gotta keep our clients’ business blogs in the news feed!

 

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Business Blogging Without the Bullsh*t

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It’s always nice when someone more famous than you says exactly what you’ve been saying for a long time, and author Geoffrey James, in his book “Business Without the Bullsh*t”, did exactly that when he advised, “Don’t blog unless you’re a natural.”

James starts off by pointing out a fact of the universe: “Almost everybody who starts blogging gives up after a few weeks, after which the posts become few and far between, and eventually peter out altogether.  What remains is an out-of-date blog that’s a testament to your inability to blog regularly….If you’re determined to blog, be realistic rather than ambitious.  If you think you can post once a week, set a schedule to post every two weeks or every month,” James advises.

In fact, the how-often-is-often-enough? is one of the very first questions I hear from business owners or professional practitioners getting ready to launch a blog. Here are some opinions I’ve read on that very subject:

Once a week:  (Stan Smith of Pushing Social) – “Your blog strengthens your relationship with your customers by keeping you top of mind. Your weekly post establishes a rhythm to your relationship.” Megan Totka (Small Business Trends) reminds readers that daily content can give a small business blog a great boost, the once a week is an absolute minimum for getting search engines to crawl your website.  “If your updates are more than a week apart, it’s about as effective as not blogging at all,” is Totka’s view.

Anywhere from 2 to 4 times per week to multiple times per day: (Ben Roberts of Salty Dog Interactive) – “Less is not always more where blogging is concerned,” says Roberts “…7 days a week, 30ish days a month. This is where the magic starts happening.”

So what about the Geoffrey James caution about not blogging unless you’re a natural? TashWord offers three reasons for using a professional writer to craft blog posts:

  • To save time.  Blogging is a task to be outsourced so you can spend more time doing what you’re best at – running your business or practice.
  • Distance – a blog content writer is not so close to your business and will have a clearer perspective on what needs to be said.
  • To get words that work well, are easy to read, and are grammatically correct.I have to agree with James’ that it would be “bullsh*t” to advise business owners and professionals who aren’t “naturals” at writing to try to maintain what I call the “drill sergeant discipline of blog content writing.

    Given all the many potential benefits of business blogging, though, “Don’t blog!” is hardly the best advice. You may not want the BS, but you definitely want the business!

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The Number One Ingredient for Successful Business Blogging

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It’s not easy to be considered an expert – otherwise, we’d all be experts, observes Renee Quinn on IPWatchdog.com. Yet, for us Indianapolis blog content writers, one big goal of the writing we do for our business owner and professional practitioner clients is just that – positioning them as experts in the eyes of their clients and of online searchers.

To be positioned as an expert, Quinn says, you can either be excellent at a few things or OK at a long list of things, but generally not both. Once you’ve decided on one of those two paths, never stop educating yourself in your area. Be confident in your knowledge, she advises, and stay active to show those who follow you what you’re passionate about. Needless to say, as a long-time business blogger and corporate blogging trainer, I was delighted at Quinn’s next piece of advice: Get writing – that’s a great way to establish yourself as an expert in your field.  “When you answer unasked questions, you are gaining credibility and building trust,” she adds.

“Discuss specific topics of interest and newsworthy topics in your industry that are current and carry a lot of interest with your field,” Quinn continues. “By doing so, you are giving people a sneak peak at your level of knowledge on each topic while also remaining relevant and current”.

Having decided to devote this week’s Say It For You blog posts to the topic of expertise, I was absolutely intrigued by this statement by Stan Smith of Pushing Social:  “…dozens of compelling tactics compete for your attention.  With all these options, it’s easy to forget that expertise is the #1 ingredient for a successful content marketing and blogging. Without expertise, all of these topics are reduced to fancy magic tricks…”

Smith quotes one of my own favorite marketing gurus, Seth Godin: “Writing’s power of clarification is the main reason why he posts daily. Writing long-form content on popular topics in your niche will put your thinking on display and give your readers an opportunity to evaluate your expertise.”

No, it’s hardly easy to be considered an expert, hardly easy to be a blogger for business.  In fact, in the early years of my company Say It For You, I talked about the “drill sergeant discipline” needed by blog content writers and about the fact that the main key to business blogging success was going to be simply keeping on task.

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