Blogging, Social Media, And Email – Marketing’s Three Musketeers

The other day I read something really thought-provoking about how email, social media, and blogging relate to each other when it comes to attracting business. Regular readers of this Say It For You blog will recall that I advise business bloggers to read ten articles or other blogs for every blog post they write, and I try to follow my own advice on that score. Chad Richards, Social Program Manager at Firebelly Marketing obviously follows that advice as well, because he shared a comment he’d read during the past week by social media maven CT Moore.

Moore had made the point that "search isn’t great for creating awareness of something that people don’t know exist.  With search, users have to request it." Social media, then, Moore went on to explain, is better for creating the initial awareness.  Once that awareness is raised, he says, search is good for reaching users who are already aware, but who want to learn more and become more engaged.

After sharing Moore’s observations, Chad Richards ended by reassuring his own readers that he wasn’t bashing email, only sharing his own observation that email works best when it is integrated with social media.

Blogging for business, of course, is part of "search", which means being introduced to strangers (you don’t know their name; they don’t know yours) because the solution you describe in your blog appears to be a good match for the needs those online searchers expressed. As Chris Baggott, CEO of Compendium Blogware notes, "The Internet has now surpassed the print yellow pages and newspapers as the primary local resource for consumers looking for products and services."

Since, as a professional ghost blogger and business blogging trainer, I become part of each client” marketing team, I like to describe blogging, social media, and email as the "Three Musketeers" of the business’ online marketing.  Blogging is the hub, as Baggott puts it, because that’s where you’re adding fresh content about your business, using the keyword phrases that lubricate the search process.  

Moore was right about searchers having to want what you sell, what you do, and what you know in order to be directed to your blog site. However, when you think about it, the same holds true for Twitter and other social media (you receive social media "awareness alerts" based on whom you’ve chosen to befriend and on which groups you’ve chosen to join). To me, then, marketing often begins with someone finding your blog. (Their awareness might have been created through a Tweet or LinkedIn or Facebook "lead", or they might have simply keyed a description of their need into a search engine.) Later, once a client relationship has been established, email (again, along with social media) is going to be useful for staying in touch.

Remember the motto of the Three Musketeers,Athos, Porthos, and Aramis? "All for one and one for all".  With the Three Musketeers of online marketing – blogging, social media, and email – it works the same way!