Only five percent of the 133 million blogs tracked by Technorati were updated in the last four months. So maybe some bloggers have been on extended vacation and perhaps others just abandoned their blogs altogether. And maybe a few are business bloggers who aren’t getting the proper support for maintaining oxygen flow into the lifeblood of their company blog.
If you’re a business blogger, here’s important advice to consider as you strive to evolve your blog and fulfill your business objectives by leveraging the wonders of Web 2.0:
How your company perceives its own blog is just as important as how others view it.
- Don’t be tempted to think of your new blog or any other social media resources as “technology” tools; think of them instead as communication vehicles or brand extensions for creating conversations, building relationships, and generating new, highly qualified business.
- A blog by itself does not a social media strategy make. Please continue exploring multiple online channels and creating multiple, synchronous touch points in the Social Web Sphere – all of which are necessary to leverage the boundless opportunities associated with Web 2.0. Your blog is just one component of a much larger universe of opportunity.
- The hardest part about joining the blogosphere is not deciding whether or not you should blog, learning how to blog, launching the blog, or even generating traffic to the blog (although this is definitely not easy, it is also not the hardest part). The hardest part is engaging readers, inspiring loyalty and building relationships, and this comes from the quality of conversation you create – not only on your blog, but also throughout the blogosphere. Many companies prefer to maintain the “built it and they will come” perspective when it comes to blogging. But even if “they” do come, what matters in blogging is whether or not they’ll stay.
Ultimately, your company’s perceptions can make or break whether or not you leave a meaningful brand mark in the blogosphere. So, how does your company perceive blogging?
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post, JP. It makes me feel a little better about only blogging when I have something to say, which seems to be about once a week. And having started my blog a few months ago, the biggest lesson I have learned is one you describe: if you don’t get out of your own blog and engage with the blogosphere in a valuable way, nobody will know where you are or even care that you’re there.
Jeff,
Yes, our blogs are mere microcosms of a grand universal Web community. So our participation throughout the blogosphere not only betters our own individual communities but also those of others. The more we extend our participation, the bigger the grand community becomes. Does that make sense? Thanks so much for your comment.
P.S. Glad to hear you’re an LMP, too. Knowing is half the battle, indeed! Good luck with your musical surprises.