Is having a blog central to a social media plot and if so how should it be used?
Something that is often missed or voted for over by many commentators when talking about the effective use of social media is the importance of your own website or blog in the context of your social media activities. Indeed listening to some all you need to do is have a Facebook account!
No. This is not the case; its selling yourself and your firm far fleeting
Effective with a blog should be central to everything you do. Don’t let web designers or agencies who want to develop an expensive Web 1.0 style website tell you differently; refer them to this blog post.
The social media provide the means to build rapport, relationship and trust; this is where you become known, liked and trusted but its not where the business is conducted.
Why?
Since this is done back at your blog. The blog should be you centre or hub where everything is pulled together in one cohesive, substantive and all encompassing centre of excellence.
The social media utilities are where you make excitement interest and enthusiasm, your blog is where you pull it all together.
So if its that vital, where should one start?
The starting point is not to start but to look and learn!
The starting point is to research the social media world; try it out as a user. In this way you’ll come to see how your blog might fit in the wider context; then
1. Set up an RSS reader and subscribe to blogs;
2. See what is really well loved and reckon about what it means for you and your output;
3. Sign up on twitter and see what others in your sector are saying and doing [it may not be excellent]; its a excellent thought to do Twitter searches on your competitors;
4. Make a commitment to actively follow public on Twitter who you find or who you know place out fantastic quality content on their blogs so you get to see it as it comes up;
5. Sign up at a mix of social book marking sites and engage; see how others use their blogs in this context;
6. Visit the main networking sites for your benefit arena;
7. Visit relevant forums and start posting a few comments, but only when and where you can add value;
8. Get a feel for it, take your time, see how it all works; get a feel for where you feel most comfortable
Remember that when your social media plot, your online videos, your podcasts and all else is in place you’ll have a fully interconnected series of new media sites that work in concert on your behalf; but don’t try or even reckon you can set it all up in a day and that’s it; it doesn’t work like that!
When you’re comfortable the 1st thing to do is to set up your own blog and simply start blogging with your very best materials.
A blog is a powerful tool as it allows your readers to: add content and to subscribe so they are automatically told when content is updated; they also automatically ping the quest engines when content is updated.
I recommend a WordPress blog as they are simple to set up and here are many free plug-ins available giving extraordinary functionality dependent on what you want to do.
The fantastic thing about WordPress is that here is nearly no set up but the downside with hosted blogging is that it does not deliver as much quest engine benefit since the content does not reside on your website domain; therefore I recommend getting your own keyword focused domain name and placing your WordPress blog here;
All the main hosting providers have ready made arrangements for facilitating a WordPress blog so it really is very simple to set up.
The keys to effective use of your blog really are very simple:
1. Focus your posts on things that are current;
2. Address issues your target audience are concerned about or interested in;
3. Make sure each blog post is keyword optimised for words public are searching for that the post focuses in on;
4. Encourage public to contribute to debates;
5. Post the answers to the questions, problems, and challenges that you know from looking elsewhere that public are asking;
6. Don’t be frightened of controversy and taking a stand; this encourages participation; and
7. Focus on developing active conversations that draw more and more public into the frame;
Its also vital to:
1. Post links to your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn sites whenever you make a new post;
2. Reckon about guest Blogging on other high traffic, blogs by well written posts with a bi-line and a link back to your own blog;
3. Keep asking for comments, asking questions, seeking opinions and do make sure that you comment on all the substantive comments that folks make on your blog;
4. Visit the blogs of persons who are commenting and write on their sites; and where appropriate link to their content in your blog posts and via Twitter; all is well as this becomes infectious and everyone benefits.
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WordPress templates are also readily available giving preset functionality helping the newbie to quickly achieve the desired results. I use the Socrates template which you can find out more about by clicking on the Affiliate link word ‘Socrates’ at the very bottom right hand side of this blog page.
Your blog should become the main way for public to really come to know you and your firm.
Do public want to go to your blog per say? No! So why have one?
Since on your blog, with its keyword titled and optimised posts, prospects will find the answers to their questions and get to know you as you help them to know more.
When considering the the makings of the social media, its not the utilities themselves, be it your blog, Facebook, twitter, the social book marking platforms or news sites or LinkedIn that are vital,it’s the information they contain
Set up an RSS feed:
1. RSS feeds benefit publishers by let them syndicate content automatically at the same time as benefiting readers who want to subscribe to suitable updates from preferred blogs or websites.
2. In essence what happens is all persons feeds from as many sites as you chose to draw from come into one place where the reader can view them all.
3. RSS feeds are read by an “RSS reader”. A user subscribes to a feed by clicking the RSS icon in a web browser. The RSS reader checks the user’s subscribed feeds regularly for new work, downloads any updates that it finds, and provides a user interface to monitor and read the feeds.
It’s a excellent thought to start social book marking your ‘material’ including all your videos and your high value blog posts. This will open up channels to your website making back links and visitors; examples of book marking sites include: Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon,Google buzz, del.icio.us, Mixx, Fark, Clipmarks, Newsvine, Propeller, Mister Wong, Blinklist, and faves; but here hundreds more.
Now I know that most of these sites are US based but UK public do use them. As far as I can tell here are few if any of note specifically focused on the UK.
Your Blog should be integrated into all aspects of your social media initiatives;
1. every post should be promoted via twitter;
2. when videos are included in a post each should be uploaded to the main video upload sites,
3. all your blog posts with video should be posted to Facebook and LinkedIn,
4. and if its of real interest you should make a Pod cast of the blog post video and up load it to the main Pod cast channels even if for the minute its itunes that is the most vital
One vital guideline is that a significant percentage of your blog posts should include a fleeting video, with commentary. The commentary should be a repeat of the same information presented in the video; its for persons that prefer to read quickly, including giving any links that are mentioned in the video,
One of the most frequent questions about blogging is this:
What is more vital the quality of the content of a blog or the frequency of the updating of the blog itself? i.e. do we go for a few infrequently positioned really excellent articles or loads of mean fare?
Now of course frequency is an issue and it is vital. Who wants to repeatedly go back to a blog and see very small that is new? Nobody!
If you do take this approach then you’ll quickly find that the few that come in the first place start coming back fewer and fewer times if you’re not updating.
So if you want regular visitors, whom you’re seeking to build rapport and relationship with, you must keep updating regularly
But above all else,, whether considering the blog from the readers perspective or the quest engine’s, it’s the quality of the material that is by far the most vital factor in your success.
This is where most go incorrect and loose what subsequent they have built since the substance just isn’t here to warrant repeat visits
This means whether you use a daily, or a once or twice a week or a twice monthly blog bring up to date regime this is far less vital than only Blogging when you have something relevant, valuable, suitable or fascinating to say to persons you’re targeting.
The upshot of all this is that you must keep on top of your Blogging:
1. you must be doing your research; you must be developing new or fresh insights;
2. you should be shaping up fascinating angles;
3. you must be posing questions to stimulate debates and new threads;
4. you need to get off the fence and polarise folk into taking a position;
5. you need to be providing an insider’s perspective, developing an angle, or taking a stand, whatever it takes to be a name public appreciate hearing more from.
The adoption of such a tack will mean your blog will get backlinks, public will respond and make comments; public will quote your ‘material’ and it will be seen as useful and worthy of future visits.
The result your market profile will become ever stronger, you will delight in better quest engine rankings public will see you as a name with something say; public will start to appreciate your worth and a whole new world will open up.
A conundrum for some firms that have started by Blogging and the social media is their failure to manage it as a means of attaining beneficial results.
Jumping into Blogging & social media initiatives without knowing what visibly defined benefits you seek to attain is a totals waste of time. as usually this means that small will achieved as here is no focus in what you’re doing and no integration in the campaign context with other social media sites.
Real value must be defined from both the client’s and the firm’s perspectives.
Here is no purpose in doing something that will take time and resource if its not clear why you’re doing it, how all parties will benefit and where should be the focus to achieve the desired benefits.
For example For your firm the benefits of your blogging and social media activities might be
1. To improve the benefit innovation administer by encouraging customer input;
2. To build innocent relationships with prospects that translate into new client contracts;
3. To identify benefit fleeting falls via client feedback;
4. To know what public reckon of you and what is being said about the firm in the local context;
5. To connect and build relationships with other firms that result in JVs or new business;
6. To get pleased clients to become advocates of the firm;
7. To reinvigorate past clients to use the firm once more; or
8. To build must use status for the firm in its area of expertise or To build go-to status for the firm’s business leaders
Then from the client’s perspective the benefits might be:
1. The provision of brilliant quality information communicated in ways and at times when they want to receive it;
2. To gain the feeling that the organization values and really cares about them;
3. To delight in a fantastic experience when interacting with the companionship;
4. The ability to affect how a benefit is being marketed or made thus giving a feeling of contribution and involvement; and
5. They can delight in special Offers and promotions which they take exclusively owing to the social media channels they like to use or at the blog.
These may or may not be specific to your clients as here will be hundreds of objectives and resultant benefits arising from the effective use of the social media sector by sector, practise by practise.
The key here is really setting up these value statements so that you have a clear thought in what areas and how, the firm its partners, prospects and clients who are consuming your materials and entering into dialogues with you are benefiting.
Why?
Since herein lies the raison d’etre for committing too and implementing your Blogging programme and your social media plot.
You can see many more articles like this at our Online Video for Professionals blog.
Stephen Kember is Proprietor at Online Video For Professionals; a firm dedicated to supporting the business owners of professional services firms in the UK and France with their online marketing by online video and the social media to set up relationships, build trust and get more of the right sort of clients.
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