Jun 12

Your companies blog - an investment or cost

Posted by writer | Segmenting your lists »

Earlier last week, I was having a conversation with some people about blogging, and was surprised to see that most people still consider it a cost rather than an investment. So, I decided to write a small post on this topic to let you guys know my thoughts on it.

I agree, random blogs with unauthentic or irrelevant content are pointless. But if you are doing business, you need to have a strong blog presence, and here’s how:

1- You need to have a personal voice for your business that people can relate to, communicate with and understand. One of the best ways of doing that is with a good content blog. For authority blogs you have to provide value and insight, instead of following the crowd. Your posts should be authentic, original and unique. Thats the best way for you to make a mark on the niche and get a following. Whatever business you are in, make sure you have a good voice for your community.

2- Its a platform for you to connect with people. Once you have people reading you, try to engage them in conversation. Get them as involved and connected with you via the blog as possible. An active community is one that spreads the most. If you are an event manager, cover your events or engage your audiences in activities through the blog.

3- You can also use your blog as an effective messaging board. Turn it into a key source for your company information. Use it for answering questions or giving clarifications. Use it for announcements and updates. Use it for publishing case studies of your clients.

4- When you are connecting with other bloggers, try to give away links or look for points of synergy. Its good to open and friendly with the blogosphere at large. This helps to make your blog stronger and more visible to potential readers.

5- Make sure your content is relevant to your niche and that you keep posting to it frequently. This is where good resource allocation skills come into play. Don’t think that you have to do everything yourself - get over your inhibitions and get a team onboard. Did you really think Donald Trump writes his blog posts himself?

6- Set realistic expectations and goals for the blog. Your blog has to have a long term plan and shouldn’t be sporadic or spontaneous. Know exactly what your goals are (whether its something measurable like direct increase in traffic or something unmeasurable like brand awareness)

7- Have a good feedback mechanism in place. Get hold of a good trackbacking software and actively engage in comments and responses. This is as important as writing the posts itself, so make sure you can schedule dedicated hours to it.

| Branding