The center of your social media universe is your blog, your active website. Your blog is where you share your business stories, keeping it fresh and updated – it’s active and engaging.
In a global sense, you meet people online via the social networks where they already are hanging out and eventually bring them back to your home online; your blog where they learn more about you, who you are – and what you do.
These social networks are platforms, the Facebook, the YouTube, the LinkedIn, the Twitter, these are the outposts online where people with shared interests gather. They are talking about the things that interest them, things that interest you – and after time if you become of value to these people they just might be interested in what you do.
One of your goals in marketing with social media is to meet people where they are, talk with them about what they are interested in and eventually bring them back to your blog so they can learn more about you and what you do. You have to have an area of commonality that resonates with them and you must have a story to tell. Your blog will help you tell that story, enabling you to turn prospects into customers and customers into brand evangelists – people who will tell your story to their friends and help create new customers for you.
When you’re starting out blogging it can seem intimidating or overwhelming – to help make it easier, keep in mind these four things, the “4 C’s of Blogging”:
Community. Who are you writing for? That’s easy, they’re people like you, people who are interested in the sort of things that you are interested in, people who share your passions. It’s a natural and receptive audience. You are the expert about what you do, that will shine through. You are a contributing member of the community to which you and your readers belong. As you write, you’ll learn more and put what you already know into words and action and your readers will appreciate that.
Content. What are you writing about? You are putting your passions into print, or expression them through video or photography – or all three. You write what you know and you know what you’re writing about. Good content is just that, it’s not advertising about your company, it’s real quality information, relevant, interesting and valuable.
Consistency. Being consistent is important, you don’t have to write every day or even every week. Decide what works for you, what your schedule is and stick to it. Make a commitment and then make it happen. Writing a post every day for a week and then nothing for a month doesn’t work. Try starting with once a week and see how that feels, stick to it and give a consistent schedule a chance.
Clarity. Be clear, be concise. You’re not writing a thesis or a novel – it’s just a blog post, a couple of paragraphs, a few hundred words at the most. Keep it loose, have fun and write like you are having a conversation. It’s easy, even if it doesn’t seem that easy in the beginning it will once you get the hang of it.
Talk to your community, offer good content, be consistent in your blogging and express your thoughts clearly. Four simple guide posts that will help you on the road to successful blogging. Have fun, take it easy, stick to it and share what you know. The results will change your business – for the better.
Thoughts? Comment or let’s talk! Mike Wolpert – email me : mike (at) Social Jumpstart (dot) com
