How The Blog Has Taken On A Very Different Identity In The Social Media Marketing World

Somehow or other the very word “blogger” has taken on a poor connotation. We are aware of what blogging is, but yet few entrepreneurs and businessmen pay any attention to it. It’s as if the blogger is seen as somebody who, largely, wastes their time by distributing thoughts, opinions and other matters of questionable value around the Web. When the Internet was in its infancy blogging was often seen as a way of chatting about your hobby, to try and keep in touch with people who you thought might have similar interests. Somehow or other it didn’t seem to have much relevance in the real world and a certain amount of that school of thought pervades to this day.

However, those who dismiss the work of the blogger, in business terms, are missing out on a very important facet of social media marketing. Today, a company blog can create a tremendous amount of engagement and help to build loyalty and awareness.

You must have a methodical approach. You must understand that your blog is an integral part of your marketing machine. Many organisations treat the blog as the central point of their social media marketing effort. In the early days though you must do much to build the blog’s reputation, quite apart from using it to build the organisation’s reputation.

Social media is all about reputations. In the “blogosphere” this kind of reputation is built when others appreciate your effort and take the time to get involved in your conversation. A good blog is only really as good as the conversation and commenting wave that is built all around it.

In addition to creating great content to populate your blog posts you must be willing to reach out to others who are already seen as an authority in this field. By doing so you are beginning to explore the communities that exist and understanding the value of engagement here. It’s quite possible that there are already authority figures in your field and some of them could even be classified as competitors in your business. Yet it’s important not to treat competitors in the traditional sense, as you must be seen as a contributory and valuable part of the overall community.

Slowly but surely we win this race. An organisation should never be tempted to rush into the creation of the blog and simply engage in some kind of mass posting exercise, just to catch up. All posts must be thoughtful, educational, informative, or express an opinion and the objective is to create a conversation.

Over a period of time a well-developed blog will be seen as an integral part of the organisation’s reputation, will be trusted and be an important part of the traffic building process. A virtual assistant can help to ensure that a blog is well formulated and also ensure that the blog becomes an integral part of the relevant community. Remember that communities represent customers and potential clients, but you have to build a relationship with them first in order to succeed.