To blog or not to blog…
Posted by Aideen McGrath on October 16, 2009 in Online, Social Media with 0 CommentsBlogs and microblogs are one of the biggest drivers of conversations online. At this moment there are 200,000,000 blogs out there. About 73% of all active users online have read a blog (source: McCann Universal Comparative Study), 45% have started their own blog.
I rattled off these stats to an Irish contact of mine recently only for them to challenge the figures by saying "but that's global, I bet no-one in Ireland is really blogging and no-one here 'gets' Twitter".
Wrong, and wrong again. There are 427,000 blogs in Ireland - that's roughly one in ten people taking the time to blog. What's more, there are 117,000 Irish Twitterers, an increase of 500% since January (source: Nielsen).
What are they blogging about? Anything and everything is the short answer. It can be as arbitrary as blogging about what they had for lunch or as insightful as sharing new product news and encouraging customers to give honest feedback.
It's the latter end of this spectrum that brands need to engage in. The bad news is that when brands get it wrong, some get it very, very wrong. The good news is that it's simple to do and can be hugely impactful at little, if any, cost. And anyone can do it. Let's tackle the bad bits first and offer some advice.
Here are my top 5 biggest bug bears:
1. Some uninitiated and dare I say it, smug brands, consider their blog like a free advertising channel. Wrong, bad, terrible. A blog is NOT an ad, it's an opportunity to have a conversation with your customers and drive affinity among your audience who, in turn, will actually take the time to share, link and comment to your blog if it's good enough.
2. Some clients get cross when their blog doesn't get 1 million subscribers overnight. Blogs take time - you need to ensure that the material is relevant and start seeding it in the right communities who share the brand's passion points and interests - once on board, they can help spread the word and content wider.
3. "Dear reader, this blog is a dedicated channel to communicate...blah blah BLAH'. Boring. Write like you talk, you're having a conversation after all. There's an art to it.
4. Boring content: like above, this is a sure fire way to relegate your blog to the bloggersphere graveyard. Keep your content fresh, relevant and dynamic and people will keep coming back for more, and share your content wider.
5. Randomly moving location. Once you create a blog location - be it WordPress or Blogger or whatever other host you choose - try to stick to it. Jumping from domain to domain can negatively affect your Google ranking and you don't want that.
Oh heck, let's make it seven niggles - I'm on a roll and I like an uneven number...
6. Being selfish. Do unto others as you would like them to do onto you. Read other relevant blogs and link and share their content. What goes around, comes around and you'll find your own blog getting more hits as a result (see point 2).
7. Ignoring comments from readers. Epic FAIL. Engage, answer, make your readers feel listened to and loved. That's the key to most all customer relations. Simple, but so very effective.
There's a PR company in Dublin (will remain nameless) who are offering to get companies set up on a blog for about €2,000. That's highway robbery if you ask me. If you hire a PR company to work for you, giving advice on your blogging strategy and content should be par for the course. Social media can no longer be considered a 'nice to have' bolt on to your marketing and PR strategy. It should be fully integrated and a seamless channel of communication. Setting up a blog is child's play. Working out what to blog about and how to build a community is more tricky and requires senior counsel, but is quids-in one of the most fun and rewarding elements of social media communications today. It's a long-play and the rewards can be massive so it's worth getting it right first day and persevering. Brands looking for overnight success need not apply.
Final word on this: blogs are not just for random thoughts or a cheap way of getting valuable market feedback from customers. Blogs can be an effective news platform too. Google did this brilliantly earlier this year, using their official blog to announce the release of Google Chrome, their new OS for PCs. This was one of the biggest tech news stories this summer and Google forewent journalist briefings, photo calls and press release in favour of announcing the news on its blog and making sure that Google fans and watchers were the first to know rather than giving media the story.
One blog post achieved coverage in almost every online and offline news centre around the world. Google have put in the hard work on their blog, and it's paying off. All brands can learn from this.
Check out H+A Marketing + PR's blog. Live by the sword...
Aideen McGrath 's work with some of the biggest names in Web 2.0 (eBay, MySpace, Expedia) has fuelled her passion for social media. She gets her kicks from running high-energy, wacky brainstorm sessions and landing a ‘eureka’ creative that delivers.Find out more at Aideen McGrath's Profile. Don't forget to subscribe if you'd like to hear more!
Trackback URL
Enjoy this post? Share it with others.
Comments
About H+A Blog
Our blog was created to educate, inspire, provoke thoughts and generate ideas.
It is a voice of our passionate team who shares its knowledge and views on marketing, PR, branding and new media, while also discussing the latest trends, innovation and technology in the communications industry.
Categories
Recent Entries
- Employees, Social Media and Trust - Oct 27th
- Best of blogs: what we read last week - Oct 17th
- The rise and stall of checking in
- Facebook vs. Google +.....the social media war - 2nd August 2011
- Tips on how to survive the Dragons Den - 14th July 2011