How important do you think blogs are today? Blogs were a very big deal a few years ago, but then social networking came along and stole some of the buzz. Should you still bother with doing your own blog, or in the event you turn your attention more toward social networking?
That's a good question, a minimum of on the surface or if you believe that social networks have made blogs obsolete. But that doesn't seem to be the case, as the blogosphere is flourishing like never before.
A minimum of the business and professional regions of the blogosphere are flourishing. I'm not so sure about personal blogs; these do have the symptoms of been affected by the rise of social media. It's a lot easier to make one's personal opinions or activities known using a Facebook status update than via a post to a freestanding blog, after all. It takes zero skills and effort to get set up on Facebook, whereas there's some work involved in creating a personal blog, even with the easy-to-use tools of Blogger and Wordpress.
And so I definitely see a movement from personal blogs to social media. But that movement doesn't apply to business and what I'd call professional blogs, which really can't be replicated via Facebook along with other social networking sites. Naturally, you can establish a Facebook presence, but that presence are few things like that which you get with a well-run blog. For businesses, then, social network marketing supplements and complements blog marketing. You need to complete both.
There are lots of third-party blogs out there that can help you promote your company or product. That's right, marketing to the blogosphere is just as essential as blogging on your own.
This form of blog marketing is really a kind of public relations. That is, you apply somewhat traditional PR techniques to get bloggers to speak about or mention or link to your company or product. The more and more influential bloggers you've on your side, the more exposure you get and exposure may be the name of the game, here.
Here's the deal: Big name bloggers have huge followings, and blogs can drive more visitors to your site than can traditional media. Due to this, the blogosphere should be an important component of any company's online public relations efforts.
If you're not involved in the whole blogging thing (and if not, shame on you), it may come as a surprise to understand that bloggers have become household names a minimum of within those households interested in confirmed topic. Blogs are notoriously topic-specific, of course, which means people are apt to follow blogs that focus on those topics in which they're interested. It's not that there's one major blog that everyone in the country reads; it's more a network of small, focused blogs that are important to narrow groups of consumers. When someone is a regular reader of the blog, they come to understand and trust the opinions of the individual (or people) writing that blog. It's really a personal thing; the best bloggers become something similar to trusted friends.
Certainly, bloggers are major influencers. One kind word about a product or service functions being an endorsement and has a lot more impact than any advertisement you might target to that customer base. It's the best in word-of-mouth promotion.
Because of all this, blogs play a large part in the decision process when consumers are looking to make a significant purchase. When individuals are gathering details about what to buy and where to buy it, they often turn to blogs for that information and advice. In some product categories, blogs contribute more than half the info on which customer choice is finally based. That's a big influence.
What this signifies to marketers is that you need to tap into this resource. You need to build up and nurture a network of key contacts in the blogosphere and feed those contacts information that you would like your customers and potential prospects to hear. One good word from a major blogger may have a huge effect on your bottom line; you need to do whatever it takes to get probably the most influential bloggers on your side.
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Note: This article was sent to us by: Joseph Thompson at 03192011
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