I keep confessing to you all and I really have to stop this but then what value would a blog be if it didn’t reveal a little more about me and my thoughts each time? That’s just my view though - I don’t feel I can write a regular blog without outlining my thoughts and values. Many other people do write very plain, business like blogs and have enormous success with them. I’m not aiming for a huge blog following but am still happy that it’s growing gradually. So why do I do this?Writing a blog each week can be a challenge - how to come up with ideas and how to allocate the time to post and promote it? However, I’ve been surprised at the range of people who read it. These range from local business people that I network with, to old clients who I’ve worked with for years and not forgetting the people I just don’t know but have found me via Twitter or SEO. So given that range of readers how do I make sure that I keep you all entertained, even if just for a 5 minute read?
I wonder how many people really have a good blog strategy and how many just write week after week? My strategy - to keep my clients and prospects informed of my activity, my thoughts and my business values. It’s the personal touch to my website that is hopefully, the inviting and more intimate element of my company. But now I have these other followers should I focus solely on running a small business or go for hard core events tips? That’s my challenge - to keep evolving the blog and keep you all interested - do let me know what you’d like to read.
So many companies outsource their social marketing to a specialist. I’m sure this works really well to ensure it gets done and that it’s promoted effectively but is it really the right strategy for your company? As a small business owner I’m very protective (over-protective?) of my brand and even when I employed staff I still had to oversee the use of the brand. As such I just can’t see how anyone else could encapsulate and extoll the heart of Nutmeg. For those that outsource I would really recommend that you use the agency as an alarm and a formatter but come up with the text, the message yourself. Only the brand owner (be it company director or marketing manager) can really speak of the values of the brand so don’t give that away lightly.
Comments
but I want to know the organ-grinder! This is especially true of the small business where personal contact and knowledge is so important. You develop your style over time and with feedback, honing your skills so that you fit the blogging/dialogue into your
schedule and you are not enslaved by it. If you have no time, micro-blog!
rant and sometimes just tell the world where I am, that blog has no particular strategy as it was only ever meant to be my own little bit of cyberspace just for my thoughts and opinions (and even favourite poetry). However, it is remarkably successful about
the strangest things - for instance the post that brings in the most traffic is one about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs .....! Anyway, I also blog on behalf of clients and this is where it get's tricky. I agree absolutely that one has to be careful of the brand
and this means that I effectively become part of the team, I am a member of staff with clear objectives and consistent messaging. The difference between me and others though is that I will only ever work for a client like this where I already share their values,
beliefs and agree with their aims. I can't write with passion or conviction otherwise, I have to believe in what they are doing otherwise it will always come across as slightly false. This means I end up writing about things like social enterprise, entrepreneurship
and enabling people - these are my passions too and it then becomes easy.