In my last article The Red Balloon, I talked about how certain very basic aspects of social relationships open the door to introduce yourself and establish a relationship with someone you have’t met.To relate this idea to blogging, I’ll detail one of the most common questions I get from business owners across the nation.
“Why is everyone so hyped about Blogging? I keep hearing it as a buzzword and I just don’t get it.”
The short answer- Blogging is word of mouth marketing on steriods. It opens the door to an almost unlimited number of social interactions that can all be used to introduce both yourself, and your company.
The long answer- Blogging gives you the abiltiy to engage an entire community of readers as if it was a small party sitting around the dinner table. Unlike holding a live conversation with one hundred people, holding a blogging conversation with one hundred people grants you the ability to search, archive, and ponder your thoughts without making an immediate social error.
Imagine going business networking event and being asked the question “what do you do?”
This is a simple question, but most people fumble it with ten seconds of pause and an almost incoherent answer. The successful live business networking experts I know have a 30 second elevator pitch down, but even some of them faulter when they don’t realize who they are speaking with or they happen to be in mixed group of personalities.
Think about that situation and apply the technology of blogging to it, you gain some amazing new benefits-
- take five minutes and think about what you are going to say.
- investigate who you are responding to by searching google or a company website.
- review previous comments they have made that you may not have originally read.
- state the benefits of your professional interaction by customizing your response.
- have 10 people talking at once, yet not have to worry about what one of them said.
- invite other experts into the conversation
- immediately point at materials that add support to your conversation
- spotlight the conversation so other people hear your thoughts
- save yourself from repeating the same thing over, and over, and over
- organize your thoughts in a more friendly manner
- create interest in your experience and your personal brand
That is just a short list of additional benefits.
If you want to read up some other viewpoints on the benefits of blogging try these articles-
Benefits of Blogging- by Darrell Zahorsky, About.com small business guide
Niche Blogging Benefits – Tammy Powley on ProBlogger
If you like “hands on” books
Realty Blogging- Blogging for the Real Estate professional
Publish and Prosper- Blogging for Your Business