Making the Blog Relevant to Readers
Last year, the blog defined Web 2.0 as the principal means of self expression of ideas, marketing and analysis. However, blogs can sometimes make messy reading - substantive articles can be intermixed with personal anecdotes and hobby talk.
Following up on the last week's article, the expanding social media has created various paths for online expression. The blog, still positioned as the core of a social media strategy, has become mainstream and should get organized. For business people, the blog manages the marketing message and it should be positioned as a reference source for their readership. Not to say personal anecdotes are inappropriate, it may be best to schedule these articles over weekends the same way news publishers position their Sunday editions for lighter reading.
Blogs are for substantive articles. Ideas, sharing links to articles, and conversation is moving to Twitter, Friendfeed, Google Reader, Del.icio.us and other social media applications. Multimedia formats - video, pictures, slideshows, podcasts and new formats like Flowgrams - can be posted on the blog, but aggregated for presentation within social media applications specific to the media like YouTube, Flickr, Slideshare, etc., or via feed aggregators like Friendfeed.
| Communication Type | Media |
| Casual introduction with intent to network | Twitter, Friendfeed |
| Casual introduction with specific intent for business | LinkedIn, Facebook, email |
| Formal introduction | email when the introduction requires some sort of proposal |
| Casual conversation | Twitter, Friendfeed (although I find chatter too time consuming) |
| Nice meeting you | Twitter DM, Facebook or LinkedIn "invitation to friend" |
| Thank you | Twitter DM, email, snailmail |
| Comments | Blog, Twitter, Friendfeed, Disqus, Cocomment |
| Article links | Twitter, Friendfeed |
| Article sharing | Google Reader, Del.icio.us, Stumbleupon |
| Sharing SEO/traffic love | Blogroll, Stumbleupon |
| Substantive article/multimedia presentation | Blog, YouTube, Slideshare, Flowgram |
Louis Gray has more rules:
- Post only when it is something that educates or brings original news to the reader
- Avoid posting just to state an opinion on another blogger's post
- You don't have to post every day (again, post for quality)
- Don't blog for individual gain (share knowledge and expertise as opposed to building an online identity)
- Blogs are still good for SEO and branding, just not as much as before (when blogs seemed to be the only expressive social medium)
- Settle for "good enough" ( don't spend too much time writing the perfect article)
Yikes! Just when I thought I was catching up in the real estate blogging world, you give me a whole new set of rules that need to be considered!
For Louis's rule #2 though, is it Ok to post opinions/expand on the ideas for a great post that we see online and want to make it relevant to our local market?
Sometimes I'll come across a great post and instead of leaving a long comment, it seems to me that it would be better to link to the original post and write about it with Las Vegas in mind.
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Of course, these aren't hard & fast rules... note I referred to Louis Gray's post for interpretative value. It's quite valid to do what you're suggesting. I think Louis is signaling the end of linkfarm articles; I've never done posts that pointed links to other articles and agree it's kind of lazy. Now we have Twitter and Google Reader shares to spread the word on articles we like.
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Pat
While this list is technically correct, it is also overwhelming for those that do not live in the online space like we do, and to be honest it can be overwhelming to us also.
I recommend people find a couple of outlets and work hard to use them to their fullest. I blog and twit primarily. This covers most of the basis and lets me function in my own way.
Others will look at blogging and say it is too much of a hassle and live in other spaces. Good for them. The key is to find a place and be comfortable.
Sort of like buying a home, don't you think?
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Good point Tom. I was using the table would provide examples of how to use the social media, and see that anyone new to the space would find the table alarming!
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