Editor’s note: Russ McGuire is the online director of Business Reform Magazine. Each issue of Business Reform features practical advice on operating successfully in business while glorifying God.
Have you started a blog yet? Do you even know what a blog is? For an increasing number of businesses, the answer to both questions is a resounding yes. And for good reason. Many companies have started blogs to better communicate both internally and with customers, and those efforts are already paying off.
Before I get too far, I guess I should stop and explain what a blog is for those who haven’t yet been initiated.
The term “blog” is actually a shortening of the phrase “web log”. A web log or blog has been described in various ways; perhaps the most helpful is that a blog is a “persistent conversation”. Technically, a web log exists as a web page or collection of pages that is dynamically created based on entries that you make into the log. A number of companies have developed software to make it easy to make log entries and to automatically create a full-featured blog with a complete infrastructure including archives and links to other web sites.
However, the more important (and difficult) aspect to creating a blog is the actual content?the entries or posts that you make into the log. An effective blog is entertaining and informative enough to draw a regular audience. Many observers have identified blogging as a serious threat to traditional editorial publishing?allowing a very diverse set of commentators to self-publish without being filtered by editors. Realistically, the vast majority of blogs really aren’t worth reading. If you aren’t careful, your blog could easily fall into that category.
The best blogs appeal to a well defined audience that gets passionate about a specific, relatively narrow set of topics. A blogger who creates a well-written, entertaining, and informative commentary?tying together links to the latest news stories and web sites of interest to his audience with informed opinions of what it all means?can build a large and loyal audience.
So, what does this have to do with business communications?
As mentioned, a well-written blog is entertaining and informative and appeals to a well defined audience. Most likely, your customers and your employees can each be considered such an audience. Chances are that you are already making some attempt to communicate with these audiences in a way that engenders loyalty while informing them of the things you want them to know.
Why is a blog better for this than a print newsletter or an e-mail newsletter?
Well?there are advantages and disadvantages to any medium, and understanding these will help you understand when to use each.
The primary advantage of a blog is its informality. A well-written blog has a warm and inviting style that feels like a conversation with a friend, rather than formal information distribution. Also, a web log has many advantages that are inherent in an online medium. The archive of logs can be organized and searched much easier than a paper newsletter or even an e-mail newsletter. Many of the blog software tools also allow interaction with readers?such as feedback and discussion forums on specific topics or in response to specific log entries. Some blogs can also be set up to have multiple different authors contributing, although this can make it more challenging to create a warm and engaging voice to your audience.
The greatest challenge in using a blog to communicate with a given audience is that a web log is delivered via the web. A blog is a “pull” mechanism as compared to newsletters, which are “push” mechanisms. In general, your readers have to independently decide to, and when to, visit your blog and read your latest postings. Newsreader software is also being developed to make it easy for blog readers to keep up with their favorite blogs. The control, however, stays strongly in the hands of the reader, which makes it that much more important to create a great channel that the people you want to reach want to visit again and again.
Of course, blogs and newsletters are not mutually exclusive. As with other marketing activities, you should make sure that your blog leverages your existing activities and complements those other tools, both in message and in practice. For example, your newsletter should point readers to your blog and your blog should encourage folks to receive and read your newsletter.
Bottom line, creating a successful web log isn’t easy. But investing in creating a well-written, engaging, and entertaining blog for your customers or your employees can have rich rewards in strengthening your relationships, deepening their loyalty to your company, and communicating important information that will help make your company more successful.
If blogs are still a mystery to you, the best way to get a taste is to dive in and start reading one. Here’s a good example of one to whet your appetite.
And now that you’re an expert on this newest marketing technology, what are you waiting for?get blogging!
Russ McGuire is Online Director for Business Reform. Prior to joining Business
Reform, Mr. McGuire spent over a dozen years in the telecom industry, serving as Chief Strategy Officer for TeleChoice and Vice President of Strategic Development for Williams Communications, among many other roles. Mr. McGuire is currently focused on helping businesspeople apply God’s eternal truths to their real-world business challenges through Business Reform’s online services.
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