Make a Copy of Your Hard Work – Start a Blog

A recent New York Time article suggests that blogs are waning as young social media users are migrating to Facebook and Twitter.  

Surprised?  I'm not. The truth is that blogging takes dedicated work on a number of levels – including consistently creating excellent content that has value for a specific audience. 

That may not be a high priority for teenagers, but it should be for you and your small business. 

Social Media is Work

The article also notes that former bloggers have thrown in the towel – they've given up on blogging.

I suspect one reason for that is blogging is work that also requires faith in the process. Today I did a video interview with Guy Kawasaki that will be posted here on March 8th – the day his new book Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions will be released.

One of the things we discussed is that there indeed is a great deal of work involved with doing social media well – and with no promise of specific results. Nevertheless, regardless of the effort you put into it, you will always achieve results.  They will just happen on their own time and in their own way. 

That's the game.  You just have to play it.  But trust me, if you do so with consistency, you will not meet with disappointment.

Here's the thing – you are going to have to make an effort with your social media netoworking and marketing regardless of whether you post on Facebook, Twitter, or your blog. The major consideration is whether or not a little more effort is worth capturing the value of what you sharing for years to come.

Let's take a look at that.

Quality is Always in Demand

For the most part, social media marketing is content marketing.  This is why you cannot have a social media plan without a content marketing plan – one that strategically builds a following and then converts fans into customers and influencers.

Sharing personal content such as vacation experiences is not what we are talking about here – or is it. You have to ask yourself that if it is valuable enough to share, wouldn't it be nice to share it in such a a way that you can go back and share it again?  

Photos and videos on Facebook can be easily downloaded and saved.  But all of the conversations surrounding them are lost. This may not mean much in regards to personal exchanges, but in a business environment the conversations your customers are having about your small business are gold – gold that can and should be mined again, and again.

This is why I highly recommend small businesses maintain a blog from which they can share the years and years of experience that speak to what your business does well – especially within the context of credible stories of delighted customers.

What This Means for Bloggers

If the stats from the New York Times article are accurate, and I have no reason to believe they are not, then I just have one thing to say:  Woohoo!  

This only means the content that is created on blogs like this one will continue to increase in value – one little drip at a time.  But trust me, after five years of blogging those drips have become a lake. Imagine the ocean of content you could accumulate in the next twenty years?

That content is your business legacy, and it's available for prospects from far and wide to peruse. Content will always be king.  Why do you think Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter so desperately want your content?  Because without it they have no value to offer advertisers.

The lesson is pretty simple.  If you are going to share, and we all are, why not just take a few additional steps to ensure you have a copy that you own.  

Your blog is that copy.  It's freely accessible, and if you have set it up properly and continue to back it up, you have a storehouse of irreplaceable information that represents the hard work you put into your business – day after day, and before long, twenty years went by.

Have something to show for it – start blogging.

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Until tomorrow,  Jeff

Photo Credit:  Gadget Virtuoso