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Is it too early to jettison your business blog? challenges online media specialist Jon Buscall

March 18th, 2010 – 1:04 pm
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In my previous post I commented on the fact that social media has changed the playing field when it comes to community involvement and I think this is, in part, why blogs may be struggling.

However I don’t think that business blogs are irrelevant. Blogs are STILL better for SEO than posting to social media sites although real-time search is improving.

An actively maintained blog that’s regularly indexed by Google can help you get your message out in times of crisis and promotion just as adequately, if not better, than tweets on Twitter or a short post on a Facebook wall.

What’s more, a well-crafted post on your blog has the potential to have more lasting impact. Pillar-content in the form of in-depth posts, ebooks, videos, and podcasts that show the very best of your commitment to the needs of your audience, strengthens your brand online.

Blogs, by the sheer number of traffic search engines send you, also give you a window of opportunity to achieve your business goals that Facebook Fan Pages and Twitter don’t quite have; namely, selling more stuff!

Mark W Schaefer suggests business bloggers should, “Stop trying to engage [visitors]. Just get them to pause.”

To my mind, this may be where the future of business blogging lies.

Maybe business blogs are no longer about engaging the audience or forging conversations and discussion anymore. Maybe they are more about getting visitors to see the people who work for your organisation (CF Made By Many), the way you communicate, or the quality content and resources your offer that helps build their trust in your business or interest in your product or services.

As such, I think it’s too early to jettison your business blog just yet. Instead, it’s time to rethink how we use them in the wake of the social media juggernaut currently careering across the Internet.

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Jon Buscall is a Communications Consultant specialising in online media based in Stockholm, Sweden.

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Dr Jon Buscall
Web: www.jontusmedia.com
Email: jon@jontusmedia.com
Twitter: @jonbuscall

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Posted by: Sue Roberts | Comments | Permalink
  • http://www.businessesgrow.com/blog Mark W Schaefer

    It means a lot that you agreed with me! The point I made on my blog was a pretty radical perspective and one that i was not sure would go over well. Dismiss “community?” Heresy! : )

    But it seems that a lot of people think this point made sense. In fact a number of people have come forward with additional ideas as to why people don;t form communities around corporate blogs and I will be featuring some of these ideas on an upcoming post.

    I’m appreciative of the wise counsel you offer here, as well as your support, Jon!

  • http://www.whatifspecialist.com Richard Bosworth

    Jon, both you and Mark raise an interesting thought which in a way ties in with a Harvard report I scanned the other day – I can’t find it now that I want it; apparently an increasing number of top executives are using social media to confirm or validate their decisions while a growing number are joining SMPGs – Social Media Peer Groups. With this in mind it looks like we are going to have to rethink the way we approach business blogs and blogging.

  • http://www.jonbuscall.com Jon Buscall

    @Mark, I really enjoyed your post the other day and in many ways that helped me re-angle my own initial response to high first-time traffic corporate blogs are getting.

    I don’t have the answers, but from observing the business blogging space I can see things are changing. All those CEOs who were blogging 2 years ago seem to have vanished. Team blogs seem to dominate and, look, here we are discussing corporate blogs on someone else’s corporate blog —thanks for the opportunity to guest-post, Sharon :)

    I think micro-blogs are much better for customer support and immediate feedback, and dare I say it even services like Foursquare.

    @Richard,
    I’d be curious to see that report if you manage to come across it again. Can you leave a url here, please? Or DM me on Twitter.

    Thanks for both your comments.

  • http://www.mygoalsbuddy.com My Goals Buddy

    Very thought-provoking, Jon.

    And thanks for highlighting the comments of Mark W Shaefer – I found the idea of getting readers simply to pause rather than to engage something that deserves serious consideration

  • http://showamerica.com/ Mark

    This is the expose what I was looking for so far. Whatever I've found here about business blogs seems to me great from all side. I would like to appreciate this contribution as well as I was looking for. Keep it up with great work.

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