Friday, October 14, 2011

Social Media For Small Businesses: Leveraging Your Blog For Marketing

By Michael Gillen


Remember back when blogging was the buzzword of the year? Although they do not have anywhere near as much notice focused on them as they used to, blogs are still a critical part of any social media marketing plan. Basically, a blog is useful because it allows more customizability and space than any other form of social media out there today. Instead of being confined to 140 characters as a Twitter for business would be, you are able to go into as much detail as you want, which is certainly a great way to say exactly what you need to say to your readers.

If you're not very tech proficient, you can use one of the various blogging schemes they have out there, like WordPress. However, you should stay away from blog hosting sites like Livejournal; any firm should have a dedicated URL for their blog, or at least the blog needs to be hosted on a company's own URL.

Once you have set up the blog, you should make a program for yourself and stick to it. If you have enough data you should post at most once per day, but if you have to do less, that's fine too. However, posting regularly is generally encouraged, since nothing is worse than a vacant website collecting dust.

When writing your posts, try to make them as engaging as possible. Ask questions and answer any questions asked of you. Remember that your blogging duties do not end as soon as you posted; it's also important to respond to any comments and try to start a conversation in your comments section. If you know a lot about the sort of readers you have or are looking for, modify your content for them. If they feel like the blog is pertinent to their lives, they'll come back frequently and tell their friends, which is exactly what you're looking for.

In conclusion, don't just wait for people to find your blog on their own. Instead, you should leverage the other social media sites that you are using in order to get the word out. A common method is to broadcast new blog posts on Twitter, with a link to the page, of course




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