Today while pitching a new client on social media and internet brand message the man stopped me mid-sentence and said, "Wait, what is a blog?" After I got over my initial shock of being asked this question I started to think that if you don't have a blog, why should you know what one is?
The Answer:
Blogs are your own social platform, your own soapbox if you will. A blog is your own corner of the internet. You can present your world as you experience it, add photos, add videos, share your world with the rest of the world.
By now everybody has been on a personal blog. They've read what their neighbor had for lunch last Tuesday and they've seen their boss' trip to India. But blogging can be much more than that. The internet is information and you, the lone person sitting on your sofa with a bag of chips, have a voice, a searchable voice. Others with your similar interests can find you on the internet and if you've created a blog then you've created a little slice of the internet where people can connect with you on the same level about the same topics.
The same concept applies to small businesses and their blogs. Your small business blog is your company's voice on the internet. A good way to think about the small business blog is that it's like your own newspaper. It's all about you, your brand and your products. You can write articles that only talk about your products, articles that provide lesser-known product benefits and even add product value.
For expample, a specialty foods company might want to blog about a recent award they've won because it shows the product's quality to brand newcomers. Or they could explain why the company chooses to not use high-fructose corn syrup in their products and the benefits that has to the consumer and their health. What about recipes? Everyone needs to eat so writing blog posts with recipes adds even more value to the food company's blog and in turn makes the company's products more valuable to the consumer.
Providing value that people can connect with is the key to your small business blog. Everyone reads the news to find out new things in the world and using your small business blog as your own news outlet helps consumers find out new things about your products. Your products are valuable to you and a blog can help you explain why your products are valuable to everyone else. The internet has made it easy for small businesses to connect with their audience for a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing methods. Now get blogging!