The most powerful social media tool: blogging
Sometimes it gets too easy to look for that “easy button” in the social media landscape. That all-powerful, easy to use, fast, tool that lets us quickly grow valuable & worthwhile relationships with fellow social media explorers. I say “explorers” because there are no real experts in social media, but there are many knowledgeable people who advise and recommend strategies.
The reality is that there is no such thing as an “easy button” of course, but there are several valuable tools that we can use. Among the most flexible and productive is the venerable blog.
A blog is one of your best investments in time for creating a social prescience on the web. Instead of canned pages, color schemes and applets that don’t represent you very well on platforms such as MySpace or Facebook – it’s you who gets to create the content. You get to decide how to present ideas, talk through your points of view and explain things. You also control the type affiliated content (ads, guest writers, etc…) that is published alongside your message.
A blog has the ability to connect to all services and tools that you’re currently using. In fact, a blog can be the portal to all things you on the web and help people get to know your story better. Think of how powerful that is. Instead of a service suggesting what “associates” or “related content” to readers, you have control of it.
Sure, a blog is a bit of work. There are no two ways about it. However, for many people, once you’ve got it set up, there is very little maintenance to do – just write and publish. Add a few links to your other social media/networking tools (Twitter, LinkedIn, Xing, Plaxo, FriendFeed – whatever) and keep up on blogs from similar bloggers or friends.
I can’t stress enough how much keeping control of your own content reflects on you – call that part personal branding. The important part is being able to publish your thoughts and comments in a place that is uniquely yours and not lost in someone else’s idea of social nirvana.
What’s your take? Have you taken the jump and started a blog, or are you content with the services that others provide?
Photo credit: Jill Greenseth
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Comments
Comment by Rick Mahn That’s a great point Joanna, commenting is so important for feedback and adding to the conversation. It’s what makes blogs “social” to begin with.
Comment by Chris Lang Blogging is the basis of all social networking and marketing and you hit it right on the head. Even with all the social networks out there the blog is still your hub.
I predict in fact that Wordpress or another blogging platform will glue all the social networks together with your friends, forums and social interaction all occuring thru your blog interface and running on your server.
You may be interested in this as well, I just published an article on Digg, the privacy breach at Digg and how it effects your search engine rankings. http://www.keywebdata.com/?p=79
I have very detailed documentation but Digg has yet to address it.
In looking at your content I would like to know what you think either here on your blog, in my comments or feel free to email me. = Chris Lang
Comment by Rick Mahn Chris, I’ll check out that article you mentioned. Isn’t it great how nearly all social networking tools have a widget or banner to add to your blog? Like you said, some are already available on WordPress.com or Blogger. Making it simple for many to bring their Twitter, FriendFeed, Seesmic, Facebook, Plaxo, and many other networking sources to their own personal space.
I’ll be happy to give feedback! Thanks,
Rick
Thanks for the reminder Rick. For me it all circles around the blog - feeds in and out of that. My blog is my home, my cornerstone, the best expression of what I’m about that I’ve managed yet.
And I hope we don’t forget to comment too! Each and every blog is potentially a social medium in its own right.
Joanna