Blogging is an incredibly powerful tool for business development and a great way to share ideas and connect with people. It’s an excellent way to deliver content and build amazing communities around that content.
However, many bloggers spend just a tiny percentage of their ’social media time’ actually blogging. Their blogs are seldom updated, yet the blog owner is happy to ‘invest’ his or her social media time on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin etc.
One Twitter user I know, is a marketing consultant. He seems to be on Twitter every time I look at it – Yet he’s put content on his own blog just a handful of times in the past few months. There are many, many like him. I was thinking earlier how it must look, if a prospective client follows him from his Twitter account to his blog.
They’re going to see a blog with; very little content, few comments, no engagement, no energy – Because he’s building all that value on Twitter!
So I was wondering: Is it time for us to start investing more of our time and energy into developing our blogs and less of our time developing content for other peoples social media platforms?
Your blog really matters
I have to confess up front: I LOVE blogs! I love reading them, commenting on them and I also have 3 blogs of my own too. One of the things I love most about blogs is that unlike other forms of social media, when you build a blog, you own all the ‘value’ you have created. A self-hosted blog is 100% yours and what’s more, you decide what happens to your blog.
So, unlike a Twitter account, it can’t be suspended for no reason. Unlike Friendfeed, no one can buy your blog overnight and change it’s direction, without your consent. Unlike scores of other social media sites; it can’t simply disappear overnight, along with all that community building you did either!
Your blog is yours and you get to benefit 100% from your investment there.
Don’t get me wrong, I not suggesting that people should stop using other social media tools; far from it! I am suggesting, however, that the role of blogging needs to be given the respect it deserves. I use Twitter and Friendfeed myself and find both to be extremely valuable (especially Friendfeed.) The thing is, neither of these are my primary social media tool – my blog is. As a result, that’s where I share my content and where I invest most of my social media time.
Blogging your content, tweeting it or both?
Yesterday evening, I wrote a brief post on my tech news blog, it took me around 10 minutes. It was a very short post about a hacker with autism, who faces 60 years in prison. I could easily have spent twice as long ‘tweeting’ about it with a handful of people or discussing it on Friendfeed. However, I decided to blog about it. Within around 30 minutes, that post was picked up by CNN. My blog’s the one at the top of the list:
CNN uses a clever blog recommendation program, which shows CNN readers what they call “the best stuff” that bloggers are saying on any particular news story. So, people reading that story on CNN.com are being presented with three blogs to read, including mine. CNN.com is a very popular site, so I got a stack of new visitors, which helped me build my blogs community and widen my readership (Thanks CNN!)
Had I decided to Tweet about it instead, even if CNN picked my Tweet up, Twitter would have benefited and not me. Incidentally, none of my tweets or Friendfeed comments have ever been picked up by any leading network, so the odds were not good. However, many of the world’s most respected organisations have linked to my blog posts.
I love social media
I was an early(ish) adopter of Twitter and have had accounts there for around 2 years. I also use Friendfeed. Both of these tools are of great value to me and my business and I recommend them to you too. Then there’s Facebook, Linkedin and many others, which people achieve great results from.
However, I’m wondering if it’s possible we are spending too much time developing content on these platforms, instead of our own?
What do you think?
Thanks so much for the reminder. I too love blogging, and have noticed that I am spending way too much time over on Facebook and Twitter. For me part of the problem is that I was working as recruiter and blogged a LOT about that, but now that I’m working more on my Real Estate career, I find it hard to “talk about me”. Perhaps it’s because FB and Twitter give instant satisfaction, whereas blogs may just sit there….maybe I just don’t know how to drive more traffic to them without feeling like a kindergartner in the back row, jumping up and down, hand raised, “ME! ME! ME! Look over here!”
I get that the purpose of blogging is interaction…I’m just havin a hard time getting out of my head…I actually have a blog I wrote on Friday that I’m going to post today…it was pretty emotionally driven and I just wanted to make sure I still felt the same way…and guess what…I do! Thanks again for a great read!
Glad you enjoyed the post Amanda.
Many bloggers tell me they have similar issues; not knowing how to actually develop their blog, to the point where they get the kind of feedback they get on Twitter etc. In my experience, the most effective way to develop a blog is to write about your passion and share the posts with people, who are also passionate about that subject. This blog, for example, is read by people like you who enjoy sharing new ideas. My marketing blog is most often read by owners of small businesses who want to improve their marketing. The tech blog is read by geeks.
Good luck Amanda and please let me know how you get on!
This is definitely something I’m always thinking about and I agree. It’s kinda fun and easy to just throw things out across a bunch of social networks, but I definitely find myself neglecting my own blog in the process.
I agree, it’s super-easy to ping stuff out via social media and the response is often very fast too. I think that’s part of what has made the leading social media sites so popular. Thanks for stopping by the blog!
Too be honest, I’m way too verbose for twitter, haha. I speak in paragraphs whether I’m on facebook chat, instant messaging, or emails. The 140 character limit is often just…not enough for me.
I love blogging. I’ve run more blogs than I can count. There’s nothing like opening up a fresh domain name and cranking out a sexy design and slogan. I especially love the comments. It’s a great chance to engage with other people.
I don’t know how I would have built up my reputation without blogging. Forums, probably, but then I wouldn’t be able to carry that information around with me. My blog is like…my home. Twitter is like the coffee shop down the street.
People won’t come back to your tweets years later and say “hey, you’re pretty smart.” But they will come back to your blog posts.
Good to hear from you Corey!
I especially like your final point – very true.
I am a violator of Tweeting and leaving my blog to gather dust. Actually, I guest blog so much for others that I have little time to create original content for my own. Tweeting allows me to express ideas about my industry in limited characters and for now, replaces what I might write for my blog. It is something I will definitely change as I work on a new format for my website as a whole.
(Oh, yeah — and I tell clients, whom I prioritize, do as I say, not as I do.)
Thanks for the comments Gail.
The great irony here, is that whenever someone checks us out on Twitter, they click on our profile URL. If that looks out of date or there’s little sign of activity there, we stand a good chance of losing an enquiry.
I was DM’ed on Twitter with a link after writing this post. The link points to a so-called blogging expert, who has removed the dates from his posts; because the content’s hopelessly out of date.
Funny old world eh
I came late to the blogging arena in 2008 – I started my two main blogs then and my personal blog didnt get started until a year ago.
It took me a while (6 months) to realise that the other social networks that I blogged on, drove traffic to their sites and not to mine. So I almost gave up on blogging! Then I read that I needed around 100 posts to establish my ‘position’ as a transport blogger and I targeted myself a blog a day for three months.
That improved my traffic no end
and now I just blog 3 times a week about various interesting bits from other people as well as transporting goods.
Twitter and Facebook are support tools to our blogs and help promote them. If it’s tool long for a tweet, it may be long enough for a blog
Thanks for the feedback Sarah.
I agree – There’s a clear link between the amount of targeted content on a blog and the traffic it attracts; both from people and search engines.
Really good reminder, Jim! Congrats on the CNN connect and for sharing how that happened.
I do love blogging but procrastinate doing it until the time feels right or because there are so many other things to do. I like that you say write what you are passionate about because though I am a career professional and I am passionate about that, there are many other things that I am passionate about. For me, the blog is marketing but it is also a creative outlet for me.
You make a couple of good points there Julie!
It’s easy to put off writing a post because there are so many pulls on our time. I also think that blog authors often worry too much about each post being a stand-alone masterpiece. My posts are always written with the intention of giving the reader value, but some are always going to be better or more popular than others and none will be perfect. I think it may have been Hemingway, who said that to avoid writers block, we should write for the paper bin.
Thanks for stopping by the blog.
I keep meaning to get back to posting on my blog. Thanks for reminding me why I thought it was important to start in the first place!
You’re welcome Allison
Hey Jim,
Thanks for this post. Without wanting to sound too “big company”, it will always be harder to prioritize time allocation without on overall plan or strategy.
I have been reading Chris Brogan’s blog recently and he makes it very clear how to use blogs and social media in a planned way.
For example, he writes how your blog is the central hub and services like Twitter and Linked-in are ‘outposts’ that support the blog, but don’t become an end to themselves.
Jim, you mentioned Friendfeed. I would love to read a ‘Dummies Guide’ for getting the most out of FF (i.e. as an outpost to a primary blog). Maybe a potential post for you?
Best, Robin
Hey Rob. The hub thing in not from Chris Brogan. I studied it an Uni in the 1970’s.
Thanks for the feedback Robin as always, but I see things in a slightly different way.
I see entrepreneurs and the owners of small businesses, spending 2/3 hours (often more) a day on Facebook or Twitter and doing nothing with their blogs. Splitting that time up more effectively requires nothing more than a shift in priorities – so their blogs get some more of that time.
I had an email after publishing this post, from a lady who spent between 2 and 3 hours a day, 6 days a week for over 18-months on Twitter ‘building her reputation.’ She became the victim of intimidation from a small group of people and was forced to delete her account.
She’s lost everything, because she didn’t use Twitter, to help her build a community on her blog, which as she put it, died of neglect while she ‘played’ with Twitter.
She went on to say that Twitter were either unable or uninterested in stopping the ‘hate tweets’ as she called them. Net result, she thinks she’s wasted about 1,400 hours of her time, effort and energy.
Regarding Friendfeed, there are already a lot of ‘how to’ guides and videos – here’s a link to some great tips:
http://friendfeed.com/scobleizer/1e1a5ec7/to-new-friendfeeders-there-are-thousands-due
However, since Facebook bought the company, many established friendfeed users no longer use the platform; because of fears over what Facebook plan to do with their data. Ironically, this has ALSO resulted in a number of people paying the price for having all their eggs in one social media basket – which they do not control.
Chris Brogan’s post about hubs and spokes is actually telling us nothing new – it’s a 35 year old old business model, developed by Fred Smith, the founder of the FedEx courier company. I love Chris’ work, but I don’t think he would mind me pointing that out.
Thanks for a thought-inspiring comment Rob.
Jim,
I completely agree with your comments (actually I’m not sure where we differ??) i.e. make your blog the key focus and prioritize your time around that (that’s what I was getting at by having a planned approach i.e. plan to make your blog a priority,have goals and allocate/schedule the time etc).
For me, these other services are only relevant to the extent that they support/build your blog.
Any time I use Twitter, Linked-in etc I ask myself, ‘how does spending time doing this help build my blog?’
The point about Chris Brogan was really to highlight the fact about making your blog your top priority, with other services like Twitter as supports for the blog.
Sure, nothing new and I wasn’t meaning to imply that Chris ‘invented’ this idea. I just liked the term ‘outposts’ as a pun on remote posting around a central blog.
Thanks for the FriendFeed link and information. I will approach with caution.
Best, Robin
Hi Robin.
When you said; “it will always be harder to prioritize time allocation without on overall plan or strategy. ” – I wanted to say that even without an ‘overall plan or strategy’ you can instantly improve your results by simply blogging a little more.
That was all.