I get asked this question from many business owners who are contemplating stepping into the social media waters. How is the investment of time and energy going to turn into more business?
It is important to ask how you can measure a return on the investment because if as a business owner you simply don’t have time to consistently contribute valuable articles to a blog, you will surely need to hire someone to help you.
Here is the answer I give.
First, blogging will not produce an overnight success; it will take time, probably even months of time.
Secondly, you need to have specific goals you want to accomplish.
Thirdly, you should research to see if there are conversations taking place out in social media that pertain to what you do, your skills, your industry, your competition, your passion. If you find that conversations are taking place, then you must become part of the dialog or you risk being left out.
Blogging enables you to help people who have questions or problems that you can address. Once you’ve entered the dialog, it is imperative that you are genuine. Ideally, you become an expert in your readers’ minds and that converts into trust, which as we all know, is the key to making the purchasing decision.
Like any other marketing effort you make, and blogging is just a part of your overall marketing plan, you must measure to see if you are achieving the kinds of results you set out in the beginning. Tools are available that will give you eyes into what is happening. Are you getting comments? Are you having conversations?
Jeff Bulla has conducted an interesting survey on blogging in his article “11 Reasons Why People Blog.” It is very eye opening.
If you have questions or are unsure about whether blogging makes sense for you, drop me a line.
David