Before there was MySpace or Facebook there was social media. It wasn’t exactly called social media, but the concept was there. Blogging.
Blogging can be called social media, or social networking, because it enables the owner of the blog to do a few things. Connect with readers in a more personal way, socialize through blog networks, and even meet other bloggers at blogging type events. Blogging was social media before social media became cool.
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Blogging as Social Media Networking:
Social media networking is usually connected with websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or MySpace. Websites, like blogs, are not usually counted among the social aspect. However, as I just said there are some social networking aspects to blogs.
Community:
I feel the biggest idea, or principle, that has come out of all the new social media marketing stuff is the idea that community is powerful, as said here. When you can align yourself with a wide circle of “friends”, and engage in meaningful, and beneficial, conversations with them you are building a community. This community helps you in several ways.
- Marketing your products and services through word of mouth by your blogs readers.
- Link back to your website, blog, or landing pages from your communities blogs.
- Free traffic by leaving comments on blogs you frequent.
- Added income by selling your services and products from other bloggers recommendations.
- Priceless exposure of your brand. Friendships that transcend distance.
Mutual Help:
It’s amazing the people you can come into contact with through websites like Facebook or Twitter. I’ve met literally hundreds of people who do the type of things that I need help with. When I have a question, need work done, or have a client who needs help… I know who to go to.
Blogging does the same thing. Through comments left on your blog you can begin visiting other websites and, as an added benefit, begin building your online rolodex of other service providers. Through comments left on my blogs I have also met up with people who I can recommend or use myself for other projects. Likewise, once a relationship is started and you are connecting, they will also come to you when they need something or need a product to recommend.
People Contact:
One of the things about online marketing is that it can become a very solitary, lonely existence. You get up in the morning (or afternoon depending on what time you got to bed the night before) and sit at the computer for a day of keeping up with newsworthy items to blog about. The comments that are left, and the interaction that develops from it, creates a way for human (kind of) contact. While it may be through email, IM, or Skype at first, it can turn into great relationships with meetups at events and other gatherings.
Wide Variety For Stimulation:
Blogs bring stimulation of the mind. And the immense variety of blogs contributes a great deal to that stimulation. My Google Reader is full of blogs that cover everything from sports, news, homeschooling, movies, bodybuilding, blogging, and social media. There are currently over 800 RSS feeds that I keep track of and I am adding new ones all the time. I don’t necessarily read each entry ( I hit the “Mark All As Read” button a lot), but I do try to spend time through the day skimming headlines. This helps kick the brain cells in gear and helps me with topics and newsworthy items.
Social Media With Blogging:
The two go hand in hand. Social media needs a central hub. A base of operations so to speak. A place where everything comes together for an ends to the time spent with social networking. A blog, or blogs, is the perfect place.
