For seventy years consumers sat in front of TVs and radios or sat reading newspapers and magazines. They consumed content and messages created by large media companies and marketers. It was a monologue i.e. one way. Media fed consumers information and messages while they sat back and consumed. The media and marketing messages were pushed out at the cost of millions of dollars by big media conglomerates, thereby eliminating the chance of an individual business or group competing and having the same reach. The only means of marketing to audiences was through advertising on TV, radio, newspapers and magazines. This was the prevailing model from the 1920s to the 1990s.

Then in early 2000s along comes Social Media networks and Web 2.0 technology. These networks and their technology have given marketers and business stakeholders an unprecedented opportunity to cost-effectively and efficiently broadcast and distribute their message in an extremely targeted way to thousands of people across the Web. According to International Data Corporation, people are spending about 20 hours on average per week watching TV and reading newspapers and magazines. But they’re spending 33 hours per week and growing on the Internet. People leaning forward interacting with a website is a completely different paradigm to people sitting back watching TV. As Marketers we need to stop or curb one-way push advertising and start publishing content our target markets want and are extremely willing to interact with on the Web.

Forrester’s Josh Bernoff released an update in January of this year to the popular Social Technographics ladder to visualize and categorize the current state of how people participate in the Social Web.

Creators	Critics	Collectors	Joiners	Spectators	Inactives
2010 – 24%	2010 – 37%	2010 – 20%	2010 – 59%	2010 – 70%	2010 – 17%
2007 – 13%	2007 – 19%	2007 – 15%	2007 – 19%	2007 – 33%	2007 – 52%

As you can see, the percentage of people involved in the social Web has moved massively upwards since 2007. The number of Creators of content has increased, while the number of Joiners has jumped significantly. Small businesses and corporate brands are missing out on the massive amount of time people are now spending on the social Web. Marketers and business stakeholders need to take advantage of the reach now available to them. For example, instead of your online brand being a “static” website containing technical spec sheets and formatted press releases, why not produce a video with your internal subject-matter experts elaborating on timely topics, and providing guidance and advice? One easy and effective way to create new content at an extremely low cost and distribute it across the Web is through a blog.

Your blog can be an effective marketing tool. Here are 10 reasons why:

1. Unlike “static” websites, they can be integrated into social media networks for mass distribution.
2. Blogs allow you to showcase internal talent and their knowledge-base.
3. They give you a means to easily publish on a corporate “static” website.
4. You can have two-way conversations through “comments.”
5. You give your corporate brand a human “voice”.
6. You can easily integrate other social media tools like Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and Youtube into your blog.
7. They are more frequently indexed and more likely to appear in Google search results.
8. They are extremely cost-effective and ROI can be significant.
9. They can be useful for data mining. Partnered with Google Analytics, your blog can tell you much more about your prospects than a “static” website.
10. Publishing on your blog can be a lot of fun. (I didn’t just throw this in, it’s true).

Blogs are an effective first step in Social Web. Coupled with a broader content and social network distribution strategy it can significantly shorten your sales cycle and generate a greater number of qualified prospective clients. Blogs are a great first step but your Social Media strategy shouldn’t end with a blog. There a many other Social Media tactics that you can integrate into your blog. I recently published a 6 week Social Media program titled “Social Media Marketing for Your Business Success” that includes a 20 page guide, a slide deck and a 60+ minute video. Download it to find out more.

Placed within the context of your prospects’ buy cycle, publishing content on your blog can be a more valuable strategy to move prospects further along the conversion funnel and ultimately to the sale. Advertising generates awareness but it doesn’t create trust, and in longer sales cycles there’s not enough trust to warrant a phone call or contact. Within a more complex buy cycle, your prospects will want to learn more about your company, the value you provide and the reputation you’ve earned. Levick Communications, a crisis communications agency in Washington, DC use their blog called the Bulletproof Blog very effectively. Senior management at Levick regularly blog about topics that concern their prospects and clients. They use a content strategy that shortens their clients’ buy cycle by producing content that’s relevant, timely and informative. As the value of advertising diminishes rapidly especially on the Web, a blog can fill the void and more. Given the numbers above by Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research, it’s imperative the marketers and business stakeholders realign resources and shift budgets, and look more closely at publishing as a new marketing paradigm.

Our role as marketers is profoundly changing. We’re no longer manufacturers of an advertising message and “push” merchants. We need to be publishers and the facilitators of conversations and Social Media can help us do just that.

What are your thoughts and experiences? How has your blog helped your business?

Do you need help with your Social Media plan or help with tactical execution? Give me a call at (703) 489-7886 or shoot an email to ronankeane1 [at] gmail [.com].

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