Blogging is the best way to connect with your market online over time
Experienced bloggers know that over time blogs area great way to connect with your market online. Social media platforms are good too but there are implications to consider.
First, blogs allow you to control the content. Social media platforms come and go, so you risk the likelyhood that one day your content will disappear. What’s more, with your own blog you control search engine optimation, user experience, and addition features you wish add to the site. The beauty is that all your blog content can be easily shared on social networks, yet you still retain control.
Second, you can simply do more with your own blog. You can publish content, you can share it where you like, you can customize and leverage your own RSS feed, you can add video, audio and images, you can have a newsletter, and more. Social networks let you do some of this yet not all. Of course, they have features that are not possible on a blog, but that list is short.
My point is your blog should serve as your single distribution point for content online. With the right setup, you can automate much of the distribution from that point and then manage the response on the back end with other tools, such as Google Reader and Tweetdeck.
The tools will change but this point is clear for me – host everything on your own site first and distribute from there.
What’s your blogging strategy? How has your blog helped you connect with your market?
