Blogs are like personal telephone calls crossed with newspapers. A few examples are microblogs, podcasts, vlogs (video blogs), social networking communities and traditional blogs. The social marketing and social networking era ushered by blogs is a culture of collaboration. It takes some time to build.
Social networking, bookmarking, and article submissions are all the rage today - don't let it pass you by. Social networking costs are minimal -- it's not like sponsoring a table at an awards dinner or printing brochures -- so your return on investment is astronomic. Most new bloggers get their feet wet in one of the popular social networks or one of the big-name hosting services. This new consumer behavior is that of social markets. They want to customize, socialize and validate their choices.
Just as social media tools and outlets are still evolving, so are we. The learnings about how to build social networking community is evolving and we continue to learn from each other. In this world of social media we continue to learn together. Consider social networking tools like Facebook and Linkedin. If you want social media to work for you, you need to be social. Just because you've written a new post does not mean it's worth submitting to a social media site.
If you want social media traffic, you must consider the audience of that specific site, and then create content that they will love. For people to know about it, it is not enough to submit it to a social media site; it needs to hit either the front page, or, the upcoming pages. Valuable global relations are being created through tools that range from text messages to social networking and beyond. Feeds are important not only because they make it easy for a global audience to read your blog, but also because fluency with feeds make it possible for you to follow a global network of blogs and other news sites. In the simplest definition of the term, then, a blog is a log of your thoughts, ideas, useful links, photos, videos, or the latest news.
A 'post' is just another way of saying an entry, like an entry in a diary, or a column in a newspaper. You can use your business blog to see the future: It's a great way to stay in touch with what readers want, and to know what customers struggle with and desire the most. Logic says that it is far easier for smaller businesses to be more nimble and respond more quickly to market demands than behemoth corporations.
Francina Smit is the owner of InHouseDollars.com and writes articles on various subjects regarding Home Based Business. Visit her for more information at: http://www.InhouseDollars.com/newsletter-signup.html
