Blogs aren’t about control
It’s tempting to think that you are in charge of your business. It might even look like you’re the one calling all the shots. What we often fail to remember, however, is that, at most, we control just one thing. . .ourselves. We are responding to the situations we find ourselves in and doing our best to create the situations we want to be in.
When thinking about blogs perhaps it should not surprise me that people often worry about how much control they’ll have.
What if I don’t want people to comment?
What if someone leaves a comment I don’t like?
What if someone links to my blog from an inappropriate site?
While you do have choices about what happens on your blog, you can’t control the other person and what they do elsewhere. Sure, you can disable comments (or not post a comment), yet that doesn’t stop someone from leaving that same comment somewhere else. To me however, that seems like saying to your audience, “Please do business with me someplace else,” rather than seeking to engage them directly on your blog. Obviously there may be some people who you choose not to interact with or do business with, but that’s an entirely different matter.
Read great thoughts about business, control, and social media
- Wendy Piersall seeks to answer the question, How Can You Keep Control of Your Brand with a Blog & Social Media?
- Valeria Montoni suggests that, You’re Asking the Wrong Question
- Geoff Livingston describes how, Fear Kills Social Media Efforts
“Social media involves conversation and conversation involves moving away from controlling the message. That’s a big shift for a lot of people.”
~ Valeria Maltoni
Related posts which may interest you
Pencasting…the next wave in the blogosphere?
While scanning through my incoming links today I landed on a great site I hadn’t visited for some time. Once there, I happened upon the idea of pencasting, as coined by the author. The definition is this: publication of manuscript content to the world-wide-web as scanned images of pen-and-paper text. While I generally think that pencasting is more appropriate for blogs of a personal nature, I could see them being used in a business blogging context (e.g., holiday greetings, special announcements, or maybe even just a portion of a post such as a quote or important line of text).
Take a look at some of the pencasting examples at Mandarine’s site as well as the tutorial for how to pencast.
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How high a priority should blogging be?
As a business owner, you know that marketing is an activity that needs to be done frequently and regularly to keep the funnel filling with potential clients/customers. There are hundreds of marketing strategies you can use, just one of which is blogging. So, where does blogging fall on the list of prioritized “to do” items AND how do you make that choice? I’ll share my recent experience and then open it up to your ideas, experience, and wisdom.
When blogging wasn’t even on the back burner for me
In November 2007 I’ll be one of the featured presenters at the International Coach Federation Annual Conference. I’m co-leading a session titled, “Geek-free ways to use technology to attract clients with ease” where I’ll be speaking about blogs, podcasts, and other online ways to promote your company. I wanted to provide a resource for coaches in attendance to continue their learning about blogs after the conference, knowing that 90 minutes is insufficient for covering the topic except in a broad, overarching way. As an author of two books, I decided that a workbook would be the best way to offer this post-conference value, so I set about the task of turning my ideas and advice into a book.
Given my timeline, the book rocketed it’s way into #1 professional priority. Other “to do” items would be tucked aside until the book was finished. It was simply the only way for me to complete the book AND still enjoy a quality of life at the same time. Of course, it’s strange to be a blogging coach who doesn’t blog, yet it’s important to me to show people that even if blogging is a good thing, it’s not everything. Yes, it’s important to blog on a regular basis. Yes, it’s important to provide your readers with value. Yes, it’s important to create sustainable blogging habits. And just as important is our ability to know when, despite these other truths, blogging needs to take a backseat to other important things in your life.
I welcome stories of your own experience, your advice, and your tips for appropriately prioritizing blogging as one of your business marketing strategies.
Related posts which may interest you
- Best reasons to have your own blog — part 5
- Isn’t a business website the same as a business blog?
- Three simple steps to planning your blog
- The Coaches’ Blog Book — use a blog to market your coaching practice
- Blogging for coaches — an economical, effective marketing tool
- Blogs work for every business, including yours
