"Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."
Steve Jobs
1955 - 2011
Friday 7 October 2011
The problem with blogs.
Blogs it seems were the one of the early stepping stones into the highly interconnected and complex social media era we know today. They remain relevant, for both people and organisations, with easy tools like Blogger or Wordpress putting them into the hands of what I like to call the "non-nerd collective". If Nan and Pop can blog, we have really reached a tipping point...
But, there is always the all too common problem of blogs being abandoned after either the novelty has worn off, they fail to become the internet sensation the blogger desired or their purpose is no longer relevant. Take a blog by a new mother, telling the stories of her baby. After the baby grows up, the blog's purpose is no longer relevant, and she is likely to stop posting.
Or take the Marketing unit which this blog represents an assessment piece, I am motivated to post regular because it means marks at the end of the day, but what happens when the unit is finished. I would like to keep posting, but there be that essential top of mind motivation to post new entries? It's the unknown, that's for sure.
This has implications for organisations running their own blogs as well. For the blog to be value-adding to the brand, blogs need to be kept up to date with interesting and relevant posts, with a healthy amount of two way communication between the organisation and consumers, predominately through the traditional method of comments and replies. All too often, like people, the campaign or strategy the blog was set up for, is completed and the posts stop. But the best corporate blogs are one where consumers can log on everyday and see something interesting and new about the brand or things relevant to the brand, so they are encouraged to engage with it.
Maybe the era of blogs has come and gone, and the era of micro-blogs like Twitter or Tumblr is here. These have more regular and shorter posts, sometimes specialising in multimedia like Instagram with photos. These are less time consuming for the writers as they can post interesting things as they see them instantly and quickly, and readers can quickly gather if it is something worth following or subscribing to.
Are blogs still relevant? Comment below people of the internets.
Or take the Marketing unit which this blog represents an assessment piece, I am motivated to post regular because it means marks at the end of the day, but what happens when the unit is finished. I would like to keep posting, but there be that essential top of mind motivation to post new entries? It's the unknown, that's for sure.
This has implications for organisations running their own blogs as well. For the blog to be value-adding to the brand, blogs need to be kept up to date with interesting and relevant posts, with a healthy amount of two way communication between the organisation and consumers, predominately through the traditional method of comments and replies. All too often, like people, the campaign or strategy the blog was set up for, is completed and the posts stop. But the best corporate blogs are one where consumers can log on everyday and see something interesting and new about the brand or things relevant to the brand, so they are encouraged to engage with it.
Maybe the era of blogs has come and gone, and the era of micro-blogs like Twitter or Tumblr is here. These have more regular and shorter posts, sometimes specialising in multimedia like Instagram with photos. These are less time consuming for the writers as they can post interesting things as they see them instantly and quickly, and readers can quickly gather if it is something worth following or subscribing to.
Are blogs still relevant? Comment below people of the internets.
Wednesday 5 October 2011
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