The crowd is ready to learn about blogging
I’m qualified to write this because I’m one of the blogging experts presenting at this morning’s Social Media Breakfast. It’s not like I’m being censored.
But I only have 20 minutes to talk. Which seems like a long time until you start to make slides for everything you know.
So I spent most of my day Thursday jettisoning tips and advice. You won’t hear gems of wisdom like:
If I had a blog
A blog is just a tool. Not a lifestyle. Not a revolution in communication. It’s a tool like a hammer. I use a hammer as an analogy for a couple reasons.
First, you know what they say when all you have is a hammer. All your problems look like nails. Which can happen when people learn how flexible blog platforms are. All their content becomes blogs because it’s really easy to do.
Second, when was the last time you hired a hammerer? You know. A guy who hammers nails. That’s it. Probably never. Because you need a carpenter who knows how to use a hammer, saw, drill, screwdriver, etc.
My point is that you need more than a blog. Not all content and audiences work with blogs. You have social media, e-mail, speeches and such.
Sex, food and danger
There are three topics that just about everyone wants to read about:
- Sex
- Food
- Danger
So what do you do when your business isn’t very sexy, tasty or dangerous?
Positivity is the new sexy
It’s something I picked up from Dan Zarrella, who calls himself as social media scientist at Hubspot. He found that positive posts got more clicks.
Which works for me. Negativity is way over rated. It’s really easy to do. And rarely helps because the clever critics are more concerned with showing just how clever they are.
Here’s the problem. Too much positivity can hurt your credibility. You need to balance the good and bad so your readers can trust that you will tell it like it is.
What I am saying
I’m talking about how you can approach blogging like you’re writing an instruction manual for your customers. It’s a good way to establish your expertise and gain referrals from your blog.
And there’s more
Which is why I have this blog. Lots to cover. What are you most interested in learning about blogging?
