When I wrote about integrating your blog into your content strategy, I left out the best part -- the integration with industry conversations and market ecosystem.
Many blogs are not thinking like publications, others are just blog versions of marketing material, press releases, or technical bulletins in intent and language.
Becoming a platform means becoming the go to destination for a certain subject matter in the industry, examining the offerings of many companies, and discussing industry trends in a geographic area, for example.
Who does this well? Usually independent consultants. It takes an enterprising person who plays well with everyone to get the market ecosystem integration done well.
And here we discussed how you can start moving past the article to the topic.
Who cares for your industry?
You do, and you should show that.
Don't read the memos that say blogs are done with, there is plenty of opportunity for the voice of the corporation to be heard. And with all the special interest groups, shareholders, the politics, and the rest that happens to make noise and weaken the business, it is about time it speaks back.
I talk with many young entrepreneurs, students who are starting consultancies and product companies, and I know, I hear where businesses start from. There is a ton of energy invested in doing what people do. In some cases, putting a lot of time into it.
For them, the way they articulate it, it was never a question of finding their passion, it found them. They care about the industry they're in, meet with others, stay on top of what's happening, know what they want to make happen.
This is the best way to literally build industry conversations and market ecosystem. Look at what happened to social media only in a few years.
When organizations grow
There are all kinds of complications that many more mature organizations face. The most glaring of them all is its inability to communicate and connect with people. Corporate blogs are a way for the business to find its voice again.
They are not "the cost of doing business." The point of being an organization is to set the tone on industry conversations. I'm seeing encouraging evidence in the health-related industry lately. Maybe because I have been working with that crowd.
Topics like discuss diabetes, a healthier Michigan are off to a good start. We Talked about Mayo Clinic leading an industry with the center for social media. These examples take you closer to what the business cares about, and no doubt, when thought through, they will help those businesses become more resilient.
When organizations grow, they forget about the very reasons that made them great. The clear signal they used to connect them to their customers is lost or confused. Which is why many talk in unnatural sound bites.
The point of starting a blog is to find your way into industry conversations again, to lead the market ecosystem around your business. Engagement, views, all that other good stuff comes when the business finds its voice again. And when it does have a voice, it can speak authoritatively again.
If you enjoyed this post from Conversation Agent, subscribe, share and like it.
Every great community begins with a small handful of people sharing what they know. Blogs remain an excellent means of cultivating those early knowledge sharing activities.
Posted by: Brian Driggs | March 01, 2011 at 12:29 PM
and for specializing that knowledge, working as a useful filter ;-)
Posted by: Valeria Maltoni | March 02, 2011 at 10:55 AM
I've been reading some blog posts recently discussing whether or not blogs are relevant anymore because of social media. I think that they are. You can provide much more detail in a blog than you can in a social media post. Social media is great for promoting blogs, but shouldn't replace them.
Posted by: Nick Stamoulis | March 22, 2011 at 10:01 AM