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I had to laugh last week when I heard the keynote speaker at a public relations conference refer to the conventional wisdom that blogs are \u201cso yesterday.\u201d Maybe it\u2019s because I spend two to three hours daily tending to my own blogs and others, or maybe it\u2019s just general frustration with trend-chasing, but blogs are more relevant today than they\u2019ve ever been, and they\u2019re growing more useful as options proliferate.<\/p>\n
The blog is the Swiss army knife of social media. Simple to use and easy to update, it accommodates every type of media: words, images, video and sound. Blog entries can be of Twitter-like brevity or can go on for thousands of words. Content can be displayed in a wide variety of formats and designs. Visitors don\u2019t have to register to read.<\/p>\n
Blog content is automatically syndicated via RSS feeds, making it simple for the owner to republish information through other outlets. A blog can also act as a catch-basin for the owner\u2019s other social media activities. All of a person\u2019s tweets<\/a>, Yelps<\/a>, Flickr<\/a> PhotoStreams and YouTube<\/a> creations can be aggregated and displayed in one place.<\/p>\n Content can be automatically reformatted for display on devices ranging from text readers to mobile devices. A countless variety of useful widgets can be added to entertain and inform visitors. Web analytics can show detailed information about where visitors originated, what they read, how long they stayed and where they went next. Blogs can even incorporate order forms. Last but not least, blogs rock on search engine performance.<\/p>\n It\u2019s true that there are a few things blogs don\u2019t do well. They\u2019re not as quick and easy to update as Twitter or the Facebook status message. And they lack interactivity. While visitors can comment on individual entries, they can\u2019t comment on the overall theme of the blog, and even threaded comment strings can be difficult to follow. There are also limits to what you can do with the simple reverse chronological format, although innovators like Brian Gardner are managing to make WordPress do things I never thought possible<\/a>.<\/p>\n For businesses, blogs provide a critical element of control. They\u2019re the social media equivalent of speaking to an audience. The author retains control over subject matter, tone and direction while offering interaction around subjects of his or her choosing. Businesses that shrink from the unpredictability of unmediated discussion can take comfort in the fact that blogs give them a healthy dose of control.<\/p>\n For business-to-business applications, blogs are the overwhelming tool of choice. That\u2019s because b-to-b professionals often don\u2019t have the time or patience to fill out profile forms, answer friend requests or join groups. Blogs are simply a fast and easy way to share information with very little overhead.<\/p>\n Blogs are the building block of nearly every form of social media. They are the tool you need to master in order to understand the rich nuances of other media that are available to you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I had to laugh last week when I heard the keynote speaker at a public relations conference refer to the conventional wisdom that blogs are \u201cso yesterday.\u201d Maybe it\u2019s because I spend two to three hours daily tending to my … Continue reading Not Perfect<\/h3>\n