The problem with the problem with blogging
A very quick post because It’s late but I need to remove this beast from my ribcage.
I often ask people why they don’t blog, or at least tweet, and the most frequent response is ‘what would I write about?’… Uuuurrrggghhhh!!!
This is a conversation that mostly comes around when talking to new PRO’s or non-tech PRO’s but it’s still something that vexes me – ‘why?’ I hear you ask, ‘it’s a perfectly logical answer’ you say. It is no such thing. It’s an excuse.
OK, if more people blog it will take some of the limelight away from existing bloggers (which is exactly why Wired declared that blogging is dead – fear of the mainstream – but that’s for another blog, or maybe Chris Norton’s post on the same) but I also believe that if we get more people into blogging then we’ll find ourselves stronger and more able to deliver social media effectively for businesses.
I digress.
The most common reason that people don’t blog is because they don’t feel they have anything to contribute: what do you talk about at work? How do you react to something you don’t agree with? Don’t you want to develop your career? If you learn something, how do you pass it on? How would you react to a client who didn’t have anything to say?
I’ll break this down a little…
- What do you talk about at work?
I’m guessing that many office conversations have a similar split to the Wolfstar office – 25% random crap, 75% social media/PR. Surely 75% of conversations stimulate you enough to talk about them with a wider audience? If not, then you’re not being stimulated enough. Send your CV to me.
- How do you react to something you don’t agree with?
If you read something in the paper that you disagree with, you write in, right? OK, maybe not. But if someone you’re sat with in the pub declares something you certainly don’t agree with then you’d oppose it. Online is the same, stupid.
- Don’t you want to develop your career?
Blogging and getting involved is the fastest way to raise awareness of yourself (see Adam Lewis’ post on this) – treat yourself as a brand (there used to be a terrible dogma attached to this concept but now you must treat yourself as a brand).
- If you learn something, how do you pass it on?
Social media is all about community and learning together. You’ve probably read something online that’s helped you, if you believe in Karma, then pass on your ideas too. Someone might add to it and then all of a sudden you’ve developed an idea that’s changed a profession – just ask Todd Defren about his SMNR.
- How would you react to a client who didn’t have anything to say?
If you work at an agency and your account director hands you a new client and asks ‘where’s the news’, you’d sit and find a few ideas and find them a niche and a story. Do the same for yourself! Find something that’s relevant to you, that you have an opinion on and that not many people have spoken about before.
The more people begin blogging and contributing the stronger the community becomes – it’ll also weed out the weak PRO’s who genuinely have nothing to contribute and therefore probably have little reason to be in public relations/social media – harsh but fair.,
And very quickly, here are my favourite new blogs that have really taken the idea of contribution and got involved: Paul Crouch, Adam Lewis, Rebecca Caddy, Zoe Lavender, Phylecia Wakeman, Michael Litman (not really a new blog but I like to plug him), Natalie Smith (ditto as Michael Litman) and Rachel Esterline.