Blogging has become a big part of Public Relations. Whether directly or indirectly, blogs are vital for messaging, announcements, creating communities and improving brand or product awareness. Nearly every company website has a blog. If you don’t have one, you may be missing out on a significant messaging advantage.
But simply having a blog is not enough. Today, in a blog-laden Internet, you need to stand out and be sensitive to your audience needs. In the past, blogs were meant to highlight key details about product announcements and highlight their benefits. Today, blog readers want more honest articles, demand personality in the written pieces and a keen understanding of their expectations. Get it wrong, and you lose them forever. Worse, they may even disparage you on a public site.
Below are three blogging mistakes that every PR Pro needs to be aware of when helping their clients or companies to blog:
Mistake 1 – Treating the blog as a sales tool
It may have been the original intent, but selling on blogs is a big turn off. Getting information and an e-brochure about your company is easier in today’s internet-savvy world. A reader is not visiting your blogs for product or service information. They can do that with a simple search on Google. Rather, they are pursuing wisdom.
This is the reason why influencer marketing is doing so well. The influencers’ blogs collate, collect and combine information that would have taken time. So, readers read their blogs to stay updated. Of course, the influencer gets remunerated by what products or services he or she mentions, but that is another article altogether.
Instead of talking about your product, your experience and expert advice are far more valued. Once readers appreciate your wisdom (and see the relevance in their lives), they will come in droves.[bctt tweet=”Blogs are vital for messaging, announcements & creating brand or product awareness” username=”@BroadPR”]
Mistake 2 – Writing blogs without proper research
Established authors do not make this error. But for some reason, many still think that they can write blogs on a whim. The problem is that a weak blog reads like one, and it will lead to a potential reader moving on to other more in-depth ones.
So how do you begin writing a proper, influential and engaging blog? Research. There is no other way around it. And it is not just research on a specific topic, but also understanding what your potential readers will want to read. Once your blog begins, you need to monitor comments and remarks so that you can improve your future posts. It is a full-time job. Good blogs create a content map so that readers learn key points and facts on several blogs.
Mistake 3 – Not responding to comments
The number one reason for a blog is engagement. So, you have written a prosaic blog and have gotten a few comments. Before you pat yourself on the back, make sure you have a process for responding to the readers.
It is an important point that many blogs fail to grasp. Many corporations start their blogs with the right intentions. They may have even engaged the right experts and writers. But if you do not have a process or a team to manage responding to comments, your blog becomes less engaging. Remember that for every active, commenting reader there are at least 100 passive readers who monitor the engagement with interest. Start looking at your blog as if you are presenting on a stage. When someone raises a question, would you wait to respond?
Writing blogs is not easy. It takes time, planning and the right resources. Ensuring that you are thinking about all these from the onset will provide the right foundation to build a healthy and engaged community.
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