To anyone thinking that blogs are dead, I’m going to have to go ahead and agree with Adam Singer of The Future Buzz who recently claimed to the contrary: [http://thefuturebuzz.com/2009/07/19/blogging-never-went-away/] Blogs haven’t gone away and have become more and more targeted- more and more niche. From a marketer’s standpoint, we know that this can only be good.
Blogging has evolved, with smarter writing and a smarter audience, and so there are new rules to follow and old rules to remember more than ever before.
It’s time to engage.
Here now, are the New Rules of Engagement for Blogs, and some fun examples:
RULE 1: Give Your Readers a Voice
Smart blogs involve their audience by crowd-sourcing- asking for audience feedback and contributions to blog entries- and never talking-down to the reader. You have to always assume that the people reading your blog have knowledge of their own to contribute and if you’ve written something thought-provoking, why not give them an outlet to respond with their thoughts?
DEAD SPIN, a blog devoted to sports coverage, especially the juicy scandalous bits, is laden with user commentary. Readers respond to posts and then other readers feed off these comments and often very large debates open up- and no wonder- Sports is a subject that fans are very passionate about, which leads us into our 2nd Rule…
RULE 2: Know and Serve Your Audience
A blog, like a brand, can never be everything to everyone. It has to target the right audience, an audience that needs what it’s offering, and then it has to deliver.
Often the most successful blogs almost seamlessly overlap with real, complete web pages, with good design and fuller features for the reader. /FILM is one of those sites. Slashfilm offers a forum for shared information on upcoming films and open debate on whether or not they are expected to suck. It so
Rule 3: Be Timely and Relevant
An Oldie but still a Goodie because the Internet is so instant and therefore so fleeting, you have to stay on top of things if you are reporting news or forecasting market trends. You also have to consider where the readers’ heads are at right now. Folks may no longer be so concerned with tips on home-buying vs. fixing up their homes. Likewise, blogs about economic struggle, finding a job, reinvention and entrepreneurial advice have cropped up.
LIFEHACKER, which began as tools and tips for making everyday life easier, but has increasingly become a guide for the ‘Great Recession’ highlighting more and more ways to save money through online deals and reusing objects at home.
There is also a whole scad of new Green websites that equip with greening tips from big to small and a flood of blogs about biking (so hot right now) like Bike Snob NYC
Rule 4: Keep it Short
The truth of the matter is most blog readers are multi-tasking. More often than not, they are reading blogs as time-wasters at work, during their breaks or with their morning cups of coffee. More and more we’re seeing blogs that simply have pictures with a one-lined caption, or a cartoon. Your readers will not have time to read more than 300 words, and that should be enough to get your point across and encourage a response.
ShortandSweetNYC is a site full of reviews for the NYC metro area on everything from the new lip-balm at your neighborhood Sephora to the best new local bands. The site also has a special edition that highlights an activity, restaurant and bar all in the same neighborhood for you to check out each night of the weekend. The editor has a fairly strict policy that each entry be 250 words or less.
Basically, the longer the blog entry, the more deluded points may become. You get it. We’ll stop right here.
Rule 5: Be Human
Today, readers want to be inspired or they want to commiserate. They’re looking for advice and equally interested in offering some. It certainly works in your favor to be respectful of the economic and emotional climate, offer something that helps, or let people know they are not alone. Some of the best blogs are the most sincere, funny and personal.
GETTING FAT very cleverly details the trials, tribulations and haikus of a regular, ol’ English teacher that goes beyond the classroom. Often the best reads are real reads.
This one works hand in hand with our final rule…
Rule 6: Be Different
This is also the most difficult rule. Just as the market is saturated with products, each struggling to be perceived as different, blogs are everywhere. Even your mother has a blog: an embarrassing one about her love life. So, it follows that there is going to be a battle for audience attention and every blog wants to be different, even if it’s our similarities that bring us together, make us relatable and create solidarity. The information you put out there has to be New.
By bringing in a new perspective blogs like SAMAROV can write on behalf of an audience that wasn’t previously represented. Described as the Tolstoy of cabdrivers, Samarov chronicles the more intricate details of being a city cabbie with a very humanist approach that not only relates to the lives of cab drivers, but to us all.
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In the realm of Branding and Marketing, we are still lacking in some active debate and maybe a little controversy as well. It’s time to build an online community and foster some solidarity for our branding brothers and sisters.
Wouldn’t it be great to see the next Great Marketing Debate unfold online—right now while brands are debating their next moves?
Let me know.
The Digital Marketing Manager
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