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12 Ways to Get Ideas for Business Blogging

ideaapesaraI have a lot of people ask me how I come up with ideas to blog about every day.  It’s not that difficult – I just end up thinking quite a bit about various topics that can also be used for blog posts.  Not all the time, mind you, but I do carry around various devices (iphone, pen & paper) to record ideas when they do hit.  Here’s some ways to get ideas:

  1. Read – a lot – Other blogs, Twitter feeds, books.  Anything related to your area of business (and some that aren’t) can spark a great blog post.
  2. Ask – your customers, your colleagues, your friends.  What have they always wanted to know about (related to your business/industry)?
  3. Help – Provide helpful information, not only specific to your products and services, but related to your industry in general.
  4. Brainstorm – Sometimes just a regular old brainstorming session surfaces some great new post ideas.
  5. Spark – some controversy – Within reason, feel free to have and state an opinion related to your industry.  Just do it in a friendly way, back up what you say and invite others to comment.
  6. Converse – with other bloggers. Post your thoughts on what others are blogging about.
  7. Share – links to other sources of information.  Feel free to add your thoughts and comments.
  8. Review – products and services of interest to your readers.  Skip your own (and probably those of your competitors).
  9. Support – take a look at questions your customers are frequently asking.  If you have a FAQ (frequently asked questions), take the time to expand on them in various postings.
  10. Inform – Keep your readers aware of various events, industry happenings and news of interest.
  11. Create – If you’ve been able to gather some information or data that may be of interest to your readers/customers, create white papers and supporting blog posts to share your findings.
  12. Reuse – Take old posts and update them.  If you do list posts like this one, take them and expand on the individual items in larger posts.

For tips on how to get started, check out today’s post over on Insights Group – Blogging, Are You?

How do you get ideas for business blogging?

(photo by apesara @ Flickr CC)

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Are You Building an Audience or a Community?

Chris Brogan had a great post yesterday – Audience or Community.  I think businesses often get caught up in the need to use every new technology to grow and reach their audience, when the advantage of social networks is in the ability to create, engage and be a part of a community.

The only difference between an audience and a community is which direction the chairs are pointing. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. When we say community and we mean our selling demographic, that’s not the same thing. When we say community and we mean audience to absorb our message, that’s not the same thing. It’s important to understand this. – Chris Brogan – Audience or Community

When you take a look at a lot of Twitter and Facebook accounts – they’re just people and companies broadcasting about what’s important to them.  But they’re missing the true power of the technologies.  Using Twitter and Facebook and other social networking tools, you can create a community around your company’s products.  This community allows people interested in your company to engage and meet and talk to each other as well as you.  This turns out to be much more engaging than just broadcasting your message – and can be much more powerful, meaningful and useful in the long run.

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Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter = Tools. So What's Your Strategy For Using Them?

toolsgeishaboy500Every business these days seems to know they need/should be on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and various other online social networking sites.  But too often businesses just signup an account and then do nothing.  Or they do more, but they can’t really figure out what they should be doing, so it all seems like a huge time sink.

When you’re starting a home improvement project, it helps if start by laying out what you’ll be doing.  Then you can figure out how much time it will take, what supplies you’ll need, what tools you’ll use and how much it will cost.  Home improvement projects that start just by using a crowbar to take out a wall usually turn out very badly (and often with a costly call to the experts).  But businesses are acting this same way by signing up for sites online without first understanding what they’re trying to accomplish.

In order to effectively use any tool, you first need to know what you’re trying to do.  You don’t use a screwdriver for pounding in a nail (although I’ve seen it done) – it’s just not the right tool for the job.  Figure out what business goal you want to accomplish.  It needs to be very specific with a time limit and needs to actually be reachable.  It should be the same goal you’ve set for your business.  Now you can take a look at what tools – both online and offline – you should be using to help reach that goal, which will help you setup a plan of action.

By following a process of determining a goal, then a strategy, then an plan with tools, you’ll be more effective and efficient in reaching your business goals.  And online tools won’t feel like a waste of time and resources.

What’s your strategy for social networking?

(photo by geishaboy500 @ Flickr CC)

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