Should I combine my blog with Facebook?
Why or why not? If 'Yes', what's your opinion of Group vs. Page? What about adding a LinkedIn group (It's a business blog)?
I like the idea of multiple inlets/outlets, but I don't want to needlessly duplicate efforts or water down content.
Thanks for your input on this.
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Dec 12, 2014
if you have more than 3000 friend in facebook and your relation is good with them then it is good idea your friend can help you to get more traffic
Dec 8, 2014
I recommend to share the links from your blog in your facebook network, ask your friend to share them if they want. If they do this will help to get traffic directed to your blog and a better position in search engines because of the better relevancy Google understand your blog has with more links recommending your posts.
Dec 6, 2014
I usually go with my OWN projects and promote on social media. So the content and ideas are on my own web site (which means I can also get advertising revenue and all the opportunities). I use social media to promote, not to create content for them. My main concern is that, if anything goes wrong, I'll lose everything. Let's not forget Myspace. When it comes to my own blogs, I'm the one to pull the plug, if I want to.
Dec 1, 2014
Dear Dave,
Consider you are a business tycoon heading a group of industries. You have a market presence in various verticals ranging from FMCG to Energy. You have Industrial Plants at various locations and admin offices in nearest cities with a corporate office at a metropolitan or capital city. Now all you want is all your products to be positioned and sold in the market lucratively. And to achieve this you need ‘Visibility’ and you put Advertisement in Media and Hoardings in the public place. Production and Publicity, both activities are crucial to your business.
Now think of your thoughts, ideas, and hypothesis as your product verticals that are developed at various places. Your admin offices (write-ups for your blog) collect the data from your plant sites and send it to your corporate office (your blog) where it is analyzed, quantified and prepared for presentation. Your product (a blog post) is finished and ready for delivery but you want some takers for it. You need to address a greater audience to make your product first visible and then popular. This need of Media and Publicity is catered by the Social Media in the virtual world. To make your web-presence felt, you need to have the social media broadcasting channels like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.
So, it is not about combining your Product (Blog) and Media (FB), but linking, aligning and integrating them in such a way that both activities complement each other! Should I mention that the success of your product (follower-ship) would be directly proportional to it's quality and value it offers...!?!
All the best with your Web Ventures, way to go…!
Dec 1, 2014
Hi Dave: First and foremost, I want to stress that the places you place your blog depend on what your ideal customer is and where they are. IF you do not know who that is, get a copy of my free page at: http://eepurl.com/3dzGH to help narrow that down.
The blog should be like your hub of your social media platforms. It is always best if you own that platform with your own hosting (this means not the free word press or the Google blog spot) This is to ensure that you own the blog.
Next, you can take that blog and put it on Facebook under notes. Remember lots of images and use those branded colors.
If your customer is on LinkedIn, put it on there too. Get a bitly link and put it on Twitter if your customer is there.
Now all of that is a lot of work and if you do not know who you are marketing to...here is an analogy. Say you got the best card stock for your business cards. They are engraved, embossed and everything else you could buy to make those cards the best. Now you take those cards, go to Walmart parking lot and throw them up in the air and leave hoping the right person sees and picks up the card. In other words, market to your audience. The blog is to help you be THE expert...put it where you want your target customer to see it. Hope that helps!
Dec 2, 2014
Thanks, Chris. I've already got my privately owned blog space, and I agree with you about the blog being the hub. I'm a bit concerned of having duplicate material in each space, but I think a way around that is that I put personal stories or lessons on my blog page that I might reference, but don't necessarily include on the social media page. Or, mix it up and reference the actual articles on social media, but talk more about the personal lessons. I'll play with it and do one or both. Thank you for your input.
Dec 1, 2014
Hi Dave
It depends. It depends upon your business and your market. Yes, I agree with you, that reaching out to your prospects via multiple channels is appropriate. However, it is horses for courses. Here are some ideas that you miught want to consider that are based on my experiences:
1. Website. People want to research you before buying from you; and your website is critical for providing this information. Interestingly, you don't need anything fancy, just a respectable website will do.
2. Marketing channels. The choice of which channels to distribute your message is a combination of your product and your client. If your product is professional / business orientated then LinkedIn, with twitter are suitable. If however, your product is lifestyle orientated, then Facebook is more appropriate. Think about your prospects and where they are lkely to congregate to get their information and market into that marketplace.
3. Matching the content to the media. Understand how your prospects use and react to different media and prepare your content accordingly. For example, blogs distributed through LinkedIn are most effective when they are less than 500 words and have a strong graphic, whereas a blog sent from your website to your subscribers can be longer - up to 1500 words - and doesn't have to include a graphic. I suggest you research how your competitors use different media and use that as a guide for developing your own approach.
4. Variety is the spice of life. Consider what you publish across multiple media as the same people might be following you via multiple channels, which means publishing different topics across channels. Now that doesn't mean every channel has original material all the time; it will at first, but after time you can revisit topics and edit the content to make it appropriate for the new media.
Best of luck
Mark :Thomas
Inspirational Leaders
Dec 2, 2014
Ah, yes, Mark. How often I need to be reminded that the answer is ALWAYS: "It depends." I thank you for your business model approach (I rather geek out over business models) and I'll refer back to your four ideas as I move forward. Thanks!
Dec 1, 2014
Dave, the very first thing you need is a working website -- a Facebook page or blog won't substitute for that. The first place everyone goes to check out your substance and professional credibility is your website page, which presently is not functional.
I would suggest making your blog a separate section but still a part of your site, so a person can easily and quickly move between the two. The goal is to make you look as smart and as substantial as possible. Don't spread the pieces of your structure too far apart.
Al Shultz alshultz.com/
Dec 2, 2014
Thanks, Al. I have the working website, but realize I was unclear in describing that. My main concern is having Facebook become a duplicate of the blog, as well as having folks visit me on FB and skipping the stand-alone site altogether. Thank you for your input!
Dec 1, 2014
Dave in my professional opinion I encourage a separate blog presence in conjunction with, not necessarily in place of, your FB blog page. My reasoning is very simple: more direct exposure and elevation of your personal brand not diluted by FB's brand. Also less restrictive guidelines as to what you can post on your blog.
Dec 1, 2014
Ling has it right. Using Facebook or any other social network is like farming on rented land. At any point the landlord can change the rules and you're content is no longer supported. I think it's best to use Facebook, and other social networks, to support your content not using your killer content to prop up their network.
If you have an audience on Facebook, then by all means use it to give them what they want. You could even create custom content for that particular audience. Just make sure that whatever you do, it drives them to a place where they can engage with your brand and ultimately become customers.
Dec 2, 2014
Thanks, Tim. I like what you're saying about using FB differently than the blog, if the audience finds different value there.
Dec 1, 2014
I recommend having your own blog which you own. You don't own the FB platform - they can change the rules and shut you down without notice. Plus, it's only good as long as people are using it...remember MySpace? Doesn't matter if you have thousands of followers if they decide to leave the platform in drove and you have no other way to get in touch with them. Use your blog, grow your list and use FB to help you do so.
Dec 2, 2014
Ling, I thank you for your input. I was unclear in my question. I didn't mean to imply that I would use Facebook as my blog; only to use them together. You sure are right about FB changing rules (and even the platform). Thanks for the final advice of using FB to help grow my connected readers.
Manish, that is quite the analogy. Thanks. And, 'Yes!' One should ALWAYS mention that a product's success is directly proportional to its value (along with the ease and ability to exchange that value). Thanks, again.