Blogs as a marketing tool

Social media channels like social networking sites, microblogging sites, blogs, photo sharing sites, video sharing sites, social bookmarking sites, document sharing sites etc help branding and the number of businesses gaining profit from these sites, is increasing by the day. Blogs have a great impact on social media initiatives that businesses want to venture into. The advantage of using blogs is, that a detailed story can be posted which encourages feedback and comments. It leaves a lot of room for discussion. It helps to increase the morale of an organization, it leads to sales, it helps build the reputation and image of an organization, and brings about customer relationship management among others.

Blogs can be of various kinds, some use blogs as a personal diary, writing in their views and experiences of life. Some write blogs on specific topics catering to a particular section of readers. For instance there are blogs dedicated wholly to photography, gardening, movies, dogs... There are also organizations who blog for either internal or external marketing. Some organizations maintain an internal blog that looks to inform employees about the organization, its projects, and acts as a medium where information is communicated and exchanged via a single platform. Internal blogs help in the time of communication crisis, brings about a consensus among people, and makes the process of exchanging knowledge and information faster.

There are also company blogs which are maintained by the particular company to give an insight into the culture of the company, to promote products and services, to get quick feedback and to generate more customers. For instance, a camera company has an interactive blog that allows customers to give feedback on the product and suggestions on how they can improve the product. These are corporate blogs that are maintained by a representative of the company or by the CEO. For instance, it was Robert Scoble who started blogging about Microsoft giving an insight into the happenings at Microsoft. He gave a human touch and feel to the blog that made it popular. Other popular corporate blogs are that of Sun Microsystems, and Fastlane.

Blogs are a good medium of promoting business online as it helps to promote new products and services giving customers latest news and updates. It acts as an effective PR and marketing tool helping both the clients and the customers. Also they rank high on the list of search engines and are easily accessible. The reach is greater compared to other marketing methods. Branding one's blog brings about new visitors, building links, gaining subscribers, and developing content that will draw search engine traffic for years to come. The best part of having a blog is that over a period of time, it brings in loyal readers who give good feedback. Hence companies need to develop blog posts that are specific and well targeted.