However, the most important benefit of a business blog is it allows you to connect directly with your clients.
Blogging is easy. Simply write your thoughts, link to your web page, and publish to your blog, all at the push of a few buttons. Blog software like WordPress or BlogSpot offer easy blogging tools to get started.
It also saves money for small business owners without the time to learn web html or the money to hire a professional, blogging offers an inexpensive method to get communicating with your clients
Blogging is quick - Most businesses don’t update their website frequently. A blog allows you to provide up-to-date information to your customers quickly and easily. It’s much easier to update a blog than your website, and it requires no special technical skills.
Writing a blog also shows that ‘you are for real’. Blogs can provide you with a chance to share your expertise and knowledge with a larger audience.
Blogging can also position you as the expert. Your blog gives you the platform to demonstrate the expertise and service you can offer your existing clients and promote you to potential prospects.
And, of course, blogging can make you money. A blog can be an integral part of your ongoing service proposition and can be included in any or all of the propositions you offer clients.
The next task is to ensure you share your blog on social media.
When it comes to social media, brevity certainly is the secret of success and even more so with Twitter, which is limited to 140 characters a tweet. Twitter now has 100m active users - but have you considered how it can help your business grow?
In terms of communication, Twitter allows you to keep your clients and potential customers up to date with your business and latest offers. It also allows them to communicate with you, creating a relationship that can lead to sales and help retain your clients for the future.
It can also help with generating leads. Twitter can become another lead generation tool as you tweet your proposition. You can also encourage your followers to share this with their followers making your message go viral.
Twitter can showcase your brand personality. Trust is vitally important in business and when it comes to social media it is no different. People will generally connect, follow and engage with people and things they believe in.
The successful business on Twitter or indeed any social media platform is one which has a distinct brand personality and a voice people want to listen to. Twitter allows you to talk about the people in your business and the values for which you stand. It also allows you to create a personality for your brand and connect with and do business with people who share these values.
