While the younger generation is losing interest in blogging, people approaching middle age and older are sticking with it.Great. What better time to launch a blog than when they become irrelevant to a key demographic that will be driving marketing into the future.
But wait... While the younger crowd may be turning away from blogging - moving towards more "social" media like Facebook and Twitter - it doesn't mean blogs are dead in the water. Instead, it means that bloggers need to embrace these media as vehicles to drive traffic to their blogs.
Twitter allows us to reach broad audiences with short bursts of information. Perfect for blasting out announcements of new blog posts. Use of #hashtags to link to broader conversations can help spread the word outside our immediate network.
It's pretty easy to download the Twitter app for your Facebook account, so that your Tweets also post to your wall. This is good news, since research shows that Facebook is more successful at generating clicks through bit.ly links. This has been my experience. Check out the stats for good old brandDR:
Pretty much all my hits come from Facebook. With one click I can publish a new post to brandDR the blog, tweet it through @brandDR on Twitter, and have that tweet post to my DrKristin Comeforo Facebook page.
I think that blogs are still relevant, especially if you link your blog through a variety of social media channels. But still, a blog is only as good as your audience judges it to be. Here are some tips I try to keep in mind to keep people reading:
1. Have a voice - and speak from it. People read blogs for a perspective, not just for facts.
2. Be relevant. Focus on topics that are important to you (the blogger) and your audience (hopefully you know who they are - if not, you should find out!).
3. Keep it short. No one wants to read a long post. Videos and images are good ways to convey ideas without forcing a lot of reading (maybe this will bring back the younger generation of blog readers??).
4. And when all else fails, when you are the Professor, you can always assign your blog as course reading. That will insure some sort of audience.
What do you think? Any advice - especially from you in the "younger generation" in terms of what makes a good blog? Any thoughts on the "death" of blogging? Am I really that old, or is the Times' off target with its' predictions?
I don't think the younger generation really had an interest in blogging (outside of gossip & music). It's when you realize your voice isn't being heard or your POV is being ignored that you decide to do something. It's a rare young person that will take on an issue strong enough to blog about it. (A lot do all over the world) But I believe the majority of bloggers are over 25. There are far more of us than them anyway.
ReplyDeleteArlene
Blogging is definitely an "acquired taste." It's not for everyone. Petra Symister of Bed Stuy Blog (http://www.bedstuyblog.com) made some interesting points about the lack of African American and Latino bloggers. We just assume at this point in 2011 that everyone is online and engaging these media - but not true...
ReplyDeleteSome Black and Latino bloggers are not exactly hiding there heritage but they are not advertising it either. Sometimes there's a perceived stigmatism that is often real. Arlene
ReplyDelete