You have all heard me talking about John Paul and Deb Micek tons of times, they are the epitome of great business people that engage and “get it”. (follow them on twitter: @JPmicek and @coachDeb). They are the authors of Secrets of Online Persuasion and have a blog called Tribal Seduction. The reason I follow them is because I have learned so much from them and find them to be a wealth of knowledge that have helped my business.
Blog Content Creation Question
Just this week, JP announced a new blog series he is writing for Entrepreneur.com about Blogging for Business – go read Part I …..I’ll wait
2 things stuck with me from that article, JP’s quote from his mentor: (which needs no follow through explanation)
“Always look at where the person giving advice is at in their life. If their lifestyle and achievements are what you’d like to aspire to, then take their advice in to consideration. If not, then ignore it.“
And the never ending, controversial question about BLOG AUTHORS and CONTENT CREATION that we have discussed here many times. Do you sign your name to something written by someone else? Do certain types of business allow for others to write your blog-copy? Would your business benefit from someone else blogging for you?
Don’t do it – It’s bad business – is it?
I know what the consensus here is: It would not be honest, it could hurt your business, blogging is about engaging and putting your personality out there….etc, etc. But then a light-bulb went off. Of course we are going to think so here – we all like blogging, we are all doing it for business, we are getting results!! We are preaching to the choir….but we may be a bit close minded (read what follows)
I decided to ask JP in the comment section about face-to-face businesses like Real Estate and what it would mean for someone else to write your blog for you. Mr. Persuasion went out of his way to respond to me in another blog post (JP and Deb are just too cool) – Content Creation and your business blog:
Well, Ines is absolutely right! IF a person has the time, talent and desire to create content for their business blog — they should. Especially in a professional sales situation where direct face-to-face selling is going to take place (like you as a Realtor.)
In these cases it is essential for building rapport and closing more sales. But that still doesn’t mean you need to do it all yourself. More on that dichotomy in a minute. But first let’s clarify what makes content creation for your business blog easier if you are going to do it yourself.
Authentic Blog Copy
He goes on to talk about communication style, personal content creation as a “motivational killer” and how blogging services can make content “authentic” (I confess I’m still a skeptic, but it makes sense for certain types of businesses and different levels of business as well).
Bottom line is that there is not right way or wrong way. You need to do what feels right for your own business and that fits your personal style. The answer may be guest authors or supplementing your articles or even as simple as getting a virtual assistant to do your market reports and listing posts for you. I would never sign my name to something written by someone else, but that’s MY choice and it doesn’t mean it’s the right way. And then I found this to be genius:
We match the client’s Communication DNA with a member of our team who has as close a matching communication style as possible. And finally we choose a channel (written, audio or video) to match what would be expected from the actual person.
So as a skeptic, my curiosity has gotten the best of me and I will follow the rest of the series – I am sure I will learn something and will be able to apply it to my business. They never disappoint, that’s for sure!
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Consumerism, Geo-mapping columnist
Marketing columnist
Thanks for the links Ines. You failed to mention that reading the first article was going to be like a slightly condensed War and Peace. Even though it was long, it made a lot of sense and I think you hit the nail on the head with your comment. John Paul’s response via part 1b was on target as well. Perhaps we have some food for thought from these 2 articles. I totally agree that in no way should we put our name on someone else’s work, however a guest author on our blogs may very well suffice.
I can’t look at MY blog with someone else’s content; although I sometimes have to “rack” my brains to write a post, I write ALL my own posts. It’s authentic to me and the personal experience of blogging can be just as rewarding as the end result of the blog itself…
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Mack – what I found interesting is that it WOULD be Ok for certain business blogs to be written by others – depending on the product and industry….and even more importantly, the fact that we enjoy blogging and are hands on about it may even put us in a minute category that not necessarily spells out how it should be done.
Hey Jim, as much as I agree with you and handle it the same way, I can also say now that I grasp the concept, that it would be OK for someone to do it totally differently and approach this marketing medium with another perspective.
Great overview Ines. Thanks for expanding the conversation. As much of a dichotomy it may seem to be, with proper planning and production content created by others can safeguard authenticity. Of course successfully marketing with New media starts from the inside out — with you. And that’s what’s critical whether it’s the core concept or the content as a whole,
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JP – you accomplished your goal,I have been officially persuaded
I can see where it can work if done correctly. The right tools are always important – you make excellent points.
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Ines;
Well thought and great points – I think the content is important – and depending upon your purpose – so is the author – But AgentGenius proves that the owner of the site can control the content without providing all of it, and still be authentic –
I guess it depends upon the voice you want you rBlog to have -
Bill, you are absolutely right – first things first, you need to be able to have a concept for your blog and know what you are trying to achieve and who your audience will be – then it’s easy to establish who’s voice is important for the success of the blog. (sounds simple when I write it but I know it’s an ever changing and developing concept for many)
Well, since I am enjoying writing it would not be an option for me. But, I have learned to never say never. Especially with all my localism posts I am trying to keep up with on Activerain. Sure I can add the personal touch to restaurants and events, but it has been tempting.
For now I’ll stick with me, but who knows………….. it would be interesting if some VA’s chimed in or people that have done it to hear of their successes.
There is always the issue of “authenticity” in blog posts. But really, this is about business at the end of the day. If someone else can write better than you about stuff that your target audience wants to read, it would be foolish not to engage that someone else.
Some of this would depend on whether your blogging strategy placed more importance on increasing backlinks, increasing new visitors or increasing engagement (ideally all three of course, but in which order).
I think “authenticity” is just one of several tactics that can be applied to blogging. It gets the most airplay because those of us who blog love our advantage. But hiring out well-written blog posts to someone who can do it better is a completely valid way to run a business blog.
Missy – I think once you reach a level of success with your own blog and have been doing it for a while, you realize that you can get help with certain types of posts. I would also be interested for people to chime in to her of their successes (or lack thereof)
G – You have a very valid point there. I can tell you that in our own business, we have reached a couple of obstacles when it comes to my own writing. I do not, by any means consider myself a good writer, I’ve just learned to put my personality in my blog posts and you will either love it or hate it. Now that we have buyer’s agents and our team is growing, the question of “authenticity” applies to those clients that contact me for me and don’t want to work with other team members.
Personally, I think that a well rounded blog will have various voices and will attract different types of clients. It’s about getting to the next level and having different people write may be the answer at least for our business.
I like the statement which I have heard a lot through my life. Only follow those who you wish to become like. You do not want to take financial advice from a poor person or from someone that is not as wealthy as you wish to become. I know when I started my St. George Rental business I followed other property management companies who were successful.
George – and we can take that a step further in our Real Estate Reality to look at those that are able to come out of the struggle and how they are dealing with the slow market – thinking outside the box, marketing methods and being flexible to change.
My worry would be that someone who read a blog that I did not write starts to ask me about the information and I have no idea what they are talking about and it becomes evident very quickly. Ouch!
Gordon – you would always need to keep control of your blog and know what is being written about. It would be similar to having buyers agents writing on the blog and referring a particular question to the writer of the piece since they would be the “experts” on the subject.
If someone calls Lani today and asks her about Miami Real Estate, do you think she’ll try to answer the question or have them contact me directly?