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#Blogchat topic for 7-3: How to create useful content for your biz blog without ‘giving it all away’

Hey y’all!  Hope everyone is getting ready for a festive Fourth of July!  Since tomorrow is the holiday, and not tonight, we’ll go ahead and have #Blogchat tonight (Sunday) at its regularly scheduled time of 8pm Central.

And our topic will focus on creating content for business blogs, and how ‘helpful’ our content should be.  Someone asked a question during last week’s #Blogchat about how you promote yourself via your blog, especially if you are a consultant or working for yourself.  My quick answer was ‘Give away the WHY, sell the HOW’, but I thought that would be a good topic to expand upon tonight.  I think there are two schools of thought here:

1 – Create content that establishes the need for hiring me (Why), and then use the content to get business (Where you teach the how).

2 – Create content that gives away the How, and hope that the content is so amazingly useful that it leads to positive word of mouth, and that leads to referrals.

I think you also need to consider what type of customer/client you want, when you position your content.  For example, if I wanted someone to hire me to setup their business blog, I would probably create more content devoted to WHY they need a blog to build their business.  On the other hand, if I wanted to connect with clients that are already blogging that need help building engagement, I would probably create more content around the HOW, because I want to establish my expertise in building engagement and community.

I think this will be a very interesting discussion as those of us that use our blogs to drive business often struggle with the proper balance in our content.  How much do we promote, versus teach?

So please do join us tonight for #Blogchat at 8pm Central!

Oh! And I promised a very small surprise, didn’t I?  As many of you remember, we were using WTHashtag to create transcripts after each #Blogchat up till a few months ago, when WTHasthag had to stop offering that functionality due to a change in Twitter’s TOS.  But, before it shut down, I was able to convert over a year’s worth of #Blogchats into PDF transcripts!  I’ll be sharing a few of these every week for the next several weeks, so you can use these as additional study materials.  Here’s this week’s transcripts:

7-26-09 – Topic: How to Get Sales and Business Leads From Your Blog (Co-Hosted by Amy Africa) – #Blogchat07-26-09TranscriptWAmyAfrica

7-12-09 – Topic: Finding the ROI of your Blogging and Social Media Efforts (Co-Hosted by KD Paine) – #Blogchat07-12-09TranscriptWKDPaine

7-19-09 – Topic: How Non-Profits Can Use Social Media (Co-Hosted by the Red Cross’ Wendy Harman) – #Blogchat07-19-09TranscriptWWendyHarman

Just click on the link for each, and then you can view them, and download if you like.  Enjoy!

About Mack Collier

My name is Mack Collier and I am a digital marketing and content strategist located in Alabama. Since 2006 I've helped companies of all sizes from startups to global brands such as Adobe, Dell and Ingersoll-Rand, create customer-centric programs, content and experiences. A long-time internet geek, I've been online since 1988 and began using social networking sites in 1991 when I joined Prodigy. Today, I help companies understand how new technologies like web3, crypto and artificial intelligence can integrate with existing marketing strategies to lead to exceptional customer experiences.

Comments

  1. ashleycollins says

    @MackCollier Hey, I remember asking that question! 😉 I’ll try my best to attend tonight for the full discussion!

  2. MackCollier says

    @ashleycollins So if it’s an awesome #Blogchat, you get the credit. If it stinks, I take the blame 😉

  5. VictorCanada says

    Great topic Mack. I’ll be jumping in tonight. The last 6 weeks have been completely devoted to the success of the #DestructoTour and it was really successful. Now I can breath again and I’m happy to be back in #BlogChat. I love that you’re providing old transcripts. Awesome!

  8. VictorCanada says

    @RobCairns Thanks Rob. Yes, it’s been way too long since my last #blogchat – I’ve been working on the #DestructoTour – ended Friday.

  10. JTDabbagian says

    @MackCollier Why not try case studies? You explain the problems, explain what you did (VAGUELY,) and the end result. Thoughts? #blogchat

  12. tina_yip says

    @JTDabbagian @MackCollier That’s a great point. Giving examples and doin case studies are always great to support ur point #blogchat

  13. wenbryant says

    @JTDabbagian Agreed with case study approach–allows you to showcase expertise + results w/o revealing your secret sauce. #blogchat

  15. JTDabbagian says

    @wenbryant Well, you still need to be somewhat vague about what exactly you did…can’t give it all away. 😉 #blogchat

  17. MackCollier says

    @tina_yip @JTDabbagian But what if majority of your customer base is at 101-level. If you teach them how, you lose sales? #blogchat

  18. JTDabbagian says

    @MackCollier A 2nd alternative…explain just how complex a task in in an entry…then discuss why a specialist (you) is needed. #blogchat

  19. ValerieSimon says

    @JDEbberly Why thank you!!! You always make me feel so welcome! Great to see you here tonight! #blogchat

  20. tina_yip says

    @MackCollier o no i’m not saying that. U can teach, just have the credentials to back up ur thoughts #blogchat

  21. JDEbberly says

    @ValerieSimon I’m overjoyed to see YOU here tonight! 🙂 🙂 🙂 #Blogchat

  22. dashingly says

    @JTDabbagian I personally wouldn’t buy that, unless you gave something good away first or already had an established name. #blogchat

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