When faced with the challenge of starting a blog, many people start to question themselves. Am I good enough to write good stuff? Will people be interested in reading them? Why would they read my content when there are many others that have already established authority and lead in almost everything? How can they find my content even if they are interested in reading them? ... Many questions like these may have stopped or discouraged new bloggers in their efforts.
However, the fact is, better now than never - starting a blog NOW may not be the best timing in blogging history, but it is the best timing for YOU. According to John Lavine, Director of the Media Management Center in Northwester University, there are “Three Truths” for content strategy (referred to as "John's Three Truths"): there is a “tidal wave” of any subject and it’ll continue to get bigger, each one of us has “no more than 24 hours” a day, and the world is becoming a “more complicated place”. But, people will give you their time and attention if you give them more of what they want. If you miss this moment, you’ll lag even further behind in your chance of getting a seat in this game.
However, the fact is, better now than never - starting a blog NOW may not be the best timing in blogging history, but it is the best timing for YOU. According to John Lavine, Director of the Media Management Center in Northwester University, there are “Three Truths” for content strategy (referred to as "John's Three Truths"): there is a “tidal wave” of any subject and it’ll continue to get bigger, each one of us has “no more than 24 hours” a day, and the world is becoming a “more complicated place”. But, people will give you their time and attention if you give them more of what they want. If you miss this moment, you’ll lag even further behind in your chance of getting a seat in this game.
Therefore, as content on the Internet keeps exploding, are we going to stay silent as a media professional/enthusiast and get buried by others' opinions? Or are we going to start from now and produce sincere and worthy content to get our voice heard? I chose the latter.
It is definitely not easy, but I view it with an entrepreneurial spirit - it is just like starting a small business in a competitive but still growing market. Since we are new and small, and particularly there is not much monetary investment involved, we are free to say what we have to say as long as we follow the cherished etiquettes of the media game. Like any small business, we would want to accumulate our customer and reputation by offering good stuff and good service. Starbucks is wonderful, but still many people like to go to a local, small but nice coffee shop, why? Because they are expecting different things out of it.
In this gradually maturing digital media space, we need to be more strategic in how we produce our content and how to use them for strategic and/or marketing purposes. Sometimes people may feel they have tried and walked to a dead-end with nobody there, but I was thinking "Hmmm… maybe you walked in darkness… or in the wrong place (the woods?), you should have expected that you were not gonna meet many people there." That confirms again that we should not only start to occupy digital space and build our territory, but also with the RIGHT STRATEGY to lead us into the right path at the right time.
It is definitely not easy, but I view it with an entrepreneurial spirit - it is just like starting a small business in a competitive but still growing market. Since we are new and small, and particularly there is not much monetary investment involved, we are free to say what we have to say as long as we follow the cherished etiquettes of the media game. Like any small business, we would want to accumulate our customer and reputation by offering good stuff and good service. Starbucks is wonderful, but still many people like to go to a local, small but nice coffee shop, why? Because they are expecting different things out of it.
In this gradually maturing digital media space, we need to be more strategic in how we produce our content and how to use them for strategic and/or marketing purposes. Sometimes people may feel they have tried and walked to a dead-end with nobody there, but I was thinking "Hmmm… maybe you walked in darkness… or in the wrong place (the woods?), you should have expected that you were not gonna meet many people there." That confirms again that we should not only start to occupy digital space and build our territory, but also with the RIGHT STRATEGY to lead us into the right path at the right time.
Content is king - that we already know. But how to build a content strategy? A great strategy guideline I learned from Northwestern Univeristy’s content strategy MOOC class is that we need to produce “credible, trustworthy, and transparent content that enhances our strategic goals”. We need to be confident as we build our content and brand, and earn our media by thoughtful approaches and efforts. Trust me, with practice you will gain insights. Nothing feels better than writing a blog with your heart and seeing it being viewed over hundreds of times within a few hours and liked/favorited/retweeted by people you don't even know. Yes, their time is valuable and we are competing with many authorities and daily chores, but, if you use the right strategy, you can still reach your audience.
Producing video/audio content can be a great part of your content strategy, too. They can help you to create more direct contact with your audience and give them more dynamic experiences. It also helps them to get more information with a shorter time commitment, which is again crucial in this age of tidal wave where we have to compete with our audience’s time for other tasks of life.
If you want to keep both a personal blog and a professional one, it might be great to have them as two sub-blogs under one domain. In this way, you will be able to boost traffic for the same domain, and the two blogs can benefit each other. Plus, it will make it easier for your readers to get to know you as a person as well as a professional.
Producing video/audio content can be a great part of your content strategy, too. They can help you to create more direct contact with your audience and give them more dynamic experiences. It also helps them to get more information with a shorter time commitment, which is again crucial in this age of tidal wave where we have to compete with our audience’s time for other tasks of life.
If you want to keep both a personal blog and a professional one, it might be great to have them as two sub-blogs under one domain. In this way, you will be able to boost traffic for the same domain, and the two blogs can benefit each other. Plus, it will make it easier for your readers to get to know you as a person as well as a professional.
On a broader scale, the world now is a global village linked closely together by the Internet. When it involves international market, making the right content strategy gets a bit more complicated, and choosing a good set of media outlets is even more complicated. You have to take more cross-cultural things into consideration, including language, taboos, regulations, etc. One popular solution is using simple visual images/videos to create a relatable general experience for most human beings to overcome the cultural barriers. A well thought-out content strategy is definitely needed to communicate across borders.
Well, I hope you are ready to blog if you always wanted to. Why not NOW? A good start is half-way success. With some more persistence and the right strategy, you might be the next big thing in the cyber space.
Credits for images:
Blog comic: http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2011/08/why-i-blog.html
Content is King: http://www.scribewise.com/blog/bid/317071/What-Makes-Content-Good
Content cloud and people: http://www.postano.com/blog/using-consumer-generated-content-to-fuel-marketing-campaigns
Well, I hope you are ready to blog if you always wanted to. Why not NOW? A good start is half-way success. With some more persistence and the right strategy, you might be the next big thing in the cyber space.
Credits for images:
Blog comic: http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2011/08/why-i-blog.html
Content is King: http://www.scribewise.com/blog/bid/317071/What-Makes-Content-Good
Content cloud and people: http://www.postano.com/blog/using-consumer-generated-content-to-fuel-marketing-campaigns