Leadership & Organizational Change: How Blogging and Social Media Can Drive Your Business

With so many options for social media platforms and blogging sites, who’s to know what will work best for your company? Whether you’re a novice or URL guru there is certainly one for your business; each one having something unique to offer and, maybe a few drawbacks as well. Branding, marketing and recruiting are among a few of the top reasons your organization might benefit from entering the world of blogs and most are a great way to reach customers and the public to share your organizational message. So what does each have to offer and what will set yours apart? We’ve comes up with a list of our top 4 favorite blogging sites for businesses and business professionals.

Word Press

If you like options and customization, this one’s definitely for you! Word Press offers bloggers sophistication and endless possibilities as well as easy functionality when it comes to tailoring just about anything to suit the needs of your growing business. With Word Press, users pay an annual fee for their own domain, have full freedom to modify as desired and thousands of plugin and design options. Word Press offers far more than blogging as well, making this a one stop shop for a full business website and blog feature. While the functionality may be overwhelming for the inexperienced, first timers can check out the vast array of internet videos designed to walk novice users through setting up and designing their own site: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8o8u7OtuZY

Blogger.com

The name says it all doesn’t it? Straight forward and thankfully, easy to use. Backed by Google, this hosting site is a great start for the beginner blogger with simple features and selections. While the site is owned by Blogger.com, users can choose from a wide selection of backgrounds and templates. Additionally, Blogger provides 1GB of free space and integration with Google. On the opposite ends however, this may not be the number 1 choice for those needing customization as Blogger.com is limited on plugins and advanced customization ("The Next Web", 2015). Blogger is a great way to gain exposure, grow your audience and stay mobile as users can post and view right from their Apple or Android device.

Tumblr

The once declining “Tumblr” was bought out by the internet giant “Yahoo” for a whopping $990 million in 2013! Why so much? Well, here’s why you might just find Tumblr as a top pick on your list. Young, fresh and connected! Tumblr is easy to use, has a strong community presence and is well connected to a hip, young crowd. Users can tag and re-share much like other sites, following fellow users with niche related content and provides options to upload photos that manually post throughout the day increasing exposure. What seems like a best kept secret, Tumblr boasts features similar to other social media platforms like Facebook, but with a more anonymous feel allowing users to promote virtually anything ("Forbes", 2013). Re-blogging on Tumblr can literally take your company viral!

Once only available to a select few or those we call “influencers,” LinkedIn is now open to anyone for blogging. This is a great addition to your own LinkedIn profile, specifically if you have a large connection base and want to involve them. LinkedIn is very public, continues to grow at a rapid pace and offers options to share articles, presentations, and other blogs, all of which provide the ability to drive your professional brand ("Linkedin", 2015). LinkedIn offers in depth profiles, a powerful search functionality and group options with news boards, job postings, etc. This platform allows users a more active approach to reaching their audience.

So what’s right for your business? Know your target audience, know your business and develop your strategy before you start. While these platforms can become a building block for your company and increase traffic to your site, the context of your communication and targeted audience are key. Our four featured sites provide free or low cost basic accounts to get started.

References

Barrett, D. (2013). Leadership Communication (4th ed.). : McGraw-Hill Education

Forbes. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2013/08/09/yahoo-offers-details-on-the-990-million-tumblr-deal/

LinkedIn. (2015). Retrieved from http://blog.linkedin.com/2015/04/13/elevate/

The Next Web. (2015). Retrieved from http://thenextweb.com/businessapps/2013/08/16/best-blogging-services/16/

YouTube. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8o8u7OtuZY