Interactivity and communication always help any relationship.
Does it matter for customer relationships and your company/product brand as well? It sure does. The key is to introduce the ideas that add value to your target audience.
How do you make the most out of it? Make it a dialogue and not a monologue. Give them chance to bring up their questions, concerns and comments. They feel part of it. And you get to understand more about how they think which can be priceless.
Blog is a very simple and cost-effective tool to achieve build quality conversations as well as cultivate the credibility and reputation.
- It is non-intrusive. They can read it when they want.
- It is search-friendly, when people are searching for the answer, your blog post link can be there on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). This builds your credibility and exposure to the people that you don’t know, or people that don’t know you.
- It is social. Your target audience can give their comments, ask questions …etc. You can easily connect the blog to RSS feeds that can go on variety of social media platforms.
Write your blog posts such that they invite conversations.
Where do you get ideas for the blog posts? Look into your product manuals, white papers, marketing presentations, training modules, frequently asked questions from the customers, latest developments and trends …etc. Also think of events and places that would be relevant to your target audience.
For example, for a manufacturing company, a topic can be how to make the most out of a tradeshow for all the companies and people that participate. Or, for a real estate company in Orange County, CA, it could be about sponsorship of the OC Marathon that happens every year around April or May. A lot of people in the area would be interested in that probably.
Getting your blog setup is fairly simple. It doesn’t require specific technology knowledge once it’s set up. There are platforms like Blog Spot and WordPress that are extremely easy to use. And almost all of the popular online design platforms have modules to add blog to your website, or implement the blog as a separate website if you like.
What do you use to interact with your target audience? How well is it working?