I was asked the other day why I hadn’t updated my blog for a while and as a huge advocate of social media, I really ought to be doing something more and regularly – after all that is what I tell my clients to do.
Social Media has become a buzzword and an essential tool (option) for your marketing and promotion. Used correctly, it can drive traffic, provide insight, information, develop relationships and ultimately build trust with whom you are reaching and reading. However, very much like a human relationship, social media is something you do have to keep doing regularly in order to keep in your readers ‘mental’ top ten.
So why do I find it difficult to actually keep up with any kind of blog and actually provide something that is useful and relevant to the market.
Like a lot of people that want to use social media as a forum for promotion and opinion, my time is a huge issue. It takes time to write, and then ensure you write well.
If you are on the move in your business, you can’t type and drive (it’s illegal); your day may be filled with work – can you justify taking an hour or 2 out of your day to write your thoughts and opinions. If you are working on a contract, would the people paying you be happy for you to do that? Generally not; unless it is part of your role.
So when does that leave you time to write? The evenings of course, but I have a family (I am chief story teller at bedtime :-) ), my own business admin to attend to and my house doesn’t manage itself.
Writing takes; time, effort and thought. Especially thought. Your message needs to be relevant, useful and most of all interesting (I’m repeating myself here – are you catching a theme?). If you’re message is targeted, then it should be written for your audience – I know that sounds obvious but you wouldn’t write to English professors using text speak.
To me these feel like genuine reasons why I don’t update my blog, or my auto journal enough. But perhaps they are just ‘Formula 1 drivers*’ excuses. I don’t know.
However, this blog was inspired by the question from @NickyKriel on twitter and it was her blog post on the #ff or ‘follow Friday’ that really launched my thought process. Curiously, her advice about follow Fridays is (paraphrased), ‘don’t just “follow Friday”, give a reason why you should follow them. Or, in other words, make sure that the people you are suggesting are interesting and relevant. Nicky has a fantastic blog about social media and Twitter and I highly recommend you have a read. It is most enlightening. http://www.nickykriel.com/blog/
So perhaps, for me at least, it is a combination of time (lack of) and also inspiration that stops me from updating my blogs regularly – (more excuses?). But having identified my excuses – they aren’t really reasons – I can now action myself into doing something more about it.
This action is ongoing but it starts with a first step. Interestingly this week I have had more time, despite being busier with clients, because I gave up Facebook for lent. All of a sudden, my evenings have opened up. It’s quite scary seeing the reality of how much time good ole FB takes up, and it’s only apparent when you stop using it. As a direct consequence, I have been able to read web articles, books and have conversations with people outside of FB and lo and behold, I have been inspired and had the time to write.
As a parting piece of advice try unplugging yourself from your favourite online activity/ area for 2 weeks. You may be surprised to discover how valuable your time really is.
* Formula 1 drivers rarely blame themselves, it is usually the car, the set up, the tyres etc.
