Beyond Social Media: Blogging as Thought Leadership

This post is part of my Social Media 101 series to encourage leaders to learn more about social media and use it effectively in their life and work.

Whenever I tell someone that I’m a blogger, there’s usually one of two reactions.

1. They are impressed, intrigued and want to know more.
2. They think it’s stupid and a complete waste of time.

Most people (and therefore organizations) still regard blogging as something of a self-indulgent hobby, with no useful application to the real world, let alone the world of nonprofits or business.

This could not be further from the truth.

While blogging certainly started out as a way to share the mundane details of people’s lives, it has long been leveraged as a tool to share valuable information and innovative ideas among groups of professionals. And if we miss that point, we miss an enormous opportunity to practice thought leadership.

What Blogging Was

Sure, when blogging first came on the scene as a medium for sharing information online, it was considered more of an “online journal.” Just the history of the name “weblog” gives you an idea that it was literally a “log” of your life that you just put out there on the web. I was recently thinking back on my own blogging journey and realized that I actually started blogging back in 2006 when I had a very active Myspace page. I would post little snippets of my life, the ups and downs of my romantic relationships, my social calendar, etc. It was truly a “place for friends” as the aging social network’s tagline used to say.

What Blogging Is

Now, the best way to describe blogs are simply frequently updated websites by people sharing insight about a certain topic. Of course, I’m talking about blogs written by professionals in a particular industry or field, not the millions of randomly updated personal blogs out there. The quality of available information is amazing. For instance, I’ve learned just as much about fundraising from people like Pamela Grow and marketing from folks like Chris Brogan as I have from taking formal training. Just check out all the big-time Ad Age Power 150 bloggers dropping knowledge about marketing and you’ll never have to take another class again.

What Blogging Can Be

If you or your organization aren’t getting the results you want from blogging, maybe you just need to take another look at your goals. What were you really expecting from putting up a blog? An influx of comments, clients, donations, Lady Gaga fame? If you were expecting your post about your outgoing board chair to go viral, think again. Obviously, there is value to blogging, just perhaps not the unrealistic kind you had in mind.

Blogging has brought me so many opportunities in my own career by helping to build my reputation as someone who shares useful information about nonprofits, leadership and social media. But even when I was a full-time development director, blogging served to enhance my visibility among potential funders for my organization. In fact, once I met a brand new funder through my blog that ended up giving my nonprofit a $25,000 grant less than a month later! When the information you share is interesting, useful and relevant to your audience, it gets shared by others and actually does go “viral” within your defined circle of influence. See? So once you define that circle, you’ll be able to develop the kind of blogging goals that you can actually achieve.

How You Can Lead

Push the envelope on your blog. Yes, it’s a social media tool. One part of your marketing strategy. A huge opportunity to build your brand. But don’t let any of that make you too vanilla, too afraid to state your opinion or too cautious to take risks. Building a great blog means you’ve got to come out of the shadows. Take risks on your writing and let your staff do the same. Look at what you’ve got right now and add some personality. Put a stake in the ground on a particular issue in your community. Tell us what you REALLY think about what’s going on in your field. Offer solutions. Mobilize people. Be a resource for your peers and the media. Above all else, please keep in mind that YOUR BLOG IS NOT A PRESS RELEASE. If it is, get rid of it. No use wasting your time on something you’re not gonna give 100% anyway. Spend that time on your newsletter or something. Not everyone is cut out to have a blog. And when in doubt, just remember: a bad blog is worse than having no blog at all.

Do you use your blog as a platform for thought leadership in your field? Or is it still a glorified press release?

If you want to learn more about how to build a great blog, I invite you to check out my FREE ebook, The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Blog, a 37-page resource to help you get you up and blogging in no time. Geared toward newbie bloggers, this easy-to-read guide will take you from soup to nuts in terms of your blog concept, software, design, content, promotion and analytics.