On blogging

This blog has been going for a week now. You know what I've concluded? Blogging is hard.

Coming up with content is no problem for me, I'm a creative fellow after all. But getting it to look and feel the way you intend is bloody difficult. I've spent the best part of a week fiddling with and modifying HTML and widgets. I've been working with HTML on a basic level for 13 years now but after you it a hundred lines or so it does get a little daunting. Blogger is extremely user friendly but it is a little basic.

I've been a little critical of agency and brand blogs in the past as many have seemed a little basic or poorly formatted. I understand the difficulties they face now. That said, those companies are paying someone good money to maintain and operate their blogs. I however am doing this for free. There is no excuse for a poorly maintained blog.

Consumers these days are very interested in seeing the human face of a brand; a blog is an extremely useful way of presenting that. The average person is able to directly communicate with their company of interest through an online portal like this and Twitter. A notable occasions where this has impacted negatively was the recent Nestle fan page debacle on Facebook.



Now i imagine the person responsible for those comments has been reprimanded heavily but it illustrates my point precisely. The human aspect of fan pages, twitter streams and blogs means the attention applied to it can really help or hinder a relationships between the consumer and a brand. As seen with the infamous Vodafone tweet.




Clearly the incident with Vodafone has come from a mix up in user accounts but this highlights an underlying mentality; social media is not a priority, it's used because they have to.

A number of agencies have sprung up specialising in social media marketing however most of the major brands have simply tacked on a small area to their existing marketing departments. Now it makes me wonder why it is not a higher priority. I spend a huge amount of time on social networking sites. When I'm out and about my iPhone pushes notifications directly to me. I've engaged and purchased more from brands with a strong presence on social networks than i have from those focusing entirely on television. Why? I can converse with previous and future customers and share opinions. We all know that a recommendation from a friend carries a huge amount of weight, well on social networking sites everyone is a friend by proxy.

Tapping into this is the key to hooking the next generation of consumers. Get it right and someone will be made very, very rich. Now, how do i get in on this? Anyone want to give me a job?