Social Media Strategy – How I Make Blogging Work For Me

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August 28, 2012 by 6 Comments

Social Media Strategy – How I Make Blogging Work For Me

Social Media Strategy - Jim AdcockThis is the second of a multi-part story of Jim Adcock‘s Social Media Strategy.

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My name is Jim Adcock.  I make a living as a SharePoint Consultant, and I make a difference as Vice President on the Launch Pad Job Club Board of Directors.

Last time I talked about some of the success I have had using blogging as an important part of a multi-faceted approach to managing my career.  Here are some of the ingredients I use to help make it happen.

Time

Blogging won’t make you an overnight success.  Plan for it to take some time, even a year or two, to really pay off.  It takes time for any brand to burrow into the public consciousness, and it will take time for you to penetrate to your target audience (someone who can hire you, or recommend that you be hired, at a company with an actual need to hire).  For me, it took two years before my blog began to get a lot of notice in my field.

Repetition, Repetition, Repetition

Any advertiser will tell you that it takes many, many, many impressions for a consumer to hear a brand’s message.  A small handful of posts won’t cut it; you have to commit to writing a significant quantity of posts.  For me, it took 86 posts, nearly 60,000 words before it really started to make a difference.  But don’t let the numbers intimidate you; it doesn’t have to happen all at once.  Take it in 200-600 word bites, daily or weekly, make it part of your routine

If A Tree Falls In The Woods, And No One Is Around To Hear, Does It Make A Sound?

You have got to promote what you read so that your targets will come and read what you have written.  I promote my posts in a number of different venues, including Twitter, relevant Yahoo Groups and LinkedIn Groups.

Have a Blogging Strategy

I am a firm believer in a focused blog, covering a small number of subjects that can be related in some way to your career.  But I can’t say for absolute certain that this is the only way to have a successful career blog.  Maybe another way would work too.  But whatever approach you choose, think and plan what that approach will be, have a narrative, an explanation for why your blog is the way that it is, and how that approach relates to your career.  Don’t just post to have made a post.

Content Is King

Finally, quality should be your first consideration.  Remember how your mom always told you, “If you don’t have something nice to say, say nothing”?  With blogging, you should think something similar: “If you don’t have something substantial to say, don’t publish the post.” But do keep the post as a draft, as you never know when you will discover that the insubstantial provides the seed for something more substantial.

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Comments

  1. Martha-Gail Moore says:
    August 29, 2012 at 2:56 pm

    Hi Jim,

    Nice post about having a blogging strategy and sticking with it to make it payoff. I was at the WordPress Meetup last night and Thomas Umstattd of Castle Media was the presenter. He said similar things about providing relevant content to your followers/audience.

    Your story about how your blog got you your next job, because they liked the info you were posting was inspirational (I was at Launch Pad Job Club the day you told that story). The blog demonstrated the breadth of your knowledge to them before you even personally met them–how cool is that.

    So I guess I’m still in the planning stages and figuring out who my audience is…

    Thanks,
    Martha-Gail

    Reply
  2. Jim Adcock says:
    August 29, 2012 at 5:17 pm

    I’m glad you found my experience to be inspirational. It inspired me, too, to stay on the path and keep producing relevant content. When I started to blog, I understood and believed the principles, but had no way of knowing if it would actually pay off. That is did pay off was a very validating experience for me.

    Actually, I believe that figuring out who your audience should be is pretty simple. What knid of person hires people like you? What kind of person has influence over people who hire people like you? Who is in your peer group in your field? That’s your primary audience right there.

    On the other hand, figuring out where your audience is so you can promote your stuff to them can often be a little more difficult… Fortunately you are not alone. Who are the thought leaders in your field? What LinkedIn groups are they a member of? Are there community sites (discussion boards and the like), twitter or other social media comunities for your career field? These are pretty good places to start for figuring out where your target audience is hiding.

    Reply
  3. Janice Malone says:
    September 2, 2012 at 4:00 am

    Hi Jim,
    I am new to the blogging world and your post answered on of my burning questions: How long should blog posts be?

    200-600 words is actually doable! Many of the posts I have been reading – to get a sense of the genre – have been more than 700. I was wondering when these bloggers (who crank out several posts a week) have time to do anything else.

    Interestingly, many of them attribute the success of their businesses directly to their blogs. I do not understand how that is possible, but I am anxious to learn. I have only written two posts which have been read only by my friends and family so far, but I am starting to develop style that has been satisfying.

    Thanks for the blogging tips.

    Janice

    Reply
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