There has been an ongoing theme – to be honest, for quite a while now -  resurfacing at various intervals, about the imminent death of blogging, generally to be replaced it seems with the social media tools of the moment such as Facebook and Twitter.

For a small minority, I would agree that this may well be on the cards. The ability to connect with people using little bitesized chunks of information is tempting and may seem easier than sitting down and writing something longer than the typical “update”. However, for the vast majority, and particularly businesses looking to use social media as a tool to reach their customers – shouldn’t we all be? – I would say that this prediction is premature in the extreme.

Indeed, with social media now firmly ensconced among the more established marketing and communications tools, I would suggest that not only will we not see a decline in the role of blogging, we will actually see it grow in importance. If you have a moment, then let me explain why – I guarantee that it’ll be worthwhile.

Blogs will play a central role

Major changes are certainly afoot and I have little doubt that the online marketing industry is still developing rapidly ahead of an undoubted period of consolidation. To make sure that I, and therefore my clients, come out ahead as this is going on,  I am continually looking at the variety of social media which exist, of which a business blog is certainly one. In the future, while the number of potential avenues for social media continues to expand, I still see a blog playing the central role for companies wanting to engage with customers and prospects using social media and general online methods.

For instance, if we take some of the more popular social media tools as examples:

• Twitter – great tool being used more and more effectively but still overhyped in some sectors and a little restrictive. It’s difficult to say everything in 140 characters, so is often used to make people aware of other sources of information or to initiate connections;
• Social networks are proliferating in many different forms from the monsters such as Facebook and the Business focus in LinkedIn through to the niche forums on systems like Ning – they come and go (some quicker than others obviously) but each time a new one takes hold you need to establish a whole new infrastructure and set of contacts;
• Podcasts and video have their own key sites like YouTube or iTunes but in most cases, businesses fail to achieve an independent identity or forum with them alone, although cases such as “Will it Blend?” from Blendtech prove that it is possible.

A blog, however, allows a business to bring all of these other elements together, creates a focal point for a community of customers, provides the company with its own social network hub whatever else goes on in the market and allows it to expand on the information disseminated on Twitter, YouTube or iTunes.

A personal analogy

To put it another way, if I make a personal analogy, if I meet friends in a bar or a coffee shop, then they will get a certain picture of me through a number of different factors: what I am wearing, what I look like, where we are meeting, what I’m drinking, who I am talking to and about what etc. All of these things give a certain picture of me as a person but it is still a superficial one.

However, if you come and have dinner at my home then you have a much more complete view of me. You see where I live, the type of house, the décor, the books and music I’m interested in, the decoration and style of fixtures and furniture, what I cook and what I serve for drinks etc etc. In short, you get a much more complete sense of me when you visit my home because it is much more multifaceted.

To my mind, social networking sites, discussion forums, Twitter etc are all types of coffee houses where you can a first image of me. My blog, however, offers much more of an insight and is essentially the online equivalent of my home.

You need a place to invite people to online

Don’t take this as putting down the other social media tools or indeed other general online marketing tactics – it is just the opposite. All the other elements are great when used in line with a business’ commercial aims, but you still then need to have somewhere to “invite” friends back to online rather than always meet in proverbial bars / coffee houses. That’s where a blog comes to the fore, bringing all the other elements together as well as contributing in its own right.

Think also that as you engage with other bloggers on their own blogs, there is only so much that you can convey when you leave comments, no matter how erudite and pertinent they are. What you need to have in conjunction is a place to develop your ideas further. A place to continue that conversation that you have started – once again, a role that your own blog would ideally fulfil.

Effectively, as you look at the world of social media and the innumerable opportunities that it brings with it, to me it is clear that a blog sits solidly at the core of this activity. Personally, I see it as driving and conducting the online activity that a company undertakes and as the place to develop a community of readers that links from other social media will help grow and promote.

Related posts:

1. Being found via Social Media and Business Blogs
2. Google helping social media? Surely not!
3. Social Media – are you ready?