I’ve learned a lot about blogging and using social media during this experience. The thing that stuck with me the most was the idea of creating a brand and using your personality to benefit you. It really stuck out to me once I started looking online at what engages people the most. For example, when I see an ad on Twitter directly from a company I for the most part think nothing of it. I may glance at it a bit but there’s not a whole lot that’s going to make me want to click it. On the other hand, if I see someone who I follow and value their opinion talking about a product. I’m more likely to check it out. If someone I like on Twitter says they’re listening to a great new song or just ate a great place I feel like it’s more of a recommendation from a friend that just an ad. I think there’s power in that when used effectively.
In today’s world, I think personality is what is going to get people coming back. We are oversaturated with media, ads, links, etc! I think what’s going to really strive are people we like, trust, and can relate to their opinion. I think it’s important for everyone to incorporate their personality in ANYTHING they’re doing. Even if at times it means really putting yourself out there. People connect with stories and that shows in social media and blogging.
Another thing I learned about was the value of making something visually appealing on your blog and on social media. We talked about how effective it is to post something with some kind of visual (picture, video, link) than it is text alone. It made me take a look on how I post things and made me incorporate a nice looking image when needed.
I created this as a result:
I’m still working on using images like this to make my posts more engaging. I think a nice clean image is easier to make these days. You can do so much just on your phone! At the end of the day, it looks like most people are seeing your posts through a smaller screen (tablet/phone) so sometimes it makes more sense to go with something you can create that looks good on those devices. I have some pretty good photo editing/text apps on my phone that allow me to make some pretty good looking images. Why make it harder than it needs to be all the time?!
But I really think it all comes back to personality and branding. I read this article on Inside Radio about how in Radio when a Personality/Talent recommends a product it carries more weight than any Facebook/Twitter ad, sponsored ad, or web ad. I think it works so well because there are people who share their personal stories everyday with an audience and let people know their story. I think if you can take that approach into your blog/social media posts you can really see some results!
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