Traditional Business Blogging is Outdated

A new age of small business blogging is close at hand, or at least it should be. Things have been converging for a while now. Social media has started blurring the lines of business and personal, but blogging has stayed relatively resistant to this change. I think that this is a mistake, at least on the small business level.

People are wanting, requiring a certain amount of transparency. Yeah, I know it’s a buzz word, but there is a tangible quality here that people are looking for. People are tired of the stoic face of business. There are real people behind those logos, and the public wants to see who they are.

Ever since I started my business, my blog has been a bit different. I post about my thoughts on social media and marketing, but I also throw in posts for fun, and some that are very personal. I share various aspects of my real life in an effort to show you the passion that is running this company. When I screw up, I take the chance and talk about it. When I win, I put it out there to you.

I think that small businesses, especially the one-man-show, will benefit greatly from adding some reality into the mix. I’m not talking about going as far as some of these people have, who wound up loosing their job because they lacked any real tact. What I am saying is share that funny story about your daughter one day, and the next talk about your business. Part of what make your business special is the life you have outside of it. Share with the class. My children are involved with my business because they are involved with my life. Child care is not really an option, so they are with me. My office is at home, and they go to meetings with me. They meet potential clients, and they come to my board meetings. I am an extreme example, I know. The thing is that even if your personal life is much more separate from your professional life than mine is, it is still involved. There is still a balance that needs to be struck. Maybe that line should be blurry. People want to see who you are. Show them. By the way, the picture is of my youngest putting her two cents worth in at a recent board meeting.

Business blogs do one thing, they talk about their business, every single aspect of their business. *Yawn* I don’t subscribe to them, for the most part. What I do subscribe to are blogs that have passion, blogs that have variation, blogs that aren’t afraid to lay all of it out there.

So think about what you want your business to say about you, about your life. Do you want to be one of the many, in a sea of grey, or do you want bright vibrant splashes of humanness lighting your blog up like a beacon. You only stand to draw people to you. Isn’t that a big part of why we are drawn to social media? Happy Social Media Day!