What is a microblog?
A microblog has many aspects similar to a conventional blog, but is more focussed on the headline and immediacy of the news being posted. A normal blog allows you the freedom to explore a subject matter in detail and expand upon the subject in a way that reads well and carries relevant content to the reader. A microblog is more a headline grabbing exercise. If you think of a FaceBook status update, this is, in effect, a microblog. As is twitter, plurk and many other so called web 2.0 properties. The idea is to quickly send a message that your followers or social network will see and act upon – whether that action is interacting with replies and conversations or it is clicking an embedded link to a page which expands upon the headline.
Why use a microblog
Because of the “snapshot” way in which a microblog works, many users have a live feed which is permanently active on either their desktop or on their mobile phone. This allows you to reach those users at times when other methods of mass communication are much less effective, and any call to action contained within your post is much more likely to trigger a response. Microblog usage is a way in which you can grab a customers attention and tempt them to take a next step to get involved with your business, whether you are wanting them to read more about your services, look at a new product, provide feedback on their experiences or to book a ticket at a trade show you are exhibiting in. We would never recommend a microblog as a stand alone promotional tool, but if it is added to the mix of other techniques with which you pormote your business then it will add value to almost all of your other techniques and could well work as a source of potential customers.
The SEO benefits of a microblog
By adding a microblog to your weaponry, you can drive traffic to your new articles, products and media. This traffic may take the form of direct clicks from your subscribers, or it may come in the indirect form of the benefit your posts have created with search engines. Because the microblog websites have a high turnover of new content, the search engines are constantly trawling them for new posts and following the links that are embedded within new postings. This is another way in which you can signpost or flag your new items and ensure that they are indexed in the search results quickly. We can help you set up your microblog for you as part of one of our SEO packages or as a standalone service, and will also help advise you on how to keep the content fresh, relevant and interesting to your audience as well as build a network of customers who will be reading your updates.
Running a microblog is becoming a very popular tool when it is used as a component of your social marketing campaign for your business. Some would state that a microblog is just another way of describing tweets or FaceBook status updates, and that is partially true. However, a true microblog goes a lot deeper than that and pro-active microblogging can be a very effective method of raising your business profile and generating interest in your website in order to gain a regular customer base or following.
If you are starting out with some social media marketing, then you will want to establish your microblogging methods very early in your campaign – consistency is the key to success. Consider the approach which you will be taking when you post to your standard blog or news pages, and take some of the structured elements of these. You will then need to combine these content pieces with punchy, interesting statements which are up to date and contain relevant information. Try to construct your microblog posts as headlines from a newspaper – the idea is to grab the end users attention and persuade them to take the next step.
For any normal blog you would have a central theme around which all of your posts are constructed – for example on this site all posts and articles relate in some way to search engine optimisation. This builds an element of trust from the end user point of view, and every post helps to define you as an ‘expert’ within your field. This same strategy applies to your microblogging, where each post is much shorter so the effect needs to be concentrated and the word structure will need to be fully assessed for maximum impact. For example, Twitter posts are limited to 140 characters so every single letter needs to count to both attract end user attention and to have a positive search engine optimisation impact.
As with all other elements of your seo activity and marketing, you need to ensure that there is a level of consistency. Users will grow accustomed to your style of writing and your subject choices, and any conversations sparked by your postings need to be replied to in order to maximise the social apsect of your microblog. This builds a stream of comments that read as a normal piece of human interaction and will also help to demonstrate your subject knowledge further, as well as increasing the loyalty of your followers within your network, and encourage each followers own contacts to get involved in the discussion.
Dont be afraid to voice your own opinions in your microblogging. Never shy away from controversial comments or the latest news issues, as these are what can make your microblog popular and thought provoking. Be careful not to alienate your customers, but at the same time your opinions do count and are what will help your customers to see you as a person – remember that people buy from people, not from businesses. It can be easy to get carried away in the heat of the moment, so always take the time to think before you post and be sure of your facts if you do get caught in a dispute – differences of opinion will happen but if they are handled correctly you will actually appeal to your protagonists and generate a fierce kind of loyalty. The worst thing you can do is contradict yourself as someone will pick up on it and call you out. Remember that this is your business profile in the spotlight so voice your opinions politely and always try to ensure your comments and facts are fully researched so you have hard evidence to fall back on if required – this will only serve to help strengthen your claim to be an expert in your field and will make your business a source of good advice.
Your microblog is only as good as the content you enter onto it, so think carefully and try to provoke thoughts in your readers.
