Help Me to Help My Bloggers
Instead of sharing my thoughts, I need your suggestions.
My association’s blog is in its infancy and the bloggers who are participating are doing great and really working hard to make the new blog a success. The problem I am having is that a few of them really don’t understand what a blog is and what it should be–despite my attempts at explaining. For example, a few bloggers have asked if I could republish articles from our association magazine–some of which were written a few years ago and were easily dated. I’ve also had other unusal suggestions, but I don’t want to get into too many details as I don’t want to single people out.
Almost all of my bloggers lament on the lack of comments (although I personally think the number of comments they get is in line with what might appear on a new blog). I offered suggestions I read in a recent edition of Associations Now as well as created a list of my own based on that and other lists.
I found a great video about blogs in plain English on YouTube, but I don’t think it will really help my bloggers understand what to write.
Does anyone have any suggestions or does anyone know any great resources to help people understand the nature of blogs? Or maybe I am in the wrong from trying to explain to them what is “acceptable” to write.
Like this:
This entry was posted on September 22, 2008 at 6:57 pm and is filed under Association Management, Social Media, Writing. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
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September 23, 2008 at 11:33 am
You’re definitely not alone, Caron! I think all new blogs go through some growing pains like these. And it’s great that you have bloggers who care and are engaged enough to give you suggestions and new ideas …
The ACCA blog used to have a great basic description of what a blog is–this was years ago, and I can’t seem to find it on their site anymore. (Their blog has been around long enough that their members probably don’t need to see it anymore.) But Kevin Holland at ACCA might still have a copy somewhere.
Another idea might be to check out some related blogs, or even just some random association blogs, and go back through their archives to see how many comments they got in their first few months. That could be good data to show your bloggers, to help manage their expectations.
Meanwhile, if you continue to follow some of the advice you’ve seen elsewhere on how to build comments and traffic on your blog, your comments will go up over time too.
(One silly thing I do: I try to write thank-you e-mails to all new commenters encouraging them to continue reading and commenting on our blog. I don’t know if it has a huge impact, but it can’t hurt to make commenters feel welcome …)
Good luck! I hope your bloggers continue to be excited and engaged.
September 24, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Hang in there, Caron. This takes time and patience. And it sounds like some of your bloggers just need more practice. That’s OK, and kudos to you for giving them a place to improve their blogging acumen.
@Lisa – I can say that getting a thank you email from you is huge, having received one myself. Your welcome made me feel like part of the community. It’s a great suggestion.
@Caron – I’d also suggest you send personal emails to three or four members asking them to comment. Do this for every good post. Try to choose folks who are interested in the topic or connected to the blogger in some way. Also, mix it up and ask different folks each time. I’ve found the best way to get folks to comment in a new space is to ask them to comment.
September 24, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Thanks for the comments and ideas Lisa and Lindy. I am going to keep trying.
September 27, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Hi Caron,
One thing that always works with associations is finding others that are doing the same thing. Have you checked our list of association blogs that get comments? (http://www.socialfish.org/blogtips/) (we’re always adding to this). There might be one or two that would allow you to show your bloggers what you’re trying to accomplish with your blog.
September 29, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Hi Maddie,
I actually used the information in the Associations Now article to help my bloggers (I sent them an e-mail last week with some of that information listed). It’s a great list. I will be sure to keep an eye on it for more tips. Thank you for putting it together.