The most frustrating phrase we hear from someone we don’t know is ‘trust me’. Trust is something you earn, it takes time effort & consistency, its a combination of building confidence and how you 'make me feel'. In the old days when all we had was our little black book, mate of a mate and a telephone to get connected to someone we wanted to do business with we had to work pretty hard at establishing credibility and trust. All this before we even got to talk about 'selling' anything. After this initial 'courting' ritual we eventually got to meet someone face to face.

In business people buy from people they have got to know & trust, even if they have been referred or introduced by someone the etiquette around the 'getting to know you' phase is still a key part of the process. 

Today its what's called having 'Social Proof'.

When we talk to people about 'blogging' or writing articles and post for different social platforms we often hear the view  'surely that's just for millennials'?

Well, no it isn't, its actually a significant part of the 'getting to know you phase, but in a much more powerful way. In the virtual world where we can connect with people all around the world in a nano second, our post, articles and blogs can convey an awful lot about who we are, what we are good at, and why we do it. If we do it right it can supercharge that 'getting to know you' phase in a way that's never been available to us previously. so, when that face to face meeting eventually happens you both feel like you already know each other pretty well.

"It sounds like a lot of hard work"

OK, lets give you some context.

It’s the weekend, we socialise more and as a result when we are back to work we share what did (or didn't) happen with friends & colleagues. We spend a lot of time in our workplace, which in itself is a huge source of stories from which we then go home & might share with the family, and other friends. These stories and conversations are what 'humanise' us and makes us authentic.

 At interviews we talk about the what, why & how we are the superstar they might be looking for. And we explain what motivates us. So, blogs, post and articles are simply those conversations in written (or video) form. However, simply pumping out stories that aren't related to the people or industries you are looking to connect with is probably not going to get you too far. So, If you're competitor and their employees are really working the social media landscape more than you then its them who become front of mind, NOT YOU!

At the DLA we always suggest to people we work with that ‘blogging’ is an extremely effective (low cost) way to let people understand ‘who’ you are & more important ‘WHY’ you do what you do. If considered as a key strategy in building your pipeline it will significantly increase your 'inbound' dramatically improve your ROI and can maximise whole companies employee engagement.

So, when you see all our post on social media it’s because we ‘eat our own dog food’ so to speak - we do what we ask you to do.

 Is it hard? Sometimes yes

Can anyone do it? Yes. 

Does it work? 

Well, you don’t have to be a Pulitzer Prize winner & you’re reading this aren’t you!

What tips do you have for Blogging?