Page 13 - MetalForming November 2010

your readers. If a topic demands more detailed coverage, then break it into segments or continue to post smaller stories while building towards a larger post.
Promote Your Blog
Once you start, build up a few weeks worth of posts, then promote your blog. A few quick, easy ways to do so include:
• Add a link to your company’s web- site.
• Issue a press release announcing the blog—target traditional media outlets and bloggers who write about blogging.
• Send an e-mail communication using your customer mailing list.
• Include a written reference (not the link) in your print materials, includ- ing advertisements.
• Inform callers about your blog using your on-hold messaging recording.
• Have employees include a link in their e-mail signature line.
Also, use your blog to promote your company through downloads of white papers, webinar schedules, event par- ticipation schedules, product informa- tion and offerings, newsletters, etc. Offer RSS feeds and e-mail subscribe options. And, within or at the end of your posts, offer links to trade organizations, arti- cles or other resources that offer more information about the topic of each post.
Feedback and Monitoring Third-Party Blogs
Keep tabs on what’s going on with your brand. Monitor the blogosphere to contribute to blogs that affect your busi- ness or industry and to comment or respond to mentions of your company on other blogs. Monitoring third-party
blogs allows you to quickly respond to posts about your company.
When it comes to your site, allowing readers to comment on your posts keeps the conversation fluid and offers readers the opportunity to provide feedback.
Summing it All Up
As manufacturers serving the met- alforming community, you have the unique opportunity to leap ahead of the curve. A recent Fortune magazine study found that of the Fortune Glob- al 100, only one-third have corporate blogs. Thus, if the big, mass consumer brands are slow to adopt, then it’s a safe bet that our industry has a great deal of unclaimed territory. So when it comes to blogging and other social- media outlets, you have a tremendous opportunity to get out front and become a modern media pioneer. MF
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