Nothing replaces passion for a particular subject when determining who should write for your corporate/collective blog. You can recognize a good blogger from a mile away. It may be the gleam in their eye when they talk about their work, it might be their gift to consistently teach something new. Whatever it is, rank in an organization, past writing experience, or years of experience on the job, is has little to do with what makes a good blogger. It seems all to do with the passion they bring to the game - but what motivates that passion after the novelty of blogging wears off?
Last post we talked about Motivating The Group or Corporate Blogger: What not to do. This time, let's identify some key strategies that help bloggers be motivated for the long run.
Share: Share everything with the bloggers. Share the blog analytics, share the trackbacks and the pingbacks, share the customer feedback, both good and bad. Share the blog's accolades, share the credit! Share your ideas, share your time, share your lunch if you have to. Be nice and share. Bloggers love
baking stories, they need ingredients to make that happen, so share with them everything you can spare in the pantry. This may include industry insights, corporate reports, photographs, white papers and more. Give them everything they need to connect dots in ways that have never been connected before. The platform for blogging is just the beginning. Continue the dialogue with them, and they will continue the dialogue online. In a world of information, exclusive content is swag!
Trust: All this sharing will mean that you have to trust. Trust that the bloggers want the same thing you do, the betterment of the organization. Good blogs don't need to force participation. On the contrary, they have people who are trusted with information, both confidential and not, to tell as complete a story as possible. This is when blogging is most effective, and when bloggers are most motivated to write.
Encouragement: Give bloggers feedback whenever you get it, or whenever you can. Let them know of any accolades that the blog may have received. Send them to blog events in your stead. Let them reap the rewards of a blog well done. Remember, it's their writing that keeps the blog going. Encourage the bloggers by placing them in the line of encouragement. Let them know they have been heard, and the world is reading.
A sense of community; Bloggers should feel empowered to communicate with each other on and off the blog. They should have the ability to organically change the flow of the blog, in order to feel a bit of ownership. All members of a community want to know that they're governed by guidelines, but also that they can help to evolve those guidelines if they no longer make sense. This evolution is important for blogger motivation, growth and long term credibility in the space. Bloggers like to know that they have each others' backs, and have a respect for each others' commitment to the betterment of the blog.
There's really no secret in how to keep a blogger motivated - it's simple, keep their ego fed. Don't look at this as a bad thing! You feed an ego by sharing, openness, trust, encouragement, recognition, empowerment and a sense of belonging. I find bloggers are a special breed of people who may not have had an audience in the past to speak to, or a platform to express from. This is the true power of the social media. Some of the most influential people in the world earned their influence by blogging. I wonder if they would have earned it any other way.
Bloggers don't want a pat on the head, they want respect. They earn that respect by spending an enormous amount of time writing and digital networking. If your blog enables that kind of communication, expect to share in their success in the long run.
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