You’ve updated your resume, tweaked your LinkedIn profile and combed over your cover letter, but you still might be missing out on a powerful career booster – blogging. Learning how to create and maintain a blog to establish your personal brand or build your network could largely benefit your career growth trajectory.
According to Qwerty, Digital Statistics in SA, 2017, out of South Africa’s total of over 50-million people, over 15-million people (about 40%) use social media platforms. The survey shows that these platforms are mainly accessed through mobile phones, and are used at least once a day.
However, ManpowerGroup’s MD, Lyndy van den Barselaar, explains that blogging is more than just a hobby.
“In order for your blog to be successful, your content needs to be relevant to your target audience, of a good quality, and new content should be added continuously. You should be passionate and knowledgeable about your subject matter, to ensure success.”
She offers some additional tips for creating a successful blog:
* Start writing on Medium or LinkedIn – In the past, you had to know at least something about technology and design to create a blog on platforms like WordPress, Blogger or a similar service. Today, the website Medium.com lets you sign up and start writing with a few clicks. Then you can share your posts on LinkedIn, Twitter or your other social networks. LinkedIn also provides users with the option to post directly through the platform – providing a great opportunity to amplify your expertise to other professionals in your network.
* Organise your thoughts – When you’ve been in the same job for a while, it’s all too easy to fall into the same routines and go through the motions. Blogging helps you break out of that complacency by forcing you to brainstorm blog topics, pay attention to trends, and organise your thoughts through writing. It creates a free professional development opportunity. When you start blogging, create a publishing schedule and stick to it to stay fresh.
* Comment on current events – Blogging gives you the opportunity to make yourself relevant every time there are headlines in your industry. “Establishing yourself as having expert knowledge and insights into your industry is an important self-branding tactic,” says van den Barselaar. For instance, if you are an expert on a topic that’s in the news, writing your own take can make you visible to colleagues in your network and people searching for this topic on Google. Resumes stay the same for long periods of time, but blogging helps you to be more dynamic and relevant.
* Use blogging as networking – Having a blog doesn’t mean you need to do all the writing. Invite a colleague or connection to write a guest post on your blog to help strengthen your connections. You can also ask to be a guest writer on other people’s blogs, which will help expand your visibility inside more networks.
* Expand into book publishing – “It is important to note that branding yourself with a blog takes time and commitment,” says van den Barselaar. Therefore after you’ve built up a body of blogging work, you can take the next step by compiling your work into book or booklet-length content. To become a published author, there’s no need to have contacts in the book publishing industry anymore. You can self-publish with tools such as iBooks or Amazon Kindle Direct. Whether you sell this content or give it away for free, having a book or eBook can elevate your credibility and open up new opportunities like business speaking, consulting or promotions.
“Building your personal brand is becoming increasingly important in a digitally-driven world, where flexibility and skill are king. Starting a blog is a wonderful tool for building your personal brand, but it is one that takes dedication and hard work,” concludes van den Barselaar.