There are lots of different ways to engage with the blogosphere and use it for your business and this doesn’t necessarily mean jumping in with both feet and setting up a blog on day one.

Some people prefer to be passive observers and use blogs primarily for research, while others make use of their full potential and develop their own ‘community’ around their own corporate blog. For me there are 6 main types which I would describe as follows:

The Listener

The Listener (or Onlooker) isn’t actively engaging with blogs or other bloggers but does have an interest in what is going on, and so browses blogs just to look at and listen to what others are saying. Being a Listener is a key start point for anyone (or any business) intending to start a blog because it helps to find out which topics are important, and it also gives a feel for what does and doesn’t work. Using an RSS reader, it’s wonderfully easy to follow a number of blogs once you have found them.

The Researcher

Similar to the Listener, the Researcher has a specific purpose in mind when checking the content of the blogs. This may be to monitor what is being said about the organisation (akin to the “press cuttings” file of days gone by) or about the industry in which it operates. However, in many more cases, this research is a key phase in planning and launching its own corporate blog as it provides invaluable information on who the key bloggers are and what conversations are currently taking place.

The Contributor

The Contributor has taken its first steps in interacting with the blogosphere, by leaving comments on other blogs and so participating in those conversations. An excellent way to gain visibility, leaving comments is a good way to practise one’s own blogging style as well as promote the organisation’s own blog if it is to be set up.

The Builder

Having done the research, taken advice and planned the blog accordingly, the Builder is now in a position to start and build a company blog. With your own blog, you can now initiate the conversations, spread its own message and attract and communicate with people interested in the area. It also gives a place to direct people as you continue to comment on their blogs. The Builder is now in control of what is being said rather than simply reading or reacting to others’ posts, allowing them to guide the conversation and the topics to meet with the requirements of the company.

The Host

Finally, there is a full immersion in the blogosphere with an active blog and an active community around it which you engage with at all levels. Here the Host, through the blog, is facilitating not just a two way conversation with readers but a multidirectional conversation with a number of participants. Using the blog as a key central marketing and communications tool, the Host can develop the relationships it has with the blog’s readers and, in doing so, build up both its own reputation and trust.

Of course, you could just remain a Sleeper who is aware of what business blogs are but decides not to participate at all in the blogosphere, thus allowing competitors to gain the first mover advantage.

So what type are you and, more importantly, what type would you like to be? Let us know!

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