Why the Hell Blog?
Everyone has some kind of social media they are constantly spraying pictures, posts, replies, & whatnot into. It's something they pour a sizeable chunk of their lives towards & for the longest time I had less than no interest in it. At thirteen years old I installed Snapchat & & I sent a picture of myself vomiting a rainbow to my older sister. The thing is, there wasn't a whole lot more to do with the app. It was at precisely at that point I decided I couldn't care less about that entire category of activity. What's the benefit? It seemed like a less personally enjoyable video game or show. Something that I just didn't have a reason to do. But that's wrong.
After more thinking on the subject & after several ideas simply couldn't work without it, I've come to the following conclusion. The main reason people spend so much time on social media is because it's fun. It's the exact same reason my Grandma might go to a potluck or my little sister might fill out a coloring book. Social media is fun for most of the population. The secondary reason people use social media is because it's useful. I don't just mean how the messaging systems are handy either. Social media is a golden opportunity for just about anyone selling just about anything. Take the following hypothetical:
- You sell a product where you profit $20/sale
- After a few years of work on YouTube you eventually end up with a channel that can net an average of 10k views/video.
- If a quarter of a percent (or 1 in 400) convert & buy your product every video, you'll average $500 of profit for a single video.
Is this necessarily worth the effort? Are those numbers accurate to reality? Is this example even close to optimal? I haven't the foggiest. But I do know the following:
If you have a product or service that solves someone's problem for a sane price & you aren't a total sleezebag, people will probably want to pay you to fix their problem.
The way this all loops back into blogging is pretty simple. You need some kind of social media nowadays otherwise you are throwing away tomorrow's reach (& therefore tomorrow's sales) away.
I don't like the idea of staring into a camera, & setting up proper lighting is a chore. Even on the platforms that don't technically require video like FaceBook or LinkedIn, I feel obligated to put a video there. For me, blogging was basically the only thing left. I don't mind writing so now I'm writing.
Is it the best option? For me, yes. When I ask myself if I think I could consistently run a YouTube channel, Instagram, etc. for the next five years with a primary focus on business, my answer is no. & for the rest of my life? You'd be an idiot to think it. But a blog? I know for a fact that I can windbag into a word processor until my hair turns to dust.
That said, any form of social media is a thousand times better than none. Why? There's lot's of reasons. The reason that comes to mind first is that you are building a vault of potentially useful opinions that you can later reuse on all the platforms. For example, if I later decide that running a YouTube channel isn't too much of a hemorrhoid, I'll have all of my blog posts to act as scripts. There won't be a half-dozen awkward videos where I "find my voice". I'll also get to page through my old ideas & opinions. I'll have the opportunity to decide if something is worth expanding or if it needs to be drowned in the bathtub.
I'm making two points here:
- If you want to sell stuff, setting up a persistent social presence sooner is better than later. At least, I haven't found anything to suggest otherwise.
- The idea is for any social presence to last a long time, so pick the medium you can stand the most.
I'm following my own advice by starting this blog. I'm pretty sure the next post will revolve around the question of "what the hell to blog about?" since that was what held me up once I had the idea to start.
Best,