These days it seems that everyone is familiar with blogging. Blogs provide great forums for new voices, allowing people to document and share experiences and practical knowledge. Blogging has become immensely popular in the U.S.: the blog population in America is now above 12 million, which is roughly 8% of all adult internet users. In addition, 39% of Americans who use the internet, 57 million total, currently read blogs. This wide audience makes blogs a great way to reach people and keep them informed. However, a new report issued by the Pew Internet Project finds that most bloggers primarily discus their personal lives and only a small proportion of them cover news or the political or technological spheres. In fact, only 11% of blogs focus on politics, 5% focus on news, and 4% focus on technology.
Why is this important to nonprofits? As the report shows, blogs focused on particular issues are not overly common, and a blog can be a great way to engage a particular audience. Blogs are becoming extremely popular among internet users and can be an effective way to interact with people and keep them up to date about what an organization is doing.
If you are asking yourself, "should my nonprofit start a blog?" Here are a few of the pros and cons of starting a blog from Donor Power:
Reasons not to start a blog:
1.) Blogs take time to maintain. Good blogs must be frequently updated with pertinent information.
2.) You must have a clearly defined target audience. If you don't know who you are blogging for, it is not going to go well.
Reasons you should blog:
1.) As the Pew Report shows, blogs are now reaching a huge audience and are becoming more mainstream. If you start now you can get an early advantage and gain experience.
2.) Blogs allow you to interact with your audience members and view them and their needs differently.
3.) A blog can be a marketing machine. Starting a blog worked for Stormhoek, a South African winery. Stormhoek's wine sales doubled after starting a blog that allowed people to openly discuss their wine.
Do any of your organizations have blogs? If so, what are they primarily used for? Chime in and share your experiences.
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