Blogging for the Greater Good
By Les Conklin
This is the first of a series of posts introducing GPPABlog. The second post in the series is entitled Contributing to the Greater Good.
From across cyberspace, the blogosphere beckons –
benefits await!
A blog provides communication opportunities for the Greater Pinnacle Peak Association (GPPA) and its supporters beyond those provided by A Peak at The Peak magazine, e-Peak Newsletter, and its websites.
A blog is less formal than our other publications. It can facilitate reader feedback. It can attract the attention of a fresh audience to our efforts to preserve the local natural environment and protect quality of life.
GPPABlog can provide these seven benefits, and more.
Advocacy. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” ~ Margaret Mead
A blog can be a powerful vehicle for promoting and publicizing our mission. It can also promote and publicize the mission of the local nonprofits that we support, enhancing the image of our association and partners.
Resource. “Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.” ~ Kofi Annan
A blog can be an important information resource that supplements our existing print and electronic publications. It can inform our members, supporters, and others about relevant issues and activities of local residents, organizations, and governments. Like our other publications, it can serve as a voice for local writers, photographers, officials, and activists.
Relationship Building. “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you” ~ Dale Carnegie
A blog will enable our association to establish and strengthen relationships with members, donors, local nonprofits, advertisers and prospective advertisers, local writers and photographers, government officials and staff, and experts in our area of interest. Blogs are an important communication vehicle for younger professionals, an audience that is increasing in numbers in our community.
Fostering Dialogues. “Let us make a special effort to stop communicating with each other, so we can have some conversation.” ~ Mark Twain
Our magazine and our websites are familiar ways of one-way communication. We put down the words and others read them. A blog is interactive. An author writing for our blog can take a position, make a point, or provide insight, and readers can post comments, perhaps leading to a conversation and a beneficial relationship.
Exposure. “Search engine marketing and search engine optimization are critically important to online businesses. You can spend every penny you have on a website, but it will all be for nothing if nobody knows your site is there.” ~ Marc Ostrofsky
A blog can be the centerpiece of social media marketing and improve search engine visibility. Search engines, e.g. Google, Bing, AOL, etc., often give higher ranking to blogs because they are seen as providing “thought leadership” rather than promotional content. Because it’s interactive and readily accessible, a blog tends to be updated more frequently, providing an advantage in real-time search results. Because of their currency and content, blog posts are more likely to be referenced in news stories, articles, and other posts. A blog can be a valuable source of information in strengthening our social media presence.
Affordable and Practical. “All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.” ~ Mark Twain
We can do this! The cost of entry for blogging and social media is close to zero. A blog is relatively easy to set up and maintain, much easier than a website. Our blog is already integrated with our association’s website, e-Peak Newsletter, and social media accounts. GPPA’s greatest resource has always been the sweat equity invested by its members, supporters, editorial contributors, and editors. Sweat equity has enabled The Peak magazine to support the community for 30 years. Building a successful blog will require much less effort and with the help of our traditional publications can bring GPPA success for another 30 years.
Risk / Reward. “A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.” ~ William G.T. Shedd
The rewards of expanding our community dialog and exposure for outweigh the risks of cost, possible failure, and surrendering some control of our association’s message.
Does your nonprofit organization have a blog? Was the risk worth the reward?
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This is the first of a series of posts introducing GPPABlog. The second post in the series is entitled Contributing to the Greater Good.
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