Well, here we are in August, 2010 and location-based social networks are all the rage. Everyone’s talking about Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp and now, Facebook Places. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn are all considered mainstream and imperative in terms of marketing.

However, it is obvious that many, if not most, businesses have yet to venture into the simplest and arguably the most effective type of social marketing…blogging.

Blogging is nothing new. Blogs date back to 1997, took off in 1999 and were considered mainstream by 2004.

It’s 2010 and your company hasn’t started blogging. Why is that? Are you afraid of what someone might post on your blog? Here’s the deal…people are going to talk about your company, whether it’s on your blog or in the grocery store. Perhaps you don’t see the importance and you’re not completely sold on blogging for business.

A recent study by eMarketer shows a strong increase in companies entering the blogosphere. Their study predicts that 43% of companies will be blogging by 2012.

Here’s a short list of 5 reasons why your company should be actively blogging:

1 - Blogging gives you the opportunity to establish yourself as the expert in your industry or field. Are you a local fitness center or gym? Your blog should contain posts and information on why someone should join your fitness center, as opposed to your competition. You never want to downgrade your competition on your blog. Rather, focus on what your fitness center has to offer and emphasize all the positive attributes of your facility and staff.

2 – Blogging gives your current and potential customers a platform to ask questions and communicate with your business. This adds credibility and can increase customer loyalty. Monitoring your blog closely, answering questions and replying to comments will promote trust and transparency.

3 – Search engines love fresh content. If you don’t add new content to your website on a regular basis the search engines have nothing new to crawl and distribute. Integrating a blog into your site makes it easy to post fresh information on a regular basis for the search engines to find.

4 – A blog is another chance to issue a press release, announce an event, launch a new product or make an important announcement. Blogging is marketing. What are you marketing? Your business!

5 – Your blog serves as what I call your “content distribution source.” With every blog post you publish, you can take that article, create profiles on dozens of other social platforms and post. Not only will this generate more traffic to your blog and website, but you’re also creating links, which will aid in search engine optimization.

Maximizing your blogging efforts will take time, but it’s worth it. Post often, include important keywords for your business/industry and engage with your audience. In my opinion, this should be the first step in creating a powerful social media presence and personality for your company or business.

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If you’re launching a new product — or even just putting new energy into an old product — the holy grail of marketing is a hearty endorsement from a popular independent blogger.

But how do you do that? What can you as a marketer do to get bloggers talking about your product?

In the video below, Sarah Pinnix (@RealLifeSarah on Twitter), a popular and prolific independent blogger based in Boone, NC, explains.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

According to The 2009 Women in Social Media Study by BlogHer, iVillage and Compass Partners, 64% of women are nearly twice as likely to use blogs than social networking sites as a source of information, 43% for advice and recommendations and 55% for opinion-sharing, while they 75% are 50 percent more likely to turn to social networking sites as a means of keeping in touch with friends and family.
Since the release of last year’s Benchmark Study, women are turning in even greater numbers to blogs (55%), social networks (75%) and online status updating (20%) as primary sources of community interaction, entertainment and information.
Participation by Active US Women in Social Media (Millions)
Age GroupMM OnlineMM Participate in Social Media
Millenials (18-26)13.39.7
GenX (27-43)25.015.4
Boomers (44-62)28.913.3
Matures (63-77)11.93.6
Source: Compass Partners, May 2009

Of the 42 million women engaged in social media weekly:
55% of women participate in some form of blogging activity
75% participate in social networks such as Facebook or MySpace
20% use Twitter
45% of survey respondents decided to purchase an item after reading about it on a blog
Susan Wright, President of Compass Partners LLC., says “Bloggers have a broad reach in the social media population… women who blog are the most actively engaged social media participants.. seeking out new ideas and ways to share their opinions… ”
As a result of this increased activity, the 2009 study found that women online are now more than ever before spending less time engaging in traditional media activities like:
Reading the newspaper (39%)
Reading magazines (36%)
Listening to the radio (31%)
Watching TV (30%)
Talking on the phone (28%)
Meeting in person (19%)
The demographic profile of social media users and blog participants in the general population provides a targeting clue:
Demographic Profile (% of General Population)
DemographicAny Social Media UserPublish or Post a Blog
Married/Living together60%57%
Number in HH (actual number)3.13.2
Children at home4451
Employed full time2727
Education
High school or less2321
Tech or trade school graduate66
Some college/university2221
College/university grad2221
Post grad work44
Master/doctorate degree76
Income ($)
< $25,0002324
25-34.91517
35-49.92018
50-74.92021
75-99.9119
100-124.966
> 12555
Source: Source: Compass Partners, May 2009

The Executive Summary (PDF format) of the 2009 Women in Social Media Study by BlogHer, iVillage and Compass Partners.