Social Marketing

Many of my peers are surprised to find out that I have a blog. They want to know why I have one, what I write about, and who reads it. For those who are curious, this is it.

Why?

There are a lot of reasons, from having fun to improving my writing. Mainly though, I want to control the information about me that people can readily access on the Internet. With a unique name like mine, a Google search for my name returns pages of results that are, in fact, about me. Showing up on Google is great, until something pops up that you don't like. What can you do about that? Not much. But as ecotoxicologists are fond of saying, dilution is the solution to pollution. If there is information out there about me that I don't want people to see, it's on the 6th or 7th page of results because of the web presence I'm developing.

What do you write about?

Whatever strikes my fancy, really. My broad area of interest is sustainability, and I try to keep topics related to personal sustainable living practices, sustainable food, and energy. The last is my professional interest, which I have just added to my list of blogging topics. Potential employers will Google me. They will find my blog. When they get there, I want them to see that I am actively engaged in the conversation about energy. That is just one more thing that might set me apart from other applicants.

Who reads it?

At the moment, my blog is in its infancy. Sometimes I don't think anyone reads it. I have a little analytical program set up to track visitor-ship, and it tells me more and more people are looking at my blog. This is good, but I've got a ways to go before I can truly call myself a "blogger".

Want more information?

Always thought about starting a blog but don't know how?
A friend of mine happens to be an expert at this. Not just a friend, but a former work study student that worked for me. Yeah, that's right, she's younger than me and I'm referring to her as an "expert". Basically, she saw the job she wanted, set out on a grand social marketing journey, got the job, and blogged all along the way. In the process she has developed quite the following, and a business. Check her out:

http://marianlibrarian.com/