Blogs Can Monetize Through Connection

As a successful content distribution platform, blogs need to be about transparency and trust. Blogs need to engage their readers with unique, quality content. Monetization of blogs comes more in the form of trust than dollars.

The promise of a unique experience

A challenge to blogging as it enters the Monetization Phase is that, to a degree, traditional blog functionality is being replaced by Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. But maintaining one’s own space (corporate or personal) is important — your blog is a place to cut out all the noise that’s on those other sites.

In the future, blogs will be a source of news, but also of humanity. Whereas Twitter and Facebook enable their users to get immediate feedback on their content, dedicated, quality blogs reward dedicated, quality readers. It’s like RSS — an audience has to be dedicated to visit your blog, because they are leaving their own personal space and entering yours. The result is a more dedicated, engaged, quality audience. The challenge in attracting that audience is to make sure that your blog offers something that people want, that they value, that is worth their time, and something they can’t get elsewhere.

Who’s doing it right?

What makes blogging such a great platform is the freedom to attract such a niche audience and truly own the content you create.

Southwest Airlines' blog produces excellent, engaging content. Sales and marketing are only indirect results of this engagement.

One of my favorite brands in the social media space is Southwest Air. Their blog, Nuts About Southwest, consolidates all of their social media activities into one space and offers varied content written by employees themselves and not the faceless “Admin.”

What truly comes across in reading their posts is a dedication to the work Southwest does. Not every post is focused on promoting airline service, but some do. Others are PR. Still others  are simple ruminations on the charming destinations you can travel to on Southwest. But the quality of the content and honesty of the authors reach well beyond simple marketing and influence readers in a much deeper way.

By sharing an honest, human side, Southwest has created a very strong personality on the web … and lets their corporate site sell airline tickets. In fact, the site itself proclaims that “Nuts about Southwest is all about our Employees, Customers, airplanes, and airports.” All this honesty and engagement endears Southwest to its readers as a trustworthy company.

How the personal blogger can benefit from this model

So you’re not selling seats on an airplane — most bloggers aren’t, at least, not the ones I’m reading. How can they benefit from the kind of trust and engagement that Southwest employs? I recall the controversy surrounding Izea (on behalf of K-Mart) sponsoring a post by Chris Brogan on the Dadomatic blog. Form your own opinion about the ethics of a sponsored post; but at best, it is just one way that companies can market on blogs and bloggers can make money.

Successful bloggers are those who engage their readers and earn trust — and influence, by extension. More sponsorship models will evolve from this as brands realize how powerful this trust can be.

The takeaway

A blog is not a direct marketing platform. Nor is it a direct news source. It is a blog, and good blogs offer readers something that traditional marketing and news media do not offer: the human side of reporting.

Openness and honesty lend themselves to engaging, valuable content — the most important element of online content distribution.

My questions to you

Which bloggers do you read and trust? How are you using your personal or company blog to engage your readers?