How to Use a Blog to Share Your Historic Preservation Message
Advocacy work is all about communication and persuasion. And today's social media tools can make it easier than ever for your historic preservation group to communicate its advocacy message to a large online audience. One of these popular new tools is the blog. The term blog is a contraction of the words "web" and "log."
A blog is a platform for posting web-based personal narratives about a particular issue, somewhat like a diary or a personal log. But unlike diaries and personal logs, blogs are available to anyone with web access via a blog hosting site. Many of these blog-hosting sites are free. And unlike the static content on a traditional website, blogs have a built-in writer/reader dialogue function.
Establish Your Blogging Style
Blog entries, or posts, are typically written in the first person. The blog writer, known as the "blogger," establishes a distinctive voice or persona. Blog posts are usually short relative to standard web content, which means bloggers can write more posts more often. Over time, the blog becomes like a regularly updated public journal. The article Six Different Kinds of Nonprofit Blogs suggests common blog styles or formats used by nonprofit organizations.
The blog platform allows your blog readers — also known as "followers" — to easily share your group's blog content with others in their social networks. Most blogs offer you the ability to add share links to each blog page. These links allow your followers to easily post a link to your blog content on their personal web pages (such as their Facebook page) or to email the blog link to their contacts.
You can also add an RSS feed to your blog. An RSS feed distributes your new blog postings to anyone who subscribes to the feed via the subscriber's feed reader. Your blog hosting site will provide you with instructions for setting up an RSS feed on your blog.
The dialogue function of a blog offers a comments feature, where readers can respond to ideas and information in your blog. This creates valuable user-generated content for your group's web presence. Engaging in dialogue helps make personal connections with your readers and build support for your advocacy group and its cause. Your blog hosting site may allow you to deliver multimedia content. For example, in addition to or in place of text, you may be able to record and post an audio blog or a video blog, sometimes called a "vlog."
Moderate Your Blog
The "blogosphere" is a great place to communicate regularly and often with your supporters. But before your group jumps in with both feet, you should consider the responsibilities and time commitment needed to maintain a blog. Your group will need to generate blog content on a regular basis. If your blog content is not updated regularly, visitors who find your blog outdated are unlikely to make a return visit. They may even assume that your group is no longer active.
If your group decides that it can produce blog content regularly, you must also decide if you have the resources necessary to support a comments section. If you invite comments on your blog, someone in your group will need to monitor the content posted to the comments section. Your blog hosting site should allow you to turn off the comments feature of your blog if you decide you cannot monitor this content. It would also be wise for your group to develop a social media policy. TechSoup offers some advice on creating a social media policy.
Keep in mind that your preservation group does not need to host a blog to make the most of the blogosphere. Members of your group can participate in related blogs by posting relevant comments. This approach may even be more effective than starting your own blog, since it takes time for a blog to develop a following.
Follow Good Blogging Etiquette
If you decide to host a blog, you should always exercise good blogging etiquette. Your blog will be more effective if you do these three things:
- Generate interesting content. Like any good writer, you must identify interesting topics that catch people's attention and curiosity. These topics may or may not provoke discussion, but they will clearly demonstrate that you (and by extension, your advocacy group) is on top of things, like a good journalist.
- Practice seeding and weeding. If you decide to invite a dialogue on your blog, you should seed the debate by writing about topics that compel others to comment. If comments go off track — or if they're irrelevant, hurtful to others, or mean-spirited — you should remove those comments. These weeds could choke a more productive discussion. To prevent these weeds, include standard rules for engagement on your blog.
- Develop an ongoing dialogue. If you allow readers to comment on your blog entries, you should engage in conversation with them. You can do this by replying to comments and producing new questions to invite additional responses. By developing this dialogue, you will increase reader engagement and loyalty in your blog.
One other note of caution: When you post content on your blog, make certain you protect your original content and respect others' intellectual property rights.
Resources
If you are looking for a blog hosting site, check out these popular and free blog-hosting sites:
Learn More
Historic Preservation Advocacy Guide
Find more how-to articles about historic preservation advocacy.
10 Ways to Make Blogs Work For You
Blog tips from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.