LIFE AT THE OUTPOSTS

Five Reasons Why Your Blog Needs Outpost Exposure

Guest Blog Post By Chaenara O’Brien

As Keith Keller and I discussed what we’re calling “The Outpost approach,” we couldn’t help but be intrigued by the daily evolution of blogging and how contagious it has become from being somewhat irrelevant just a few years ago. In 2015, Hubspot identified four insanely impressive blogging stats which showed just how blogging has planted itself as an integral puzzle piece in the bustling world of inbound marketing.

B2B marketers that use blogs receive 67% more leads than those that do not.

Marketers who have prioritized blogging are 13x more likely to enjoy positive ROI.

By 2020, customers will manage 85% of their relationships without talking to a human.

From ideation to publication, the reality now is that anyone has a shot at being the next Ernest Hemmingway and using publishing platforms or ‘outposts’ such as LinkedIn Pulse or Medium, can help you do that anywhere, anytime. Mashable, VentureBeat, and The Huffington Post have rapidly evolved from singular guest blog posts to entire web communities mainly because blogs are very much like personal conversations, making it both relevant and enjoyable to a globally expansive readership.

Five Reasons Why Your Blog Needs Outpost Exposure

(1) Network Relevance

Owning a dedicated blog should be a primary tool in your personal brand development kit for the long term. However, using ‘outpost’ platforms can kick start your content marketing ‘engine’ with engaging those who already deem you relevant in their circle of peers and subscribed content such as those considered your LinkedIn connections. In other words, you have a ‘ready and waiting test’ audience who have placed some degree of trust in your character. Using their engagement actions (such as clicks, shares, and comments) to develop insights on your storytelling impact, promoting your work to those already connected to you can be a great place to start for gaining traction on blog exposure. Because you’re technically ‘connected’ to those listed to those on your profile, you can even reach out and solicit feedback on what readers think of your content and what topical issues they would like to see more of.

(2) Influencer Influencing

Whether it’s BlogSpot, LI Pulse or Medium, you’re running with giants. From Ev Williams (CEO of Medium) to Loic Le Meur (co-founder of LeWeb and serial investor), there’s a probable chance someone worth thousands of engagements can see your work. Not to mention, between Google’s high search ratings and automatic SEO functionalities, your content is being pumped through such high traffic channels that a simple keyword search can bring immediate light to your newly posted outpost content. Not to say your personal blog cannot do the same, but ‘outposts’ leverage their ginormous digital footprint to give their publishing platforms a huge handle for being seen at the click of a keystroke.

(3) Acquisition Versus Retention

Using backlinks, mentions, and posting behind a profile which speaks to your personal brand, outposts are a fantastic playground for acquiring a following. At the end of the day, you visitors to your blog to subscribe to your content frequently. One thing to remember, social audiences are fickle which means it’s your job to make them want, need, and inadvertently support your work by means of views and shares. Outposts act as a plane for ‘acid tests’, using metrics on viewership, likes, and shares, one can gauge the initial impression of their already targeted audience. If your work is worth loving, your re-direct to your blog domain will see a relative rise in page visits or CTA engagements. If not, you’ve got some work to do before you can attract the desired following.

(4) Audience Insight Development

One of the most favourable characteristics of blogging is that the only opportunity cost is time. In today’s digital hemisphere, there’s hardly an engagement you cannot measure. Using typical analytic dashboards as those shown on LI Pulse, you’re able to gain keen insights about economic, personal and behavioral elements of your audience personas. When this data starts to tell a story about who’s interested in what you have to say, bloggers can then shift and tailor topical pieces to suit audience preferences using simple tools like channel tags. Channel tags support targeted keyword searches and also tell readers what content topics you’re a declared expert in.

(5) Organic Personal Brand Promotion

Your personal brand now is everything. Whether you blog for the sake of getting your thoughts out there or building a professional following with the intention of knowledge sharing or even landing your dream job, outposts can do wonders for your personal brand. The best place to start with your profile summary giving teasing snippets of past experiences you want your readership to find identifiable ground to connect with. For instance, if you’re looking to get into the wildly competitive jungle of AdTech, let your profile already speak to that so that the ‘skill’ factor standouts. Your long form ‘outpost’ pieces can now act as an active portfolio to support and validate the professional background you highlighted as credible and noteworthy.

All in all, outposts not only promote what you know but give rise to recognition of your potential. They act more as complementary mechanisms for pushing viewers to your main stay blog rather than supplementary channels of content exposure. Whether its testing an audience or posting teaser pieces on a series of content you’re working to publish, life at the outpost just might give you direction you need to take your work to higher, braver and ultimately more rewarding levels.

MEET CHAENARA O’BRIEN

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Chaenara O’Brien has over eight plus years’ experience in Oil & Gas Marketing Operations and most recently was a Chief Marketing Officer for Regional Engineering firm in the Caribbean. She completed her M.sc. in Energy, Trade & Finance in 2008 from Cass Business School (UK) and went on to become a Member of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (MICS) in London upon joining Shell International shortly after. In addition to a postgraduate diploma in Advanced Financial modeling, Chae has also completed many short courses within the Oxford-Princeton program spanning Finance, Energy trading and Strategic Marketing.

During her time at TOSL Engineering, she created and managed an independent marketing unit , oversaw the creation of a new company-wide digital strategy which included a re-vamped website, corporate representation on all social channels as well as creating a business development framework for global agency and partnership development. Before that stint, Chaenara worked in Barbados with Shell Oil International working as part of the Trading Operations team where she supported voyage operations for product books valued over $US 200 million.

Having moved recently to NY for family reasons, Chae spends her time volunteering as a Digital Strategist for SCORE NYC, a wide network of experienced mentors supporting over 15,000 small businesses statewide. She hopes to continue working in the field of Leadership and Strategic Marketing using a distinct passion for Digital Strategy Optimization as well as Corporate Road-mapping and Design.