Social media has completely transformed the media landscape and what it means to be ‘social’.

We now have ‘friends’ all over the world, news breaks within seconds, and everyone is an expert in anything from AI to zorbing. Instead of looking something up in a dictionary, we now say ‘ok Google’ or ask Alexa…Whatever you need to know, you can find someone who has been there, done that and written about it on their social media channels or blog.

Decision making has also become a whole new ball game. New products are being released all the time and you can bet that someone has written a full-length review, how-to guide or vlog (video blog) and posted it on their YouTube channel.

Other peoples’ opinions and recommendations play a massive part in our purchase decisions – far more so than organisations telling us how good their products and services are. For example, when booking a hotel, how many of us use review sites like tripadvisor.com to see what the rooms, food, beds, and bathrooms are like? Or use social media sites like Instagram to look up holiday destinations to see real photos from real people, not the polished images on websites and in brochures?

For years, PR and media experts have said that word of mouth is the best form of recommendation and that’s exactly what blogs and other social media channels can be – cyber word of mouth. PR for a digital world is all about two-way communication and making sure you get the right messages out to customers – as well as listening to what they want and need.

So, it makes sense to work hard at ensuring you deliver the best experience possible of your product or service to ensure that all the talk is good stuff. In reality, comments won’t always be positive and reading what others have to say about you on social media or online may be a very public way to be told about your faults. But at least when you know you’ve got something wrong, you can do something about it. Failing to listen to public opinion is when problems set in so make sure you monitor your media outlets on a regular basis.

Positive blogs and posts can be so much more effective than advertising, which companies throw thousands of pounds at each year. Everyone knows that adverts are created to carefully portray a specific image but genuine glowing reports from bloggers can be worth a mint in terms of PR…and it’s all free!

Finally, if your company or individual staff run blogs that are updated regularly and are followed by others, it can be a great way to ensure your website ranks highly thanks to increasing reach and engagement. The more you update your blog, the higher ranking you will receive, because Google likes websites that are updated regularly.

So, to blog or not to blog? We say go for it!