Bloggers are amazing people who add a great deal of value to my life and work – and in my social media saturated work/life, that means a great deal!  Every day I am thrilled to be part of the awesome blogger community, and here’s why you (and your brand) need to love bloggers too:

1. Bloggers are committed to building a business around what they love.

This unto itself is admirable and inspiring because it takes courage, skill, and determination.   Add to that their openness to opportunities and you quickly see the potential powerful collaborations they can form!

2. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Google+ are only platforms; Bloggers are the true power of social media.

Without real people effectively using these platforms, they hold very little value.  Bloggers turn the platforms into multi-stream connectors which bring together people with similar interests and connect them (and their networks) to relevant products, services, and brands.

3. Bloggers maximize their strengths.

Of course not all Bloggers do everything well, but what they do well, they are smart enough to keep doing over and over again.  Wise repetition and consistency are a welcome relief in a constantly-changing digital world!

4. Bloggers tell it like it IS.

Bloggers have no problems opening up and telling you what they think – positive, negative, or somewhere in between.  They review products in order to share information and honest opinions / recommendations with their audiences, so through them you can get important REAL feedback about your brand, products, and services.

5. Bloggers value, and excel, at engagement and interaction.

Because Bloggers know how to engage and interact with their readers — and place a high value on just that – they have the potential to be amazing marketers, brand advocates, and facilitators of relationships.

6. Bloggers are typically OPEN, POSITIVE, and SUPPORTIVE.

Each of these qualities separately attracts people… when you put them all together, the magnetic power grows exponentially.  If you want your brand to get noticed amidst the “crowd” of information out there, a healthy dose of magnetism could be just the thing to do the trick!

7. Bloggers know how to build relationships with their audience.

Is this social media age, relationships are key to effective marketing.  Bloggers know how to express themselves in a very authentic and genuine way, so their interactions go well beyond a one-time impression – their readers keep coming back because they TRUST the Bloggers and are HEARD by the Bloggers.  This is a marketing goldmine for your brand, so make sure you handle the Blogger relationship as the incredibly valuable resource it is!

8. Bloggers have their finger on the consumer pulse.

Bloggers, through their ongoing reader relationships, are able to relate to consumers’ lives.  They understand consumers concerns, what motivates them, and how they can be best served.  Wise marketers will actively invest in this incredibly valuable form of “field research” that effectively gets at the underlying reasons/needs/desires that influence consumer behaviors… and how it evolves every day.

9. Bloggers know how to build and nurture communities.

A well-written, relevant, timely, entertaining and accurate blog becomes a prime slice of digital real estate for a community of readers with similar interests.  Bloggers put time and energy into not just writing their blog posts, but also encouraging and facilitating conversation between and among readers.   This in turn creates communities that are great places to solicit valuable honest feedback, as well as many other valuable opportunities.

10. Bloggers have true influence

As Bloggers build relationships with their audience, they become a trusted information source to many of them.  Consumers frequently turn to their social networks (blog communities included) for product and service recommendations, and as a trusted source, Bloggers have the power to greatly influence purchase decisions.

11. Bloggers create static/searchable content

Let’s not forget that there are some advantages to static content – like searchability! Although Bloggers frequently update information, it is still considered static content, giving it a boost with search engines and allowing it to live and keep on giving well into the future.

12. Bloggers ARE the future of scalable, relevant, and “social” media.

Bloggers have multiple tools at their disposal, and know how to use them well within the context of human relationships.  That skill set will be highly effective and influential no matter what the next great technology is.  Invest in the Blogging community and you automatically invest in your future marketing success.

Originally posted at 12Most.com