Big Time Consultant Dead Wrong About Blogs & Social Media?

Are you famous because you blog? Or is your blog a success because you're already famous and have a great brand? Which comes first, the brand or the blog? In a twist of the chicken or the egg question, some pretty famous experts are in a heated debate online.

Debbie Weil of BlogWriteforCEO asks, "Which comes first, generally speaking: a brand or a blog? And, the central question, is social media effective at reaching a corporate audience if that's who your intended clients are?"

Weil gives a great summary of a heated debate going on over at Million Dollar Consultant Alan Weiss' ContrarianConsulting Blog. Newt Barrett of Content Marketing Today also does a great job of writing up the issues and summarizing the arguments.

Here's what stirred up the hornet's nest. Alan Weiss wrote this in a post called Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and Chance on June 4, 2008:

"Blogs are only effective if you already have a brand. People come here, or go read Seth Godin, or Marshall Goldsmith, or Jeffrey Gitomer, or David Meister, because we’re all well known in our areas of expertise. That is, a blog follows a brand, not the other way around. You can’t create a brand just with a blog, unless you’re ridiculously lucky, and business can’t be based on luck."

With over 64 comments, Weiss' blog post achieved some pretty strong reactions from a few of the Internet's most successful bloggers, notably Seth Godin and Robert Scoble. They weren't very well known before they started blogging and they've since created strong personal brands through blogging.

Weiss goes on to make other bold statements about social media being a waste of time:

"My focus is on helping consultants and entrepreneurs to market their services better and improve their lives. I don’t think it happens with social networking on the Internet."

"With rare exception, consultants aren’t going to meet key corporate buyers online."

"... it’s a lousy place to find and meet clients."

Here's further comment about Weiss from Debbie Weil, corporate blogging expert:

"Weiss is best known as the author of the book, Million Dollar Consulting, as well as a host of other books and is a consultant (according to his About page) to dozens of Fortune 500 companies. He has a distinctive - some might call it abrasive - personality that seems to go over well with his C-suite clients. His over-the-top style is amusing in person (I've heard him speak) but I find his derogatory tone on his blog - specifically, in response to comments - off-putting."

This discussion is well worth going to the source to read all the comments. Make your own mind up after reading what others have to say.

Newt Barrett shares his own story of successful branding thanks to going online in 2007 to establish his brand:

"I started blogging in October 2007 and have since written more than 200 blog posts.  Virtually everything I have written focuses on content marketing and related marketing, PR, and advertising topics. 

"When I began, hardly anybody on the Internet was aware of me.  Not all that many more were aware of the concept of ‘content marketing.’ 

"As a direct result of a consistent weekly output of content marketing related articles, my blog/website comes up #1 on Google when you search for the term, content marketing.  Similarly, in the fourth quarter of 2007 the search term, content marketing, led only a few dozen people to my site; in the first quarter of 2008, more than 1600 content marketing searches directed visitors to ContentMarketingToday.com."

What do you think? Does blogging only work if you're already known? Or is it the other way around, you get known because of your strong online presence through blogging and social networking online? One thing I can say is that The Blog Squad wouldn't be where it is today if it were not for blogging!

The Blog Squad is presenting on Branding and Blogging this Thursday, July 10, 2008 at 2 p.m. ET on a teleseminar with Arvee Robinson and Lee Pound for Speak Your Way to Wealth. Registration is free (scroll to bottom of page and click on 2008 Teleseminars link).

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Comments

[Newt Barrett]

Thanks so much for the two recent shout outs. I guess, in a way, the fact that you have given me special recognition suggests that blogging consistently in a focused way can really make a difference. I am absolutely convinced that you can build a brand from scratch on the web if you have something to say that is relevant and valuable to the business community.
Newt

[Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad]

Thanks for stopping by, Newt. And for consistently providing great content that demonstrates the power of content marketing!

[barry zweibel]

Hey Patsi (Hey Denise) ~ I love a good chicken-and-egg question. To wit: a doctor walks into his waiting room to see a chicken sitting in one chair, an egg in another. "Okay," he asks, "who came first?!"

Now I'm a big fan of Alan Weiss so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt even though it seems that he's a bit behind the times with his blogging/branding comments.

Indeed, very early in his posts he includes these key words: "From a consulting business perspective..." And that tells the tale as far as I'm concerned as *his* type of consulting (the kind that made Weiss a Million Dollar Consultant) is a pre-Internet play. So *of course* he'd argue that blogging is about brand *extension* rather than brand *creation*. I totally get that he sees it that way.

My own experience, running a business/personal life coaching company named GottaGettaCoach!( http://www.ggci.com/ ) and a few supporting blogs - GottaGettaBLOG! ( http://www.ggci-blog.com/ ) and The GottaGettaBlog! Archives ( http://www.ggci.com/blog/ )- suggest a more symbiotic relationship between brand and blog: Sometimes clients and prospects come for the brand and stay for the blog; other times they come to the blog (via a related Google search) and stay for the brand.

That's my view, anyway.

[Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad]

Thanks, Barry, for your perspectives. Sometimes I get the feeling that people jump all over a post like this because they know controversy is good for traffic and they want to be part of the fray. In order to do so, they exaggerate view points and make extreme statements. The reality is a little of both sides of the argument, and it all depends.

You've made a great name for yourself - and it hasn't been exclusively through your blog. You're active on multiple fronts. And your blog is certainly doing a good job of extending your brand.

But it would be hard to get that brand recognition without blogging, I would think. Thanks for stopping by.

[Dulcita Love]

Social Media is directly influencing the number of blogs I chose to visit now.

Because of Facebook, Twitter, and Plurk, I will hear about a particular blog post of interest, which is exactly how I arrived at this post.

So the change afoot is that readers will be touching in for post-specific topics found via micro-blogging. For those who are using micro-blogging, these 140 character statements are very valuable real estate for attracting traffic.

Many times, I don’t know what the person’s brand is. That’s why I visit their blog: to gain a better understanding of their brand beyond what is posted on their social media profile.

Other times, someone will send a blog link in response to a something I have posted in Twitter and because I am in contact with them and what they are sending is relevant, I will check out the link more so than if I had received a link in a broadcast newsletter.

So, there’s the content-driven reason to visit a blog and the social-driven reason to visit a blog. For those who blog, social media opens doors to readers who might not find you otherwise. No matter the reason for the visit, it seems the opportunities to reach more people is only growing.

Dulcita Love

[Kathleen Gage]

Without a doubt, blogging and social networking can (and does) help to build one's brand.

I have done so with several clients who had no visibility prior to a very strategic plan for their online position which included proactive blogging and building a strong network in social networks.

Although the majority of my clients are speakers, coaches, authors and consultants, I do have one client who has an eBay store. With some content driven posts to her blog and involvement in a primary social network, traffic (and sales) on her eBay store have consistently been on the rise.

Kathleen Gage
The Street Smarts Marketer

[Jeanne May]

Prior to September 2007 all my work was offline... and since that time I've had to develop an online presence. Blogging definitely established my brand... and to a very lesser extent getting involved in social media sites.
For me it has not just been about doing one thing... but rather a combination of strategies with a huge emphasis on blogging.

Jeanne

[Evan]

I think a blog can probably be used for either PR (establishing a brand) or advertising (maintaining a brand).

It probably doesn't bring in a whole lot of customers for business advisors but other fields are very different.

I think we need to give thought to the role of content and search engines and so on. The brand probably doesn't affect those who come from search engines or some social media (who are interested in the topic) but maybe those who come other ways(?)

[SEO Experts]

Hi,

Social Media Marketing is a form of internet marketing which seeks to achieve branding and marketing communication goals through the participation in various social media networks....