My first time

If you promise not to tell anyone, I’ll share a secret: I am a virgin. There I said it. Whew, I feel better.

Oh, to clarify… a blogger virgin, that is. This is my first. Who would have guessed? Everyone is doing it. Imagine, a marketer of my age never having blogged before. Here’s the thing: I’m generally the type of gal who speaks when she has something to say. Not to fill a silence. Not to hear my own voice. It’s not that I don’t have opinions, I do have a voice. The way I express myself is to self-edit with thoughtful consideration. I choose my words carefully.

Or, maybe I am just a plain hold-out. Not wanting to be a “Me, too! I am out here blogging!” marketer and waiting for the blogging trend to fade away. Nah. Truth be told: I was a very late adopter of Facebook as well.

Please don’t misunderstand, I am a social media advocate! A big proponent for its use with the right message in the right places. I am still absolutely awe-struck at the tremendous, unparalleled impact social media can have on a brand in real time and how it has changed the way marketers do our jobs.

Consumers have never been able to connect with, support, or repel a brand like this before. When you really think about it, social media is a marketer’s dream. Now we can hyper-target our messages to our audiences, really connect with them and measure our consumers’ engagement. That coveted, all powerful, word-of-mouth advertising morphed into a vocal keyboard network most of us couldn’t have dreamed up just ten or 12 years ago. Social media has changed the strategy and tactics of marketing like nothing that preceded it.

So back to blogging. Now that I’m officially a blogger, I wanted to share my take on the top reasons for you to blog. There are dozens of lists published about why to blog, the top ten reasons, nine reasons, and even the top 19. Here are seven worth mentioning:

7. It’s free!

6. To practice and improve writing skills

5. To connect and engage

4. To share knowledge

3. To give your company a voice

2. To give your company a personality

1. For the metrics! Let’s be honest, we’re all working to drive SEO!

Check out more of the top lists.

In the future, I plan to share my wit (hopefully) and wisdom (naturally) on topics related to women, particularly business women and especially female Millennials. Psst… Millennials? You may be getting a bad rep out there and you may benefit by some observations and advice now and then. I think you may be out there listening… stay tuned.

So there it is. My first blog post. I’ve spent time thinking about what I’d like to say in this very first post – after all, your first time should be memorable, right? So, was it everything you hoped it would be?