Roped in 3 New Bloggers (yee-haw!)

Having had limited access to all things web this week, I surrendered to being light on the blogging beat. You can't really be blogging when you're the discussion leader; it's sorta rude. And you can't blog while flying since I can't afford a private jet with net access. Yet.

But this is not a post about how much I missed my blog--or you guys' blogs. This is a post about what may just be the most essential activity in furthering this great medium: engaging new participants. Which, ironically enough, happens just as much when you're off your blog, as when you're on it.

How do I know this? Because while I was clocking 6,000 miles of air time and about 48 hours of land time, I helped to rope in 3 new bloggers. Best of all?  Not a single one is in marketing (ha!). All sorts of other interesting fields. Almost as great? Their ages range between 40 - 60 (it's not the 20s and 30s demos that need as much prodding to swim into these scary new waters). I'll share URLs when their blogs launch, but hailing from points east, west and smack in the middle:

• Blogger #1 is a NYC detective that has cracked many headline cases in his tenure and now heads up security for a well-known TV studio (I can't blog on the juicy details, sorry). I can tell you that his staff is forever monitoring blogs for what is being said, but do so for "threat-assessment reasons". So he can't really blog there since he's keeping evildoers at bay from his network's celebrities. But now he'll be part of the conversation on other blogs and one day soon, his own.
• Blogger #2 is a well-heeled expert in food safety. Besides learning all about what's missing from our food sanitation processes (trust me, you don't want the details), it's important that these advocates use blogging as a platform to push better food-safety practices. We all eat, after all.
• Blogger #3 is an eco-friendly company that has invented a new process to cut down on harmful chemicals in business applications. Our planet could use a break from chemicals. So while the planet can't blog, these guys can.

While I'm pleased with helping push three newbies into new technologies, it's not about quantity, it's about engaging thoughtful, brainy, interesting people to join the conversation. To show them just how much they have to share. People aren't used to being producers, they're used to being consumers. They need a little wrangling. So, be it a flight, a business meeting, a subway ride or over lunch you might just find that you can rope in some newcomers, too.

It was so cute when one of the gentlemen--after walking him through blogging and my blog--told me how blogs are great marketing tools. Yea, I know that. Now he knows it, too. (woo-hoo!)

Comments

[nvineberg]

I can certainly vouch for the influence of CK. Over a period of several weeks, she influenced me to get into blogging, as a way of benefiting clients of my PR firm, www.VinebergCommunications.com. It worked. This week we were featured by PR WEEK in a 'Critical Hit of the Week' article on GoodStorm.com, a client that has developed a revolutionary eCommmerce platform for selling music, DVDs, books and games. We launched GoodStorm's MeCommerce™ service via bloggers, and their exposure led to key placements in Motley Fool and the Financial Times. So all thanks to CK...always persistent, smart, forward thinking and caring.