SmartBlogs on Social Media

SmartPulse — our weekly reader poll in SmartBrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social-media practices and issues.

Last week’s poll question:

Which blogging platform do you prefer to use?

• WordPress.org (self-hosted version) 26.30%
• WordPress.com (hosted version) 24.03%
• Not blogging yet 21.75%
• Blogger 15.58%
• Other 5.52%
• Typepad 2.60%
• Drupal 1.95%
• Joomla 1.95%
• Movabletype 0.32%

Is anyone surprised that fully half the respondents to this poll use WordPress in some form — either at .com or .org? The marketshare WordPress has gained is both hard-earned and well-deserved. However, being a Typepad user I have to say I am shocked at the small number of respondents that use it or its big sister, MovableType.

Business blogging can be one of the most effective means by which a company can demonstrate its expertise and differentiate itself from the competition. I’ve been blogging for six years and can testify to its powerful effects. Without a doubt, blogging has changed my life.

To the 21% of you who don’t blog, I recommend you give it a try. Whether you use WordPress, Typepad or another platform, the benefits far surpass the effort required.

Paul Chaney is an social-media marketing consultant, sought-after speaker and author of “The Digital Handshake: Seven Proven Strategies to Grow Your Business Using Social Media,” published by Wiley. Paul sits on the advisory boards for the Social Media Marketing Institute, Women’s Wisdom Network and Smartbrief on Social Media.