By Gary VaynerchukStarting a blog has never been easier and here is where to start a blog: Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Medium. Now, I know what you're saying --- "Those aren't blogs". Actually, they are. Any social media platform can be treated like a blog because that is where people are listening.Currently, many "marketing gurus" will preach that blogging is dead, that it's over, and that the personal blog has failed.I want to point out just how wrong they are.Blogging is now the establishment itself. Start a blog on any social media platform and engage your audience. 

Where to Start a Blog

 Think about it: if you have a website and are putting out content on it, like I always talk about, you are blogging. Twitter was flat-out known as a micro-blogging platform and now we have new platforms like Medium that point very strongly to being a blogging platform.I would even argue that Instagram is a form of blogging in itself; A visual diary for your life. Or, Snapchat serving as a blogging platform built around the promise of content taking 10 seconds or less to consume.So no, blogging is not dead. It's as alive as ever. Blogging has simply morphed and changed into a much broader category where blog creation, and the question to where you should be starting a blog, is very different. A stand alone independent website run on a wordpress blog or something similar isn't required anymore. My advice would be to just start putting out native content on the platforms that make most sense for you and start engaging with those who you think should see it.But here is the problem and reason some internet marketers might say that blogging is dead: people who are still blogging in the traditional way, by posting to their personal website, don't know how to get people to come see what they are writing. Nobody is working hard enough to master the art of SEO, or Facebook dark posts, or Pinterest, or storytelling on snapchat or anything else that can drive to your page. 

Why Blog: The Importance of a Personal Blog

 If you write a blog, social media needs to be the gateway drug to your content and site.Social networks, specifically Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest, should be treated as the stepping stones of content to drive to the aforementioned "home," whether that's a blog or media site or whatever.What has happened is that the attention graph is shifting. I talk about the attention graph as essentially where people's attention is right at this very moment; where can you meet them to direct them your page. People's willingness to jump somewhere to consume content is certainly not down, but their willingness to leave the platform they are already engaging on (Facebook, Twitter) is. To get them to click, you have to be smart. Really smart.This is why every website today is testing headlines. You need to do the same. Don't abandon the traditional blogging format; instead, test like crazy on social media and understand what drives your users, what your users care about. And make sure your content is really good once you get someone to click it or else consumers are going to be pretty upset they clicked at all and will hesitate to do so ever again. 

My Blog

 Personal blogs or websites offer something that social will never have: the very fact that you control it. That personal blog or website will be impervious to any changes on other platforms. Your blog or website is a platform that you control, allowing you to decide the amount and frequency of content output.In a world of "rented" social media space, that is valuable. I've seen people shout and scream about the death of blogging while on Twitter, a social blogging site which they're posting content to every day. People need to reevaluate the context they use the word blog in, and understand the insane amount of blogging platforms that exist in today's world. Each has their own value and may or may not speak to what you're looking to accomplish. Find your value and go all in.Check out some of my guides to using Facebook, Twitter and Instagram here:- 3 Ultra Effective Tactics You Should Use Now- How to Turn Your Company Into a Content Empire- The Big Difference Between Twitter and Instagram- Optimize Your Facebook Presence With These 5 Easy Steps   

This article originally appeared here.