Business Communication writing prompts

Blogging is a competency that serves the needs of nearly all business communication students. I’ve been asking my students to blog for the past three to four years, and I’ve seen my students improve their writing and professional confidence tremendously. Dozens of business communication instructors have told me they’ve had similar experiences.

Blogging makes a lot of sense in business communication courses for several reasons:

• It helps students develop writing skills in a social media context. We’re moving to an increasingly networked mode of communication in the workplace. Blogs are social tools that help students think about how to develop content that is valuable to audiences, interact with audiences via comments, and gain followers.
• It helps students feel like their writing is important. Compared to other assignments, blogs are easier to create in a real-life context. In other words, there really are people out there consuming blog content. Most students are motivated by the fact that people all across the world could read their blogs. They’re excited to send their blog links to family and friends. Two of my students have received jobs from contacts they’ve made through their blogs. Overall, students are excited to use blogs to connect with others.
• It helps students think about a professional persona. Students developing blogs wrestle with the type of professional reputation they might gain from blogging. In other words, they refine their thinking about what they want to be known for in the professional world.
• It is an extremely valuable skill for the workplace. Blogging is a style of communication that gives business professionals of all types more opportunities to enhance their professional reputations. Externally, professionals now blog on platforms such as LinkedIn or WordPress. They might be part of efforts to blog for their companies. Internally, blogging is increasingly a form of communication among team members and other colleagues. In fact, it replaces and supplements meetings in many cases. It also gives professionals the opportunity to write about their areas of expertise, giving them additional opportunities for advancement within their organizations.