In an online marketing landscape that is continually evolving, it can be challenging to determine whether your business is keeping up with digital marketing strategies and trends relevant to your business model. Blogs as a marketing tool have long had a place in digital marketing strategies, but is that still the case today?
Is it worth it for your business to establish or maintain a blog? The answer is a resounding yes. There are a number of reasons that blogging is still a very relevant part of digital marketing and brand awareness.
Blogging is the most successful content format around.
Blogging serves many purposes, for the business itself and the marketing strategies developed for the company. They provide visitors to the site with relevant information about the business, new products or services and also information about any promotions. Blog posts are easy to share across social media platforms, which can help to get your message out to a broader audience.
According to online marketing agency Azuri Group, one of the crucial considerations is that blog posts consistently sit at the top of the content format type that ranks highest in Google search results, even more so than photo galleries and treatment pages.
Blogging is a pure content form.
Consider this. The written word remains the easiest type of content for Google to recognize, read, index and also rank. While technological advances do and will continue to make it easier for search engines to read images and videos, they are a long way away from the same ease of understanding offered by the written word.
In addition, blogging can be done without filters. Social media platforms allow for photos to be run through dozens of filter options in order to portray a particular image. Blogging, with just words and thoughts, is your opportunity to be yourself and to represent your brand in an authentic manner.
Blogs offer a source of social media content.
Despite what many marketers may prefer, the reality is that social media platforms are the easiest and most effective way to get your message and brand awareness out. That said, there are bound to be days where you find yourself struggling to find content to post or tweet. A lone blog post can become the fuel for an endless stream of engagement on social media. Whether your post is shared a handful of times or just pops up in the feed of those following you, it offers the opportunity for you to see that all-important engagement boost.
Blogging offers reinforcement for branding.
Blogging allows you the opportunity to tell the story of your brand, in a way that best reflects the narrative that you’d like to share. People are much more likely to connect with your brand if the story of your brand resonates with them. Your blog is an excellent opportunity to develop and share your story.
Blogging can establish trust and credibility.
When you take the time to post useful and relevant information to your blog, your readers will see you as much more than a marketing machine setting out to sell a product or service. You can also establish yourself as a credible expert in your industry, with fresh blogging content that helps to further build trust in your business.
Blogs can allow you to gauge what clients want.
By viewing the stats on your blog posts, you’ll be able to determine which of them get the best in attention from your readers. The posts that get the most attention are typically the type of information that your clients or potential clients are looking for. This will give you the opportunity to develop a better content strategy as you work on producing new posts.
Blogging allows you to move ahead of your competition.
Having a blog that is updated often and that provides useful and relevant information is your opportunity to move rapidly ahead of your competition. If your competition currently maintains a blog, the longer that you wait to fire up your blog, the most time you’ll need to spend catching up with them. If you find that your primary competition in your market is not yet blogging, this is the perfect opportunity to leapfrog past them with your blog.