Don’t have a blog yet? Trying to get a blog sold through at your company? Thinking of trying to start a blog for your personal brand? Read on to see the top 10 reasons our Content Marketing Team thinks it’s important to have a blog.
1. Consumers Read Blogs
Concerned you may be writing blog posts that won’t attract the attention of readers? Think again. MarketingCharts reports that 46% of consumers claim to read the blogs of brands they like (click to tweet this stat). Providing these readers with interesting, relevant content will keep them coming back to your website instead of somewhere else (note: 52% of consumers want to be able to easily visit a company’s website for new brand news instead of other online channels – tweet this!).
2. Gives Brand Enthusiasts Information to Share
When readers come across good content that interests them, they’re not likely to keep it to themselves! Brand enthusiasts love to share insights and be looked to as being the first to know something, so use your blog as a place to post content that will resonate well with this audience. If you give readers great insights, tips or stories you can count on them as a means of content distribution.
To make it easy for users to share, place visible social sharing buttons on your blog. You can then compare many times your posts have been shared using the functionality in the sharing tool you implement, or with a platform like Buzzsumo.
Buzzsumo report of social shares occurring on CaliforniaAvocado.com
And, remember, when writing and posting blog content to always put yourself in the mindset of your audience. When do they typically have time to read and share blogs? Studies show it’s likely on the weekend, so consider posting during those times to increase the likelihood your content will be shared online (tweet this).
3. Influences Purchase Decisions
Perhaps one of the most tangible arguments for implementing a blog is that U.S. Internet users readily admit that they are influenced to make purchases by blogs. Why would you pass that up?
4. Your Competitors Have One
Sometimes it’s essential that you’re keeping up with the Joneses. While you may still be considering the pros and cons of having a company blog, many marketers have already deemed them an essential marketing channel.
The channel itself isn’t the only thing that’s getting more attention – so is the content being published. Budgets for both B2B and B2C companies are reportedly being boosted to help increase the amount of content produced.
5. Ability to Tell Your Story in Over 140 Characters
All brands have a story to tell and a blog is the perfect place to tell it. While social media platforms may place restrictions on character counts, or reduce the reach of your brand’s posts, your blog is all yours – you can basically do what you want, whenever you feel like it.
Sing it, Avril
Ok. If this your brand’s blog, not your personal one, you might not be able to do whatever you want, but there are a lot of different ways to show, and tell your story, beyond just text. Consider developing interesting content that users like to consume, and including them in your blog posts, such as:
- Videos
- Infographics
- Event photos
- User-generated content
- And, dare we say it? .Gifs.
6. Improves SEO
A HubSpot study showed that companies that have a blog receive 55% more website viewers and 97% more inbound links (tweet this!). Additionally, 70% of the links search users click on are organic, not paid links. What does that mean? Your website has to have quality content to get discovered by search engines and the public. As Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) continue to place emphasis on content that is relevant to what searchers have in mind, blog content, written with search intent in mind, will become continually more essential.
7. Allows You to Stay Up to Date with Media
While the pop-up ads of yesteryear allowed you to create promotions with little less than a photo and some creative ad copy, today’s media has shifted to a focus on content and native advertisements. With ads now integrating into editorial feeds on other websites, having content that is well-written and can integrate into the editorial flow can help increase your brand’s visibility and affinity.
8. Consumers Like Blogs
While you may use your blog content as a part of your advertising plan, since blogs typically offer content that is useful, actionable and/or educational beyond just product or sales related copy, consumers still relate to blogs and like them. In fact, a few stats show how creating content geared towards your audience can improve brand affinity:
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70% of consumers prefer getting to know a company via articles rather than ads
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60% of consumers feel more positive about a company after reading custom content on its site
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78% believe that companies behind content are interested in building good relationships
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68% of consumers are likely to spend time reading content from a brand they are interested in
9. Adds Credibility
Blogs are also the perfect place for experts in your company to share insights and build trust with your audience online – outside of just selling a product. One survey of business owners, marketers and bloggers found that simply having a blog added credibility to a website.
10. It May be the Missing Piece in Your Content Marketing Plan
Buzzword alert! Yes, a blog can actually quickly become the hub of your content marketing efforts. By integrating your blog into various other digital marketing efforts, you can tie together and support various campaigns to create a cohesive marketing push.
