Does having a company blog really matter now that the realm of digital marketing has become more focused on social media and visual marketing assets?
It depends.
Despite naysayers’ doomsday predictions that blogging is dead, plenty of experts warn not to discount the value of having a company blog. But with other content creation and publishing venues available, others say businesses may be better off putting blogging on the backburner (or even down the garbage disposal).
The Argument for a Company Blog
The potential advantages of a blog include:
● Drawing more traffic to your website
● Attracting new customers
● Building trust by demonstrating your expertise
● Improving your website’s search engine ranking by adding fresh content to your site regularly
That’s some serious marketing and SEO mojo. Blogging turns your website into a destination — a place where readers can gain perspective, learn something new or stay informed. Having a blog gives people a reason to visit your website repeatedly and gives Google a reason to recognize your site as one of authority.
The Argument Against a Company Blog
In order to reap the rewards of blogging, you must put forth a lot of effort. Maintaining a blog requires:
● Brainstorming topics
● Fleshing out the details of what you’ll include in articles
● Writing drafts
● Editing drafts
● Reviewing the content for errors and accuracy (needs to be done even if you outsource your blogging)
● Finding images or creating your own
● Structuring content according to good SEO practices (e.g., use of header tags to establish a logical hierarchy within your content)
● Promoting your blog posts on your social media channels
● Monitoring and replying to comments that readers leave on your posts
● Tracking your blog analytics to determine if your posts are helping you reach your marketing goals
If you or an employee doesn’t have the time or skills to do all that, then you may opt to outsource some or all of those responsibilities — which means you’ll incur some additional expense.
And there are other options for creating and publishing content.
In an article on his blog, digital marketing pro Gary Vaynerchuk explained, “Any social media platform can be treated like a blog because that is where people are listening.”
People are readily consuming content directly within social media, so why not craft and share your message directly on those platforms?
As Sprout Social neatly laid out in a recent article, there’s a lot of opportunity for generating substantive content on social media.
● Facebook status updates may be up to 63,206 characters long (approximately 10,000 words).
● Twitter has expanded its maximum length for tweets from 140 characters to 280 characters.
● Instagram allows you to create photo captions up to 2,200 characters long.
● On LinkedIn, you can create, format and publish articles of up to 40,000 characters (approximately 6,700 words).
On the Other Hand …
Just because you can create “blog” content on social media platforms doesn’t mean you should. While readers expect blog posts to have higher word counts, readers on social media tend to have shorter attention spans. Brief bits of content tend to get more engagement, so publishing a blog-like article as a status update may be ineffective and a waste of time.
Something else to consider: You control your company blog.
Social media platforms belong to others. You have no say in how they look and what capabilities they give you. They may make algorithm changes that negatively impact your ability to reach your target audience (e.g., Facebook’s adjustments in the name of creating a better user experience). Or they could remove features that you find beneficial.
Is a Company Blog Right for You?
Now that we’ve entertained the upsides and downsides (and upsides, again) of having a company blog, how can you know if you’re better off with managing one or using other platforms as hubs for your content?
Consider the following questions as you ponder which way to go:
● Do you have the time or staff to write and manage your blog effectively?
● If you have an existing company blog, are your posts delivering results (increasing traffic, generating leads, etc.)?
● Are you regularly monitoring analytics to see if your blog posts are doing any of the things I mentioned in the previous bullet point?
● Is your target audience interested in longer form content or does it engage more with shorter messages?
● Do you have a substantial social media following?
● Do you have a loyal base of blog subscribers?
● Are you comfortable in adapting to change as social media platforms alter guidelines and features?
● Does meeting your revenue goals depend upon making online sales through your website?
No matter what you decide, the only way to assess if your online marketing efforts are working is to set goals and objectives for what you want to accomplish. It’s impossible to know if your content (regardless of where it lives) is moving the needle if you don’t measure its success against your expectations.
Dawn Mentzer Author Bio – Straight North
Dawn Mentzer is a contributing writer for Straight North
Dawn Mentzer is a contributing writer for Straight North, one of the leading Internet marketing agencies in Chicago that provides SEO, PPC and web design services. As a solopreneur and freelance writer, she specializes in marketing content — and collaborates with clients nationally and globally.
Content Marketing
I Love This Quick & Easy eBook Software!
Creating an eBook lead magnet has long been a goal of mine … to attract new clients, problem solve for my target audience and offer as a service to existing clients. But I needed something quick and easy!
In other words, a tool that essentially does all of the work for me as I plan to write a lot of them.
There are a number of tools available that can do different parts of the project. For example, Canva is great for covers, Adobe for putting together a PDF, and so on. But today I want to introduce you to an all-in-one tool that creates lead magnets in seconds.
Have you heard of Designrr?
Designrr is a brand new cloud based software that allows you to create eBooks and lead magnets super fast. And best of all you don’t even need to write a single word.
So if you are ready to turn your existing content into eBooks, or even start writing new eBooks from scratch, Designrr may just be what you have been looking for.
How To Begin? Know thy customer.
All good marketing begins with knowing your customer. Who is your customer? What does he or she want, need and desire? How can your products or services satisfy those desires?
Creating your eBook lead magnet also begins with this exercise: Defining your target customer, the ideal person you’d like to have sign up for your email list, will help you refine your content offer so that your lead magnet attracts not just plenty of leads, but well-qualified leads.
Want to learn more about Designrr? Go here www.designrr.io
P.S. Download my latest eBook here ==> What If My Entire Website Was Deleted Right Now?
What is content marketing?
Then the next question has to be HOW?
How do you penetrate the marketing jungle when every minute of every day 571 new websites are created, 100,000 tweets are shared and over 347 blog posts get published?
Small business owners with a marketing budget pegged to the vagaries of monthly income don’t share much enthusiasm for blogging. Why do I have to do that? Who will read my posts? How do I find the time? Who cares?
Is this just ignorance? It certainly can’t be bliss.
The mobile noise out there is deafening now reaching into your daily phone calls, even permeating your every private moment.
Let’s get honest here. Some “small business owners” in this century can bear little resemblance to those in the past one I know about. They are in business because the Internet has enabled them. Otherwise they would have to have “a budget” to pay rent, hire employees, keep the lights on, create a marketing plan. They wouldn’t have a first job. Running their business or store would be their only job.
But I digress. Here it is … Copyblogger defines content marketing as follows:
“Content Marketing means creating and sharing valuable free content to attract and convert prospects into customers, and customers into repeat buyers. The type of content you share is closely related to what you sell; in other words, you’re educating people so that they know, like, and trust you enough to do business with you.”
With their “solutions for smarter content marketing”, Copyblogger has all the links, information and teaching tools you will need to scale this particular marketing mountain.
Nutshell. More than just a buzzword, content marketing is a tried-and-true marketing tactic that small businesses can use to reach customers in an authentic way, without having to spend big bucks.
Below Keith Hernandez from Buzzfeed, one of the leaders in the content marketing space, discusses how small businesses can create and use custom content effectively in their marketing.
If you are interested in marketing your business, you can learn more about my inbound marketing services here. This is the most effective way to generate solid leads and build a loyal customer base.
It is not for the impatient business owner. If that matches your description, you will need a BIG budget to buy Google AdWords, hire an SEO firm, write & distribute sales collateral like brochures, showcase your wares at events and exhibition halls, generate cold calls to lists, place ads in local/regional/national publications, hire a sales team and distribute flyers to door knobs, to name a few.
Content Matters! is out! http://t.co/m9x9Afk7Qx Stories via @marciacoffey@AlenaCheina@EmployeeRxSaver
— Shamayim (@Shamayim2) June 13, 2015
– By Marcia Coffey
Find Marcia on Google+
Call Marcia at 561.906.3436.
6 Reasons Why Small Business Needs Twitter
Recently, a longtime client of mine described Twitter as “crappy”.
While I was rather unhappy with the adjective, I came to understand why many small business owners often misconstrue social media marketing altogether, never mind wonderful Twitter.
They think it’s Selling, and Twitter like the other platforms is Marketing which takes time, consistency, and sadly … PATIENCE.
“ Marketing always changes but selling stays the same.” Read this interesting article in Forbes.
Twitter is really a basic tool and lacks the clutter of Facebook. Most important, particularly for B2B businesses, it allows you to target your audience. Think of it as the direct mail list in the old days with zip codes that have the demographics of your prospective customers.
But if you don’t know who your target audience is, this is maybe not the platform for you!
Below is a great article by a pro in the business, Ahna Hendrix. “If your business isn’t investing in Twitter, then it’s time to rethink your strategy because you’re missing out on MAJOR value for your business.” she concludes.
http://www.socialquant.net/twitter-for-business/
Do get in touch with Marcia at 561.906.3436 to see how she can help you with your content marketing.
Find Marcia on Google+
Call Marcia @ 561.906.3436.
Follow @jmgroupdesign
Easy Start Up Realtor Marketing
1) Use WordPress for Your Real Estate Website
First, a blog IS a website, so don’t continue to think of them differently. There are differences in how they store and display content, but you can make a blog-based site look like the websites you’re used to, but it will be easier for you to maintain yourself, saving a huge amount of money. Blogs also do better with the search engines, so you’ll be accomplishing multiple Internet marketing goals by using a blog for your site. And, there is no better platform than the WordPress blogging software.
2) Become the “Area Expert” with Content Marketing
“Neighborhood Expert” is something that every realtor wants to be known for … in his or her marketplace. So how are some ways to show people, “What’s in it for them”? It’s simple. Write blog posts using LOCAL content that matches your marketplace’s interests. Learn about your marketplace and accurately determine what is most important to the people who live there. For example:
- Sometimes, it’s all about the children. Do you market to a suburban area that has lots of families living throughout the neighborhood? Why not pick occasional and timely seasonal pieces to grab their attention?
- Or it’s an active area with lots of local events and activities? Do you service a downtown area, or an area that has lots of community events and residents that are active and come out in droves to enjoy them? Why not give them customized events schedules that they will keep for months to come?
3) Republish Your Blog Posts with A MailChimp Newsletter
Once you’re blogging, you have some great current content on your site. But, how do you get more people to read it? You need to set up an automated e-newsletter that is delivered on your schedule to email subscribers. It will look good, and do away with the need for drip email to stay in touch.
4) Find Influential People with Twitter
A fantastic real estate marketing tool, Twitter helps you maintain and build your sphere of influence. Not all tweeters are equal. Some have huge followings and get lots of retweets. Some don’t. Part of your Twitter strategy should be to engage those who are already influential with your target audience. A couple of retweets from an influencer can really help you grow your following and get your content to a wider audience.
5) Connect With Facebook and LinkedIn
Two different platforms, Facebook is personal and social, while LinkedIn is networking and your online resume. Both can help to grow your business. Best of all, you can automatically feed your blog posts to these networks as well as Twitter. Get Twitterfeed. This re-publishing of what you’re posting in your blog is another way to amplify your web presence without doing more work.
6) Share Your Story with Video
Creative use of video is a concept that is just starting to take off as more and more agents begin to feel comfortable stepping away from the herd. Agents incorporate video marketing in several ways: Agent branding videos or “meet-the-agent” videos, using various innovative video techniques. Most important: whether you are branding your sense of humor or your down-to-basics method of doing business, videos should be polished to perfection.
Video increases the chance of a front-page Google result by 53x. — Forrester
– By Marcia Coffey
Find Marcia on Google+
Call Marcia, Genesis WordPress Web Designer, at 561.906.3436.
Follow @jmgroupdesign