It’s a simple truth: Blogging, and blogging regularly, still works for business.
It’s easy to get distracted by social media channels, apps, and whatever concept is the centre of the latest marketing buzz — virtual reality, perhaps. But when it comes to engagement, sometimes keeping it simple provides the best results.
TrackMaven recently released its 2017 Digital Marketing Analytics Performance Report. It drills down on how 700 brands across 13 different industries are marketing digitally and analyses the effectiveness of each method. There are lots of good take-outs: Instagram, for instance, is still the social media platform that gets the best engagement for almost every industry, while Twitter is of questionable use for businesses across the board. But it also shows how effective blogging can be for brands across various industries.
Let’s take a look at the figures, according to TrackMaven’s analysis. The purple columns are the average number of articles brands in a particular industry are posting to their blog each month — so we can consider this the frequency of posting. The green columns are the average number of social shares each blog post received on average, so we can consider this the engagement level.
What does TrackMaven’s data on blogging tell us?
TrackMaven’s data shows the blog posts by sports and entertainment brands tend to “go viral” — 12,098 average social shares per blog post. That’s more than 10 times more social shares per blog than any other industry. Obviously these brands have really popular subjects to blog about, but it’s worth noting they’re also very active bloggers, with an average of 55 blog posts a month. So they’re not dropping the ball when it comes to creating content.
Higher education institutions, by comparison, are basically dormant. They post an average of one blog post a month and receive an average of only 25 social shares per post. TrackMaven notes that could well be because posts are scattered across departments and subdomains — thereby reducing the potential audience size for each post.
It’s no surprise that the media and publishing industry is the one which posts most often — posting 10 times more content per month than any other industry with 575 posts per brand each month, on average. That leads to an average 1136 social media shares per blog post a month.
But it’s not just big industries with naturally popular content getting great results. Check out the data from TrackMaven in this table. Industries like business services, software companies and finance and insurance companies are getting fantastic engagement figures from their blogging activities.
So, why does blogging still work for business?
Blogging drives traffic to your website
Firstly, Google prioritises websites that update regularly (by blogging, for instance) so you’re more likely to be found through organic search and placed high up in the results.
Secondly, the more blogs you have covering topics people are likely to be searching for, the more likely Google is to find your blog through organic search.
Blogging gives you something to share on social
Social media is a hungry beast and whatever channels you’re using to connect with your audience, you need to be posting on regularly to be effective. Frequently blogging quality content (content your audience will find valuable) gives you something worthwhile to post to social media. That’s great for building both your brand and your relationship with your customers.
Blogging builds authority
If people are finding your blog, chances are they’re looking for information. Whether they’re curious about your business or they’re looking for the answer to a particular question they have, if you can provide high-quality information then you’re building the authority of your brand. If you have an archive of great blog posts with excellent advice, then they’re even more likely to come back when they have another question and — most importantly — think of your company first when they need the kind of services you offer.
Generating traffic generates leads
Once you have people coming to your blog — be it through search or social or because they’re a loyal reader — you have the chance to convert them into customers.
This is your opportunity to share special offers with them. Invite them to subscribe. Make sure your blog posts have a call to action, so if the reader likes what they read they know what to do next (and know where to spend their money).
The take-out here is that committing to blogging high-quality content frequently and regularly can generate high levels of engagement, create brand loyalty, build your authority and generate excellent business leads. If you’re not blogging, you’re missing out.
If you want to work with a team that knows how to create excellent and engaging content — backed by a strategy — talk to the team at Lush Digital Media.
Like what you’ve read? Sign up to the Lush newsletter for fortnightly advice to help you market your business better, tips from our video production gurus, and a podcast or two from our favourite podcasting team, Brand Newsroom. In the meantime, you might enjoy reading these:
The blogging blunders you need to avoid
12 Blogging rules every content marketer should follow
Brand Newsroom: Jeff Bullas on blogging and social media [podcast]
The positive impact guest bloggers can make to your blog
