The Reports of Blogging’s Death are Greatly Exaggerated*
By • Leave a commentWell, you’d think blogging was definitely on the way out for companies, based on a new study, 2012 Inc. 500 Social Media Update.
Although USA Today pretty much wrote off blogging in its coverage of the results, it did quote Scott Monty, head of social media at Ford Motor, as saying that engaging blogs can serve crucial marketing goals — especially executives out to establish expertise in their industry.
CMOs Interviewed
The Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts surveyed the chief marketing officers of Inc. Magazine’s 500 fastest growing companies to learn how their adoption of social media has changed since 2011.
The big news, according to the study, is that CMOs are turning to new platforms and tools including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, texting, downloadable mobile apps and Foursquare.
If you study the chart below, you will see that blogging has been increasingly successful as a social media strategy over the past three years, reaching 92% in usage even as its adoption as a social media tool drops. Blogging is still widely used by advertising and communications companies, less so by government agencies. Oddly, this was the first study including LinkedIn, which showed up at 73% usage, just behind Facebook’s 74%, which topped the list.
Companies are reducing their use of message boards, video blogging, podcasting and MySpace. Blogging reached a high of 50% of companies using it in 2009 to 37% in 2011. Companies responded overwhelmingly that the use of social media has been successful for their business.
Of course, social networks have grown in importance. If you’re a consumer company, Facebook is a formidable channel for reaching retail consumers. LinkedIn is corralling the business community.
So why is blogging losing ground? I believe a big reason that companies are blogging less is that it requires a commitment of time. Yet there is no better vehicle for a company to tell its story and for brand building.
Blogging is Here to Stay
Companies, both large and small, need to factor in blogging as an essential tool in their social media arsenal. As I’ve written before, I believe a blog should be the centerpiece of a company’s social media strategy.
Here’s why:
- Own your content. When you rely on a third-party social network, you are at the mercy of their rules. What a pain in the neck it was when Facebook started company pages. Now you had two information streams to worry about. Recently, they changed their format again with timeline and have just changed the size of the insert in the large image. With your own blog, you can create the content, insert and delete copy, add videos, images and podcasts that promote your company and your products and services – according to your rules. And your content won’t disappear if a social network disappears.
- Feed social networks. From your home base, you can distribute important information directly to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and many other social media networks where your customers are forming communities. Post an article, and it is immediately “pinged” to sites of your choice with a link back to your blog. The viral impact of blog post is enormous.
- Build credibility. A 140-character tweet has its place. But your customers want to know there is a full-service company behind the tweet. A blog will burnish your brand.
- Collect market intelligence. Readers can leave comments on your blog posts giving you valuable market intelligence and endorsement of your ideas.
- Attract followers. Visitors can subscribe to your blog. Just think, a built-in audience for your articles, newsletters and surveys on important topics. As your list of subscribers grows, you can begin to sell them products and services directly, bypassing social media networks.
- Impress Google. Blogs can rank highly in search, unlike static websites, because the content is changing all the time.
- Engage Employees. Employees can get the complete story from the company about new developments and not third parties.
By the way, the most highly ranked blog on the Technorati 100 is The Huffington Post, one of the most influential newspapers, either online or offline. Most people think it is a website when it’s actually built on a blog platform.
At last count, The Huffington Post’s monthly circulation was 37 million with 1 billion page views, and is must reading for business executives, politicians, entertainers – and other news media who regularly quote from it.
Not bad for a blog.
* with apologies to Mark Twain
If you enjoyed this blog post, click below:
Subscribe and receive my blog posts in your email box.
Subscribe to the RSS feed.
Agree with what you list Jeannette. Blogging is a great tool that you make into whatever you want it to be. And don’t have to change photographs on because Facebook has decided you should have a time line. You are in charge of your blog.
Am also sure the reason some companies are blogging less is because it’s time consuming. If so why don’t they hire someone, like you, to write it for them.
Catarina recently posted..Let’s deprive people smugglers of their income!
Companies may find tweeting easy. Since people use cell phones to tweet, more people are using Twitter now a days. Still, blog is not going to be dead soon. I thing, doing everything possible on the web is making the company more visible. Every business have a website. Then why not have a blog to communicate with the customers?
Bindhurani recently posted..The cat got married
Agree, Binchurani. Sometimes it’s less time consuming to take the easy route, like retweeting. Your quite right — if you can maintain a website you can maintain a blog.
I think one reason is what you said about time. I also think that companies large and small have over the last few years have been faced with so many options that they are still getting their heads around the best options.
It also comes back to their strategy and unless they work that out it is very difficult say with content and blogging how to make it work the best for them and their customers.
That said if it is just time then as Catarina mentioned they would be better off hiring someone like you Jeannette.
Susan Oakes recently posted..One Simple Difference, One Huge Advantage
Thanks, Susan and Catarina, for your vote of confidence! I would be happy to write more corporate blogs — but the companies need to make the commitment.
Your comment about the time required to really maintain a blog is the key to it’s decline in the corporate world. Companies are looking to cut cost. Most of the executives in charge don’t understood what a blog is and the power it can bring the their company brand.
I am from the corporate world and was a C level exec. I have seen this in action. The hardest part is getting a CEO, CFO or COO to really look at blogs for what they are, as a way to show who you are as a company. The companies that do will be the greater winners. The ones that don’t will be playing catch-up in later years.
Susan Cooper recently posted..Bridlewood Pinot Noir 2010: Wine
Thanks, Susan, for sharing your experiences as a previous C-level exec. I agree — of course — that blogs are a great way to brand your company. Even the largest companies will find it difficult to keep up with populating content and developing a major presence on the new social networks that seem to keep popping up. I truly believe a blog needs to be the anchor of a company’s social media strategy
Certainly blogging can be time consuming, but I’d imagine the larger, more profitable corporations can easily hire help for this. I’m thinking of politicians who hire speech writers and belive blogging is somewhat similar. One thing I’ve always wondered about is when does blogging give away too much information? There is an art here in that a blog must convey that a company is intelligent but still leave the consumer hungry for assistance.
Keyuri Joshi recently posted..How a Life Coach and Mom Kicked Stress to the Curb!
Keyuri — Good question. I don’t worry about giving away too much information. I feel if you have a customer who needs help, your first responsibility is to give it. Some bloggers are so open that they report their income and how they increased their blog readership in an effort to help other bloggers. That’s a real gift and more than anyone should expect, but they do it.
I agree with you Jeannette. If one has good information to offer, just offer it! There’s no better way to begin a relationship than to give value to a liesurely reader or a prospective customer..
Keyuri Joshi recently posted..How a Life Coach and Mom Kicked Stress to the Curb!
I’m glad you agree, Keyuri. Especially when you first start working for a client, it always helps to give more value than you promised (or they are paying for), to build the relationship.
It’s constant content generator and that’s what people are consuming on a daily basis. It generates web traffic and begins relationships. I’ve been offered many opportunities due to the content on my blog. So it definitely is here to stay. And I agree that a tweet is great but the blog backs that info up.
Dennis Salvatier recently posted..What Do You Do When Your Design Gig Won’t Let You Be Creative?
Dennis — you write a wonderful blog so I’m not surprised and it generates traffic and business for you.
It certainly makes sense to me that blogging can help a business grow! However, I’ve seen too many small businesses with abandoned blogs. It has to be done properly, and if the business doesn’t know how or can’t put in the effort necessary, it’s not going to work. On the other hand, great content, a clean presentation and good communication and feedback on a blog can be a treasure for a business.
Leora recently posted..Blogging Workshop: Add Your Input
Leora — you make a key point. It takes a firm commitment to start a blog and continue to write it. But the benefits build over time in brand awareness and eventually sales. There are literally millions of abandoned blogs filling the blogosphere!