It is no secret that social media is inundated with ads as business owners try to pull out all the stops to remain viable and relevant in this era when social media marketing is no longer an option but a necessity to grow their businesses.
While organic and paid advertising are the most common ways to reach your target audience, the continuous evolution of social media has also caused the habits and choices of shoppers to change constantly. This reality presents numerous challenges for many businesses which continue to struggle to keep their customers engaged, create leads and stay ahead of the competition.
To overcome these hurdles businesses should create social media marketing strategies that include other forms of fresh, compelling, high quality, and relevant content that will keep their audiences engaged. While constantly attracting new people to their brands in order to create a buzz on social media and stand out in the competition in 2021 and beyond.
One type of content that continues to help businesses to grow and stay ahead of the competition in this highly competitive social media marketing environment is blogging.
Weblog was coined by Joran Barger in 1997 which describes his process for “logging the web” as he surfed the internet. But it was later abbreviated to “blog” in 1999 by programmer Peter Merholz which serves as a journal that shares personal information, ideas, or opinions on various topics in that era. Today, the popular term blog is adopted by businesses and created as part of their website to engage with consumers, sharing information and tips about their product, service or industry as a whole. The process is also referred to as blogging or blog post.
Authority and Trust
Consumers follow brands that they know and trust, as a result writing a blog creates opportunities for companies to establish online identity and interact with their audience members. These include, sharing industry news and information about a given topic and respond to questions or queries about products or services.
Remember that when you sell your product or service to a potential customer you are actually solving a problem that the consumer has and often times answering questions before they make a purchase decision. This helps to establish authority in your respective field, build trust, and ultimately create new opportunities. Through frequently reading your blog posts and finding your information helpful, consumers now trust you as an expert and therefore feel comfortable to provide reviews, comments, like, share, and most importantly refer friends and family to your business.
Cost Effective
If you are a frugal entrepreneur or a small business owner with a shoe-string budget, or you just require additional ways to market your business online but you don’t have a blog, this is a cost effective tool that you can use to add value to your business as well as your existing and prospective customers.
You can create interesting topics from questions your customers are asking and problems that they are trying to solve in the form of a blog. This is also an opportunity to share current and relevant information with your audience about your industry. Blog posts can also be shared on social media, redirecting audience via a link to your website where they can also learn more about your business, view products, services, prices and other relevant information.
Increased Traffic
Staying ahead of the competition is no easy task in this highly competitive social media marketing environment. Businesses who are utilizing both organic and paid advertising are still not driving enough traffic or converting leads to scale their business.
Additional marketing strategies are needed as there is no one- size- fits- all in this business. Blogging is an effective tool that provides unique content value where traditional advertising is limited. For instance, being pressured to produce advertising content that are of high quality on a consistent basis require a great deal of skill and creativity which can be very costly and time consuming.
Ads also get lost in online traffic due to constant algorithm and social media network changes. But regularly updating your blog posts to make them current and relevant as well as creatively recycling other social media content such as, Instagram stories, Facebook posts, and YouTube videos into blog posts can eliminate some of the hard work and costs involved in creating fresh content.
There is just not enough traffic that you can get from ads or even the “about us” page of your website, even though they are very critical tools for people who are already interested in your products or services. However, they will not necessarily attract a high volume of potential customers that you need to realize your desired return on investment (RIO).
Your blog bridges this gap and serves as your resource tool that provides potential customers with well needed information even before they decide to purchase your product or service.
For instance, writing clear, concise and engaging blogs that provide tips such as: “how to start a coaching business” or “benefits of social media marketing” will help you attract people who enjoy reading your content and find it helpful.
Once people find your blog posts interesting and useful you will gradually build an audience as your blog is helping their businesses to grow or solve problems that consumers may have. Ultimately, these visitors will convert to leads and become interested in your product or service as you have earned their trust and established yourself as an expert in your sphere.
Hubspot.com reports that marketers who use blogs as part of their marketing strategy generates 67% more leads than those who do not. Blogs are also rated as one of the most reliable source of online information by consumers.
A blog is a critical resource to generate leads and help grow your business, hence, if you do not have a blog, without further delay make blogging apart of your marketing endeavor.
Next time we will talk about how you can engage the services of a professional writer or blogger if you do not possess that talent within your organization.
For more information on how to grow your small business on social media please leave comments below.
Caren Waugh is the CEO of CW Media Consultants, a proven communications and social media strategist, blogger, and print media contributor who helps small businesses to create brand awareness, strengthen customer relations, and shape their online marketing endeavors with winning social media strategies.
