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An integral part of Gragg Advertising’s Marketing (R)Evolution is something we, and almost everyone working in this Digital Age, have talked about before, but is worth revisiting: Social Media Marketing.
Social Media is clearly an ingrained part of our lives, permeating both our personal and professional cultures. But that doesn’t mean it’s some omnipotent force overshadowing all other marketing strategies. Today, we’ll talk about how blogging can complement your Social Media (or Social) program and become yet another critical part of your marketing strategy.
Social is a key element in your integrated strategy, but did you know that adding Blogging to your Social program can make it that much stronger? Yes, Social is phenomenal for brand awareness, engagement, and acting as a news outlet, but Social + Blogging gives you the ability to also communicate long-form messages in a reliable way.
Blogging picks up where Social leaves off:
So, let’s talk about these points.
Blogs Build Trust
The fact is Blogs are considered more trusted by consumers, provided they are written by a credible source, such as an academic or expert. In the most recent Edelman Trust Barometer Report, 63 percent of respondents say a credible author influenced their decision to trust content. Additionally, up to 65 percent of respondents are more likely to trust content if they receive it from multiple sources and forms of media. They are also significantly more likely to be shared on Social. An estimated 94 percent of users share blogs on Social because they think it will be helpful to others. Overall, people don’t typically share content over Social channels they don’t trust. Paid Social ads and promoted posts top the list of untrusted marketing tactics, now more than ever. This is especially true of B2B interactions. B2B marketers (75 percent) are more likely to use blogs in their social media content than B2C (61 percent). In a digital world where thousands of different messages are trying to communicate at once, blogging can act as an extra resource to build trust between you and your audience.
Longer Lifespans
The real-time benefit of Social can be a powerful thing – if used correctly. The negative side effect, however, is the lifespan of Social posts are typically one, maybe two days. As more posts are published – every second, hour and minute of the day – and as new content replaces the old, it’s incredibly easy to get lost in the sauce. Blogs, on the other hand, can be updated to fit trends, are easily re-shared, and can be archived for easy, future access. While Social posts might be good marketing tools for the moment, the power of a long-form Blog can have lasting impacts.
Blogs Drive Traffic
More likely than not, the people viewing your Blog posts are part of your target market. This is where Blogging is a huge advantage. Blogging drives your audience right to your website, which gives them a direct path to the next step of your digital sales funnel. Not to mention the SEO benefits. Blogs are never-ending streams of SEO boosting content. From meta titles and keywords to image alts and backlinking, there are several ways your Blog helps your site’s search engine rankings. Knowing this, it makes perfect sense to frequently feature your blogs in your Social strategy to further drive users to your website and not just your Social pages.
Control Your Message
On the flip side of Social’s ability to positively promote and perpetuate a company’s message to consumers is the possibility that a message could get hijacked and distorted. We have all witnessed unfortunate instances where a company’s messaging slipped through their digital fingers thanks to the influence of Social algorithms. This is where Blogs come in. Where Social is influenced by algorithms, Blogs are owned media and can be updated, removed, or shared at will. Regularly adding Blogs into your Social Strategy can effectively give your brand the opportunity to fully explain an idea, product, or service targeted directly at the intended audience. Plus, blogs are easily editable, shareable, and in times of crisis, they’re easily removable.
Work Together
The moral of this story is that Social and Blogging must work in tandem if either is to be a successful part of your integrated marketing strategy. Both need to be consistently tended in order to thrive. Likewise, consistently analyzing your Social strategy and your blog’s performance is critical to their cooperation. Social should promote your Blogs, and Blogs should elaborate on Social posts.
The overarching theme of utilizing Blogs in Social strategies is integrating all forms of media into one seamless marketing mix. It’s about how every marketing piece works together to create a successful strategy. Traditional, Digital, and Social strategies must integrate to evolve your marketing. Learn more about how Blogging can and should play a larger role in your strategy and about how we at Gragg Advertising approach integrated strategies by clicking here.
SOURCES:
https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/blogging-statistics-to-boost-your-strategy
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