Social Media seems to be the first choice for most small business owners. However, here is why a business blog can be much more effective as a method to reach and engage your targeted audience.
Yes, blogging is time consuming just like any social media activity and often small business owners face a dilemma: We are already on Facebook (Twitter, LinkedIn, etc) - why spend valuable time on blogging too?
Here are 10 useful considertions:
1. Unlike the constantly evolving social media platforms, the blog is very stable. Your subscribers will keep receiving your recent posts as long as they are subscribed, and unlike some social media sites there are no algorithms or conditions that decide who can and who cannot see them.
2. The blog posts are saved and are accessible easily though tags or blog archives to everyone interested. Social Media posts tend to have short term impact and they tend to get lost and lack visibility within a few months or years
3. A blog is available to every single visitor of your website, but social media posts become obscure very quickly within the newsfeed, and only those who choose to look for them will actually see them.
4. A blog is visible to everyone and you have a numerous options to share it (RSS feed, email links in your newsletter, other sites can link to your blog, and various share options across the web) Only Twitter users will see your Tweets.
4. Blog posts are informative and offer a pure long-lasting content value to the reader, social media posts must offer an immediate gain in order to be clicked on.
5. A blog always adds a 100% advantage to your company's website and it is your own brand ( not Twitter, Pinterest or Facebook brand) - you can present it to your visitors exactly as you want.
6. Social Media sites do drive traffic to your website, however they have little impact on the websites SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). The blog not only makes your site much more visible to search engines, it provides regular fresh content- a very important factor for your SEO rankings.
7. Blog Technology is highly customisable unlike specific profile formats on social media sites.
8. Widget integration is much more advanced on most blogging platforms and provides great versatility and content to the blog. Widgets are usually straightforward and visible to everyone - there is no need to look for special tabs, etc.
9. With a blog you have a choice to own your own domain name (and you should). Whether you run it at blog.mywebsite.com or mywebsite.com/blog, or even if you have to buy another domain name for your blog, you don’t want to rely on someone else’s platform.
10. Business blogging boosts your expert ranking with internet users everywhere - and forms an integral part of the information you share with your visitors.
So now you can see how having a blog can improve your company's online presence and give it an added competitive advantage.
Social media marketing is very important and contributes to a company's marketing strategy. When implemented correctly it can help build and strengthen relationships with your existing and potential clients. The aim of this article is not to make you choose between being active on social media sites and writing the blog, it is to understand the undeniable value the business blog can bring to your business.
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