If someone asked you today what your blog does for your site and your business, what would you say? MarketingSherpa asked almost 4000 people the same question (free access for a limited time). The number one response? The blog “improves our web presence through search/feeds.”
Other important benefits from blogs cited in the survey included access to journalists and customers, establishing thought leadership, and generating leads:
MarketingSherpa cited three important factors that contributed to a blog’s success:
- Genuine, heartfelt content
- Regular updates
- Focus
As with personal blogs, corporate blogs need to find a niche, engage readers and keep them reading. Content feels “genuine” when blog posts “stand out in contrast to the massaged language of corporate marketing and PR materials. Like sitting next to an expert on a plane, the best blogs provide highly useful information in a brief and informal setting.”
If you’ve blogged for any length of time, you’ve probably seen the old academic maxim proven: publish or perish. With blogs, the “perish” comes especially quickly. The most successful corporate blogs have a content strategy—usually dedicated time or even employees assigned to blogging.
Finally, MarketingSherpa points out that in many industries where blogging is already popular, you need to focus on a niche, “provid[ing] an innovative lens on their content – usually by being highly focused on an under-reported aspect of their industry.” On the other hand, if not many in your industry are blogging, you can easily establish yourself in a more general topic area.
What do you think—what successes has your blog brought to you and your business?
Technorati Tags: advantage of blogging, blogging
(as bloggers tend to be).
