Six Reasons To Get Your Brand Blogging Now
There has been talks around the office about starting a blog but no one has put their foot down and said "let's start today". There is obviously several reasons for this. You don't know where or how to start. You have doubts about the return on investment and the overall results. You might not have a good writer on your team. All excuses are good, but here are a few reasons we think might make you start blogging today.
1. To give your brand a voice
Every brand has a story to tell and there is no better way to start then with a great blog. Share some of your team's highlight such as a community driven action, a new success story or the addition of a new team member. It's your blog, so basically, you can write about anything and everything.
2. To generate traffic with SEO.
If you build a great website but never update it, it basically becomes a forgotten particle of content in an ocean of newly created information. But with a blog, you become pertinent and important every week or, even better, every day. Google continuously rolls out new changes to its algorithms but one thing is for sure, they will always put a great deal of value on fresh original content. You want Google to send traffic your way, right? Then give it some great content to chew on.
3. To establish your brand as an expert
You can't be recognized as an expert is you hide your skills. Think about it, you probably spend at less one hour each day researching a subject or another online. You read dozens of article on any particular subject before you make up your mind. You probably even follow a few bloggers in your industry to get the inside scoop on what's new. What if you turned the table around? What if you shared your knowledge with others and they started to follow you? Wouldn't that be great? Start a blog, share your knowledge and become an industry expert.
4. To become customer focus.
You probably get the same questions from your clients over and over. So why not write a blog post with the answers, given them the information ahead of time. They will love you, follow you, brag about you and most likely, do business with you. And as a side result, Google will see that you create relevant content for your industry and will index you to the top of search results. It's all win-win.
5. To learn something new.
Sounds strange. But really, you can't write a good article without doing a good deal of research on the subject. And as you probably know, reading one good article ultimately leads you to reading 10+ good articles. Also, you will most likely get a few user-generated comments with each new blog posts. Replying to these comments is a fabulous way to dig deeper into a subject.
6. To become social.
Once your brand starts blogging, you will inevitably want to start sharing it too. This is great. The web has become a playground for brands and you will be surprised how easy it is to make new friends when you have something interesting to say. You first have to put yourself out there with awesome content to then be invited in the expert's inner circle. Don't forget that social media is not about self-promoting but about relationship building.
If you are still not convinced and need some numbers about blogging and content marketing, check out our curated list of statistics that might convince you otherwise.
Now, give us one good reason not to start blogging today?
50 Content Marketing Statistics To Get You Started
Content marketing is not a fade since consumers are no longer impressed by flashy websites and expensive campaigns. What they want is simple: information delivered through the channels they regularly monitor. The information found impacts their relationship with your brand and in turn their purchase decisions.
With an approximated $118.4 billion spent on content marketing, video marketing and social media in 2013 (eMarketer), don't you think it is time for your brand to join in? You might not have the in-house resources, but consider this, 62% of companies outsource their content marketing (Mashable) to firms such as Agence:Luxury.
If you need more convincing on the power of content marketing, check out the great list of statistics recently put together by the great people at Salesforces.com. (By the way, this here is a great example of Salesforces content marketing efforts. We found them while writing up this article, we quoted them and have linked back to them.) Content marketing works. So here are 50 content marketing statistics to get you started.
1. B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month than those who don’t. (Social Media B2B)
2. 32 % of B2C marketers consider themselves effective at content marketing. (Content Marketing Institute)
3. 62% of companies outsource their content marketing. (Mashable)
4. 61% of consumers say they feel better about, and are more likely to buy from, a company that delivers custom content. (Custom Content Council)
5. 61% of B2B marketers rate webinars as the most effective content marketing tactic. (Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs)
6. 55% of B2C marketers plan to increase content marketing spend next year. (Content Marketing Institute)
7. LinkedIn generates more leads for B2B companies than Facebook, Twitter or blogs individually. (Inside View)
8. B2C marketers use about 12 content marketing tactics. (Content Marketing Institute)
9. Interesting content is a top 3 reason people follow brands on social media. (Content+)
10. Social media sites and blogs account for 23% of all time spent online. (Content Marketing Institute)
11. 78% of consumers believe that organizations providing custom content are interested in building good relationships. (TMG Custom Media)
12. Blogs give websites 434% more indexed pages. (Content+)
13. 79% of B2B marketers use content marketing to achieve brand awareness goals. (Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs)
14. The average cost to generate a lead through inbound marketing ($143) is about half the average for outbound marketing ($373). (Hightable)
15. 91% of B2B marketers use content marketing. (Content Marketing Institute)
16. Blog give websites 97% more indexed links. (Content+)
17. 78% of CMOs think custom content is the future of marketing. (Hanley-Wood Business Media)
18. 86% of B2C marketers use content marketing. (Content Marketing Institute)
19. Companies with less than 10 employees allocate 42% of their marketing budget to content. (Content Marketing Institute & Marketing Profs)
20. Interesting content is one of the top 3 reasons people connect with brands on social media. (Content+)
21. Social media sites and blogs reach 8 out of 10 of all U.S. Internet users. (Content Marketing Institute)
22. Organic search leads have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound marketing leads have a 1.7% close rate. (Hubspot)
23. 47% of B2B marketers say they are actively using LinkedIn. (Inside View)
24. 90% of consumers find custom content useful. (TMG Custom Media)
25. 57% read content marketing titles at least once a month. (CMA)
26. Articles with images get 94% more views. (Jeff Bullas)
27. 85% of B2C content marketers tailor their content. (Content Marketing Institute)
28. 9 in 10 organizations market with content. (Content Marketing Institute)
29. 37% of marketers say blogs are the most valuable type of content marketing.(Content+)
30. Companies with 10,000 or more employees use 18 different content marketing tactics. (Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs)
31. 58% of consumers trust editorial content. (Nielsen)
32. 68% of consumers spend time reading content from a brand they are interested in. (The CMA)
33. 90% of consumers find custom content useful. (TMG Custom Media)
34. 20% of users’ time is spent surfing the Internet on content-led websites. (The CMA)
35. 87% of B2B marketers use social media to distribute content. (Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs)
36. 80% of business decision makers prefer to get company information in a series of articles versus an advertisement. (Content Marketing Institute)
37. 60% of consumers feel more positive about a company after reading custom content on its site. (Content+)
38. 52% of B2C content marketers feel challenged by their budget. (Content Marketing Institute)
39. Companies with active blogs receive 97% more leads (Content+ 2013)
40. 78% of chief marketing officers think custom media represents the future of marketing. (Hanleywood Business Media)
41. 53% of B2C marketers create content entirely in-house. (Content Marketing Institute)
42. 8 in 10 CMOs believe custom media should be an integral part of a marketing mix. (Hanleywood Business Media)
43. 37% of marketing managers believe the most important channel for engaging customers is content-led websites. (The CMA)
44. 37% visit content marketing websites at least once a month. (The CMA)
45. Content creation is ranked as the single most effective SEO technique (Marketing Sherpa 2013)
46. Marketers spend more than 25% of their marketing budget on content marketing. (B2B Marketing Insider)
37. 27,000,000 pieces of content are shared everyday. (AOL and Nielsen)
48. 60% are more likely to be on the lookout for products when looking at content marketing. (The CMA)
49. Mobile-optimized content marketing increased from 15% in 2011 to 33% in 2012. (Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs)
50. Articles with images get 94% more views (Content+ 2013)