The benefits of blogging should be clear to businesses by now.
But just in case, let’s review a few simple facts: By publishing a steady stream of content so it gets picked up on search engines, blogs are an easy and effective way to attract traffic to your site. They increase your authenticity, credibility, and build trust in the eyes of your target audience. By showing off your expertise with tips and information, blogs connect brands with customers and help them decide whether to use your product or service.
And, blogs are inexpensive to start and maintain.
But what about blog marketing? A company blog can be perfectly well-executed, with expert-level content and entertaining and informative articles. But it won’t do anybody any good if you can’t get eyeballs in front of it.
First, lets’ get the obvious out of the way. We already talked at length about how you should be guest blogging, interviewing experts and influencers, and using social media to spread your content far and wide.
So, what else can you do to enhance your blog marketing strategy?
A weekly newsletter is still one of the best ways to market your blog. It still has one of the highest ROIs for a marketing channel, and according to this report from ESP, WebMonitor, their clients had an average ROI of 4400 percent, which means they made approximately $40 for every dollar spent. That’s something every content marketer should take advantage of. It makes perfect sense: weekly email newsletters can alert subscribers to new blog posts, old blog posts, and any new campaigns you’re running. Of course, this requires acquiring visitors’ email addresses, which is very simple to do. We’re fans of the graceful landing page or unobtrusive home page sign-up request.
You can also incorporate your latest blogs into your email signature. Just plug in your contact information, brand logo, and a link to your blog’s landing page or RSS feed, and you’re done. Other important marketing collateral, such as social media links (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.), links to ebook landing pages, or promote event announcements, can be included too but keep it short and sweet. Gmail makes it incredibly easy to create signatures for your email, which over one-third of the world will be using by the end of 2019. That’s a lot of potential conversions.
Around 70 percent of Americans use social media, so linking to blog content on the “About” section of branded social media profiles can also provide a blog marketing boost. That’s right, the 100 or 200-character little blurbs underneath your handle can act as a little elevator pitch for anyone who comes across your profile. Like email signatures, keep it short and simple, and make sure your to keep your profile descriptions consistent across all channels. And, of course, include the link to your blog page.
Get your blog on Reddit and similar community sites like Quora and StumbleUpon. This kind of thing could backfire spectacularly depending on your audience and its maturity level—most of Reddit’s over 200 million unique visitors are young and male—but this is an otherwise simple way to get your brand out there in front of active, engaged readers. Depending on your brand, you can easily attract the attention of a niche audience through subgroups and forums and become a beacon of entertaining and helpful advice. Just make sure that any content you share is truly useful and doesn’t come off as a pitch for your company. Reddit users are notoriously anti-marketing, so abusing the platform can easily backfire on brands that don’t understand the do’s and dont’s of the platform.
Share your posts more. Don’t just publish your blog posts once and let it go after that. Make it a habit to share your new blog posts a few days later, a few weeks later, and even a few months later. That way, more people can find your posts. Don’t forget those #hashtags and don’t be afraid to participate in Twitter or Facebook chats—the extra engagement will boost your authenticity because people like to see actual people are behind the brand handle.
Use push notifications for mobile users. If your brand has an app with the option to send push notifications, then you’re in luck. Up to 52 percent of users opt-in to push messages, and they’re pretty effective so long as you keep your target audience in mind. Not everyone wants to see a brand send something more personal than an email, especially if you’re spammy and you overdo it with the alerts. Instead, let subscribers know when relevant blog posts are published every few days.
Which means you’ve got to publish consistently. Keeping a blog steady with updates is tough work, but consistency is key. A constant presence means that you’re constantly keeping customers and prospects engaged. And of course, the more frequently you update your blog with fresh content, the more you rank on Google search.
Need more boosts for your brand? Contact us.