Blogging: Still Part of a Smart Marketing Strategy

Marketing experts these days recommend incorporating video into your marketing program for a very good reason. Millennials, the new go-to demographic, love this communication channel. Videos are also an excellent way to increase your Google authority, helping you show up in search engines. Pay-per-Click (PPC) is another hot marketing trend. Google is making a stunning $100M/day from Google Adwords—which means that millions of people around the globe are using PPC to help grow their businesses.

The question inevitably surfaces: Is blogging still necessary?

With the hype around sexier marketing trends like video and PPC, you may be wondering if you still need to be blogging. The answer is a resounding “yes”. Blogging is and will remain an essential strategy for reaching your audience. A few stats from Hubspot:

• You have a 434% higher chance of being ranked highly on search engines if you feature a blog.
• Businesses using blogs as part of their content-marketing mixget 67% more leads than those who don’t.

More reasons to keep writing and posting high-quality blogs to your website

1. Blogging is still the most critical content marketing tactic for 2018. In a recent content marketing survey, 52% of respondents agreed that blogging is their most critical content-marketing tactic, followed by email newsletters (40%), social-media content (40%), then ebooks, in-person events, and webinars. Only 30% of respondents considered video to be vital.
2. Blogging—not video–is the place to provide in-depth information. Long-form content (2,000 words or more) performs systematically well. Forget the trend towards minimalism. To rank well in search engines, a page should be at least 300 words. My rule of thumb: Provide enough information to answer your clients’ questions; frontload information so that the reader is getting the most important information in the first paragraph.
3. People trust blogs. Think of your blog as your very own platform. This is where you can create your online personality. It’s here where you can differentiate yourself.
4. Blogging drives web traffic. I love this one: The SEO industry couldn’t survive without words. Your blog is where your words go. One more thing: Your website’s landing pages should also be at least 300 words. More is great, but 300 words is the target.
5. Blogging spurs inbound links. Companies whoblog receive 97% more links to their website than those who don’t.
6. Effectiveness. An estimated55% of bloggers report that they get positive results from blogging.
7. Blogs have evolved. Today’s readers expect transparent storytelling and great, accessible content. Avoid promotion; provide information that helps people do their jobs. Keep it lively, and don’t be afraid to share your opinions.
8. Your blog works in tandem with social media. Without a blog to promote on social, you’re missing an opportunity to drive high-quality engagement.

Having trouble committing to a blog?

Create an editorial calendar and line up topics a few months in advance. Calendar time each week to write. Don’t be afraid to steal ideas.

Need help with content marketing program? Contact Top of Mind Marketing. We’re writers and internet marketing specialists.

The feeding frenzy of online privacy policies

Is it possible that anyone these days is unaware of our current online privacy frenzy? Facebook got busted for sharing millions of user data accounts with third-party vendors. The result? Thousands of lawyers are busy whipping up new privacy policies that none of us reads, yet must agree to before we can access a staggering number of websites.

When Mark Zuckerberg spent five hours with Congress, he talked about things like cookies, privacy and his opening up Facebook data files to third-party vendors.

Here are some key takeaways:

1. Facebook’s privacy policy is inadequate

• Facebook’s policy was inadequate and confusing. Broad agreements haven’t kept pace with the increase in data fields and the information that makes up user profiles.
• Lindsey Graham: “Most Americans have no idea what they are signing up for because Facebook’s terms of service are beyond comprehension.”

2. Regulation is coming

There’s a growing appetite for imposing laws to govern the behavior of Facebook and other social-media companies. To think that these companies will police themselves is laughable. One more thing: If you think that other companies aren’t indiscriminately using your data, you’re being naïve. Facebook is just the one that got caught.

3. Say hello to the Facebook monopoly conversation

Facebook is the world’s biggest social-media platform, receiving more than 87% of digital advertising revenue in 2017. The most popular alternative to Facebook? Instagram, also owned by Facebook. Lindsey Graham again: “Contrary to Mr. Zuckerberg’s assertion, Facebook is a virtual monopoly and monopolies need to be regulated.”

4. Solving content woes with artificial intelligence

Finding and eliminating hate speech from the network is one of the hardest problems to tackle, but artificial intelligence can help solve the issue in 5-10 years. Facebook has said before that its staff focused on sensitive security and community issues would grow to 20,000 people by the end of the year.

5. Facebook has no idea how much damage has been done

Lawmakers wanted to know what groups besides political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica obtained user data.Facebook doesn’t know how much data was harvested, bought and sold. Legislators and most users believe that Facebook hasn’t done enough to prevent its tools from being misused.

6. Zuckerberg did better than expected

Zuckerberg’s performance apparently won over investors and a few lawmakers.

• Zuckerberg’s performance ostensibly went a long way towards restoring trust of investors and legislators. Shares of Facebook rallied 4.5% after one of the company’stoughest weeks on record.
• Facebook has a significant mess to clean up. What can they do to ensure that data remain safe? They can’t guarantee anything. Facebook needs to be accountable, demonstrating to users that they’ve improved and their systems are better.

Facebook has apologized and promised to self-correct; is that enough?

Many users have closed down their accounts. Others are apprehensive, looking for Facebook to step up and be accountable, becoming the model for responsible cyber citizenship. Trust can erode a relationship. Their ability to protect user data will have serious implications for Facebook’s future.

Need help with social media and your content marketing program? Contact Top of Mind Marketing. We’re writers and internet marketing specialists.