Corporations are gradually abandoning their business blogs in favor of newer social media options. That could be a mistake. Business blogs may not be as new or exciting as the latest, well-publicized social media platform that pundits tout as the future of the Internet. However, blogs offer important PR and marketing advantages that corporations will greatly miss if they discontinue producing blog content.
The number of Fortune 500 companies with public-facing blogs dropped from 34% in 2013 to 21% last year, according to research by University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research. Businesses are moving from blogs to visually-rich platforms. For instance, Instagram posted a double digit increase (13%) in usage among the Fortune 500 firms between 2013 and 2015.
Grabbing Shiny New Objects?
New is not necessarily better, writes Nora Ganim Barnes, Chancellor professor of marketing at UMass Dartmouth and its research center’s director. Despite frequent predictions that new platforms will replace old ones, popularity of new platforms peaks after four years and old and new tools coexist.
New tools may come and go; however, blogs are a mainstay of corporate PR and marketing. Companies considering dropping blogs in favor of a less substantive alternative should think twice.
Microblogs and Microbenefits
Because blogs are time-consuming, many businesses are turning to micro-blogs, such as Twitter. “Microblogs are not appropriate substitutes for blogs, in our opinion,” Barnes asserts. “The number of distinct benefits offered by blogs that are not offered by microblogs makes microblogs unacceptable substitutes.”
Traditional blogs offer distinct advantages, including the ability to:
- Discuss complex issues in-depth, present detailed research and position writers as experts in their field.
- Drive traffic to websites, collect leads and drive sales. Blogs can notify search engines that a website contains substantive content that should rank high in organic search results.
- Serve as a repository of content. Social media accounts can point to blogs, unifying the brand message.
- Maintain corporate control. Companies control their own blogs, including length, content and tone. Micro-blogs (as well as other social media platform) impose restrictions.
“For all these reasons and more, the decline of blogging may have a serious impact without a suitable substitute,” she says. “Despite the decline in blogging, the Fortune 500 uses blogs to accomplish goals they believe cannot yet be met with newer tools.”
The rationale for major corporations continuing to invest in their blogs may be even more valid for smaller businesses and not-for-profit organizations. The corporate blog is the one reliable place where a smaller organization can establish its expertise, attract attention, and influence search engines, interested consumers, business decision-makers, donors and other constituents.
Corporate Blog vs. Digital Sharecropping
Some content marketers warn that publishing on third-party sites is akin to digital sharecropping because content producers lose control. The third-party websites can change their rules, or even disappear. Brands that hitch their PR and marketing wagons to the wrong social media star assume an enormous long-term risk.
PR and marketing professionals believe corporate blogs are here to stay, although the types of content they publish will evolve, writes John Egan in a Business 2 Community article.
Video, which is easier to view on mobile devices and increases engagement, will proliferate. Corporations may also produce more e-books, podcasts, white papers, webinars, online quizzes and other types of content. Many expect PR to collaborate with corporate executives to publish posts on third-party sites like LinkedIn Pulse and Medium.
Bottom Line: Research reveals a trend of corporations dropping their blogs in favor of social media platforms. Business blogs provide benefits social media cannot replicate. Corporations abandoning blogs and jumping on the social media bandwagon may be committing a significant PR and marketing error.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
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