You are a Facebook genius, a Twitter wizard, and you’ve mastered every social media platform that you’ve ever joined, so why would you be bothered with launching a blog for your brand in this day and age? While you may have done an excellent job of finding your brand’s niche in the rapidly evolving social media universe, there are plenty of fundamental benefits that come with creating and maintaining a blog. Take a few minutes to discover why a good blog is the ultimate social media hub, the official spot to catch up on the most important announcements and news, an archive of all your evergreen linkable content, and so much more.
Your Linkable Content Hub
Social media is the best place to throw out “one and done” memes, GIFs, and little videos, but a blog is the perfect place for hosting big news, a particularly handy infographic, or any other piece of content that your fans and followers will want to revisit in the future. Your blog will continue to gather value as you add more quality long-form linkable content that people will continuously revisit and share as a reference long after you upload it.
A Clubhouse for Your Followers
A legion of dedicated fans following and interacting with you on your various social media sites is fantastic, but wouldn’t it be better if those fractured communities came together to communicate with you and each other in one central location that you control? Enable the comments on your blog posts and notify followers whenever you upload a new piece of content across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc., for a special opportunity; just imagine what you can learn if you brought together all of your social media communities together in one central blog!
Once fans start funneling into your brand’s blog, take the opportunity to ask questions, run contests, reply to comments, and interact with people who genuinely take an interest in your work. Promoting inclusivity and interaction, while proudly displaying your brand’s personality into the blog will go a long way to encourage diehard enthusiasts to keep coming back and newcomers to join in on the fun.
Search Engines Love Blogs, Too
Not only does maintaining a healthy blog keep your followers happy and get the word out about the biggest things that your followers need to know, it is an ace way to give your online presence an important search engine optimization boost. A SEO improvement is the cherry on top when it comes to what a good blog can accomplish for a brand in the long run, and here are some simple, yet important tips to keep in mind as you build your own blog:
Spending a little money to buy your own domain name will go a long way. Not only does it look far more professional than “MyAwesomeBlog.com”, search engines tend to promote blogging websites that have put in the extra effort to look professional.
One of the simplest ways to ensure that your content is optimized for SEO purposes is to upload things to your blog that people can’t obtain anywhere else, such as tutorials that solve specific problems, or unique insight into a particular subject. When people search for a question like “When does [Your Brand’s] product launch?” or “What ingredients are in [Your Product]?” SEO would push your blog higher in the rankings because it holds all of the important questions that people would ask about your brand. Click here to learn more about creating a FAQ for your blog to improve your blog’s SEO.
Be sure to maintain your blog and repair any broken links or images as they pop up, because search engines penalize websites that look like they’ve been deserted or plagued with a nasty “404 Error” infestation.
A Personalized Home for Your Brand
Make it yours. It should be a a trusted place to learn the latest news, information, contests, and updates directly from the horse’s mouth! Colors, logos, style, personality, check out (WordPress, Tumblr, etc.) for various blog styles, and make it yours!
Before you jump headfirst into creating killer content that your Twitter followers will eat up, take a little time to give your new blog a makeover that reflects your brand so that it’s effortless for anyone to realize who owns the page.
Cover the blog in your brand’s colors, logos, social media buttons, as well as a list of handy contacts, a useful FAQ page, an “About” page, and leave your brand’s personal mark wherever you can- don’t forget to insert calls to action and to link back to your homepage! Let your personality shine, especially since this blog will be the official hub for the latest news, announcements, events, and other important information from your brand. Make your blog yours!
Please keep in mind that making and maintaining a blog takes real effort, but between the SEO boost, building a central location for your fans to congregate to, and making a special place online that houses all of your most important content, it’s totally worth it!