For the first time in four years, the blogging habits of Inc. 500 brands took a downward turn. According to a study by the University of Dartmouth, shiny object syndrome is rampant as brands ditch blogs for the social media flavor of the month.
The Center for Marketing Research at the University of Dartmouth measured the Inc. 500’s social media habits for the past 5 years, and this year the group’s digital strategy took an interesting turn. In previous years, the number of Inc. 500 with blogs steadily increased. In 2011, though, that number drastically fell from 50% in 2010 to 37% in 2011.
So why are companies jumping ship?
- Time. There’s no way around it; blogging is time consuming. Pumping out consistent, quality content often ends up taking far more time than companies expected when starting the process.
- Message. Brands are often tempted to take the pitch angle with blogs, talking about their product or service instead of helping their audience solve a problem. Not surprisingly, this tends to produce fairly disappointing results.
- Social distractions. Brands are attracted to social media sites over blogging because they seem like an easier platform to maintain. Quickly amassing a hefty number of Facebook likes may feel a lot like success – but this doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s more valuable to your brand.
It takes time, planning and commitment, but the statistics show that blogging is an effective lead generation platform. According to HubSpot, 57% of companies with a blog have acquired a customer from their blog, and 92% of companies who blog multiple times per day have acquired a customer from their blog.
A focused approach to blogging pays off – if you can stick to it.
