5 Ways Blog Content Can Instantly Boost a Brand's Online Presence

The rise of e-commerce and smaller brands means that companies have to be more strategic than ever in how they market online. The increase in potential avenues for placed Internet advertisements are great, sure - but when everyone is doing them (especially your competition), these ads can become a bidding war for that prized top slot on a Google search, meaning you’re always having to keep your eye on your analytics, being reactive, rather than proactive about your marketing tactics.

But, many brands have chosen to take the marketing game back into their own control. The rise of blog content, which can establish brands as thought leaders in their niche area of expertise, has proven to be highly successful. First, choose a topic that coincides with your product or service, so it’s a natural and easy tie-in. For example: If you’re a vegan snack company, create blog content on nutritious recipes for vegans, or if you specialize in products for infants, create blog content for new and expectant moms. The key is to plug your own product or business into the content subtly.

Here are five ways that this blog content strategy can instantly boost a brand’s online presence.

1. It’s easily shareable. Simply put, if a blog is well-written and has good advice, a potential customer who stumbles across it may be likely to share it. Contrast this with a potential customer stumbling across a classic advertisement - there’s no way they’re sharing it on their Facebook page or retweeting it, unless it’s something like Apple’s commercial with the Cookie Monster and Siri. Make sure that each blog post includes a “Click to tweet” and links to make it easily shareable on the reader’s social media.

2. It’s less expensive. You know that bidding war we mentioned? Thus is the life of brands who are solely focusing on ad space, and it can get expensive for common keywords such as “golf balls” or “flower delivery” or “mascara”.... And the list goes on! Blogging, however, costs only a fraction: A brand already has a website, so all they need are content writers on their team, or to outsource for a couple hundred dollars per article for prime content. It significantly decreases the spend on marketing.

3. SEO, SEO, SEO. Perhaps one of the most compelling ways blog content can boost online presence is by improving a brand’s SEO. Tech Client found that a brand has a 434% higher chance of being ranked higher on a Google search if it has a blog. 434%! A no brainer - and, that number continues to rise the more that content is published.

4. It forges a new frontier of a relationship between the brand and potential customers. Customers choose to try new brands if they trust them. By receiving valuable content and information from a brand’s blog, they’re more likely to return to the blog and have a more positive view of a brand. This type of communication between a brand and a customer far outweighs the typical advertising slogans that brands have historically used to try to capture a customer’s attention. Leading them to water with insights, stories, recipes, interviews - you name it, any of that good content they’re looking for - keeps the brand top of mind for them.

5. It creates more, and more engaging material for the brand’s social channels. A brand can only post a product so many times in so many different ways on social channels, but with fresh blog content published weekly or even monthly, brands have more material to post on social, and customers have a reason to continue to engage on social channels. Think about it: Do you really want to follow your favorite laundry detergent on Instagram if they’re only posting photos of the detergent bottle? Probably not. But, you’re likely to follow your favorite laundry detergent on Instagram if they’re also sharing tips from their latest blog post on how to get Cabernet out of your favorite pair of white pants...because we’ve all been there. And while you’re reading, it will remind you to restock.

Believe it or not, the list goes on. So, get out your pen and paper, and get to writing! Your brand will be more recognizable and trusted than ever before.