Did you know that most Fortune 500 companies blog consistently?
The University of Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research reports in their 2013 annual study that 78% of Fortune 500 blogs regularly post, keep up with comments, and have active RSS feeds with new subscriptions. The study used research gathered from social media sites, company website home pages, and interviews with randomly selected executives to highlight trends in marketing.
Another find in the study was that the Fortune 500 companies that were in the top 200 blogged more than those in the bottom 300, with 45% of the top companies actively blogging while only 30% of the bottom portion did so.
These numbers can be a valuable lesson for smaller businesses looking to grow — that blogging is relevant and an extremely powerful business tool.
From observations of the blog marketing success of these top corporations, here are three takeaways that you can apply to your own small to midsized business.
Posting consistently matters — People like to see regularly updated content on the blogs they follow. They will be more likely to subscribe to your blog or make repeat visits to your website if they know they can expect frequent, consistent posts.
Create a conversation with customers — What is unique about blogging is that it is a platform for a two-way conversation between you and your customers or prospects. By encouraging readers to participate in the discussion, your blog can become a source of new ideas, bring to light customer problems or concerns, and make your audience feel like they matter.
Blogging is not about selling — The best blogs talk about solutions, not products. Focus your blog marketing on tackling issues your customers are interested in rather than trying to force a product or service on them. You’ll find that when you offer something valuable to your readers, they’ll remember — and it may encourage them to become new customers further down the line.
Even with so much noise in blog marketing, you can set yourself apart by offering quality, thoughtful content to your readers. And these Fortune 500 companies are proof of how successful an active blog can be.
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