Marketers clearly understood the value of social media marketing in 2012, but did you know that blogs are really the core of social media marketing? One statistic from Actionable Marketer shows that among companies using social media in their marketing efforts, 59% rank their company blog as “critical” or “important” to their business – and they ranked it higher than any other social media network.
The numbers say it all: Business blogging is the most important part of social media marketing. Here are some more insightful business blogging statistics for 2012:
- 55% of small businesses now have a blog. - from Leaders West
- Companies that publish 15 or more blog articles per month generate five times more web traffic than companies that don’t blog at all. If they blog at least nine times per month, they generate three times more traffic than non-blogging companies. - from MarketingProfs
- Even moderate blogging is better than no blogging at all. Businesses that blog one to two times per month generate 70% more leads than companies that don’t have a blog. - from MarketingProfs
- 57% of businesses that have a blog report having acquired at least one customer through their blogs. - Polaris B
So clearly, blogging should be a high priority for businesses in 2013. From the numbers, we can see that small business has this figured out. But ironically, big business doesn’t: e-Strategy Trends reports that just 139 of the Fortune 500 corporations maintain public-facing blogs. This is a mere increase of 29 Fortunate 500 companies who blogged in 2009.
And even those on the Inc. 500 list, which represents the fastest-growing companies in America, are struggling to capitalize on the power of business blogging. Only 185 of them had a blog in 2011, which is actually down from 250 of the Inc. 500 companies that had a blog in 2010. The fact that 65 of America’s fastest-growing companies abandoned their blogs in the course of one year shows us two things: 1.) successful companies are in the dark regarding effective blogging techniques, and 2.) small businesses understand that business blogging must be left to the professionals.
92% of all companies with blogs say it has been successful for their business. Rather than struggling to put together an inadequate in-house department for blogging, big companies should learn from their up-and-coming counterparts by outsourcing their blogging to a professional firm.
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