Why Blogging is a Must for Today’s Brands

Data released in August by the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth in a review of Fortune 500 companies revealed that 139 Fortune 500 companies have corporate blogs specifically for the public. Representing a 75% from 2008. Of the top 5 corporations, Exxon and Wal-Mart have blogs for the public.

Evidently there’s a trend by corporations to blogging. The question is why is having a blog so important? The answer lies in a blog’s ability to reach more people and also climb higher in the search engines.

Creating content that educates and enlightens people, that can also be indexed, attract links, and is easy to share is becoming more important than ever before. Here are some reasons why you should use a blog and the advantages that come with it:

1. Reputation! Reputation! Reputation!

With the use of blogs a company can easily promote its brand in a positive light, building a good reputation in the process. Content that informs audiences builds trust and puts the company in a class of its own. It gives a company authority in their domain and becomes seen as something a notch above their competitors and not just “another product”. This allows the company to present their knowledge, which in turn leads to a greater appreciation of the company by its customers.

2. Promoting the Company Brand and its Product

Smart companies can leverage on the power of a blog to steer the conversation about their products and the company itself in their favor. Companies that consistently put out informative and educative content will build audiences that trust them. They can leverage on this trust to do a tiny bit of promotion and because of this trust, audiences will not mind. In addition companies can also launch new products, getting feedback they can use to tweak and improve them. This ultimately will lead to more sales.

3. Companies Can Become More Visible Online.

A blog can gain more traffic. How? By writing compelling content targeted at the right audience. This will lead to more traffic because those people will share or recommend those articles through social media and other platforms. This will, in turn, generate backlinks in a natural way (something that’s also important) and will lead to higher rankings in search engine results (provided the entire blog has incorporated SEO into its structure).

4. The Company Can Share Its Beliefs

Virtually every business has a vision and/or mission statement that incorporates its business philosophy. However for most companies, their mission statement is unclear at best and this is because the behavior of these companies is different from what they claim their mission is.

With blog, a company has the chance to show its character and share what it stands for in the hearts of its public. It gives them a chance to face major issues with its public, setting the tone of public discourse between the company and its customers. Basically, companies can showcase their values and beliefs in real terms over time.

5. They Can Inform and Educate the Public

Blogs are extremely effective in educating the public on anything related to its business. Educating and informing a client base can go a long way in companies building trust with their client base. It definitely allows potential customers to get a better appreciation for what the company is about.

6. Building a Solid Customer Base.

Blogs, by their interactive nature, can build a large community of clientele rapidly. They can do this by various forms of advertising, word of mouth, referrals, and more.