By Jini Maxin
Video blogging, or “vlogging,” has become big business today. Video sharing website YouTube is driving vlogging’s explosive climb, with its mobile site reaching more 18- to 49-year-olds during primetime than any cable network in the United States.
That said, traditional blogging is still alive and kicking—it’s a multi-million-dollar industry. In fact, both big and small businesses are still relying heavily on blogs to get ranked high on search engines.
“Written content is critically important and always will be because this is one of the primary ways people learn and absorb information,” according to Mark Schaefer of Schaefer Marketing Solutions. He also writes, “Text-based content is a pillar and always will be a pillar, but is blogging as important as it was 2-3 years ago? The answer is no.”
Both blogging and vlogging are beneficial in their own ways, but there’s no denying that blogging isn’t the same as it was a couple of years ago. It’s facing the heat, not only from video content but also from social media sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. Companies are uploading original content to these platforms, even at the expense of no link backs to their respective websites, enticed by the incredible visibility these sites offer.
So Why Blog?
That brings us to the question: Do traditional written blogs have a future? A tricky question, but the answer is yes. Despite vlogging’s popularity, businesses are still blogging. However, what’s needed is quality content. About 10 years ago, a company could blog about anything and get an SEO boost; today, with increased competition between the many blogs out there—and thanks to Google’s ever-evolving algorithms such as Google Panda, RankBrain, and Hummingbird—you need to cut through the clutter with quality content to rank high in Google searches.
Why are businesses still blogging despite the practice losing its sheen? As HubSpot’s blog post “Why Blog? The Benefits of Blogging for Business and Marketing” points out, blogging will drive traffic to your website:
- Every time you post a new blog post, it means your site has a chance to appear in Google searches.
- You get to share your blog content on social media accounts, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and more, thereby exposing your business to new audiences.
- It adds one more indexed page to your site.
- It converts traffic into leads. (Be sure you include a call-to-action in every blog post. It could be in the form of free e-books, white papers, fact sheets, or webinars; these encourage the user to fill in a form, along with their email address, to receive free offers.)
- It helps you establish yourself as an authority.
- Through guest posts and other expert outreach programs, it helps with traditional link building, thereby passing link juice back to your site.
Vlogging: The New Way to Blog
Vlogging, in short, simply means a blog in video format. Many big brands are turning to vlogging as today’s hot new content marketing strategy.
Why is vlogging growing in popularity? Besides the fact that this year nearly three-quarters of web traffic is expected to consist of videos, other reasons include:
- You don’t have to rely on fancy equipment to vlog these days; a simple smartphone will suffice.
- It’s a great tool for turning a potentially boring topic into something engaging and interesting. Videos are ideal for generating how-to content, which can become a useful learning resource.
- Studies show that shoppers who view product videos are more likely to buy the product.
- You need less time to watch a vlog than read an entire blog. In fact, many people prefer watching a long video over reading a blog that might take only a few minutes of their time. Why? Because videos tend to be more interactive and customer-friendly.
Other factors contributing to vlogging’s success:
Facebook video—Turns out people check their Facebook News Feed at least 14 times in a day. Not surprisingly, businesses are cashing in on this opportunity by creating videos to run in that channel.
Live streaming apps—Periscope and Facebook Mentions are a few of the live streaming apps that are contributing to vlogging’s popularity.
Written content in the form of blogging is not going away, but adding newer marketing formats such as vlogging to your overall content marketing strategy will only increase your reach.
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