| Inc. 500 Blog Activity Drops; Fortune 500 Stays Steady |
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| In 2011, the number of corporate blogs dropped to 37% of Inc. 500 companies, down from 50% in 2010, says a study. More specifically, companies in the advertising/marketing industry are most likely to blog, while companies in government services and construction make very little use of the platform. Does this decline correspond with the rise of Facebook and Twitter usage? Only time will tell. Source: Center for New Marketing Research |
Within the Inc. 500, corporate blogging activity is declining for the first time since first being measured in 2008, says a study released in Jan. 2012 by the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. In 2008, 39% of Inc. 500 respondents had a corporate blog. This figure rose to 45% in 2009 and 50% in 2010. However, in 2011, the number of blogs dropped to 37% (see chart).
So what gives? Is the mature platform of blogging now running its course, being replaced by other forms of communication? Ilana Rabinowitz, VP of marketing at Lion Brand Yarn Company, which has had a successful blogging program for years, warns not to jump to conclusions. She points to a Jan. 29 blog post by Mark Schaefer (businessesgrow.com) that disputes the findings. Schaefer says that while blogs may have declined among the Inc. 500, the platform voted most successful in the same study for the fourth straight year: blogs.
But, if the numbers are correct, Rabinowitz says she wouldn’t be surprised. “Blogging is more time consuming and takes more skill than using Facebook or Twitter,” she says. The Lion Brand Notebook blog doubled in unique visits in 2012 over 2011. That is the result of three factors: driving traffic more through e-mail; learning how best to serve their audience; and using evergreen posts from years past.
Kipp Bodnar, inbound marketing strategist at HubSpot, says blogs are a constant in an ever-changing social environment. “Facebook can change the layout of your business page tomorrow if they wanted to, and the same goes with LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+,” says Bodnar. “PR pros who care about testing and improving their efforts need the data and control that a company blog provides.”
Besides, rather than be replaced by other social platforms, the blog allows PR pros to extend the content provided on Facebook and Twitter, which makes all three platforms more effective, says Rabinowitz. Her tips for a better blog visibility include:
• Make your posts useful to your audience by knowing what they need, not what you want to sell them and simply being helpful. Study your numbers and analyze weekly.
• Write good headlines and make sure you are using keywords in your headlines and body copy, and be strategic about using them in your headlines and body copy.
• Promote your blog posts on all your owned media.
When it comes to blogging, it may be apropos to quote Samuel Clemens: “Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” PRN
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CONTACT:
Ilana Rabinowitz, [email protected]; Kipp Bodnar, [email protected].