Getting the most out of blog content in a world of short-form video
Is it time to say goodbye to the blog? I mean why would someone read a written article when they can doomscroll on TikTok and get a new dopamine hit every 30 seconds?
The world of blogging has changed massively over its lifetime. It’s no longer about sharing personal experiences. That’s what social media is for. It has to compete with loads of other places online where we could be spending our time. In general, the online world is much more competitive. It’s a race to be the first to write about any topic. Within no time a slew of other people are sharing their opinions on it via all forms of online media.
While I’ve painted a very grim picture for you, I don’t believe that blogs are over and done with. In fact, I believe that the rise of other online content formats has refined the role of blogs in our online lives and online businesses. Here’s how.
Why are blogs still needed?
Short-form video doesn’t replace the role of blogs. It’s a very different digital experience to read a blog compared to watching a short-form video. One is not superior to the other. It all depends on what the user wants to get out of their time online.
Entertainment vs direction
Social media has more of an entertainment quality. You’re having a break so have a look at what people are posting about. It could be friends. It could be businesses you’re interested in. It’s really a pick & mix.
You usually come across blogs when you enter a specific term into Google or you’re on someone’s email list for help in a specific area. It’s not accidental. It’s intentional. And you read the blog to get a specific result like understanding how to do something. It’s not just for fun.
Algorithm-led vs searcher-led
You can search for specific accounts and content on social media, indicating to the platform what you’re interested in. But a lot of the social media experience is algorithm-led. You scroll through a set of videos that the algorithm has curated for you.
The blogs you come across are picked according to the email lists you have signed up for and the search term you have entered in that instance. It’s going to be curated to exactly what you want at that moment. So you can quickly get the answer to very specific questions.
Short-form vs long-form
Short-form videos hit you with information that you can digest in a matter of seconds. Long-form blogs provide more in-depth information that adds context, explores your options and gives implementation advice. Depending on the nature of the query, one form could suit more than the other.
See, they’re different and both valid. It’s just blogs can take more time and consideration to create so the results you want from them are probably higher.
Up your impact with blogs
If you’re going to bother with blogs, you need to get results. Here’s my blog strategy for fostering positive business outcomes i.e. blogs that add to the customer journey of discovery, engagement, enquiry and conversion.
Answer Google-able questions
Readers turn to blogs to get answers to specific questions. They’re not after general content about your business. So think about the questions relevant to your business and industry that your ideal client would Google. Taking a look at Answer The Public as well as keyword research tools can be helpful with this. It will give you focus points you can turn into the kind of blog content your audience is looking for.
Make it skimmable
Unless the reader knows you well, they’re not going to commit an endless amount of time to reading your blog. This doesn’t mean you have to skimp out on detail. Detail is what sets blog content apart. Just make sure to have clear headings, subheadings, bullet points and key phases highlighted by bold, italic or underlined formatting. It allows the reader to skim through what you’re going to cover and find particularly relevant sections.
Make it actionable
You can’t rely on your blog being entertaining. Although I do encourage you to put an informal spin on your tone of voice to make it more conversational and therefore easy to read. Readers want to take something away from it. Like a new approach to a problem they’re struggling with, a deeper understanding of a topic they’re interested in or advice on handling a certain situation. What can your audience do after reading your blog that they couldn’t do before?
Promote it
Work on your website’s SEO to get your blog ranking on search engines. Direct email subscribers to read the blog. Write an accompanying social media post that sends your audience to your blog. Due to the sheer volume of articles in any given industry, people won’t accidentally come across your blog. You need to make it easy to find.
Link it to your business
How does your blog capture leads? Capture sounds a bit mean so let’s say continue the interaction. You don’t want to go to all the effort of getting people to read your blog and then they disappear. Always end your blogs with a call to action that introduces readers to your business in some way or another. You could write about a service that is relevant to the blog topic. You could invite them to opt into a relevant freebie. What’s an easy yes after reading the blog post?
The online world we operate in today demands more of us as content creators. Gone are the days of posting half-baked articles and still getting engagement. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s created higher standards for blog writers and therefore more useful blogs are being produced to help users.
If you like the role blogs play within business marketing but are a bit unsure of whether you have the time and capacity to produce high-impact blog content, let’s have a chat. I write blogs for my clients that meet these standards and I chuck in the cross-promotional content for email and social media too.
They get to be visible on 3 different platforms with high-quality content without having to do any of the writing. Not a bad deal. Drop me a line at rebecca@poweredupcontent.com to talk blog content.