To understand if blogging is beneficial in digital marketing, it is best to understand what is a blog? A blog is like a discussion or a website published, with information about a particular topic. A blog covers several different aspects about a particular topic, like a food blog, travelling blog or fashion blog.

Similarly, companies have their own blogs to interact with customers, and provide them with informational content that they can use, to solve problems, get to know about their products, and feel the need to visit their website. A blog doesnt have to be run by the marketer of a company; it can be run by an individual, hired by a company, to influence and inform people.

Why Prefer A Blog?

There are several reasons that companies and individuals prefer to start a blog. When users search for information, they often look for a more personal touch to information, which is why they would prefer blogs, over professionally written and complicated word articles, any day.

Easy To Set Up

Whether it is WordPress or any other blogging website, setting up a blog is a very easy task. A blog can be set up in a few minutes, and anyone who has a little technical knowledge, can start writing a blog in no time. For a blog, a marketer wouldnt need the assistance of an IT professional, or the help of a whole another department like more.

Multiple Features

To make a blog appealing to the audience, a marketer can choose a theme, background, colors and font; the blogger can give a personalized touch to the blog. A blog should be designed in a way that it appeals to the target audience. For example, if it is a business blog, then it should have a more professional look. If the target audience is young, then the blogger can take inspiration from pop culture.

Announcements And Special Events

A blog can be used for making quick announcements. When people subscribe to blog posts, then they are alerted every time a new post is made. This way, they dont miss on any important stuff and are up to date about the latest events and product launch. A blog can be used in a PR emergency as well. If a company is facing a PR crisis, then it can issue a statement on its blog and directly deal with the situation, before it gets out of hand.

Relationship Building

When users comment on blog posts, and they communicate directly with a brand, it gives the brand a chance to get to know their customers better and get feedback on their products. They can form a close relationship with customers by replying to their comments, addressing their queries in blog posts and making sure that they have a good experience when they visit a blog.

When customers get a chance to directly communicate with brands, then that gives them a sense of security in buying their products. If they face problems, then they can get quick solution for them through the blog. However, even though there are many benefits of using blogs for digital marketing purposes, there are some drawbacks as well, which companies should look into.

Time Consuming

Like every other marketing method, blogging takes a lot of time. People want fresh content, and they want a blog to be updated every now and then. A marketer needs to come up with different kinds of appealing content for the audience, or the audience will lose interest. However, when customer loyalty builds, and people become regular visitors to a blog, the marketer can slow down the updating process, and stick to special announcements and quality articles only.

Common Method Of Marketing

Blogging is an easy method of marketing, and every business knows that. There are too many blogs on the internet now, and some dont give accurate information, as compared to others. People are losing faith in blogs, because even though they visit blogs for expert information, all they get is spam content or content that makes no sense. When building a blog, a company should always focus on making the content relevant and accurate.

Written Communication Skills

Whoever blogs, has to be really good with written communication. If he is spending a lot of time on his blog, but he doesnt have good writing skills or people dont find the way things are written, interesting and creative, then all the efforts put in, would go down the drain.