Businesses are constantly seeking effective strategies to engage their audience, build brand authority, and drive growth. While social media platforms have been a popular choice for many, the power of blogging remains underestimated and unbeatable.
In 2024, prioritizing blogs over social media can provide benefits that are majorly overlooked. This article explores why you should focus on blogging in 2024 and explains 10 reasons why blogs will outperform social media in the coming year.
The Battleground
There are now lots of ways for businesses to organically connect with their target audience. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram provide instant engagement and a wide reach, making them attractive for businesses looking to build their online presence.
However, blogs offer a unique set of advantages that can lead to more sustainable growthand deeper connections with your audience.
Below are 10 reasons why blogging should become a cornerstone of your digital marketing strategy in 2024, and how it can complement and even surpass the benefits of social media.
Don’t forget, long form blog posts are great foundational content pieces, which are easily transformed into short form articles, posts, tweets and even video.
Let’s look at some reasons why blogs can outperform social media and newsletters in 2024.
1. Enhanced SEO
One of the most significant advantages of blogging is its impact on search engine optimization (SEO). Well-crafted blog posts can improve your website's visibility on search engines like Google. By incorporating relevant keywords, backlinks, and high-quality content, blogs can help your site rank higher in search results, driving organic traffic and increasing your online visibility, while you sleep.
Comparison with Social Media and Newsletters
Blog vs Social Media
While social media posts can drive traffic to your site, they are often short lived and quickly lost in the feed. They also have limited impact on your site's SEO since search engines primarily index web pages, not social media posts.
Blog vs Newsletters
Newsletters are excellent for direct communication with your audience but do not impact SEO directly. They can drive traffic when links to your website are included, but they lack the discoverability that blog posts provide through search engines.
Example: A business that consistently publishes blog posts on industry-specific topics will attract more search traffic than one relying solely on social media updates.
2. Long-Form Content
Blogs allow for the creation of long-form content that can provide comprehensive information to your audience. Unlike social media posts, which are often limited by character counts and the need for brevity, blogs can delve deep into topics, offering valuable insights and detailed analysis.
Comparison with Social Media and Newsletters:
Blog vs Social Media
Social media platforms favor short, engaging content. While they are great for quick updates and engaging with users, they are not suitable for detailed analysis or in-depth content.
Blog vs Newsletters
Newsletters can contain long-form content but are primarily used for regular updates and often have a limited audience. They do not have the permanence or shareability of blog posts.
Example: A tech company can use its blog to publish in-depth articles about new technologies, providing value to readers and establishing itself as an industry authority.
3. Evergreen Content
Blog posts can serve as evergreen content, remaining relevant and useful long after they are published. This contrasts with social media posts, which tend to have a short lifespan as new updates quickly push older ones out of view.
Comparison with Social Media and Newsletters:
Blog vs Social Media
The lifespan of a social media post is very short. Once new content is posted, older posts are quickly buried in the feed.
Blog vs Newsletters
Newsletters are typically consumed shortly after being sent. While they can drive traffic temporarily, they do not continue to attract readers over time.
Example: An article on best practices in digital marketing will continue to attract readers and generate traffic for months or even years after its publication.
4. Authority and Trust
Consistently publishing high-quality blog content helps establish your business as an authority in your field. Readers who find your content valuable are more likely to trust your brand and turn to you for expertise.
Comparison with Social Media and Newsletters:
Blog vs Social Media
Building authority on social media can be challenging due to the platform's transient nature. While it is possible to become an authority, it often requires consistent engagement and can be limited by the platform's algorithms.
Blog vs Newsletters
Newsletters can help build trust with a loyal audience, but they reach a limited number of people compared to a well-optimized blog that can attract new readers continuously.
Example: A healthcare provider that shares detailed health guides and wellness tips can build credibility and become a trusted source of information for patients.
5. Engagement and Interaction
Blogs provide opportunities for deeper engagement through comments and discussions. This interaction can foster a sense of community and build stronger relationships with your audience.
Comparison with Social Media and Newsletters:
Blog vs Social Media
While social media allows for real-time interaction, the conversations are often brief and can get lost in the constant stream of new content. Additionally, the quality of engagement can vary widely.
Blog vs Newsletters
Interaction through newsletters is typically one-way, from the sender to the recipient. While readers can reply, the engagement level is generally lower than that of blog comments.
Example: A fashion retailer can engage with customers by responding to comments on style tips and fashion trends shared in blog posts.
6. Ownership and Control
When you publish content on social media, you're at the mercy of the platform's algorithms and policies. Blogs, on the other hand, are hosted on your own website, giving you complete control over the content and its presentation.
Comparison with Social Media and Newsletters:
Blog vs Social Media
Content on social media is subject to the platform's rules and algorithms, which can change without notice, potentially reducing your reach.
Blog vs Newsletters
While you control the content of your newsletters, their distribution depends on email service providers, which can be affected by issues like spam filters and delivery rates.
Example: A business blog can implement its own design, features, and monetization strategies without worrying about changes in social media platform policies.
7. Driving Traffic
Blogs are a powerful tool for driving traffic to your website. Each blog post is an opportunity to attract new visitors through search engines, social media shares, and email marketing.
Comparison with Social Media and Newsletters:
Blog vs Social Media
Social media can drive traffic, but it often results in short-term spikes rather than sustained growth. Users typically engage with content on the platform itself rather than visiting external sites.
Blog vs Newsletters
Newsletters can drive targeted traffic but generally to a smaller, pre-existing audience. They are excellent for nurturing existing leads but less effective for attracting new visitors.
Example: An e-commerce site can use blog posts to highlight product features, provide usage tips, and link to product pages, driving traffic and boosting sales.
8. Lead Gen and Conversion
Blogs can be optimized for lead generation by including calls-to-action (CTAs), subscription forms, and gated content. These elements can help convert readers into leads and customers.
Comparison with Social Media and Newsletters:
Blog vs Social Media
Generating leads directly from social media requires paid advertising or promoting specific posts. Organic lead generation is less reliable due to the platform's algorithms.
Blog vs Newsletters
Newsletters are effective for converting existing leads but have limited reach for generating new ones. They work best as a part of a broader lead nurturing strategy.
Example: A software company can offer a free eBook download in exchange for an email address, using blog posts to drive traffic to the landing page.
9. Content Repurposing
Blog content can be repurposed for various marketing channels, including social media, email newsletters, and webinars. This creates a cohesive content strategy that amplifies your message across multiple platforms.
Comparison with Social Media and Newsletters:
Blog vs Social Media
While social media posts can amplify blog content, the platforms themselves are not ideal for detailed information and in-depth analysis.
Blog vs Newsletters
Newsletters can drive traffic to blog posts, but the reach is often limited to your existing subscriber base. Blogs, however, can attract new visitors through SEO and social shares.
Example: A travel agency can use blog content for social media posts, email campaigns, and even as the basis for video content.
10. Data and Analytics
Blogging allows for detailed tracking and analysis of content performance. Tools like Google Analytics can provide insights into which topics resonate with your audience, helping you refine your content strategy.
Comparison with Social Media and Newsletters:
Blog vs Social Media
Social media platforms provide analytics, but these are often limited to engagement metrics like likes, shares, and comments, which don't always correlate with conversions.
Blog vs Newsletters
Email marketing platforms offer robust analytics for open rates, click-through rates, and conversions, but they only track engagement within the newsletter itself, not the broader web traffic driven by the content.
Example: Analyzing blog traffic can reveal popular topics, enabling a business to focus on high-interest areas and improve overall content effectiveness.
Convinced yet? if not, you should be! Thinking that starting from scratch is a big task? In the next 2 minutes you’ll know exactly what to do. Then 10 minutes later you can have your first post published.
5 Steps to Start Blogging
Starting a blog might seem daunting, but with the right tools and strategy, it can be a really straightforward process.
In just 10 mins you can have your first post published and working for you while you sleep.
Here are 5 simple considerations to get you started:
Define Your Goals and Audience
Understand what you want to achieve with your blog and who your target audience is.
Choose a Platform
Select a platform that suits your needs. Keep it simple and use Notion, integrated with Feather for simplicity. More about that below.
Plan Your Content
Create an editorial calendar to plan your blog posts and ensure consistent publishing.
Optimize for SEO
Use keywords, meta descriptions, and internal linking to enhance your blog's SEO.
Promote Your Blog
Share your blog posts on social media, in email newsletters, and through other marketing channels to reach a wider audience.
Start the Right Way
Ok, so you want to start a blog, but don’t know where to start. You are not alone, which is why we created Feather. To make the process simple and the results exceptional!
Feather is built to be used with Notion, one of the most popular content and productivity systems that exists today.
Notion simply cannot be beaten for writing and organising content and we believe that Feather cannot be beaten for turning that content into a professional blog.
Introduction to Feather
Feather is a powerful platform designed to seamlessly integrate with Notion, transforming your Notion pages into a fully functional, SEO-optimized blog.
By using Feather alongside Notion, you can enjoy the benefits of a robust content management system (CMS) without the need for complex setups or expensive tools.
Even with Notion's free plan, you can leverage Feather to publish a professional blog that drives traffic and engages readers.
Top blogs using Feather
These hugely successful blogs use Feather with Notion to create engaging content for their audience. This means evergreen content that drives traffic whilst asleep.
Feather is built with SEO in mind, providing features that help your blog rank higher on search engines. You can set up meta titles, descriptions, and keywords directly within Notion, and Feather ensures these elements are optimized for better visibility.
Custom Design
Feather offers extensive customization options, allowing you to design your blog to reflect your brand. You can use custom CSS to tweak the appearance, choose from a variety of templates, and ensure your blog stands out.
Collaborative Features
Feather enhances Notion’s collaborative capabilities by streamlining the publishing process. Teams can work together on content within Notion, and Feather handles the publishing automatically, ensuring that everyone’s contributions are accurately reflected on the live blog.
To get started with Feather, visit the Feather website and sign up for an account. Once you have an account, you can create a new blog and link it to your Notion workspace.
Follow the prompts to set up your blog, including choosing a name and subdomain for your site.
Integrating Databases
Feather requires access to your Notion databases to manage content. In Notion, set your pages and databases to public (or shareable via a link) and copy the URLs.
In the Feather dashboard, navigate to the “Connect Database” section and paste the Notion URLs for your content, tags, authors, and pages databases. Feather will automatically map the necessary properties, but you can customize these mappings if needed.
Publishing
With Feather, publishing is streamlined and efficient. After connecting your Notion databases, you can draft posts in Notion and set them to publish directly through Feather.
Feather’s SEO tools will help optimize your content, and you can schedule posts to go live at specific times, ensuring a consistent publishing schedule.
Why Feather
Notion as Your Blog CMS
Feather is an innovative platform that allows you to use Notion as your blog CMS, offering seamless integration and powerful features to enhance your blogging experience.
SEO-Optimized Blog
By using Feather, you can create an SEO-optimized blog that leverages Notion’s content management capabilities while ensuring your posts rank well on search engines.
Customization and Design
Feather provides extensive customization options, allowing you to design your blog to perfectly match your brand’s identity. Use custom CSS and templates to create a unique look and feel.
Collaborating and Publishing
Feather streamlines collaboration and publishing, making it easy for teams to work together on content within Notion and publish it seamlessly. This integration enhances workflow efficiency and ensures high-quality content delivery.
By integrating Feather with Notion, you can take full advantage of Notion’s powerful content management features while benefiting from Feather’s robust publishing, SEO, and customization capabilities.
This combination provides a complete solution for bloggers looking to maximize their online presence and drive traffic to their site.
Try Feather’s free trial today and see how easy it is to transform your Notion workspace into a professional, SEO-friendly blog.
Wrapping Up
In 2024, blogging remains a powerful tool for businesses looking to build their brand, engage with their audience, and drive long-term growth. While social media platforms offer instant gratification and broad reach, blogs provide a depth of content, control, and sustainability that social media simply cannot match.
By prioritizing blogging in your digital marketing strategy and leveraging tools like Feather, you can create high-quality content that not only attracts and retains an audience but also establishes your business as an authority in your industry.
Ready to take your blogging to the next level? Try Feather’s free trial today and discover how easy it is to transform your Notion workspace into a professional, SEO-friendly blog. Unlock the power of blogging and watch your business thrive in 2024 and beyond.