By Morgan Roddy, Social Media Strategist and Blogger
Northern AZ Social, LLC | A Full Service Advertising Agency in Prescott, AZ
Blogging
gained popularity in the early 2000s and has remained important throughout the
rise of social media marketing. Pairing a blog with your current social media
marketing strategy might not be a brand-new idea but it is still an important
one and a good step for most business owners.
When
it comes to blogging, set yourself up for success by ensuring your blog has
been optimized to keep your current clientele engaged as well as to expand your
audience. Content is the first thing you should think about when creating your
posts. Every post should have a purpose. Not all posts need to, or really
should, directly advertise your services or products. Sometimes a post can
merely share important information about your area of work in general. Other
posts might speak to things that may not directly relate to your business but
could increase your customer base. For example, a restaurant would benefit from
a local marathon because of an increase of visitors. Other posts can simply
serve the purpose of keeping your blog active. For example, highlighting local
photography. Word counts for a blog post usually average between 500 to 1000.
Generally, blog posts appear less frequently than social media posts with once
a month or once a quarter being the industry average.
Quality
content is important no matter what platform you are working with, but it is
especially important with blogging because the majority of your content will be
text. Your best posts should always be highlighted on all your social media
platforms. These posts should be about your product or services or have
particularly useful information for your audience. Be careful to not sound too
pushy or “sell-sell-sell” when you write. There is a fine line between talking
about the benefits of your product/service and being annoying, which obviously
would turn your audience off. Some good topics for these kinds of posts would
be Frequently Asked Questions, an Interview with the Owner, or an exposé on
your top product.
Linking
inside your blog posts is also very important. Imbedding links into your posts
both promotes traffic inside and outside of your site as well as increasing
your Search Engine Optimization (SEO). You can link to your other blog posts,
your own website, or other social media accounts. It is also important to link
outside of your own services. Do not be afraid of mentioning other business in
your area, even if they are similar to yours. Having relationships with your
community’s local businesses helps your social media accounts succeed.
Of
course, keywords are also important for SEO. Once you’ve figured out what your
keywords are, be sure to feature them in the title of the post and at least
once in the body of the text. However, you don’t want your post to be a
confusing conglomerate of keywords. Overuse will make your content unreadable
and uninteresting to the audience you’re trying to attract. One of the best
ways to embed keywords in your blog post is to do it in a photograph. Include
your keywords in the title of the photo before uploading it to your site. If
you are given the option of writing a small caption for the photo, use the
keywords again.
All
posts should be paired with an image because visual content is very important.
Stock photos work for some posts as long as they have relevance to your topic.
However, posts about your services or products should include personalized
photographs whenever possible. Action shots of you or your employees at work is
always a good place to start. Photos provide not only visual appeal for your blog
but are also vital when promoting your blog posts on other social media
platforms. When attempting to post about your blog on Facebook, for example, it
is much easier when there is already a photograph attached.
The
key points to keep in mind when blogging is that all posts should have purpose
as well as links (both internal and external) and a photo. Keywords should be
used with intention, and don’t be afraid to promote your posts on other
platforms!
Written
by Morgan Roddy,
Social
Media Strategist, Northern AZ Social, LLC
