The article, “Why Are America’s Fastest Growing Companies Killing Their Blogs?” featured on B2C.com immediately caught my attention. As a Social Media Strategist for B2B businesses, the decline of corporate blogging is a topic that hits home. Why are America’s fastest growing companies discontinuing their blogs and what additional outlets are they using to connect with their consumers?
A study from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth shows that blogging from INC 500 companies has been steadily increasing among businesses and was even considered one of the most successful social media platforms just last year. However, with the rise of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, blogging may be falling off the social media radar.
Personally, I am a huge fan of Twitter because of the two-way communication that takes place between brand and consumer. Unlike blogging, Twitter enables its users to follow other users and directly connect through re-tweets, direct messaging and “trending” hashtags. Although blogging is an excellent way to become the thought leader of your industry by using a unique “voice”, unless you are revolutionizing the way you can connect with your target audience through blogging, it’s more of a one-way street. Yes, we all have those blogs we read on a daily basis and continue to come back to for more. But why? People trust the author of that particular blog that they read on a daily or weekly basis. They like what the author has to say and keep coming back for more. With a re-tweet here and a comment there, the mix of Twitter and blogging is a recipe for social media success.
In the end, there is no right or wrong answer if blogging is the greatest or worst way to stay connected to a brand. Rapidly growing companies may be killing their blogs because other social media platforms may be more effective communication methods. On the other hand, many companies are still blogging regularly and are being recognized as the thought leader in their industry because of their blogs. So what do you think? Are blogs on the decline or is this just the beginning of the blogosphere?