Content Marketing

Forego Blogging At Your Own Risk, Say Social Media Experts

By Shane Snow

750 million people are on Facebook. Billions of Tweets are sent every day. Fast-growing new social networks like Instagram, Tumblr, and Foursquare –not to mention social mainstays like Youtube, LinkedIn, Flickr – permeate consumers’ online lives. Now that we have so many social media channels, do businesses need blogs anymore?

Absolutely, says Rick Calvert, social media futurist and founder of BlogWorld & New Media Expo, in an interview with Inc.com’s Tiffany Black.

“The blog is the hub, and all these other things,” he explains, “are spokes that lead back to the center.”

Calvert calls social media an equalizer. Small companies use it to reach potential customers they couldn’t get to on their own; big companies use it to tune in to the needs of their current customers. Businesses of all sizes can use social media tools like Twitter to reach out and stay in touch

Most social media platforms are optimized for bite-sized updates, clips, and snippets. Much of that short-form conversation points to longer-form content on news and video sites, or blogs. At last count, 25% of all tweets contained links to longer form content.

Businesses that take the conversation from networks like Twitter to their own turf have the advantage of additional branding, higher engagement, and the ability to convert passive media consumers into paying customers.

That’s why Calvert calls the blog the center of the social-media universe. “Do you want your company to be at the center of the conversation,” he asks, “or do you want to be out in the rest of the galaxy?”

“If you want to be a leader,” Calvert says, “you still need a blog.”