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Is Blogging Dead or Are Companies Not Trying Hard Enough?
When I speak to CEO organizations, I typically run through a series of quick slides that show where technology is right at this moment.
For instance: There were 107 trillion emails sent last year, Facebook is at more than 900 million users, Pinterest is closing in on 15 million users, and there are three billion videos streamed on YouTube every day.
I do this to show how many people are using the web, to preempt the “My customer doesn’t use the Internet” conversation (yes, I still hear that).
But the stat I want to talk about today is the number of blogs on the Internet. According to Technorati, there are 158 million blogs floating around, which is partly why I’m so surprised to keep reading that blogging is dead.
I get it. It’s not an easy think to keep up. My guess is many people or companies say, “Let’s start a blog!” and then do nothing with it after a month or two because it’s so labor-intensive.
So, let’s say for argument’s sake, half of those blogs never see the light of day, either because they’re abandoned or no one reads them because they’re too self-promotional. That leaves us with 79 million blogs, which isn’t a small number.
USA Today reported this morning that more companies are abandoning their blogs in favor of Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter.
Add to that, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth released a study earlier this year that says the percentage of companies that maintain blogs fell to 37% in 2011 from 50% in 2010, based on its survey of 500 fast-growing companies listed by Inc. magazine. Only 23% of Fortune 500 companies maintained a blog in 2011, flat from a year ago after rising for several years.
So, I see. Based on Wall Street and fast-growth companies, blogging is down, and now it’s time to claim the whole blogosphere is dead.
Here’s the thing, though. Those companies aren’t blogging because it’s hard. It’s hard to generate good content even once a week. It’s hard to cultivate a community. It’s hard to grow traffic. It’s a thankless job most days. So people throw something up there that talks about how great the company is, if only to check off “blog today” from their check list.
And the blog fails.
Hubspot recently took a look at how blogging affects leads. They found, for companies that do blog, their monthly leads increased by 67% (for B2B) and 88% (for B2C). The survey goes on to show that updating it just once a week increases your leads by 77%.
So, here I sit in front of my pretty pink MacBook Air, wondering why more companies aren’t blogging. Yes, I know it’s hard. I know it’s time-intensive. I know you don’t have immediate gratification. I know you can’t think of anything of value to write. I know no one comments and you don’t see a spike in traffic.
I promise you all of that changes if you’re consistent, you provide good content, and you don’t sell.
Wouldn’t you rather do blogging the right way and generate leads than sit on the phone and make cold calls all day?
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199 Comments on "Is Blogging Dead or Are Companies Not Trying Hard Enough?"
@CEM_Social Thanks!
@johnfalchetto I wouldn’t say blogging is for everyone, but regardless of visitors from out of your target market, I would bet that the local pastry business could still benefit from a blog if done well. We have a few such businesses blogging locally, and people love it. And that added traffic from Brazil and China? While not bringing in business directly, it does help with the SEO, so there is an indirect impact on business.
@johnfalchetto I definitely don’t think that blogging is for everyone. That wasn’t the point I was trying to make. The point I’m making is that blogging is not dead and it’s ridiculous to make those claims, based on Fortune 500 companies. I know why it’s dead for them…they’re using it to sell.
I agree with you that the local pastry business wouldn’t find it effective, but for those companies who have teams of people making cold calls with only one or two warm leads generated per day, blogging is a much more effective tool.
@higginbomb THAT is an excellent case study! Do they also do video and audio?
@ginidietrich I haven’t seen any audio, but I’ve seen them do several videos on their YouTube channel. Here are some examples: http://bit.ly/K41dM3
@higginbomb Thank you!
Agreed 100%. (OK, I’ll let you get up off of the floor before I continue). Just last night my students presented their final projects which included an analysis of the social media and online presence of various companies. A number of these companies were using blogs in really interesting ways. in fact, I’ve asked a few of those students to write them up as case studies for my blog. I just think that some still don’t get it, while others still feel the pressure of “But what do I write about?”. In other words, they lack creativity.
@KenMueller The thing that kills me is we all complain about being sold to yet we go to the office, get behind our computer screens, and pump out content that is full of sales and jargon. I always push clients to think about themselves as consumers as they’re creating content. It kind of makes me nuts.
@ginidietrich I don”t know how many times I have to tell businesses to stop talking so much about themselves. You can do it, but it’s a matter of how you position it within the content. And this goes across platforms, not just on blogs. I often do the same thing in asking them to think how they feel as consumers. Even as far as, “Do you like getting sales calls during dinner? No? Then why do you pay someone to do them for you?”
None of us likes to be sold to. This whole world is changing in that aspect.
@KenMueller Exactly! Yet…
@ginidietrich yet…People!
@KenMueller Seriously.
@jeffespo I will smack them…for sure
@PaulRobertsPAR Darn it. One of these days I’ll be wrong.
@ginidietrich I’m (patiently) waiting for that day.
@PaulRobertsPAR LOL!! So many self-deprecating things to say to that.
@alanbr82 I agree with you. But, in this case, where we’re looking at the stats from the Fortune 500 companies, I think it’s really a function of “it’s too hard” than it is about doing it right. I’d much rather see companies use inbound marketing to generate leads than spend all day on the phone making cold calls and generating little to nothing.
@ginidietrich True, but are we talking Marketing doing the blogging or Sales? Fortune 500 companies biggest issue is aligning sales with marketing. If that isn’t fixed blogging will never work. You have territory/district sales managers that have no idea what is being blogged about. So many companies are left with “now what”. I am not saying there isn’t ways around it but if the “real” problem isn’t fixed then you are just rotating the tires to fix a flat.
@alanbr82 @ginidietrich EVERYONE should do the blogging. Getting to know a company breeds trust, which breeds increased engagement, which breeds action. Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Manufacturing–they all have an interesting story to tell.
@rustyspeidel @alanbr82 It definitely needs to be integrated. Funny we should be talking about that as the book I have coming out TOMORROW is all about how to use these tools in an integrated fashion that works with everyone. All employees own it via a marketing round. This is no longer the wild, wild west. Companies have to figure it out.
@rustyspeidel @ginidietrich I agree, first kill all the lawyers. (just joking about killing)
@alanbr82 @rustyspeidel HAHAHAHHA!
@ginidietrich @rustyspeidel We can have in person conversation at the conference 😉
@alanbr82 @ginidietrich This is a really insidious problem. A lot of old school sales guys still think it’s all about them and their “closing skills.” A lot of the time they are missing the mark, selling the wrong thing, or basing pitches on information they think their customers need to hear, not what they’ve asked for.
Same deal on the management side. Blogging is for mommies, not real businessmen. We pick up the phone!! We sell!! We run into that all the time and it’s a hard slog to change entire company cultures. But it is amazingly cool when it works.
@3HatsComm “With room for the LSU Marching band to spare.” LOL!! Love that analogy. It can only be made by you.
I don’t think it’s solely about sales. It’s about generating leads…which just shows people are interested. What you do with those leads is up to you. I know many, many companies who still employ teams of people to make cold calls with no real results. Think about the damage they could do if they used even half that team to experiment with integrating inbound marketing into the mix.
@ginidietrich Agree; see also AdWords or other measures that yield small returns. I just think a blog can be such a powerful communications tool, don’t think it should be it solely about leads/sales. If that’s all it took for a company to be profitable, why are they paying all those employees to populate 37 divisions with 28 levels of middle management instead of just a sales army?
@3HatsComm THAT is a very good question!
Oh yes, yes, yes! One hundred times yes! Exactly what I’ve been saying. I honestly don’t think that bloggers’ real influence is really understood. It’s not easy to maintain a blog, but I know that it is the best way to build emotional engagement between brands and their customers. @Vegemitevix Question is; Do online marketers underestimate the value of engaging with bloggers who are daily communicating with their client’s customers?
@vegemitevix I think there is a lot of undervaluing going on here. As human beings, we’re inherently lazy. And blogging is hard. There are some morning (like today) that I just don’t want to write a post. But when we look at where our leads are coming from, an hour out of my day is WELL worth it. We’ve seen a trend of me speaking somewhere, attendees subscribing to the blog, and then buying our services. And, to flip that around and talk about the bloggers who have direct relationships with your customers, it’s kind of a no-brainer.
@KristenDaukas I do the same – it’s a HUGE time commitment. I always talk about how much time we spend on Spin Sucks and then I show the numbers as they relate to traffic and then leads and then sales. By that time, people are going, “OK…maybe it’s worth the time investment.”
@KristenDaukas Word. And a blog gives you the platform to share stories that wouldn’t necessarily be worthy of a press release, or an “official” announcement. In short: Company blogs rule.
oh i forgot.
blogging is dead.
so is the easter bunny.
@HowieSPM I’m surprised you didn’t say Facebook was dead.
@HowieSPM WHAT?!?!? The Easter Bunny is DEAD???
@HowieSPM YOU are a primitive blogger when it comes to platforms?!? Nooooo! Really??
@ginidietrich @HowieSPM Howie, there’s this new thing called Xanga. Check it out.
@HowieSPM We’ve had a similar problem at our company; if a client doesn’t understand the value of blogging, it’s impossible to convince them to pay what it takes to have that content written. Fortunately things are changing, but it’s been a slow slog.
@maggielmcg OMG! Now I”m mad at myself for not including that very salient point in the blog post. YES! You still need content to post! You so smart.
@ginidietrich I thought the same thing! “Where do they get content to post on FB or Twitter without a blog?” This article was timed perfectly, as I needed a push to really invest more time on our blog. Thanks Gini!
@maggielmcg I was thinking that same thing. If your not creating the content yourself then you are probably sending people to places other than your business to keep people interested in your Twitter or Facebook stream. And wouldn’t you rather people coming back to your business than to someone elses?
@djenningspr Yeah!
@mindywithrow Definitely do not sell!
@ginidietrich JUST had conversation about that. So many want to treat blogs as press rooms or sales pitches. Platform confusion/fatigue.
@mindywithrow It’s so frustrating!
@ginidietrich Extremely! But now I’m going to cite your article as backup. :o)
@mindywithrow If you need me to break some knees, let me know!
@ginidietrich Ha. Thanks for the offer!
Bang on Gini! If blogs by businesses and nonprofits are failing or declining, it’s not because the medium is faulty. It’s because they don’t understand how or why to blog. Likely they don’t really understand how social media is different from traditional forms of communication that emphasized pushing information out rather than having a dialogue. When I see an organization’s blog too often it doesn’t say anything and what it does say is in the official corporate voice. They play it safe rather than saying something that people want to read and comment on.
Blogging is dead! Long live blogging!
@Communic8nHowe I just had a friend ask me if it’s OK to post a news release, verbatim, on your blog. After I picked myself up off the floor from laughing, I was able to talk to her about why that’s such a bad idea. But the problem is she lost the battle internally and they made her post it anyway. THAT is a huge problem.
I could not agree more. You hit the nail on the head with “So, I see. Based on Wall Street and fast-growth companies, blogging is down, and now it’s time to claim the whole blogosphere is dead.” And thanks for the chuckles.
My coworker wrote a very similar post about the same article you might appreciate. http://www.919marketing.com/blog/digital-marketing/6-things-that-will-cause-your-blog-to-fail/
Blogging is effective. Blogging drives leads. Blogging is often the centerpiece of a masterful, integrated, long-term social media strategy. Evaluating the success of a blog after 1 month or even 12 months is like a dieter stepping on the scale hourly to check results.
@MarketingAshlie LOL! That is such a GREAT analogy! Now I know why I weigh the same every hour. Shucks.
@bobWP Not trying hard enough. My wife is still making money on her blog.
@CoolGuyGreg : )
Reading the statistics helps make the point about the Internet’s impact on business. Those that can will, those that can’t won’t. edjofrank
@DebbyBruck edjofrank That whole leading the horse to water thing, I guess.
@dreamingnyc Thanks for the RT. That was a great article, wasn’t it? I totally agree – companies not blogging are simply lazy
@ClayMorgan While I don’t disagree with any of this, you really proved my point. Blogging is not dead. It’s just dead among Fortune 500 companies that abandoned their blogs before they were effective. There was a big conversation here last week about the difference between ROI and results. From my perspective, if every single piece of your marketing program isn’t measured to business results, you aren’t doing your job. Blogging is one part of a bigger program…and it most certainly is not dead.
I love this article Gini, and couldn’t agree more. Companies not blogging are simply being lazy and will at some point inevitably start (or return to) blogging when they figure that out.
@rjfrasca It’s really hard work to blog. We tell clients that all the time. I actually had this conversation last week and the CEO said, “Well, I don’t have to do the work!” It was funny, but he’s right. His marketing people have to do it. And they have to be accountable to driving results from it. It’s not an easy job.
@Mark_Harai I agree with your opinion. I just returned from a meeting where this was the topic of conversation. The older generation doesn’t want to blog; the younger generation does. They can’t agree on what content is included. So nothing gets done. And it’s a crying shame.
@ginidietrich @Mark_Harai you have way to many meetings Gini
@HowieSPM @ginidietrich Haha!
@skypulsemedia @ginidietrich agreed 100%. Good content takes time, effort and/or $$$. Many co’s try to do it on the cheap and fail
@doogsatx @ginidietrich no companies try to do marketing work on the cheap right @luckthelady
@Faryna It’s like anything else, right? You can’t build relationships offline without some effort. It’s the same thing online…yet we seem to think there is a silver bullet and, when it does happen right away, we get frustrated and walk away from it.
@ginidietrich @Faryna I make life long relationships just walking down the street. I am like a magnet.
@HowieSPM Of course you do.
@ginidietrich GREAT piece…as always!
@yyccommunicator Thank you!
@sacevero People really believe that? Im surprised, how is that true? Dont brands still try 2 reach bloggers more than traditional press?
@JaroG4 Exactly – influential bloggers and SM influencers. The question is for brands who don’t see the value in blogging themselves ….
@JaroG4 …blogging is the one of the best ways for brands to tell their story!
@sacevero yea. I mean the whole human component of brand &consumer lives in the blog. Without it 2day brands would be voices w/o amplifiers
What do blogging and newspaper have in common? The death knell has sounded yet they continue to live on.
@econwriter5 Except for the fact that newspapers are, in fact, disappearing. The rate at which their readership/subscriber rate is declining, and the rate at which they are shutting down, is staggering. Only one major daily paper has increased in circulation (Wall Street Journal) while others are dropping, some in double digit percentages. The NY Times is even seeing declines around 8% each year in recent years.
I think the death knell has truly sounded for newspapers as we know them.
@KenMueller Exactly. The death knell for newspapers, for print, sounded before I was a J-major as an undergrad. Yet they are still clinging to life. They’ll die out, eventually, but it will be a slow death. Print media is scrambling to find ways to generate revenue now that it is cheaper, and often better, to serve ads online.
Blogging doesn’t have that problem. I agree it’s more laziness than revenue.
@econwriter5 And I just read an article today that claims the Internet is dead.
@ginidietrich @econwriter5 Well, that’s funny. It seems like it’s alive and kicking.
@Erin F. @econwriter5 Kind of what I thought, too!
@SSTunic @ginidietrich some will, some won’t
@kmueller62 Yeah, fair point. But the longer blogging produces results & people more consume online, it’ll get harder to resist , imho
[…] morning, Gini took on the question of blogging and business. The premise: Is blogging dead or are businesses not trying hard enough. The (open-ended) answer: […]
Blog or cold call? Hmm…decisions, decisions.
@TheJackB Right?!?
@cision @ginidietrich @SpinSucks Honestly? Most companies have precious few people who actually KNOW how to write.
@Robb_Wexler Very true…that’s why I like video
@JoelFortner And it’s hard to do everything you’ve said without an integrated program to lead them.
@CraigMcBreen What do u mean do not sell?
@JohnFalchetto Hi John. I interpreted it to mean posts that are too self-promotional. Content that only talks about how great the co is.
[…] you have seen the many studies, articles and posts (see Gini’s take) — including a couple on this blog — over the past few months about corporate […]
Honestly, I find that when most people don’t see immediate results, they tend to scale back and/or stop blogging all together. I also find that a lot of brands/companies/people who decide to utilize a blog…forget that they need content to put on that blog (and that it has to be interesting/relevant).
Dead? Hardly. Just not used effectively all the time.
@jpeters1221 Right…because they want a magic recipe that makes them a lot of money overnight. The trouble with that, though, is it doesn’t exist.
@bdorman264 How are you deciding on topics for the Lanier Upshaw blog? I know with that sort of thing I find it helpful to decide on a monthly topic. That’s my two cents…Feel free to throw them into the nearest pond or fountain. 🙂
@bdorman264 @Erin F. and Insurance blog? Well I am going to create a Re-Insurance blog to insurance your poor judgement in insuring things like BP oil wells and the Rays against not making the playoffs.
@bdorman264 I worked with an insurance broker for a while – as her blogger and e-letter person – so I have some idea of the range of topics. 🙂 We sometimes tried to tie the topic into something having to do with the month. My favorite post was the one I wrote about life insurance for February. I played off the whole love languages thing.
@HowieSPM Haha! @bdorman264
@HowieSPM @Erin F. Dude, I’m in sales, not re-insurance. If BP thought they were paying too much for their insurance before, just wait until they see the invoice for their renewal………….:).
@Erin F. We do have monthly ‘themes,’ but I can typically pop something in whenever I want to. I just need to take the time to do it….
@bdorman264 Ha! It sounds as though some sort of schedule or accountability partner is in your future. 🙂
Do you know Mike Vardy’s blog? He had a recent post about “time chunking.” I like his phrasing for the concept.
@Erin F. I do have an accountability partner; but it’s more production related and not writing, maybe I’ll get them to keep me on task with the writing for the LUI blog……
@bdorman264 There you go. A multi-purpose accountability partner.
@bdorman264 You kill me! LOL!
So why is it you can write for your blog, but not the business one?
@ginidietrich @bdorman264 imagine having to suppress Bill’s wit and self depreciating I mean deprecating humor for a blog. Seriously do you know what accountants find exciting? insurance.
@HowieSPM @ginidietrich I make insurance sexy….:)
@hollisthomases Couldn’t agree more! And now if I can just focus on doing some posts of my own. LOL! Thanks for the RT!
Mmmmm……blogging. An introverted extroverts dream. I would think the biggest issue corps would have is the almighty acronym…..ROI. Gasp!
Guess that’s the stats you cited. Ahem, 77% is more than a passing grade to me. I have no idea. I’m still just a spec on the wall of the big bad blog world.
Scary stats tho.
@rdopping I also see you’re hanging out around here today! And you’re right…the mighty ROI. No one knows how to measure this stuff. It kind of makes me nuts.
Yeah, I love it here. Soooooooo, much interesting stuff. Mitch Joel was wrong. IT IS fun to comment and engage…….
@rdopping LOL!!! I’m printing this and handing it to him when I see him tomorrow.
Cool! Tickle his bald head for me (I don’t know the man).
@rdopping ROI is precisely the issue for most companies. Well made blogs do work, but they work very slowly. I’ve been at it a long time, and I pick up a lead here and there, but there are much more effective channels for lead generation. For instance, if I go to a cocktail party, I’m more likely to make a connection that generates work for me. No joke.
I recently wrote a piece about the ROI of blogging and why I am laying off AdPulp at this time, and focusing more on my company’s blog instead.
http://bonehook.com/2012/04/17/blogging-isnt-poetry-its-a-means-to-an-end/
@David Burn You make some excellent points. I haven’t been at blogging for more than a year so I don’t consider myself qualified to comment but I can say this. I have been in the A+D business for 20yrs and it is quite clear to me that building relations opens doors.
Is that not what THIS is all about?
It crosses my mind that those companies should outsource their blogging to actual bloggers who know how to do it, and then run with the leads.
@Julie | A Clear Sign Yuppers. I do it for cheap, too. 🙂
@Julie | A Clear Sign There are definitely pros and cons to that, as well. Not in the company’s voice, who manages the community, etc. But I have no qualms writing blog posts for clients IF they approve them and add their own voice.
@ginidietrich I am going to do it on my husband’s company website – interview him and get his thoughts and simply do the writing for him. He is a contractor and I am not – but I do hope it will create engagement and give him something important that he doesn’t currently have. Of course, I have easy access to him so I can bug him for all of the right answers, so it’s not quite the same thing 🙂 I understand what you are saying about ownership and engagement in their own voice.
@wabbitoid I agree social is like a bazaar. You get all kinds. And the wild-eyed, fortune tellers tend to attract the lionshare of attention with their mumbo jumbo.
@wabbitoid I agree with you about all the noise and people talking about stuff they don’t really know. BUT. It takes an inordinate amount of time to keep this blog going. I personally spend 10-15 hours a week on it and Lisa probably spend 20-25 hours. It’s a full-time job. It’s naive to think it doesn’t take a lot of time.
@wabbitoid I enjoy your quips, Wabbitoid. I don’t always agree, but I do enjoy them. Cheers!
@wabbitoid It’s definitely a subculture here in the comments. Everyone has personal jokes with one another, which I love. But comments account for less than one percent of our readers. We gain not only credibility and awareness from blogging, but also new clients.
@wabbitoid You cross paths all the time with people who talk about their personal lives. You probably just aren’t aware of it.
@Faryna That’s the biggest thing that bugs me about the ROI discussion. It’s now SO MUCH easier to measure our efforts, yet everyone claims it can’t be done. I think that’s just pure laziness. It can be done. And it’s not hard.
Nice post @ginidietrich ! Keeping content flowing is tough, but new tools and new tactics like curation are making it easier to stay relevant and informative, even on those occasions when ideas or time are running short. I think the bogosphere is definitely evolving with more migration to what you could call social blogging.
@ChrisBradley Really great point about curation. If balanced with original content, it works really well.
I’m not as consistent about my blogging as I could be. But I would never eliminate it from my strategy. That sounds insane to me. Whenever someone says “I closed my blog and I’m relying on Facebook, and Twitter instead.” I hear “I closed my own store and hope that Walmart and Amazon will move my product and services for me.”
@Tinu HA! Great analogy!!
[…] Improve Landing Page Conversions Gini Dietrich | Email | No Comments We talked yesterday about whether or not blogging is dead and, in the comments, there was a good discussion about the big scary […]
Great and timely post. After re-branding my company, I have started blogging over the last two months. I am definitely trying to put up great content and not sell. Mainly using a “case study” approach and providing food for thought. And, you are correct, it is difficult to continuously post great content. Insurance is not a sexy topic, but I’m trying! 🙂 Thanks Gini!
@CesLSU AND you’re commenting, too! I’m so proud!!
@ginidietrich You know I love your material! You are in my circle of trust!
RT @Soulati Is Blogging Dead or Are Companies Not Trying Hard Enough? http://t.co/JIPOavlR via @ginidietrich
[…] As both the Digett blog manager (read: she-beast) and owner of a personal blog, I understand the time blogging takes and the stress it can cause. But the results are worth it, and sometimes you just have to suck it up and try harder. […]
[…] to Gini Dietrich at Spinsucks, "Hubspot recently took a look at how blogging affects leads. They found, for companies that […]