Blogs and social networks are tools that can be used together as part of content marketing strategies. Find out how.
Blogs and social channels: everyone wants them, but not everyone is able to grasp the potential that employing these two channels synergistically provides. But, fortunately for those who want to learn more about them, today we talk about just that.
Perhaps it will be trite to begin by stating that one cannot approach communication channels without an appropriate marketing strategy (at least, if one expects to get any results), but the many possibilities of using these channels strategically are not at all trivial.
Here are 5 ideas for using blogs and social media in a cool way and making them perform best in relation to your goals.
How to bring traffic to your website with blogs and social
A first and rather simple way in which to use blogs and social media synergistically is one in which social content takes on the function of teasing the article posted on the blog.
The social content should be concise but catchy, capable of capturing the attention of the audience interested in informing themselves, knowing and learning new things, and it should necessarily contain a call to action that invites them to learn more about the rest of the topic on the blog.
Objective. Generate traffic to the site.
Whatever medium they travel on, content represents a great opportunity to intercept the target audience and can become a real gateway to introduce potential readers to the brand's world.
Social media and blogs work together here to trigger a potential virtuous circle that leads the user on a journey of brand discovery, and-perhaps not today, but tomorrow yes-to choose the proposed solution, then to choose it again, until a true relationship of trust is built.
This is, of course, the rosiest of scenarios to say that content continues to be an important lever for generating trust, as long as it is carefully packaged according to a precise strategy.
How to increase audience with insight and entertainment
Social content and blogs can then be seen as two different levels of depth with which to interpret the same content, in a content creation strategy that aims at a twofold goal: to expand the audience and strengthen engagement (depending on the social platform) and the sense of community around the brand.
The strategy? Working on parallel editorial plans between blog and social channels, where an article made for the blog provides material for social content on the same topic, but with a different slant.
Insight will leave room for entertainment: this is how edutainment is born, where education and information are combined with entertainment typically offered (and sought after) through the dynamics intrinsic to social platforms such as Instagram. Dynamics that moreover stimulate engagement and active involvement of the audience around the content, a condition that in today's blogs is lost in favor of deep-diving into the topic.
Same topic, depth, format, different cut: the formula for a single communication to reach different and broader audiences, with different fruition habits and information needs, but which can in any case be satisfied through social content or the more extensive one on the blog.
Cross-media Storytelling: when unity really does make strength
Involving all channels employed by the brand in telling the same story, entrusting each with a small portion designed according to the channel's features: this is what is commonly called Cross-media Storytelling.
Particularly effective for special project communication campaigns, strategies founded on this concept manage to engage different touchpoints without ever falling into duplication of content between channels. In such a strategy, blogs and social channels cannot miss the call with their own contribution, with content that as a whole tells different perspectives of the same story, but has accomplished meaning even when enjoyed individually.
A brief, very brief summary (by no means exhaustive) to point a way forward to include blogs and social channels in an impactful content strategy - with the possibility of looking beyond even the most beaten Meta, LinkedIn, YouTube.
How to study the community through social channels
The interactive features offered by some social channels -let’s think for example to Instagram Stories-and the audience's natural inclination to participate in them can be seen as an even more valuable tool than just entertaining the community.
Engaging the audience through quizzes, polls, content sharing, etc., is a condition that allows you to listen and gather a range of very important insights on the topics your audience deems most interesting, but also doubts, frequently asked questions, ideas and opinions.
A reservoir of information that, if exploited strategically and in a reasoned manner, can become a fundamental source to guide the editorial planning of blogs and social channels: after all, if you want to create truly interesting content for your audience, what can be the best strategy if not asking them directly what they would like to find on the channels manned by the brand?
And there is no need to stop there. A strategy that integrates social channels and blogs with these mechanisms not only offers a wealth of insights for content creation, but certainly helps to reinforce brand perception toward positive attributes. An audience that sees its insights integrated into the content strategy - for example, ideas proposed through what seemed like a simple quiz in Instagram Stories - will feel heard, understood: a value that will certainly help distinguish the brand as trustworthy, human, close to the needs of its community and customers.
Blogs and social serving the community
We have mentioned community several times in the previous points, but it is worth devoting the final point of this brief excursus devoted to blogs and social media as part of an integrated strategy.
Several of the ideas outlined here represent avenues for achieving what we might call "top-level" goals, but thinking long term and more broadly, they certainly have strong potential in strengthening and enhancing the community around the brand. And having a strong and cohesive online community naturally represents a strength that is good for business across the board.
Social channels are the place to create and nurture the community, thanks to the "active" mode of use that characterizes them: the ability to comment, react to content, send messages, create groups, participate in polls and so on. This is the place where it is possible to spark conversations, listen to the community, involve it.
Instead, it is the blog that is the place to give answers to the community: comprehensive guides on topics of interest, in-depth articles, and interviews with people who are authoritative and knowledgeable about the issues that gravitate around business. The natural structure of blogs makes them predisposed to a "passive fruition," but a very attentive and interested one.
It goes without saying that, in an effective content strategy, social media and blogs should be considered for their natural characteristics and mode of fruition with a distinct and precise role, but with an integrated vision, which will be able to bring benefits on multiple fronts, to the brand and to the community.