What is blogging?
B2B marketers use blogs to promote products or services for prospective customers, attract qualified leads, and establish a business as an industry thought leader..
This guide will educate new marketers about the benefits of blogging. We’ll also explain the value of creating and maintaining a B2B blogging strategy, as well as how to turn content into new sales opportunities.
Blogging is the writing and publishing of content on a platform like LinkedIn or a business’s website.
A B2B blog may contain the following content types: business insights, opinions, and product or service-related information with following the sales funnel to target customers online. Blogs may help build and foster community, boost traffic, and generate sales revenue.
Blogs can feature a broad range of topics and formats including text-based stories, image galleries and infographics, embedded videos, digital downloads or supporting assets, and links back to related blogs on the same website.
A blog strategy can impact a business in a number of ways. Below are some of the key reasons to develop a blog content strategy.
Blogs posts are the most popular format businesses use to capture the attention of people typing relevant keyphrases in search engines.
By regularly publishing informative and keyword-optimized content, businesses can improve their visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs), making it easier for potential clients to find them.
This process begins with thorough keyword research to identify the terms and phrases that potential clients are using to find solutions within your industry.
Incorporating these keywords naturally into well-written, informative blog posts signals to search engines that the business’s website is a valuable resource for those search queries.
Additionally, search engines favor websites that are regularly updated with fresh content. A consistent blogging schedule ensures that the site is covering a wide range of topics and is continually indexed; improving the chances of ranking higher in search results.
This increased visibility not only attracts more organic traffic to the business’s website but also positions them as a go-to resource in their industry, making it easier for potential clients to discover their services.
A blog provides the perfect platform to showcase the business’s expertise and knowledge.
By consistently publishing well-researched, insightful, and authoritative content, the business not only provides valuable information to your readers but also demonstrate your proficiency and depth of understanding in its field.
This process involves diving into industry trends, challenges, and innovations to create content that informs and provides unique perspectives or solutions.
This can be done through in-depth analyses, case studies, expert interviews, and thought-provoking pieces that reflect the company, and its leader’s expertise.
Moreover, authority is further established through the quality and reliability of the content produced.
Ensuring blog posts are well edited, fact-checked, up-to-date, and referenced from credible sources enhances the business’s reputation as a trustworthy resource.
As a blog gains traction, it can become a reference point for other industry professionals, influencers, and media outlets, leading to opportunities for partnerships, speaking engagements for company leaders, and press coverage.
Such recognition not only amplifies the business’s authority but also significantly boosts its SEO through high-quality backlinks, as other reputable sites link to the blog’s content.
A strategic blog can be a powerful tool for generating leads and driving conversions by integrating compelling calls-to-action (CTAs) within informative and engaging blog posts, businesses can guide readers towards taking the next step in their customer journey.
This strategy involves creating content that attracts readers through valuable insights and aligns with their stage in the decision-making process.
For instance, early-stage content might focus on addressing common questions or challenges faced by the target audience, subtly incorporating CTAs that encourage readers to subscribe to your newsletter for more insights.
This helps in building a list of potential leads by capturing contact information.
As readers progress through the funnel, mid-stage content offers deeper insights, such as case studies or white papers, available through CTAs that require more commitment, like sharing contact details for a download.
Finally, for readers at the decision-making stage, blog posts can highlight product benefits, customer success stories, or comparisons, paired with direct CTAs like scheduling a demo or consultation, effectively nudging them towards a purchase or engagement.
Key to this strategy is understanding the needs and behaviors of the target audience and creating tailored content that resonates with them at each stage of their journey. It's also essential that CTAs are relevant and offer clear value, making it easy for readers to take the desired action. Moreover, tracking the performance of different CTAs and blog posts through analytics enables businesses to refine their approach, optimizing content and CTAs for better conversion rates over time.
Furthermore, the integration of SEO practices in crafting blog content ensures that your posts rank well in search engine results, increasing the visibility of your CTAs to a broader audience. This approach not only enhances the lead generation potential of each blog post but also contributes to a sustainable, long-term strategy for growing the business.
Brands often leverage owned and third-party platforms as channels to announce updates, launches, and enhancements.
This strategy involves collaboration between product, public relations, social media, email and any other relevant team, to craft a compelling narrative about the new product or service.
The messaging aims to inform and generate interest from the target audience, highlighting the benefits and value of the product or service.
Once the blog post is live, it's crucial to amplify its reach to target customers, industry influencers, and relevant media outlets.
This is where a well-coordinated effort between the customer facing communication teams comes into play. The social media team employs a variety of tactics to promote the blog post, including tailored social media posts, paid advertising campaigns, and outreach to influencers who can help spread the word further.
In addition to social media promotion, email marketing may also send a newsletter to existing customers and subscribed prospects, brands can directly communicate the news, adding a personal touch to the announcement.
This direct line of communication ensures that your most engaged audience is immediately informed and can help amplify the message through their networks.
Blogs need to be published with a content management system (CMS). Content must be hosted on platform that allows for editing and posting.
These sites host the blog and its content, as well as allowing designated users to design the layout, use templates to create posts, and track visitors. There are many options for businesses looking to use a blog for the first time, including free, pre-made templates or purchasing a license for a customized CMS.
After settling on a CMS, the next to-do item is to select and purchase a domain name through a domain registrar. The domain name can be the same as the business or, especially for professionals looking to expand their own brand and reach, a person’s name. The domain name is important because it’s what customers or readers will be searching for. Make it memorable and easy r to promote on social media channels, business cards, or ads.
If a business isn’t at the point for their own blog on a website, there’s also the option of third-party sites such as LinkedIn Pulse. Third-party websites don’t have many SEO opportunities because they won't go back to a business’s website. It is, however, a great path to an existing subscriber base and readership so any links, information, or tips will still reach many people.
Some businesses choose to use both owned and third-party blogging platforms as a way to increase their reach and target customer engagement.
Next, B2B marketers can develop a blog content strategy using the tips outlined below.
Define objectives in a documented strategy
Objectives are goals with specific outcomes that may include growing search engine rankings for certain keywords; boosting pageviews on a branded website; increasing customer engagement on social media; and generating more leads from a “Contact Us” or “Subscribe” form on the blog.
Keep objectives in a high-visibility area so they can be referred back to often and track to ensure goals are met, off-track, or in danger of not being completed at all. This way, objectives can be modified if need be.
Create an editorial calendar
One key reason an editorial calendar is useful to have is so that blog topics are tracked and maintained so there aren’t any duplicates. Editorial calendars are extremely helpful for establishing a publishing cadence, too, so blogs are allowed to breathe and be read before publishing another set.
Hold regular brainstorm sessions to identify topics and industry trends that make sense to cover on the blog. Then, schedule blog creation, posting, promotion dates, and any potentially refreshing. This structure helps ensure teams follow through on finishing a blog post on time. Prioritize quality over quantity of posts when starting to maximize the impact, but try to post regularly to gain momentum.
Determine content topics and formats
Content formats and types have differing purposes. Blog content may have seasonal posts (typical for a peak selling season time) or be tied to a campaign (new research released) or evergreen, SEO posts. These all serve to attract and retain customers at various points throughout the sales funnel. Ensure there’s a mix of content to keep the blog fresh and a good read.
Blog lengths can be anywhere from brief (500 words or less) to medium (1000 to 2000 words) or longform (2500 words and up.) Certain formats may dictate the word length but so, too, does keyword research on competitor posts.
New bloggers should opt for simplicity over fancy formatting: try using one headline, multiple subheaders, and a conclusion with a call to action (CTA) as a template.
Promote blogs on social media, ads, and newsletters
Many B2B marketers craft unique messaging to promote blog content on social media sites like LinkedIn. They may even pay to promote a viral post through Sponsored Content Ads.
It’s also wise to include links to the most popular blog posts in email newsletters to increase their reach and pageviews.
When promoting posts on social media, be sure to engage audiences by encouraging comments or asking a question. For instance, when B2B marketers promote an opinion-based story, they can ask social followers if they agree or if they have experienced a similar situation as the one described in the story.
This approach can also build a sense of community around specific topics where many target customers face similar challenges or needs. It also helps to share these posts or questions in LinkedIn Groups associated with a particular industry or in product user forums to extend the conversation beyond a brand’s owned social media channels.
To inspire people to share or like posts on social media, consider including new research or insights that no one has ever seen before.
Finally, B2B marketers should track and optimize blog content results to maximize their return on investment. Start by developing key performance indicators (KPIs) to benchmark and measure success to make future data-driven blogging decisions.
Possible blogging KPIs might include:
- Boosting sales revenue via blogs by X% annually.
- Growing marketing-qualified leads or conversions via blogs or supporting content downloads by X% each quarter.
- Increasing year-over-year social media engagement and blog pageviews by X%.
B2B marketers can track and optimize blog content marketing strategy performance using web analytics data from Google Analytics. Additionally, they can track social media and digital advertising campaigns to promote their blogs using a Campaign Manager tool to measure ROI and optimize results.
Blogging effectively boosts a B2B branded website’s search engine rankings. A solid blog content strategy can also help position a business or professional as an industry thought leader and expert in their field while promoting their products and services online to a highly targeted audience.
B2B marketers can promote blog content via social media posts and ads, and include links in branded email campaigns to maximize their reach and audience engagement.
LinkedIn offers a variety of paid advertising formats, including Sponsored Content Ads to promote viral blog posts. LinkedIn Dynamic and Text Ads and Conversational InMail Ad opportunities also help marketers get their B2B blogs in front of the right audience of over 850 million professionals worldwide. Visit the LinkedIn Advertising website to get started, or check out the LinkedIn Marketing Blog for content marketing inspiration.