Blogging is a vital foundation for a writer’s platform and trust is the key to a successful blog.
Blogs beat all social media networks and online magazines in being influential in consumers’ buying decisions, beaten only by retail websites and brand sites, according to a Technocrati survey.
Social media marketers now make blogging their main focus, with nearly two-thirds of marketers saying blogging is the social media platform they most want to master.
The Social Media Marketing Industry Report from Social Media Examiner shows that 62% of marketers put learning about blogging as their main priority, ahead of Google+ in second place and Facebook third, followed by LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and Pinterest.
Social Media Examiner says the survey shows the power of blogging to reach huge audiences and prospective customers cannot be underestimated. If you want your voice to be heard on the social web, you need to have a blog.
The findings are backed by Technorati’s Digital Influence Report which reveals blogs are beating social networks when it comes to influencing consumers. Blogs beat all social media platforms and online magazines as being most likely to influence a purchase and are only topped by brand sites and retail sites.
Social Media Examiner says blogs are so influential because bloggers tend to be honest and sincere in their reviews of products and services, which is an important point to bear in mind in running a blog as trust is the currency of influence. If you want to become influential, the key is to become a trusted source of information.
The overwhelming majority of top social media influencers (86%) blog and 59% of influencers rely very much on their blogs and don’t produce much content outside of blogs.