Introduction
Blogs are small items of information presented in a scrolling sheet that fits on one screen. The difference between a blog and an article is the format in which it is presented. Articles are part of a website or news service; blogs are a form of a website.
Articles are more informative and formal in tone, while blogs can be a bit more casual and can have more personality behind it. When sharing any article or blog post with someone who might be a paying customer, you should always have a formal tone, however, with blog posts you can relax that tone a bit and make it more conversational.
Blogs are also more conversational in general, while articles are geared more towards providing information.
For companies seeking to enhance and expand their company’s presence, it is important to maintain two blogs. The first one would be an in-site blog feature on their corporate website; the second would be a separate blog page, either on a social media site or in a blog site such as WordPress.
By having two blogs, you’ll be able to first connect with customers and potential customers on your website’s blog, and then you’ll be able to give them more helpful information and connect with them on the other blog.
Wording and Frequency
Since blogs are small descriptive articles, they tend to be no more than 1,000 words. They are usually SEO worded as well as containing at least one graphic to attract the reader's attention. Blog updates should be at least once a day to maintain a following. Blogs can be about anything that is relevant to the company; they can include updates about the executive board, changes in personnel, technological updates, changes in products, and informative articles about the science the company is involved in.
Wording is key to a successful blog. For engineering and manufacturing sites, a successful blog must be concise and informative. I must provide a structured approach so that the information is understood quickly. There must be a title, a brief introduction or summary, and content. All blogs must link the reader to the company’s product sales pages, since the purpose of the blog is to help make sales.
Social Media
Blogs are useful only when they are noticed. Since most corporate sites are not frequently visited, it is imperative to get as many visitors as possible that are interested in the company’s products and services. A blog platform is a great tool when integrated with social media platforms. Below is an indication of social media reach:
While we are proponents of focused marketing, it’s important that you get as much free coverage as possible, and this can only be reached through intelligent social media usage. By setting up social media pages and through automated blog sharing, where you post the blog in one place, and when the bot then shares it all over the web, will you reach a large audience?
Social media pages are important to increase traffic, as well as awareness. We do not expect a billion visitors to land at a chrome plating companies web site, but we do expect individuals that work for companies that need and use chrome plating services to find your blog articles through social media and search engine results.
Wording in Social Media
There is a difference between the wording of a website, and wording in social media. Social media is aimed at everyone, and when you post an article about aerodynamic constraints and factors for the use of Magnesium Alloys in Aerospace Wing Manufacturing, then you are limited by choice of topic on how you word the blog posting. In general, you wouldn’t use blog and social media sites to post such an article. You would however, post the negative, which would be something like: “Amazing disasters due to bad airplane wing faults”. This is the public way to post the professional version titled “Review of structural errors and crystallized metallic fractures in aircraft wing constructs”. Social media requires social wording; professional media requires professional wording. Both must be used appropriately.
Wording in Professional Blogs
A professional blog can also appear in some social media sites. LinkedIn is a social media site designed for professionals and job seekers. If a technically worded article in WordPress was automatically shared in a Linkedin profile, that would be constructive. In fact, making daily professional blogs worded for professionals will drive a higher visitor to customer conversion rate, than a public social media posting. However, both must be produced to create an overall successful marketing arena.
Viral Marketing
Viral marketing is about releasing an unusual video on social media that is meant to instigate a massive viewing response. Most viral instances are not pre-organized. For instance, Psy’s “Gangnam Style” success is the first 1 billion viewed video was not expected by him or anyone else. (It is now over 3 billion views) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0
Against this you get organized marketing successes such as Evian’s inner child, where they produced a video that went viral promoting Evian’s product way beyond expectations. It now has nearly 17 million views. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-p0CxW87pg
Viral marketing is extremely helpful to get a branded image that will automatically give your company an advantage over your competition. However, branding can also backfire since the more famous you are, the more careful potential customers might be when considering your services. The larger your web presence can also define how potential customers think of your services and fees, as well as forcing companies into a supply chain issue, where expansion can also backfire when the company’s inability to supply products or services due to massive and immediate demands.
Having stated this, if you do decide to go viral, make sure you are prepared for the results. Viral marketing is a great solution for end-product manufacturers; it is not such a good solution for electrical engineering companies. If you are an electrical engineer and you want to make a statement without the intent to be famous, (well actually yes) but for instance to educate people about water and electricity by matching the marketing product with your vision is an important step in reaching a successful campaign.