3 Ways to Get the Biggest Bang for Your Blog

By Mike Murray, Director of Communications, Strategic Vantage

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One blog gets five impressions. Another gets one million. Ever wonder why?

The answer lies in the saying “it’s not what you do, it’s what you do with it.” That’s because the way the world digests information has forever changed—and so should the way we communicate and share it.

A blog, an article, a press release, a podcast, a webinar or an interview—even a single printed quote in a publication—can all be shared on a variety of different platforms to gain far greater visibility, impact and staying power than ever before. And when done effectively, an audience of hundreds can become thousands or millions.

Here's how it can be done:

1. Use One Concept for Many Audiences

Due to the ever-growing number of social media outlets like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, YouTube and Tik Tok, the ways to reach audiences continue to increase exponentially. One blog post shared on multiple social media platforms can not only get more views, it can drive potential clients to your website.

How many views your news receives on social media will depend on several factors, however. Have you proactively cultivated your social media audience? Have you reached out to customers and prospects via social media, rather than just connecting to the businesspeople prospecting you? And as far as your post itself, does it include keywords and an eye-catching image or photo to draw the eye?

Depending on the people you’re trying to target, you can categorize a blog topic to appeal to different media platforms for a designated group or a specific demographic. Also, by taking a quote or comment in one publication to an audience on social media, it becomes a win-win for you, the reporter and the publication.

2. Unleash the Power of SEO

The information you’re sharing should be keyword rich so that it will appear in search engines like Google. Make sure you use a keyword tracking tool to help you identify what keywords prospects are using to find your company, and place those strategically in the content you’re sharing. Headlines and subheads should also include those keywords.

3. Turn Your Content into “Stories”

Want to reach even more people? Your company blogs, executive interviews, bylined articles, awards and speaking engagements can all become social media “stories.” For example, Facebook has a feature called Facebook Stories, which are short, user-generated photo or video collections that serve as a second news feed on your Facebook account. You can use Facebook Stories to highlight a recent interview or bylined article, providing another opportunity for even more people to read your news.

In October of last year, LinkedIn announced its own “Stories” feature. Much like Facebook, people and companies can use LinkedIn Stories to share images and videos of their news. LinkedIn shares Stories for 24 hours, and they’re accessible on mobile apps, too. A great benefit is that the creator of a Story can see a list of LinkedIn users who have viewed each post.

While our 24-hour news cycle means a morning announcement can be quickly forgotten by the end of the day, these stories give a greater number of readers and viewers second and third chances to see your message for the first time—and keeps it alive for a longer period of time as well.

Once you are published in the press, or write a blog or create a video, it’s important to think of every way you can to promote your content. Companies today must focus on sharing their news via high-profile media platforms to motivate larger, more diverse audiences into taking action. As comedian Milton Berle once said, “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”

At Strategic Vantage, we’re constantly helping our clients get their message out in front of prospects. If raising your company’s visibility is your goal in 2021, we can help. Just reach out to us at [email protected].