“More Companies Quit Blogging, Go with Facebook Instead,” read the recent USA Today Headline.
When I read this headline I made a note to myself to take a closer look at the University of Massachusetts study on which the USA Today article is based.
I was puzzled by the findings. In 2010, 50% of the nation’s fastest growing private firms were blogging, up from 45% in 2009 and 39% in 2008. In this new 2011 study, the use of blogging dropped to 37%.
A note in the copy alludes to a changing mix in the Inc. 500 over the past two years.
“Changes in industry composition of the Inc. 500 over the past two years are reflected in our sample and have impacted our overall statistics in distinct ways. There has been an increase in companies providing Government Services (a result of some of the Obama initiatives). These companies increased their presence in the Inc. 500 in 2010 and again in 2011 and are less likely to use certain social media tools.”
Would an apple-to-apple comparison by industry would reveal the same kind of decline as the total sample?
The death of blogging may be exaggerated. Adding credence to this is the fact that in the very same study, blogging is rated as successful by 92% of those who utilize this tool. Among companies not currently using social media, 56% plan to add a blog.
Even with the recent decline, the nation’s fastest growing private companies are still “out blogging” the Fortune 500 by a considerable margin. Only 23 percent of the nation’s largest firms maintain a blog, compared to 37% of the Inc. 500. Do an analysis within your industry. If your competitors aren’t blogging it could be a huge opportunity for you to increase your traffic and raise your rankings. If they are, you had better be prepared to step up your marketing efforts, because successful blogs are proven to generate traffic and sales leads.
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