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Business Blogging Secrets Revealed A Study of 425+ Content Marketing Practitioners © Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.

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Page 1: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

A Study of 425+ Content Marketing Practitioners

© Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.

Page 2: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

But First . . . A Word from

our Sponsor

2

Page 3: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Curata Curation Software to Fuel Your Content Marketing Engine

Hundreds of Companies on Curata

•  Founded in 2007 in Cambridge, MA.

•  Founding team from MIT, Google, Microsoft.

•  Content marketing thought leadership recognized by Forbes, Huffington Post, CMO.com, Content Marketing Institute, MarketingProfs, Heidi Cohen, Joe Chernov and others.

A Quick Snapshot

3

Page 4: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

What Does Curata’s Software Do?

4

Curata’s content curation software helps content marketers find, organize, annotate and share the best 3rd party content to their audience to complement

their own original content on any digital property.

Page 5: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Table of Contents Let the icons guide you through this planner.

Foreword………………………………………………………………………...6

Introduction……………………………………………………………………..7

Study Objective & Demographics....…………………………....13

Anatomy of 10K club members…....................……………….20

Strategy…………………………………..……………………………..20

Production…………………….………………………………….......26

Publishing………….………………………………...…………………31

Analytics………………………………………………………….........35

Marketing Technology….………………...……………………………41

Wrap-Up and Additional Resources..……………….............45

5

Page 6: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Content marketing has the potential to transform our marketing organizations for the next generation of customer engagement, establishing a non-invasive dialogue with our market that will lead to business opportunity and increased customer lifetime value. The best marketers out there have already figured out that if you’re going to have long-term success in this content marketing evolution, investment in your owned digital properties is mandatory. Why is it then that so many companies have failed to grasp this reality, in particular, failing to invest in and achieve results from one of their closest held owned properties - their own blog? Not only have we at Curata experienced significant benefits from our blog, but I see time and again many leading marketers tapping into the power of a blog to nurture their audience and move leads through the marketing funnel. We initiated Curata’s blogging tactics study to dive deep into the tactics of business blogging, with the goal of helping to optimize the content marketing supply chain. With the help of 428 marketers who participated in our survey as well as others who contributed through our more qualitative interview process, we have identified the secrets of building and sustaining a successful business blog. My hope is that you use this data to build your own blogging strategy, benchmark your own blog’s operations and performance metrics and drive greater adoption and support for a long term blogging and content marketing strategy. Thank you to all those marketers and thought leaders that helped make this study possible.

Foreword By Michael Gerard Michael Gerard

CMO, Curata @MichaelGerard

Share this eBook:

Page 7: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Death of Blogging??

© Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved. 7

“Sometime in the past few years, the blog died. . . . . . . Instead of blogging, people are posting to Tumblr, tweeting, pinning things to their board, posting to Reddit, Snapchatting, updating Facebook statuses, Instagramming, and publishing on Medium. ”

“The Blog is Dead, Long Live the

Blog” by Jason Kottke

Source: http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/12/the-blog-is-dead/

Page 8: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Death of Blogging??

“We shouldn't mourn the loss of casual bloggers as it’s raised the overall production quality of the blogosphere.”

Source: Onur Kabadayi, Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2014/jul/16/blogging-dead-bloggers-digital-content)

© Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved. 8

Page 9: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

“Blogs haven't disappeared – they have simply morphed into a mature part of the publishing ecosystem.”1

Death of Blogging??

[1] Source: Onur Kabadayi, Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2014/jul/16/blogging-dead-bloggers-digital-content)

Editor

Consumer Blogging Business Blogging

9

Page 10: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Blogging Should be a Foundational Element of Your Owned Media Strategy!

© Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved. 10

Source: 2015 B2B Content Marketing Trends – North America. Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

80% of marketers use blogging as part of their content marketing tactics

Page 11: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

But What Does it Take to Develop & Sustain a Great Business Blog?

© Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved. 11

I know what I want, but how do I get there?

Page 12: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

The 10K Business Blogging Club •  Increased investment •  Planned and Random

acts of content •  Scaling operations

(CoE model)

•  More external resources

•  Longer form posts (with quality)

•  Cutting edge communication

•  Market their marketing à newsletters, social media

•  Publish more frequently

•  Greater maturity in performance and production measurement

12 © Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.  

High Traffic

Referrals to Corporate

Web Site

Executive Support

Pipeline Impact

Audience Retention

Audience Engagement

If  you  use  this  graphic  or  framework,  please  cite  and  link  to  www.curata.com  

Page 13: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Study Background: Objective & Demographics

•  Objective: This study dove deep into the tactics of business blogging, with the goal of helping to optimize the content marketing supply chain.

•  Survey Demographics –  N = 428 marketers –  Titles: CMOs and VPs of Marketing; content marketing directors,

managers and specialists; marketing consultants and agencies; and business owners.

–  B2B vs. B2C: 57% B2B; 15% B2C; 22% both. –  Verticals: 26% technology businesses, 18% marketing agencies,

15% professional services and 5-10% each of education, financial services, healthcare and others.

–  Company size by revenue: 61% <$10M; 19% $10M to >$100M; 10% $100M to <$1B; 10% $1B+.

13 © Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.  

Page 14: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

This is an experienced group of Business Bloggers!

14 © Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.  

•  70% have had a blog for 2+ years!

•  44% have 2+ blogs

Page 15: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

But who are the Best-in-Class Business Bloggers???

© Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.  

Page 16: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Traffic 47.6%

30.6%

21.8%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

<1000 1,000 to <10,000

10,000+

% o

f Par

ticip

ants

Monthly Page Views (most visited blog)

10K C

lub

If  you  use  this  graphic  or  framework,    please  cite  and  link  to  www.curata.com  

Page 17: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

2/3rds of the 10K Business Blogging Club are “Small” Companies

67% <$100M Revenue

33% $100M+ Revenue

Page 18: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

44% of the 10K Business Blogging Club Have Had a Blog for 5+ Years

Build It and They Will Come?

Page 19: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

65% of Business Bloggers Who’ve Had a Blog for 5+ Years Have not Made it

into the 10K Club!

If you build it, they may not come.

© Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.  

Page 20: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Strategy Strategy

20 © Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.  

Page 21: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

That Said, 10K Members Understand the Value of Owned Media

Owned Media Owned Media Owned Media Owned Media

Blog

Web Site

Microsite

Communities

56% of 10K Business Blogging Club members are hiring additional resources dedicated to their blog(s) (i.e., internal or outsourced staff)

21 © Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.  

Strategy

Page 22: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

To Blog or Not to Blog. . . That is Not a Question for 10K Club Members

75.7%

62.2%

43.8%

24.3%

37.8%

56.3%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

<1,000 1,000 to <10,000 10,000+

% o

f Par

ticip

ants

Monthly Page Views

No Yes

22 © Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.  

Do you have plans to hire additional resources (internal or outsourced staff) in the next 6-12 months dedicated to your blog(s)?

Strategy

If  you  use  this  graphic  or  framework,  please  cite  and  link  to  www.curata.com  

Page 23: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Blog-Related Challenges (all companies)

5.2

3.8

3.7

3.7

3.4

2.8

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Getting buy-in from executives

Managing our production process

Promoting our posts once published

Finding great writers or getting SMEs to create content

Measuring impact of our blog on company's business

Creating our blog content strategy

Highest  Priority  

Lowest  Priority  

Q. Put the following blog-related challenges in order of priority: (1=highest; 7=lowest)

For the 10K Business Blogging Club, key focus is on measurement and creating higher quality content

Strategy

23 If  you  use  this  graphic  or  framework,  please  cite  and  link  to  www.curata.com  

Page 24: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Center of Excellence 80% of 10K Business Blogging Club members have a

governance team for blogging activities

24 © Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.  

Strategy

best practices

blogging code of conduct

engagement guidelines

writing staff

software applications training

design staff

editorial staff

frameworks

content ideas

Page 25: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Blogging 101: Focus on Personas, Audience Demographics & Buying Stage

Indicate which of the following you consider about your audience as you create blog posts: (Select all that apply)

17.1%

27.1%

40.8%

72.4%

73.3%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

Language

Geographic location

Buying stage

Audience demographics (e.g., company size; vertical)

Personas

% of Respondents

Strategy

43.8% for 10K Business Blogging Club Members

All  Companies  

25 © Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.  

If  you  use  this  graphic  or  framework,  please  cite  and  link  to  www.curata.com  

Page 26: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Blog Production Production

26 © Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.  

Page 27: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

If You Don’t Feed Your Content Beast it Will Die! Blog Posting Frequency Matters

62.0%

81.9%

90.5%

33.6%

17.0%

9.5% 4.4%

1.1% 0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

<1,000 1,000 to <10,000 10,000+

% o

f Res

pond

ents

Monthly Page Views

Weekly or more often Up to Monthly Quarterly

Production

27 © Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.  If  you  use  this  graphic  or  framework,  

 please  cite  and  link  to  www.curata.com  

Page 28: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

10K Club Bloggers Publish Longer Posts

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

<250 250 to <500

500 to <750

750 to <1,000

1,000+

% o

f Res

pond

ents

Length of Blog Post (average # of words)

<1,000 1,000 to <10,000 10,000+

<250 15%

250 to <500 38%

500 to <750 29%

750 to <1,000

12%

1,000+ words

6%

All Companies

Please  es>mate  the  %  of  your  blog  posts  in  each  of  these  groups  by  length  of  post.  

Production

Length of Blog Post (average # of words)

(monthly page views)

28

If  you  use  this  graphic  or  framework,    please  cite  and  link  to  www.curata.com  

If  you  use  this  graphic  or  framework,    please  cite  and  link  to  www.curata.com  

Page 29: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

10K Club Bloggers Rely More on External Resources

Please indicate what % of blog posts are created by the following teams.

Production

88.2%

11.8%

76.4%

23.6%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Internal Staff External Staff

% o

f Blo

g Po

sts

Blog Creation Resources

<10K 10,000+ (monthly page views)

29 If  you  use  this  graphic  or  framework,    please  cite  and  link  to  www.curata.com  

Page 30: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

56% of Externally Sourced Blog Posts are from Guest Authors

Paid: Writing agencies

14%

Paid: Writing services

5%

Paid: Independent freelancers

25%

Non-Paid: Contributed or

guest posts 56%

Of the external folks that write blog posts, what % are:

Production

All Companies

30 © Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.  

If  you  use  this  graphic  or  framework,  please  cite  and  link  to  www.curata.com  

Page 31: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Publishing and Promoting Your Blog Post Publishing

31 © Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.  

Page 32: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

10K Club Companies do a Great Job Marketing Their Marketing

Who is responsible for the promotion of your blog posts?

Publishing

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Social Media Team

Blog Writers Editors Marketing (Paid Media)

Community Manager(s)

<1,000 1,000 to <10,000 10,000+

(monthly page views)

•  10k Business Blogging Club •  Better aligned with their social media

team •  Blog writers are more involved with

promotion (not a simple hand-off) •  Better leverage of paid media

(especially as companies get larger)

32 © Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.  

If  you  use  this  graphic  or  framework,  please  cite  and  link  to  www.curata.com  

Page 33: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

39% of 10K Club Bloggers Use Newsletter Promotion at Least Weekly

How often do you send a newsletter with your blog content to your subscriber base?

Publishing

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Weekly or More often Monthly Quarterly or Never

% o

f Res

pond

ents

<1,000 1,000 to <10,000 10,000+

(monthly page views)

33 If  you  use  this  graphic  or  framework,  please  cite  and  link  to  www.curata.com  

Page 34: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

How are 10K Club Members Thinking “Out of the Box” for Promotion?

•  Advocate Enablement: “we're looking into ways to turn our most passionate users into a community of advocates that will amplify our messaging”

•  Sales Enablement: “email blast to sales reps to reach out to their clients”; repurpose best posts as sales enablement assets

•  Reuse: “We are preparing to package our best blogs into subject matter-specific eZines, which we will post on our website and promote”

•  Influencer Marketing: We’re always trying to think of ways to include our key influencers into our blogging strategy. (e.g., curate their own blog posts and primary research)

Publishing

34 © Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.  

Page 35: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Analytics Analytics

35 © Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.  

Page 36: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

It’s Time to Raise the Performance Measurement Bar

36 © Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.  

Source: The Comprehensive Guide to Content Marketing Analytics & Metrics

eBook, bit.ly/CMmetrics

Analytics

Page 37: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Curata’s Content Marketing Analytics & Metrics Framework Analytics

Source: The Comprehensive Guide to Content Marketing Analytics & Metrics eBook, www.curata.com/blog/the-comprehensive-guide-to-content-marketing-analytics-metrics/

37

Can’t read this? Click on

the link below to see a larger

version.

Page 38: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

10K Club Blogs are Significantly Impacting Marketing Objectives

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

Thought leadership

Brand visibility & buzz

SEO Web traffic Social media engagement

Quantity & quality of sales-ready

leads

Impa

ct (1

= n

o im

pact

; 5 =

sig

nific

ant i

mpa

ct)

Marketing Objectives

<1,000 1,000 to <10,000 10,000+

Please estimate the impact of your blog on the following marketing objectives: (1 - no impact; 5- significant impact)

Analytics

(monthly page views)

More advanced

measurement of pipeline

impact

38 If  you  use  this  graphic  or  framework,  please  cite  and  link  to  www.curata.com  

Page 39: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

10K Club Members are Advancing into the Next Stage of Measurement

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

% o

f Res

pond

ents

Blog Metrics <1,000 1,000 to <10,000 10,000+

Indicate which of the following blog metrics you use today: (Check all that apply)

Analytics

(monthly page views)

39

•  10k Business Blogging Club •  Long-term focus, relationships are key

[# of subscriptions] •  Advanced analytics à business impact

(pipeline) and production optimization

If  you  use  this  graphic  or  framework,  please  cite  and  link  to  www.curata.com  

Page 40: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

10K Club Members Receive More Web Referrals from Their Blog(s)

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

None <5% 5% to <10% 10% to <15% 15% + I don’t know

<1,000 1,000 to <10,000 10,000+

Please estimate the % of your corporate web site’s traffic that is referral from your blog.

Analytics

40

(monthly page views)

If  you  use  this  graphic  or  framework,  please  cite  and  link  to  www.curata.com  

Page 41: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed
Page 42: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Which applications have had the greatest impact on the success of your blog and why?

If Content is King, the royal baby is the current ruler

If Content is King and Design is Queen, How Do You Divide the Throne

If Content is King, why is it so often treated like a serf?

If Content is King then social media is queen.

If Content is King, then conversion is Queen�

If Content is King, Multiscreening is Queen

If Content is King then duplicate content is pauper

If Content is King then duplicate content is pauper

If Content is King then knowledge is divine If Content is King, then the infrastructure is gold

If Content is King Then SEO is Heir to the Throne

If Content is King then your customer is wearing the crown

If Content is King then Video is the Master of the Universe

If Content is King, then the diva is queen

If Content is King for B2B marketing, then context is God

If Content is King for B2B marketing, then context is God

If Content is King, the Queen is Engagement

If Content is King, Why Is Apple So Bratty About It

If Content is King, design is the kingmaker

If Content is King, Vertical Content is God

If Content is King, then Time is Money

If Content is King, then Time is Money If Content is King, Visual is Queen

If Content is King, then Surely Linking is Queen

If Content is King then Design is Queen

If Content is King, visualization is Queen

If Content is King then Design is Queen

Source: http://bit.ly/ContKing

“I wouldn't put the success of our blog on any applications . . . . I'd put it on the knowledge of

our internal team of SMEs who contribute great content.”

42 © Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.  

Page 43: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Marketing Technology

WordPress 66%

Drupal 11%

HubSpot 5%

Other 18%

Which of the following Content Management Systems (CMSs) is your blog built on?

+

Which applications have had the greatest impact on the success of your blog and why?

Ideation

Content Management

Promotion, PR

Owned Media

Content Marketing Services

Video

Design Apps

Stock Images

Other

All Companies

If  you  use  this  graphic  or  framework,    please  cite  and  link  to  www.curata.com  

Page 44: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Other Marketing Technology Resources

Source: Content Marketing Tools – The Ultimate List http://bit.ly/ContentToolsMap

Source: http://bit.ly/ContentWriting 44 © Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.  

Source: Content Curation Tools – The Ultimate List http://bit.ly/CurationTools

Page 45: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Wrap-Up •  Increased investment •  Planned and Random

acts of content •  Scaling operations

(CoE model)

•  More external resources

•  Longer form posts (with quality)

•  Cutting edge communication

•  Market their marketing à newsletters, social media

•  Publish more frequently

•  Greater maturity in performance and production measurement

45 © Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.  

High Traffic

Referrals to Corporate

Web Site

Executive Support

Pipeline Impact

Audience Retention

Audience Engagement

If  you  use  this  graphic  or  framework,  please  cite  and  link  to  www.curata.com  

Page 46: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Additional Resources

eBook: Look Book Content Curation

Case Studies

eBook: 5 Steps to Becoming a Content

Curation Rockstar

…and more online at: www.curata.com/resources

Industry Resource & News: Content Curation Marketing Site

www.contentcurationmarketing.com

eBook: Content Marketing Done Right:

Ethical Curation

eBook: Open & Shut Case for Curation

Report: 2012 B2B Mktg. Trends

Survey

Guide: Content Curation Annotation

Methods

eBook: Stop Egocentric Marketing: Content Marketing Strategy

eBook: The Comprehensive Guide to

Content Marketing Analytics & Metrics

46 © Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.  

eBook: 4 Steps To Content

Marketing Enlightenment

Page 47: Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Curata, Inc. is the leading provider of business grade, content curation software that enables marketers to curate the most relevant and highest quality content as part of a successful content marketing strategy. Best-in-class marketers across a wide range of industries rely on Curata to quickly find, curate, share and analyze content on specific issues or topics in order to establish thought leadership, own industry conversations and drive qualified web traffic. Curata was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Boston, Mass.       www.curata.com www.curata.com/blog 617-229-5544           Business Blogging Secrets Revealed © 2014 by Curata, Inc. Copyright holder is licensing this under the Creative Commons License, Attribution 3.0. Please make all attributions to curata.com.