Blogging and social media marketing. Original content is key to success

If you need any further evidence that blogging should be a central part of your social media strategy, a handy new research report has shown just that.

A survey of 450 CEOs revealed that 85 percent of  respondents feel original content is critical to the success of their social media campaign.

Original content

If you’re trying to drive traffic to your site, a blog is not only excellent at natural SEO, it’s also a great way to bring in a new audience via both search and social bookmarking — not to mention traffic from social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Blogging for SEO

If you’re just writing about the latest new products your company offers, you’re unlikely to see a huge increase in traffic or sales, but by producing something that is worth reading, you’re adding valuable content to your site that can be shared amongst online communities.

For more great ideas on how you can add valuable rich media to your site to increase traffic and sales, check out the case studies in the Miramus “Why Your Business Needs a Blog” presentation [4:28, needs audio]

Read full report on HubSpot [via Gold Coast Social Media]

Recommended Reading: Blogging for SEO. Improve your Google ranking with good content.

Blogging for SEO. Improve your Google ranking with good content

Everyone’s talking about SEO these days. And while it’s started to sound like a dirty word for some web purists, there’s no shame in wanting people to be able to find your website when they run a search.

The key is to create content that’s actually worth reading. You can stack up the keywords, optimise the life out of your headers, merrily chuck in celebrity names and wave around as many search-friendly statements as you like, but if what you’re saying is ultimately pointless, you’re not really doing much to make that traffic stick.

The web is a weird and wonderful place. Make something marvellous, and people will love you for it — which is good news for your Google rankings, and even better news for your brand.

So, yes, you should be writing a post a day, engaging in social media, getting excited about social bookmarking and making free and easy with the outbound links, but most importantly of all, you should be feeding the internet with something tasty, filling and more-ish. Not something full of empty calories with a strong odour of spam.

What the SEO world has to say about blogging

Blogging for SEO
The Top 10 E-commerce Blogging Tips to Skyrocket Sales

Blogging for your business

If you run an e-commerce site, or if you sell your brand’s products online, you need a blog.

Of course, we’re biased because we create blogs for a living — but don’t just take our word for it. We’ve put together a presentation that explains why your business needs a blog, along with some great examples of companies whose online presence has been *transformed* by including blogging in their social media marketing strategy.

Why your business needs a blog

If you need a blog for your business and you don’t know where to start. Get in touch with Katie at Miramus — we’d love to help!