Over the past two decades or so, most major businesses have developed their own blogs, and for good reason: Blogging is an indispensable long-term marketing tool that can direct traffic to your website, establish your brand as an authority in your field and help to identify promising leads, thus boosting conversions. So it’s clear that, if you want your business to grow, blogging should probably be incorporated into the mix. But with the creation of a business blog comes a number of finer points that must be considered before the content hits the eyes of the public:
- Where should you post your content?
- Why should you post it there?
- When should you post your content?
- Why should you post your content at that time?
Here, we’ll detail three popular “wheres” for business blogging – a company blog, blogging on LinkedIn and writing on Medium – as well as when and why you should incorporate each outlet into your blog strategy.
Why Should You Have A Company Blog?
Whether or not you choose to utilize other websites for blogging purposes, your company should unquestionably have its own blog. As previously mentioned, there are lots of reasons to blog, from coaxing traffic to your website to refining your business’s reputation within your industry. And no matter how you choose to use your blog, it’ll likely be a gift that keeps on giving – your posts may amass a solid number of views right when they’re published, but as they begin to rank on search engines, there’s a good chance that they’ll continue generating traffic over time. As a matter of fact, an in-depth HubSpot study noted that 1 in 10 blog posts are compounding, which means that traffic is consistently increasing rather than decreasing.
When Should You Post A Blog?
Once you’ve published a blog, you have to share it in order to direct traffic toward your work. But when should this happen? That’s always a tough question to answer, as numerous studies concerning that very question have led to vastly varied results. Here are some points to consider:
- According to a CoSchedule blog post compiling studies detailing the best times for publishing a blog, many sources seem to agree that weekday posting seems to generate the most page views. This is unsurprising, as it’s when people are most often on the Web.
- Per the same studies, mornings seem to generate more activity. Less happens in the afternoon, while activity might increase a bit at night, once working professionals have some downtime.
- Bear in mind that time differs across time zones, so unless your customers are concentrated in a very specific location, you’ll want to cater each post to several regions. For example, east coast businesses might want to post in the late morning to accommodate not only those in Eastern Standard Time, but potential readers across the nation, too. If you’ve got customers around the globe, choose which regions you’re targeting and post accordingly.
- Times when traffic is high – think midday on weekdays – seem tempting, but your post might be drowned out. Times with less overall traffic might actually yield more attention to your content.
- There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to post timing. Keep experimenting, and use your own blog metrics to tailor your efforts to your findings.
Why Should You Blog On LinkedIn?
If you’re not already aware, LinkedIn is a massively popular social platform designed for and used by professionals around the world. It’s not unlike many of the platforms you might already be familiar with, such as Facebook – you have a customizable profile detailing your work experience and other essential information, you can build a network of connections with other users, there’s a messaging system and you can publish posts, including both minor updates and thorough articles.
But aside from acting as something of a digital résumé, LinkedIn has become a popular source of high-quality online content. While its publishing platform, known as Pulse, was originally crafted for high-profile users, it’s since been opened to the public. That means you can create a blog-like post or news article whenever you want, and that article can be viewed by all of LinkedIn’s expansive user base (although you can choose other privacy settings). Plus, once you’ve created the post, you’ll have the opportunity to apply tags that help place your content in front of the right eyes. And while you can't post directly from your company page, that page can promote your article and spread the word that it employs industry thought leaders.
When Should You Post On LinkedIn?
Unsurprisingly, deciding when you should post on LinkedIn isn’t an exact science, but we’ll provide a few tidbits that can help with scheduling:
- John Nemo, CEO and founder of LinkedIn Riches, notes that publishing blog posts during the middle of the work week and during business hours seemed to work best for him.
- A study conducted by OkDork by Noah Kagan analyzed 3,000 LinkedIn posts to discover that they got the least views on Wednesday – and the most on Thursday.
- Another compilation of studies by CoSchedule supports Nemo’s argument that you should post on LinkedIn on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for best results. Publishing content during commute hours was another common recommendation, as this provides an excellent opportunity for otherwise busy professionals to catch up on their social media feeds.
Why Should You Blog On Medium?
Medium is a writing platform that can be used by anyone to write anything. And although it’s not always the first choice when it comes to blogging, Medium is one of the most valuable blogging tools on the Web thanks to its firmly established user base, ease of use and a number of unique features. Whether you have a passion for short stories or you’re trying your hand at travel blogging, Medium has a place for you – and that includes brands. Once you post on the website, your content will be available for other Medium users to read and respond to with general comments, as well as notes on specific sections of your content, making for a much more immersive system of reader engagement than is available on other platforms.
Another element that helps Medium stand out from the crowd is its publications. Once known as collections, publications are essentially groups of content tied together by one core idea or theme. Creating a brand publication – for example, a series of blog posts discussing a particular subject in which your brand is an expert – can serve as an excellent way to establish your company as an authority. Plus, if you can convince other relevant influencers to contribute to your publication, it will bolster your credibility even further.
When Should You Post On Medium?
The Medium team has a very clear answer for anyone wondering when they should publish their content: it doesn’t matter, as long as your content is good. This isn’t just a mindless “build it and they will come” sentiment, either. It was settled upon by an array of data that determined that, while content got more reading time (which is the unit in which Medium measures value, rather than page views) in the day, that content was typically longer and higher quality than content posted at night. So, taking proportions into consideration, your brand can post any time.
But since your business is striving for authority status, you’ll probably want to restrict your posts to the daytime, as that’s when the most quality content is being consumed by the most quality followers. As always, test the waters and adjust your process so it best suits your audience.
Find The Perfect Balance
When most of the data is taken into consideration, all signs point to essentially the same thing: post your blogs in the daytime, because that’s when people are online. And if you’re specifically catering to professionals, post on weekdays during standard work hours and commute times. Your blogging calendar really comes down to what you seek to accomplish, who you aim to reach and what your company provides, so test these tips out, and then experiment as needed.
Have you experienced any notable successes or failures with the above blogging platforms? We’re eager to hear about it, so don’t hesitate to leave a comment below. And if your company simply doesn’t have the time or expertise to whip up your own high-quality blogs, consider Virtucom Group’s monthly blog writing services – you tell us what you need, and we’ll do the work for you.
About Virtucom Group
Consistent business blogging yields results – more clicks, more subscribers and – ultimately – more conversions. Whether you’re writing an automotive blog, an accounting blog, a healthcare blog or a home renovation blog, blogging for business and content development are useful for any industry. Follow the content writers at the Virtucom Group blog as they share digital marketing tips and discuss website content writing services that can optimize your business blog.
