Why Your Blog is More Important than Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram

If you keep hearing people say you don’t need a blog on your website, read this post. Letting your blog die could be the biggest online marketing mistake you ever make.

If you listen for long enough, you’ll hear people say you don’t need a blog if you have social media. After a while, they’ll even try to convince you that you don’t even need a website; after all, why try to drag people over to your website when they’re already on Facebook?

Longer Lasting Means Better

Whatever you post on social media platforms is ephemeral. Here today, gone tomorrow. Sure, you can find old posts on Facebook or LinkedIn… if you dig deep enough. Let’s face it, even when you post or see a brand new post, after just a few hours it can become difficult to find it again. Ever had to search through your timeline to re-share that video of the dancing gorilla or that meme with the fish and the cat that made you laugh this morning? Then you know what I mean.

By contrast, blog posts start working for you the moment you hit Publish and keep on going like that battery-powered bunny forever (or until you close your website down). Blog posts aren’t like new cars; their value keeps going up. Google loves content that’s been around a while. If your blog posts are useful, informative and written for real people, their SEO value will grow year on year. Blog posts I wrote years ago still attract visitors to the website every day.

Teasing Only Works for a While

Social media posts are great, but rarely excite actual debate. If you want a proper discussion you need the space that only your own blog provides. Yes, I know that you can post on Medium, but that’s still just outreach after all.

Smart marketers know that you should use social media to post teasers and links back to your own content instead of just plonking it all out there on Facebook or LinkedIn. Social media posts are not the entire meal, they’re just the hors d’oeuvres. Your blog is where the chef really gets to work.

You Are in Control

The only bit of real estate you can really call your own is your website. Ultimately, Facebook’s popularity might end. It’s bound to happen eventually, and it will be replaced by another platform. What will happen to all that marketing effort and material you sweated over for your Facebook Page or Group? It will disappear, like a memory of a great meal you had once but can no longer provide you with nutrition.

So long as you keep renewing your domain name and hosting (and those things are entirely in your own hands) your website and the blog on it will keep on trucking. Mark Zuckerberg can’t do anything about that, because it’s yours.

You Can Take Your Time

Here’s another thing about blogging: if you keep doing it and try to improve each time, you’ll get better at it. Set your standards high, learn from other successful bloggers (there are plenty out there) and your blog’s value will just keep increasing.

Over time you will build a unique and valuable resource for potential clients, community members, and yourself. We keep getting rewards from posts we wrote ten years ago. The SEO value alone is worth it.

The Next Step

You won’t find a greater advocate for social media than me. I love it. Social media has brought us clients, friendships and connections all over the world. Being an active social media user has led to me appearing on radio, television and the press but I wouldn’t give up our website for it. Neglecting your blog for social media is a short-term move and could be one of the biggest marketing mistakes you ever make. I’m in it for the long game, and I strongly advise you to be too. There just isn’t any substitute for great blog content that lives on your own website.