Famous blogger Dick Costolo once said, “The Internet destroyed most of the barriers to publication. The cost of being a publisher dropped to almost zero with two interesting immediate results: anybody can publish, and more importantly, you can publish whatever you want.”
Treasured words from a treasured content creator. It’s true that the internet opened up the world of content writing to the average bedroom producer. As we’ve seen, this translates directly to an explosion of content from all perceivable directions.
Of course, the internet invites social media agencies to make their own blogs, too. This is never an inherently bad thing, since any team with a good enough plan can kick off a great blog. The thing is that, often enough, social marketing teams will dilute their business interests into their blog, forgetting to throw in the bare necessities of blogging along with it. When it comes to content writing, social media agencies make their share of mistakes.
Since agencies show no sign of stopping in this regard, here are 7 mistakes social media agencies make writing blogs.
1. Offering all Their Industry Secrets
It’s one thing for a blog to inform an audience and another for a professional to sell himself – potentially to the masses – for free. Once an outfit gets known for handing out their expertise for free, no prospective clients will want to contact them directly for a deeper conversation. Blogs that take this road tend to experience high short-term traffic, though ultimately their services get devalued.
2. Ignoring Feedback on Their Content Writing
Whether it’s good or bad, a reader takes valuable time to leave a comment, and it’s meant directly for the writer. Not acknowledging those comments shows disrespect to the website’s readership. If feedback is left ignored for too long, the readers are sure not to stick around. If there’s only one comment on the board, that’s an inquiry waiting to be answered – a public one, which means readers are waiting for the site’s response. Neglect your audience, and they’re sure not to forget it.
3. Lackluster Titling
The importance of titling your blogs properly can never be understated, especially with the average attention span seeming to shrink each year. An agency can take their time composing a brilliant post, fully optimized for SEO, but the impression will fall apart fast without a proper stamping from a good title.
For clarity’s sake more than anything else, with content writing, content social media agencies should make a point of improving their headlines, since specific titles will magnetize a specific readership. Fun titles make for fun articles, and the opposite equally applies.
All that said, no matter how striking a title is, new visitors sure won’t stay long if the content they’re being presented with lacks pull.
4. Mediocre Content
Even if a social media agency’s new blog wasn’t exactly created out of love for publishing, even if it’s a pure money move, it’s important to know enough not to let that show from the content. If the agency doesn’t have great writers on their team, this is where outsourcing becomes useful (re: necessary). Without attractive content, the blog will attract nothing.
To save money, some blogs outsource their writing to freelancers whose production skills lack. Saves money, sure, but loses readers, which is not preferable. Neither is making amateur mistakes, like relaying important information through a single caption on an image.
Agencies aren’t expected to apply a blog mastermind mentality when starting up a new platform, though the minimums must be covered. As with any new project, it’s invaluable to study the success of other platforms, using what works and skipping what doesn’t.
5. Inconsistent Publishing Schedule
New publications have a lot to gain from simply maintaining a hard, consistent work ethic, mapping out a schedule, and sticking to it no matter what. Indeed, by covering that minimal ground, many a blog has seen a considerable rise without exactly being innovative in the content department.
Conversely, if a blog isn’t at least posting on a consistent basis, they’re sure to fail even if their content is top-shelf. No one-off guest blog star will make up for a flimsy schedule. That’s because, despite these blogs potentially attracting a decent number of one-time visitors, no lasting audience can be built since there’s no update consistency to put one’s faith into.
Sharing a big announcement on social media for a new blog post 17 days after the last one, which itself was posted 27 days after the one before it, shows a shade of disrespect. If the blogger doesn’t take their own site seriously, why should his audience?
This is why social media agencies thinking about starting a blog should spend a little more time thinking about it before taking action. If done correctly, content writing and social media can work hand in hand. If haphazard, the blog will only tarnish the brand in the eyes of its potential customers.
6. Writing for Themselves, Not the Audience
If you’re a social media marketer who wants to advertise something, and that’s all you want to do, don’t start a blog. There are other avenues to take here. You’re a marketer, after all!
Blogs are meant to engage. They should be virtual spaces that readers navigate to of their own free will. Sure, there’s always money to be made, and an audience understands that. But in order to bring an audience in, you’ll need something strong to sell them.
With a blog, you’re showcasing knowledge before selling product. Write for your audience.
David is the Founder and Director of article-writing.co, the fastest-growing content creation agency in North America. He has transformed companies by offering high-quality content that has impacted their SEO ranking, revitalized websites with engaging and industry-relevant blogs and website copy, and championed successful email campaign copy.
