Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

A Study of 425+ Content Marketing Practitioners

Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.

But First . . . A Word from

our Sponsor

2

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, Hungton Post, CMO.com, Content Marketing Institute, MarketingProfs, Heidi Cohen, Joe Chernov and others.

A Quick Snapshot

3

What Does Curatas Software Do?

4

Curatas 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.

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

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 youre 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 Curatas 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 blogs 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:

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/

Death of Blogging??

We shouldn't mourn the loss of casual bloggers as its 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)


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

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


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

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


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

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 newsletters, social media

Publish more frequently

Greater maturity in performance and production measurement

12 Curata, Inc. 2014 All rights reserved.

High Trac

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

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% $100M; 10% $100M to

This is an experienced group of Business Bloggers!


70% have had a blog for 2+ years!

44% have 2+ blogs

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


Trac 47.6%

30.6%

21.8%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

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

67%

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

Build It and They Will Come?

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

into the 10K Club!

If you build it, they may not come.


Strategy Strategy


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 sta)


Strategy

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%

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

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

governance team for blogging activities


Strategy

best practices

blogging code of conduct

engagement guidelines

writing sta

software applications training

design sta

editorial sta

frameworks

content ideas

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



Blog Production Production


If You Dont 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%

10K Club Bloggers Publish Longer Posts

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

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 Sta External Sta

% o

f Blo

g Po

sts

Blog Creation Resources

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



Publishing and Promoting Your Blog Post Publishing


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)

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

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: Were 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


Analytics Analytics


Its Time to Raise the Performance Measurement Bar


Source: The Comprehensive Guide to Content Marketing Analytics & Metrics

eBook, bit.ly/CMmetrics

Analytics

Curatas 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

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the link below to see a larger

version.

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 trac 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

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

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

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

None

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.


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


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

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 newsletters, social media

Publish more frequently

Greater maturity in performance and production measurement


High Trac

Referrals to Corporate

Web Site

Executive Support

Pipeline Impact

Audience Retention

Audience Engagement


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


eBook: 4 Steps To Content

Marketing Enlightenment

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 trac. 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.

Business Blogging Secrets Revealed

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