Facebook vs Blogging

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140731161952-11329398-16-reasons-a-blog-is-better-than-facebook
There are clear differences between blogging as a marketing tool and using other prominent social tools, like local SEO marketing or social network marketing, to attain the same goal.

Facebook vs Blogging

To blog or to get a ‘ like’? That's the question

There are over a billion active users on Facebook and over 3 billion likes everyday ... and growing. The average time spent by a person on a Facebook page is over 20 mins. It depends on who you ask. Still these numbers are impressive. But with so many users and companies vouching for the same attention span of these users, it becomes very difficult to market a product without having deep pockets that overflow month after month.

Lets compare blogging at your own hosted to site to being active on Facebook.

1. Ownership of Content

Facebook - Any post/marketing on Facebook is bound by the limitations of Facebook. If changes happen to the way the site operates it can be and often is difficult to track or even adapt to the same.

Blog - Choosing the right topic, making creative blog titles and typing your heart out can generate a great amount of legitimate leads to your site. The content and platform belongs to you. Blogging also allows the user to create posts without being bound by the limitations of a 3rd party platform.

2. Searchability of content

Facebook - good luck getting found.

3 billion searches each month. If people are searching, shouldn't they be finding you? And do they? On Facebook? You seldom see a Facebook page pop up in the top results.

Blog - By using sound SEO marketing principles, keyword optimization, in-bound link tags, back-links and other strategies the blogger can use the power of the search engine to market the product to the customer. The blogger has complete control of the content, the delivery, and the even the platform.

3. Marketing of Content

Facebook is marketing your content.

Blog - Your content does your marketing.

Shameless plug - BillBelew.com can help your business attract more traffic, more leads, and more business.

4. Shelf Life of Content

Facebook - the more followers you have the quicker your content zooms past the eyeballs you want.

Blog - tends to have a larger shelf life. When the blog owner creates a blog page or post, an online presence is permanently established, and can always be searched - provided proper SEO principles are used and the page is still active ... and you pay for your hosting!

5. Cost of Content

Facebook - is just a platform and you have to cater to millions of users and companies. Getting personal attention is very difficult and comes at a very high financial cost to the user. Or exceedingly intensive time spent.

Very specific social network marketing techniques have to be exercised to gain the amount of attention you most likely want.

Blogs - have global appeal as well. People come looking for good blog content. It's cheaper and more time efficient for people to come looking for you than for you look for them.

6. Permanence of content

Facebook - is used as distributor/promoter of content.

Blog - is a permanent marketing tool, with a permanent presence. The blog works like a hub of data/information for your thoughts and products and revolves solely around the product/thought.

7. Sharability of content

Facebook - try sharing your stuff on Facebook with other platforms? Let me know how that works for you

Blog - If/when your blog picks up and more users are drawn to the website, you can share your content in many more ways, so that it can reach your users using multiple platforms, be it via email, RSS feeds, and linkages to other multiple social platforms from your blog (Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Stumbleupon etc).

8. Findability of content

Facebook - the audience can only be reached when they have ‘ Liked’ your page.

Blogs - Promoting your blogs takes time and effort, too. But you are promoting your platform not somebody else's. And the end result is people come looking for you!

9. Depth of content

Facebook - ideal update is about 60 characters.

Blogs - can also have much richer content than other social network pages. The blog owner can have videos, Youtube links, Soundcloud plugins etc to promote their posts. Having this kind of interactive content on your site brings in more visitors and in turn more views.

10. Loyalty to content

Facebook - Good SEO for Facebook is, well ... I don't know.

Blog - Providing original blog titles can also attract users to your blogs. Visitors become followers and followers form communities. These new people will subscribe to your blog and then become more loyal than just ‘Facebook Followers’

11. Restrictions on content

Facebook - restricts the number of posts and entries that enter the feeds of your followers.

Blog - there are no restrictions. The blog owner can have as many posts and entries as they like. More posts will help to increase page counts and views, which in turn also increases number of visitors.

12. Monetizing your content

Facebook - good luck monetizing your content in your feed.

Blog - As visitors increase the blog owner can monetize their website by either adding e-commerce solutions to the website so that readers can purchase the product or having third party advertisements related to the idea/product being blogged about.

13. Personability of content

Facebook - the more friends you have/get, the less personal.

Blog - is always more personal. The blogger can listen to their audience and cater/modify the content and delivery according to what the readers like. Imagine asking your audience what they like and using specific blog titles to quickly capture their attention. This ‘Personal’ touch also helps in reaching a greater audience and understanding the needs of the readers and in turn promotes and markets the product/idea to more people.

Try doing that on Facebook.

14. Attraction of Content

Facebook - you promote yourself or your product by asking your followers to go someplace else.

Blog - Having a relevant blog not only promotes your website, but also your product. This will keep the search engines active and the momentum going, as the search engine will find necessary keywords and topics and display the result higher than a Facebook page.

15. Socialability of content

Facebook - try getting people to interact in your feed about your product.

Blogs - form an excellent form of business forum where professional information can be shared in much greater depth than the social networks.

16. Location of content

Facebook - used to promote the content- like a burst of information to the audience.

Blogs - act as a repository which is more detailed and in-depth, where emphasis is given to the content, and interaction with the customers and readers can be dealt with in a more personal manner. And people come looking for it (the content).

The entire process of blogging requires work;

• choosing the right blog titles,
• finding unique topics
• And the writing process can take a lot of time.

An active blog with original ideas will keep business interests alive and readers informed as well.

Happy readers are happy clients.

Facebook or blog? Where are you spending your time?

Click the Yellow follow button for all my updates on content marketing.