New research has confirmed that consumers are happy to see original content created by brands, moving the conversation on to what sort of content people are most warm to and where they prefer to consume it.
Around two-thirds (62%) of Americans welcome brand content, while half (52%) prefer to reach it via a company’s own website than through social media channels.
Interestingly, while 25% of those surveyed turn to social media for brand content and 22% prefer third-party articles, nearly half (46%) cited company blogs as a preferred source of branded content. Indeed, two in five would rather source information about a company directly from a company blog over a third party news title or website.
The next layer of the survey dug deeper into what sort of branded content people tend to welcome most. It comes as little surprise that the overwhelming majority (81.4%) are willing to consume content that doesn’t overtly “sell” a company’s product or service. The focus, then, needs to be on offering content that gifts the reader or viewer with something valuable.
Blogs are an ideal vehicle for supplying your audience with up to the minute information. A regularly updated blog remains fresh and relevant, consistently serving up something new to keep its audience engaged.
Almost half of those surveyed by WP Engine think it’s important for brands to keep them informed via a company blog, while some 32% believe a blog creates a more personal connection between consumer and brand.
In our experience, this personal touch is a crucial element of blogging for business, nurturing the sort of meaningful conversations that create long term customer loyalty. Developing a distinctive brand voice throughout blog content is important, as is maintaining consistency when seeding blogs across your social media channels.
Respondents also warned of the potential negative impact on companies that don’t have a blog, for instance losing contact with their customer base, being seen as less relevant and even losing custom to competitors.
In terms of what content fares best, respondents to this survey value news article style blogs slightly more than feature articles, or even short snappier blog styles. Not a mention of the ‘listicle’ style blog here, one notices. While the much-maligned list post commonly gets a bad rap (and let’s be honest, many of them lack depth and substance), we at BlogStar are staunch believers in the readability and shareability of a well-written, well-considered list post.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning that perhaps the least favoured content involves celebrity endorsement – cited by 96% as the sort of story they wholeheartedly did not want to see. Certain celebrities might gain a cult following on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram in their own right; don’t expect the same level of popularity when they’re promoting use of a certain product.
The WP Engine Content Creation Study was conducted by Texan-based software content management platform WP Engine.
Photo: Katie Krueger
