Blogging 101: Own Blog vs Social Media Platforms

With the ever-increasing emphasis on social media platforms for many people’s attention spans there seems to be even less time to get attention on other websites. This means blogs are getting less views, but also less engagement. So why would you create a blog when you could create social media accounts instead? This is a strange subject because there’s not definitive answer for what you should or should not be doing.

So, instead of trying to dictate that you should definitely have a blog or whether you should totally go the social media route – I’ve pulled together the benefits of both for you to try and make an informed decision. Whilst my Blogging 101 series is focused on blogging and will be good for anyone who chooses that route, a lot of the posts learnings can be used if you decide to grow your platform on social networks too.

The Benefits of Having a Blog

When you create a blog (especially if you’re self-hosting) it gives you more control over your content as you’re not trying to fit into specific guidelines of number of characters, number of images, or types of media. You can upload GIFs, videos, images, PDFs, MP3 files, links to other places etc. With Twitter, Instagram, YouTube (and more!) there’s specific limits to your content. With your blog you can explore outside of your main content – and choose exactly what you want to make.

Social media platforms are controlled by algorithms, where your followers might never even see that new post you’ve uploaded. This is one of the largest frustrations for many creators on these sites. With a blog every upload is going to place itself at the top of your page (If that’s how you’ve set it up! And if it’s how you want it to be!). Plus, many bloggers have email reminders set up so their followers can immediately know when they’ve uploaded – which are also more reliable than, for example, YouTube notifications.

Speaking of emails, when you have a blog your followers are usually signing up with an email address that you will have access to. This means you will “own” the communication channel with your followers yourself rather than depending on the social media networks to push content to them. You can reach out directly to say, “hey look at this new thing” or “I’m really proud of this post I did 6 months ago”.

Speaking of 6 months ago – blog content in general lasts longer. Whereas social posts are lost within minutes or days because of so much content, your blog posts will be more evergreen. This means you can re-share content easily, and it’s still relevant. Search engine optimisation is so important because it gets people to see “old” content instead of just the newest posts.

With a blog you can also see more metrics about whether your content is doing well. You may get impressions on Twitter or Instagram, but you have no way of knowing if those people actually looked at your content. With a blog, you can see you’ve had X amount of impressions, but also see how many people stayed on the page longer, how many people left almost immediately etc. This in turn can help you improve your content to be more attention grabbing.

Speaking of attention, if a reader is coming to your blog (and returning!) it’s more likely that they’re engaging with the content. With social media, most people only stay on a post for a few seconds and then swipe right on by. Whilst some people will be liking and commenting, and average engagement rate is often around 1% of everyone who viewed the post.

So, to cut a long story short the benefits of blogging are:

• Content control
• Reaching followers
• Direct communication
• Evergreen content
• Better metrics
• Higher engagement

The Benefits of Social Media

The biggest benefit for having social media platforms is the sheer amount of people that are already on them every day. If you’re on social media it means you have more of a chance to be visible to more people, which in turn can help increase your following and recognition. Plus, these new followers just need to tap one button and they’ll see more of your content – so it’s a bit easier for them too.

With social media networks not being a personal site, they open the possibility of your content being more social and allowing you to build relationships. Whether you blog about books, beauty, fashion, food, travel etc. there’s probably a community on each social network that you can find and talk directly to. This could counteract the lower engagement argument for social media.

Social media algorithms can benefit some creators as they may push their content repeatedly. I know when I’m using YouTube normally the same handful of people are promoted to me on the homepage, on the watch next suggestions etc. On TikTok and Twitter I see a similar pattern of people appearing despite me not following them, because others are and they’re engaging. Of course this isn’t always true, but it is a positive.

Social media money is a lot. There’s so many creators who are making bank off selling instagram posts or a 4 part live story for minimal product placements. Social media definitely seems to make more money than your average blog. (As a disclaimer: social media creators also seem to be held to a higher standard to disclose ads! So blogs may be making money, but not disclosing how much the same way social media stars are.)

The Benefits for having social media:

• Increased visibility
• Building communities
• Algorithms push engaging content
• Higher income

The Benefits of Having Both a Blog and Social Media

Of course many people have grown followings on social media, whether it’s YouTube, Instagram, TikTok or any others. However, having a blog or website as a “base of operations” is extremely beneficial too. Having both can help you reap the benefits of both.

Having evergreen content is great on your blog, but being able to share periodically through your social networks to get a higher reach for it is great. Being able to charge for Instagram posts on the basis of both your social and blog stats – even better! Finding a happy medium between the two can really help you as a blogger.

Alternatively – your blog doesn’t need to be your main platform. Having a YouTube channel, but also hosting on your website can help increase eyes depending on what your followers prefer. Many bloggers have moved over to video content, and now post a lot less, but their blog is still an important part of their overall brand.