Like many businesses, you have been trying your hand at social media. You have been building your LIKES on Facebook, your connections on LinkedIn and your Followers on Pinterest and Twitter. You have been putting out updates on a regular basis: either quotes, statements, sharing pictures or video, or sharing articles that you think your audience would enjoy. Sounds like a great strategy, right?

But why aren’t more people coming to your website?

You have been doing everything right. You have been engaging, you have been getting liked, followed, commented and Retweeted.

But why aren’t more people coming to the site?

Because you are not directing them to your original content, written and posted by you, on your own website!

Social media marketing gives you the prime opportunity to not only brand yourself as an expert and generate more visibility for your brand in less time than many other marketing channels, but it also enables you to influence the buying decision of your consumers.

What your potential customers are looking for on social media are helpful hints that will help to enhance their professional and personal lives. Who knows how to do this better than you? Your business fits a need and your expert opinion will help satiate this in your potential and current customer base.

And this brings me to the power of blogs and why you need to have one.

Your blog will contain information pertinent to your business and address topics that are related and of interest to your target market. For example, if you are an assisted living facility, your blog could be focused around topics that would interest the person searching for a facility such as yours. You can obviously write about upcoming events and announcements, but go a bit further. Write about aging topics such as dementia and caregiving. Write about healthy food choices for seniors.

Are you a tax attorney? Write about new tax laws and how they affect your target client. Write about how a family of four can easily manage their monthly budget. Write about investment opportunities that people can explore.

I think you get my drift.

Now, write an update on social media and share the link to this article. And…don’t do it just once. Share the article every so often. Ask your connections to share the article.

Now you may say “OK, I’ve done one….but where’s the traffic?”

Unfortunately posting and sharing one blog is NOT a strategy. You have to regularly write, post and share these. If you are looking for a strong content marketing strategy, I suggest writing at least one blog a day or 4-5 per week.

Immediately I’m sure this turns off many businesses. But the plain fact is that there is enough content within your industry to generate meaningful posts on a regular basis. Also, imagine the SEO implications of having keyword packed content being added to your website almost daily. This is a HUGE powerhouse and a wonderful value of having regular blogs done.

The second turn off I’m sure is double barreled: “I don’t know where to start and am not that strong of a writer.”

With every problem there is a solution. If the water main broke in your building, would you fix it? If there were more sales orders coming in than you could handle, wouldn’t you hire support staff?

If the design of the blog and the writing are out of your wheel house, find someone to help you get the ball rolling. There are designers and copywriters out there that can get right down to the brass tax of your message and formulate blogs seemingly overnight.

Next objection: but no one knows my business like me.

True. But think about how many books out there, best-sellers, are nearly written 90%-100% without the “author” being involved. This is the skill of a solid copywriter with experience.

My point is that if you are trying to make the most out of your social media campaign, a blog is really the cornerstone of success. Beyond social, it is also a powerhouse when trying to enhance the SEO capabilities of your website.

If this is out of your area of expertise, talk with someone who has experience with blogging and writing. They will be able to point you in the right direction. The bottom line is that sometimes it takes a village to raise a blog.