Too many people across various industries are debating about whether companies should be promoting their content through a blog or a vlog.
Our philosophy is: Why not use both?
Each one of these pieces of content can have a tremendous impact on your ability to market effectively, offering multiple benefits along the way. When both blogs and vlogs are used to promote your business, you will find it easier to build your brand’s authority, grow your following, and even improve your chances of going viral.
Dive into the details of using a blog vs a vlog and see why you should be using both of them in your marketing strategy.
What is the Difference Between Blogs vs Vlogs?
The main contrasts between these two types of content are how they are created and how they are shared. Blogs are written content, which is generally shared on a website and include everything from images to infographics. On the other hand, vlogs are video content created in a different context for a distinct visual purpose.
Typically, blogs take time, planning, and research to prepare as well as write. These pieces of content are then published on an individual blog or a business website. Oftentimes, there is a search engine optimization (SEO) intent behind these articles in the hopes that they will rank well on search engines and attract organic traffic.
And while most vlogs should still be planned out and have at least a semi-professional feel to them, they can be filmed and broken down into multiple pieces of content in a shorter period of time. Vlogs also have a strong potential to reach a larger audience because of the ever-growing popularity seen with video content.
Though you’ll find many differences between a blog and a vlog, they can often share many similar types of information. Both can be informational as well as entertaining. It generally depends on the content to determine how effective it will be with your current following and future visitors.
Types of Blogs
With more than 152 million blogs across the internet, new blog content is being shared every half second on average. Even more important than these statistics though is the fact that more than 77% of people who use the internet regularly read blogs. This presents a huge opportunity for both individuals and businesses to reach a massive audience.
Regardless of your industry or your intent, it’s likely that there is a reader out there who is waiting for you to create content about what you have to offer. A few of the most popular blog types you’ll find on the web include:
- Personal Blogs
- Lifestyle Blogs
- Business Blogs
- Professional Blogs (For freelancers and other independent content creators)
- Travel Blogs
- Affiliate Marketing Sites
- How-to Blogs
- Niche Blogs
- News Blogs
Types of Vlogs
Resources like YouTube are generally recognized as the most effective place to share vlogs, which is why over 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every 60 seconds. With more than 2 billion users around the world, you have an instant audience ready to watch your videos. And now that more than 62% of businesses using YouTube as their main source of sharing video content, it is a crucial time to join this revolution.
Although you may see some similarities between the types of blogs and vlogs, video content continues to see a higher engagement rating than any form of written content.
- Reviews/Unboxing Products
- Business Vlogs
- How-to Videos
- Explainer Videos
- Lifestyle Vlogs
- Travel Vlogs
- Culture Vlogs
9 Reasons to Use Both Blogs and Vlogs
Looking at the numerous types of blog content and vlog content, it is clearly apparent how effective they both can be for marketing purposes. If you only choose to focus on one of these outlets, you are instantly missing out on a huge market opportunity that is readily available on the other side.
This is only one of the many arguments to consider when it comes to using vlogs and blogs together. You’ll quickly find there is a long list of benefits and advantages to integrating both of these powerful tools into your marketing arsenal.
1. Build Trust & Authority
A well-known branding agent named Matt Schuldt has frequently spoken about the need to “position yourself as an authority in your niche”. What better way to do that than with detailed, informational blog articles as well as engaging and professional vlogs?
Giving clear details in written form is a great way to prove you are knowledgeable on a subject and establish yourself as an industry leader. You can then add a captivating vlog to your post and interact in a way that can smoothly and simply clarify your points. Beyond building a strong rapport and trust with your viewers, you’ll also be recognized as a more reliable authority with search engines.
2. Boost Your SEO Efforts
You may or may not be surprised to find out that adding a relevant video to your blog content can increase organic search traffic by as much as 157%. That means if a blog post is getting an average of 1,000 views, the addition of a vlog could boost that number to 2,570 views.
The main reason for this significant jump is the undying fact that search engines like Google simply love video content. These search sites are keenly aware of how engaging and dynamic these types of content can be on their own, but also understand how much more powerful it is to put a blog and vlog together. This one change of using video has the potential to dramatically improve your SEO results.
3. Establish Audiences on Multiple Platforms
If you are only sharing blog content on your website, you will only ever appeal to people who are searching for written content through their respective search engines. If you only share vlog content on video sharing sites, you may see more engagement but still limit your chance to grow as much as possible.
Instead, share written content on your website, embed a vlog that drives your point home. Promote vlogs that you share on YouTube across social media sites like Instagram and Facebook as well. In a world full of marketing “noise”, it is vital that you get your brand out on as many platforms as you can.
4. Appeal to the Various Ways People Prefer Communication
Although the many available forms of media have made it incredibly easy to simply watch or listen to content, there are still millions of people who still read blogs. For this reason alone, you should always find a way to appease both sides of the spectrum.
The key to your forms of marketing communication is to be mindful of your target audience and how they would most prefer to learn about your products or services. You can then provide them with valuable information in the way they will be most engaged.
5. Supplement Each Type of Content
It’s important to avoid haphazardly throwing blogs and vlogs together simply because you want to get the benefits they both offer. Alternatively, create a clear plan of action to identify what type of video will be a worthy supplement to the static page or blog article you are writing.
As an example, if you are designing a landing page with the intention of getting people to subscribe to a newsletter or email list, then your vlog should be reflective of that goal and invite the viewer to take that specific action.
6. Increase Engagement & Conversions
Whether you already have a blog or a vlog, adding the other is pretty much guaranteed to improve your overall traffic and engagement. You may already be getting tens of thousands of visitors to your blog every month but imagine what kind of impact adding even an occasional vlog could have.
A video is 1,200% more likely to be shared than a blog post on its own, making it an obvious way to increase your conversion rates. But when you combine the two content types, that number can be bumped up even higher.
7. Better Chance of Going Viral
The ultimate goal of almost any creator, business, or marketer is getting their content to go viral. While both options have the ability to go viral on their own, doing a blog and vlog together at the same time vastly improves the chances of this happening.
By blending together the written content with a video, you’ll entice more people and give it a better shot at being shared across multiple platforms. When you go a step further and promote the content using social media ads, you can add even more fuel to its viral potential.
8. Cover Various Amounts of Detail
There are numerous lengths to which you can extend either blogs or vlogs to provide a sufficient amount of information. You could write a short-form blog article and expand on it with a longer and more detailed vlog. Likewise, you could create a huge piece of skyscraper content and embed a brief video that simply goes through a quick summary of what the article covers.
Don’t be afraid to mix up the extent of either marketing tactic and see what your audience finds most engaging.
9. They Complement Each Other
As we mentioned before, both blogs and vlogs have an incredible amount of potential when it comes to reaching massive audiences. You could easily use only one or the other and find great success in building your online presence.
But if you want to reach your full potential, there is nothing stopping you from complementing your vlog with a blog or your blog with a vlog. A combo of the two will help you improve your marketing funnel, increase your online following, and see a greater amount of conversions over the long term.
Is It Time to Add a Vlog to Your Already Existing Blog?
While there are millions of blogs out there, the number of vlogs is also increasing every day. If you are ready to see a boost in your overall reach, it is time to add video to your marketing and promotional efforts.
A great content writer can create your blogs, while vlogs can be made by yourself or a professional video production company. Pull out your smartphone and start filming or get some help from the pros who know exactly how to make these pieces of video content shine.
