Why I think blogs aren't going anywhere...
There has been so much going round social media for months and months about how Instagram is "taking over" from blogging and how blogging is taking a backseat. As much as Instagram may be favoured for most people and how brands tend to prioritise it for advertising campaigns, I donβt think blogging is ever going to disappear like people think it will. Look at it this way, will news articles ever die out? I doubt it, because people are nosy and want to know whatβs going on in the world - why is it any different with the blogging industry? Blogs are a personal space, of course people will read what's going on in your life or your personal views on certain topics. You just donβt get the same amount of detail and thought from an Instagram post as you do on a blog. Now donβt get me wrong, I absolutely love Instagram - in fact you could say Iβm a little obsessed... itβs my favourite social platform, and my largest. I post on my stories pretty much every single day and I try to upload a new post at least once a day. But my blog is my own platform, and thatβs something I refuse to give up and throw away. Today Iβm going to explain the reasons why I donβt think blogging will die out. This is obviously just my opinion on the matter and I could be entirely wrong, it could. But hereβs why I think it wonβt.
Social media comes & goes
If you remember how popular platforms such as myspace and piczo were, they're well and truly in history now. I mean we can all say we can't see it happening but Instagram could just as easily blend into our past too. I see people boycotting Instagram all the time because of the algorithm and how hard it is to get your posts seen by people that are already following you. Yes, it still has billions of users, but one day everyone might get fed up. What never comes & goes is google, and just the web in general. Blogs are a personal website so essentially they are never going to disappear unless you let them, you know? Imagine if the web disappeared, it's just extremelyyy unlikely. It's like phones becoming a thing of the past! It's the way of today, if it did disappear, along with it online shopping, the news and millions of people's businesses would go too. What would we even do without it now that we have it? Apps come and go, I think it's safe to say the web is here to stay.
There's less pressure
On social platforms we rely on followers and likes, and on blogs, sure we like to rack in the views and the comments - but there isn't that pressure that social media has. I feel like you are much more 'free' to post whatever the hell you want on a blog and you can just write and share photos to your hearts content. I know that when I put out a blog post, I'm not constantly checking it for views or comments like I do with Instagram! With blogging, it really is more of a passionate thing I think. I do of course love using instagram, I love curating my grid and posting photos that I've planned, but the passion that I have for my blog is just so different. This is my space, I design it from scratch and choose how I want it to look - I upload anything I choose without it being the 'in thing' and I definitely don't feel pressured to upload everyday too. I take my time with it and put out the best quality content rather than just having a 'filler' post just so I've uploaded something that day.
Filed in google
How often do you google search for a product review, or swatches of a product you want to buy? I do it multiple times a week! Can you do that on Instagram? The answer is no. Can you search your favourite influencers Instagram to see if theyβve done a post on a foundation or a lipstick youβre interested in? No, but on a blog you can! There's so many benefits to a blog that you just don't get on platforms like Instagram. If a brand pays you to promote their latest eyeshadow palette, it's disappeared into an oblivion of posts within a couple of weeks, whereas on a blog your review is on google for anyone to easily find. Some of my posts from years ago still come up on the first page of google when certain keywords are searched. My instagram content from years ago never sees the light of day! If you put your all into your content like I do then it's pretty crap to think about it just being pushed into a void really isn't it? I love having the photos and content that I'm proud of on my blog where it's still easily found. You also have the ability to constantly promote your blog content on platforms such as twitter and facebook, I get constant views on older posts from doing this too! Blogs are so much more valuable for long-term marketing.
It's not as fast paced but that's not a bad thing?
People love Instagram because of how fast paced it is. It's so easy to have a quick scroll of some photos or stories on your break from work or whilst you're sat eating dinner. But just look at how popular reading still is, it's essentially a shorter form of reading a book. I personally don't ever find the time to sit and read a book, as much as I'd love to. I've tried and I just can't find that sort of time. However, I will often sit down once a week and have the biggest blog reading sesh because on average, it only takes a couple of minutes to read a blog post and you can get through so many different blogs and topics within half an hour. It's so refreshing to sit and read things written by people you can relate to, and read in-depth product reviews, just all the things you can't get from a quick Instagram caption or a tweet.
It's proven that we have no control over our social platforms
I think we are all aware by now that Instagram just don't listen, they do whatever the hell they want and there's nothing we can do about it. I still see posts on my feed from four days ago that I've already liked. Like what? It just makes no sense. Every time Insta put out a tweet, it has hundreds of replies just asking for the algorithm to be back to how it used to be and they never, ever listen. At least with our blogs we have complete control over them, and we can continue to promote them, even as everything else changes.Β
A more dedicated audience
If people are on your blog, they truly want to be there. There's none of this "follow for follow" or "like for like" nonsense. They are actively choosing to search and to read your blog and that's super cool. They're taking the time to read and to see your best content, and the platform that you've most likely put your heart into. They'll get to know far more about you and your life than they will from scrolling through a few instagram posts. They bring you real, genuine engagement. Something Instagram and other social platforms never will.
It's easier to shop
You only get swipe up links once you hit 10k on instagram. I was dying to hit it for so long purely so I could share affiliate links and swipe ups to my latest blog posts. On blogs, you can create shoppable links for everyone and anyone even with no readers or followers. There's various platforms available like shopstyle and rewardstyle where you can create a 'shop the post' widget at the end of all your posts too - so when you're writing about beauty, homeware, baby products... whatever, you can link each item at the end so that people can shop them easily. If you have a significant audience it's much easier to earn affiliate income through people shopping your links too. Even if you can use the swipe up feature on insta, I have to say I rarely shop through them as they automatically open in safari where none of my login details to sites like asos are saved and it's just too much effort usually. I'll mostly go and search for the item once I'm on my laptop, therefore the instagrammer earning no commission from my sale!
Blogging will only die out if you let it
You don't have to ditch your blog in favour of Instagram or other social channels. The majority of us use instagram and every other social platform as it's a way to expand our brand and share our content more, but we don't just abandon our blogs because one of those social platforms is doing well. Everyone knows that in five years there could be a new social channel that's the best thing since sliced bread and that's cool. Just remember that as long as you're keeping your blog live and posting content to it, it's not going anywhere.
What do you think about blogging, do you think it's going to stick around?
