Improve Customer Experiences with Insightful Thought Leadership

Blogging is still a hot trend for most people, personally and professionally. According to Ignite Spot, there were 6.7 million bloggers in 2016, with 77% of internet users reading their blogs. Content flows back and forth online, as it is shared across social media, writing sites, blogging sites and more.

As the above image shows:

• 97% more inbound links come from businesses who blog
• 67% more leads are generated from B2B marketers who blog
• Websites with blogs have 434% more indexed pages on search engines
• Websites with blogs have 97% more indexed links on search engines

Other stats from Ignite include:

• 126% more leads were generated by small businesses who blogged
• 81% of US customers trust advice and information from blogs

Bottom line: businesses who blog get more traffic. Businesses whose CEOs blog get even more business opportunities.

How the Top CEOs are Using Blogs

As CEO, you may think that you don’t need to blog, especially if your business already has one implemented. But you can actually add value to the corporate blog with your own thought leadership; in fact, many CEOs and business owners blog to share their knowledge with their followers.

Take the most popular CEO – Oprah Winfrey.

As the CEO of Harpo Productions, Oprah has over 15 million followers on Twitter and is the leader on the Reuters and Klout 50 list, with a score of 92. The former queen of daytime talk has an incredible influence on social media, encouraging fans and followers to engage with many of her network’s live shows. She’s even written a post on how to turn your hours of social networking into positive endeavors.

Other big name blogging CEOs include Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and panelist on Shark Tank and Adam Goldstein, former CEO of the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Though both Cuban and Goldstein’s blog haven't been updated in a while, both still hold relevant thought leadership; Goldstein's even started a popular series of posts called ‘Ask Adam’, where readers and potential guests could ask questions about Royal Caribbean and about Adam himself.

These are certainly big names in business, but that doesn’t mean that only celebrity CEOs benefit from blogging. Small business CEOs, such as Neil Patel, Seth Godin, Jay Baer, and Tim Berry focus their blogs on helping other small businesses in marketing, customer experience, and public relations. Freelance writer Ted Bauer, who has worked with such companies as ESPN and McKesson, writes about his time in a leadership role, marketing, and the future of the workplace environment.

Fortune 5000 companies also have CEOs that blog. For instance, Forrester Research, one of the most influential research and advisory firms in the world, has George Colony. His CEO blog, The Counterintuitive CEO, guides company executives on how to approach challenges by focusing on technology, publishing, and new media. His latest blogs look at how companies should look at the new tech trends, such as the GDPR regulation, future payments, and even tips on the upcoming 2018 holiday season.

CEOs of all business sizes should be providing similar thought leadership posts and showcasing their business expertise. But why and how exactly does it help your company’s blog?

How does CEO blogging help your company?

Besides providing customers key insights about your business from the person that runs it, CEO blogs and posts help build up business reputation and your reputation as a leader. Other benefits to CEO blogging include:

• Creating and maintaining a communications channel: A well-written blog can be a wealth of information for the public, such as the news media, customers, suppliers, and employees; this is especially true if done on a critical issue or situation. When shared, this blog can attract tons of free publicity when shared on social media or having been republished in another article, blog, or website.
• Showcasing your thought leadership: As the leader of your company, your expertise can easily be showcased through your blog. Thoughtful insights on your industry’s trends or how your business was able to tackle a common challenge can resonate with others and shows you’re a leader in your industry.
• Establishing and building trust for your brand: Establishing and earning trust from customers can be difficult, but research has shown that customers do business with companies that have acknowledged experts in their field. As CEO, you can showcase your expertise in a blog, which can then be discovered by potential and current customers.
• Continuous learning: Dr. Seuss said it best: “The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” Business, industry, technology, and the world in general is always changing and for some leaders, the focus on the day to day business can sometimes limit their ability to look at the big picture. When creating content for a blog, CEOs have the opportunity to consider their topic of interest and how it impacts their business, their industry, or even themselves personally.
• Bring the business together: Blogging for a CEO should be more than just bringing in new customers; it should also try to communicate to the rest of the company, from employees to stakeholders. This helps to share visions, values, long term planning, and company strategy, creating examples of how the company works in the aftermath of unethical behavior or practices that the organization refuses to take part in.

Now that you understand the importance of CEO blogging, you might be wondering how you get a blog started and what exactly you need to write about.

What should I blog about?

As CEO, your experience can often dictate which your blog to be about, whether it’s about your particular industry or trends happening around it. Here are some tips to get you started.

• Write about what you know: The best way to not only show your thought leadership, but to show your authenticity to your audience, is to write what you know. As CEO, you are at the forefront of changing technologies, trends, and markets; this is especially true if you’ve been in the business for a while. Your insights can guide other CEOs on how to approach their business relationships, whether it be with partners or with customers. George Colony, CEO from Forrester, is a perfect example of this.
• Flip the script: Not every CEO blog needs to be about business insights. For instance, Bill Marriott – CEO and owner of Marriott Hotels – wrote a post about his father selling underwear to lumberjacks in the 1920s. What does that have to do with hotels? On the surface, nothing, but within the blog, there’s a story on how inventive his father’s business skills were. Inspiration can come from anywhere – perhaps you learned something about business or technology as you cooked a new meal for your family.
• Get help with ideas: Blog ideas can come from anywhere and in business, the best pieces of information – such as interviews or case studies – can provide the first step in creating a blog. Bill Marriott found an idea in his childhood, while Colony found one in new business regulations. Perhaps your next idea comes from reading a news article or even watching TV.

We certainly understand that it can be a challenge to find the time to sit down and blog, while doing your normal day to day business. Our content creation team are experts in learning more about your industry and the trends happening; if you would like help in creating thoughtful leadership blogs, please contact us here.

Resources:

The #1 Small Business Marketing Idea Infographic

7 reasons why your CEO needs to blog

Reasons to start a CEO blog

51 Small Business Bloggers You Should Be Following on Twitter

Chief Executive’s Top Ten CEO Blogs