Forbes reckon blogging is still a worthwhile investment, but is it really? When you’re trying to grab the modern day audience’s attention, the content needs to be delivered through the most popular medium – video.
Source: Dreamsight
The stats don’t lie – video reigns supreme.
Do you remember the last time you’ve read a blog? What about the last time you’ve watched a video? Chances are, you may have watched something within the last hour but the blog is most likely to be a distant memory. On average, people consume 17 hours of online video content every week, as compared with blogs where a Hubspot survey found only 18% actually read a blog post every day, and even less, at 6%, read more than once every day.
Next question, how much of the blog’s message do you recall? Not much? You’re not alone! A marketing report by Insidia show that only 10% of the message is retained when reading in text, as opposed to 95% of the message when it is watched in a video format.
Source: The World's Best Ads, Youtube
When you break it down, you get a blog with the most optimal reading time at 7 minutes in length being consumed daily, this is still far out shadowed by the average video consumption which comes in at 145.8 minutes on a daily basis; and when combined with the fact that much more of the video’s message is retained by the consumer, it is clear that the winner is video.
Source: X (formally Twitter)
Great content is one thing but if your user base aren’t engaging with said content, then the content and business may as well be floundering around in the water. On top of the vastly more consumed video content talked about earlier, 51% of those are also more likely to share the video on social media as compared with a blog reader at 13%; this in turn increases the likelihood of your marketing effort going viral. When was the last time you can recall a blog go viral?
Source: Volvo Trucks, Youtube
The increased engagement doesn’t just stop on the social media platforms either, as according to marketers, video content reduces your website’s bounce rate and increases dwell time as consumers are more likely to stay and watch a video. This in turn, pushes up the engagement rate for the website’s SEO; great for the Google ranking, and another win for video.
Source: Google Trends
Taking a look at Google Trends, the data displayed a consistent downward trend for interests in blogs over the last 5 years; and as much as 40% of internet users have never read a blog. Investing in blogs is catering to a smaller demographic that is constantly shrinking in size and with many drawbacks.
Over to you readers, what is you preferred marketing medium? Are you still investing in blogs in 2024 and getting the results you want?
Awesome post, Vu!
I totally agree that video content, especially vlogging, is taking over the social media ecosystem specialising UGC. The stats about how much people remember and engage with videos are pretty convincing.
But let’s not count out blogs just yet – they still have a substantial audience, especially among passionate readers like myself. Written content provides a unique kind of engagement that many still enjoy.
In the world of social media marketing, both blogs and vlogs have their perks. Blogs can drive traffic and offer shareable, valuable content. For example, Moz’s blog posts are frequently shared on platforms like Facebook and X because they provide valuable SEO insights. Vlogs can increase engagement and shares, making your content more…
A blog about the death of blogs, very meta! haha
It's a bit of chicken and egg for me. In my experience static content (social media images) can work well, provided you enrich the content. For example, in a previous role at an industry news site, we had great engagement (likes+comments) with short quotes on static image carousels (IG). Conversely, similar content delivered via reels (IG) didn't get anywhere near the amount of engagement (likes+comments), as people tended to jump off a reel pretty quickly (5-10 seconds), and hence don't fully absorb the message you're trying to convey.
Great topic, an enjoyable read!
Hi Vu,
They say irony is a great social media marketing tool, so you've hit the nail on the head here - (writing a blog about blogs being out). 😅 I loved it - (but must admit I clicked on the link wondering if your blog would simply be an embedded video)! 😊
Wow, those stats really get your point across... I can't believe how many hours we spend watching online video content, and the retention difference between reading and watching something is quite extraordinary. I guess past internet speeds and data availability used to make blogs a safer choice, but given the downward trend it's something blog writers definitely need to reconsider.
My preferred medium depends on the environment…