Blogs, social media, and viral marketing can be powerful tools in a company’s repertoire. Companies that act fast could gain an edge on many competitors who haven’t implemented these strategies yet.

While not embraced by all businesses yet, it’s estimated that there are approximately 9 million blogs in existence—some good, some not so good. However, the research shows that more people are reading blogs, and that a large portion of these people expect businesses to have a social media presence. Most interesting is the fact that blogs have been shown to influence purchasing decisions.

From Cone, a company that tracks marketing trends:

60% of American internet users employ social media and networking tools such as Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and Wiki among others.

Also, Cone’s survey revealed that 93% of social media users feel that companies should have a social media presence, while 85% feel that companies should also interact with customers through social media.

Most impressively, 56% of Americans who use social media feel better about companies and their brands when they can interact with them through social media.

(From a Survey by Cone: September 25, 2008)

And from Buzzlogic.com:

50% of those surveyed said that they found blogs a useful source of information for purchases—and over half (52%) said that blogs played a role in the critical moments right before they decided to make a purchase.

(From Buzzlogic.com: October 28, 2008)

So what does this research mean for your company?

The research shows that not only are more people reading blogs, but that these blogs are actually influencing purchasing decisions—which is important for any company.

However, having a blog has other benefits as well…

• Google loves blogs. The regular posting of new blog entries can increase the frequency of the googlebot—the software that scans web pages and gathers information for Google’s index of websites.
• The blogging culture was built on linking to other blogs, which can also improve your ranking in search results.
• The shear nature of blogging encourages “real” language rather than marketing jargon, so people tend to trust what they read in blogs more.
• Having your own blog makes it easier to defend your reputation if someone blogs about your company negatively. You could, of course, comment back on their blog, but it would be much more effective to simply “trackback” the negative blog over to your own, where your voice would be loudest.

So, say you buy into the blogging “thing”—now what?

Now you need to develop a strategy. Worse than not having a blog would probably be having a blog and then neglecting it. Fresh content is what drives blogs and social media. Now believe me, I realize that time is a precious commodity and that not everyone has time to spend blogging everyday. However, there are ways to make it work.

One strategy that could be employed would be to recruit a handful of blog authors from different parts of the company—even from the lower ranks as long as they are smart and knowledgeable about the industry they work in.

Having 3 to 5 blog authors write just one post a week would generate a fair amount of fresh content every month. The key is fresh, useful content—not just marketing hype. If it’s helpful, useful or even just interesting, then people will find it, and it will drive more traffic to your site.

Get the boss logged in!

Something that was heavily touted during the HOW Design Conference last year was CEO involvement in social media. Apparently consumers are really digging it if the CEO will step out and occasionally post on the company blog or interact through social media with customers.

However, bosses can be hard to convince at times—but don’t fret—CEO involvement isn’t a prerequisite for success with social marketing. The goal is to connect to your customers in a new and exciting way. If you’re successful, you’ll be commented on and discussed about on your own site—blogged about and linked to on other sites, and ultimately drive more traffic and sales.

So, to sum up what all of this means for your company

Blogging, social networking, and viral marketing have become viable marketing tools and the research appears to support this. People are reading more company blogs and using them as a basis for their purchasing decisions.

In addition to the marketing advantages, there are many other benefits to having a blog. These include the increased exposure on Google, the trust you’ll earn from your customers for using “real” language in your blog, and the ability to protect your reputation.

However, the advantages can only take you as far as the strategy you employ. You have to have a good strategy to make social marketing work for you. You need good writers who are passionate about the industry they work in—and it also helps if they have interesting things to say. And if you can get the CEO involved—well, that’s even better.

Ultimately, it’s about a new way of making connections with your customers, building trust, and driving sales that way.