Last Updated on May 30, 2024
How Vlogs Do the Same Job as Blogs, but Even Better
If you want to be visible online, you need content. Content is queen. I know this. You know this. It stands to reason that video needs to be part of your content marketing strategy as much as traditional text blogging.
What’s Content Marketing?
If you’re active on Social Media, you’re already doing Content Marketing.
“Content marketing is the process of planning, creating, distributing, sharing, and publishing content via channels such as social media, blogs, websites, podcasts, apps, press releases, print publications, and more.” (HubSpot)
In addition to the classic blog, which usually focuses on text, there’s the very popular video format, or “vlog”.
Tiktok: “Hey YouTube, hold my beer.” Right?
What Content Marketing can you create and share to market your products?
While I believe in video marketing, your options aren’t cut-and-dry video or no video.
- + Articles and Blogging
- + Videos and Vlogging
- + Audio and Podcasts
- + Downloads
- + Slideshare
- + Infographics
Honestly, it’s also possible to combine multiple media formats on your website. Video, Infographic, Text, and even toss in a Podcast. So, how do you decide which content is right for you?
“Vlogs are a popular video format for influencers, with this type of video content reporting a global usage reach of approximately 24 per cent in the third quarter of 2023. ” (Statista)
Blogging or Vlogging: Which Content Medium Suits You?
For your content to work, it has to be unique. You’re going to need to produce what people are looking for. It will need to be good. And for that, you’re going to need time. Time for research, time for planning, time for the actual production and for post-production.
Did I forget to say, you’ll need time to market your content too? Yes, you’ll need to set time aside to tell people about your killer content.
“Your website has words. A lot of words. Your competitor has words. Your brother-in-law has words on his website, too. What website doesn’t have words? Words are not trending. Everybody is watching videos. We watch 3.5 hours of videos a day! You need videos on your website.”
What is Better: a Vlog or a Blog?
Maybe you already have a rough idea of your content. The medium you choose must fit the content you want to create.
A How To Tutorial, for example, is much better suited for a blog article than a video. The reader can print out the instructions, quickly find the individual steps, and follow your instructions much easier.
Hot Tip! How To Tutorials as a great way to be found (SEO), can be shared easily to the benefit of your community (Social Media) and can be used as an added extra in your personalised Email Marketing. (Content Marketing)
This is also the case with recipes. It always looks better in a video, but a recipe should include a text form too. Following the steps is easier, as well as having all the information together (e.g. temperature and cooking time.) The words are also good for SEO – Search Engine Optimisation. Remember: SEO is words!
“Once you understand how to define vlog and blog, it’s time to think about how to put them into practice. One thing that many people fail to realise is that blogging and vlogging complement each other as part of your overall content marketing strategy.” (ProfileTree)
So Which is Easier: a Blog or a Vlog?
There are only twenty-four hours in a day. It would help if you found time to create your product and then the marketing behind it. The preparation and follow-up for a video may be more demanding than for a written text. How much time you really need also depends largely on your skills.
Which medium you should choose also depends on you. Can you write? Do you enjoy writing? Not just once either – you need to keep your content fresh, so you’ll probably be posting content weekly. That’s an important consideration.
Are you more the type who likes to stand in front of the camera? Are you personable? Do you like to talk? Then you won’t have any problems with videos. If the camera is too much for you, but you can speak well and in a structured way, then perhaps a podcast works for you.
It’s not just what you want that counts either. It’s what your target group wants. If your medium doesn’t match the media consumption of your target group, then you’re only writing and filming for yourself.
Overall media consumption is increasing, while our attention span is decreasing. What hasn’t changed is to reach your target group, you need the right content on the right media.
“Our attention span has decreased from 12 seconds to 8.5 seconds in the last 15 years 2000-2015. The average attention span of a goldfish is 9 seconds.” (wyzowl)
What is the Difference Between Blogging and Vlogging?
“Blog” is used as a short form of “web log”, which in turn is a compound word made up of “web” and “logbook”. Blogs are diaries on the Internet. They can be easily produced without being able to code. WordPress and Blogger, to name but two, are both free.
The artificial word “vlog” is made up of the words “video” and “blog”. A blog is a kind of personal diary that a person makes publicly available to others in text form. A vlog describes the same in video form. Again, YouTube is a free video service available pretty much around the globe.
What are the Pros and Cons of Blogging?
Blogs have been around for many years, and new ones are created daily. The first blogs stemmed from online diaries. One of the first was created in 1994 by Justin Hall, one of the pioneer bloggers.
Pros: Creating a Blog
Pretty much anyone can set up a blog using WordPress or Blogger websites to name just two.
As I said, getting your material found via search engine optimization is an important factor in the creation of a blog. Your words can be optimized quite easily, and form the basis of search engine optimization.
Nothing makes your brand authority thrive more than good words!
I know that people’s attention spans are decreasing, but if a text is well structured, a reader can scan it and understand what you want to say much faster than in a video or audio clip.
Having trouble writing? Here are 5 ways you can create copy that connects with people:
Cons: Creating a Blog
Writing doesn’t come easily to many people! At least today we have laptops. They are quieter and lighter than typewriters. Pencils, pens, and paper, while cheaper, are more difficult when it comes to removing typos.
Having your words reach a large audience means you need to have patience. A video or an audio clip may simply go viral faster and be more effective than your words on a page.
“Vlogs are great and you should definitely consider making them, but Google can’t watch videos. This means Google is unable to index vlogs. So, in order to make your content rank in the search engines and attract new people to your site, written content needs to be a part of your site.” (Yoast)
What are the Pros and Cons of Vlogging?
If you are as big on video marketing as I am, then you probably have more options than just a YouTube channel for your video marketing. Like TikTok?! Exactly. Important is that you focus on quality over quality!
What video marketing can you create?
- Hiring videos
- FAQ and How-To videos
- Testimonial videos
- Coaching Videos
- Personalized videos
- Interactive, Shopping videos
- User Generated videos
You can even turn existing marketing content like a blog, book, or podcast, into a video. Here are two examples: an online course and a cooking course.
Pros: Creating a Vlog
Vlogging can be quite an elaborate process, but the advantages can also outweigh the disadvantages. Some people make huge amounts of money posting videos. Jeffree Star is a YouTuber with a net worth of $200 million. PewDiePie’s net worth is $40 million. Markiplier has a net worth of $35 million
Videos are becoming more and more popular. But for many industries, vlogging is still fairly new. This can be your opportunity. In the blog and podcast market, you hardly have a chance to position yourself with a unique focus. In a video (with a few exceptions: e.g. in technology) there are still quite a few business vloggers.
Videos can quickly generate huge reach. You can’t plan how often your video will be shared, but the chances of it being shared are much higher than with a blog article or podcast episode. More than 80% of traffic online is video traffic.
Videos help you bond with your audience and create trust. They can see your gestures, your facial expressions, and your mannerisms. People can already decide based on one video whether they like you or not. The moment they like you, the trust-building begins.
Cons: Creating a Vlog
Everything can be filmed and narrated. Everyone has a smartphone in our pocket. It’s like we’re carrying around a mini film studio. However, the planning, production and post-processing of videos is time-consuming – more so than other media.
It’s not easy to edit a video after it’s been posted on your vlog. You may either need to erase and re-shoot or delete it.
Did I mention search engines? As videos don’t contain any text (unless you’ve included a transcript), search engines can’t index them. This limits the ability of your vlog to be found in the SERPs. Make sure you include them as a part of a blog if you want that SEO boost.
“Online video is expected to make up more than 82% of all online consumer traffic. And modern video marketing isn’t just about YouTube. 500 million people watch video on Facebook every day. Snapchatters watch 10 billion videos per day. People spend 2.6x as much time on pages with video as they do on pages without.” (ThemeIsle)
Wrapping it Up: Can a Vlog Replace Your Blog?
There is no such thing as perfect content. No one medium beats all others. It’s all about what your and your target audience’s preference is and what your time and money budget allows. You should find a middle ground here and focus on one medium (for now).
Which content format is your favourite? Do you already use one or more? Where do you see more clicks and engagement?
Ask yourself: where are my customers? What content do they want? In what format do they want it? Decide based on the needs of your audience.
“You see,” said the veteran showman, “you give the people what they want and they’ll come.”
Article Photo by Anete Lusina: https://www.pexels.com/photo/young-woman-in-trendy-outfit-with-notepad-recording-vlog-4793183/ Thank you!