Blogging is considered to be one of the most effective methods of pull marketing. Prospective buyers are drawn towards the valuable content offered on the blog.

Another channel that can be used for sharing valuable content to increase your inbound marketing reach is to publish and engage in social media.  Sites such as Twitter and LinkedIn have proven to be great tools for B2B companies, and Facebook is not far behind.

Twitter, a micro-blogging community, provides a portal to learn the behaviors and habits of the end consumer.  For B2B companies, this is a fantastic tool to understand their customer’s customer.

LinkedIn is a social media portal designed for businesses and business-people to connect with each other and share knowledge, ideas, and opportunities.  This has become the go-to tool for finding experts, employment opportunities, and potential employees.

ActiveConversion recently conducted a webinar on SEO, Content, and Social media. This webinar examined inbound marketing and the value of content in generating thought leadership and credibility for your company, products, and services.

You have a fabulous corporate blog set up. What do you do with it now?

1. Spread the word. People can’t find a blog if they don’t know it exists. Include a blog link on your homepage and/or navigation. Post about your blog posts on your Twitter and Facebook accounts. Add the URL to your business cards and letterhead, or send an email campaign with a blog excerpt – make sure your customers know you have a blog.
2. Add quality content. Blog readers choose to stay with the blogs they love to read, so make sure your chosen content will be valuable to your readers.
3. Blog early, blog often. If your blog is often the first one to blog about a new trend or topic in your industry, blog readers are much more likely to go to your blog first.
4. Link to your own old posts. If you’ve written about a topic before, make sure to include a ‘related posts’ section near the bottom of your blog post. Show them that you’re an expert in your field, with a lot of great tips and advice to share.
5. Add links and images to your blog posts. Images help bring the point of the post home, and links to other sites will mean you’re helping your readers find more information on a topic.
6. Write comments on related blogs. Bloggers are always grateful for a comment, and will often visit your blog if your link is included with your comment.
7. Write title tags for both your readers and Google. Once you’ve written your blog post, save a draft and look at your post title. Does it contain words people will search for when looking for the content in your blog post? Does the title entice people to read more?
8. Cover topics that need attention. If you’ve been hearing a lot of people wondering about a certain topic in your industry, write about it. If your customers often ask you the same questions, answer them fully and succinctly in a new blog post. Not only are you lightening your workload in the long run, but you’re helping your customers out. Happy readers mean return readers.