Blogging or Vlogging: Which one is right for your brand?

Vlogging is the new blogging. According to research, businesses create, on average, 18 vlogs per month.

Yep, vlogs. Vlogs sound like some space aliens and are among the best tools to engage your target market and generate leads. Email open rates increase by 19% and clickthrough rates by 65% by simply using the term “video” in a subject line. That’s powerful.

Is this a sign that marketing teams must give up brand blogs for their brands? It’s not possible. Liraz Margalit, Ph.D., web psychologist, explains that both written and video content have different purposes. Videos are more entertaining. Videos are a form of passive information ingestion. They’re ideal for web searchers in the ‘browsing mode of mind.’

However, while vlogs are a great way to motivate engagement, consumers are 39% more likely to share video content and 56% more likely to ‘like’ it than are goal-oriented web searchers. Consumers prefer active info ingestion of written information when they know what they want, regardless of whether it is a solution to a problem or details about a product or a service.

When to blog, when to vlog

Vlogs aren’t aliens from space and won’t take over the world. At least, not this year. However, they provide another great tool for brands to connect with customers. Your content marketing strategy will be more effective if you determine when to post a blog on a topic and when to use video.

These fundamental rules will help you decide whether to blog or vlog.

Humans prefer a passive cognitive experience. Video content is, therefore, more popular than all other media.

When your website visitor must decide, the text is more likely than not to produce the desired outcome. A blog post is the best way to go if you want to write content about the keywords “what type of life insurance should I buy?” or “what’s the best place to stay in Prague for a weekend getaway.”

Rule Number One is only relevant if your target audience prefers to have control over their search on the internet. Some people don’t enjoy watching TV. It’s too passive. This habit isn’t changing online. Blogs, different from the video content, allow the brain the freedom to think, question, and hopefully be entertained. They also give the reader control over the content experience. This applies whether the reader wants to read critical information, re-read sections, or make decisions in any other manner.

There are two types of content: why choose when you can have both?

Blogs and Vlogging don’t have to be incompatible. It’s not about blogs eventually disappearing. Content marketing success is about finding the right balance between them based on market demographics and what you are selling.

Which site converts better?

To help you decide which direction to take your strategy, it is a great idea to ask your viewers what they prefer. Websites without video convert 2.9% of users on average. Websites with video convert 4.8%. While this stat suggests that some video is helpful, it does not necessarily mean that more video is better.

You can quickly test A/B options, giving site visitors a choice between your blog and your vlog. Which one gets the most views? Which one gets the most engagement? Which do people pay more attention to? Which one converts better?

Using agile marketing, you can make blogging and vlogging a continuous process that receives ongoing responses. Your marketing will change as your audience’s preferences change. This customer-centric is now.