Blogging a great way to build brand loyalty, attract new customers: Social media expert

Online blogging is now more important than ever for attracting new clients and building consumer loyalty to a brand, according to Web consultant and journalist Amber MacArthur.
MacArthur, who hosts the CP24 television program Web Nation, was speaking on the ‘Dos and Don’ts of Social Media and Web 2.0′ at the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO)’s 90th Annual Convention in Niagara Falls on Oct. 22.
Her nuts-and-bolts presentation listed a number of online tools brokers and insurers can use to expand their online presence, including tumblr.com, where anyone can sign up to start their own blog in a matter of seconds.
“Companies that start blogs – essentially educational blogs about a topic of interest in your industry, blogs that really resonate with people – are able to get more people [onto their Web sites] and discover what they have to offer,” said MacArthur. “It’s worth investing in.”
MacArthur highly encouraged brokers to consider blogging as a means to establish themselves as a credible source of information on insurance issues.
Blogging might potentially create new business if readers developed a loyalty to the insurance information posted on the blog, McArthur said. Loyalty to the blog might ultimately translate into loyalty for the brand name associated with it.
“Some of the best type of content that you can post on a blog shouldn’t necessarily be around selling your company, but ‘how-to’ information that’s relevant to your brand,” MacArthur said. “People have a lot of insurance questions, right?
“So when you create a blog in which you are an expert on a topic, not just trying to sell your company, it is a great way to build a community on the Web.”
This Web community would be a “sticking point” for existing customers, she said. “Two, imagine if people are searching for insurance and they’re searching for a company to use, and they stumble along your blog with all of this content – that’s another way you can potentially get new customers…
“It gets down to the point that there will eventually be a generation of people sometime during the next 10 years who will be your clients and customers, and the first place these people will go to get information is your Web space – and they may go to your blog first to see what you’re company is all about,” she said.