In this age of video, is blogging still relevant?

All I’m hearing on social media at the moment is how important it is to get in on the trend of live video. In doing so, the movers and shakers say, you’re helping your audience to consume content in a way that is totally relatable, easy to consume, and compels them to stop scrolling to watch you.

While I kind of get what they’re saying, and in fact I do tend to watch videos on social media IF it’s by someone I recognise and is about something that interests me – the idea of putting myself in front of the camera and letting potentially thousands of people see my face talking live to them absolutely terrifies me.

And anyway – I’m a writer. I’m not a movie star. I do this job because I love to write, and I especially love to write blogs. So, where does this new age of video leave me, a writer; a blogger? Is my craft redundant? Well, no. And here’s why.

Blogging is not dead

There are over 152 million blogs on the internet, and 77% of us read blog posts regularly. And while it’s true that video content right now is a big deal (87% of businesses now use video as a marketing tool), consumers still find the ease and convenience of written content in the form of blog posts relevant and a trustworthy source of information.

It’s not always convenient to watch video content – for example, if you’re at work, or somewhere public, you can’t necessarily have the sound up or whip out the headphones in order to watch them.

Whereas blog content can easily be read at your leisure, and saved to your device for later referral. Some people, believe it or not, prefer written content for this and many other reasons.

The value of a blog

Right now, there is the argument that companies are jumping on the video bandwagon just for the sake of getting content out there, because “people want videos”. And because of this, actually, the humble blog actually becomes much more valuable.

Making a video is expensive and time consuming; a blog can be written and published quickly and simply. As well as this, when people are searching for a particular piece of information, a blog post is so much easier to optimise for search engines, and can contain much more in the way of information and keywords.

A trustworthy source

Anyone can quickly put together a video using a mobile phone – but how trustworthy is the information? In the end, a video can be interpreted as simply someone’s opinion – it’s much more difficult to cite credible sources.

A blog, however, is more likely to be written as a result of research, and can contain credits, quotes, and links to sources used in the piece. While it can be written as an opinion piece, in general, some kind of solid research will have gone into it, and can be referred back to.

A good mix

I think there is definitely a place for video, but blogging shouldn’t be dismissed in favour of live content. Rather, the versatility of blog posts can be easily repurposed for other mediums, video included, and can be a good way of delving deeper into subjects covered in past blog posts.

However, I still truly believe that every business, no matter how large or small, should have a blog, and should post to it regularly. Although just a piece of the puzzle, blogging is the best way to get your content out there, and can be the vital link between social media and your website.