Blogging used to be one of the most preferred platforms for information sharing a few years back. It still is being used a lot and makes up to a big share of information sharing mediums on the internet, but people today are moving towards various alternatives as well.
With the advent of social media, people are now hooked on social media platforms, particularly Instagram, which is on the rise these days.
It can be said that blogging is losing its popularity because of these social media platforms. A few years ago, blogging used to be the only source for endorsing any product, writing an elaborate review of that product, sharing thoughts on different subjects between the like-minded people, etc. But now people have multiple platforms to do the same.
For example, Facebook, Twitter, Quora, Instagram, etc. are some of the famous social media platforms that have a large audience base. Talking about Instagram it has given a tough competition to bloggers. The former has a larger audience base as compared to the latter.
Nowadays, bloggers are also becoming Instagrammers. Also, there is a popular term “influencers” on Instagram, which refers to people who have authority in their niche. People have shifted their focus on influencers from bloggers. Earlier people used to rely on the bloggers and used to read their thoughts on different subjects, but they now rely on Instagram influencers.
So the question here comes is which is better blogging or Instagram. Both have their pros and cons. But who is more efficient in the long run? This question is very debatable.
Now let’s discuss the pros and cons of both the mediums and which one is better for the long haul.
1. Audience Base
For any medium, be it Instagram or blogging, or even other platforms, the main thing is the audience base. The more the audience base, the better it is. A challenge that every blogger faces is building a reader base.
It is easy to build an audience base on Instagram as it already has a lot of users, and it just requires one tap to follow an account. On the other hand, it is quite tough to attract an audience to your blogging website as it will require the search engine to show your blogging website easily, and it also takes SEO optimization into account.
Even though talking in the long run, the audience base generated on the blogging website is more genuine as compared to social media platforms such as Instagram. The reason being, a blog is more accessible and useful to readers, so they will tend to visit the site regularly when they like the content.
The content of an Instagram page is limited and not so useful for the audience as compared to a blog. However, many people love to use social media, and a large number of people consume content through images or videos, so here, Instagram has got the upper hand in building an audience with ease.
2. Content Quality
It is rightly said that “content is king”. These days on Instagram, people are writing long captions and descriptions about the images they upload, be it a review of any product or writing their thoughts or expressing any viewpoints. They then categorize these captions into the content. The content is not merely a few lines written about something; instead, it is an elaborate piece of information.
A good quality blog will be able to get good traffic on their websites, and thus, it will be helpful for bloggers to earn and to build an audience.
Many times people want to read an in-depth guide of something they are looking for. However, this is not possible on Instagram. But, the blog will be able to provide you the same.
Even if, somebody is interested in a topic on Instagram, seeing that in the image format is not always enough to quench his curiosity about that stuff. As a result, he will want to know more about it. In other words, a blog that provides somebody with high-quality content about relevant stuff will be helpful than a description of an image any day.
Advantages of Mixed Content
Product reviews, given on Instagram, are also concise, whereas, on blogs, one can find an elaborate review of the very same product. Therefore, a good blog will provide the user with even the minute detail of the product, which will be helpful for him. In short, a blog will serve a more useful deciding factor for anybody viewing to purchase the product.
Also Read: How to Write Conversion Oriented Blog Posts
Pictures catch the attention more easily, but if one gets attracted to the picture of any place he sees on Instagram, he would want to read more about it. Therefore, travel blogs will be more helpful over the former. In travel blogs, one will get to read a lot more about the place rather than just getting to view pictures of that place. Whereas, in travel blogs, you will get to see pictures plus get the information about that place.
Good quality blogs will always be shown on the front page of google results. Thus, it will form a permanent place of it, whereas, on Instagram, posts are temporary.
3. Income Sources
When it comes to making money on Instagram vs. Blogging, Instagram is restricted as compared to Blogging.
Unlike Instagram, you can run advertisements on your blog and get paid for the same. On Instagram, running Google AdSense is not possible.
Instagram has only one primary source of generating income, and that is sponsorship. But for that, too, you need to have a good amount of followers as no brand will sponsor any Instagram blogger with a handful of followers. You need to maximize your reach to land good sponsor deals.
Instagram bloggers have to work their way into landing a good sponsorship from several companies. In other words, for a regular income, there must be a regular sponsorship deal. Therefore, this could become a little bit challenging for those who are just starting. Instagram often uses Affiliate marketing as a source of income as well, but this is also restricted with the usage limitation of adding links on Instagram. A user can only add links to their stories and account bio. Till now, it is not possible to add links to single posts.
Income From Blogging
When it comes to blogging, a single blog post can be repurposed. For Instance, audio, video, podcast, e-book, etc. The main blog, in addition to the above-mentioned things, will be able to generate income.
The multiple blog pieces will reach out to different suitable platforms. After that, these pieces of the blog provide a platform for passive income. Thus, this will make it more widespread and will bring more cash.
Bloggers can add affiliate links to the products they are using, and as compared to Instagram blogging, they are restricted to use links on their website. As a result, this referral link gets them a commission on the purchase of the product through their link.
Moreover, content about commodities that are related to the blog niche is usually liked by the audience. Therefore, bloggers talk about sponsored products or services in their blogs.
Also Read: How to Make Money From Blogging
Further, one more great way to generate income is through Google Adsense, which lets you show ads on your blog.
To sum up, a blog repurposed into a video can use platforms like Youtube to generate income through ads.
Another great way to earn via blogging is by selling your own products. You can any day start selling your products on your website and create another source of income. This does require a little tweaking on the website but once set up, you can start selling whatever you want. To start with, you can start selling eBooks, guides, services, etc.
4. Durability
The algorithm of Instagram is dynamic. As a result, nobody can understand it properly. The current algorithm may show one’s Instagram account on-trend, but it may get changed later.
There is no surety on Instagram.
Whereas, a good quality blog will give much more return on the investment as people would always want to read something which has quality and details. Therefore, SEO optimized site with quality content makes it possible for bloggers to rank on the search results. In other words, it makes it possible to be durable and relevant on the internet.
On the other hand, Instagram does not have that much freedom in terms of content creation and promotion. The most they can do is keep on delivering the same type of content which is liked by many. When they get enough followers, they then have the advantage of being relevant for a longer duration. They could also purchase sponsored posts by Instagram to promote their page.
5. Authenticity
On Instagram, people get paid for endorsing any product or viewpoint. Therefore, most just write cheesy things to allure the targeted audience. Further, they do not provide any in-depth guide of the product. They just write to attract the audience and gain more followers.
Consequently, many influencers on Instagram post pictures and write about something, they are not well aware of. They write just to earn and not to serve their audience.
In blogs, a genuine blogger puts his soul and mind into his writing. He will not only write to attract the audience but also help them. Therefore, he will answer their queries, inform them about the subject, and educate them.
On Instagram, the product description, product review, or any viewpoint will be written in the form of a caption. On the other hand, in blogs, one can find elaborate writing on the same. In addition, the former will only talk superficially. Whereas, the latter will provide a proper in-depth guide to the targeted audience.
It may be easy to fabricate something when you write it concisely. But, when you have to write on the same thing in an elaborate way, fabrication is not that easy.
The latter provides more authenticity to the stuff he is writing than the former. Moreover, people are well aware of how some use click-bait titles to get traffic, and this usually keeps them away from such blogs.
Search engines like google and bing also make sure that the user gets the right and authentic content which he searched for. In conclusion, It takes a lot to maintain and rank a blog in search results. In addition, content is one of the main reasons among them.
6. Technical Skills
Talking on the technical front, Instagram has an easy and friendly user interface in comparison to a blogging website. The menus, buttons, and the layout make it possible to easily use and navigate the app. Similarly, the animations in the app are also something that many like.
As Instagram is the most popular social media platform, it has several experts working hard to make it possible for you to use the app securely and easily.
All it takes just to create an Instagram account and then run it accordingly. Whereas, running a blogging website is not that easy, talking on technical terms.
One needs to know the technical stuff like domain, hosting, web development software, SEO optimization, etc. to run a blogging website. It also requires a little investment for hosting and domain to start and maintain a blog site.
Even if you hire others to handle all the technical aspects, still you must understand a lot of the elements regarding websites and its analytics. It is very essential to plan and deliver with analytics of the website kept in mind. It has helped many to bring their blog on the road to success. Use Google analytics for managing analytics of your website.
For this, Instagram does have the upper hand. If someone wishes to go with blogging and does not have the technical know-how, one can hire somebody to assist them on the technical front. They can also take help from the internet about the same. Many guides are also available in the market these days as well.
7. Not so Spoken Reality
On Instagram, a person only posts good pictures, in other words, people post the pictures showing only the good side. These days many kinds of stuff have come up to break the delusion of perfect life which is being created mostly by Instagram.
Many celebrities like Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, and many more have shared their thoughts about what it looks like on Instagram is not the absolute reality. These days people on social media fancy everything.
There are several filters on Instagram, whereas in real life, there is no such thing.
So if a person wants to remain grounded with reality, then blogs can be on his top priority. Generally, blogs have an average of 1000 words, the length of the content is not to fancy the audience but to engage with them. Blogs have better audience engagement capacity.
Moreover, blogs help readers solve their queries or cure their boredom. They are written with the reader’s interest kept in mind. Hard work and research goes into writing a good quality blog.
8. Better Community
Blogs are more effective in building a community of like-minded people. On Instagram, many people follow any page instantly as soon as something catches their attention, but many unfollow the page later.
There is not much time spent by the people on an Instagram page. People usually get the posts in their feed, read the caption, like it, and a few of them comment on it. Only this much is the interaction with the post and its content. As a result, there is no solid ground on which a relationship can be formed.
On the other hand, people spend time reading a blog and come up with their queries, responses, opinions, etc. They can then comment on the same and interact with other people as well as the author. A blog allows the audience to make a community, and when kept in check, it can be very beneficial.
There is also a feature of subscription which helps a blogger build a good email list. These subscribers are one of the best building blocks of a successful blog.
Also Read: How to make Blogging Fun!
With the help of email lists, blogs start the repeat customers and targeted audience; thus, helping in building a more strong user base. They cannot be duped into reading rubbish or out of context content. This helps in growing the audience that is interested in the niche. In this way, a community is formed by like-minded people.
9. Personal Gains
Taking pictures or recording videos for an Instagram post is something that many enjoy and love, especially if it is their profession. The colors, scenery, context all sum up to give the person pleasure. Many subjects can be captured like birds, trees, mountains, sea, buildings, statues.
Words are just not enough to describe many such locations and subjects.
On the other hand, a blog is for persons who love to write. In blogs, a person can pen down his thoughts on any subject of life.
Many people enjoy telling stories or love helping others, here blogging helps them out in describing their experience, imagination, or opinion. Blogging requires research and hard work so that you can describe with ease and push out content which is useful to others.
Even if the popularity of social sites such as Instagram is on the rise, still blogging is best for the ones who love to write. Instagram can never replace this platform in terms of diversity.
Many people simply drift to Instagram because of the trend. Blogging is not something for trend, it’s an evergreen thing.
Persons loving to write should not hesitate in becoming bloggers. They can convert their interest into a profession, blogging has a wide scope.
In blogging a person is tend to learn new things always. It widens the horizon of thinking.
When you write about something and in return, people appreciate your work, then you will feel a sense of accomplishment. It will bring joy and happiness to you. So you will enjoy your work.
Conclusion
Instagram may be trending these days, but blogging is evergreen. Blogging is superior to Instagram, talking about it in the long run.
The fate of blogging is not going to fade with time, unlike the recent social media sites.
A person should not just get confused, seeing the migration of people to Instagram. He should decide on something considering the future.
People follow each other blindly in the name of a trend, but this should not be the thing. A person should not just choose something on the mere basis of a trend.
If you plan of becoming a blogger, you will have a much more maximized reach as compared to micro-niche blogging platforms like Instagram.
I would suggest you go with both platforms if you have the bandwidth to handle them both at the same time.
The thing is Instagram has faster user base building possibilities, and blogging is more reliable and effective in terms of authority building and monetization options. You can use Instagram to build users and create a traffic funnel to direct Instagram users to send your blog. And on your blog, you can keep them engaged with detailed guides and content.
So, instead of choosing between Instagram and Blogging, try to work both of them in your benefit. This will also help in social media promotion of your blogs, and you can repurpose your blogs and promote them on Instagram as well.
Let me know your thoughts on this by commenting on them down below. Which one you are more inclined to use right now?
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You can start your blog easily and in no time and further you can set up your blog page with the Blog Designer plugin which helps you customize your blog posts easily and without touching a single line of code. You can use this tool even if you are not familiar with coding. If you have an existing website, you can alter and beautify your WordPress blog easily with Blog Designer Plugin. Get it here.
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