Contrary to what some people think, blogs are not dead – and they are one of the most effective marketing strategies for interior designers. But when you have limited time and resources, you may be wondering if putting all that time into writing is worth it. Should you focus on social media instead? Today we’re diving into two of the most popular marketing strategies for interior designers, the pros and cons of both, and which one you should choose.
Blogging for Interior Designers
Blogs are a powerful marketing tool, especially when they’re written with SEO in mind and put you in a position to be discoverable. While the “heyday” of blogs might be past, plenty of potential interior design clients are searching for and reading blogs. Whether for inspiration, information, or to get to know a potential interior designer better, these long-form pieces of content can be very valuable in attracting new eyes and leads to your business.
The Pros and the Cons
One of the main benefits of writing blogs is there are no limitations on how you share your projects and design insights. Other pros include:
- A longer shelf life: your blogs can be discovered for years to come, versus many social media posts have a lifetime of 24-48 hours, requiring you to consistently share fresh content
- Less content overall: while most social media channels require around a post a day or every other day to grow, you can share far fewer blogs comparatively
That’s not to say blogs are without their downsides. Blogs can be time-consuming to write, and take a long time to pay off in traffic and leads. They also
- don’t offer much opportunity for interaction and engagement with readers
- are dependent on people finding your website to be read (for which you need something to drive traffic)
- may not be as consumed as frequently as short-form content
Social Media Marketing for Interior Designers
For the sake of this post, I’m going to focus on Instagram & Pinterest when referring to social media marketing for interior designers, as they are the two I recommend be top priority for our clients. (To read my thoughts on other social media channels for interior designers, check out this breakdown).
Social media marketing is not going away in importance, especially for a highly visual industry for interior designers. And while the amount of content required to grow on platforms is ever increasing, and may feel daunting, social media still offers a lot of opportunity for business owners.
The Pros
- Opportunity for connection with and nurturing of leads and potential customers
- Usually more users than the amount of blog readers you’ll get (especially if you aren’t yet driving a lot of traffic to your website)
- Visual platforms where interior design content tends to perform well
The Cons
- Social media content tends to have a shorter shelf-life (the exception to this is Pinterest, which is truly more of a “search engine” versus a social media channel)
- It takes time and effort to create content consistently
- Standard content formats you have to adhere to (ie character counts and dimensions)
The Best of All Marketing Strategies for Interior Designers: A Blend of Both
If I HAD to choose only one option for you, it would be focusing on writing long-form blog content with a strong focus on SEO so people who find your website can devour all the details of your projects and get to know your work without the character limits or content formats of social media.
But a blog alone isn’t the most robust marketing strategy. So if you’re looking for the best option, it’s a blend of both. My “gold standard” for marketing strategies for interior designers is:
- An “anchor” channel with long-form content: Your website with at least 1 blog post per month (ideally 2-3!)
- A channel for driving traffic and discovery: Pinterest with at least 1 pin a day (pinning to those blog posts, social media content, and other pages of your website)
- An Instagram with 4-6 posts per week, with a mix of reels and photos, and engagement
It might feel challenging to manage all of this as an interior designer on top of everything else you have to do for your business. But know that with planning, you can handle this amount of content (or, you can choose to outsource! We offer Instagram and Pinterest management as well as blog-writing to take your marketing off your plate. Book a free call to discuss here).
Want more where that came from?
Check out these related blog posts:
- 10 Instagram Post Ideas for Interior Designers
- How to Create a Content Funnel for Interior Designers
- Realistic Expectations for Interior Designers
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