Many experts agree that having a well-written blog that delivers value to customers is a great way to generate leads and increase traffic to your website, particularly if you work in the B2B world.
In fact, as a HubSpot blog post points out, “B2B marketers that use blogs receive 67% more leads than those that do not.”
The HubSpot post also mentions that blogging helps increase the number of inbound links to your website.
Furthermore, according to the HubSpot post, “Blogs have been rated as the 5th most trusted source for accurate online information.”
With this in mind, it is not surprising that many marketing experts suggests that businesses at least consider adding blogging to their content marketing efforts.
What the problem is is that the person who is most qualified to write about the core business might not be trained in some of the basics of business writing, including how and when to correctly cite a source of information.
Plagiarism Can Destroy Your Reputation
In the world of journalism, plagiarism can destroy a career.
In his latest book, titled “So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed,” Jon Ronson describes how Jonah Lehrer was publicly scrutinized for self-plagiarism and, similarly, for including made-up Bob Dylan quotes in one of his books.
Ronson details the agony that Lehrer went through as people gleefully lambasted him for his misdeeds.
Although Lehrer has already started to recover from these incidents, many people will always question the integrity of his future work. Therefore, Lehrer will need to work harder in the future to regain the public’s trust.
While business bloggers might not be scrutinized to the same level as journalists, if the work published on a business blog is found to be someone else’s work and proper attribution is not given, the reputation of the writer and the business can be questioned.
It is therefore important to make sure that business bloggers properly cite the work of others when writing a blog post.
As Emilia Sukhova points out in a post on the Convince and Convert blog, “Regardless of expertise, if someone is worth quoting, then they are worth citing.”
What Exactly Is Plagiarism?
If you do a Google search, you will find several definitions of plagiarism.
According to Merriam-Webster, the word “plagiarize” means: “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own: use (another’s production) without crediting the source” and “to commit literary theft: present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.”
A post on the Grammerly blog warns writers to avoid plagiarism in several forms, including direct plagiarism, self-plagiarism, mosaic plagiarism, and accidental plagiarism.
All forms of plagiarism can hurt a brand’s image and break the trust that consumers have in the brand.
For example, a post on the Spin Sucks blog pointed out that the UPS Store was accused of plagiarism in the past. This sends a bad message to potential customers.
The Houston Press also wrote a rant about a real estate broker in Houston, Texas, whom they accused of plagiarizing their content and the content of other online sources. If a potential buyer found this while doing a Google search, do you think they would trust him to help them buy or sell a home?
It’s Been Done Before
In a 2014 blog post, Seth Godin pointed out that no matter what you do, it has most likely been done before.
“Originality is local,” writes Godin. “The internet destroys, at some level, the idea of local, so sure, if we look hard enough we’ll find that turn of a phrase or that unique concept or that app, somewhere else.”
While he was talking about business, in general, the point that he makes can be applied here, as well.
That point being is that we shouldn’t stop blogging because of the fear of being called a plagiarist. If you write something, chances are that someone else has written something similar before.
This happened to Yvette Pistorio in 2013.
In a post on the Spin Sucks blog she states, “In my case, I wasn’t careful. I was in a rush to turn in my next post on time, and I didn’t credit the article I drew my original inspiration from. Although, ironically, it still wasn’t the post that was cited as the plagiarized work. In fact, it was from a huge publication, and most likely would never have been noticed – but still – this is a HUGE no-no. I know that.”
So although she should have cited her source of inspiration, it was someone else who accused her of plagiarizing.
If what she says is true, it illustrates the point that with all the information out there, your work might somehow look like the work of others even if you aren’t guilty of plagiarism.
This issue exists. There is no way around it.
This shouldn’t stop you from blogging.
Common Knowledge
According to the “Harvard Guide to Using Sources,” there is an exception to the rule that you need to cite a source of information.
“The only source material that you can use in an essay without attribution is material that is considered common knowledge and is therefore not attributable to one source,” the author of the publication writes. “Common knowledge is information generally known to an educated reader, such as widely known facts and dates, and, more rarely, ideas or language. Facts, ideas, and language that are distinct and unique products of a particular individual’s work do not count as common knowledge and must always be cited. Figuring out whether something is common knowledge can be tricky, and it’s always better to cite a source if you’re not sure whether the information or idea is common knowledge. If you err on the side of caution, the worst outcome would be that an instructor would tell you that you didn’t need to cite; if you don’t cite, you could end up with a larger problem.”
According to the author of the publication, “If you have encountered the information in multiple sources but still think you should cite it, cite the source you used that you think is most reliable, or the one that has shaped your thinking the most.”
This advice is not only applicable to academic writing, but it would also apply to business blogging, as well.
Final Thoughts
Blogging is a great way to generate leads by showing that your business is a trusted source for information.
In fact, according to HubSpot, blogs are among the most trusted sources for online information.
However, if your business is knowingly posting content from another source without proper attribution, it can break the trust that customers have in your brand, and ultimately damage your brand’s overall reputation.
That said, the fear of plagiarizing content should not deter you from using a blog as part of your content marketing efforts.
The best advice that anyone can give is to make sure that you properly cite your sources of information whenever possible.
As Seth Godin said, “We’re asking you to be generous and brave and to matter. We’re asking you to step up and take responsibility for the work you do, and to add more value than a mere cut and paste.”
Photo credits: David Goehring and Christian Schnettelkeron Flickr.
Chad Thiele is a marketing analyst and strategist, applied sociologist, proud UW-Madison alumnus, and an Auburn-trained mobile marketer.
