Blogs are one of today’s hottest and fastest-growing B2B marketing tools. In a January 2012 survey of B2B marketers, over 65% of respondents report using blogs — that’s up from 51% in 2010.

Why are more marketers turning to the blogosphere? Partially because blogging is easier than ever. Today’s platforms allow marketing pros to publish fresh content quickly and easily, without relying on IT. But most importantly, blogs are useful for a variety of marketing purposes:

• Social media leads: Linking to blog posts pulls in readers from Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites. And that traffic can generate leads.

• Embedding videos and graphics: Your blog is the perfect place to share interactive content like videos, infographics, and SlideShare presentations.

• Demonstrate thought leadership: Interview your company’s thought leaders and post their responses, or invite them to write guest posts. You can invite other industry experts to “guest blog” for you, too.

• Feel out new ideas: Need an outside perspective for your next webinar or white paper? Include a survey in a blog post to find out what your readers think.

• Boost your website’s SEO: Seeing which blog posts perform the best with organic search, and which search terms users typed in to find those posts, helps you know the keywords to target in future blog posts and Web content.

• Invite participation: Blog comments are a great place for conversations. Help the discussion along by asking your readers specific questions in your posts.

There are many reasons to blog, and many ways to make your blog work harder for your business. Try a few of these tactics and see what works with your readers.