It seems that nearly every organization has a company blog today. If your company doesn’t have one and you are planning to create one, at the outset you need to be realistic about why you are setting one up.
So what’s the point of creating a company blog? You might tell me that the blog’s goal is to “strengthen your brand” or “act as a lead generator.”
Those are common objectives, but how do you accomplish those things with a corporate blog? It all starts by following one simple rule.
And I guarantee that if you’re not following this rule, your blog won’t achieve its goals.
The Rule: The content on your company blog needs to be educational, relevant, or useful to your customers and your potential customers.
Successful company blogs are not about you or your company – they’re all about your customers and target market.
While this might sound counterintuitive at first, this concept is based on the same principle that underscores successful networking: Help others first and the favor will be returned down the road.
The more you make your blog about your customers, the more successful it will be. Good content that your audience likes results in a greater chance that your readers will share it with their friends. In turn, this will drive more traffic to your site and expose your company to a wider audience.
This is not to say that you don’t put calls to action or mention your company at all. On the contrary, you still need to promote your products, your services, and what makes your company different from others.
People expect an advertisement or call to action that’s related to your business, because they understand that’s how you make money. But they won’t read something that’s a sales pitch from start to finish disguised as an article.
Suggested Types of Content
Here are a few types of content with headlines that a retail clothing store might have on their blog:
- How To – How To Find Clothes That Will Mix and Match Easily
- Current Event Analysis – New Rail Line Station Provides Alternative Transportation to Store
- Industry Explanation/Education – The Journey Your Clothes Take Before Arriving In Your Hands
- Behind the Scenes – What Goes In To Choosing Our Store Music
Each of these proposed pieces are educational, relevant, or useful to a clothing store’s customers, and all provide opportunities to discuss specific aspects of the business.
For example, the how-to piece allows the store to spotlight certain clothes in the piece, while the current event analysis tells people about a different way to get to the store.
The industry explanation offers an opening for the store to highlight the fact that it uses only organic fabric sources. Explaining what happens in the music selection process offers a chance for customers to engage with the store, providing feedback and possibly even choosing the songs.
With these examples, you can see that there are still ways to include calls to action and your company’s unique advantages while publishing content that benefits readers.
Takeaways
- Your blog’s content is not about you – it’s about your audience.
- Any content that cannot be described as educational, relevant, or useful to your readers is not something that your customers and potential customers will be interested in. It’s that simple.
© 2012 Generational Equity, LLC All Rights Reserved
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