Blogging is a great way to share information about your brand and become engaged with customers and followers. But brand blogs run the risk of becoming stale, either through a lack of commitment to continuously post new content or through sharing information that is not relevant to your audience.
Whether your brand is just starting a blog or you are looking to revamp an existing one, there are key points to keep in mind when developing a blog strategy. Here are four elements to consider, courtesy of Tim Haran, director of social media at USANA Health Sciences and a featured speaker at PR News’ Digital PR Conference, taking place in Miami on June 1-3.
- Establish a purpose. Identify an overall business goal that you want your blog to help you achieve. This will also help you determine how and what you should measure. For USANA, we use our blog to build brand awareness and foster brand loyalty. Since we are a direct-selling company, we also create content that our independent distributors can refer to or share as they talk to potential customers.
- Determine your platform. Think of your blog as your home—you want to make it inviting to potential visitors, but you also want it to serve your needs. Several platforms such as WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr and Squarespace are all viable options. Sites such as Medium and even LinkedIn offer more one-off publishing opportunities. Ask yourself: How many bloggers will contribute? How much content will be produced? Is mobile compatibility important? Establishing a vision will help determine which platform is right for you.
- Create an editorial calendar. Map out a plan before you launch your blog. What audience are you trying to reach? How much content is feasible to start—once a week, three times a week, daily? I recommend starting slow and believe that consistency is more important than frequency. We also invite employees from throughout the company to collaborate on the calendar and pitch blog ideas.
- Involve key stakeholders. Be your own best promoter and encourage others within your organization to hop on board. We have found that by distributing our editorial calendar internally and offering reminders to employees to share content on their personal social sites, it helps build initial traction, adds credibility and raises awareness. Involve different groups in your company for them to feel a sense of blog ownership and pride.
To learn more about blogging and other digital PR tactics to improve your brand outreach, join us for the PR News Digital PR Conference, taking place at the Ritz-Carlton in Miami June 1-3.
Follow USANA and Tim Haran on Twitter: @USANAinc, @timharan
Follow Richard Brownell on Twitter: @RickBrownell