What to write your next blog post about
Last week I was sitting in a sales meeting discussing the benefits of blogging to a potential new client. After a moment’s silence he said, “my biggest challenge is finding something to write about.” This can go both ways, people can either a) not have enough material, or b) have too much. Hopefully this post will help you find something to write about.
You may have heard of Wistia (thank you Stuart Thompson for pointing them out). Wistia is a video hosting platform with built-in analytics and conversion tools to help you uncover whether your video is keeping the audience engaged, or whether they are becoming bored and losing interest. When I first saw it I thought it was another Vimeo, but on closer inspection I see there’s more to it. For instance, there’s a data capture feature which collects email addresses from people before, during or after your video. There’s lots of people who will be interested in a feature like this, such as Business Coaches (like Stuart), Affiliate Marketers, Life Coaches, anyone who has seen previous success with e-downloads. It looks like Wistia have identified a future trend and created something to satisfy the market. Awesome stuff, but I’m not here to blow their trumpet for them, the reason I’m mentioning them is for their content strategy.
The Wistia blog covers all sorts of stuff, from trips in the wilderness, to tips on how to conduct an interview. It’s a resource centre for creative content. But dispite it’s diversity, it’s not a bunch of random stuff; it has a driving purpose. That purpose is to inspire people to create video.
Wistia don’t create video for their customers. They provide a platform that helps you measure how successful your video is. What Wistia needs to survive is for its users to keep creating video. So Wistia are using their blog to give away loads of useful stuff that helps facilitate that.
See where I’m going with this? Wistia aren’t blogging about what they do, they’re blogging about what they want you to do.
Redbull springs to mind as a brand that does this exceptionally well. Their content isn’t about their drinks, it’s about stuff that creates an adrenaline rush.
If you sell shoes, no-one wants to read a blog post about your newest shoe (actually, Zapos is an exception to the rule here), but write a blog post about your trip to the Great Wall of China and people are gonna be interested in the footwear that looked after your feet while you were out there.
If you sell toys, no-one wants to read a blog post about your newest teddy bear, but write an original bedtime story and parents are gonna buy a teddy from you for their child to cuddle at storytime.
If you’re an accountant, don’t write a blog post about tax returns, write about how business owners are using tax savings to invest in the future security of their business. If you’re a claims solicitor, don’t write a blog post about claiming compensation after an accident, write about how people spend their compensation, and so on.
The next time you’re stuck for something to write a blog post about, don’t write about something your company does, write about what you want your customer to do.
