Dealing With A Major Hurdle For Most Business Blogs | Denver Content Marketing Firm Weighs In
People fail at blogging for a number of reasons, but the biggest reasons I see are not sticking with it, and not knowing what to say. That’s why I firmly believe in a blog schedule that coincides with a content calendar. These tools keep me on track and they keep my clients on track.
- Constantly curate ideas. The concept of “curating” ideas is common in the content marketing world, but many people don’t really know what that means. However, many people have heard of museum curators, which are people who find interesting pieces for museum exhibits. As social media managers, we’re constantly curating interesting digital pieces to exhibit in our online “museums” called Facebook pages, blogs, and the like. One of my biggest keys to success with social media management and blogging is that I am constantly curating ideas that might be worthwhile topics on the blogs I manage. I love the Facebook “save” feature, Feedly, and Pinterest. These are tools I use everyday to flag and save articles that inspire me. I also email myself blog ideas when they pop in my head.
- Write it down. Yes, it’s great to collect your ideas through some sort of digital tool, but you need to actually map it out. I use a regular old Word document to list out my articles. I do it based on the month. I like this because I can always access my blog list, even if I don’t have wifi. I’ll admit that I’ve been known to write blog articles in odd places. For example, I’m writing this one from a parking garage while waiting for an event to start and my hotspot can’t penetrate well through the concrete. Some people love tools like Trello, Evernote, and other internet-based programs, but sometimes a simple document is all you need. The important thing is that you actually list out what topics you will talk about and when. You’ll be able to space out similar topics so that you don’t overwhelm your audience with one theme. Or, you may be able to see what topics could go together in a series of articles. Listing it out helps you see these things easily and avoids the excuse of having writer’s block!
- Set deadlines. This is where we start losing people because they just can’t stick with it! They either don’t care, or they don’t have the time, and articles simply don’t get written! I make blogging a priority for myself, and obviously for my clients. I work weeks, and sometimes months, in advance, which allows me to go with the flow. If I have to push back my own blogs because of client work, I know I’ll still have plenty of time to do them – even if it’s a little later than I’m usually comfortable with.
Blog schedules are a huge key for success in content marketing. I believe that blogs are a key foundation for any social media strategy where you are establishing yourself as a thought leader. Once you have a blog written, you can pull quotes and key points out to be individual tweets and social posts. You can submit your articles to other publications, and repurpose your blogs for platforms like triberr, LinkedIn, Facebook Notes, and more. You can even create videos where you talk about specific topics within your blog articles and it’s easy because the thoughts are already mapped out.
At Tintero Creative, we help businesses be successful with content marketing, from blogging to social media, to graphics, to even video. If you need guidance on improving your business blog strategy, we’d love to talk to you!