Your content has the power to impact brand perception for those who matter most: prospects, current clients, employees, and stakeholders. In fact, 53% of marketers say blog content creation is their top inbound marketing priority.
So, you might be convinced that creating a corporate blog is critical, especially as a part of a solid digital marketing strategy. But how do you get started? Below are some helpful pointers to do just that:
Recruit Writers
Before building out a blogging calendar, you need writers! Start by sending a companywide email asking for volunteers to contribute content. You might be surprised by how many people want to exercise their writing skills. Keep in mind that you’ll want writers from a variety of departments with a variety of skills so that your blog reflects your full capabilities.
Make it Consistent
Once you have a list of writers, you can create your blogging calendar. Assign your bloggers’ names to dates. Ensure your calendar is straight forward and easily interpreted. The key is consistency. Whether you’re publishing blogs twice per month or twice per week, maintain a pace that works for your company. As you continue to build out your blog, your loyal readers will check your site or social media to keep up with your latest content. If you’re not consistently updating your content, you could miss a sales opportunity.
Set Processes
You want your bloggers to write quality content and turn it in on time? Then make the process as easy as possible. It’s helpful to create blogging guidelines tailored to your brand. For the LEWIS blog, our guidelines include a suggested length, image guidelines, topic ideas, what not to do and directions for submitting their blog. Giving clear, short directions works best.
Once you have your calendar, with writers assigned to dates, and your blogging guidelines, you’re ready to email all your bloggers. Send them the full calendar and direct them to find their name and submission date. Also, tell them to reference attached blogging guidelines to help them start writing.
Pro tip: Be sure to remind your bloggers of their upcoming submission date about two weeks before it’s due. Your initial email with the entire blogging calendar that you sent out months ago is no longer on their radar. Gently remind them of their upcoming submission date. If you don’t give your bloggers enough notice, you won’t receive content.
Make it Catchy
This is the fun part! Often, your bloggers will submit blogs that are…well, incomplete. They didn’t include images, the title is the length of a full sentence, and they forgot to add a call to action to the end of their content. This is your chance to get creative and fill in the missing pieces. You want the titles of your content to explain the topic while also catching your reader’s attention. Choose images that represent the topic without being too stocky. And lastly, add a call to action to the end of each blog, instructing your readers to continue exploring your site. For example, “Contact us today” or “Explore our full list of services”. Titles, images and call to action statements are simple ways to polish your content.
Post Your Content
Once you’ve published your writer’s content on your company website, notify them with an email including links to their blog, offer to make any edits and thank them for submitting content! Lastly, when you promote your new blogs organically on your social media channels, make sure you tag the authors and give them credit.
When you launch your corporate blog, you might need to start small and work up to a robust plan. But, as you continue to add relevant content to your site, you might just find yourself among the 84% of bloggers who claim their blog delivers results.
Need help writing content? Don’t hesitate to reach out.
