Blogs and vlogs are great ways to sustain engagement, remain top-of-mind and share expertise that reinforces your brand identity. Producing a continuing stream of engaging content can be exhausting. One of the victims of exhaustion is creativity. You simply run out of good ideas.
Don’t despair. There are ways to rekindle your creativity. Digital Marketer has dialed up an infographic that provides a disciplined, but not draining approach to identifying stimulating topics for your blog. Here is the checklist of categories to consider:
- Useful
- Human
- Generous
- Promotional
- Controversial
- Entertaining
- Timely
- Engaging
Useful blog posts provide something of value to viewers. Topics can range from a how-to explanation to research findings to solutions to thorny problems. Useful blog posts may derive from a case study, consumer suggestion or data analysis. The more tangible the value, the more useful the blog post. This type of blog reinforces you as a go-to resource that is bookmarked and returned to frequently.
Human blog posts convey emotive content and personalize a brand. They can be inspirational or bloopers, success stories or behind-the-scenes peeks, team pictures or a rant about something that drives you crazy. The common denominator is human touch and authenticity.
Generous blog posts spread around credit, by quoting others, aggregating third-party content and crowdsourcing ideas and information. Promoting others will lead to them promoting you, which expands your networking orbit.
Promotional blog posts put your brand forward through a new product release, a client success story or a particularly powerful presentation made by your team. Promotional blogs can be overdone, but an occasional toot on your horn can be informative and engaging.
Controversial blog posts are intended to raise the temperature of your consumer relationships. You might take a position on controversial issue and invite consumer feedback. You can comment on a high-profile event. You can make bold predictions. Your goal is to stir the pot to generate reaction and engagement.
Entertaining blog posts may involve humorous stories, inexplicable trends or photo galleries. They also could involve sharing surprising survey results or colorful drawings. As any entertainer will confess, making an audience smile, laugh or cry is hard work. But when you pull it off, you will have created a memorable blog with lasting engagement value.
Timely blog posts are just that – timely. They capitalize on a trending event, an annual recognition or breaking news. They convey must-read urgency. They reflect on-the-ball marketing. They insert a brand into the conversation.
Engaging blog posts are ones that directly engage consumers by posing a question, showcasing consumer comments or staging a contest. This is a technique to turn the tables on your audience by asking for response instead of feeding information. It can be a good way to find out how engaged your audience really is with your brand.
Digital Marketer includes 65 blog ideas on its densely packed infographic. It can add to creative exhaustion just looking at the infographic. However, the genius of the idea is to stretch your mind and challenge your imagination. It suggests eight buckets to search for specific blog ideas. One or two of the buckets may apply more strongly to your brand than others, which cuts down the chore. Sometimes, the winning idea may be found by combining qualities from more than a single bucket.
When you are stumped for a topic and facing a pressing deadline, consult the Digital Marketer checklist. Chances are good that at least one of its 65 suggested types of blogs will spark an idea for you to pursue.
That’s what we did with this blog – find something useful and generously share it with attribution, plus a little entertainment value thrown in for good measure.
