These days, it seems like everyone has a blog. Your business almost certainly has one, or at least it probably should.
But with all those blogs competing for attention from readers, it can be difficult to make yours stand out from the next one.
You can create a good blog easily enough. Good blogs include those that have well-planned and relevant content. But blogs that are great often have another quality — authenticity.
This means that the blogger or bloggers have to be actually passionate and knowledgeable about the subject matter. Readers can often tell the difference.
Emily Schuman of the popular lifestyle blog Cupcakes & Cashmere explains how she created a very distinctive approach when writing about decor, food, fashion and more. She recently spoke with Inc about how she built an authentic brand:
“I didn’t have any specific goals or ambitions, other than to document ideas and create simple content that I enjoyed and perhaps a handful of others would appreciate. Over the first six months I noticed a slight increase in traffic, which led me to think I might be able to earn a little extra income to supplement my normal salary.”
Aside from her genuine interest in the subject matter, Schuman attributes the blog’s success to a few different factors: longevity, personal connections with readers and posting consistently.
With all of these factors, Schuman has been able to build not only a large following, but a following that’s truly engaged with her content. That means she gets more comments, clicks and other types of engagement with each post. And depending on the purpose of your blog, that engagement can be even more valuable than a large number of readers.
For Cupcakes & Cashmere, that engagement means that readers are more likely to purchase Schuman’s other products and interact with her outside sponsors. For your business blog, building an authentic brand could lead to some of the same benefits.
Image: Cupcakes & Cashmere
Aira Bongco
Authenticity is important. In fact, it is the only thing that separates popular bloggers from the rest. Authenticity shows that a person believes in him or herself enough to not change him or herself to be likeable.
Annie Pilon
Very true. You can tell when people are really into what they’re talking about. And those are the people who often have the most actual value to offer to readers.
Big businesses around the globe are facing a consumer backlash. As they’ve optimized their revenue and profit, they’ve increasingly made decisions that feel like they’re taking advantage of their customers (baggage fees on airlines for example). Corporations are nameless and cold. Individuals can increasingly brand themselves like Emily by simply being themselves, every day. If people feel a connection, then they’ll read/take action. Pretty simple at its core.
Annie Pilon
Great points. It does seem quite a bit more difficult for big companies to reach consumers on this level.