Business blogs can get a little bland and boring for a few reasons. Often in a business we want to play it safe so we’re not offending anybody. We hold back what we might say in a business blog versus a personal blog. Also, some businesses are just boring. That can be a good thing because a lot of boring businesses are very profitable. But the companies and the industries they’re in just aren’t that interesting.
That’s a challenge for marketers and bloggers at these companies. They want to bring more attention, which often brings more customers. Is it possible to make business blogs engaging?
Here are a few ways to make it work.
1. Stories
Stories are likely one of the oldest forms of human communication. We learn from stories nearly every day. We learn from stories even when the point of the story isn’t to teach something.
For example, think about a story that an older person shared with you recently. You were probably engaged. You probably learned something about them and about life. You were probably entertained. Maybe they had a point. Maybe they were just killing time. It often doesn’t matter.
Good stories engage people. Share stories of what is going on with your company. With employees. With colleagues. With customers. It could have a point. It doesn’t have to. Maybe you use a story to answer a question you hear from a prospective customer.
2. Answer Questions
Speaking of questions, they are often the baseline for a good business blog. If you’re struggling to identify what to write about just focus on questions. The questions your customers are asking about your industry. The questions others in the industry are asking.
Provide the best answers you can with your blog posts. Google on the surface is not that interesting. But they basically help people find answers to the questions they are searching for. And Google is incredibly valuable and engaging. But really Google doesn’t provide all the answers. They direct their users to the answers. Which are often blog posts.
3. Different Perspectives
If you’re the writer for the business blog it could be that you’re just looking for your style. For example, in the music world artists often grow up imitating their heroes. They have to find “their voice” in order to stand out. In order to be different. That’s not an easy thing. Blogging is no different. You imitate your favorite bloggers, but often it comes off strange. You’re like a cover band. You have to find your own voice and style.
Part of that could be looking for different perspectives. Talking to others in the company. Learning their thoughts on certain topics. It might mean having another writer guest write on the post. It might mean including quotes from others in the company. Or outside the company.
Then it might involve you experimenting with your own different perspectives. Until you have the data to see what works and what doesn’t with readers.
4. Post More & Learn
That’s a final thing to remember. It’s a numbers game with blogging. You have to publish consistently to learn what works and what doesn’t. You have to learn what is engaging to your audience and in your industry. You have to experiment. You have to look at what others are doing and try it. All kinds of things.
The more you post, the more you learn.
Conclusion
Engaging business blogs are tricky. Some industries are just boring. Or they are at least boring on the surface. Focus on the people and the stories. An industry may be boring, but your employees and your customers could be very interesting. And very engaging. Focus on the people. That is often the key to making an engaging business blog.