Today we’re looking at SPARC and their blog strategy.
It’s always interesting to look at different businesses and their blogs.
What I find is that the types of posts can often be the same. The content within the posts can often be different. And the style and personality is often different.
And that makes sense because each company has its own identity with the people behind the brand. And I think this is a good example of that.
From all the content on the SPARC website you get a feel for who these people are. And that’s good for a business because while customers do buy from brands they really work with the people behind the brand especially at B2Bs.
SPARC is a software development firm. It seems like they do a wide variety of development and it looks like even quite a bit of custom development for both government organizations and commercial organizations.
You can check that out if you’re interested, but we’re going to shift focus to what’s going on with their company blog.
1. Blog Design
I just wanted to take the first point from the blog and discuss first impression.
I think SPARC makes a really good first impression with their blog. I like the heading or name they have for the blog:
SPARC Team Member Blog
They even have a nice sub-heading to describe in a little quick detail what the blog is all about. It’s all about the team and the people at this company.
Anytime you have a unique aspect about your company like that I think it’s important to share it. People latch on to differences, even subtle differences, between brands and this is a good difference from companies that are unwilling to show who they are behind the logo.
The blog design is simple too. The focus is on the posts, which is as it should be.
2. Posts About Life
One of the struggles for many businesses is writing about life.
Life is a pretty general topic, but life and all it encompasses is something that connects us all. And again, even when we’re working with businesses we’re still working with people.
So when we share stories about life it’s a good thing and a company blog is a good place to do that.
There are a number of posts like this on the SPARC blog, but I really like this one. It’s a story about an employee at the company, which is great, but it also ties in nicely a little lesson about life.
I really like that and you don’t see it all the time.
3. Press Release Regarding New Client
This is an interesting one to include on the blog, but I like it. The post is a press release. It was probably sent out to other media like most press releases, but I think it makes sense to include on the company blog too.
The announcement is a great one too. It talks about the awarding of a big contract to the company. That’s something great for employees to hear, for potential partners and clients to hear and it’s a nice little way to brag a little bit without going crazy.
It provides some insight into some of the work the company can handle. It’s a great thing to share and on the official blog is a great way to share the info.
4. Events & Community Involvement
Here is a cool post that recaps a local event in the city where SPARC is located, Charleston, South Carolina, USA.
It gives a recap for the event probably raising a little profile for the event in future years. It gives those that were involved a fun way to look back on all that happened in case they missed something or they want to live it again.
It also shows how much the company cares about their community and especially about promoting tech in the city. That’s a cool thing and it goes well beyond discussing the products and services the company offers. In fact, it’s really not about that at all and that’s perfect for a blog.
5. Lists Posts
Lists posts get a bad reputation in the blogging world sometimes. There are tons of them all over, but the reason there are tons of them is that they are easy to read and easy to understand.
Sure, not all list posts are great, but there are a lot of great list posts.
I think these two posts are great examples of different ways to do lists posts while delivering content that is interesting and actionable.
They’re great.
Conclusion
SPARC is doing some really great things with their blog. I think they went in with a clear focus for a theme of the blog, which is to show the people behind the brand. They embrace their culture. It doesn’t seem fake. They simply embrace it and talk about it openly. And I think that’s wonderful and it comes across on the blog and in other areas of the site really well. As an example, it’s something to strive for with a company blog. Not in a way that is overdone, but in a way that is embraced instead of pushed.