Last month I drove to Seattle to take part in the BlogHer Food 2012 two-day conference. It was a weekend packed with information, opportunities and, of course, lots of delicious food. While I met lots of amazing food bloggers (celebrity and just plain folk), I found the brands (and the people who represented the companies) that participated and supported the conference equally fascinating. During the keynote breakfast we were encouraged to get to know our table mates, so I had the pleasure of chatting with Cindy from Land O’Lakes butter, she is their test kitchen manager and a contributor to their test kitchen blog. We had a lovely chat and it was interesting to hear about her viewpoint as a brand blogger.
Sitting next to @LandOLakesKtchn at #blogherfood she's so nice, I think she's trying to butter me up
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Kitchenette Finds (@kitchenettefind) June 08, 2012
— All throughout the conference there was a lot of discussion about independent food bloggers working with brands, for brands and sometimes working against them. What this really reinforced for me was the need for brands and companies to have their own blog to make sure their perspective and voice is shared truly with the blog world and not only through the lenses of individual bloggers.
Here’s what a blog can do for your business:
Educate: A blog provides an interactive and informative platform to tell potential customers about the benefits of your products and/or services.
Examples: A series of tutorials on how something works or a behind the scenes piece on how your product is made.
Engage: The episodic nature of blogs is a great way to keep people coming back and keeping them up to date.
Examples: Seasonal posts or weekly features
Entertain: Blogs are informal, they can break down the barrier between a faceless business and people who want a piece of it.
Examples: Share the stories about your company and the people who make it special. Are you pranksters, volunteers or triathletes?
Create a blog that is the source and the resource for your business.
If you have a business blog, how has it helped your business? If your business doesn’t have a blog, what is holding you back?
Related articles
- Why Blogging Matters for Your Small Business (openforum.com)
- The Complete Guide to Blogging for your Business (skyrocketseo.co.uk)
- Key Elements to Building a Success Business Blog (bizsugar.com)
- The “how to” of business blogging (drewsmarketingminute.com)
- Why Have a Business Blog (ruralstops.blogspot.com)
- Other Business Blogs? (business-opportunities.biz)
- The Business of Blogging: Why Do You Blog? (blogher.com)
- Yet Another Guide For Newbies Attending BlogHer12 (amommystory.com)
