How To “Think Conversation” With Your Blogging Strategy

Does your blogging strategy have you “talking” at, to, or with your intended audience?

We often look at blogging as a way to push information out there, or to pull potential leads into our pipeline; in doing that, we leave our audience completely out of the process.

Even if your goal is to push something out, or pull someone in, by thinking conversation when writing your blogging strategy, you can more easily make a connection with your readers.

Here are five ways to do that.

Why Think Conversation, Not Campaign?

You probably don’t know the story about our tagline, Think Conversation, Not Campaign.™

I’m still amazed I had this ah-ha moment because I was 30, going back to school, living with my parents, and had spent the last 29 years in Texas (Philly is just a tad different, in case you were wondering).

I was working part time at a gym and thinking long and hard about my social media thesis work.

I can remember vividly sitting at the front desk, checking guests in, when it came to me … THINK CONVERSATION! 

The case study I was working on proved over and over again that focusing on the audience (or consumer) yielded much better results than pushing some campaign.

Bazinga! That’s it! Brands should think conversation, not campaign! 

Me, the day I presented my thesis work to the faculty & students at PSU.

I didn’t trademark that little beauty for another two or three years.

I finished school, went to work for someone else for a little over a year, and later when I started my own business I dusted it off and put it to work.

But I kept that mantra alive in everything I did with social media, and I’m happy to report that our team is successful today because of a little phrase that came to me in 2010.

5 Ways To Think Conversation With Your Blogging Strategy

Thinking conversation with your blogging strategy can help you become a better storyteller.

And EVERYTHING is better with a good story (yes, even sales).

Here’s how I think conversation when writing my blog posts:

1) Think Conversation

Write as if you were talking to someone who was sitting right there in front of you.

Use I, you, and we.

Try to figure out the story behind what you’re proving, showing, recommending, or giving advice on.

2) Ditch the formalwear

This is a backyard BBQ, not some fancy restaurant with a zillion forks that you aren’t sure how to use.

Choose casual words and sentences instead of formal ones.

It’s okay to say “it’s” instead of “it is” (contractions are just fine, y’all!).

You can also check out your readability score with the blog plugin Yoast.

3) Focus on experiences

You’re not selling a product or a service, you’re selling the results of those things — the experiences.

Your reader should feel like they’re the main character, not like they’re listening to your story.

When you incessantly complain or talk about yourself, you are not helping someone become your client or buy your things.

4) Be trendy 

Use topical or tending stories to underscore your point (but don’t force it).

We can often relate to what’s happening in the world or a popular movie that’s playing. Try to use those things to your advantage.

There are probably trendy topics in your industry, too. Try using BuzzSumo to suss out what those are.

5) Drop the jargon

Speaking of industry, weed out those jargony words wherever possible.

I’m guilty of this one —  it’s hard.

But just because I think everyone knows what the acronym KPIs stands for (used in a sentence: social media key performance indicators), doesn’t mean they actually do.

There’s a delicate balance in writing for return readers who probably “get” most of your jargon speak and writing for new users who are just starting out.

Do yourself a favor and try to spell it out for those who may not yet grasp industry speak.

#Basic Blogging Strategy

Yes, this is a very basic blogging strategy.

But if you ask me, it’s at the very foundation of having a blog that people want to visit.

Thinking conversation with your blog posts helps show your audience that you want to talk to them, not about yourself or some product.

How does your blogging strategy ensure you’re talking with (not at) your intended audience in a colloquial, think conversation, way? THINK CONVERSATION and let us know in the comments section below. 😉

The post How To “Think Conversation” With Your Blogging Strategy appeared first on B Squared Media – Social Media Management.