Last week, we devoured Kipp Bodnar’s podcast on social media strategy for B2B companies. We cheered when he warned against making assumptions about what will work with social media, and we took tons of notes when he offered advice about new ways to use social tools for lead generation. But there was one part of the podcast where we wanted to interrupt Kip and add our two cents. When discussing barriers to blogging in the B2B world, Kip said that the reason most B2B companies don’t blog is because “it’s so freaking hard.” While it’s true that blogging is tough, we think there is an even bigger barrier that keeps B2B companies from blogging. Most B2B companies don’t know what to blog about.
We truly believe that half the battle in B2B blogging is choosing a topical niche for your content. Many B2B marketers believe that, because of the nature of their product or service, they have nothing to blog about that their audience will find worth reading on a regular basis. The truth is, even if you have an interesting product or service, no one is going to want to read about it week in and week out. To truly be successful at B2B blogging, you need to think bigger than your company when choosing a topic for your blog. You need to think about the interests of your target market, and then find a unique way to add your voice to the discussion around those interests.
Let’s look at a few theoretical examples. Let’s say Company X provides manufacturers with recycling and waste disposal solutions. If you think their customers will add a blog about garbage to their daily reads list, you’re sorely mistaken. However, there’s a good chance that Company X’s target market is deeply interested in issues related to corporate environmental stewardship and sustainability. Knowing this, Company X could choose to start a blog about sustainability in the manufacturing industry, a topic with much broader appeal and a much larger variety of possible post topics. Company X could blog about everything from energy efficiency to facilities management, and they could tie in their expertise on recycling and waste management once in a while, as well. Doing so would position them as a thought leader in the industry, and would attract companies who want to work with a waste management partner that “gets” sustainability.
Here’s another. Let’s say Company Z offers a cloud computing platform for inside sales teams. Their target market probably won’t want to read post after post about the functionality of Company Z’s platform. Posts about new features might be interesting at first, but they won’t keep readers coming back. What Company Z’s target is really interested in is improving the efficiency of its sales team through technology and making more sales. Knowing this, Company Z could decide to blog about the intersection of digital technology and sales, and could write about everything from social CRM to techniques for closing sales through email. Of course, posts about Company Z’s product could come into the mix, but they wouldn’t be the focus of the blog. This strategy would position Company Z’s product as an essential piece to the sales puzzle for the tech-savvy customers in their target market.
Next time you feel compelled to claim your company isn’t blogging because you don’t have anything to blog about, try thinking about the topics that your target customer is interested in and considering how you could add your voice to the discussion. Choosing a topic for your B2B blog is really as simple as that.
Featured image via White Book Agency.
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