• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Social Media Marketing | Social Media Examiner

Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle

  • Home
  • Articles
    • How To
      • Facebook Ads
      • Facebook Marketing
      • Instagram Marketing
      • LinkedIn Marketing
      • YouTube Marketing
      • Social Media Marketing
    • Weekly News
    • View Points
    • Expert Interviews
    • Tools
    • Research
  • Shows
    • Social Media Marketing Podcast
    • Social Media Marketing Talk Show
    • Our YouTube Channel
  • Marketing Conference
  • Events
    • Social Media Marketing World
  • Newsletter
  • About
    • Social Media Marketing Society
  • About results
    No Results
  • Search
  • Search
  • Don't Miss ThisSale Ends Dec. 17thCLICK TO LEARN MORE

    How to Create a Business Blogging Plan

    by Linda Dessau / May 12, 2014 / 46 Comments

    Share
    Tweet
    Share
    Pin
    Buffer
    Email
    6K Shares

    social media how to Do you have a business blog?

    Are you ready to start publishing blog posts, but don’t know where to start?

    Before you start a blog to support your business, you need a comprehensive plan.

    In this article I’ll show you how to create a business blogging plan in six easy steps.

    Why Create a Business Blogging Plan?

    People who “wing it” when they blog are only setting themselves up for failure. If you are going to put the time and effort into writing a business blog, you may as well make it the best it can be.

    istock 014594623 blog keyboard
    Follow a blogging plan to ensure success. Image source: iStockPhoto.com.

    That means do your research, build a solid foundation and blog on a regular basis. A blog can take some time to build momentum, so stick to it and enjoy your blogging success!

    Let’s get started.

    #1: Get Inspiration from Other Blogs

    This first step is especially important for those starting a blog for the first time. Before you start blogging, find a blog role model. See what a blog you like does well, and conversely, what a blog you don’t like does poorly. This will help you figure out the best way to present yourself.

    If you’re going to model your blog on someone else’s approach, be sure they’re blogging consistently and that they’ve been publishing for at least six months. (A year is even better.)

    Discover the best social media marketing strategies from the world's top experts! Don't miss this event!
    SALE ENDS December 17th!
    CLICK TO SAVE!

    To find a good blog to use as a role model, check out the websites of other companies and search for their blogs. You can seek out the blog of a company in your industry or a complimentary field. Or just go with a company or blog you respect.

    coca-cola's unbottled blog
    Blogs aren’t always filed under that name on a company’s site. For example Coca-Cola’s blog is titled, “Unbottled.”

    Note: Sometimes this area will be called something other than “Blog.” You may find it under “News,” “Articles,” “Tips” or in the case of Coca-Cola, “Unbottled.”

    As you explore blogs, find 3-5 blogs to analyze.

    Ask yourself why you like them and jot down notes. Be precise in your observations, and highlight things they’re doing that you could improve upon or customize for your own business blog.

    #2: Create Your Mission Statement

    Joe Pulizzi of Content Marketing Institute has a simple, three-part process to define the mission statement for your content marketing, which obviously includes your blog. “The why must come before the what,” he says.

    To help you focus, answer these three questions for your blog and business:

    • Who is the core target audience?
    • What will be delivered to that audience; for example, tips, recipes, success stories, new ideas for common problems?
    • What will be the outcome for the audience; for instance, how will their lives or businesses be improved as a result of reading this information?

    People can tell when a company’s motive is to help rather than just to sell. Find ways to help your audience through your blog and they’ll keep coming back.

    moz blog entries
    On their blog, Moz shares resources that help customers and draw in new leads.

    For example, Moz sells products that help people “do better inbound marketing.” If you visit their blogs, you’ll see they focus on helping their customers and prospects do things on their own.

    Approach your blog as a way to support your mission statement. You’ll want to keep it focused on benefits you deliver to your readers, whether they are current or potential customers.

    When you strive to help your audience first, you’ll find yourself living your company’s mission.

    #3: Match Your Marketing and Blogging Goals

    What are your marketing goals? What are your blogging goals? Did you know that blogging can strengthen or even replace some of your marketing activities?

    Overwhelmed business owners and marketing professionals can’t imagine adding one more thing—in this case blogging—to what they’re already doing to market and grow their business. But you can have your blog content do double duty.

    For example, use blog content to populate your social media pages. You can also send blog articles to prospective customers as a way to follow up after meetings.

    For your marketing plan, it’s essential to find a balance between paid visibility (like advertisements) and earned visibility (such as blog posts that people choose to read and share).

    Blogging can help you achieve these common marketing goals:

    • Demonstrate your expertise and/or thought leadership in a specific industry or specialty.
    • Educate/motivate/inform your audience.
    • Gain wider exposure for your business.
    • Build trusting, long-term relationships with customers, prospective customers and your business community.

    Determine which marketing goals are most important to your company, and see how you can use blogging to achieve them. Add the above goals (and any others) to your hybrid marketing/blogging plan.

    Get Expert Social Media Marketing Training!

    Want to keep ahead of your competitors? Need to master a social platform? Discover how to improve your social media marketing at Social Media Marketing World 2020, brought to you by your friends at Social Media Examiner. You’ll rub shoulders with the biggest names and brands in social media, soak up countless tips and new strategies, and enjoy extensive networking opportunities . Don’t miss the industry’s largest conference. Get in early for big discounts.

    Sale ends Tuesday, December 17th, 2019.

    CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

    #4: Choose Your Blog Categories

    At this point, you should be clear about why your blog exists, whom it will help, what it will do for your readers and what it will do for your business.

    Now, choose 7-10 categories that address relevant topics of discussion in your business. Keep your mission statement in mind when you do this. Remember, you want your content to solve the most pressing problems of your customers and prospective customers.

    Your blog is like a trade publication for your industry. If you are stumped on categories, think of topics people would read about in a magazine for your business. Use that as a starting point. Also, be sure that each category is something you and your team have the knowledge and experience to blog about for a long time.

    disney blog categories
    Disney is strategic—and sparing—when it comes to their blog categories.

    The Disney Parks Blog has carefully curated its categories to help readers find exactly what they want without offering too many options.

    Try to stick with this list for at least the short-term (6-9 months).

    Down the line, when you’re tempted to assign a new category to a post, carefully consider whether both the post and category fit with your mission statement and marketing goals. Also figure out if you’ll have enough fresh ideas to keep that category populated in the long-term before committing to an additional category.

    #5: Set Your Blogging Schedule

    When you determine how often you should publish, refer back to your model blogs. See how often they post new content. Does their schedule seem manageable to you?

    There’s no one frequency that’s right for every company. Set a reasonable schedule that you can follow at least to start with. You can always increase the number of times you publish when you’re up and running.

    Once you have a posting frequency in mind (every week on Tuesday, or the second and fourth Wednesday of the month), put together an editorial calendar. This document should incorporate all of your categories, seasonal/holiday content and any important events that relate to your business.

    Assign a topic and title to each post that benefit your reader and are designed to support one or more of your business goals.

    How to Write a Blog Post

    Brainstorm ideas based on the topic and/or title in the editorial calendar or a new idea that’s come up for one of your existing themes (categories). Sketch out a rough outline of the post, including possible subheadings and main points.

    Fill in your outline. Make sure you get all of your ideas down on paper so you don’t forget anything.

    Research your topic online to add relevant links, facts, stats and photos to your post.

    Polish and finish the draft of your post, including the photo(s), as well as all of the promotional text it needs (i.e., the post excerpt/summary) and teaser messages you’ll use on each social media platform.

    Proofread your post for typos, grammatical errors and readability.

    Load your article text, links and photos to your blog platform. Include keywords from the article in the image “alt” text, optimize the post for search engines and schedule the post to publish on the right day at the right time.

    Promote your post on social media and notify anyone you mentioned in the post. Generate engagement as you monitor and reply to responses, comments and shares.

    Ideally you want to set up your blogging schedule 3-6 months in advance. Note: It’s okay to just have a 4- to 6-week schedule, especially when you are just starting out.

    At the beginning of each month, you can review that month’s content and then add the next month into your schedule. Before you know it, you’ll be adding blog content to your schedule like it’s second nature.

    #6: Monitor and Evaluate Your Results

    The only way to know if your blogging is working is to monitor whether you’re meeting your business goals.

    Here’s something to think about in determining which measurements are most meaningful:

    • If your goal is to demonstrate your expertise and/or thought leadership, you should be receiving requests for media and speaking opportunities.
    • If your goal is to build trusting, long-term relationships, you should see a rise in subscriptions.
    • If your goal is to generate new leads, you should be booking new clients or selling products.
    • If your goal is to gain wider exposure, you should see an increase in blog comments, as well as shares, likes and comments on social media.
    blog analytics
    Track the metrics that relate to your goals.

    You may not be able to directly attribute these increases to one specific post or even blogging in general, but there are ways to quantify the benefits of blogging. Track important blog metrics like visitors, page views and social shares.

    As part of your blogging plan, schedule time to collect and analyze these measurements, and figure out how you might tweak your blogging strategy accordingly.

    Over to You

    Starting a blog for your business can feel like an overwhelming prospect. But the benefits clearly outweigh the challenges.

    Follow these six steps, and you’ll find that it’s easy to move from planning to publishing. You’ll be blogging before you know it!

    Discover the latest tactics and master social media marketing in 2020! Don't miss this event!
    SALE ENDS December 17th!
    CLICK TO SAVE!

    Do you have a plan for your blog? What kinds of things did you plan before you started your blog? Did you over-plan? Under-plan? Alter your plan? Please share any tips you have for setting up a business blogging plan in the comments.

    Images from iStockPhoto.
    Share
    Tweet
    Share
    Pin
    Buffer
    Email
    6K Shares

    Tags: Blogging

    About the authorLinda Dessau

    Bio: Linda Dessau is the author of Write Your Way to More Clients Online and the founder of Content Mastery Guide. Her hands-free blogging service helps small businesses attract ideal customers.
    Other posts by Linda Dessau »

    Get Social Media Examiner’s Future Articles in Your Inbox!

    Get our latest articles delivered to your email inbox and get the FREE Social Media Marketing Industry Report (46 pages, 60+ charts)!

    Industry Report Cover

    Reader Interactions

    Worth Exploring:

    Facebook

    Marketing Guide Explore More →

    Instagram

    Marketing Guide Explore More →

    YouTube

    Marketing Guide Explore More →

    Linkedin

    Marketing Guide Explore More →

    Facebook Ads

    Marketing Guide Explore More →

    Social Media Marketing Industry Report

    Get Free Report →

    Social Media Marketing

    Industry Report

    In our 11th annual social media study (46 pages, 60+ charts) of 4800+ marketers, you'll discover which social networks marketers most plan on using, organic social activities, paid social media plans, and much more! Get this free report and never miss another great article from Social Media Examiner.

    Enter your email to get
    our free report:


    Footer

    Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle
    Copyright © 2019 Social Media Examiner®.
    All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy.

    Helpful Links

    • About us
    • Our content via email
    • Our podcasts
    • Our live show
    • Our YouTube channel
    • Our industry report
    • Sponsorship opportunities
    • Write for us…
    • RSS