Successful company blogs typically have three things in common: consistent editorial calendars, high-quality content, and effective calls-to-action. They make mundane topics interesting and interesting topics fascinating. Companies that prioritize blogging quickly establish themselves as thought leaders in their respective industries, while being rewarded by Google’s ever-changing PageRank algorithms for regularly publishing new content.
Several companies are trendsetters and/or standard bearers when it comes to how a company blog should be ran. Here are five of the best company blogs in 2017.
Disney Parks
Whether you’re a baby-boomer who grew up loving Mickey Mouse, or a millennial who fell in love with Princess Jasmine from “Aladdin,” it seems everyone has a favorite Disney character. The parks are also pretty popular (understatement alert). Disney World in Florida attracts over 54 million visitors per year, while well over 700 million visitors have been to Disneyland in California since opening in 1955.
The Disney Parks blog provides a virtual ticket inside its properties right from your laptop or smartphone. It frequently publishes personal accounts of visitors’ experiences, including celebrities. The Disney Parks blog also displays photos of its regular authors within posts, giving it a more personal, human feel (those using WordPress can install a simple plugin to do the same on their blogs).
When readers visit the Disney Parks blog, they feel and experience the brand as one would expect: fun, professional and inspiring.
REI
Active, outdoorsy-types have likely stumbled across the REI blog while searching for the latest cycling, hiking or camping gear. Known as the “Co-Op Journal,” the REI blog conveniently displays all of its blog categories as a main menu across the top of every page.
REI’s content epitomizes balance. It educates readers while subtly plugging its products without sounding overly advertorial. For instance, the company offers advice on how to choose the right sleeping bag. Obviously REI hopes you choose one of their options, but provides objective, actionable tips and commentary to help you make an informed decision.
The “rate this story” feature gives the REI blog a social media feel on its own website. It also confirms that readers enjoy the content. All posts on the Co-Op Journal’s front page earned at least four evergreen trees out of five (as of April 21).
Southwest Airlines
The marketing team at Southwest Airlines gets kudos for creating one of the funniest, most clever advertising campaigns in history. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Southwest’s marketing team inspired humor and creativity in others.
They also deserve credit for thinking outside the box when it comes to their blog. The “Nuts About Southwest” was launched in 2008. A group of employees post regular content relating to everything from TSA regulations to new planes joining Southwest fleet. But a majority of the content is posted by customers.
Southwest allows users to create profiles and post their questions, concerns and compliments as actual blog entries. Southwest employees sometimes respond directly to these posts, but typically other readers answer them first. One user recently posted a complaint about ambiguity in Southwest’s unaccompanied minor policy on international flights. Another reader posted the policy’s full text in the comments section, answering the questions at hand.
This type of setup isn’t ideal for every company, but it works well for a large airline with millions of customers.
Dollar Shave Club
There are some interesting and entertaining results when you enter “men hate shaving” in search engines. But two of the most consistent complaints are that razors are expensive and dull fast.
For those unfamiliar, the Dollar Shave Club is a mail order service that delivers customers a fresh supply of replaceable blades for its custom razor handles every month.
The company also sells a line of personal hygiene products, including shaving cream and after-shave. But few companies can pull off the edginess Dollar Shave Club does on its blog.
Most marketing executives would balk at the idea of a story entitled “Do I Need To Wipe If I’m About To Shower” being published on its company blog. But how many of you just clicked the aforementioned link out of total curiosity? Dollar Shave Club blog has perfected the art of writing catchy headlines and discussing intimate personal hygiene issues others would rather leave alone.
The blog is also a standard bearer for balancing quality and quantity. The company posts upwards of five new articles per day, but all of them are either educational, interesting or just down-right funny.
Bigelow Tea
Like our own Content Coup blog, Bigelow Tea shows that quality content is far more important than aesthetics when it comes to reader acquisition and retention. The company uses a very simple, no-frills theme that is not going to win any web design awards or even subtle praise. But when you get hundreds of “likes” and shares of your content, none of that matters.
Tea drinkers tend to be earthly, spiritual, healthy people. The Bigelow Tea blog caters to this demographic while subtly highlighting its products. A blog post about how to start an indoor garden gives instructions on how to plant seed that grow in tea bags.
The blog touches on subjects like what foods go best with different Bigelow teas, better snacking habits, and relaxation methods. It also keeps customers apprised on the company’s conservation efforts. The only glaring flaw on Bigelow’s blog is poor navigation. There is no “home” button at the top and clicking on the blog title takes you to the Bigelow website (away from the blog). But again, good content is the equilizer and keeps readers coming back for more.
Are you ready to add your company’s name to this list of impressive blogs? Contact us today at support@contentcoup.com. Check out our content packages and FAQ section. Cut out the middle man and join the revolution today!