Social media and blogging are more prevalent now than ever and from a business point of view having a presence with these is almost mandatory these days. I wanted to talk to you all about how I have used my blog as a tool for my business and give you an insight into how you can do the same.
For me blogging started as a hobby, a way to share my interests and passions in a creative way. When I started my business, I realised that as well as social media my blog would be a great way to give my client base more information on the services I offer in a relaxed and informal way that people could engage with and enjoy reading. As well as this it is a great way of adding a more visual aspect to your business promotion and also offers a more personal feel that gives your client/customer a feel for your brand and also the person behind the brand, at the end of the day people by from people and it allows you to show that human side , giving them a glimpse of who you are.
My Business is an Event Concierge service which is a combination of my passions and experiences, I really wanted to give my clients a warm, friendly, personal service that combines the aspects of what I do and love. The service brings together my experience and back ground in the events industry, my love and knowledge of Dublin and my interest in social media and blogging.
SVS Event Concierge is aimed at special occasions and celebrations and leisure and luxury travel, curating beautiful experiences for our clients that exceed expectations, deliver memories and inspire, it has three core services within the brand:
– Supplier sourcing for event theme and décor aimed at special occasions, celebrations and event theming across Cambridge, London and Dublin.
– A dedicated Dublin concierge service aimed at leisure travel, special occasions, celebrations, luxury travel and experience travel.
– Bespoke gifting services – sourcing and creating bespoke gifting, personalised gifting and corporate gifting.
We also offer a range of blogging and content creation services too.
Rather than change my blog altogether to fit the business needs, I instead adapted the existing blog to add aspects of this into it. I linked the blog to my business Instagram account so this is shown on the home page in a live feed that is updated as I post and I added a menu section to the blog for SVS Event Concierge where I publish posts with information on my services, featured suppliers that I have listed and tips and information on event theming etc. I will also add links to the posts so that people are able to click through to the website directly from the posts making it easy for them to access this and add contact information and social media account handles at the end of a post to give people an easy and quick way to find us online.
It’s a good idea to add links in your social media handles as well so people can click straight through to the pages from your post. My social media handles and business email address are added on the contact page also.
When it comes to featuring suppliers that I have partnered with for SVS Event Concierge , this is a great way of showcasing what my business has to offer and the different types of suppliers and venues etc. that we can avail of. It shows clients that you are continually adding new and diverse aspects to the service or brand as well as supporting the other businesses and brands you work with and helping to build relationships with them.
In terms of suppliers I list with my service, I look for reliability and high quality as well as a diverse and unique selection of suppliers and products and products and brands with local influence. I continually research and contact new potential suppliers also.
If there are suppliers looking to get in touch with event companies and services, I would recommend emailing them initially to introduce yourselves with a little bit of information about what you offer and to include links to your website and social media pages, its also good to include any product brochures you may have and price lists etc. so the company you are contacting can get a good understanding of what you do and what you can bring to them and whether it’s a good fit for their clients.
Its good to suggest setting up a face to face meeting or telephone call to discuss further should they be interested as this allows the company to interact with the face behind the brand and get a feel for the person they would be working or partnering with. It also gives you the opportunity to discuss how you work and terms and conditions etc. that can be lengthy to discuss in an email.
Using your blog to feature posts about suppliers you partner with and products they offer is a great way of showing your diversity and introducing people to your business and what you can offer them as well as helping to promote engagement and endorsement of your brand.
Another thing I would suggest is actively following and engaging on social media with companies you have an interest in and would like to become a supplier with or work with as this will help increase awareness of your product or brand to the company and also others that may also follow these accounts that you could also potentially connect and partner with as well as raising awareness to potential clients and customers.
Promote your blog content through Facebook and Linkedin groups and Twitter chats and by sharing the content and posts with Twitter buttons too, this will help to reach a wider audience and create discussion around your posts as well as enabling you to use more detailed promotion and encourage people to engage with and share the content further. Our Facebook and LinkedIn groups are called So Very Social, why not get involved?
Its also a good idea to be connecting with them on platforms such as Linkedin as well. Linkedin is a great platform for researching and finding useful and factual information too as well as potential networking opportunities, visiting and exhibiting at event trade shows and networking events is also a great way to get face to face interaction.
Pinterest is another great platform to promote your blog content also and blog content performs very well on here. Pinterest enables you to incorporate the visual with the written promotion and add links to drive traffic to your content and website , its also a good platform to reach potential clients and customers too as it is largely consumer based with people who are looking for inspiration or planning an event or occasion etc. and could potentially use your brand, product or services.
My blog is separated into different menu categories to make it easier to navigate and keep the content organized.
I use the existing Dublin section of my blog to post about venues, hotels, my own Dublin experiences, where to go, what to see etc. This is a great tool to promote my Dublin concierge service and allows me to draw on my knowledge and passion for the city to showcase it at its best and show my clients and readers what its all about. Its giving them real, current information on the destination and helping to promote my service and what I can bring to it at the same time.
I regularly work with guest blog collaborators which helps to keep blog content diverse and offers different perspectives on relevant topics. Producing guest blogs, articles and collaborations is also something I offer as part of SVS so this is great to show that I actively use guest bloggers on my own blog too. I also feature guest blogs on my blog that I have written for other people which Is a great way of showcasing actual content I have created to other potential clients. Recent ones include Engage Weddings and UVD.
I kept the other original sections for Lifestyle, Fashion , Beauty and Travel on the blog unchanged and continually post in these sections, these are more based on my interests, hobbies and passions and they may not be directly linked to the business point of view but they add that personal and informal touch and again that human element.
My blog started life as a personal blog and I wanted to keep that going. My business is a part of me and my passions as is the blog so I wanted to keep them combined which I also try to incorporate into my social media.
My business is also a lifestyle based service so the blog also helps to add that lifestyle element to it. The blog is also a good way of adding diverse content to my social media pages by sharing new posts.
My top tips would be:
- Include lots of good imagery in your posts and break up large sections of text with images, this catches the eye and shows people a visual aspect of what you are offering or writing about.
- Keep the content light and easy to read, stir away from using jargon, corporate tones and over selling – you want to keep your reader engaged and interested and want to read more without giving them a full-on sales pitch! A blog is supposed to be enjoyable!
- Adding a bit of your personality into your posts adds a likability factor and that human element that people can associate with and puts a person/ face to the brand. It shows that warm, friendly and personal approach I talked about earlier.
- Use your knowledge and skills to support your posts, for example personal knowledge of a destination or field of expertise, your own past experiences and background, interests, hobbies etc.
- ·Share inside tips and tricks , this has a twofold effect. It shows your audience that you know what you’re talking about and are an authority in what it is you do as well as giving them useful information.
- Think about ways to add different elements to your content, i.e interviews with suppliers, client testimonials etc.
- If you don’t currently have a personal or a business blog, initially having some articles or blog posts written about your product, brand or service by a guest blogger or collaborator that you can feature on your website and social media is a good way to add the blog element to your business, you could also use these as a starting point for a blog of your own which you can then add to with your own posts and other guest posts as you go. There are lots of easy formats to use for a blog and they don’t have to be long and in depth posts all the time so you can post in a way that is convenient to you.