Blogging 101: Part two

Your manager has asked you to start a blog. You agree to do it, but you haven’t written one before. What you should you write about? Where do you start?

Fear not. Help is at hand.

In this post, we’re going to give you the lowdown on how to get started.

Let’s dive in.

1.     Know your audience

Is your blog aimed at a specific market i.e., millennials? The 60+ demographic? Businesses? Whoever it is, the content needs to be appropriate for your target market.

For example, content about digital fundraising isn’t going to resonate with retirees any more than legacy content will to millennials.

Before doing anything else, be clear on who you’re writing for.

2.     Brainstorm content

You know the saying, ‘variety is the spice of life?’ It’s as true for blogging as anything else.

If you post the same old content week in, week out, your blog will get stale.

To prevent this, come up with several broad content categories and post blog content from each in rotation.

Here are some suggestions:

• Personal stories

Personal stories can be incredibly emotive. And as we said in a previous post, emotive stories prompt donations.

You could write stories about your:

Service users: What hardships have they faced? How has your charity improved their lives?
Example: The Brain Charity

Community fundraisers: What events/personal challenges have they taken on? How much did they raise? What’s their motivation for raising money for you?
Example: Starlight Children’s Foundation

Staff: Encourage front-line staff to share their observations, feeling, and experiences via guest posts.
Example: Charity Works

Tip: If you can get people to tell their stories on camera, you’re winning, as videos get 1200% more shares than text and images combined.

• Charity news

This is the place to share news about your organisation and promote your vacancies and upcoming fundraising events/initiatives.

It’s also a prime opportunity to introduce your team – the people behind the brand. Why is this important?

As motivational speaker, Bob Burg once said, “people buy from people that they know, like, and trust".

• Topical posts

Seen something in the news/on a TV programme that relates to your cause? This is a great opportunity to wade in on it. You could write an ‘explainer’ post to cover the topic in more depth. Alternatively, if the programme got some information wrong or sensationalised the topic, you could pen a ‘myth buster’ article to set the record straight.

Example: Life Charity

• Educational posts

The primary purpose of a blog (after boosting website traffic) is to educate your audience.

There are several ways to do this:

o   How-to posts

How-to posts consist of a list of steps or actions designed to be followed in sequence.

St Johns Ambulance uses this approach to teach people how to perform CPR.

o   Q&A posts

These are generally used in two ways:

1.     To answer questions posed by the public (on your social media channels or website enquiry forms).

2.     To guide readers through research. The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity used this Q&A with Clinical Scientist, Dr Anna Minchom to talk about developments in lung cancer treatments.

• Thought leadership content

When done correctly, thought leadership content can help you become an authority in your niche. When a brand is considered a thought leader, donors (and others in the industry) look to them for insights.

Thought leadership content can take the form of research, expert opinions, personal anecdotes, or future predictions. It may also evaluate industry trends.

This post about the future of cancer research and treatment is a prime example.

Tip: Get your CEO/a senior member of the team to draft the copy for these posts. Once written, you can edit the copy to match the tone and style of the rest of your blog content. If time is an issue, they can always record the piece on camera.

Tip: Going back to our earlier point about keeping your blog fresh, it’s a good idea to mix up the content format as much as possible. As well as text, incorporate video, audio files, and/or infographics.

• Create an editorial content calendar

The best way to manage your blog content is to create an editorial calendar.

In a nutshell, this is a list of the content you will publish, and when.

Some people use content marketing software to manage their editorial calendars, but it can be as simple as creating a calendar in Excel.

Your calendar should include topics, deadlines, publishing dates, and notes about each post.

You can download a free template here.

Final Word

In the next, (and final) ‘blogging 101’ post, we’ll talk about how to format your blog posts to set you up for success.

In the meantime, if you’re on the market for a new fundraising role, give us a call on 0203 750 3111 or email info@bamboofundraising.co.uk for an informal chat.