Jessica Turner In an age where content is king, it’s time to consider creating a blog to share your hard-earned professional expertise in a digital medium.
Kristy Hines, owner of Mineral Lifestyle, recently started a blog for her hair, beauty and spa business – inspired by her time as an educator.
“All therapists learn in different ways, so do our clients!
“The idea of starting our own blog came about through our need to share our knowledge and educate our guests. As a team we never feel we get the chance to share everything we know, this can be for many reasons, and a blog gives us the platform to do this!
“Our clients also need time to absorb all the information we share with them so the blog acts like directory of information for them to use at their leisure,” Kristy explains.
Cassandra Cocciolone, digital and social media manager at InSkin Cosmedics, agrees that the days when skin clinics were the primary source of skin education for consumers is over.
“Today, skin savvy customers take it upon themselves to research and understand the skin, entering clinics with a self-diagnosis, product preference and ingredient knowledge.
“Creating a blog is an excellent way to position yourself as a credible source of skin information extending your reach beyond the confines of clinics and trading hours. Offering skin knowledge, advice or guidance in a blog adds credibility, aligns clinics with potential new customers and helps to develop long-term, loyal relationships.”
However the key to a successful blog is carefully crafted content, suitable to your audience — and lots of it, adds Cassandra.
“A blog should produce fresh and informative content that is readily available and creates conversation.
“Blogging gurus suggest starting a blog with a minimum of six months content ready to be published to give yourself the best chance of staying on top and keeping the information flow constant.”
And while getting the readership engaged is easy, the hard part is to keeping their attention.
“Content will vary from posts designed to maximise a client’s experience with us; educational posts on skin, body, wellness, lifestyle and hair; to team member profiles and product features, says Kristy who plans to post a minimum of twice a month, building up to weekly posts.
“Our business is evolving into a wellness centre so our blog will grow in diversity as our business does and to keep content varied we plan for all our experts at Mineral Lifestyle to contribute as well as guest contributors.
“Starting a blog is a big commitment, you need to plan and be prepared to stick to your own deadlines.”
To Blog or not to Blog? Cassandra Cocciolone weighs in
- Cons: Can be time consuming; requires work (lots of it), patience and perseverance.
- Benefits: Cost effective; builds an audience; increases likeliness of recommendation or sharing; benefits SEO ranking; introduces new customers; creates a pool of informative content for cross-sharing.
