Trans-tangental: The Value of Off-topic Blogging Posts
Enzo F. Cesario
Article Title:
Trans-tangental: The Value of Off-topic Blogging Posts
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Article Description:
Brand-oriented blogs by necessity have to focus on a
particular topic. People are coming to the blog because of
the brand, and they want content related to the brand in
most cases. However, there are many very good reasons to go
into off-topic posting as well. The trick is to balance the
needs of on-topic commentary with the occasional bit of
off-the-wall entertainment that brings some lively
discussion with it.
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Distribution Date and Time: 2011-09-12 10:30:00
Written By: Enzo F. Cesario
Copyright: 2011
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Trans-tangental: The Value of Off-topic Blogging Posts
Copyright (c) 2011 Enzo F. Cesario
BrandSplat
http://www.Brandsplat.com/
Brand-oriented blogs by necessity have to focus on a particular
topic. People are coming to the blog because of the brand, and
they want content related to the brand in most cases. Readers are
creatures of habit, and routine is comfortable to them. A blog
should put out on-topic content for the same reason it should
update on a consistent schedule. A blog that doesn't maintain a
consistent voice or message is probably not going to maintain its
target audience's long-term interest, by and large for the same
reason that a book that can't decide if it's an adventure story
or a romance won't hold a reader's attention.
That said, there are many very good reasons to go into off-topic
posting as well. Habit and routine are important, but so is
variety. Creativity and a smart change of pace can make a blog
more lively and keep the readers guessing. The trick is to
balance the needs of on-topic commentary with the occasional bit
of off-the-wall entertainment that brings some lively discussion
with it.
As an example, consider a blog dedicated to political journalism.
The author has a modest audience of several thousand people
interested in his posts. The blog focuses on political corruption
and promise-breaking, because this is the author's interest and
because everyone likes a good scandal story. However, this kind
of material can get relentlessly depressing over time. If the
only picture being painted is upsetting, people might not check
in to the blog quite as often.
So, our mysterious author occasionally breaks from form and posts
some material not related to the core message of the blog at all.
Every so often, mostly at random, he'll post a recipe from his
travels around the world. Or he might share a YouTube link
featuring a musical composition he's quite fond of. In these
alternate posts, the audience gets a glimpse of the writer's
personality, gaining some empathy with him and learning a bit
more about the world in general.
This kind of irregular off-topic material is intriguing
specifically because it isn't something that can be predicted.
The audience can come back every day or every week for the
content they've grown to expect, and can also come with the
slight hope that maybe a new "unusual" post will come up to
catch their attention.
In a similar but variant approach, there's the idea of playing
with a particular theme. Say that a blog is focused on
architectural disasters. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are
devoted to stuff that's simply hideous and ill-advised, such as
chartreuse shutters on a house painted orange, while Tuesdays and
Thursdays focus on poor construction that's pretty evidently
going to fall apart. The main focus of the blog is humorous,
rather than serious.
To play with this theme is to write posts that come close to it,
and still follow the main theme, but go at it from a different
direction. For example, say our architecture blog starts a series
called Silly Saturdays, where he posts images and blog entries
about people who've deliberately gone a bit nuts in their
construction for a funny effect � such as a family that builds a
treehouse in the middle of a city. Alternately, he could post a
Sunday WOW blog in which he shares images and stories of houses
that have truly amazing architecture, subverting the original
theme. He's still focusing on the interest in architecture, but
changing the pace just often enough to provide context and
perspective.
In both the case of irregularly-timed, off-topic posts and those
that occur regularly but only as a small part of the main
content, the key is to maintain a good proportion. In both cases,
the bulk of the content is focused on the key topic at hand, be
it political journalism or amusing architectural decisions. This
means that the "asides" are small and rare enough that they
come as pleasant surprises and changes of pace. They allow the
variety that keeps the mind quick and engaged, while not
overpowering or distracting from the main message people are
coming to enjoy.
Choosing the sort of off-topic message to go into can be tricky.
Content that plays with or subverts the main message of a blog is
usually easier to work into the process. It doesn't feel forced
or squeezed in, because it's still touching on the main body of
work while allowing for a bit of creative differentiation.
That said, instinct is usually a good thing to follow. Remember
that no one can predict what kind of mood the Internet is in at
any given time. Websites about cute cats, bizarre cakes � even
videos of pandas sneezing have gone viral for no apparent reason
except a "mood" taking hold of us. If you're writing a blog
and an idea that doesn't seem in-theme but still worth posting
comes up, give it a try. At worst, people might wonder what the
big deal is and ignore the post. Fair enough; in that case, you
can return to your regularly-scheduled programming. On the other
hand, it might just garner a certain amount of interest and bring
in a new audience to pay attention.
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Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist
and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content
agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos
and social media in the "voice" of our client's
brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more
recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to
http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at
http://www.iBrandCasting.com/
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Enzo F. Cesario
Article Title:
Trans-tangental: The Value of Off-topic Blogging Posts
See TERMS OF REPRINT to the end of the article.
Article Description:
Brand-oriented blogs by necessity have to focus on a
particular topic. People are coming to the blog because of
the brand, and they want content related to the brand in
most cases. However, there are many very good reasons to go
into off-topic posting as well. The trick is to balance the
needs of on-topic commentary with the occasional bit of
off-the-wall entertainment that brings some lively
discussion with it.
Additional Article Information:
===============================
863 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line
Distribution Date and Time: 2011-09-12 11:00:00