It’s been a fantastic year for Angel Oak Creative. We’ve experienced incredible growth as a company and watched our clients grow their impact and tell their stories.
Inspired by Instagram’s trending #2016BestNine, we wanted to see which of our blog posts made up our own best nine. Check out our nine most popular posts from 2016 in order:
1. Becoming a Father, Discovering Myself
2. 7 Nonprofit Trends for 2016
3. Howdy Doody: From The Newest Angel
4. 4 Strategies for Engaging Millennials
5. An Over-Exaggerated Mess: 5 Steps for More Effective Crisis PR Plans
6. Vintage Church Culture: Worth the Work
8. Top 5 Tips for successful Donor Engagement
9. Rising tide lifts all boats, right?
So much good stuff. Here’s what we took away from our #2016BestNine:
Readers are drawn to “skim-able,” relevant content.
Use “5 tips” or “4 strategies” or “7 trends” as much as is relevant. In today’s distracted culture, bombarded with information, titles that suggest an article is “skim-able” attract readers.
Short-attention spans yearn for “skim-able” content. Make your major points easy to find and then readers will be sure to get the meat of your blog in mere seconds. If there is a particular point that’s intriguing to them, the reader can spend more time on that section.
In 2017, content with tips, strategies and steps should be organized into numbers and sections to attract the most readers and allow readers to get the most out of your blog in the shortest time. It’s efficient and it works.
Personal information intrigues readers.
People love a variety of industry-related and personal content. Humanization of the workplace and workplace culture is increasingly important.
Employees want to be seen as people and treated as people. Companies are more commonly showcasing their employees not just for their work-related accomplishments but also for their personal attributes.
Many company websites, especially small-medium businesses, include staff profiles that focus on more than their degrees and accolades but rather their hobbies and quirks.
This year, don’t hesitate to include content that features the people who make your company successful. Show your company culture through the people that shape it. This helps prospective clients and consumers develop a personal relationship with your company.
It creates the opportunity to breed zombie loyalists for your brand. It can also help feed the pipeline for future staff. Your content will naturally attract people who resonate with your culture and values.
Those are the best candidates as positions open up. They will naturally be a “values fit” and have a much easier transition into your organization.
Blogs by guests attract their personal audiences.
In the same vein, people love to read pieces by writers they know. Each time we invited a guest blogger, their blogs did great things for our web traffic.
Their sphere of influence, which is beyond ours, read their blog. Tons of new individuals came to our website, read their post and were exposed to who we are and what we do.
Any opportunity you have to invite a guest blogger to your site, do it! After their article has been created, invite them to share it on social media. These posts have catalytic potential as more and more people share their blog and like their post.
Remember, social media platforms are still more about individuals connecting socially than companies connecting with consumers. Organizations have a much harder time getting traction on social media sites.
But, with guest bloggers, your content becomes more personal. Not to mention, it takes the blogging load off of your shoulders.
So, blog on in 2017 and remember to have a blend of “skim-able” industry content and personal content, written by guests when possible!
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