Many of us have blog sections on our websites but one thing we need to make sure of is that we’re using a strategy that is going to encourage people to read and engage with our content. If you are already publishing blog posts for your credit union, you may be familiar with planning your content and using keywords that will lead people to your blog. If you don’t yet have a strategy, don’t worry, we all have to start planning somewhere and we’re here to help you develop a content strategy that will work for your credit union blog.
Blog posts are key in driving traffic to your site and engaging with your audience.
“55% of marketers say that blogging is their top inbound marketing priority”
(blog.hubspot.com)
so creating your own blogs are important for attracting in your target audience. Developing a blogging strategy can be tough, especially if you’re starting from scratch, but we have some answers that might help you whether you’re already blogging or not. Read on to find out more.
1) Getting started. The first thing we need to do when creating our strategy is think about how we can be valuable and help our user. You need to understand exactly what it is your reader wants to read and learn from you. We’ve written this blog because we know many credit unions enjoy different tips on marketing.The same way as you know what help and advice your members need from you. This is simply what you write about in your blogs. Blogging is all about having a purpose and you can create this purpose from research on your audience. This research can be done through analysing your current member base and then thinking about the new generation of members you want to attract in.
2) Who is going to write your content? This is an essential part of your plan. Blogging can actually take up a lot more time than you think. Someone will need to research blog topics, write the blog, schedule it and also manage it. So, think about who in your team would be a good fit todo this. It might be that you already have a dedicated marketing individual. If so, plan your strategy out well and watch it thrive! If not, anyone can start to blog if they have the time and motivation to do it, so why not think about splitting the workload amongst your team? We can help you a little with this by showing you what tasks you can split blogging into. Take a look below at blogging broken down into different areas.
3) Building a template. Creating a template for your blog will help you in the long run, especially if you’re strapped for time. When coming up with a template you need to think about whether you want to have a featured image and if you want to include images within your blog too. If you create a standard template, then this can be followed any time a blog needs to be written, saving the time and stress of last minute posts. Including images and a having a well-structured layout will make your blog more inviting to readers. You want it to look interesting enough that people will want to read it and come back again. Some blog hosting services offer free templates, but this all depends on whose services you are using. In any case, designing your own template and implementing this layout each time will work just as well.
4) Include Call-to-Actions. Your blog is one of the best places to include call-to-actions (CTA's). If you hook your reader in with good content then they’re more likely to follow a CTA from your blog post.There is a reason you’ve created a blog and that is to drive more people to use your credit union. Share with them what you offer and give them links or actions to follow. Include call to actions wherever you want within your blog posts. This can be throughout your post or you can leave it to the end, whatever you choose, make sure it’s clear what you want your reader to do. Call to actions can be anything from further information to direct links to access your products and services.
5) Plan your blogging schedule. One of the main things you should think about when planning your strategy is how many blogs you can commit to writing each month. Consistency is key when managing your blog so try to post a minimum of one blog per week to keep your members up to date as well as others in your industry. You can use content planning calendars to plan your credit union blog schedule. We love to use these and have even made aversion of our blog calendar template available for you to download here.
6) Track your performance. Make sure to keep track of your performance so you know how your blog is doing. Things you want to keep track of are how many readers you have, how many times it has been shared and any subscribers. Depending on how you track your analytics you may even be able to dig even deeper.
To keep your blog a success, you’ll need to continually monitor its performance and re-look at what your audience wants from you. Always keep up to date with the latest trends and topics as well as what some of your fellow credit unions are up to. This can help you with your own content, especially with what you’ll need to do to stand out.
Utilising your blog to grow your credit union is very possible with the right care and attention. Solving problems for your readers, and providing them with useful content that is consistent will help you to build up trust with your audience and showcase your knowledge on topics they’re interested in.
Get in touch with us if you would like help to develop a blogging strategy for 2020.
