So you’ve set up a blog on your website. What next?
Have a view; be short and punchy; be topical; invite (and make it easy for) people to share your blog. Pictures too. Readers love those. Particularly ones of cuddly cats…
What else? Oh yes:
They also like links to other useful sites.
And like a well functioning digestive system, good blogs appear regularly and often.
Oh, and don’t go on. In the digital age, attention spans are notoriously short…hello? Anyone still there?
Since when did we all start to consume content? I read content, I watch content, I listen to content but do I really consume content?
Have a listen to the creators of JacksGap on the BBC’s Media Show, a massively successful You Tube channel. How they love to talk about consuming content.
Is it just me or is there something slightly uncomfortable about content becoming a metaphorical feast? Is it just a commodity to be eaten?
It’s jargon of course which, ironically, is often employed to cover up the lack of content – or at least interesting content.
Fortunately I haven’t started to read content to my children, they still prefer a bedtime story.
Actually I don’t. I’m a blog. But welcome to the world of wackaging as nicely described in this piece in the Independent. Innocent is obviously very good at it and it seems that consumer brands that push sustainability or their eco credentials are particularly keen to indulge in a bit of wackaging.
So what do we think? Is there a space for this style of communication, not just in the more casual world of consumer selling, but also in the more, stiff shirted, b2b environment?
Don’t take that tone with me
I suppose it all comes down to tone and matching it with the audience. If you’re selling nylon stretch trousers to a retired audience via a Sunday supplement, I’d probably say you’re better off telling it straight. That said, I think there is a place for a bit of a wackaging style communication if it can help deliver whatever the communication needs to deliver in an interesting, amusing, or just alternative way.
If you need to make inanimate objects come to life to get results, why not? Just choose your targets carefully and be subtle. Subtle wackaging if you like.
Anyway, thanks for reading me by the way…
If you missed Boris Johnson get a good grilling on the Andy Marr show, you can still catch it here. ‘Bicycle crash’ TV it might be but it shows how even a savvy media operator like Johnson can fall foul of a savage inquisition.
Mind you, if Johnson had simply admitted he made up the quote (he was young and paid the price), his affair (he’s a politician) and agreeing to let a friend have the contact details of a journalist who the friend wanted to ‘visit’ (nothing happened), then he would have perhaps looked less foolish than he ultimately did.
A suprising lack of candour from the man who normally plays the media game with far more assurance.
Bravery is a hard thing to define. It comes in all shapes and sizes. Here though I’m not necessarily talking ‘My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North … father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next,’ type bravery. That would be a stretch. I’m thinking more about how brave as a communicator you can be.
Being bullied by a brute nosed journalist can of course make you feel like Maximus, but how many times have you written a stock phrase in a press release such as:
“We’re delighted so and so has joined, bringing with him a breadth of expertise…”
Cosy and comfortable
Or resorted to overused sound bites, or just retreated to the cosy world of corporate jargon and acronym where you know what you’re saying might not have much impact, but hey, no one ever got fired for using corporate jargon did they?
So here’s a challenge. How brave can you be? There’s the CEO to defy, or the inhouse lawyer, or simply those people who expect to see the formulaic press release, intranet article, blog or whatever.
Maybe it’s time to put yourself out there and take a few more risks.