Happy 2010, folks! With so many social media studies showing that companies are looking to up their involvement in social activities this year, I thought I’d help cure that age-old “what should I blog about today?” question. Or at least give you a healthy head start for the year by providing 100+ potential blog topics for your small business blog. Consider it my contribution to your yearly editorial calendar. I know you’re creating one, right?
So, here are some potential topics. Grab a pen and jot down your favorites. [Or maybe just hit Print.]
Focus on your Industry
- Write 10 ways your industry will change this year
- Break down the new laws that will affect your niche in 2010
- Create a list of the best industry resources
- Talk about why things are better today (or not) than they were 10 years ago
- Attend industry events and blog about them
- Your best marketing tips
- How your industry is like Your Favorite TV Show [I suggest using Glee. Because that's my favorite show.]
- The ugly truth about your industry
- The 8 people in your industry you want to meet
- What someone needs to consider before getting involved in your industry
- Comment on an industry-related conversation going on in LinkedIn or Google Groups
- Talk about the “thing” that would rock your industry if invented or put together
- Create a chart that breaks down a complicated industry issue or problem
- Interview someone well-known in your world and profile them
- Rewrite an old post with fresh eyes and new ideas
- Publish a presentation you gave somewhere else (with permission)
- Have a chat with a competitor and blog about it (again, with permission)
- Search Google News for relevant press releases and news about your industry. Write your own take.
- Debunk a long-standing myth
- Host a seminar or meetup and blog about
- Create a list of the 10 books that someone in your industry should read.
- Post about what you’d like to see fixed in your industry
- Conferences people in your industry should attend/speak at
- Your favorite untapped traffic sources in your industry
- Issues in your space that deserve more attention
Go Social
- How you’re using Twitter to increase earnings
- Post a video that has nothing to do with your industry but that you think people would enjoy.
- Post a picture. [Browse StumleUpon for inspiration]
- Participate in a blog meme like last month’s Best of 09
- Share the best social media campaigns you’ve seen, big and small
- Hold a contest and pit people against each other
- Create a poll. Blog the result.
- Invite a guest blogger to post on your blog
- How social media increased your ROI this year
- How social media did nothing but confuse you this year
- Search Delicious for popular posts on your topics and take a new stance
- Go to your industry’s Wikipedia page and see what people are talking about in the Discussions area. Comment on it on your blog.
- Post photos from your company party/team building workshop
- Find a question on Yahoo Answers or OnStartups and respond on your blog
- Create a list of the Must Follow Twitter people in your industry
About your Business
- Why you’re different (and better) than your competition
- A video tutorial showing how to use your most popular product
- The problems your sales people hear about most
- The answer to the most common email you get
- Share the tools do you use to do your job
- The secret ways to use your site/product
- The top 10 Wordpress plugins you use on your site
- How you use your favorite social media site
- How you built your email list
- How you’re using Facebook
- Look at your site logs & answer customer questions
- How you delegate tasks (or what you mucked up by not delegating)
- Use Wordtracker’s Keyword Question Tool and answer popular questions
- Write about why you’re not using social media at all
- Answer questions left in your comment section
- Write about the personal branding tactics you use
- Give 5 reasons to sign up to your email newsletter
- How you learned to do what you do
- Create a list of your favorite X
- What you’re doing to beat the summer slump or winter blues
- Share a case study
- Provide an end of the week link roundup
- Review something
- Reveal the best niche blogs to guestblog for
- What keeps you up at night
- Share a time when you got it wrong in 2010
- Your strategies for coming up with blog topics.
- Branding tips that have worked for your business
- 50 reasons why someone should hire you
- 5 things people should be focusing on but aren’t
- What can other industries learn from yours
Highlight Your Customers
- Put the spotlight on your most active commenters
- Praise your best customers
- Post a question and let the community to answer it
- How customers can woo your customer service department for free stuff
- Give something away to one of your blog readers.
- Feature a video detailing a customer’s success with your product
- Share your biggest screw up with a customer…and how you made it right
- Publish a customer testimonial
- Explain the benefits of being a customer
- Share local organizations you support and ask customers to share their favorites
- How customers can connect with you on social media
- Hold an event for Twitter followers to meet and blog it
Get Personal
What have you read lately that inspired/angered you?
- Introduce your staff
- Share the best decision you made as a SMB
- Your biggest challenge as a SMB owner
- What you love best about being a SMB owner. What you don’t like.
- The danger of doing everything by yourself
- Write about the achievement you’re most proud of
- A time when you got it right in 2009
- Create a video introducing your team to your community
- Get your rant on
- How to remain productive working at home
- Introduce a new employee and what they bring to the table
- Share the local vendors you trust
- Give people a video tour of your building
- Describe your company culture
- Your new baby (whether that’s a real baby, a pet, a new project for 2010, the car you’ve been restoring for the past two years, etc)
- Share your company’s history or story
- Tell a story not about your company
- Share 10 things you’re thankful for
- What’s next for your company
- A list of your most trafficked posts
The point is, there are TONS of things for a small business owner to blog about and share with their audience. Now that I’ve helped get the ball rolling, get to it.
About the Author
Lisa Barone is Co-Founder and Chief Branding Officer at Outspoken Media, Inc., an Internet marketing company that specializes in providing clients with online reputation management, social media services, and other Internet services. She blogs daily over at the Outspoken Media blog.
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