Blogging to Offer – and Change – Opinions

When online readers find a blog, one question they need answered is “Who lives here?” Providing information about products and services may be the popular way to write corporate blog posts, but in terms of achieving Influencer status – it takes opinion, we’ve learned at Say It For You.

Whether you’re blogging to promote a business, a professional practice, or a nonprofit organization, you’ve gotta have an opinion, a slant, on the information you’re serving up for readers. In other words, blog posts, to be effective, can’t be just compilations; you can’t just “aggregate” other people’s stuff and make that be your entire blog presence.

The Earth Day issue of the Indianapolis Star included an article by Jacqueline Cutler that represents a collection of different people’s opinions on the topic of environmental threats. Eight different people were interviewed, with each asked to name what they considered to be the most pressing threat and then to describe one specific change individuals could make in their daily lives that could help make a positive difference.

Photographer Joel Sartore, for example, names climate change as the biggest threat, and recommends including native plants in our landscaping. Brian Skerry of National Geographic Explorer is concerned about plastic waste in the oceans, and recommends switching to metal water bottles. Shirell Parfait-Dardar, Choctaw tribal chief says we should look at our children and at our aging parents, and “just start caring” about the impact waste and warning have on their lives.

Very thought-provoking article, yet from a blog marketing standpoint, there’s a piece missing, I couldn’t help thinking. Cutler has done a fine job “aggregating” the statements of others, without presenting her own opinion. But, in marketing a business, practice, or organization, we absolutely must make clear “who lives here”.

In “Ten tips to write an opinion piece people read”, A. Stone advises starting with an attention-grabbing opening line that cuts to the heart of your key message, evoking an emotion or curiosity.  It can be a strong fact, statement or even the beginning of an anecdote that has audience connection, he explains. “The first line is the display-window for all the goodies you have inside,” Stone explains. In opinion piece posts, the, the opener should at least hint at the “slant”.

We must be influencers, I advise clients and blog content writers alike. Whether intended for business-to-business or business to consumer,, the blog content itself needs to use opinion to clarify what differentiates that business, that professional practice, or that organization from its peers.