5 Blog Ideas to Prevent "Wacky FM DJ" Syndrome

Nothing annoys me more than reading a company’s blog or social media posts that spew lots of worthless junk.

You’ve read them...”Whoopie! New pool table in the break room and we played doubles against the office on the 18th Floor!” “I’m a business destination blogging about a weekend WienerFest in Venice Beach.” “Yum! Have you tried our product lately?” “Happy Paper Hat Day!”

Insert honking horns, buzzers, crazy whistles and two free tickets to see the Hanson Reunion at Jingle Ball.

I call it the “Wacky FM DJ” syndrome.

The “Wacky FM DJ” syndrome evolves from a fear of being boring. True, blogs and Facebook posts that read like term papers are awful. However, talking about things that have little to do with selling your actual products, services or philosophy can leave consumers dazed and confused.

Here are 5 ideas to make your blog on-message, relevant, interesting AND useful:

1. Remember What You’re Selling and Keep it Fresh! I worked with an author whose 2008 book espoused “The Three P’s of Parenting.” Because books are like new cars and lose value the minute they hit the shelves, my 2009/2010 blogs went out of their way to relate one or more “P’s” to new trends and issues.

2. Rip from the Headlines. For the same client, I blogged why “Jon and Kate’s” latest drama was another in a long line of “Three P’s” violations. Injecting a unique brand philosophy into a controversial situation tends to get the attention of TV people. Within two weeks, my client was booked as an expert guest on ABC News’ “What Would You Do?” program.

3. Don’t Let a Good Pitch go to Waste! Instead of getting frustrated when your response to a media query meets dead silence, why not turn it into a blog? Think about it, if the subject already has the attention of one media outlet, there’s a good chance other media outlets and fellow bloggers who repost interesting viewpoints on Twitter and Facebook will like it too.

4. Be a Booth Blogger. I obtained a “Best of (Trade) Show” client product review on a lifestyle site with 14 million opt-in subscribers specifically because of aggressive yet tactical on-site booth blogging. Avoid useless stuff like “Gee, our sign looks great!” and "Come by and sample the product.” Instead, create posts about special promotions if the blog and social media are mentioned. Or perhaps share specific comments and questions heard at your exhibit.

5. Get “Trendy!” Earlier this month, the Beverly Hills 90210 anniversary became a huge trending topic on social media. Smart lifestyle retailers anticipated this and one colleague of mine was clever enough to personally blog about it to her loyal readers (Lori "MacBlogger") and post company Facebook tributes that seamlessly linked the “Lather” brand to the “celebration”.