Content marketing, when done right, should be about providing Youtility—marketing that provides help, not hype—to your audience. Allstate reached out to content creators across about 10 different areas of expertise, working with Convince & Convert to vet and contact these potential partners. Start with the Basics “As with any content marketing program or project, it’s important to start with the ‘why?’—what do you hope to gain, and is a guest blogging program going to help you achieve that? Guest blogging programs may not be for everyone, so don’t just do it because everyone else is. As Melissa explained, “Think about the attributes you want in a guest blogger—is there a specific demographic of user you’re trying to attract? “Talk about your audience, your style, and anything else it is helpful for a contributor to know about your content, in addition to length and format considerations. Planning, documenting your plan, and sharing your plan with your guest bloggers are all great steps to set yourself up for success.” Balance New Voices with Your Overall Content Approach “As our content marketing strategy evolved, we wanted a way to bring new voices into the mix—people with specific areas of expertise, who could speak from experience about topics important to our audience. The key to negotiating this learning curve lay in open communication—we created a one-sheet style guide for our guest bloggers outlining our requirements, and then worked closely with them on any edits that were necessary, in order to come to an agreement on the final post,” Melissa explained. Define Success to Achieve Success High quality blog content can pay dividends for companies of all shapes and sizes, providing value through SEO, thought leadership, engagement, and lead generation. “The guest blogging program has been very successful for our blog in terms of our measurables, including platform traffic.
Content marketing, when done right, should be about providing Youtility—marketing that provides help, not hype—to your audience. Companies that do this successfully balance a clear representation of the brand’s core value proposition with content that’s truly valuable and engaging.
For over five years, The Allstate Blog has been publishing thousands of articles, videos, infographics, slideshows, and more. “Our content marketing is never a hard sell for Allstate’s products. Rather, it provides value for users by answering their questions to general insurance questions and giving tips, information, how-tos, and more on related topics—accompanied by calls to action should (as we hope, and often happens) the user want to learn more about Allstate,” said Melissa Hodai, Digital Content Team Manager at Allstate.
In 2015, to grow the blog’s audience and expand upon its successful content marketing approach, 85-year-old insurance stalwart Allstate decided to reach out to influential content creators to add new voices, expertise, and additional value to its blog. Allstate reached out to content creators across about 10 different areas of expertise, working with Convince & Convert to vet and contact these potential partners.
Not only did these guest bloggers engage with The Allstate Blog’s existing audience, but they brought their own audiences and spheres of influence to the site.
Start with the Basics
“As with any content marketing program or project, it’s important to start with the ‘why?’—what do you hope to gain, and is a guest blogging program going to help you achieve that? Guest blogging programs may not be for everyone, so don’t just do it because everyone else is. Only do it if you think it will further your goals. Once you have decided to undertake a guest blogging program, to me, it’s important to put processes and governance in place,” Melissa said.
Developing an action plan and resources for the contributors is also key. As Melissa explained, “Think about the attributes you want in a guest blogger—is there a specific demographic of user you’re trying to attract? Is there a topic area gap you’re looking to fill? Is there something that your own content can’t achieve that you think a guest blogger’s content on your site could? Make a list of these attributes, and use them as a guide when you’re searching for potential guest bloggers—thinking these things through beforehand will potentially save you a lot of unnecessary work.”
The Allstate team also created a guide to help…
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