In our business it’s a cutthroat world. In order to succeed you need to be able to differentiate yourself from the rest? Stand out from the crowd. Be a leader…you get the picture. And that’s what brand journalism is all about.
Brand journalism is a way to communicate to others information about your business, its services, products and message. Brand journalism is storytelling and done right it can help you reach your goals faster than advertising, PR, or even social media. It’s the difference between you talking about your brand versus others talking about your brand, recommending your brand or even sharing your brand through engagement on social channels for others to talk about how your brand has changed their lives… for the better. (We hope)
Now let me let you in on a little secret, using brand journalism and Google Authorship together equal a powerful combination. If you’ve implemented Google Authorship Markup as part of your strategy, and use brand journalism, you’ve got a match made in heaven. Why you ask? Both these strategies help to showcase your brand and reach a wider audience. It brings out the people behind your company which helps to showcase authenticity and authority. Just ask yourself, would you rather be bombarded with advertisements or read a few stories shared by or featuring real people telling you real stories?
You want to maximize the appeal of your brand? Tell your story. People want to know what and who is behind a company, and you can harness brand journalism to reach audiences to capture their attention and interact with them. Get your employees involved. It’s a great way for your organization’s employees to shine by telling their own stories in order to elevate your brand. Imagine your brand being the go-to source for products and services in your industry. Remember to have your employees set up Google Authorship. Putting a name on your brands content shows that you are confident in your company’s abilities to share and discuss information.
Here are more advantages for both brand journalism and Google Authorship Markup (as if you’re not convinced already):
–Stay ahead of your competition: No matter how awesome your content is, you still need Google’s help. They are really excited about Authorship Markup and how it could become really important to their ranking algorithm down the line. If you think about it, people would rather read something from someone who has a lot of credibility versus some anonymous person, even if they have excellent content. That means if you and your competitor have similar work, you would stand out from the crowd by simply having a face and a name beside search results.
–Increased click through rate: If your content or other people who write about your brand are associated with an author, the photo should appear under the link in search results. You and I both know that images really grab readers’ attentions and will most likely result in them checking out the link. This is even if the site does not rank first for that keyword.
–Own your brand: Brand journalism and Google authorship help make it clear to Google that your brand created the content, and no one else. – There are many ways other than leveraging blog posts the implement authorship markup. Think about product guides, questions and answers forums, and even product review. Google will recognize all that and attribute it to an author.
Tell your story. Make sure your efforts are bringing to life your passion, purpose and vision of your brand. You want to be connect, engaged and interactive with your audience in order to rise above the ranks in such a competitive world.
Go ahead and give it a try. I would love to hear what has worked for you and your brand.