How to Give Your Blog a Personality and Attract MoreReaders in 3 Easy Steps

blog.dlvr.it /2014/10/why-your-blog-needs-a-personality/

Debra Garber

(#MarketingMonday) When I was young, I took a personality test at the localcounty fair. The “computer” worked from a basic algorithm to spit out personalitytraits based on responses to a few simple questions. If my memory serves mewell, I was “diagnosed” with high rankings for athleticism, intelligence andcreativity. I proudly displayed these results on the corkboard in my bedroom. Thiswas social media in the very early stages.

Over the last year or so, I find my social media feeds sometimes flooded withpersonality quizzes from sites such as BuzzFeed and Zimbio. I admit, I’ve taken afew and posted the results to my social media accounts. Besides mydemonstrated desire to live in Paris, what does the widespread interest indetermining where you fit on a personality test mean?

What Social Media Personality Tests Say About Us

Regardless of the questionable results you may get from participating in onlinesocial media personality tests, sharing your personality online, demonstrates thefollowing:

1. A desire for personal connection. We are designed for community. Wehave an innate desire to be part of a group.

2. A need to reveal yourself to others. We want to be known. Our desire forrelationships has an underlying motive to a have others know who we are.

Developing your social media voice should feed these basic desires. A good blogis a place where an author and the reader can become personally connected andshould be central to your content marketing strategy. The most cost-effective wayto create a successful blog is to make it a source of quality information that isauthored by someone readers can feel personally connected to. The first step is togive your blog a personality.

How to Give yourBlog a Personality

People want to feel apersonal connectionwith your brand, whichrequires humanization.Here are three tips togive your blog apersonality:

Tip #1: Attribute yourblog posts to a person.

Attaching a name andface to each post will

help readers connect with your messaging. By simply putting a name and facewith each post, your brand will become more trustworthy.

Tip #2: Focus on the quality and the tone of your content tobuild a personality.

Before you even start typing your latest social media updateor writing your next blog post, you need to ask yourself thisone simple question. Who are we? Do we want to be knownas humorous, serious, informative or authoritative? Decide what you want yourblogging role and perspective to be in the social conversation.

Having a clearly defined, consistent tone of voice fosters trust andattachment. Trust and attachment equal engagement. Engagement equals enquiries and sales.

Tip #3: Don’t take yourself too seriously.

Tell stories and anecdotes and relate them back to your business, brand orproduct. This is particularly important, as people are naturally inclined toremember stories.

Working to humanize your brand comes with a complementary sliceof humble pie. While customers may want to know that your brandis a trusted authority on a particular topic, they also want to knowthat they can make a connection and that they are cared about asan individual.

I think we do this particularly well, here, on our dlvr.it blog. For example, check outthe post Best Practices to Replay Content Without Compromising Traffic.The social media blog formula includes integrating a few anecdotes in thebeginning of the post or maybe even jokes (most of the time at our own expense),to make the post more intimate and more appealing. I hope it’s obvious our postscome from real people.

When your blog has a distinct personality, you will receive more readers whobecome customers. Now it’s your turn, take the first step towards giving your blog

a personality.