Blogging to Explain Cultural Icons

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As I browsed through the magazine rack at my neighborhood CVS, two publications caught my attention: Star Wars: The Battle of Jedha and The Ultimate Guide to Avatar. Here were two examples, of gigantic cultural icons, I recognized, yet two subjects I know very little about. Realizing a need to “get with it”, I added both magazines to my shopping cart…

A cultural icon, Wikipedia explains, is a person or an artifact that is identified by members of a culture as representative of that culture. In writing, when we allude to an icon, the expectation is that our readers will understand the idea we’re trying to express, because they’ll recognize the expression. In fact, when content writers want to liven up a blog post, they might refer to a weakness as “an Achilles heel”, or describe a selfish person as “a Scrooge”, or refer to Alice in Wonderland when talking about going “down the rabbit hole”.

What was so appealing to me about the two publications about Star Wars and Avatar was that the publishers didn’t assume I understood those two cultural icons. Just the opposite – each was there to explain and clarify, so that I could feel “in on the secret”. Sure, at Say It For You, we suggest livening up business blog content using allusions. But, what if, as content writers, we’ve miscalculated our readers’ ability to recognize the allusions, with the danger being them finding our content frustrating rather than illuminating!

In fact, one way in which blog posts can be of use to searchers is helping them feel, empowered and informed, “caught up” on the significance and the meaning of certain events or expressions, things it appears “everybody knows”, but which they have somehow never really understood.

“We’re living in an age of entertainment extremism, where passionate fans go to ludicrous lengths to engage in hyperbolic talking points about their favorite film or franchise. It can be exhausting, wading through social media and hearing people make bold declarations not based on anything remotely resembling the truth,” flickeringmyth.com observes.” Most successful blockbuster franchises cross into other mediums spawning books and graphic novels that propel the myths forward.”

Because allusions make reference to something other than what is directly being discussed, explains yourdictionary.com, you may miss an allusion or fail to understand it if you do not know the underlying story, literary tale or other reference point. Why not use blog content writing to help empower visitors with a better understanding of the reference points they encounter?

My insight from the magazine rack? Blog to explain those cultural icons!

 

 

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There Are More Than One Boy-Meets-Girl Blogging Arcs

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“At its very heart, I believe that there is only one story arc in the world,” writes Sonali Dev. “There’s a character in an uncomfortable situation and they must find a way to resolve it.” The narrative arc refers to the structure and shape of a story, the sequence of occurrences in the plot. A good arc is vital if you want to engage your readers from start to finish, advises reedsy.com. Boy meets girl, boy fails girl, boy gets girl again is one classic example, the author says. Adding complexity to a basic story arc is part of what differentiates one story from another, even when they’re ostensibly dealing with the same ideas.

In fact, in creating blog content at Say It For You, we often use a softer version of the “hurt and rescue” story arc author D. Forbes Ley suggests salespeople use to close deals – identifying ways in something valued by readers might be in jeopardy, and then emphasizing two points::

  1. The business owner or professional practitioner understands readers’ concerns and needs.
  2. The business owners or practitioner has the experience, information, products and services to solve exactly those problems and meet precisely those needs.

Using those two points as basic content building blocks, there are a number of ways bloggers can follow Sonali Dev’s advice and “add complexity” to the story arc:

  • debunk a “myth” or false impression relating to your field
  • tie the content to a front-page news story having to do with a problem your company or practice helps solve
  • share a true story
  • use statistics to prove the extent of the problem
  • relate a celebrity story that illustrates the problem – or the solution you propose

Whichever of these “arc” tactics you select for any one blog post, a tip offered by Writer’s Digest contributor Estelle Erasmas should be kept in mind: “Focus on one specific point in time rather than on an entire life story.” Yes, your readers may in fact be seeking a way out of an uncomfortable situation, but might also be in search of information on how to perform a certain task, or looking to satisfy their curiosity on a particular subject.

There are more than one boy-meets-girl blogging arcs!

 

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Surprising Blog Titles

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“If it is broken, don’t fix it”, reads the tile of an article in this month’s issue of Indianapolis Monthly. (Wait — what?) Experts advise, the article relates, that, if it’s going to cost more than 50 percent of the value to fix an item, you’re better off replacing it with a new one. The author was apparently following a piece of advice from the Rob Powers Business Blog: For a catchy title, use the unusual insight, delivering the unexpected. “Write a headline that makes people do a kind of double-take when they read it. Make them wonder and ask if it’s even possible,” says incomedieary.com, citing a National Enquirer piece titled “How Jack the weakling Slaughtered the Dance Floor Hog”.

In two-part titles, we teach at Say It For You, the first part (the “huh?”) needs a subtitle to make clear what the article is about. The second part (the “oh!”) clarifies what the focus of the piece is going to be. Another title from this month’s issue of Indianapolis Monthly is an example of a “Huh?-Oh!”. The “Huh?” – Street Wise (this part could be about a variety of things from infrastructure to drug trafficking). The “Oh!” – : “A new retail space angles to be both sanctuary and style inspiration”,  with the article providing details about new streetwear retailer Sanctuary by Streetly.

To a certain degree, in business blog writing, we don’t have the luxury of using totally “mysterious” titles, since search engine algorithms will be matching the phrases used in our titles with the terms typed into readers’ search bars. For that reason, composing business blog post titles involves a combination of art and science, arousing readers’ curiosity and, at the same time, satisfying search engines. The title “Wink Wink”, for example, while a cute name (for a piece about tweed multi-effect eye shadows, is unlikely to link to a search for makeup options. The “Oh!” part of the equally enigmatic “Jump In”, on the other hand, explains that that the article features Bloomington’s Hopscotch Kitchen. “Slice of Life” is about Bargersville Pizza and Libations, while “Make a Break” is about Tennesee’s Maker City. The winning combination, it seems is to arouse curiosity to the point that readers want to find out what the devil that first part of the title means.

Where a lesson learned in one field of activity is applied to a completely different field of activity, those headlines grab people’s attention because they offer a completely new perspective on something, Rob Powell goes on to explain. Promise readers to help them avoid pain or failure, solve problems, and gain insights, but the story begins with surprising blog titles.

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Blogs Playing Defense

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“Despite a negative perception, Mayor Hogsett insists that downtown is the safest neighborhood in the city, accounting for less than 5 percent of all crime,” Susan Salaz writes in this month’s issue of Indanapolis Monthly, mounting a strong defensive play that serves as a great model for blog content writers.

“Today it is harder than ever to protect your brand,” Clara Doyle admits in publicrelay.com, discussing crisis communications. Knowing how to shield your company from mis/disinformation can be challenging. Your audience may lack the ability to critically evaluate media content, and this can negatively impact your brand,” she explains. If you are not prepared to manage fake news, your audience may be likely to believe stories containing misleading information. Your response must be proactive and consistent, Doyle stresses. And, if the information is the result of a mistake you’ve made, be forthright and transparent in dealing with the matter. .

At a time when your brand is under intense scrutiny, you must defend it with facts, advises Latana. Make sure your response:

  1. respects confidentiality
  2. does not contain offensive content
  3. is thoughtful

“In a time rife with polarization and confusion, the world needs true authority more than ever,” observes Lisa Seidenberg in greentarget.com. “As a communications director, you have the opportunity to position your firm’s experts to respond,” she urges. Since, at Say It For You, our writing team often function as “communications director” for the clients who hire us to bring their message to online readers, we know the important for mounting a strong defensive “play” in the form of blog content. Precisely because of the consistency with which useful, informative content has been offered over many months and even years, regular blog visitors are inclined to trust the information when it becomes necessary to “play defense”.

Marketing blogs are actually perfect vehicles for defusing not only false news, but ongoing misunderstandings related. Each time you post content (or use a freelance blog content writer to post content), you’re adding to the overall power of the story. The online searchers who found your blog may have concerns and may be incompletely informed, but the very fact they were directed to your blog means they had an interest in your subject and are looking for the very sort of products, services, and information you’re eager to provide!

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Reasons to Write a 300-Word Business Blog Post

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Fascinated by the Writer’s Yearbook 2023 article “10 Reasons to Write a 100-Word Story”, I began thinking of all the discussions around the questions of the optimal length for blog posts. Ran Walker, explaining while he’s stopped writing novels, said “I could no longer bring myself to write stories where I had to expand them beyond what I felt their natural lengths were.” Writing shorter stories forces you to refocus and choose only what’s important, Walker says. Word count matters, but it’s about condensing, not expanding, changing for the better the way you pace your story and what you choose to show the reader. Using just 100 words allows you to “create a resonance in a single moment.” Following is my (under-300-word) opinion post:

How long should your blog posts be? asks Wall Street Journal’s Joe Bunting. When it comes to our writing, we want more, he admits, not less: more readers, more comments, more backlinks, and more traffic. He’s experimented with different lengths, Bunting says, finding that each has advantages. Shorter posts tend to garner more comments, while longer posts get shared more widely. Medium-form posts are good for generating discussion. Very long, in-depth, heavily researched posts (2,400+ words long generate more Google traffic, he notes.

“Though content must be relevant, it might differ in types, mediums, formats, and style in order to arouse interest or evoke debate…but to be read at all, blog posts must always deliver upon their promise,” firstsiteguide.com cautions. “Before blogs became political in the early 2000s, they were merely means to make private thoughts and opinions public. The personal touch, however, remains their vital characteristic to date.”

Opinions have always differed on the optimal size for a blog post. Having composed blog posts (as both a Say It For You ghost writer and under my own name) numbering well into the tens of thousands, I’m still finding it difficult to fix on any rule other than “It depends!” I agree with Ran Walker that purposely keeping content short forces us to choose only those elements that drive home the single point that is the focus of that one post. Research on “duration neglect” reveals that when people assess an experience, they tend to forget or ignore its length, rating an experience based on the peak (the best or worst moment) and the ending. Writing shorter posts allows me to “create a resonance” around a single concept.

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