Shocking Secrets for Your Corporate Blog?

Admit it. The headline “10 Shocking Secrets of Flight Attendants” gets your attention. It certainly did mine. The Mental Floss magazine article offers an inside glimpse into the life of a flight attendant. Always on the lookout for ways to add interest in blog content writing, I found a lot to like about the piece.

“If the plane door is open, we’re not getting paid. The clock doesn’t start until the craft pushes away from the gate,” explains Heather Poole.

Significantly, (and this makes for a good teaching point for Indianapolis blog content writers), Poole makes sure to show how the information about the pay system for flight attendants relates to readers: “Flight delays, cancellations, and layovers affect us just as much as they do passengers – maybe even more.”  In corporate blogging training, I’m always encouraging the use of fascinating “tidbits” and statistics to engage online readers’ interest. But that’s not enough; readers need to know why you’re taking up their eyeball time – in what way does the information have relevance to them?

“We will notice if you try to sneak a dead body onto a plane.” With this “shocking secret”, Poole is following two rules of thumb for effective business writing of any type, including corporate blogging for business.

• She’s relating to a recent news story (a Miami passenger who tried to board a flight with his dead mother inside a garment bag, because it was too expensive to transport a corpse). As a professional ghost blogger for business, I know that one way to ensure blog content is fresh is tying the content to current events.
   
• She’s using the information to showcase the good customer service flight attendants try to offer. Talking about deaths that occur during a flight, Poole explains, “On those very rare occasions, the crew will do everything possible to manage the situation with sensitivity and respect.” At Say It For You, we realize SEO marketing blogs have to be focused on readers’ needs, yet at the same time the content must showcase the expertise and the caring of the business owner or professional practitioner.

What “shocking secrets” and “flights of fancy” can you find to share in your corporate blog writing?