Finding Your Blogging Niche

Every blogger finds their own niche market to corner eventually. Sometimes it takes revamping your image, your style, even yourself, every so often until you find that one sweet spot. Once you find what you're passionate about and find yourself pouring everything into post after post you'll understand what it means to have found your niche.

How to find your niche:

1. Follow your heart
OK that sounds easy enough but what if what you are obsessed with today bores you in a week? Then you're probably not passionate about it.  What do you spend your free time doing? What would you love to learn more about?

2. Focus
If you've decided to be a fashion blogger, your readers might get confused when you start posting recipes or garden photos. Keep your eye on the prize and stay focused on what your readers want to read. What do they come to you for?

3. Be Creative
Keep your readers interested by posting creative, new and original ideas. If they wanted someone else's point of view, they would read that blog.  Hook them with your style and they'll keep coming back for more.

Why You Need A Blog

At some point every small business owner asks themselves how they can reach more customers. Once they discuss the joys and advantages of an online presence, they hopefully find that social media, online store platforms and blogging are essential to success.  Do you need a blog? Short answer: Yes. A blog will not only provide you with an outlet for advertising new products and social media content but it will give you an edge over your competition.

A blog will make you stand out as a leader in your industry. It will give you authority over what it is that you sell, be it a product or a service, because you have the confidence and the knowledge to share what you know and how to put it in practice.  Think about it from your customer's point of view: They want to buy from the best, and what better way to stand out as the best than by being an expert? Share the newest industry trends, rules of thumb and answer questions that customers might have about your products and services. Show them new ways to use old things and you'll have them hooked.

Use your blog to share new products as they come in or to revamp the image of some old favorites. Post clear and beautiful photos to draw your customer into your store, whether it be brick and mortar or an online platform. Treat your posts as a shopping catalog and give your customers something gorgeous to drool over before they rush out to purchase it!

You'll notice that these posts will fuel your social media and give you something to talk about with your customers. Connect with fans over new ideas and turn those fans into lifelong customers. People are very loyal when you make their shopping experience more personal. Have them share their photos and experiences with you via social media to keep everyone engaged in what's going on. Connect with more customers and give yourself a creative outlet while doing so. Trust me, it's fun, that's why so many people around the world have made it their living.

So do you need a blog? If you're looking to build a successful business that reaches people on a personal level, creating a loyal fan base who trust in what you're selling and how you're selling it, then absolutely.

Scheduling, Scheduling, Scheduling

I am notorious for lists and schedules and having multiple calendars throughout the house and office. I love reminders and checklists and post-it notes! So it comes to no one's surprise that I use an editorial calendar to schedule my blog posts and related social media for my own work and for my clients.  It's nothing fancy, just an excel spreadsheet that I've color coded beyond belief. It reminds me what the heck I'm tweeting about today even though there might not be a blog post to promote. It also lets me schedule out my week, even month or season, in the event that I have a massive brainstorm and come up with 8 new blog-worthy topics one morning.

Here is a lovely post by Tamara Bowman from The Sits Girls, about scheduling everything. That means your posts, but it also means scheduling the time you spend supporting other bloggers. She states that "blogging is a community activity" and she is definitely right! If no one is commenting, how can you be sure that anyone is getting any use out of your content? What if you didn't explain it as well as you thought you did but no one spoke up so now you're just confusing the internet? What if you were really proud of your newly posted photograph but no one else shared the love?

Comments keep the blog world spinning. And just because you've transitioned from reader to writer doesn't mean you have to stop reading and loving and sharing others content.

So speaking of sharing the love, comment below and let us know how you keep everything organized!

What We Offer

Yesterday we told you who we are. Today we're going to share what we do. When we say we help our clients grow their fan base, we mean it. We take the internet by storm and make everyone listen until we've got them waiting on pins and needles for your next update! Here's how we do that:

What We Do

Blogging

It's a fact that you absolutely need a blog to support your company. Companies with blogs appear to be industry leaders and others will come to you for updates and advice.  We can create, re-vamp or take over your blog for you and build an environment where your customers will flock for news on new items, promotions or events.  We recommend having 1-3 blog posts per week on a set schedule to keep your readers engaged. This will include original content as text updates, photos or graphics, links back to your website or store as well as answering and engaging in any comments from readers. Posts will be specifically about your company or related to your industry, depending on your requirements. This rate is 'per post' so you can decide how often you want to update based on your budget.

Social Media

You have to promote your business or no one will ever find you.  Social media gets you out there and -boom- now you're a national brand! We use Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest, Vine and whatever else might pop up to promote, promote, promote! We use a scheduling system to simplify what goes where and when so everything stays organized. To promote your company we recommend having 3-5 social media posts per day. This will include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. These updates will not necessarily be duplicated across all platforms as that would make the information redundant, but it will all relate back to your business and blog.  This includes engaging and responding to comments from all media posts. The rate is 'per day' as we are basically on-call to answer your fans throughout the entire day.

Graphic Design

We offer original designs for logos, promotions or any graphic you might want to use or have included in your social media. This also includes photography and photo editing. We have created postcards, banners, business cards, presentation folders, signs and apparel to promote events and merchandise. This includes documents and marketing material, videos for YouTube and Vine, as well as time spent in-store for photography. This is our basic 'hourly rate' for miscellaneous items and projects.

Event Promotion & Projects

Do you have a big event coming up? We can help get the word out and work with you without any big commitments.  We'll use any or all of the three services listed above and we'll make your event the grandest yet!

If you want to see our most updated rates, visit the Services page on our website! Contact us for a quote!

Introductions

Hello! We are Hot Holland Social, a freelance social media management agency that helps other companies build their audience and turn fans into customers.  We know it's a funny name but we still like it!

 The Hot Holland Social staff lives for social media. We thrive online and love the results we can get with hard work. We pride ourselves in making your company successful via the mediums that we've found have worked best, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. Hot Holland Social can help you create an online following or build on what you already have. Our social media strategies will push your business in a brand new direction and turn your fans into customers!

We are based out of Lakeland, Florida, and are able to personally work with local companies within Polk, Hillsborough and their surrounding counties. Hot Holland Social can work with anyone nation-wide as well, and will tailor packages to fit our long-distance relationship!

 

This is Jessi Holland, our Social Media Manager. Jessi is the brains behind Hot Holland Social. She runs the blog and social media as well as manages client relationships and marketing. Jessi works non-stop to bring her ideas to fruition and she will bring that same tenacity to building your company's fan base! 

Stay tuned for more on what we can do for you personally, social media news and tips, marketing ideas and random brainstorms!