Everybody needs a little inspiration when it comes to creative and fresh blog writing and blog marketing. That’s why, earlier this year, we introduced “Blog Like The Big Brands.” Each week, we dissect the inventive, imaginative and whip-smart company blogs produced by some of the world’s most powerful brands. And every week, we find truly inspirational blogging ideas and techniques just itching to be implemented into our own blogs. Here now is our list of our favorite blogs of the year; hopefully they’ll inspire you, too!
1.) West Elm: Back in October, we gushed over the blogging brilliance of furniture and home accessory company West Elm. Simply put, West Elm has created a gold standard in home decor blogging with its Front and Main blog. Stylish but approachable. Aspirational but artistic. West Elm has accomplished the rare feat of giving design blogging a heart and soul.
2.) Sesame Street: T is for Tumblr. Who woulda thunk that Sesame Street would nail Tumblr better than most hipster clothing labels? Yup. Big Bird and the gang take blogging for business on Tumblr to a new, fun level. The blog manages to be rich with brand identity while speaking directly to Tumblr’s super-cool audience. If your company is considering using the platform, check out how the residents of Sesame Street do it first.
3.) HTC: Nearly every week, we try to point out what regular ol’ bloggers can perhaps take away from the blogs of mega corporations. With HTC, the takeaways were many — but the chief among them was design. Instead of just dryly talking about mobile technology, HTC shows readers how its products work and keeps the design clean and inviting. Uncluttering your blog is maybe the easiest and coolest way to give your blog a face lift.
4.) Jet Blue: The quirky and lovable airline does so many digital marketing things just right and blogging is one of them. BlueTales shows a more behind the scenes look at how the airline runs and reads like a magazine about the industry. But Jet Blue’s strong brand narrative is still present, which makes the read interesting for everybody.
5.) Coca-Cola: Naturally, Coke dominates in the blogging marketing arena but the soda pop company makes our list for managing to juggle several company blogs with precision, personality and innovation. Also, the company learns continually from its blogging mistakes — and that’s something every company should try to do.
