{"id":21124,"date":"2016-12-13T14:35:04","date_gmt":"2016-12-13T14:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fifteen-staging.fifteen.dev\/blog\/top-5-brand-blogs\/"},"modified":"2024-09-24T15:16:18","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T14:16:18","slug":"top-5-brand-blogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fifteendesign.co.uk\/blog\/top-5-brand-blogs\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 5 Brand Blogs"},"content":{"rendered":"

We like reading blogs. We\u2019re guessing you do too, which is why you\u2019re spending time here. But what makes a good brand blog can be incredibly subjective \u2013 we\u2019ve each got our own likes and dislikes. Without getting under the dashboard of those blogs with Google Analytics, it\u2019s tough to really say which are actually being read, let alone if they\u2019re achieving their goals.<\/p>\n

So what we\u2019re really left with is: what do we (people who work in the world of digital) think makes great brand blogs from the outside? What we\u2019ve chosen today are five interesting and varied business blogs that have a mix of great visuals, good user experience, and approach their respective industries in an effective manner. In short, these are great examples of blog content for 2016\/17.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Red Bull<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Can you even remember what Red Bull<\/a> do anymore? I think they made an energy drink years ago. But you wouldn\u2019t think they do in 2016, as they\u2019ve snowballed over the year into an amazing content marketing entertainment machine. Their reach stretches from the best new music to Formula 1 sponsorship. They host tonnes of extreme sports events. And all of this gets prime coverage on their blog.<\/p>\n

Red Bull pretty much cornered the market in providing this style of content to adrenaline-seeking millennials. You could argue now that they\u2019re all about creating content and not selling the energy drink. That they\u2019re a brand that\u2019s more famous for being a brand. But they are still the<\/em> textbook example of using blogging to promote a brand over using a blog as a sales pitch. (And the latter won\u2019t work these days.)<\/p>\n

Jack Wills<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Fashion retailer Jack Wills<\/a> has undergone significant rebranding recently, and the blog has formed a key part in displaying the new look and feel. The brand has always been about selling a lifestyle around its clothes, and its blog is the perfect way of showing that associated lifestyle.<\/p>\n

For those of us with long memories, Jack Wills always used to have physical handbooks that showed its products in an idealised lifestyle photo shoot. The digital handbook today<\/a> lives on through the blog, but it\u2019s opened out to become a fashion lifestyle magazine \u2013 focusing on locations, people and events that the brand wants to show an association with.<\/p>\n

What the Jack Wills handbook also highlights is the distinction between product pages and blogs. Brands should use product pages to sell their products. Blogs should be about other things: to retain customers or bring in new ones via increasingly engaging, Google-loving methods.<\/p>\n

General Electric<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Isn\u2019t energy one of the most boring industries you can imagine? Maybe. But General Electric have set the benchmark for producing some super-engaging content around this subject, with more than<\/a> just one blog<\/a>. They\u2019ve looked at the industry from a different angle entirely, used amazing photography, gifs, infographics and more to captivate and inform about a complex industry. The subjects on their GE Reports blog on their industry and technology generate a sense of wonder.<\/p>\n

It just goes to show that no matter how dry you think your industry might be to people, there\u2019s always a way to make things engaging.<\/p>\n

Etsy<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Etsy\u2019s blog<\/a> is a great example of providing content that’s fit for purpose. And it\u2019s simple in reality. To attract and retain people who are interested in all things craft-related (so users use the Etsy site and platform) they discuss relevant topics. The latest trends, gift ideas as well as their own awards. Every post is visually engaging and uses beautiful imagery.<\/p>\n

Medium<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Maybe this is cheating a bit. (It almost certainly is.) Though Medium is itself a brand, it is an amalgamation of writing from both individuals and now other brands. It is a magazine made up of blogs. It is the ultimate form of content curation, as Medium gets other people to create all this content for them. Getting so many users to contribute also means it becomes a central destination for thousands of social shares too (that\u2019s because if you\u2019ve written something there, you want people to know about it).<\/p>\n

In short, Medium is the ultimate content distribution platform. It\u2019s a simple way for users and other businesses to reach a large online audience \u2013 without their users navigating a complex content management system. It\u2019s a smorgasbord of storytelling, creativity and user interaction, putting words (which is really what blogs are about) at the centre of their whole world.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s best about Medium in our eyes though is its exceptional interface. The user experience is phenomenally clean, with large, crisp fonts. Reading any post is simple and pleasurable, and highlights how UX helps make strong content even more effective.<\/p>\n

Vote For Us In The UK Blog Awards<\/h2>\n

We have been nominated for both the Digital & Technology and PR, Media, Marketing & Communications categories and we would really appreciate if you could spare a minute to vote for our blog in these awards.<\/p>\n

Voting for the UK Blog Awards 2017 is live and closes on Monday 19th December.<\/strong> The public vote is an important aspect of the judging procedure as it allows the contestant’s\u00a0community to have their say and show their support for the content on the blog. Once the public vote is over, the top entrants from each category will go through to Phase Two: The expert judging panel.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We like reading blogs. We\u2019re guessing you do too, which is why you\u2019re spending time here. But what makes a good brand blog can be incredibly subjective \u2013 we\u2019ve each got our own likes and dislikes. Without getting under the dashboard of those blogs with Google Analytics, it\u2019s tough to really say which are actually […]","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTop 5 Brand Blogs - Fifteen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Today we've chosen our five top brand blogs that have a mix of great visuals, good user experience, and approach their respective industries effectively.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fifteendesign.co.uk\/blog\/top-5-brand-blogs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Top 5 Brand Blogs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today we've chosen our five top brand blogs that have a mix of great visuals, good user experience, and approach their respective industries effectively.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fifteendesign.co.uk\/blog\/top-5-brand-blogs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fifteen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FifteenDesign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-13T14:35:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-24T14:16:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fifteendesign.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Screen-Shot-2016-12-11-at-13.10.15.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kyle Lindsay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kyle Lindsay\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Top 5 Brand Blogs - 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