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So how do you make your website more engaging and more appealing, without meaningless drivel that just about everyone knows? In other words: Why would I want to visit your website without needing to buy something? Well, it’s conversation, my dear Watson. As pointed out in “You Can’t Afford Not to Blog,” blogging is an essential facet of business today—and yes, that means you, small and mid-sized businesses.

And if you can’t do it, get someone to help you. Share some advice, stories and topics relevant to your business. Educate your market. But these are generalities. Let’s try making hardware interesting. Can we? Well, the hardware chain TrueValue may have done it. I’ll let their website do some of the explaining.

Do-It-Yourself Interactive Branding

TrueValue teamed up with five bloggers to be a part of the DIY Blog Squad and share their own home improvement experiences and know-how. Check back through the end of December for project ideas, advice and inspiration to help you tackle your own To Do list!
The members of the DIY Blog Squad are:

• Young House Love – We’re 25. Our house is 50. It’s old enough to be our parent, but we treat it like it’s our baby. Here you’ll find our adventures and misadventures in home improvement.
• The Lettered Cottage - I’m Layla, and my “Mr. Right” is Kevin: We’re the Palmers, but around these parts, we’re best known as the Lettered Couple.  We are dream believers.
• Bungalow ’23 - The restoration and home improvement journal of a 1923 craftsman bungalow in Minneapolis, MN.
• All Bower Power - ABP is devoted to suburban home decor, renovations and the fine art of laughing.
• The Handyguys Podcast – A couple of guys who know a lot and have distinct opinions on the rest with real experience to back it up.

See? Not only are these blog topics interesting and relevant to the company’s mission, they’re highly specific and let people delve into topics most relevant to their lifestyles. And while there’s no shortage of DIY (do-it-yourself) material on the net, TrueValue is creating a meaningful community, educating their market and building brand equity.

Next Generation Marketing Will Begin and End Online

Showing that you care is more than just the sale at the store—though that’s essential too—but the conversation can begin and end on company websites. After all, people are as comfortable as they’ve ever been in front of screens, and it’s beginning to look the next generation of consumers cannot envision a day without sitting in front of one.

A study by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that kids are spending nearly every waking minute in front of a screen. The study observed children ages 8 to 18, and found that they spend over 7.5 hours a day on their cell phones, computers, or TVs. In other words, the new era of marketing means that the dialogue is genuine (remember “di” meaning “two” as opposed to the singular monologue?). Customers have a real voice today and if they can look at your brand as something more than a mouthpiece.

Community Content is King

Does that mean your restaurant can give cooking tips? Or your accounting firm can hash out columns on tax-saving premises? Giving advice is nothing new, but depending on input from readers and outside contributors for free is a relatively new concept. But let’s say, you have no conversation starters that you can think of. There are other opportunities to engage your reader or customers beyond “traditional” blogging, but learning this craft is fundamental to any business today.

Left Behind?

Those that stay behind, will be asking themselves the same question when people did in the mid 1990s: “Maybe we should get a website for our business?” And if TrueValue can make hardware and DIY an escapist and fun activity, imagine what you can do with your business.

Stay tuned for the next post about Game playing: IKEA launched a Facebook campaign that put followers on a virtual scavenger hunt.

A Guest Post by Michael Mitchell:

As an senior consumer trends analyst and consultant, Mike Mitchell has profiled and reported on emerging consumer trends throughout the globe. From people raising urban chickens for eggs to bolster the local food movement to the emergence of colored beers like electric green and fluorescent blue, he has continually unlocked some of the deepest and most fascinating forms of modern consumer behavior.  His interests lie primarily in crowd behavior and crowd intelligence, as well as consumer sentiment, sector blending,  the irrationality of buying and Gen Y trends.