Need help in creating a blog that is killer? Look no further than the Kardashians for inspiration.
“In order to win at life, you need some Kim K skills, period.”
Do you agree you need Kim K skills?
Well, that quote is from Kanye, who was bigging up his wife’s life skills to GQ Magazine in 2014.
But love her or loathe her (and loathe her you might), Kim Kardashian undeniably does have superior skills when it comes to getting noticed.
She knows how to work her personal brand. She knows how to leverage the media for her own gain. She knows how to amplify her reputation and evolve with her audience.
So, although her ludicrously lavish life and trivialities that play out on TV might make you want to switch off, you may just be able to learn a thing or two when it comes to business.
Try to keep up (ahem).
WORK WITH OTHERS
The Kardashians do a stellar job of collaborating with their family and cross-promoting within the circle.
Kylie Jenner’s label, Kylie Cosmetics, is a great example of this. Within that brand, she’s brought out collaborations with all of her famous siblings, which ultimately help them (and her) to sell more products in the long run.
The result is that the collaborations open up a world of possibilities. If you’re a Kim fan, you’ll buy her collab with Kylie. If you’re a Khloe fan, you’ll be interested in her collection with Kylie.
Of course, it also means she can cross-promote on her siblings’ channels, which reaches an impressive combination of 468 million people on Instagram alone.
HOW THIS CAN HELP IN CREATING YOUR BLOG:
You don’t have to have super famous siblings or friends to learn a lesson from this. Friends, family members and business connections can still have a big impact on your blog without being megastars.
Use your network wisely. Consider who you know and ask them to collaborate with you.
Here are a couple of highly effective ways of doing this:
- Contribute to one another’s blogs, therefore increasing your exposure by reaching their audience.
- Quote influencers in your blog and shout out to them on social media. There’s a high possibility they’ll share your post and their followers may pick it up.
- Put on a joint event with key influencers in your biz, and blog about it.
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
The Kardashians have their audience knowledge down. They know exactly who is interested in them and make sure that they’re maintaining that interest by providing relevant and engaging content across all their channels.
In particular, Kim understands the mindset of her audience and does everything she can to appeal to it. Her portfolio of beauty products is diverse, but each is focused on her core themes of glam and luxury, as she knows that these are the attributes that her audience connects with.
Kim launched not one, but two super successful mobile apps: Kim Kardashian Hollywood and Kim Kardashian West. Each app was tailored to a different segment of her audience to make sure she was appealing to her whole customer base.
HOW THIS CAN HELP IN CREATING YOUR BLOG:
The important lesson here is to create content that is valuable and relevant to your audience.
It might sound obvious, but so many companies are still incredibly internal-facing and churn out content that they assume is interesting to their readers, but it’s actually not what they want to read about.
The answer? Do your market research. Speak to your customers. Ask what they want to hear about and what valuable content means to them. That way you’ll have a solid understanding of what type of content to create to increase engagement.
DIFFERENTIATE YOURSELF FROM THE PACK
Differentiation is an art that the Kardashians have completely mastered.
Let’s look at the family as a whole: you’ve got a huge family who stick together. No celebrity feuds. No one-up-man-ship going on. Sure, they have occasional spats, but on the whole they symbolize what it means to be a modern family with surprising levels of sisterhood considering how much they’re pitted against each other.
The world wants to be part of their gang.
And to me, that is their most important USP.
However, they all have their individual differentiating factors. And then take these and maximize on what they’re already known for.
Kylie made headlines for having her lips done. She sold millions of lip kits.
Khloe got cheated on. She bought out a fitness DVD called ‘Revenge Body’.
Kim is renowned for her hourglass figure. She brought out a body shaping corset.
This way, they’re constantly building on their successes and the public’s opinion of them.
HOW THIS CAN HELP IN CREATING YOUR BLOG:
Find out what truly differentiates your brand from the competition. But not only that, build on this USP to create a blog that’s a unique source of information.
This is where content strategy is a vital part of the equation (and where a lot of brands fall short).
Putting out random blog content with no planning isn’t going to hit the mark. A strategist will delve into your industry, your brand and how your content can shine against the competition.
DIVERSIFY YOUR TOPICS
Diversification is a key skill of the Kardashians. Swinging from cupcake endorsement to diet pills, they have their fingers in a lot of pies.
Credit cards, fragrances, apps, clothing lines, it’s a long long list.
But this works for them. Because they’ve consistently evolved over the years, going where their customers are going.
The trick is, that it’s still on-brand. Even when Kim moved into the tech world with her apps, it was still relatable as she’s rarely pictured without a phone in her hand.
HOW THIS CAN HELP IN CREATING YOUR BLOG:
Create topics that are broad enough to keep your audience interested and realise you’re not a one-trick pony. But, you’ll also need to make sure you don’t go too broad and stray from your brand.
We like to use four ‘content buckets’, which are essentially four themes that blog posts and content must fall into.
This way, your blog is always relevant without being random.
KEEP IT CONVERSATIONAL
The Kardashians are followed around by a camera crew 24/7. This means we get to see an ‘unfiltered’ version (to an extent obviously).
We see them relaxed with their family, arguing with their friends, business deals go wrong and get to celebrate their wins with them too.
It’s successful because you feel connected to them. Their willingness to expose themselves at all times, letting you into the details of their lives means we feel like we know them.
HOW THIS CAN HELP IN CREATING YOUR BLOG:
Keep your tone of voice conversational, cutting out chunky paragraphs.
You want to build a rapport with your audience with valuable, engaging content that they trust.
Look at your blog as a conversation. You’re talking to your friends, helping them out in areas of their life that need it.
That’s when the real magic of your blog will start, as people will begin to look to your blog as their go-to source of information.
DON’T OVERSHARE
Of course, the Kardashians have stepped out of line too.
On the whole, this is due to oversharing. Let’s face it, everywhere you look you’re likely to find a Kardashian. They’re everywhere.
And this success can be repellent for some consumers, who are sick of seeing them.
Hilariously, there’s even an app called K Blocker, a Kardashian ad and content blocker.
HOW THIS CAN HELP IN CREATING YOUR BLOG:
The lesson here is simple. Make sure your brand is everywhere your consumer is, but only share content that’s helpful, sincere and genuine. Consumers will soon start tuning you out if you become too wrapped up in yourself and bombard them with irrelevant content.
HAVE FUN
The Kardashians aren’t scared to laugh at themselves, which works in their favour.
When Kris Cosmetics hijacked Kylie Cosmetics, she brought out a lipstick called ‘Your Sister’s Going to Jail’, which is a little pop at a clip from Keeping Up with the Kardashians’.
Of course, with celebs that are perpetually in our eye line, it’s imperative that they’re able to find humour in situations. Laughter is the best medicine and it helps us to remain connected with them.
HOW THIS CAN HELP IN CREATING YOUR BLOG:
Inject humour into your blog where you can.
Share funny experiences through the use of storytelling. If there’s an event happening in your industry that you can put a funny spin on, by all means talk about it!
Read more about how to use comedy in your writing here. It can be a slippery slope, so make sure you’re on the right side of funny without your jokes falling flat.
DON’T BE SCARED OF EXPOSURE
The Kardashians never shy away from exposure. In fact, they actively make sure they’re photographed on a daily basis in order to stay current and relevant.
The well-known celebrity mantra of ‘I can’t stand being in the public eye. It’s tiresome being in the limelight.’ Not for the Kardashians.
They live their lives out in the open. They know their imperfections and they capitalise on them.
HOW THIS CAN HELP IN CREATING YOUR BLOG:
Not posting because you’re scared of making a mistake can hold back your blog from success.
Be (strategically) bold in your choices, even if you sometimes highlight a mistake. There’s a school of thought in psychology that says people who make mistakes and own up to them are more likeable.
You can use this in your blog to become more relatable.
CREATE INTRIGUE
The marmite style of the Kardashians has achieved something pretty rare. They’ve managed to earn the intrigue of their haters, not just their fans.
By creating a lifestyle that many people aspire for, the family is not only tapping into their target audience, but they are also reaching out to other market segments that are intrigued by their way of life.
They don’t need everybody to love them in order to get the exposure they need. They’re clearly aware of this and profit from it.
HOW THIS CAN HELP IN CREATING YOUR BLOG:
Intrigue is going to be your blog’s secret weapon.
Create killer headlines that reel people in. Your headline is your entry point into your reader’s world, which is an incredibly busy space packed full of content.
Check out this handy post from marketing guru, Neil Patel, on creating headlines that will pique interest and increase engagement.
BE CONSISTENT
We’ve established that above everything, the Kardashians are consistent. Chances are, in an average day you’re likely to come across a Kardashian-related piece of info somewhere.
It’s perfectly engineered, from their partnerships with E!, right through to their makeup papped family outings, everything is designed for our eyes.
They understand that consistency is key and keep that in mind when crafting the messages they send through their marketing campaigns and even their social media posts.
Their marketing strategy is consumer-driven and as a result, they have a huge social media presence. They know that their fans want to know what they eat, what they wear, where they go and how they live their lives. By connecting with their fans on such a regular basis, they’re creating a loyal community.
HOW THIS CAN HELP IN CREATING YOUR BLOG:
Establish a content calendar that you follow religiously.
Don’t miss posts and always create the most relevant and valuable content for your target audience – using those content buckets (themes) we talked about earlier.
Create topics based on keyword research so you’re more likely to connect with the right people through blogging for SEO purposes, rather than hitting and hoping. That way you can expand your audience reach.
This consistency will create a loyal community that are looking out for your posts at the same day, same time.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If there’s anything we can learn from the Kardashians, it’s to make sure we’re as in touch with our audience as possible.
Regardless of what their critics are saying, the Kardashian family has managed to stay relevant and keep their brand highly profitable in a fluctuating industry for years. The Kardashian brand may not be around forever (although it feels that way), but they’ve learnt to capitalise on their personal branding in a way that many marketers respect, though they may not want to admit it.
Love you,
Konrad and The Creative Copywriter team x
For more tips and tricks to crafting a killer blog, check out this great infographic from Visual.ly
