Does your business operate in the green sector? Perhaps one of your key goals is to promote a product or service that is eco-friendly and environmentally aware. Your main selling point is likely to be your website and you may already regularly create content for your blog and use social media to both inform and entertain readers, and connect with potential clients. But have you considered that your audience is far wider than the potential customers who are already searching for your product or service?

Business owners who write their own blogs and social media updates sometimes assume they must stick to a narrow range of topics closely aligned with their product or service – but a broader topic range may bring in more potential customers.

Expand your reach by expanding your content

As an enterprise in the green sector what you offer may be of interest to the wide range of people interested in saving the planet. They, in turn, may be interested in sharing the news about environmentally friendly options like those offered by your firm, even if they have no current need for your product or service. In order to broaden your audience, you’ll need to broaden your content to include a range of topics of interest to that wider audience.

Generating topic ideas for your blog

If you’re a ‘green writer’ who is more business person than writer, generating topic ideas can be more of a struggle that writing, but once you get a feel for it, you’ll find that there are numerous sources of information you can use as a springboard for ideas and content creation. Here are some of the best ways to get the ideas flowing:

• Google Alerts. Add a number of Google Alerts with the relevant keywords to advise you of the green topics in Google News. This may include “solar power” or “water pollution” or “environment news” depending on your requirements. Keep the definition fairly specific for the topics that may interest your readers.
• Research environment sites. Most sites will include the option of adding your email address to receive newsletters, updates and company details. Search under the environmental genre you wish to target and add your email address for those websites which offer interesting news and views. It may be wise to filter these (and GAlerts) into a dedicated folder to avoid information overload in your inbox!
• Government sites. Local, state and federal governments often have interesting and usable news updates on environmental matters. Make a note of the sites that are highly relevant and contain up-to-date, interesting information on topics you think will be of interest to your readers. Check the sites regularly for news or subscribe to their emails or to their updates on social media.
• Environment related blogs. There are many blogs that focus on green topics. The issues discussed and opinions expressed can stimulate your own thoughts and post ideas.

Growing your community on social media

As a general rule, people interested in eco-friendly services and products and environmental news tend to be very active on social media. This includes Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and now the image-focused Pinterest. It may prove to be rewarding to tap into this active community. By maintaining a presence on a number of social media platforms you achieve four things.

1. You can generate blog ideas from comments made by supporters.
2. More people will read your blog posts if they are promoted on social media.
3. The wider community of people interested in helping save the planet may be attracted to your social media sites and through this will become aware of your eco-friendly product or service.
4. Publishing and sharing quality information, images and views can help to build your community of readers.

The opportunity to connect with people interested in supporting the services or products of eco-friendly companies will be enhanced if you consistently deliver quality content via your blog and social media channels. A bigger audience and improved brand recognition can in turn increase your volume of enquiries and sales.

The modern day sales process often begins with people searching for information online. Creating interesting and share-able content gives you an opportunity to reach out to those people. If you aren’t able to create the amount or quality of content you need in-house, consider approaching content creation services like Article Writers Australia for assistance, rather than forgo the valuable opportunity.