Dee Thomson is a blogger and content strategist who posts on her site and social media accounts under the name A Dash of Dee, and she was one of the special guest interviews for week two. Thomson’s commentary on content marketing and strategy—though loose in definition when held up against the readings of Ana Lopes, Beatriz Casais, and Matt Bowman—was relevant to my understanding of the world of professional or business blogging. However, I did find her approach to maintaining attention, traffic or brand relevancy through content scheduling concerningly lax.
Unfortunately for me, the assigned readings also did not cover content scheduling and instead chose to focus on the methods of, theories about, and justifications for content marketing and strategy. This is understandable considering the readings are more focused on the broader usage of content marketing and strategy in a business context, where more resources for producing content, more platforms for posting content, and bigger budgets with higher demands on returns are part of the equation—while Thomson only covers her niche of business blogging.
She frequently talked about the importance of you, the blogger, when crafting and posting your work. Idealistic sayings such as “do what works best for you” are littered throughout the interview, reinforced by stories of using pre-made content and automatic posting tools so the blogger can take some time off. Thomson even talks about the benefits of reposting old content to give it a chance to find fresh eyes. Giving Thomson the benefit of the doubt that blogging works differently than other social media platforms, meaning the only algorithm one is concerned about is the search engine—resulting in a focus on word counts and SEO—her methods would hold weight. But when engaging in platforms such as Instagram, Twitter (X), TikTok or YouTube that are powered by unforgiving algorithms, this laid-back approach will not lead to growth. These algorithms demand upload consistency, relevant tags, and user engagement to succeed. Missing out on the latest trend in favour of posting pre-made content could lead to lower engagement and traffic, keeping your brand stagnant.