Blogging Best Practices for Interior Designers

Interior Design Blogs offer interior designers a ton of opportunity to connect with potential clients. And it’s no secret that numerous designers have great interior design blogs that are growing in popularity. This week’s post will review a few of the interior design blogs that are excellent examples of blogging best practices for interior designers.

Design Sponge – This is an awesome interior design blog that is updated 6-8 times per day with fresh and interesting design content. With blog posts ranging from Before/After projects to Spaces & Places, to DIY projects and more, there is plenty of content within this blog to keep readers engaged. One neat way Design Sponge makes their content super user (and SEO) friendly is with the “I Want To” icon, which has links to popular content categories, such as “Look at Homes,” “Start a Make Over” and “Get Crafty”. Posting fresh, interesting content on a regular basis is a blogging best practice that Design Sponge definitely is getting right.

Decor8Blog – This bright and colorful interior design blog is full of amazing images and eye catching graphics. The blog appeals to the very visual nature of interior design, with large, bright photographs of interior design ideas/inspiration, the interiors of amazing homes, and DIY craft ideas. This blog is a great example of the blogging best practice of incorporating graphics within each post. The graphics on the blog really make each post come alive and help to set the overall tone for the blog.

Material Girls – This is a really fun blog that’s written by multiple interior designers across 5 major cities in the United States. Something really cool about this blog is the high level of encouragement the writers give users to interact with them via social media. At the top of the homepage are links to connect on Facebook and Twitter, and on the left sidebar is another invitation to connect on Facebook, along with an icon with a link to follow the blog on Pinterest. Additionally, each post has numerous social media and social bookmarking icons clearly labeled for easy sharing. Incorporating social media and encouraging reader engagement is a blogging best practice Material Girls is doing extremely well.

A few words about blogging and Twitter~

One great way to quickly get the word out about your interior design blog and connect with potential clients is by using Twitter to engage with your audience. Here are a couple of interior designers who exemplify best Twitter practices for interior designers.

Debbie Travis – Debbie Travis is a great example of how an interior designer can use Twitter to establish themselves as an authority on design, and build a loyal following. She posts often (at least 3x per day) and she interacts with her followers in a timely fashion. She has well over the recommended 200 followers (she actually has over 10K!), and her personal picture is incorporated into her account.

Yanko Design – This interior design Twitter handle is an excellent example of how a designer can build a following by sending out helpful Tweets to their audience. Easy DIY projects, design ideas, and product recommendations make this interior design Twitter feed a prime example of how followers will come if one is posting truly useful content.

What are some of your favorite design blogs and/or Twitter handles? Comment & Share!

Social Media in the Interior Design Industry

Social Media is a great resource for people in the Interior Design Industry. This really makes sense, as interior design is a visual art. Interior Design clients want to be inspired – to have new, exciting ideas triggered about beautifying their homes. Social Media and Interior Design are the perfect match, because designers can connect with prospective clients with visual ideas and inspiration. This post will focus on some of the cool ways interior designers are using social media to connect with consumers.

Blogs

Blogs are one of the major social media tools for interior designers. They give designers a chance to show off their best work and interact with potential clients in an informal manner. And they give consumers a chance to be inspired by new ideas and find a great local interior designer. Good interior design blogs are full of crisp, clear images of a designer’s interesting work, posts about the latest trends in the design industry, tips and ideas, links to other social media networks the designer is on and of course, contact information so interested clients can hire the designer.

Pinterest

With interior design being such a visual business, the highly visual social media network Pinterest is the perfect forum for interior designers to connect with potential clients. Visual images are such a powerful tool for interior designers. Images can convey the quality of a person’s work and a designer’s overall style and flavor, without saying a word.  Interior Designers are using Pinterest to showcase their best work, new ideas, and decorating tips/tricks they’ve picked up along the way. The best Interior Designer Pinterest pages take consumers on a visual journey of ideas and inspiration, giving prospective clients a flavor for their approach to design.

Instagram

Instagram is another extremely visual social networking website, where interior designers are sharing ideas and connecting with prospective clients on a very personal level. Interior Designers are posting everything from recent projects and new ideas/trends to pictures from their personal life (cute dogs! amazing vacations!) on the picture sharing Instagram and consumers seem to be loving it (proven by the THOUSANDS of Instagram followers the best designers on Instagram have). What’s really interesting about Instagram is how interior designers are sharing bits and pieces of their personal lives with consumers on this platform. This gives prospective clients a look at not only what a designer’s style is, but the kind of personality they could be working with if they were to hire the designer. A great working relationship is so important – Instagram gives interior designers a chance to show they not only can produce good work, but that they’re fun, creative people to work with.

YouTube

YouTube is an interesting resource for Interior Designers, because it gives them a chance to show their projects off in real time and it also allows prospective clients to get to know their personalities – and even to feel as though they already know them a bit. Effective Interior Design YouTube channels offer advice, tips/ideas, and showcases of projects completed by interior designers. Some designers even use a reality show format to engage with consumers and show them the behind the scenes aspects of interior design, which seems to be a great way to attract viewers (popular Interior Design YouTube channels have over 100K subscribers!) and show prospective clients their style and personality. Other interior designers produce detailed how-to and before/after videos that provide consumers with ideas, and that also showcase the designer’s work.

No matter which social networks interior designers choose to be active on, it’s clear that social media is a valuable tool in the Interior Design Industry. From the number of follows, likes, views, and comments on these various networks, it’s clear that consumers are eager to engage with interior designers via social media. Interior Designers and Home Decorators should examine the social media resources available to them and start building their SM presence today – prospective clients already are and so is the competition!

Stay tuned for next week’s post on interior designers and mobile applications.