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When visiting the Hulu blog today to see if they were up to anything worth writing about, I was greeted by a familiar voice (well, in text form). A voice that I have enjoyed for years through film, and "literature" (he's got a couple books). A voice from a man who is ironically most famous for being silent. That would be the voice of Silent Bob himself, Kevin Smith, director of some of the most classic comedy films of the past 15 years or so.

I was not aware that Hulu had filmmakers guest posting on their blog, although there was a post the other day that I evidently missed from David Modigliani, director/producer of "Crawford" as well.

Smith, a man whose dialogue I've quoted more times throughout the years than I can count, has used his post on the Hulu blog to tell a story about a movie called "Slacker" that was apparently one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) influences on Smith's filmmaking career. Of course, he also uses this opportunity to tell us this film is available to watch via Hulu.

I'm writing about this for a couple of reasons. For one, I'm a fan of Kevin Smith's work (for the most part), and I just found it interesting that he was blogging for one of the big online video players. Secondly, I find this to be a good example of how a business can use a blog to market itself. It's not a new strategy by any means, but it highlights a good example of it.

Smith says, "If you hate me and my films, blame Richard Linklater's Slacker. And if you love me and my films, thank Richard Linklater for Slacker." What we have here is basically a testimonial for a movie. A movie that I have never heard of, but now admittedly has me intrigued. I will probably check it out when I have time.
From this simple celebrity blog post, Hulu will gain views for this particular film (meaning views for the ads that accompany it), a reason for readers to keep up with their blog, a credible celebrity endorsement of their service, and frankly, just an enjoyable blog post.

Businesses could use this as an example of how to market themselves with a blog. Not everyone's going to be able to get a Kevin Smith to write for them, but a well placed guest post from someone well-known within your niche, or even from someone who just knows what they're talking about can increase awareness and best of all interest in your product. There are some pretty good guidelines on guest posts here as well.