A Brand New Way

In keeping with our theme this week we thought we’d post an article for companies looking to enhance their online presence with a corporate blog.

So you’ve hired your design firm, figured out how to extend your brand to your blog, and are ready to get out there and join in the conversation. Now the work of creating content begins (actually it should have begun while you were in the design process, but that’s another story). There are, of course, a ton of tips out there for effective blogging. So what we did is look over the different pieces of advice that we give our clients, and decided on five core tips that all businesses should follow when moving their company into the world of blogging.

Be the Expert

People hear this one all the time, but really have a hard time figuring out how to go about this. To identify topics for your new blog, you should be able to identify the areas in which you are the experts. We don’t mean the company mission statement that sits in your lobby. These should be tangible topics that people can understand.

You should be able answer the following question: “What are at least 10 things that the people in your company are experts in, and in which your competitors are not?” The best thing to do is sit down for 30 minutes to an hour with your colleagues and workshop this. Start listing all the specific subjects. Don’t over-think it, and don’t think that you have to stop at ten. The more you have the better. If you aren’t able to able to reach ten then you’re topics might have been too general – focus them down a bit more. Once you’ve had a chance to weed through your list, you’ll be off to a great start with some solid expert topics. Now start blogging about them.

Establish a Social Crossroads

Julie Bacon, a long-time partner and friend of A Brand New Way, said it best one time when she mentioned, “A company’s website should become the crossroads of your brand.” This is a excellent way of putting it, and frankly we haven’t found a better way to say it so that’s how we prefer to start our explanation as well (Thanks, Julie!). The point here is that your blog, if done correctly, will become your social crossroads.

Make your content organic and open. Take advantage of the other social tools out there, and bring it all back to the blog. This makes it easier for people to subscribe to you in the way that’s easiest for them.

If your company is good about posting photos then link your Flickr account in the sidebar. Are you planning on carving out some space in Twitter? Feed that into your site as well! There are plenty of plug-ins out there that will make this kind of integration very easy for you, or you can work with your design team to build this out so that it’s styled out to fit your designs.

Make sure that you also push your content to other sources. Some things that you can do is link the news feed to your LinkedIn account, or Facebook news pages. Chances are that if people find your content relevant then they’ll subscribe/follow/friend you in their own way. Make it easy for them to keep tabs on you as they travel to and from your blog.

Don’t Forget Your Archives

Just because content is old doesn’t mean that it’s irrelevant. The problem with most blogs is the older content can end up disappearing into the ether. Find a way to link back to those older posts when creating your new ones. If you’re touching on something that you discussed in an earlier post then make sure to link back to that post. It’s the best way to keep that older content from getting completely ignored. Somebody shouldn’t have to miss out on a post you made in January because they didn’t stumble across the blog until June.

Get Into a Routine

Establish a posting routine for your organization and then stick with it. The fact is that some people simply won’t feed your syndicated content. There are still those that will come back to the blog to browse all the latest content, and if anything holds true, it’s that people love a routine. Will you be posting weekly? Every Monday, Wednesday, Friday? Monthly? Mondays at 9AM Eastern Time? Whatever it is, it’s best to stick to it. This way people can condition themselves to come back when they know the new content will be there.

Let them know if you plan on changing the schedule. If the change is temporary then let them know how long. The point is that you don’t want to lose people for good simply because they think that the blog has died out.

Stand for Something

All of these are important, but this is one that we try to impress on our clients all the time. You’re not in this to become a journalist so the idea of separating yourself from the topic, and remaining unbiased does not fly when it comes to your blog. Make sure that if you’re posting about a topic that you aren’t afraid to take a position.

If you take a side then your readers are more likely to comment on your post – both for and against your position. If you don’t stand for something, then you’re choosing to stand for nothing. It doesn’t get blander than that. There is nothing wrong with being a bit polarizing here. Sure you might turn some away, but the readers you do have will become more than your “target audience.” They’ll become your fans.

Tags: blogging, social media