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.

We at A Brand New Way have been using Twitter for quite some time as individuals and recently began working it into our own corporate culture. With millions of people using this social tool, and the increase in noise seeming exponential we thought we’d share five of the things that can help you and your companies should you decide to do the same. So let’s get started!

TIP 1: Follow, Follow, Follow!

Twitter really is a community. It may at first seem like it’s just a large ticker of random thoughts, but it really is a pool of thousands of conversations happening daily. You can’t just create an account, and start posting away in the hopes that you’ll magically receive a whole slew of followers. You have to let people know that you’re there, and you’re not just there to talk but also to listen.

Don’t just start traversing through the Twittersphere mashing your mouse button on every follow button that you see. There is something to be said about being deliberate with your follows. Make sure they share similar interests, or they look like somebody that you can benefit from and vise versa.

When you follow others you are showing them that you find them relevant. It’s a big compliment, and may in turn yield a returned follow.

TIP 2: Thank Your Followers

When you begin practicing the first tip, you’ll begin to see your following numbers rise. Some will have something set to automatically follow anyone that follows them, but others will actually check out your twitter page and make the decision to follow you directly. As mentioned above, following somebody is a compliment so take the time to thank them.

There are bots out there that can do the direct message reply to new followers for you, but we prefer not to take that route. Instead we’ve set up a rule in our email service that will flag any emails coming in and alerts us of the new follower. Then in the morning, we’ll take about 15 minutes of the day to go through those emails, and send a direct message to each of them thanking them for the follow.

Doing this helps make those followers stick, instead of dropping us a day or two later. Valuing your followers shows them that they aren’t just following a media engine, but connecting with somebody behind the wheel on the other end – that’s important.

TIP 3: Be Active, Reward with Value

So now you have followers, and you’ve let them know that you are there. So be there. Make sure that you stay active and post often, but remember to give your followers something that they want to follow. If you are an expert at something share some advice.

Point to a relevant article that you read; link to a tutorial post that you or somebody else created; share an interesting thought, or an an eye-opening quote; link to something inspiring; or simply give them an entertaining break with a link to a feel good picture or video.

The point is be the industry expert, or the source of a great deal or event; also make sure you add variety to your posts without losing the common thread that makes the posts pieces of your identity.

TIP 4: Engage the Community and Contribute to the Conversation

Make sure that you’re not just doing all the talking with one way statements. Engage your followers and other Twitter users as well. “Retweet” a post that another user makes if you find it interesting. Retweeting a post is a way of crediting the post to the original poster. This is usually done by starting your post with “RT @usersname” where the username is the Twitter handle of the user that you’re reposting.

Also make sure to incorporate other mentions and replies. Both are done using the “@” and the username. This creates a link to the user on Twitter, and also lets them know you’re mentioning them or talking to them.

Another method is to attach your posts to topic threads. You can do this by prefixing the hash mark (#) to keywords in your post. It doesn’t look like it at first glance, but there are a slew of topics out there that are being discussed at large by the Twitter community. Threading your post into the larger conversation is a great way to get involved in the dialog.

TIP 5: Be Authentic

This last one isn’t about any specific action that you can take, but is more about your underlying approach to being on Twitter: join in the conversation and value the other side. The companies that I see missing this point are the ones that are still stuck in the old age of traditional advertising. Every piece of communication is one-way and has to be about them – about something that they said, about a blog post they made, or about something they did. It never goes further than that. It doesn’t go into the external forces that influence them, or about what makes their business tick.

You don’t have to be the center of every post that you make, nor should you be. Your goal should be to become part of the larger discussion, and engage others to respond. Otherwise you’re just another annoying advertising billboard that will get lost in the noise.