Social Media. It can be a daunting world to the newbie.  Fear abounds as people consider if they should engage or not. This fear is significantly intensified if the engagement is in a corporate context where people worry a mistyped line can result in the elimination of their job.

This is why, back in August, I wrote this post focused on “How to get your most valuable resources engaged in social media“.  That post shared a framework through which a person can move as they go on their social media journey. It can be adopted by an organization and used by individuals to determine where they are comfortable on the platform.

10 tips for first time bloggers

Here we go with the 10 tips I always provide people. I try to stay true to these myself although some of them, such as regular posting, are not always easy to do.

1. Know who you are writing for
   Ok. So this one might seem obvious but you would be surprised how many people do not consider this at all. For example if someone is writing for the C level avoiding too much technical jargon and focusing on the stakeholder value would make it more compelling. For the technical audience details clearly matter and will be expected to get you the credibility you need. Trying to do both in one post is a recipe for disaster.
2. Know what you want the reader to do after reading
   People are using their time to read your blog. What action would you like them to take after it? You have to have that clear in your mind before you start to write. In this blog I would like to think people are more confident about blogging after reading and will share their tips and also feel empowered to go share their knowledge. I also really want people to think about the social media journey and how the tips build upon each other to make people more confident and ultimately more engaged.
3. Make sure your blog has a compelling title
   I really struggle with this myself, creative brain juices needed here, but there is no doubt the title plays a role. I can see that based on engagement into blogs. People decide if they will engage into your blog almost exclusively based on your title (unless you are a known expert people gravitate to or it is promoted by someone people trust).  Short and snappy is not easy. Often you feel the content is not represented. Short and snappy, however, is what you must do. So think about your title. Would you click to read something with the title you have chosen?
4. Have an engaging introduction. Consider using questions!
   This is especially important on longer posts. If you do not have a decent introduction the click to your blog will turn very quickly into the pressing of the back button :(. I hope no-one has done that so far here but if they have they will not be reading this so it does not matter. Help people see what you are trying to do in the blog so that they want to read more and can understand the context you are attacking the topic from. Questions that make people think about things often work well in my opinion as well as telling a short story highlighting your aims.
5. Include links to external facts or posts to enhance credibility
   Adding in third party content to support your position, our counter-position, helps show that you are considering opinions beyond your own. In addition it makes you a good social media citizen as you share other posts and opinions which in turn often results in reciprocal moves. Your readers will also appreciate not having a one dimensional view of the topic you are chatting about. For example here are some tips from others for beginner bloggers.
6. Share your opinion and write with passion
   People want to hear your opinion and they want to feel your passion for a topic. Every person has an opinion and a passion. If you are writing a blog and you have neither an opinion nor a passion for the topic you should stop and change to a topic where you have one.   Blogs written in a style requested by someone else often miss a key ingredient. The writer! Added to that.. they are often boring!
   
7. Use images when possible
   Blogs are often full of text (just look at this one). A few pictures help to convey the topic and break up the post. Pictures also help if someone is skimming the post. A good picture could cause them to stop and read making them reengage in your blog.
8. The blog should not take more than 5 mins to read
   This was the tip I provided originally to first time bloggers. The aim was to get them to make the blog concise and to the point as well as to make them not think they needed to spend 3 days writing the blog. Nowadays I have relaxed that a little but again the key thing is to make sure you are only focused on the audience at hand and the objective you have. No one wants to read a whitepaper in a blog.
9. Have a call to action or leave the audience with questions at the end
   Having read the post you want the reader to take some action. This could be to just ask themselves some questions based on what they have read to see if they will do anything differently. It could be a pointer to where more information could be obtained for example. The key point is that you need to wrap up the post with some call to action.
10. Write Consistently and Continually
    Consistently and continually here means not writing one blog post a quarter and expecting to build up a following. It means generally defining the topics you will write about and sticking more or less to those. I encouraged all new bloggers to try to put together a post every 2-3 weeks based on their experiences. This helps get you in the groove of writing a blog and everything you do more becomes easier.

Conclusion

Blogging is very easy if you write in your style, share your opinion and focus on topics you have a passion for. There are always people who share some of your opinion and those who do not. Getting engagement from either party is always interesting and a fabulous way to keep your own knowledge growing. Be sure to take time to respond to comments on your blog as the true value of the blog is often not in the writing but in the interactions that follow.

I hope you found these tips, and the overall series, interesting. I would be interested to hear if you have other hints and tips as well as more about your experiences trying to get people socially engaged especially in the corporate space.