Top 10 Blogging Tips and Insight from SAP Social Media Webinar and IIS

The latest SAP Social Media Webinar held this morning proved to be insightful and particularly pertinent to activities within IIS. The focus of today’s webinar was blogging and tweeting, the purpose of it and advice on how to devise applicable and interesting content for your organisation and audience.

I actively blog on behalf of IIS via Blogger (as you can see) but we are now looking at integrating a blog within our new company website. This effectively means that we will host the blog on our website which hopefully will yield benefits in terms of search engine optimisation.

Some guidance was given on this but as of yet I’m finding it a tad difficult, but as soon as I have it set up I’ll be sure to share my advice!

What is Blogging?
Blogging is effectively a free publishing tool. It is a lot like a journal but it is intended to be read by others.

No right or wrong
There is no right or wrong when it comes to blogging or tweeting. How you use your blog or twitter account and the content you share is down to your organisations objectives and needs. There is no set amount of times that it should be updated though it is advisable that it isn’t left dormant for long periods of time as subscribers may lose interest.

Uses
You may use your blog or twitter page as a means of providing customer service, special offers, or as a general PR tool to build your brand image and create a human and interactive side to your organisation.

Tie posts in to current affairs
You can customise your Google News page to add a category with search terms that are either applicable to your industry or general customer base. The content you come across can then be reconstructed to make it applicable to your organisation, products or services whilst still holding on to the topical news theme.

Make Content Engaging
Content doesn’t have to be strictly formal, actually the opposite is advised! Your company blog is an opportunity for you to show the human side of your business so personalise the page as much as you can, use your own videos or links to interesting videos or content you find online. This is likely to prove more favourable with your audience.

Make Lists
Lists are liked by all! Well maybe not all but generally people’s attention is be caught by a “top ten list”. There quick and easy to read and straight the point as well as potentially being extremely insightful.

Shocking Content
Causing a bit of controversy can be good for business and gaining attention in the blogging world. You do have to be careful as going too far could harm your business.

Search Engine Optimisation
Blogs are excellent for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and with WordPress, SEO integration is as easy as 1, 2, 3. Plug -ins such as All in One SEO Pack and Google XML Sitemaps makes mastering SEO and pleasing the search engines a cinch.

Make your posts searchable
Make sure your key words and headings are simple and concise and avoid using acronyms. You want people that are interested in your content to find your posts.

Don’t over think it
Your blog should be natural, have a general theme and forming content shouldn’t be stressful, it’s not a dissertation!

The How To: First Steps into the World of Social Media

Gaining support and encouragement from SAP as we enter the world of social media via monthly webinars has been fantastic and we continue to look forward to the forthcoming sessions as we embrace opportunities and elements of the landscape which haven’t yet been discovered by us.

Here are some of the tips that I’d like to share from the first two webinars which I’ve found effective and should help you on your way to making the first few steps into the world of social media.

Listen and Learn - The first step is to begin to observe what your customers and competitors are saying on the various social media platforms. Take your time and start with one platform; don’t take on them all at the same time because your likely to become overwhelmed.

Enable - Join or follow a forum and begin to comment as you gain confidence. This is the first step of social media interaction.

Connect - Reach out to those who have influence and seek to connect with your customers, competitors and all your business partners.

A useful blog post which may be of interest and use to those interested in SAP Business One connecting and engaging with SAP and other SAP Business One leading professionals and users from Intelligent B1 is "SAP in the World of Social Media".

To Do List Month One

•Check on main competitors.
•Check on customers.
•Find a niche social network and blog in your vertical; join and follow respectively.
•Respond to comments and queries if people looking for advice.

Note: If you’re a member of twitter use links shared by those you are following to find relevant and interesting blogs to follow.

Another useful and insightful blog post from Intelligent B1 is "Where to Start in the World of Social Media

To Do List Month Two

•Join LinkedIn and set up or check out your Company Profile.
•Join relevant groups and begin to interact with other professionals in your verticals.
•Present your Company’s unique message.
•Look at how you might encourage your audience to seek advice and put forward their queries via social media platforms in order to improve your service and products proffered.

Have Fun! The most valuable bit of advice is to enjoy it! If you’re not enjoying it your audience is unlikely to be inspired or motivated to engage with you and it’s also unlikely to last if it’s not something which you take pleasure in.