• Make a plan - It all starts here. A good plan can help you organize your thoughts, research a topic, set a schedule and incorporate strategy for social sharing. Hubspot has a great editorial calendar to help you create your plan.
• Create customer-centric content - Your audience is coming to your blog for a reason. They want to know how you can help them to solve a problem. Always try to write content from your audience's point of view; not yours. Struggling with content? FAQ's are the easiest way to show you are the expert! If one person wants to know the answer, you can be sure more people have the same question.
• Include personality - Your audience is more likely to connect with you if you share a little of yourself. My audience knows I am a fanatic gardener and have a deep, abiding love for anything Corgi!
• Read other blogs - If you are unsure as to how to start, follow other bloggers. You learn what voice they use ( business, personal or a combination), their style of writing, the kind of information they share and what type of blog you aspire to. 
• Stay relevant - Keep up with the latest news in your industry and share it with your audience. Write about how it affects your audience. You can use RSS feeds, key word specific social media searches or tools like Google Alert to keep you up to date on breaking stories.
• Share, share, share - There are so many ways to share your blog. The trick is not to share it all at once. Create a plan where you share your blog via several platforms over a set period of time. Include a link to your blog in your newsletter, share the link through social media channels on different days and use a Call to Action; ask your fans to share on your behalf.
• Respond to comments - In the run of a busy day, this can be difficult but people want to know you are "listening". Comments and your subsequent response can lead to more content. 
• SEO - A blog can increase your "search" presence. Search engine bots crawl the web and use keyword searches to find you. 
• Re-purpose your blog - You can use your blog to create podcasts or video sharing such as YouTube or Vimeo. You can re-use it if something changes or you want to remind your audience on a particular topic.

For Duncan Cowichan Chamber of Commerce members, there will be a networking mixer at Cowichan Canine from 5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.  The mixers are always excellent networking opportunities and this mixer features a demonstration by Brenda Burch, a Duncan Cowichan Chamber of Commerce Director and her Corgi Reba along with her fellow Agility students and dogs demonstrating Agility, along with training and obedience demonstrations.  Some libations and fabulous nibbles by Power Lunch.

September 30

Social Media is Simple's first Fall Session entitled 'Saving Time Spent on Social Media' - All details here.