There has been much discussion advocating why blogging is an important tool through which individuals, and increasingly organisations, can interact with members of a shared community. Now that the blogging landscape is better understood from a theoretical point of view, it is without doubt time to consider the practicalities and unwritten etiquette that governs the way vendors must react and interact in this new environment. 

The following points aim to provide the basic guidelines for embarking on a blog programme. If you would like to discuss how to engage with your blog community, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 0207 608 4673. 

1. To blog or not to blog
It is acknowledged that bloggers are a new audience, but how do you know if you should be blogging or not? It is very important to find out if a community of bloggers actually exists in your sector. After all, if no one is talking about the issues that matter to you, then there is little scope to engage or influence prospective customers. Make use of blog search engines such as www.technorati.com and blog alerts (http://www.google.com/alerts?hl=en&t=1) that will help identify whether you should be investing in this new social medium. 

2. There are people blogging in my sector. How do I become involved?
Before setting up a blog or engaging directly with the blogging community, it is important to understand the current blog landscape in your sector of the industry. Extensive research and analysis should be conducted into the individuals and organisations already participating in collaborative and open discussions online. 

3. What do you want to achieve?
Just as with media relations and the messages that you communicate through traditional print and online media, consider what it is that you wish to add to the blogging community. It is important to enhance the existing community with new ideas that invite discussion. This will build interest and, ultimately, respect amongst your peers. 

4. Beginners, Intermediates or Advanced?
As a new and continually evolving landscape, it is recommended that you think about a staggered approach to blogging. Practise definitely makes perfect in this environment and there can be a lot to learn from starting your blogging activity through ad-hoc comment posting on others’ blogs.  

5. A blog is not just for Christmas
Moving beyond the first step of building a presence on existing blogs, building your own blog is a decision not to be taken lightly. You must be able to commit to delivering a regular dialogue as an active participant across the entire blogging community in your sector in order to build a community acceptance and respect for your efforts. As a minimum requirement, consider two blog posts per week as adequate. 

6. Be prepared!
Interaction is key to the success of any blog. The blogger must be willing and amenable to contrary views that challenge and invoke a lively debate. A blog cannot simply be a mouthpiece for your organisation, but rather it is a platform on which to talk about the issues that are important to your business and customers. 

7. How do you measure the success of your blog?
It is incredibly difficult to understand exactly what impact your blog is having. Becoming an accepted member of the blogging world can take days or years and often relies on subtle, ‘word-of-mouth’ marketing and PR to develop the credibility of your offering. However, there are several indicators that you can use to measure the success of your blog.  Firstly, a good indication of your success can come in the form of the comments on your posts, giving you direct feedback from readers. However, this will not reveal how many people are taking a keen interest in your blog without posting their comments. As with a normal website, it is possible to track visitors to your blog and establish the size of your readership. It is also useful to seek more qualitative information by analysing your success on other blog sites, either through links to your blog or actual comments relating back to your blog.  

8. Social Media Master
Once you have triumphed in the blogosphere, why not consider exploiting other social mediums to cement your online presence? Integrating blogs with other channels, such as Flickr for photos and images and Facebook for networking, will help raise the awareness of your blog and drive further traffic, comments and debate.