How To Create A Blog Post in 10 Easy Steps

There are a few common misperceptions when it comes to creating blog content.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to be a writer to blog, nor do you need to actually have anything to say.

After all, you’re creating digestible, disposable content that’s probably going to get skimmed.

That is if anyone actually reads your stuff (and chances are, they won’t…particularly if it’s a corporate blog).

But if the fact that blogging remains the least time effective and most labor intensive form of online communication doesn’t dissuade you, or if you’re solipsism is sated by any byline, here are 10 steps to creating a blog post.

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Not Another HR and Recruiting Post

I started this blog as a way to kind of aggregate all the content I put out on other sites in my day job, which, in hindsight, probably wasn’t necessary because, well, I’m a writer who hates to write and has about the same level of output as Harper Lee (although obviously not in quality).

I kind of regard myself as a blogger, because it’s an easier self-identifier than, say, “content marketing whore,” so the other day, someone asked me a question that, frankly, I’m surprised I hadn’t been asked before.

So do you actually have, like, a real blog besides all that corporate stuff?

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Company Culture and Social Media

Culture Club

Company culture is a lot like meetings and memos: it’s an inescapable, and inevitable, part of the employee (and candidate) experience.

But with the rise of social media, virtual employees and global teams, new business paradigms mean that when it comes to communicating culture, it’s anything but business as usual.

At its core, every company’s “culture” is defined by its workforce, from CEO on down.

“Your company culture will be created accidentally or on purpose,” says Kirsten Ross, President of Focus Forward Coaching, LLP. “Your culture is your team machine,” she adds, “it either works efficiently or it has a lot of malfunctions.”

That’s why “fit” is so important to talent acquisition and development; but what does it take for employees, their managers, executive leadership and customers to engage with, and thrive, within a unique company culture?

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5 Keys to #Winning On Twitter

Keep your lead short and go straight to the content.

1. Be Pithy: people eat up inspirational bullshit like quotes about leadership, Ken Blanchard self-help stuff and anything that looks like it belongs on a Successories mug, circa 1989.
2. Be Snarky: Per the first point, there’s too much saccharine sweetness on Twitter already. And someone needs to call people out on that. As an added bonus, it’s the best way to entertain yourself if you find yourself in the god-awful position of actually having to do this for business.
3. Co-opt hashtags as needed: They’re what makes a tweet a tweet, after all, and if you’re at an event (or just pretending to be) it totally gets you in good with the cool kids – or makes you look like one to all of the people you’re trying to impress with the real objective of “personal branding” (gag) which is, “Look How Much Better My Life Is Than Yours!” Although whomever came up with the phrase “personal branding” clearly leads a miserable, socially isolated, cat-filled existence.
4. Don’t RT @Mashable: Everyone’s already read it, and no one really cares.
5. Create listed blog content that takes no effort whatsoever, than link to it with a clever title. Like this one.

Of course, the best thing you can probably do on Twitter is stay the hell away. Talk about a time suck. But, if you’ve read this far, then you already know there are far bigger wastes of time out there.

Remote Control: On Working From Home

“What would work be like if you never had to leave?”

The question struck me as odd, particularly coming from a slick sign posted over the front door of a Fortune 500 company well known for its corporate culture.

That was after a tour of the place, where they showed off their themed conference rooms, goodie stocked break rooms and state of the art gym (replete with corporate masseuse), among a plethora of other inducements to ensure that, like a casino in Vegas, the average worker never leaves the house, so to speak.

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