If you're blogging, make that a home base for all your other efforts.

Reread the "Passports" section of this book, and use it to think about your blog promotion efforts.

Pick three social networks to join based on where your customers might be. Three might sound like too few, but it probably will be too many.

On those networks and on your passport accounts, make sure you link everything back to the blog.

Get a second (maybe even a third) person in the company to build accounts on these places. Nice to have backups, in case you get busy.

Build an editorial calendar to think about your posting schedule and subject matter.

Subscribe to 50 or more blogs in a similar space as yours, including competitors and any industry blogs.

On all your presence points, be human, and write a human-sounding profile. Use a humanlike profile picture. (Did I mention human?)

After you've written your first blog post, take some time to comment on some of those 50 blogs, but not about your first post.

Set up a few searches as explained in 100 personal branding tactics in this book.

Make sure it's easy for people to subscribe to your blog, via a reader and also via e-mail. (Over 50 percent of my blog subscribers are receiving www.chrisbrogan.com in e-mail).

Run periodic checks of your blog/site using Website Grader to see whether you're technically sound and findable.

Use tagging and other metadata to improve your blog's search features. Most newer blog software has this built in. If not, look for plug-ins.

For whatever reason, graphics in posts improve audience. Check out Flickr's Creative Commons pool to learn how to use of graphics appropriately.

Consider a nice, clean theme for your blog's design. There are many free themes for different blogs, and some inexpensive ones, like Thesis,^[246] that are worth every penny.

Outside of your blog, be sure to update/refresh the information on your social networks every two or three weeks. Use the networks more often, but refresh your profiles and other info.

Seek out opportunities to guest-post on more popular blogs in your space. Don't be spammy and overlink to your own site/posts. Add value.

On social networks, look for ways to contribute, even when they're not directly related to your company or product.

Continue building relationships beyond your specific need. Don't try to build relationships only with customers, for example.

Remember that social networks are a great place to look for hiring prospects, competitors, and so forth.

To create consistent content, read daily, and not just within your industry. Skim, synthesize, and post.

Use notepad or Evernote^[247] files to jot down post ideas when you don't have a moment to write. Return frequently.

Riff off other blog posts you like, and add some value beyond linking back to those original posts (and always link back to those posts).

Go to the grocery store newsstand and find popular magazines. Pattern blog post titles for your field on their headlines. (Hat tip to Brian Clark, who taught me this.)

Skim news aggregator sites like Reddit^[248] or Digg (or whatever's appropriate to your industry), and create posts from there.

Ask your audience what they need, what they're struggling with.

Revisit a month of posts and see what you've covered the least.

Think about things your customers, stakeholders, and/or prospects might need, and write about that, even if it's a bit off-topic.

Check your stats to see what people are searching for, and address it.

Use the blog topics posts^[249] cited here for inspiration.

Look into creating additional materials, such as an e-book or an online course, from your best materials.

Branch out your blogging into video and audio where appropriate.

Look into building a community platform around your content platform.

Invite your audience to guest-post where appropriate.

Add social bookmarking plug-ins, such as Add This, to your blog to improve distribution.

Look for cross-promotional opportunities for like-minded blogs in your space.

Consider starting groups on your social networks (such as a Facebook group) to further discuss the space you're covering.

Remember to comment on other people's blogs frequently, and show your participation in the communities where you have presence.

Occasionally, produce PDF versions of your better posts and e-mail them to customers and prospects to encourage growing your audience.

Consider a conversion engine, such as a free offer to help sort prospects from fans and audience.

Move toward measurements quickly, as this is often a deciding factor for companies to buy in to social media.

Create a simple report to show how you will report what you're doing for upper management.

Work out which numbers might matter. Comments received? Links in? Times bookmarked?

Rank each blog post on effectiveness based on your own criteria. Review weekly and monthly.

Figure out a downstream metric that drives real business value. Reduce costs to call center? Sales leads?

Never count number of friends or number of followers as a valuable metric. Separate quantity from quality.

As soon as you can, find ways to tie your numbers to marketing and sales numbers where appropriate.

Move to automate the numbers-collection parts early. Keep the sentiment-reporting parts human.

Set three-month goals to review progress with upper management. Determine whether this is having any impact.

Though these last 10 tips are about numbers, never treat people like numbers in social media.