If you have a website, you’re in need of attention. Getting that attention requires more than just being out there. This is where PR strategies come into play. Today more than ever, it is important to invite attention in an arena where it can be reciprocated, like in a social media setting.

Promoting your wares is the how you get the business you want. It’s an arduous process for me, as I’m not a huge fan of “blowing my own horn.” I am however a fan of work, generating work (leads)—you know, the business stuff.

I’ve got a strategy in place for increasing my posting frequency. A new tweet plan is in the works. And, to help me with growing a community, this past weekend, I added two tools to my arsenal, an auto tweet plugin, WP Tweeter, and a Facebook Page for The Word ‘Mage.

Why I added Auto Tweets?

I don’t mind tweeting other people’s posts that I enjoy or find useful. In fact, I enjoy sharing others’ posts a lot. It’s painful to tweet out my own work, and that’s costing me. To help me out with this, I installed my first auto-tweet plugin for the blog. I was hesitant about this tool for my PR strategy at first. But, I caved and added WP Tweeter plugin for two reasons.

1. First, it kind of takes the sting out of self-promotion, if I close one eye so to speak. It distances me just enough to smooth out the gut-wrench that comes with saying “Look what I did!” (I’m getting a little better at that too since I do it for my poetry.)
2. Second, I find auto tweets from people much more palatable when they tweet manually too—not sure why that is. So I allowed myself the use of this plugin, so long as I off-set that with live tweets of non-TWM stuff, which I already do.

Why add a Facebook Page?

While working on administrative stuff to improve my presence online, the idea of an FB page came up again. I looked around at my friends and family on FB that have work relations in their profiles. Many of their links connect with barren pages, with the generic briefcase icon and no updates on the pages. Mine couldn’t be one of those.

I read a great post from Karen Swim [Words for Hire] about PR and it was just the catalyst I needed, right reading at the right time. (You could think of it too as the straw that broke the camel’s back.) The idea to create  an FB page has presented (more like insinuated) itself continually over the last few months. This past weekend, it came to a head and I put the page out there.

It’s Live—Now What?

Linking to it: My promotion for the work Facebook page will be another hurdle to cross over. I’ve added a badge to the website and the FB page has links to both the website and this blog. For now I’m leaving only the Social Media button here on the blog to connect with the FB page. On my personal FB page, I added a link to the FB page for employment.

Talking about it: First is this post about it. Further,  I will invite people through conversation. That’s important to me because I find sites that I enjoy reading the most are very conversational, interactive, where readers write in and writers respond. Even if I have nothing to say, it’s good to know that someone is there exchanging with their readers.

Inviting you to it: The way to grow a community is to offer useful information and connections. Check out The Word ‘Mage’s FB page. It’s out there ready to interact with you. If you have a Facebook page and have suggestions for mine, such as a landing page idea, please let me hear from you.

In Closing

These are two tools I’ve implemented this month as part of my PR strategy. Because of the way I view auto tweets and Facebook pages, using these means tasking myself to do more writing and social media posting. If I’m correct in my assessment, this should prove to be an interesting phase. I hope you’ll join me.

Do you have PR ideas that have served you well? My strategies are based on how I work and what I see others doing. What are your thoughts?

Resources:

There are many people discussing the pro’s and cons of PR on the web, including how your interact, where you choose to interact, and what information you choose to share. Below are only the two most recent articles I’ve read and a site that can give you a lot of Facebook tips and tricks.

• Is Your PR Strategy Crazy?, Words for Hire
• Facebook for Public Relations, Journalistics
• Social Medai and Blogging Tips

Remember Spelling tests when you had to know how to spell the word and what it meant? Way back when I was just learning to read and understand words, my mother would quiz me on my weekly list. She told me back then, that you never define a word with the word or a form of it. That meant I couldn’t take the lazy way out.

Really it’s only logical. Consider this fictitious conversation:

Person A: Obfuscate?! What is that? What does that mean?

Person C: Obfuscate? You don’t know what that means? Man! It’s a verb–you know, to obfuscate…the act of obfuscating? Dang! Don’t you know anything?

Writing copy is an important endeavor. The smart writer knows this and knows enough not to underestimate their readers or disrespect their clients by trying this. It takes time to make your point and it makes all the difference to your clients and your reputation. And if you do a shabby job, be grateful if someone takes the time to let you know you suck!

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Happy New Year! 2010 is as good a year as any to put your ideas into play as you get them, right? Of course it is. However…

If you’re anything like me and my friends, you get a ton of ideas at once in a massive new year deluge. The time of year when you’re awash with inspiration, creativity, desire, hope. Really you want to go for everything, I know. And you can go for more than one, in fact as many as you’re physically and financially able to pursue. But, usually you can’t pursue all your ideas at once. Read more »

Have you ever had a day that makes you wonder why you do the work you do? People hire you to work for them. They give you assignments which you complete effectively. They receive it with no fanfare, only thanks. I work well alone, with no fanfare is nice. I just want to do the work to the best of my ability. When my work is accepted and goes live or into circulation, that is reward enough. And of course being paid well is definitely fulfilling. With that, I’m ready for the next thing. What more do you need, right? Read more »

What do Potential Clients Ask Me as their Copywriter?

• Do you understand SEO
• Is good SEO more important than good content
• You get the by-line, but can you keep the company voice
• What do you know about my company
• How do you develop content for my site
• Will you hear ideas from me
• Will you get me original content
• Can you get me noticed without black hat tricks

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