Mark your calendar for Thursday, June 14! This Key4Women Forum focuses on utilizing social media. The $25 registration fee will benefit Prevail Inc., a nonprofit organization that advocates for crime victims and their families. Learn about getting your message out, network with other women and support Prevail’s work. A true win-win-win!
Can Twitter Make You a Better Writer?
I love to talk. And I’m quite animated when it comes to telling stories. In fact, my father always tells me that I wouldn’t be able to talk if my hands were tied behind my back. Imagine the challenges I faced when I became journalist and discovered that I had to take twenty minutes worth of information and whittle it down to one-minute-fifteen-seconds. Oh, the agony! But, I got pretty good at it, if I do say so myself.
And then there came Twitter. One-hundred-forty characters. Not words. Characters. That’s how much room you get to share a message, tell a story, make an announcement, shout it from the mountaintop. Oh, the expletives! And I know I’m not alone. I have often asked – often in a high-pitched, incredibly loud voice, “How in the world am I supposed to say something in 140 characters?” I have often asked myself, also in the first soprano range, “How can I be an effective writer in 140 characters?”
But, believe it or not, Twitter can indeed make you a better writer. While there are many who will make good use of abbreviations and slang, I am still a journalist and a writer. Complete sentences are still a must for me. For that reason, Twitter has taught me how to use some tools on my desk that had become quite dusty: a thesaurus and dictionary. Learning new words has actually been quite fun!
Twitter has also helped me to get to the point. (Those melodious strains you are hearing is my father singing the “Hallelujah Chorus”!) I must get to the point or else there is no point. I don’t have the luxury of keeping an audience’s attention with my gift of gab when it comes to Twitter.
Oh, and you can forget about adjectives. “Very” is no longer part of your vocabulary. Grammar takes on a whole new meaning. And my editing skills have improved drastically, which in turn, has helped me when I sit down to write a blog or a magazine article.
Yes, it takes time to hone your Twitter skills, but you will be pleased with the end result. If you’re not quite ready to tackle Twitter yourself, let Maverick Public Relations lend a hand.
Receive 15% off project work totaling $1,000 or more (new clients only) when you contact us and mention this blog. This offer is good through December 31, 2010.
My First Love
One of the biggest complaints from most people who enter into the blogging arena (behind “I don’t have time”) is that they struggle to grow a following on their blog. At first glance, it seems as if there are so many bloggers vying for the same sets of eyeballs that it’s hard to penetrate the competitions force field. But there are numerous ways to grow a following on your blog, and there are plenty of hungry readers who will eventually find their way to what you offer.
If you’re not part of an organization that requires you to write about what they want you to write about, choose a niche that works for you. It isn’t necessary to stick to one topic all the time, but writing about your favorite 125,000 things in the world will probably drive some of your readers elsewhere.
Be consistent in your blogging. If you’re going to blog once a day, blog once a day. If you’re going to blog once a month, blog once a month, although that isn’t entirely recommended.
Make sure you’re sharing your blog posts. Include easy-to-share buttons on your blog, which ensures a wider audience in places like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Just as you would network in order to grow your business, network to grow your blog. Get to know some other bloggers and then find out how you can become guest blogger. Of course, invite your new friends to guest post on your blog as well. It’s just good business and common courtesy.
Be seen. Just as you would guest blog, make sure you’re engaging in other social media activities such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. It’s also a good idea to comment on other people’s blogs. This helps you build a name for yourself.
One great example of being seen and engaging in other social media activities is a recent blog post by Maverick PR’s Sharon Smith. She recently entered a competition on a local web site by posting a blog about her first love, her Chevy Chevette! As people see her post, they automatically want to know more about her. Before you know it, we’ve got oodles of new visitors on our own blog site. (See her blog post, My First Love, here and “Like” it for yourself!)
Be who you are on your own blog. Find the best advice that works for you and your blog, but remember that social media is, above all, about being social.
This is certainly not an all inclusive list of how to grow your blog’s traffic. We will continue to provide posts on this topic and many others. If you’ve got ideas or questions about growing a blog, we’d love to hear from you!