{Today’s guest post comes from Susan Hart, a Tennessee-based PR pro who pens one of my favorite current events blogs: EveryDayPR. I don’t write about current events here on FlackRabbit, nor comment on them in a public forum; but I love reading about them. Especially when folks’ views are relevant, quick reads that make me think. Susan’s blog fits that bill. In this post, she talks about what set her on the path to blogging and how she’s stayed true to herself along the way.}

My New Year’s resolutions for 2009 were to read the Bible and learn about social media, two completely unrelated goals or so I thought.  The two goals actually couldn’t have been more related.

So I became my own client. I immediately set up accounts on Facebook, Twitter, et al.  I also started my EveryDayPR blog to have a venue to express an experienced public relations take on industry topics or current events. I was confident that people were begging to know what I thought about things.

This brings me to the single most important lesson of blogging: Be yourself. If you can’t be you, then who are you going to be?

I never started EveryDayPR to grow Hart Public Relations. The reality was that I was opinionated, a decent writer and a thinker. In my experience, effective public relations leaders from the C-Suite to department heads want thinkers on their team. Thinkers equate to problem solvers. Problem solvers mean happy clients and employers. I am rewarded on a number of levels when happiness happens. Read More…

In this month’s issue of Her Nashville Magazine, I touch on a topic I’m often asked about: how to establish a consistent, relevant voice for your blog.

It took me years to find my blog(s) obsession, tone and style. Along the way, I discovered that while search engines love–and drive many, many random surfers to–my posts about nail polish and Steve Sullivan’s hockey comeback, my actual readers prefer less “stuff I like” and more teachable-geek-and-career-moments. My metrics spoke to me; I listened and adjusted my content accordingly.

If you’ve been blogging for a while, I’d love to hear about how you’ve found and continue to fine-tune your written voice. In the meantime, here’s a teaser from my May column:

Obsession is key.
Pick a topic and make it the only thing you write on and rant about. For example: my FlackRabbit blog is about PR and geek stuff. When folks visit my site, they expect to read about those things and nothing else. I love hockey, but I don’t blog about it. I also love my husband, but never write about married life. When we have kids one day, I will not turn FlackRabbit into a journal about motherhood. If I did any of those things, I’d lose my audience. The plain truth is that hockey, hubby and kiddos aren’t what my readers signed up for and I respect that. Read More…

Clearly, people on Twitter enjoy reading about common PR career misconceptions. I know this because I’ve started to Tweet links to my posts using the free link-shortener and tracker called bit.ly. It makes your link smaller, thus, Twitter-friendly. And after you share your link, you’ll be able to see in real-time how many people click on that link, when it is re-Tweeted and by whom, and when it’s shared on Facebook and Friend Feed. Like this:

If you work at a place (or for clients) who demand metrics, bit.ly gives you the data you’ll need to see how much traction your message is getting. Read More…

FlackRabbit’s got a new do! Much love to my super talented Web designer hubby Dave Newman for transitioning my old look to this new, clean format. Hope you like it as much as I do!

The content remains the same: public relations, communications, geek stuff, etc. I am working on a few new pages and features though, so stay tuned. Read More…

I blog because it’s important to me that I share my passion for/expertise in reputation management in a public way. On the record. Out there for the world to critique and hold me accountable to.

Readers of this blog are chiefly nagged about four things:

1. You must take every opportunity to build and maintain your personal brand;
2. You are smart and talented.  You must be able to communicate that and advocate on your own behalf with gusto and confidence (a skill that Clay Shirky believes is more often utilized by men than women); Read More…

Lately I’ve really enjoyed scooping up links shared by PR bloggers I follow. So, I thought I’d be a copy cat and spread a little link luv of my own:

Reads

DaveFleet’s Getting Started with Twitter So you’ll know how Twitter works, how to use it and why it’s not useless.

PRSquared’s Ideas for a Rainy Day When it’s cold and rainy you should be reading about social media, duh.

Read, Write, Web’s Five Ways To Keep Momentum After Your Big Announcement Big Mo Do’s and Don’ts

Chris Brogan loves LinkedIn’s new applications and wants you to love them, too. Right now.

Laughs

Cursebird.com Finally! A Twitter spin-off site that lets you track your favorite curse words in real-time.

Tunes

KCRW Radio It’s online, it’s eclectic, it’s Southern California’s leading National Public Radio affiliate and it rocks Team Newman’s world.

Still getting the hang of WordPress. The basics seem so much more intuitive, yet I’m frustrated by my lack of technical savvy when it comes to the inner workings.

(sigh)

I’m sure it’s all just a matter of getting used to it.  So, I’m still in learning mode. But if you are just DYING to see some flack-tastic blog posts you can find pictures of the day here and HerNashville ChicGeek posts here.