Starting with Blogging

As a public relations student, blogging is an essential skill to have. I've blogged for a personal blog for years now, but I've done very little research about blogging for promotional purposes. So I did a little research and came across an article from none other than SocialMediaToday.com. 

I found a brief article with a beautifully put together info graphic (every PR professional's favorite) that details some very important characteristics a blog post must have. These tips can definitely be applied to a personal style blog as well, but for my purposes, I looked at it from a promotions perspective. You can view the post here.

The info graphic gives 11 characteristics that every blog post should have.

          1.    Craft a magnetic headline

          2.    Open with a bang

          3.    Use persuasive words

          4.    Write damn good sentences

          5.    Insert killer bullet points 

          6.    Create exquisite subheads

          7.    Tell a seductive story

          8.    Keep attention with internal cliffhangers

          9.    Choose an arresting image 

          10. Close in style 

          11.  Be authentic

A lot of these tips are common sense for someone who has done public relations writing before, but there are a couple I never really considered– like inserting bullet points. Bullet points not only offer important information in a condensed version, which makes it easy to read, but they also help break up a large chunk of text.

Similar to that, inserting an “arresting image” not only helps give the reader a visual representation of the topic, but also helps break up large chunks of text. And of course, photos and images just make a blog post look pretty.

The other bullet point that really struck me was number eight, “keep attention with internal cliffhangers.” In the past many of my blog posts concerning public relations concepts are simply analyses of the concepts and don’t exactly tell a story. In the end the post would feel dry and boring to readers. But like the info graphic stated, having cliffhangers keeps the post engaging so readers want to continue on.

These tips, and the other ones stated in the graphic, are vital to having a well put together post that will not only relay information, but engage readers. My goal for this semester is to take these tips to heart and use them throughout each of my posts as I talk about different public relations concepts. 

I will be blogging here every week! So if this post tickled your fancy, please check back for more posts about the public relations world. 

Until next time, 

Nikki Darling