This is a guest post from Davina Brewer, principal at 3Hats Communications.

I have been meaning to write this for the Solo PR blog for months, figured it was about damn time I did it!

Arik Hanson recently listed some of the best LinkedIn groups for public relations professionals. While he struggled to find more than a few active, helpful groups, he wisely mentioned the Solo PR group.

Social media works. Period.

Not overnight, not on the shoddy, not without time, effort and a little planning. It’s about putting in the work, producing good content that is shared with the right audiences, sparks conversation and connects the dots.

It’s about Content

In a ranting mood, I wrote a post about spotting tire kickers and faux client prospects. The idea was to give readers and small business owners some clues so they can save themselves time and money, not waste effort working on bogus business leads.

It’s about Audience

In order to help others while helping myself to readers, I cross-posted my blog to Twitter and to the SoloPR group on LinkedIn. I figured this audience would identify with my thoughts, benefit most from what I had to share. It worked and sparked a nice discussion.

It’s about Connections

Spotting my post on LinkedIn was Amy Nolan (nee Hipp), a fellow Solo PR and LSU Tiger. She and I were both leaders in PRSSA back in the day, working hard, wearing the purple and gold, cheering G-E-A-U-X Tigers.

Amy read the post, liked it enough to pitch it to Shelly Dupre for the Southern Public Relations Federation’s 2010 conference. A few calls and emails later, I had a speaking gig.

Dots connected.

• Blog post to
• SoloPR LinkedIn Group
• From Kellye Crane to Amy to Shelly

So that’s it. How one blog post, shared with the right audience, on the right social media network sparked the engagement that lead to new contacts and business.

I put in the time, effort and it worked. How has social media worked for you?

Image credit: Despair, Inc.

Davina K. Brewer, solo PR of 3Hats Communications, wears all the hats helping small businesses with their marketing, public relations and social media, design needs. Means she spends her time blogging and tweeting, pretending it's “work.” She shares her ideas on PR and social media via Twitter and her marketing blog.