Over the last year, there’s been a significant increase in the use of social media by those of us working in public works. Some of us are using it for work to enhance communications with citizens or other professionals. Others have started using it only to interact with personal friends and relatives. But even though everyone seems to be getting more comfortable tweeting, sharing posts on Facebook, and watching YouTube videos, few have moved on to creating blogs. Yet just about every one of us has significant information and experiences that could be best shared with others through a blogging format. So we wondered what could the Public Works Group do to encourage and support more sharing of public works information online? And that’s when we decided to launch the Blog Route Plans!
The Blog Route Plans are monthly subscription plans that can help you easily get a blog, and even a few social media sites, up and running. For a monthly fee, we can set up and host a blog for you, offer tutorials, keep your site upgraded, and provide resources and ideas for you to use to create content on your blog. And because some people feel more comfortable having others check over their posts before publishing, we can help out by providing that service too.
Based on our research, this is somewhat of a different approach to offering social media services. Most people who want a website or blog usually contract with someone or a company to provide the site. And once delivery takes place, the fee is paid, and the customer is handed a newly created site to proudly display online. But because setting up a social media site like a blog is just the beginning, we believe it’s more important to provide support to you on a regular basis. After all, it’s the content on your site and your engagement online that will provide the most value to your reader. And it’s not always easy to come up with ideas or topics for posts or keep up with all the new tools to incorporate into your site.
Sure there are some social media consultants out there who will run your site for you and create and generate content. But the cost can be hefty, they probably don’t have the public works background you do, and really social media is more about personal interaction – not just hiring someone to do it for you. So instead we want to offer services that support and help you create the best content possible. We already have the Public Works Group Website where we post information related to our industry. But through our plans, we can better keep you informed about any new social media tools out there and whether or not they can help increase the value of your site. And of course, we will send ideas and suggestions for posts.
Some people might ask why pay for a monthly subscription when anyone can set up a blog for free on sites like WordPress.com or Blogger? For those who are interested in setting up blogs on their own, this is definitely a solution. However, we do realize that eventually some people, particularly those setting up blogs for their companies, will need or want more control over their blog than a free hosting plan provides. And our plans are set up for people who don’t want to have to worry about researching how to set up blogs, worry about maintaining a site, or worry about what tools they really should be using. The Blog Route Plans also allow the Public Works Group to act as a type of personal blogging assistant providing content ideas, checking posts, or just being there to answer questions about social media or blogging. So if you’ve been thinking of blogging or just have some questions, check out our plans or e-mail us with any thoughts or questions at [email protected]
Do people honestly pay folks to do simple stuff like setting up free accounts for them? Yikes.
Well I can see the value here. Sometimes there is just not enough hours in the day. Some people like to develop things such as blogs. Others just see it as a necessity to remain cyber-competitive (assuming you have a business).
(Sorry – I deleted my response and re-posted because somehow it looked like someone added a link to my comment) And thanks James! I think the biggest savings is in the time.
I think those of us who have been using the technology for years don’t realize how intimidating, challenging, and time-consuming it can be to set up and maintain social media sites and blogs for those who are not doing this as their main job. And this is now the main barrier I am finding in my industry that’s keeping others from blogging. So yes, people are paying thousands of dollars to have others set up and maintain sites for them which is far less than the fees for our services.
And, as I point out at the bottom of the post, there are free solutions, and I regularly post articles about how to set those sites up. But they do not offer the same benefits as a paid solution, and not everyone is even comfortable with how to set those up.
Anyway, what I am offering is not just a free site or account. The site the customer receives costs money to host and provides backups. There is also the value of the time it takes to set up the site. Plus I am offering other services such as targeted support for those working in my industry to help support them with content and editing/checking posts. Finding and researching the most relevant content for our industry also takes time which not everyone can afford to take.