Tag Archives: engagement

Sharisax Is Out There

Circle of Reciprocity begins with FREE: My take-aways from this morning’s no-cost webinar with George Kao

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Yosemite May 2008 009

Raise your hand if you’ve signed up for a free webinar lately?

If you haven’t, then you’re not really using the Web broadly enough to learn new tips & tricks that can enhance your own knowledge base AND your ability to deliver value to others.

All that being said: How many of us SIGN UP for the Webinars and then either [1]  forget about them or [2] wait for the archive version that will likely be filed away . . . and forgotten?

YUP, Guilty as charged . . .

But not this morning.I listened and participated in one that was so good, it needed its own blog post: I wanted to share the information and, at the same time, review the lessons for myself.

My good friend Ann had forwarded me an email last week from George Kao, who offers free webinars [and subsequent coaching programs] — to discuss social media AND how to deliver information-packed webinars that will help build business success. George’s WebinarMethod.com caught my interest as I build my own coach/consultant business model — and the fact that his email said it WOULD NOT BE ARCHIVED was the impetus I needed to skip my yoga class this morning . . . because I wouldn’t be able to catch it later.

Can I say, once again, how valuable the entire experience was . . .

  1. The initial approach, i.e., the fact that this would NOT be archived, worked to get me focused on getting the most from this one-hour experience.
  2. The discussion of FREE: what to “give away” and what to hold back. George suggests:

    • giving away too much for free inundates people . . . and will keep them from buying/hiring you.
    • “catchy content” in a free event should require engagement that will inspire them to action, i.e., buying more from you,
  3. When people buy from you, “You Change the World”: this becomes an “investment” rather than mere entertainment
  4. On the “Hierarchy of Engagement for Content” — In-person speaking engagements ranked highest for emotional engagement and the least likely to allow for procrastination. Here is the rest of the list from Highest Engagement to Lowest:
    • Video webinars
    • Webinars with telephone and visuals
    • Teleseminars with conference call
    • Instant messaging and/or chat room
    • Dedicated Video [DVD]
    • Dedicated Audio [CD]
    • Email [including newsletters/ezines]
    • Mass email via social media [groups]
    • Linkable text [PDF w/links; online articles, blogs]
    • Social sites [e.g. Yahoo answers, forums]
    • Offline text [book, magazine]

Thinking about the hierarchy list above . . . and social media lessons . . .

The beauty of what “we” are all doing online is ENGAGING with one another and supporting one another on our respective quests to improve our lives and our society.

I’d genuinely like to go on and on . . . but so many times “Less is More” as my students have heard me say so many times. Besides, George gives these free webinars all the time, so there’ll be a lot more you can discover for yourselves. And, of course, I do need to say, “NO, no one paid me anything for this endorsement.” It was just that well done.

By way of sparking conversation, I’m going to try to get the other participants [whom I met on “Savor Chat”] to add their take-aways as well, and, yes, George, I hope you see this and add your TWO CENTS as well.

Blogging

Social Media Tools — are just “tools,” not the all-important-strategies

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Part 3: Putting the PUBLIC Back in Public Relations

Add air to molten glass
Add air to molten glass

If you think about the title of this post, I hope you’ll get the message that even though it’s the SM platforms, i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, etc. that get the “Buzz,” it’s HOW YOU USE THEM that is their true significance.

Because Brian and Dierdre devote a lot of ink to individual tools in this section of PPBPR, readers should note that some of the content will be outdated by the time they read it — the Web is so dynamic, and the Social Web is even more so.

But that is the Key Point of this section:

“Remember that these are merely tools to communicate with others; they’re not representative of the strategies and methodologies for observing and communicating with people.” — p. 153 PPBPR

Four chapters in Part 3: “Participating in Social Media”

Ch 11 – Technology Does Not Override the Social Sciences

Ch 12 – Social Networks: The Online Hub for Your Brand

Ch 13 – Micromedia

Ch 14 – New “Marketing” Roles

Valuable re-quote from The Cluetrain Manifesto:

These markets are conversations. Their members communicate in language that is natural, open, honest, direct, funny and often shocking.

Whether explaining or complaining, joking or serious, the human voice is unmistakably genuine. It can’t be faked.

Most corporations, on the other hand, only know how to talk in the soothing, humorless monotone of the mission statement, marketing brochure, and your call-is-important-to-us busy signal.

Same old tone. Same old lies.

My take-aways:

  • Conversations will go on — with or without you. Watch that the competition doesn’t get there first.
  • Negativity in the conversation can present opportunity, e.g., to change a perception.
  • Basic PR has not changed: YOU are the communication bridge between your company and the people you want to reach.
  • Social media helps uncover relevant online communities: LISTEN, OBSERVE and, then, ENGAGE.
  • Reach out to individuals not audiences.
  • Everything you do online today, whether it’s personal or on behalf of a company you represent, contributes to public perception and overall brand resonance.
  • Social networks are forcing PR practitioners to evolve — to step out from behind a cloak of anonymity.
  • “Socialize to Survive” : The days of focusing solely on Web stickiness, eyeballs, and click-throughs is waning. These are the days of immersion, conversation, engagement, relationships, referrals, and action.

NOW FOR SOME QUESTIONS: (especially for those of you who may want to consider discussing this chapter next Tuesday, September 15, at the 8 pm EDT/5 pm PDT meet-up of #smbookclub)

  1. As a “communication pro,” how do you [or anyone] keep on top of Networks and Apps?
  2. What platforms and apps have you chosen to use and why?
  3. What success stories have you had/or heard about that have impacted the way you feel about social media?
  4. How do you feel about “lifestreams” and/or posting updates on multiple sites simultaneously?
  5. Can discussions really take part in micromedia?
  6. Where would you like to see Social Media go from here?

I hope to hear your thoughts in comments below and/or next Tuesday during our book discussion.

Next Post: Description of Community Manager role as organization’s guide along Social Media Revolutionary Road

Blogging

Facilitating Conversations: Talking the Talk – Part 2 of my glimpse into Putting PUBLIC Back in PR

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Crank up the conversation
Crank up the conversation

Want to join the discussion of “How Social Media is Reinventing the Aging PR Business”?

I did yesterday when I began the day writing my take-aways from Part 1: “The True Value of New PR” — Putting the Public Back in PR by Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge — and ended the day engaging in an online chat with the Social Media Book Club discussing Part 2 of the book.

The five chapters in PPBPR’s second section covered these areas:

Ch 6  The language of New P’R – suggesting that terms like “user” and “audience” are out-dated.

Ch 7 Blogger Relations – for which Brian has published an entire Ebook, and the main point is that PR people, and anyone who wants to get a blogger’s attention, needs to read the blog BEFORE making contact.

Ch 8  Social Media Release [SNR] 2.0 – includes an actual template for a recommended format.

Ch 9 Video News Release [VNR] 2.0 – features strategies for creating successful video programs.

Ch 10  Corporate Blogging – my favorite portion of this section because of the tips and links to more resources for planning blogging strategies for companies.

My first experience with Tweetchat and the Social Media Book Club

Not ever having participated in an online chat before [I can’t believe I’m admitting that], I was surprised to see how easy it was to (a) sign up at Tweetchat through my Twitter account, (b) write in the hashtag #smbookclub, and (c) VOILA, I was in and waiting to begin.

Lara McCulloch, an event planner from Ontario, moderated the discussion for the seven or so Tweeple dropping in. The key points discussed included the following:

  • For effective blogger relations, PR people need to read and understand what a blogger writes about BEFORE contacting him or her.
  • If bloggers have a large following, then the comment section can be as valuable as the blog post itself.
  • Gobblygook [i.e, meaningless jargon and cliche expressions] does not belong in press releases.
  • Many companies are finding the news releases, distributed by wire services, may only be necessary for huge product launches.
  • PR is all about relationships, and if you want someone to write about you, you need to establish a relationship.
  • The problem with most traditional releases is that they are designed for a mass audience — and that’s no longer effective, either for the media person or the end consumer.
  • Marketers and PR people need to stop thinking about sending messages, but rather tell stories, i.e. telling rather than selling.
  • Social News releases focus on the facts clearly stated in an easy-to-read format as in the template offered in the book.
  • Newswriting — and the teaching of newswriting — is a different ballgame these days.
  • Print media is looking for community engagement and is doing more stories on local residents.
  • VNRs are time-consuming and expensive, but they are very effective.
  • Video logs, or Vlogs, are not as common as their likability would suggest because they are more time-consuming to create, and they are not as searchable as text-based blogs.
  • Corporate types find it difficult to get into the dialogues that ought to be achieved through company blogging.

The final task of the discussion was to list some quotes that resonated with us:

“We earn the relationship we deserve.”

“To be an effective marketer, you must think like the consumer.”

“”The true influencers are the peers of your customers.”

“Blogs are little First Amendment machines.”

“The game is changing: It is no longer about survival of the fittest, but also the most capable and sincere.”

Don’t forget that you can join next week’s discussion of Part 3 to share your ideas on “Participating in Social Media” – Tuesday, Sept 15 at 8 pm EDT/5 pm PDT. Log into Tweetchat and put in the hashtag #smbookclub.

If you missed this week’s chat, but want to add to the conversation, please write your comments below.

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