Tag Archives: Facebook

Blogging, Twitter

Personal Branding is Powerful Strategy in Social Media

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One day ends and the world begins anew

The last class of the semester will not be the end of studies for many SFSU marketing students.

What a wild ride –

Jumping off the PR 1.0 trail and on to PR 2.0!

And I’m happy to report that many of my 90+ students will be continuing our trek down Revolutionary Road. Below is a sampling of their semester wrap-ups:

Consumers create the buzz:

“I learned that people are changing the way information is given and received. Today Social Media is influencing all of us in ways never thought possible 5, 10, 20 years ago. Websites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are evolving into powerful tools. And companies are seeing this as consumers are now the ones creating buzz about products and places.

Today we all have the opportunity to use the Web to tell stories, to educate, to entertain, and, most importantly, to engage in conversation. We are only beginning to explore the many ways to communicate.” — Alice Ng

Social Media is our future:

“It is not only a way for people to connect and maintain relationships, but the Future for marketing and business, as well. Most of the population has hit their limit with mass advertising. People have figured out that everything is a selling gimmick and they have become immune. Marketing has become Word of Mouth — and what better way to facilitate the discussions than through social media.

If I am interested in a new TV, I want to hear real-life reviews and opinions — and with just a few clicks I can find them with Twitter. Or, if I want to know more about a person or organization, I simply go to LinkedIn or Facebook. As more people are realizing that everything is available online, more companies and people are adding valuable content to be discovered.” — Natalie Leadbetter

What’s just a fad?

“The number of social media websites id mind-boggling. The question is which ones are here to stay, and which ones will be merely fads. It’s frustrating that more and more aspects of life are moving to the Web. Personally, I find that staring at a computer screen for longer than a couple of hours at a time can induce headaches. Also, social media is killing privacy, and I have always considered myself a private person. I haven’t felt comfortable putting myself on the Internet for anyone to Google.

One of our speakers told us, ‘If I Google your name and nothing comes up, then you can forget about a job1’ I still have a hard time getting myself to put my name out there and start the multiple social networking profiles that are required for this class — and what now seems, required for life in general. Is there another niche out there for me to avoid this whole Web 2.0 thing? I DOUBT IT. I guess it’s time for me to bite the bullet and join the massive conformity that we call Social Media.” — Emilio Siqueiros

Personal Branding 101:

“I’m personally appreciative to have been immersed in the New Rules of PR. Communication has been revolutionalized and one of the most important lessons for me has been about Personal Branding. From everything I post online to my contributions to others’ web conversations, being Proactive is the Key. I now understand the importance of contributing to other people’s blogs as well as creating and maintaining online profiles — to connect with others and to contribute to the Worldview of Knowledge.” –Alvin Lee

Be careful online:

“When I first began this PR class, I hadn’t known what to expect. All I’d ever heard about PR were statements about making a company Look Good. But now my understanding has changed to the view that PR is more of a process of having a company do the kinds of things that will make it look good and earn that good reputation. And I can see how the internet — and everything we post online — can affect our reputation for the bad as well as for the good. Before this class, I’d tried Twitter when it wasn’t all the rage. I thought it was interesting, but it would fade away.

Now, though, I’m surprised that I’m Tweeting on my final — social media has grown so powerful that wherever I look, someone is bombarding me with some sort of advertising cleverly disguised as Tweets. Every action we take, we have to know that a potential client or contact is watching, and what we write online can make or break us in the Business World.” — Victor Atilano

Share your experiences with us. How has your life changed? Most of us believe that ours has improved? How about you?

Next post: http: Twitter 101

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Sharisax Is Out There

Social Media Strategies Work in Everyday Life, too

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Writer’s Block?  Rather, so many things to say —

How do you pick one post for the day?

It's all about Being Out There
It's all about Being Out There

This reminds me of one of the greatest pieces of advice I have ever received . . . decades ago, and I am still often sharing it with stressed-out students and friends:

Whenever Life bombards you with more challenges than a human being should have to handle, you pick ONE to focus on, and all the rest will magically and mysteriously fall into place.

Eeeeny meeny miny mo. I picked this topic:

Do’s and Don’ts I learned through my social media “research” this week:

DO’S

1. LISTEN very, very, very carefully. You never will learn if you don’t. And you will learn so much more than you ever thought if you do.

2. ENGAGE with an open mind. If you are going “out there” — whether on the Web, in the classroom, at a meeting, or in a gym — expect to give and take, which means you may actually change your mind about something.

3. THINK things through. Knee Jerk reactions are for “jerks” — be deliberate and responsible and know that if someone is really listening to you, he or she will appreciate words that are carefully considered.

4. SINCERITY can never be overrated. Genuine passion wins friends and influences all sorts of people.

5. LOVE what you do and do what you love, and as my mom always said: “The money will come” =D

DON’TS

1. This one is easier than I thought it would be: Do NOT do unto others as you would not have them do unto you.

PS Now I’m thinking of dozens and dozens more DO’s [and maybe a few DON’TS] but I’d rather share the stage:  What social media strategies work in your day-to-day lives?

Next post: Social Media Reading List

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Facebook, Guest Post, LinkedIn

Marketing student compares Facebook & LinkedIn for class back in 2009

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Imagine whose in these buildings

**GUEST POST** San Francisco State University senior Roxanne Cobbs has been an active member of this semester’s public relations class — and has functioned as a very responsible leader for two small groups, the 2nd of which investigated the topic of “Facebook for Business.”

Roxanne’s group put together an excellent power point presentation, and she agreed to write a Guest Post for my blog. She told me she’s having fun observing the social media craze and hopes to play a role in changing the world of advertising.

Facebook is COOL, but it has a way to go to reach the polish and professionalism of LinkedIn

As the world of SM keeps growing, so does my desire to obtain more knowledge about it. Every day I learn something new, enforcing the message that I need SM in my life if I want to be cutting-edge in the business world.

Having just completed a group project advocating the use of Facebook for business, I’ve gathered some interesting tidbits to add to my ever-growing list of SM need-to-knows.

So why use Facebook for business?

One key reason is its viral nature. Facebook can further assist companies in finding their target market by browsing or searching personal profiles through keyword usage. It’s also great for advertising because of its amazing reach — 276 million members and growing daily.

Facebook has a huge assortment of business applications like the demographic filtering which allows extreme precision in targeting your desired market. Of the more than 15 apps we researched, I chose my top three to help you and your business:

RSS Connect

Promote your blog — with RSS feed you can add your blog or any RSS feeds to your wall, with feeds being updated automatically and easily shared.

IEndorse

Use this app to help build relationships and your personal reputation by sending and collecting endorsements, and then post them on your Facebook Professional Profile.

My LinkedIn Profile

Keep the networking system flowing with the use of this cross-promotion app. Input your LinkedIn url or profile name and a LinkedIn badge will appear on your Facebook profile.

Though my research taught me that Facebook can be a good SNS for business purposes, I remain by my opinion that LinkedIn is much superior. LinkedIn is a polished site that resonates professionalism. It lacks the clutter and distractions of Facebook, focusing solely on professional connections — and the experts available on the site. It is not a personal, social site with information about your friends and families, but rather a site where you can network with other professionals who can aid you in your business endeavors.  

by Roxanne Cobbs

Click link for an upclose and personal view of the team’s research on Facebook for Business.

Next post: Social Media Strategy works in everyday life, too.

Sharisax Is Out There

What Changes is Everything

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Motion in Poetry

[read to us during yoga this morning — couldn’t help but think Social Media]

Joyous in flight
Joyous in flight

HERON by Leza Lowitz

Still as silence

what I hold in this life

is thousands of years of DNA,

the mystery of a moment

in which what falls away

is effort

and what changes

is everything

that grows longer

and stronger,

joyous

in flight.

From “Yoga Poems: Lines to Unfold By” by Leza Lowitz, (Stone Bridge Press)
Leza says: “Many thanks. I love sharing yoga and spreading the word about the transformative powers of yoga and poetry! Thanks for posting the link too. I have just finished a sequel to Yoga Poems and hope it will be published in 2010 or thereafter.
The Art of Embracing Uncertainty: An interview with Leza Lowitz
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Facebook

Is Facebook better for your business than your social life?

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So, once again, is Facebook a waste of time?

Not many of us live this way -- anymore
Not many of us live this way -- anymore

Last post we tried to address the responses of naysayers — the “non early adopters,” the social media non-initiates.

Common challenges in any evolutionary cycle.
But the fact remains that life does change, and so do we.

And nowhere are these changes more dramatic than with engaged students in our colleges and universities. I’m seeing this “Ah-Ha Awareness” particularly strong among scores of individuals in my Public Relations and Advertising classes at San Francisco State University where many are hearing of this revolution in marketing for the very first time.

After 10+ weeks immersed in All Things Social Media, I asked the students to comment on this experience. Here following are the thoughts of Yoshiko Hill who is currently on a team studying the future of radio advertising:

I had no idea that social media was impacting the advertising, and entire marketing, world in such a significant way. I now realize that social media is being fully utilized by companies as a more cost-effective, targeted method of reaching customers.

Social media creates a dialogue with customers that most traditional media lack. It is especially attractive as an alternative to costly traditional advertisements — especially given the current state of our economy.

Social media is no longer your sibling’s hobby. It is a rapidly evolving revolutionary tool, and if more businesses do not begin to embrace it, they will soon be left behind. — Yoshiko Hill 5-5-09

Hey Businesspeople — small and large:

  • Are you listening?
  • Listening to the marketplace in general?
  • Listening to your customers in particular?

If you aren’t, as Yoshiko warns above, you will be left behind.

Next post: Poetic look at Changing World

Twitter

Facebook is a Waste of Time

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Faces for posterity

. . .  and Twitter is for Dummies, and Friendfeed, well, that’s way over the top!

Just how is one supposed to counter .  . . and even live with . . . people who just don’t “get it” i.e., that the world has changed dramatically?

“Everything never changes. Something has changed and it impacts everything else.” [Quoting John Naisbitt in Robert Scoble’s Naked Conversation]

SOCIAL MEDIA impacts everything . . . now and in our future. So back to my original question, What do we say to anyone — particularly from my BabyBoomer generation and older? How do we share our enormous excitement about the possibilities for the world, for our friends and family, and for ourselves as individuals?

Personally, I believe I have a distinct advantage when it comes to answering the question, mainly because just three months ago, I was telling a friend that his use of Facebook three hours a day was a huge waste of his life.

What has happened to me?

First off, I have remembered that Open Minded-ness is key to Critical Thinking and as such I needed to check out the BUZZ before categorically dismissing a phenomenon that has captured the attention of millions in one way or another: MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed, YouTube, and countless numbers of blogs.

What helped me most was Twitter, which surprisingly still is a mystery to so many people I talk with — but, of course, not to the vast majority of people who will read this blog post.

I’m not a cellphone texter, so that particular use of Twitter didn’t seem relevant. Initially I wondered if this great new technology could be molded into a teaching tool, i.e., to force my students to write something of substance in only 140 characters. The essence of good writing is clarity and conciseness.

Playing with Twitter

While I liked developing that “writing with Twitter” idea, however, I began playing with Twitter, i.e., following people, reading their updates, posting some of my own — especially “retweeting,” re-posting a particularly good update. Most of all, though, I was reading on a daily basis just what all this social media was about and the great benefits it has to offer.

And now I’m hooked.

In a nutshell, social media is allowing us all to share our research and our thoughts and, yes, our products/services with a community of like-minded individuals whose lives can be enriched by being connected to us through the Internet.

Like most knowledge, the more you learn, the more you realize there is so much more “out there” and that’s the primary reason for this blog — to help me learn more and to answer the question, “Why Social Media is NOT a waste of our time.”

Please let me know about any conversations you’ve had when people have told you that blogging, Facebook, Twitter, etc. are all “a waste of time.”

Next post: Facebook for Business

Sharisax Is Out There

Robert Scoble lets us know: We’re All Connected

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And those valuable ties are growing deeper and wider . . . as we TWEET and BLOG and “FRIENDFEED“

According to CrunchBase, “Robert Scoble is an American blogger, technical evangelist, and author. He is best known for his popular blog,  Scobleizer which came to prominence during his tenure as a technical evangelist at Microsoft.

According to my Public Relations students at San Francisco State, who were able to engage with him firsthand when he spoke with us Thursday, April 28, he is a true visionary who is leading the exploration of the Social Media Universe.

Here are some of the student comments after Robert’s visit:

  • Mita Mahida: “The more stories are repeated, the more this world becomes important. In order to be noticed, you have to be able to create a buzz in your niche market and be able to start conversations because the new form of advertising is engagement.”
  • Jeanette Barlow: “I feel that Robert’s main point was to help us feel better about graduating in a recession — not to try so hard to understand the past, but rather to be incorporated into the future. We are in the White Pages, but we need to think about how to get to the Yellow Pages.”
  • Theresa Rix: “Robert was a wakeup call. It was mind-blowing that he uses six computer screens, has 90,000 followers on Twitter, and has maxed out on Facebook Friends. He also told us about another blogger who attends every event around the world to build his brand. I have to wonder, What is to come? If this is what it takes to be on top in the social media hierarchy, we need to find new solutions to stay connected to each other. For myself, I can’t imagine building my entire life on the internet without actually meeting and inspiring people IRI. Are we pushing social media in the wrong direction?”
  • Ann Marie Pawlicki: “Being a blogger with your status, how do you deal with false information that comes your way and how do you facilitate what you validate as important enough to be on your site, knowing perfectly well of the misleading possibilities that are ever so present in the cyberworld?”
  • Chris Gleason: “A blog is the foundation — or home — for a writer. It is a place for followers of one’s Twitter account to get the full story.” -pictured in video
  • Alvin Lee: “Until Robert’s discussion, I was unaware of FriendFeed, which is fascinating because of its real-time platform. What amazed me was how many people were commenting and aggregated every second; the cascading comments were surreal to watch. One important utility of FriendFeed is how reoccurring posts jump back to the top of the real-time feed. This feature makes it easy for someone to identify important or newsbreaking topics.”
  • Krista McClellan: “The most important idea I gathered was the concept of filters. Robert made it very clear that we should all be focusing on creating filters on our FaceBook, FriendFeed, and Twitter accounts. And that prospective employers would like to see how we organize all this information. He also emphasized the importance of engaging in a niche where we had a real interest and where we could build network, knowledge and reputation within that market.
  • James Armfield: “The ability to network can be the key success factor to channeling news and information through the virtual world. After a credible network has been established, then one’s quality of engagement with others in the social media world will bring exponential growth to your current network and lead to a greater network of information.”

In closing this post, I’d like to leave you with a John Naisbitt quote Robert used in his 2006 book co-authored with Shel Israel, Naked Conversations: how blogs are changing the way businesses talk with customers:

“Everything never changes.

Something has changed and it impacts everything else.”

[Disclaimer: That video above was my first “sad” attempt at using the Flip camera. “I am always doing that which I do not know how to do in order to learn to do it.”]


Next post: Jack Dorsey, Twitter creator visits SFSU

Archive, Blogging, Facebook, Sharisax Is Out There, Twitter

Follow Me Along Revolutionary Road

To: My friends in the Blogosphere

From: Shari Weiss @sharisax on Twitter

Date: ThursdaySharisax is Out There, April 23, 2009

Re: My First Ten Things Memo Blog Post

FOLLOW ME . . . ALONG REVOLUTIONARY ROAD: Ten of the 1000’s of things I’ve learned in two months studying the Social Media Revolution/Evolution

How does one tell a story from the middle of a raging river [i.e., in medias res]? You just jump in the boat, I suspect, and start paddling.

As a journalist for more than thirty years and a marketing instructor for more than a decade, I’ve had a variety of valuable experiences learning to write, to sell, and to teach. But nothing has so excited and energized me as what is happening TODAY in what I refer to as the Social Media Revolution/Evolution.

The following is merely a place to start:

1. Social Media: After two months of talking about this social media phenomenon in my classes, one student was brave enough to ask, “So what is this thing, Social Media, that we’ve been spending so much time discussing?” Of course, anyone can go look up the phrase on Wikipedia and learn the consumer-generated definitions that are shaping how many of us are understanding the world.

My simplistic, starting-place answer is to take the word “media,” i.e., the vehicles we use to send a message from a sender to a receiver AND combine it with “social,” i.e., the environment in which people are living and working together. This is a New phrase/label, so what I believe we are talking about includes the New Methods being used and developed to have enhanced conversations with one another via enhanced technology, most specifically the Internet. Examples would include Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, StumbledUpon, Flickr, Yelp, and a whole host of others. Check out Brian Solis’ Conversation Prism: http://www.briansolis.com/2008/08/introducing-conversation-prism.html

2. Web 2.0 vs. Web 1.0: The term Web 2.0 was coined to describe all those extensions and further uses we have found for our technological connections via our computers. Where Web 1.0 allowed us to search for information and begin communicating via email, Web 2.0 has become a platform for community building and business growth. Web 2.0 marks the start of Social Media. So what will Web 3.0 look like?

3. Blogging: According to recent statistics, Technorati [Internet search engine for blogs], tracks 133 million blogs, and more are being produced each second – just as I’m doing here. Blogging has flattened the communication landscape. No longer do a few publishers, editors, and journalists control the flow of information to the public. Any one with an Internet connection can post his or her thoughts, opinions, and activities “out there” for everyone to read and comment upon.

4. Bloggers: Bloggers are the new influencers . . . or they can be. Many online writers simply post diary narratives on the Web for a host of reasons, which likely include the human need to be acknowledged. But hundreds, if not thousands, of bloggers are posting online content that gets read and spread – and what they say matters. Business organizations, both profit and nonprofit, have recognized the power of bloggers to market messages about products and services.

5. Micro-blogging and Twitter: Twitter has changed my life. Two months ago, a business acquaintance asked me to follow him on Twitter. Initially I didn’t get it. What did I care about what someone had for breakfast or what the traffic was like on the freeway. Then I discovered that “there are no rules” and that Twitter can be a host of different experiences, depending on how one chooses to use the technology.

During my first fumblings, I decided to use Twitter as a platform for my English students to send me substantive messages in only 140 characters – to teach lessons of clarity and conciseness. I was soon pleased to see a link to 100 Tips, Apps, and Resources for Teachers on Twitter: http://onlinecollegedegree.org/2009/03/19/100-tips-apps-and-resources-for-teachers-on-twitter/

Where did I find that link? On Twitter, of course, after I learned to use Twitter in a way that works well for me: I follow “Tweeple” [i.e. people with Twitter accounts] who are interested in topics of interest to me, e.g., future of marketing, future of PR, future of journalism, future of advertising, etc. My husband now calls me Tweetie Bird, since I’m so often online reading the blogs that offer more indepth facts, observations, and opinions on these subjects and more.

6. The New Rules of Marketing: It was on Twitter, of course, that I first learned of David Meerman Scott’s book The New Rules of Marketing & PR. As a marketing lecturer at San Francisco State University, I have felt compelled to address, acknowledge, and learn about Why? there need to be New Rules and Why? The Old Ones do not work any more.

One quote from DMS’s book: “Marketers must shift their thinking from the short head of mainstream marketing to the masses to a strategy targeting vast numbers of underserved audiences via the Web.” Brian Solis and Deidre Breakenridge expand on this in their recent book Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: “PR has begun to look less like a typical broadcast machine and more like a living, breathing entity capable of also participating in conversations with publics.”

7. The Future of Advertising: The death knell for newspapers has been sounded; young people don’t read them, and advertisers are pulling away. And that is only one medium suffering. Selling radio spots is not getting easier although radio listenership may be expanding because of Internet and satellite radio. The biggest changes are likely to be on Network TV. There is no longer a need for “mass marketing” on a “mass medium.” Large advertisers like Pepsi have admitted to misspending hundreds of millions of marketing dollars, and that probably indicates too much expense for TV commercials that are zapped via channel changing or TIVO fast-forwarding. Traditional forms of advertising will still be necessary to reach the large numbers of people who aren’t yet online [or not online very often], but figuring out how to successfully advertise online is where future strategies must be aimed.

8. Reverse-Engineering: This is a fascinating process to contemplate. Think about your goal and work backwards to make it happen. I’m reminded of the Silicon Valley slogan of the ‘90s: “You imagine it and we will build it.” I read a recent post by noted blogger Seth Godin whose paragraph for the day was titled “Imminent” and he began with this quote: “The one thing that will allow your business to get funded, or to get a business to business buyer to buy from you or a college to admit you is the sense that your success is imminent.” This is my understanding of the theory of “intention” in which you focus on the result you want – and it will come about.

9. Creativity: Amidst sea tides of change, the need for creative thinking remains constant. That requires recognizing that new ideas are healthy and need to be encouraged and embraced, not feared and dismissed. What has worked in the past can be twisted and turned and looked at in new ways, while brainstormers stay open to totally different thoughts that emerge and can provide exciting new solutions. Picasso said, “I am always doing that which I do not know how to do in order to learn how to do it.”

10. We do not go out to find ourselves; rather, we go out creating ourselves: Why am I starting this blog? Let me count the ways. First of all, I have learned so much in the last few months that I am compelled to share that knowledge and hear what others have to say. Second, I believe in the power of the individual to make significant contributions to the betterment of society. And third, as I’ve told some of my students and my new blogging buddies, my “intention” is to join the A-list bloggers.

Next post: Future of marketing