Tag Archives: Twitter

Facebook, Sharisax Is Out There

Facebook for Business, Blogging, Posterous and more:

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Twitter is like my personal bookstore, but so is most of Web 2.0

photos by Howard Blum
photos by Howard Blum

Sharing is one of the amazing benefits of Web 2.0, so it’s no wonder that Twitter is so important to me — both as a source and a repository. Here are some of the articles I read and Tweeted and Re-Tweeted this week:

  1. NYT article on Facebook for Business
  2. Blogs better Hubs than Twitter
  3. Social media will be your local marketing tool
  4. Future of Marketing – PR Squared
  5. Scoble’s video interview with Posterous

New York Times tips for Marketing on Facebook

Quick Tips worth repeating over and over [until people get them ingrained]: (a) Identify goals; (b) Share personality; (c) Engage, don’t shill; (d) Use Facebook data Here are some article highlights:

  • Be where your customers — and prospective customers — hang out.
  • Start small and add tools & apps slowly
  • Enliven page with photos and useful information
  • Buy-buy-buy messages do not work
  • Offer value and be patient

NYT article on Facebook for Business

HUBSBlogs are best HUBS for your content

Here are seven reasons why:

  1. With a blog, you control the agenda, whether you’re communicating on behalf of a company, or for personal reasons.
  2. Your blog can cater to a sub-group of your Twitter friends or a different audience altogether.
  3. A blog is less dominated by spam than Twitter.
  4. You can embed images, audio and video on your blog.
  5. Blog posts can be of unlimited length. You can express yourself in more than 140 characters.
  6. With some environments, you have almost unlimited control over the appearance, functionality and arrangement of your blog.
  7. Many blogs include the ability to offer contact forms, polls, chat and other functionality. You can even embed your Twitter stream into your blog.

Blogs better Hubs than Twitter

Local audience — where the money is

flowers Nope, even traditional media admits social media is NOT a fad. Local bloggers are being paid for page views. Viral nature of social media is fountain for success. Social media provides 2-way communication. Social media will be your local marketing tool

Facebook & Google win social network marketing race

“In the future, the Web you know will be based on the Web that knows you.”

“Social Media has simply become an unstoppable force.”

“Making special offers based on known behaviors and connections, will be automated.”

Future marketing outreach: “Maybe you’ll also reach out to one of the baker’s dozen’s worth of active baking-related groups on Facebook.”

Future of Marketing – PR Squared

Robert Scoble interview with POSTEROUS for the “GEEKY-ER” among you:

Top Geek-Thought-Leader Robert Scoble posted a video interview with the two creators of Posterous, a platform on which anyone can post content via email. Steve Rubel  stopped publishing his highly regarded marketing communication blog Micropersuasion in favor of a Posterous stream. Video is 17 minutes long and features Robert’s questions for Posterous founders: Sachin Agarwal and Garry Tan. Highlights:

  • Purpose is to provide a simple, clean platform for rich media and mobile application.
  • Only four full-time engineers do all the work.
  • To serve 1.8 billion people who don’t want the hassle of a traditional blog
  • Future business model to offer Premium features — far in the future.

Check out more of Howard’s Awesome photos on his website: http://faces-and-places.net/indexa.html

Blogging, Facebook, Twitter

From creating Buzz to real-time Trends: Reading my favorite blogs is just like taking out toys and playing with them

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Vegas stripComing back from vacation is Hard Work, but if that “work” is “play,” then it can be a lot of fun — albeit different from three days in Las Vegas to celebrate my birthday.

So my “coming back plan” is to catch up on my blog-reading and blog-writing at the same time.

Where to start?

At the top of the inbox?

Where I left off last?

Any email title that catches my eye?

I decided to start with Adam Singer’s The Future Buzz [my favorite blog]. Adam is only 26, but his depth of experience and passion is amazing. Today he wrote about speaking at PubCon Nov 10-13, so any of my readers who can get back to Las Vegas, please say HI to Adam for me.

Adam’s post Understanding your audience is underrated touched a few chords for me. Here was my comment:

Two responses come to mind upon reading this post:
(1) As a writing teacher, I am reminded of my advice to students to imagine the reader and it makes the writing task so much easier.
Here was a cool example that worked this past summer: Imagine writing an essay about “Why you should exercise.” With no one person/reader in mind, where do you start? Now imagine the reader is your lazy overweight uncle sitting in front of the TV, drinking beer and playing with his remote. Easier to get started . . . and easier to write.

(2) As a marketing teacher, I’d want to share all of your insights with my students to show them the power of intelligent thinking. In this particular post, your five strategy questions provided a great “lesson.” I especially liked the suggestion to find promotions that work and make those your own.

Have you tried a “News Update Network”?

I like social|median for news updates. It’s cool to read “Sharisax’s News Updates” in my email box every day on these five topics: (a) Tech News, (b) Social Networking, (c) Social Media Watch, (d) Media&Technology, and (e) Twitter.

(b) Social Networking news was of particular interest:

“Why I don’t use Google Reader anymore” posted on Robert Scoble‘s Posterous stream — from his Friendfeed account.

The title of the post appealed to me because — although I have a Google Reader account, I much prefer the blogs and news that comes straight to my mailbox. Here’s why Robert dislikes Google Reader: (1) it’s slow [misspelled “slog” at first; appropriate? :-)]; (2) the UI (user interface)  is confusing; (3) too many items to read, which he doesn’t get to; (4) social networking aspects too slow; (5+++) Twitter is so much better!

Robert’s post goes on to show the versatility of Twitter’s new LIST feature, which will soon be open to all. Robert ends his post in the “recommended” fashion to ask how readers view Google Reader. The first commentor suggested that Twitter doesn’t have an RSS feeder like Google Reader. Robert’s response: Everyone he wants to read posts their info on Twitter.

Checking out Seth Godin’s latest “words of wisdom”:

1) Big ideas . . . are little ideas that no one killed too soon

2) Opt-in or opt-out: a thought-provoking consideration of how personal choices should/shouldn’t be automatic, e.g., organ donation [a public good] is “opt-out” while spammy messages are a definite “opt-in.”

3) What you buy when you buy a lottery ticket: The title alone got me. Seth says that buying a lottery ticket is a lot like writing a blog post, and that the motivation is “the thrill of possibility.”

Seth’s Blog is a great one to check out (a) if you are just starting a blog and you want to have a role model who posts short sharp insights very consistently, i.e., at least daily AND/OR (b) if you want to see how a writer can say a whole lot with very few words AND/OR (c) if you simply want to think about some idea of value.

Where to end . . .

Since this is “play,” I could go on and on. But I’m sure I’d lose too many of you. So I’ll quit this post with one last article glimpse, and what better source than Mashable, the premiere aggregator of tech savvy contributors, the ultimate “Social Media Guide”:

One of the stories that caught my attention was the 4 Emerging Trends of the Real-Time Web: (a) Individuals working together [i.e. collaborating] online via specially designed Web platforms; (b) real-time data on shopping, health info and a host of other categories; (c) more valuable search findings that filter out old information; (d) the BEST prices at any one moment in time — WOW!!

If you check out any of these stories, let me know what you got out of them.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider leaving a comment or sharing it with your followers on Twitter! You can also subscribe by email for more cool interviews and articles from Sharisax is Out There.

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Blogging, Twitter

Top Trends in Blogging & Twitter via Mashable

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This morning as I was catching up with some of the blog posts I missed yesterday, I stopped for a deeper look at the Mashable article on Five Top Trends from experts attending  the recent BlogWorld Expo.

One of my intentions is to find at least one post a day to write a comment or two on — and this article had both “thoughtful” opinions from well-known “thought leaders” as well as some pretty good comments from the “peanut gallery.”

Big Bloggers Tweeting More, Blogging Less

. . . according to Chris Pirillo [whose YouTube video on blogging I showed to my PR students], Twitter allows people to say more “pithy” things with less time and energy . . . pithy, maybe, but “more valuable”? — I think not. Here was the comment made by Micheline and my response:

Micheline Hazou 22 hours ago
Very interesting piece. As someone who is thinking of setting up and starting a blog, I identify with Chris Pirillo ‘s [@chrispirillo] view that “more and more bloggers are tweeting instead of blogging…” The challenge of expressing thoughts, ideas and chit-chat in 140 characters is quite refreshing.
Micheline, as someone who has only been blogging about six months — and also a Twitter fan — I continue to see these social media platforms as two entirely different communication tools. The writer in me may “tease” and/or “direct” people with a TWEET [like an appetizer, I suspect] but the real meal is in the blog post. BTW, if you have not yet started your blog AND would like a tutorial, please check my blog post on HOW TO START YOUR OWN BLOG: http://tinyurl.com/yahjdxk

The Evolution of Twitter as a Platform

Guy Kawasaki, who moderated a panel I covered in a recent report on “Does PR Suck?’, suggested the future value of Twitter was mainly for Business by pointing to the Kobi BBQ success story.

Here Nick and I weigh in on our favorite uses for Twitter:
Nick D. 21 hours ago
The real value of Twitter trends lies in their predictive value – the extent to which they are reliable leading indicators of broader business or social trends. There is some surprising evidence to the contrary coming in – i.e. that Twitter is in fact a lagging indicator in many cases. You can find out more here: http://blog.vanno.com/
Nick, I like Twitter mainly for Search. For example, I have a running list of tweets on my Tweetdeck for “Twitter for business”; “Facebook for business”; “Future of Advertising” and various #hashtags.

Semantic Intelligence

Brian Solis —  one of my “heroes” ever since he brought his PR 2.0 philosophy to my PR students last spring — has the statistics to prove that Twitter is driving towards more intelligent, filtered [and thus USEFUL ?] conversation:

Twitter Curation

Steve Rubel — who was on an HP panel discussing Social Media Roadmap this past summer — suggests that the New Media companies will be filtering and aggregating Tweets of Value and that editors will have a host of opportunities. [Call on me guys :-)]

User Generated Twitter Lists

Leo Laporte, whom I have not had the good fortune to meet yet, echoes the praise for Twitter Lists — new functionality for Twitter that allows people to generate lists for others to follow.

Join the conversation. It’s FUN and INSTRUCTIVE. Read up on these trends and others . . . and then put in your own TWO CENTS!

Blogging, Facebook, Twitter

Reading: Social Media tips, stats, and updates. What are people talking about?

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What are they all talking about
What are they all talking about

My friend and colleague Zahid Lilani recently posted links to eight articles he’d found interesting. So I thought I’d do the same — and get through some of my emails at the same time. If you read any of the suggested articles, please feel free to comment below — that “tip” is also recommended in a few of these articles.

SOCIAL NETWORKING: Social Media success depends on more than developing an online presence. Taylor Ellwood offers five tips on how to “Network” and Build Community using social media. Basically he suggests (1) Comment on peoples’ tweets and posts; (2) Pay attention to what people need; (3) Post personal info, but be careful that you talk about things that would promote interaction; (4) Try to connect people with one another; (5) Treat people as people, more than just prospective clients.

Friendfeed losing steam: Some SM influentials like Robert Scoble and Jeremiah Owyang, Louis Gray and Steve Rubel have lost faith in Friendfeed, especially since its acquisition by Facebook. [Also, if you check the Oct 14 post on Steve Rubel’s stream in the link above, you can access a great basic Handbook for Twitter.]

Deleting Duplicates: Are you bothered by seeing the same Tweet Twice? Twitter is doing something about that, but some people are upset because they schedule the same tweet to be broadcast 3 different times during the day. Sorry, but you’ll have to make a small change and that will be enough to “delete the delete.”

Technorati Update: The name “Technorati” was one I’d heard early on as The Blog Directory. Apparently the site has not updated its offerings until lately — and the changes will no doubt affect the Blogosphere. Read this article if you want to familiarize with what’s happening with this Big Name.

How-to Plan an Event on Facebook: Many of my friends and prospective clients want to know how to use Facebook Fanpages for their businesses. Here is a Step-by-Step guide to broadcasting news about an event on Facebook. Who doesn’t like Step-by-Step guides?

For Techies – Resources to build Apps: To be honest, this article is a bit over my head, but some readers may be thinking of building applications for FOUR of the most popular SM sites, i.e. Facebook, Flckr, Google Maps, and Twitter. Interesting reading [and stats] even for some of less tech-types.

Make money blogging?: Final reading selection of the day is a Roadmap to Turn Blogging into Your Business. Read Darren Rowse’s [Problogger] Roadmap after his wife told him “You have six months to make blogging full-time.”

Blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter

Social Media Victories: presentation by Patrick Schwerdtfeger for Bay Area Consultants — BACN

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As a Bay Area Consultant myself, I was thrilled to attend my first BACN breakfast meeting and hear Patrick Schwerdtfeger tell 80 of us all about his “Social Media Victories.”

Patrick’s one-hour talk featured case studies where organizations leveraged Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube to increase revenue and brand awareness . . . but what most enlivened the audience were Patrick’s own experiences and lessons along Social Media Revolutionary Road.

Below are my videos from the morning as well as reactions from some of the attendees.

Video 1

Social Media Sites are Raging Rivers

  • People are on the “raging rivers” of the Web, and they are looking for things.
  • Are you putting things out there that they can find?
  • If you do it right, people in New Zealand will find you.
  • Demonstrate your expertise.

Video 2

Driving traffic to a website is expensive

  • Use a blog as a Hub and social media platforms as spokes.
  • Twitter studies show lots of “babble.”
  • It’s not difficult to stand out as a valuable resource.

Video 3

Twitter is about getting out the right TITLES

  • Twitter allows consumers to “sample” the goods
  • 4 reasons to tweet: Community; Business; Expertise; Life
  • Corporate success stories: Whole Foods, Dell, Jet Blue

Video 4

Get the most out of Twitter & LinkedIn

  • Twitter tools: Tweetlater, Twellow, Tweetdeck
  • Kogi BBQ story
  • LinkedIn: people are 7 times more likely to open a LinkedIn email than a regular email
  • Join LinkedIn Groups to be able to email members “without” being connected.

Video 5

LinkedIn & Facebook: overcoming hurdles

  • Write recommendations for LinkedIn connections and they may reciprocate
  • Learn from the best; use model Linked profiles to design your own profile
  • Use Advanced Search in LinkedIn to send business proposals
  • Learn the different opportunities offered by Facebook Profiles, Groups, and Fanpages

Video 6

Create a Facebook Fanpage

  • Post and promote cool events
  • Take photos and tag people
  • Video events and post them

Video 7

Facebook and YouTube

  • Facebook all about Engaging your community.
  • YouTube: authentic videos are the ones that get watched.
  • Case study about The Best Job in the World

Video 8

Don’t have time for social media? Integrate Everything

What did the attendees “take away”?

BACN founder Harry Chapman
BACN founder Harry Chapman

“The session on social networking prompted me to look more deeply into using iTunes as another vehicle for providing though leadership about my practice. I am seriously looking into this and planning to FINALLY actively use at least iTunes to get more visibility to the Bay Area Consulting Group LLC and our deep expertise in IT management.” — Harry Chapman,  BACN founder


Follow Kerry Rego @kregobiz on Twitter
Follow Kerry Rego @kregobiz on Twitter

“I learned that I had underestimated the power of YouTube and its rightful place at the Big Kids table of social media. It is in fact now part of the Big Four: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn AND YouTube.” — Kerry Rego, Kerry Rego Consulting

Dr. Maynard Brusman, Consulting Psychologist
Dr. Maynard Brusman, Consulting Psychologist

“WOW! Patrick Schwerdtfeger presented a one-hour energy Social Media workshop packed with scores of tips and tricks to create social media success. He motivated me to take action and create Executive Coaching YouTube videos to attract more clients.” — Dr. Maynard Brusman

Sallie Goetsch - "If podcasting is driving you crazy, we can help."
Sallie Goetsch - "If podcasting is driving you crazy, we can help."

Patrick did a great job of presenting the core information about Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube. The material was all familiar to me, but I appreciated his arrangement of these four social networks as spokes around the hub of your blog. What stuck with me most was the advantage of going where your prospects already are, rather than strugling to build up traffic on your own website.” — Sallie Goetsch, The Podcast Asylum

Susan Bercu, "Let's talk. I'm a good listerner."
Susan Bercu, "Let's talk. I'm a good listerner."

“My take-away from Patrick’s lively, easy-to-follow presentation was his emphasis on the integration of social with your marketing strategy. I especially liked the tips on using YouTube. Very smart.” — Susan Bercu, graphic design and illustration

David Weissman, Bay Area Paralegal Services
David Weissman, Bay Area Paralegal Services

“The content of the presentation was thought-provoking and useful. The speaker was very knowledgeable, and I definitely intend to use the information to positon and promote my business services in a more effective manner.” — David Weissman, Bay Area Paralegal Services

Alice Cochran, Fast Forward Facilitation
Alice Cochran, Fast Forward Facilitation

“Everything in the presentation seemed so practical that I wanted to learn it in a step-by-step process, so I bought Patrick’s book Webify your Business. I particularly liked his approach which came from being self-taught — and convinced me that I could learn from him.” — Alice Cochran, author of Roberta’s Rules

Neil Schaffer, Windmill Networking
Neil Schaffer, Windmill Networking

“The one take-away I had was the “raging water” symbolism. It really does give justice to how viral and quick the pace of things in social media — and how you  need to throw yourself into the water and go with the flow. I also liked his case studies, which really drove home his points.” — Neil Schaeffer, Windmill Networking

“Patrick’s enthusiasm and passion for social media tools are infectious. Many thanks to BACN for a wonderful presentation which has inspired me to ACT.” — Yael Schy,  Dramatic Strides Consulting

Marla Rosner @ManagementMavin on Twitter
Marla Rosner @ManagementMavin on Twitter

“I loved listening to Patrick. He’s a font of wisdom about social networking. I’m close to posting my first YouTube video and I got some great ideas about tagging.” — Marla Rosner, Helping teams listen, learn, and lead.

Steven Tulsky, Financial Experts for Nonprofit Sector
Steven Tulsky, Financial Experts for Nonprofit Sector

“What I liked about Patrick was that he comes to this stuff with the same scepticism as I do. He doesn’t preach, but rather shares his amazement that using Web 2.0 can actually be very helpful in establishing one’s personal visibility and respectability, and therefore ultimately one’s business. The credibility of his low-key, easy-going style made me want to look further into what he was telling us about–and buy his book!” — Steven Tulsky, The Benemetrics Consulting Group

BACN Mission: To improve business and professional development success through networking and programs for consultants.

Members of BACN are independent consultants who are interested in expanding their professional practices through effective networking and professional development programs sponsored by BACN. Attend a BACN meeting to become a member.

Twitter

So now you can Tweet . . . What comes next? Getting Started lessons continue:

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What will you feed the "bird"?

You’ve played with Twitter and perhaps gotten past the “Emperor’s New Clothes” feeling that there’s a lot of Buzz about nothing.

You have gotten past that, haven’t you?


Let’s chat

Today’s Getting Started lesson is going to “resemble” a conversation . . .

However, since I’m the only one in the room, I’ll have to make up your part, i.e., the questions.

That gives me an edge — especially if I select only questions I can answer 🙂


Our Conversation Begins:

“Describe Twitter & what it does”

Twitter has often been described as “Micromedia’ or “Microblogging.” As a user, you are provided with a tiny notepad — think IM on your computer and text message on your cell phone.

What Twitter DOES: (a) forces the writer to be concise, but (b) allows messages about an unlimited number of topics for an unlimited number of uses.

What you DO: (a) decide Who is worth “listening” to, i.e., following
AS WELL AS (b) choose what you broadcast according to Why you have chosen to use this online tool.

for example: refer to objectives in previous lesson

  • Drive more traf­fic to your website?

Find out if your customers, and prospective customers are on Twitter: (1) Follow them; (2) Hope they follow you back; (3) In the meantime, engage them in conversations by using the @name function [after you have read their tweet]; (4) Offer VALUE with your own tweets — give them a reason to click on your website link.

  • Build a closer com­mu­nity feel­ing with your customers?

See answers (1) – (3) above, but this is your new (4) Your tweets should show that you are listening by offering sincerity and solutions — inspire trust and offer value from the relationship.

  • Estab­lish or change your organization’s reputation?

This requires LOTS and LOTS of “communication auditing,” i.e. listening.
TIPS: (a) Go to search.twitter.com and begin by simply putting your company name in the search box. You will see a REAL-TIME [i.e. as it is happening] stream of the Tweets that mention your name; (b) Click on the icon; read the person’s tweets; follow him or her; and monitor their tweets.

LATER you will want to engage them in Twitter conversations. This is where the “community-building” will offer an opportunity to spread good will and good words.

  • Find out what your com­peti­tors are up to?

Again, search.twitter.com for mentions of those “others” in the marketplace.

  • Know how to find and hire the best employees?

Of course, LinkedIn [Step THREE] will be your best source to act on this objective. However, you can tweet your job opportunities and then check our responders by their other online presences — as well as their personal tweet streams.

  • Dis­cover trends as they are happening?

Here are some Twitter-related websites to check out the Trend Landscape:

Trendtracker

Trendistic – hot trends on Twitter

whatthetrend – what’s trending and why

  • Share your knowl­edge and expertise?

Here is where you can shine — and promote that “lustre”: Blog about your expertise, start a Squidoo lens, answer a question on Linkedin. Whatever you do, tell the Twitterverse with a teaser and a link in your Tweet.

  • Mon­i­tor the mar­ket­place to see what peo­ple are say­ing about you, your prod­ucts, and/or your industry?

Search.twitter.com ONCE AGAIN: Put in who and what and see what’s being discussed — and the tone of the discussion. Whom/what do people like, and what don’t they?

  • Learn how to be a bet­ter, more effi­cient, effec­tive busi­ness person?

Love this one. Find smart people to follow; then click on the links they suggest; find time to read the information. [Bookmarking won’t be enough. Do you ever get back to those bookmarks?]

“And now, I want to know . . .”

Ooooops, time is up for today’s session. But don’t you have some homework to do?
And, besides, you can always add those questions to the comments, and we can look at them next time.

Happy Tweet Day
twittermysite

Twitter

How to get started . . . using social media for growing your business

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“Overview of Social Media/Internet Marketing”

“Twitterville”

“Groundswell“

“Beyond the Hype”

Tyler in playpen 1“OK, already, I’m convinced.

Now what do I pick up first?”

So you finally “get it”:

You can’t Get It without an Online Presence.

But getting started is a lot like being a toddler put into a playpen with a bunch of new toys:

What to pick up and play with first?

Q: I’ve got a small business, and I want to begin using social media, so where do I start?

A: No doubt, there are as many answers as there are “experts” to advise you. However, what everyone agrees is that you just need to get going and DO IT!

MARKETING 101

1. What you SHOULD do is spend some time deciding What you want to accomplish with social media strategies:

Do you want to . . .

  • Drive more traffic to your website?
  • Build a closer community feeling with your customers?
  • Establish or change your organization’s reputation?
  • Find out what your competitors are up to?
  • Know how to find and hire the best employees?
  • Discover trends as they are happening?
  • Share your knowledge and expertise?
  • Monitor the marketplace to see what people are saying about you, your products, and/or your industry?
  • Learn how to be a better, more efficient, effective business person?

Or . . . do you just want to dive in to see what Social Media is all about?

2. Once you have chosen a goal — or goals — from the list above, then you may want to describe what achieving that goal looks like, e.g.,

a) Bring 40 new customers to your website

b) Engage 20 clients in a forum conversation

c) Find three skilled and motivated interns

3. This “description” can be your formal objective, for which you should set a time frame  — and then you can measure your results and evaluate your program.

SOCIAL MEDIA 101

Note: Of course the exact route you take can vary —  depending on your objective.

But here is a 4-step plan to develop a strategy and answer the question: What should we do first? second? third? fourth?

STEP ONE: Twitter

STEP TWO: Facebook

STEP THREE: LinkedIn

STEP FOUR: Blogging

Today’s Post will help you become a TWEETER

Twitter certainly is one of today’s most popular social media buzzwords, and a platform where businesses are finding real, measureable ways to listen to and engage with customers.

PLUS signing on to Twitter is the easiest social media effort you can make: To take this step, try to allow yourself at least an hour to (a) sign up on Twitter.com; (b) read some how-to information [the four Twitter 101 lessons listed below]; (c) and play — with FOLLOWING people, READING their tweets, and WRITING some tweets of your own.

Click for TWITTER HOMEWORK

NEWBIES: If you have any questions — or cool Twitter experiences — please share them in the comments section below. LOTS OF LUCK!


Sharisax Is Out There

Change is never, never easy: The Old PR Pitch must evolve to PR 2.0 Dialogue

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“PR 2.0: A Promising Future” — Part 4 of Putting the Public BACK in PR is quite an ambitious undertaking

I covered the first section, ch. 15 on Community Managers in an earlier post. And today’s article only begins to summarize some of the key points in the three very diverse chapters remaining in Part 4.

You’ll find many resources referred to but much deeper explanations are offered in links below, and, of course, the book itself.

Notes from Ch. 16: Socialization of Communication and Service

Go where your people are: OBSERVEOne of the true values of our technological capabilities is an opportunity — and a responsibility — to “become experts in the markets, products, and services we represent.”

Do not fear negative comments as they can help organizations improve their processes and offerings.

One goal: pull your company into online conversations to help influencers, customers, and prospects gather the information they need. Also empower people to help one another.

MONITORING TIP —  Use Google Alerts and “search.twitter.com” –You receive email notifications through Google Alerts for key words that you sign up for. If you use a desktop application like Tweetdeck, then you can set up columns to regularly stream mentions of your keyword from search.twitter.com. You could be receiving regular updates about your company, your products, and your competitors.

NING.COM: A new one for me, but I tried it and like it. Here you can set up YOUR OWN social network. For example, in my fledgling social media consulting business, I can offer SM Newbies a “comfortable” place to gather online and ask me and my interns questions about social media in a Newbie forum.

Finding WHICH communities your customers participate in is critical if you want to engage them where they are.

“Feel the pain and deliver the painkiller.”

If you are listening to problems, you can address them before your customers go elsewhere for solutions.

REVERSE ENGINEERING [one of my favorite concepts to (a) deliberate over and (b) put to USE

Here is the PPBPR 3-step reverse-engineering model:

  1. Determine Who, Where, How — prospects are communicating.
  2. Listen.
  3. Adapt to their needs.

Notes from Ch 17 – The Rules for Breaking News

Concept of embargo: When PR people distribute news to those who will write about it [e.g., reporters, bloggers], the “embargo” sets a time WHEN the news may be broadcast.

Some bloggers are now saying that . . .

“PR agencies are no longer necessary”

Do you agree? Who does — and why? Who doesn’t — and why?

Here’s an opinion on the topic from Steve Rubel –  thought leader, lifestreamer, and top PR guy for top international PR firm:

“Does the thrill of the chase make PR obsolete? It’s our view that increasingly, bloggers (and maybe journalists too) simply don’t want our help. Many bloggers — particularly those who cover tech — love to discover new things and experience them on their own.”

Key difference between bloggers and journalists: many bloggers want the news way before the story — because, in many cases,  They are the Innovators and Early Adopters.

One key similarity: RELATIONSHIPS are All Important, no matter the medium or the writer/broadcaster.

Ch 18 – A New guide to metrics

The whole idea behind PR 2.0 is that the Old Ways of PR no longer work with today’s audiences OR the people who influence them. Same goes for Old Measurements: Organizations should NOT determine the ROI of their PR campaigns by the number of stories written in newspapers or broadcast on TV.

“PR 2.0 favors engagement more than hits, referrals more than eyeballs, activity more than ad value, sales more than mentions, and market and behavioral influences more than the weight and girth of clip books.”

People = Power

Perception = sum of all the conversations on the Social Web

Measuring the frequency and tone of conversations is the new measure of effectiveness, and here are some tracking tools to check out:

Tracking conversations finds you WHAT?

When you listen, you will likely hear seven different types of comments:

  1. Asking for info or help
  2. Answering questions related to your brand
  3. Sharing opinions/observations
  4. Offering suggestions
  5. Expressing dissatisfaction
  6. Promoting competition
  7. Reposting relevant content and market data

“Through proactive and consistent listening, measurement, and refinement, PR will not only justify its role in social marketing, but also more effectively enhance relationships, build trust, cultivate communities, and increase sales . . .”

i.e. INCREASE ROI

What’s YOUR TAKE on the new methods and measurements of Public Relations? If you read this post BEFORE Tuesday, Sept 22 at 8pm EDT / 5pm PDT, you can join me and others for the social media book discussion on Tweetchat. Just put in the hashtag #smbookclub and comment OR just observe.

An archive will be available after the discussion, but you can always weigh in with a comment below.

FURTHER READING:

9 steps to conduct online conversations

10 principles for ethical marketing practices

Facebook, Twitter

Yes, Shari, Micromedia can support and inspire great conversation

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See how things intersect & support
See how things intersect & support

When I first read chapter 13 in Putting the Public Back into PR, I had my doubts as to whether Twitter was really the place for great convo — i.e. conversation.

But two recent experiences convinced me that rapid-fire, off-the-cuff, succinct wordings could in fact power “engaging” and “enlightening” experiences — not to mention the opportunity for community-building.

Last night I moderated the #smbookclub discussion for Part 3 of Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge’s Putting the Public Back in PR. This morning I participated in their discussion at #PRStudChat. Both complete discussions are archived and be followed simply by searching the hastags.

Content/conclusions from the book discussion:

“Relax and let chaos reveal its relevance to you.” Susanna Stinnet

  • The conversations [“convos”] are happening. If you are part of them, you can affect change and make a difference.
  • Companies that use today’s tools will be ahead of the game, even if those particular tools change or lose their vitality.
  • Social media will continue to evolve; it will not go away.
  • Social media platforms are great ways to meet people.
  • Before engaging anyone, first observe and understand the cultures and behaviors necessary to participate in these communities.
  • Marketing jobs have moved from monologues to dialogue.
  • Avoid the clutter and build relationships.
  • Build meaningful relationships that will contribute to company’s brand equity, resources, and overall bottom line.

“Twitter and Facebook are really good for listening and developing relationships — and then driving to where you can talk in more depth either via email or phone.” Paul Salinger

“Social media is forcing changes that should have happened a long time ago in everything related to business.” Cherisse Rivera


Notes for further “conversation/content”:

1) Check out #PRStudChat for hour dialogue between Brian, Dierdre, PR students and pros.

2) Read my reviews of Putting the Public Back in PR:

3) Join the chat next Tuesday on Tweetchat.com #smbookclub 8 pm EDT/5 pm PDT

For those of you who do check out #PRStudChat OR if you attended, please comment with your favorite quotes from that conversation.

Facebook, Guest Post, Twitter

Our Future Around Facebook and Twitter — guest post from Gen Y-er Zahid Lilani

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I couldn’t wait.

Sharisax Is Out There has been featuring a series of reviews on the book Putting the Public Back in PR, but one of my most conscientious SFSU students wrote this wonderful article on Gen Y and social media.

Without further ado, here is Zahid:

Guest Poster Zahid Lilani: Voice for Gen Y
Guest Poster Zahid Lilani: Voice for Gen Y

Social Media has changed the way we communicate and stay connected. Not that it will ever replace face-to-face interaction, still it has become a popular way to communicate for Generation Y. 90% of U.S. adults are online and 80% of U.S. online adults participate in social media.

“Social Media is no longer the cool and fun thing that fascinates imagination with all the bells and whistles, it is more like a necessity for Generation Y.”

Who is the Generation Y? I am the Generation Y, my generation created Facebook and Twitter and my generation will dictate the future of social media.

The idea behind Web 2.0 or social media revolution was to change the way our generation communicates, we now decide what’s worthy, what to vote up and what to vote down. Being more well versed with Facebook and Twitter, this is what I think our future will look like:

Facebook ID Implementation Across Major Platforms

Most websites are implementing an excellent feature on to their websites, it is called Facebook Connect. In plain English, if you go to a website and have to register to login, you won’t have to create another user id and password. You will be able to connect using your Facebook ID and Password. Still in its earliest stages, most developers are implementing this concept into their programming because of the immense power of social media. You can read more about Facebook Connect here.

Twitter Household
The idea behind Twitter Household is that everything in your house can communicate with you if you provide it with the right tool. The tools are still in its early stages but the technology is already there, it is Twitter. If that was vague, here are couple of examples:

Laundry: The Washing Machine Hack, created by Ryan Rose, sends text message (SMS) notifications over Twitter when clothes are done. You can follow his Washing Machine here.

Power Usage: In future, if you are energy conscious or plain curious about the power usage in your household, you can use Tweet-a-Watt which will update you using Twitter on your power usage.

Both Facebook and Twitter are immensely powerful in what they can accomplish and with time they will evolve and become more mature. What do you think your life will be like around Facebook and Twitter two years from now? What else do you think you will be able to do on Facebook and Twitter besides information sharing and gathering?

Check out Zahid’s blog: his most recent post will help you convert your WP.com blog to a self-hosted one at WP.org in five easy steps.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider leaving a comment or sharing it with your followers on Twitter! You can also subscribe by email for more cool interviews and articles from Sharisax is Out There.

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Blogging, Twitter

No apologies from this PR 2.0 evangelist: Putting the PUBLIC Back in Public Relations

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We need happy publics

Many of us who have taught Shakespeare know that the Great Bard based his renowned plays on history or legend — in other words, his genius was not in the originality of plots, but in the art of his storytelling.

Art, imagination, creation are products of passion. Passion is the way we move forward. Passion is the way I, personally, am moving forward.

Book Review – Part One

This blog is a chronicle of my newly embraced career as a Social Media Evangelist. And one of the people most responsible is Brian Solis, who graciously and enthusiastically accepted an invitation to speak to two Public Relations classes at San Francisco State last spring — despite his hectic schedule advising clients, speaking at conferences, attending mashups, and promoting his most recent book Putting the PUBLIC Back in Public Relations.

To my mind, Brian’s book, co-written with Deirdre Breakenridge, is a conversation about a clash — the confrontation between old thinking and new realities.

Change is hard. People like the comfort of the Way it Was, and the Way They Know: but that is hardly a roadmap for progress.

How Social Media is Reinventing the Aging Business of PR

Below is a listing of passages I particularly liked from Part I: THE TRUE VALUE OF THE NEW PR

  • Public Relations has always been about building relationships. It should never have been about spin.
  • The first thing a PR practitioner should learn is to uphold integrity and credibility at all times.
  • Listeners make the best conversationalists.
  • PR 2.0 is creating a new toolkit with which companies can share content with new influencers as well as customers.
  • 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.
  • The new goal for PR is to understand the communities of people we want to reach and how to engage them in conversation without marketing to them.
  • PR is rooted in democratized content, strengthened by enthusiasm and market intelligence, and powered by conversation.
  • We no longer Pitch — we Participate. We no longer Sell stories — we Tell them.
  • The New PR is all about 3 T’s: Transparency, Truth, and Trust.

The Social Media Book Club discussed Part I of the book last week,  and here is an archive of the remarks. Tonight at 8pm EDT [5pm PDT] you can catch the discussion of part II: Facilitating Conversations: New Tools and Techniques on Twitter #smbookclub. Here is a Book Club calendar. For more info, contact @ready2spark