Five incredibly talented and deeply entrenched social media THOUGHT LEADERS fielded questions about “How to get the word out” and win more business now that there’s so much FREE stuff out there.
THE VENUE: Grand Hyatt in San Francisco
THE SPONSOR: San Francisco chapter of the American Marketing Association
THE “WHY”: To discuss whether or not today’s marketing and PR “sucks,” and, if so, What To Do About It.
What would you do if you had a great product in a niche and zero dollars in marketing?
What would you now do if you now had $10,000 in marketing? How would you put it to use?
What is the role of agencies in today’s environment? Should companies simply do their own marketing?
Headlines from the discussion:
PR NEEDS A NEW NAME
NO TRUST IS OBSTACLE FOR PR & ADVERTISING
CROWDSOURCING IS THE NEW INFLUENCER
KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO BE
BECOME AN EXPERT IN A UNIQUE NICHE
“TRUTH IN MARKETING”: [Who’d a thunk?]
EVERYONE IN YOUR COMPANY WILL BE FINDABLE
BE YOUR OWN MOUTHPIECE
PR AGENCIES ARE PASSÈ
Selected clips from the discussion
Silicon Valley blogger Louis Gray
“For marketing on a shoestring: Tap into personal network for word of mouth. Leverage the people who are your biggest fans.”
Seesmic founder: Loic Le Meur
“The problem with old styles of marketing is No Trust. What I trust are my friends telling me about products they like.”
“Twenty years ago there were 20 influencers. Today there are 6,000.”
“When you engage with customers on Twitter, you can learn what problems need to be resolved.”
“Social Media Marketing: Find the fight people in the right places and offer the right message.”
Steve Patrizi and Renee Blodgett round out the panel of experts
“Online Social Media: No difference between personal and professional.”
“Professionally distributed news releases may only be necessary with major launches.”
“Break out of old marketing by teaching your people to LISTEN and then to RESPOND.”
“The speed of innovation is directly related to the speed at which we are sharing information.”
“Rules are different for social media platforms: MySpace is like your neighborhood bar. Facebook is the backyard BBQ. LinkedIn is your office. You’ll need to act accordingly.”
WHAT DID THE ATTENDEES HAVE TO SAY?
Mark Evans, SFAMA President
Marketing is going through a revolution. The SFAMA is here to embrace this change and help bring together all the moving parts. — Mark
Julia Francis - Ubiquity PR, Wendy Fisher - Moxie Mtkg, Sharon Lee - Shamiko Design, Kelly Connelly - Kelly Connelly Design
MARKETING AND PR “SUCK”? — People will always need them, suck or not. It depends on the approach for them “not to suck”: Change the name of PR to a more friendly and real term like SOCIAL CONNECT, for instance. — Sharon
Bill Bralye
After listening to the panel, I want to devote more time identifying best practices used by companies that are effectively widening their marketing tactics by adding social media to the mix. — Bill
Deb Kockos
I can tell you that most people do not spend their day online exposed to ads or blogs about certain products. Most of the world doesn’t even know what Web 2.0 means. When referencing a conversation on LinkedIn during a recent presentation, the audience looked at me like I was nuts. No one even knew about LinkedIn. We’re definitely in the early adopter stage here. — Deb
John Meyer - UC Berkeley, Laura Dantes - Engagement Strategies
We do need to filter the Hype and remember basic marketing principles. As Renee put it, “What is the problem we are trying to solve?” Focus on strategy, messaging, and reaching the right stakeholder groups using multiple channels. I don’t believe the zero budget Twitter solution is sustainable. — Laura
Cory O'Brien
Marketing and PR don’t suck. They’re just changing rapidly, and the companies that can’t keep up with the changing environment are using marketing and PR methods that “suck.” Social media has closed the gap between the company and the consumer, and there’s a level of speed, honesty, and transparency that is required to play in this field that many companies are not yet comfortable with. — Cory
FOR THOSE WHO’D LIKE TO VIEW GUY’S QUESTIONS AND THE PANEL RESPONSES AND DISCUSSION:
Can’t get enough of thought leaders in panel discussions? Here’s my report on Steve Rubel, Michael Brito, Richard Brewer-Hay, and Angela LoSasso discussing “Beyond the Hype: Roadmap for Social Media”
Two weeks ago I made a commitment to manage my online presence. Discipline is key, but broadcasting intentions into cyberspace has a way of keeping one on the straight and narrow. Too many people to make excuses to if objectives aren’t met.
So how have I done?
Below is my “roadmap” list, followed by my actions:
1) Make a list of WEEKLY goals {I believe I can hold to that) and check off my accomplishments EVERY Sunday night.
OOOps, I didn’t exactly write the list — except on my blog. But I am checking this Sunday night.
2) Prioritize those goals to make certain that the ones on the top of the list are done for sure.
The priorities were in my head since I didn’t write the list . . . except on the blog. Is this admission helpful to anyone? Maybe it’s a way to show the importance of ACTUALLY WRITING DOWN the list, especially if it’s a “check off” list.
3) My original intention, way back when I first posted onApril 23, was To Become an A-List Blogger — and that continues to be my Long Term Goal —
Blogging is my NUMBER ONE priority; the first week I only got to write two posts. This week, though, I’m doing well . . . one-a-day since Friday.
🙂
4) Next, because I really believe that Twitter will become all that its creators are envisioning, my goal will be 3-5 Tweets Every Single Day! I will continue to follow my own advice on What to Tweet.
I went to check on my exact progress by looking at my profile page @sharisax: That was actually Cool as it reminded me of some of the “insights” that I’d tweeted, especially one that was RT’d several times: “If success=receiving, then first comes giving.” Anyway, I met my goal of at least 3 Tweets a day.
Most of my Tweets are posted via Friendfeed, but not always. Even though both are “microblogging” platforms, I don’t personally feel they are “interchangeable.” Friendfeed’s capacity for conversation makes some updates more appropriate for that site.
5) Facebook is a HUGE priority, especially since my partner Les Ross and I are building our Social Media/Internet Marketing consulting business Performance Social Media, which recently set up a Fan Page. We’ll be including the opportunity for small and large companies to find social media interns through us, so I’ll be monitoring and updating both my Facebook Profile and my Facebook Page EVERY Day. That means NEW content on the Facebook page at least four days a week.
Check 🙂
I’m even adding more Business Apps to the Page, and I’ll continue reading everything I can on “Facebook for Business.”
6) I may be running out of time for Daily Tasks, but I thinking checking in and updating LinkedIn is essential. So besides that commitment, I plan to contribute to at least two LinkedIn Group Discussions every week.
OOOOps, I really did want to engage with LinkedIn groups, and TSK TSK . . . have not gotten to that yet. 🙁
7) Finally, my new Road Map will highly suggest that I check out at least one New social media tool, strategy or app every week; by checking out, I do mean more than reading about it.
HOORAY, this one I did in spades. My previous blog post is the proof: 15 social media sites my students and I checked out last week.
Looks like I get a few gold stars and a few TSK TSKs. But the great thing is that I’m traveling faster along Revolutionary Road. And I hope I’m pulling some of you along with me. Anyone else want to report progress in managing online presence? Let us know.
Every day we hear of “new” or “new-to-us” social media tools and platforms. How is a person, or a company, to choose what to use?
The Top Three: Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are “no-brainers,” i.e. you really do need to sign up and start experimenting and/or incorporate your participation into your daily routine.
But what about the rest of the dozens and dozens and dozens [100’s] of sites?
We ask this question a lot in PR class, so the students worked in teams to examine 15 online sites: Google Reader, Zemanta, Flickr, Technorati, Squidoo, Ezine Articles, Del.ici.ous, Stumbleupon, Friendfeed, Digg, RSS, BlipTV, Hub Pages, Truveo, and Vimeo.
After brief team reports, the class as a whole voted on one of three options; (a) They would definitely check out the site for personal use; (b) They “might” check it out; or (c) They had NO intention of seeking out more details about the site.
The most popular platform by far was Flickr, followed by Delicious and RSS, with Technorati and Google Reader also scoring high in the (a) option. The lowest scoring sites included Ezine Articles, Truveo, and Vimeo.
Below [in the order seen by the students] is a brief description of each site, with a student comment, and the reported “scores”:
Google Reader:Helps you follow all your favorite sites by managing RSS feeds on one page. Free and easy to use: “Google Reader is a great site with sharing capabilities. You can subscribe to blogs and other sites on a regular basis, which reduces search time considerably” – Jason Khorge.
Class vote on Google Reader: (a) 13 will definitely check it out. (b) 31 said they may check it out; (c) 4 voted against.
Zemanta:This free Firefox add-on download that offers related web content — both text and visuals — that can help bloggers link and use valuable online information. “Zemanta is a great assistant for bloggers because it is easy to use, cuts down research time and enables content producers to enrich their publications with just a few clicks.” — Alisa Guan “I’m interested in checking out Zemanta to help me upgrade my blog. The suggested articles could help me give a more informed and useful opinion.” — Angelica Maduell
Class vote on Zemanta: (a) 14; (b) 24; (c) 13
Flickr: Online photo management and sharing web community. “”In my eyes, Flickr has garnered a lot of attention from reputable photographers and amateurs alike. It’s definitely a haven for people who want to share their passion for picture-taking and connecting with others of similar interests.” — Sarah Awang Razali “I personally thing that Flickr is really useful because of the quality of content provided on it. There are personal pages and professional pages, and all users are equally respected within the community. A lot of the photos are also the basis for much online content. They say, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words,’ so thousands of pictures must be worth a lifetime of endless content.: — Frank Lin
Class vote on Flickr: (a) 31; (b) 18; (c) 2
Technorati: Top rated blog search engine that indexes more than 1.5 million blog posts in real time. “I’m always looking for new blogs to follow and I think Technorati can really help me enlarge my collection.” — Petya Somleva
Class vote on Technorati: (a) 17; (b) 15; (c) 18
Squidoo:Content publishing on steroids: Free community website that allows users to publish pages [lenses] on line in a wide range of topics, virtually anythinhereg a person is passionate about. “Squidoo appealed to me the most, and I believe it has the greatest opportunity to grow. Providing such a diverse collection of material means it can reach a wide variety of interests.” — Liz Looney “I like the free Squidoo community website where content you’re interested in is easy to find. It is easy to use, simple to post comments, and you can earn money for charity.” — Brandon Wong
Class vote on Squidoo: (a) 13; (b) 31; (c) 4
Ezine Articles: Publishing site for original articles including tips, strategies, techniques, analysis, and case studies. Great for sending links back to a website. Sadly, no students chose to write an opinion about this site.
Class vote on Ezine: (a) 2; (b) 14; (c) 27
Del.ici.ous:A social bookmarking service that allows uses to save websites online, share them with other people, and see what other people are bookmarking. “You can build a mountain of information before ever adding a single bookmark. You find Del.ici.ous users who have saved articles you enjoy reading. Add their names to your network and with a single click, you can save all their bookmarks. That was amazing to me.” — Sarah Awang Razali
Stumbleupon:An Internet community that allows users to find, share, and rate favorite websites. “I was really impressed by Stumbleupon, particularly when someone said it was ‘a good site to waste a lot of time on the Internet.’ That being said lightly, it did strike me as the kind of site you could go on and be entertained by by topical content. I could see this website becoming part of my daily routine.” — Anna Rahnvonih
Class vote on Stumbleupon: (a) 5; (b) 20; (c) 16
Friendfeed: This microblogging site offers users a stream of updates which, unlike Twitter but similar to Facebook, allows comments and conversations to attach to updates. “With the decreasing popularity of MySpace and the growth of Twitter and Facebook, I think Friendfeed may just be the next best platform, using features from all three of these social networking sites.” — Sheena Diaz “I like the added Friendfeed feature of receiving feedback underneath your post.” — Ashley Dordan
Class vote on Friendfeed: (a) 12; (b) 27; (c) 5
Digg: A user-driven sharing site that is divided into categories for easy search. It also allows you to connect with Facebook and Twitter to share sites. “I am considering Digg because it filters news and other topics by what is important to other people.” — Caroll Vongsouthi
Class vote on Digg: (a) 6; (b) 35; (c) 7
RSS:Stands for “Really Simple syndication” and simplifies the process of getting information. It is a data format used for supplying frequently updated content. “RSS feeds allow you to easily get the latest information that you are interested in and they build Google Juice for shared sites.” — Bo Zhang
Class vote on RSS: (a) 22; (b) 21; (c) 3
BlipTV:Website for video distribution intended for anyone who wants to create a webshow to share with the world. “This site offers free hosting in any video format and tells you who is looking at your page and how they found you. I will definitely check it out.” — Ashley Hall “It’s interesting that you can find sponsors and earn revenue.: — Diedre Moseley
Class vote on BlipTV: (a) 10; (b) 28; (c) 4
Hub Pages:Website is designed for sharing advertising revenue for high quality, user-generated content. Members create individual pages on narrow topics based on the users interest. Not as popular with students as Squidoo.
Class vote on Hub Pages: (a) 3; (b) 25; (c) 18
Truveo: Video search engine that allows users to embed videos through a third party site like YouTube. It has a rating feature, and you can save favorites. “Truveo has many ways to search, e.g., by categories like business or comedy, by TV stations, by name of show. You need to become a member if you want to rate videos and add them to your favorites.” — McKenzie Hanson
Vimeo: Video file sharing and uploading site specifically for noncommercial content.Caters to a high-end artistic crowd. “Users can share or embed. Other options include title, byline, and portrait of the video listing beofre it starts playing. Videos can be enhanced with site tools.” — Riciaig Panlaqui
Class vote on Truveo & Vimeo: (a) 11; (b) 11; (c) 23
Student comments after the two-day experience:
I’ll be honest, I’m not a blogger. I don’t use Twitter and at times I don’t understand all the hype about these forms of social media. However, after seeing these presentations, there is no doubt in my mind the importance of these new media platforms. It’s plain and simple — if you want to spread the word, you MUST use these forms of social media. — Liz Looney
It was interesting to see how social media has exploded in recent years. Seeing all the sites — big and small — showed how each has its unique features. A lot of people do not realize that a small not very well known site today might in fact be the most popular six months from now. Anyone starting to use social media for business needs to check out many of these sites. — Eddie Neyman
From these presentations, I learned a lot of useful tools that will come in handy when I start looking for a job. Some of my favorites were the ones that help you find related articles on certain topics. Too often, I have the hardest time finding good information. — McKensie Hanson
With all the information presented, I feel like I’m already falling behind in the online social media world. To really be able to participate in all the social media sites, I will have to invest an outrageous amount of time. I plan to get involved by signing up for a handful of sites that I can keep up with. This was a great opportunity to learn that many sites can bring news and articles I like, rather than for me always having to search. — Caroll Vongsouthi
My SFSU Business Communication students learn three rules to Business Success in their first class session:
(1) Listen Carefully
(2) Read Carefully
(3) Follow ALL Directions
The suggestion to students — and everyone — that active listening is a skill can be easily disregarded as many people simply hear the tip and move on.
That is, they get ready for the next “rule” without really understanding the implications, and the difficulty, of what it means to really listen.
An earlier post of mine When communication adds up to a big fat zero proposed that all the new technology and accompanying tools and tactics were of little value if strategic planners did not first begin by Listening Carefully to online voices in their community.
This advice reverberates through the web in social media blog posts countless times every day. Today, in fact, a Brian Solis update on my Facebook stream pointed to PR 2.0 guest poster Michael Brito‘s rant against companies that listen but don’t act.
Rule Number One: LISTEN CAREFULLY
Last evening’s rigorous SFSU Business Communication class [we were learning to write business reports] was sweetened with an anecdote from one student who had really learned the power and rewards of LISTENING CAREFULLY at work that very afternoon.
New to his position in a downtown business, my student was invited to a meeting featuring a high level executive from headquarters. He [we’ll call him Adam, not his real name] had heard that this exec was noted for long, sometimes very dry speeches. But Adam was determined to pay close attention and practice all the “active listening” tips we had discussed in class.
“It was hard because lots of my coworkers were chatting and not paying attention, but just the same I wanted to focus on what was being said. I kept thinking about how important that was,” Adam told me.
The speaker did go on and on. And as hard as it was for Adam to keep his focus, he managed to do it . . .
And then the speaker stopped, looked around the room, and asked “Who heard what I just said?”
There was silence.
Adam cautiously raised his hand and repeated the last few facts related by the speaker, who acknowledged the response and asked Adam to stay behind after the meeting.
Adam was terrified, but not for long. After the meeting, the executive shook his hand, asked for his name and position, and said:
Good job, Adam. I’m going to be looking out for you. You are bound to go far in this company.
Adam was overjoyed and naturally was bursting to tell me. I was overjoyed and bursting to tell my audience — both Adam’s classmates and my blog readers.
What would our business and personal lives be like if we ALL made even small efforts to listen carefully when people were talking to us and with us?
Many of my students have begun blogs, and their first questions seem to revolve around, “How do I get more readers?” and “How do I get people to comment?”
My standard answers have been these three:
* Comment on other people’s blogs
* Announce your new posts on Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed, and LinkedIn
* Enable a more user-friendly comment device.
However, after reading several of their posts, I have another simple answer — but, first, a story:
My Story about Peter
Several years ago, when I was teaching beginning journalism students at Southwest Missouri State, the students’ daily chore was to write in a log. And I read them.
Big mistake: both the assignment and me spending time reading them.
When left to their own devices . . . students wrote about such earth-shattering events as breaking up with their boyfriends and flushing letters down the toilet to buying a pair of boots at the mall to the scores of basketball games in the local conference. Needless to say, I was questioning my sanity for having asked for these papers.
Until Peter, that is.
Peter wrote plays and poetry. Peter analyzed the news. Peter shared intelligent conversations he had had with friends. Peter reported on books and articles he was reading.
And his writing was so flawless that I was envious.
But I loved reading his stuff and looked forward to every entry.
I was in awe of his talent and wondered what I could offer him.
So I went to several of my colleagues to ask their opinions; one comment stood out: “Peter’s stuff is good because he writes about things that are important and interesting.”
When you blog — and you want people to read and comment — WRITE ABOUT THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT AND INTERESTING.
When one of my new PR students read last week’s post listing David Meerman Scott’s NEW RULES for PR & Marketing, he suggested that the old rules were still useful.
Perhaps some “old rules” may be, but not the ones DMS pointed out. Here below is my response to Thomas’ comment:
Thomas, have you ever heard the old cliche, “Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater”? That expression was the first thing that came to mind when I read your comment. In other words, when you are “cleaning up,” make certain that you don’t throw out EVERYTHING.
So I thought I’d reexamine those OLD RULES and decide if any were really worth saving:
1. The only way to get ink was through the media.
Of course, with social media, we are all publishers and do not require the mainstream media to tell our stories.
2. Companies communicated to journalists via press releases.
Organizations of all types — profit, nonprofit, government, etc. — can bypass journalists by posting releases on their own sites as well as using many different platforms to communicate with buyers, employees, community members, shareholders, and any other stakeholders they wish to reach.
3. Nobody saw the actual press release except a handful of reporters and editors.
That’s just not true anymore. People searching for our companies and/or the products we carry and/or services we provide can find releases and news and information on our websites as well as more dynamic platforms like our blogs and Twitter accounts.
4. Companies had to have significant news before they were allowed to write a press release.
DMS tells us over and over that the more we communicate directly with our buyers, the better relationships we can build — and that means sharing lots of newsworthy items, not simply “significant events.”
5. Jargon was okay because the journalists all understood it.
Jargon doesn’t work. You want your audiences to understand everything — about your company and you. Jargon does not figure at all in an Authentic World where Transparency is Key.
6. You weren’t supposed to send a release unless it included quotes from third parties, such as customers, analysts, and experts.
Now these 3rd party quotes easily find their way to the people through tweets, blogs, and updates. People do want to hear from their friends — and social media makes those recommendations so easy.
7. The only way buyers would learn about the press release content was if the media wrote a story about it.
With the opportunity to publish your releases on your own internet platforms — as well as the availability of both free and fee-based wire services, you no longer need to depend entirely on the mainstream media. However, if your messages “go viral,” you can be guaranteed that the media will find you and reinforce your message even more.
8. The only way to measure the effectiveness of press releases was through “clip books,” which noted each time the media deigned to pick up a company’s release.
Measuring ROI has a host of new tools including Google Analytics as well as blog comments and social media update — all of which are easily accessible through tools and search. Of course, for many businesses the true measurement of effectiveness has nothing to do with “clips” and everything to do with sales.
9. PR and marketing were separate disciplines run by different people with separate goals, strategies, and measurement techniques.
It seems safe to conclude that marketing is going to have to be ALL about getting out the brand reputation and the brand message to various audiences — and that is what Public Relations has ALWAYS been about.
So one remaining question could be: What OLD RULES do you think we ought to keep?
I read the above question as the title for a Forum topic, and I got excited
I’d expected some great answers to this challenge . . . but it turned out to be merely the question.
🙁
So I reasoned that I ought to spend a minute or two developing a workable strategy.
Read on for the “magical” answer.
But, first, how do YOU manage your Online/Social Media presence?
Pick one or two responses if they apply:
A. “I don’t.”
B. “Hey, that’s why I linked to this post.”
C. “I stay up late at night to go through the day’s email, RSS feeds, network friend requests, etc. etc. etc.”
D. “I go to sleep early so I can get up at 5 a.m. (or thereabouts) to do what Responder C [above] does.”
E. “I just DO IT!”
F. “I have a regular To Do List that I follow regularly.”
Basically, all of those responses could apply to me, but the last one — Response F — is the one that I suspect would work the best.
So I’m going to imagine an ideal Social Media Regimen:
1. Devote ONE HOUR in the morning. If that means going to sleep earlier, so be it.
2. Check email for action-required messages, i.e., work-related or family requests.
3. Keep jokes and noncritical email for some other time.
4. Select one or two blog posts [either because the title is intriguing or the poster him/herself typically has insightful things to say]: then READ and COMMENT.
5. If time, go to (a) Twitter/FriendFeed, followed by (b) Facebook, followed by (c) LinkedIn and WRITE AN UPDATE.
6. Finally, read through Tweets and other platform updates and COMMENT and send DMs.
Oh, only if the World were So Perfect!
Does a “plan” like what I’ve suggested work for any of you?
Do you have a different one?
What ONE TIP would you offer me and others about making the most of your Online/Social Media presence?
Next post: Guest Article from student-mom Shijia Yu, who discusses Twitter for Business
Since Twitter will be changing all our lives, according to Time magazine’s recent cover story, I was thinking about how my use of Twitter differs from other Tweeple — and whether anyone could really publish a Best Practices for Using Twitter.
Don’t most of us think we are right most of the time?
If I, personally, was “right” on Saturday, May 23, when I posted my first tips on What to Tweet About — a blog entry that has so far been my most popular [732 views to date] — then I’d like to re-visit one of my Tweeting suggestions, i.e. “Share an insight that you’ve gotten all on your own and are dying to share.”
Today’s post will feature a dozen of the personal ideas I tweeted since joining Twitter this past March. My hope is that readers will find at least one of these thoughts that resonates with them in a way that invites validation through a personal story.
So tell me if any of the following ring true for you:
About Business in particular:
1 – People are NOT numbers. When businesses fully understand this, their strategies and tools will adjust.
2 – Participation is today’s Marketing & tomorrow’s Loyal Customer Base
3 – To be an effective manager: Realize that you are smarter OR wiser OR more knowledgeable than your staff . . . and coach accordingly.
About Blogging in particular
4 – Quality of content wins over fitting into someone else’s box.
5 – Content-rich means both “key words” and total substance.
About Life in general:
6 – Multi-tasking is vastly over-rated.
7 – Motivation often comes after the Hard Work is done
8 – A Work in Progress: doesn’t that describe Everything?
9 – One cannot give from a depleted state
10 – We are what we think about
11 – We like doing what we do well: when we focus our efforts on our strengths, we build our reputation and loyal followers.
SFSU student Justin Fong puts his Social Media lessons to good use
More than 100 marketing students in the College of Business at San Francisco State experienced All Things Social Media from classroom activities, influential guest speakers, and their own individual research.
Justin Fong was one of a half dozen students who had a double-dose, taking both my PR and my Advertising courses. After the semester ended, he began working for Scoreloop and here is a report on his internship activities:
Hey Shari,
How’s the summer going for you? My internship is really tough. Long hours and pretty much a non-stop day, but it’s a lot of fun. There is a lot going on at once.
The first thing I do in the morning is troll through the news for stories about our company and our competitors. I look through Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, and other social media sites to see if anything’s new. If something does comes up, I e-mail it to my team and we try to de-position our competitors.
I also take care of all of our social media profiles. I made our Facebook fan page, our Linkedin company profile, monitor our Twitter account, etc. There are so many different things I do.
One thing that I helped the company with was the idea of creating a wikipedia page, which we discussed in a phone conference.
We had a big press release yesterday. It was a hit and got picked up by a lot of big companies, Google, Yahoo, CNBC, MarketWatch, and so many more. We do both traditional PR and PR 2.0. I’ll update you when more things happen for the company. We’re getting ready for Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference so we’re really busy this week. Have a good rest of summer!
Best Regards, Justin Fong
Hey guys, if any more of you are “out there” doing social media activities, please send me your reports and maybe we’ll have a host of guest hosts.
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.
The Future is NOT just “in the future.” The Future is NOW!
Dive in!
Just after New Year’s, a friend told me she was spending three hours a day on Facebook. “How could you be wasting so much of your life!” I’d asked her — genuinely concerned that she was “stupid” for getting caught up in all the silly buzz.
How dramatically my own life has changed in four months!
That’s the purpose of this blog — to help my Baby Boomer generation, and my retired friends, and my career-contemplating students all discover how this major New Media revolution is changing Everything — and for the betterment of all.
Here are 10 reasons why we — Baby Boomers in particular — should “Dive In”
1. Something “out there” for everyone:It’s not just Oprah, Demi Moore, Dave Matthews, and Barack Obama on Twitter. Thirty million other Tweeters plus around 300 million users each on MySpace and Facebook . . . and the list of social media participants goes on. A host of different platforms with a variety of advantages for people from widely different walks of life with a huge diversity of different interests. There is something “Out There” speaking to you — if you listen.
2.“Fountain of Youth”: Ask yourself what you “want” — to make you happier, more fulfilled, more connected, more ________________ [fill in the blank]. If you are one of the “elder” Baby Boomers like me, then one possible response might be: “I’d like to feel younger and, perhaps, more hopeful.” After having spent these several weeks learning/experimenting/engaging with the New Media and the communities of folks using them, I can appreciate the “Fountain of Youth” properties associated with being a young person just embarking on a new, exciting adventure.
3. DO something New:Laziness is not next to Godliness. Get off the couch and do something NEW.
4. Get “famous”:Think about someone like Susan Boyle – a 48-year-old Scottish woman with a magnificent voice, who thanks to the magic of YouTube and Twitter is now known worldwide and will get a chance to bring joy to multitudes. You, too, can be famous if you’d like. Read my first blog post.
5. Find answers:Is there anything you don’t know? I’m talking here to the men (who occasionally don’t like to admit lack of knowledge) as well as the women (who usually do know “everything,” right, ladies?) Not only are answers to your questions all over the internet, but you can discover new friends who share your interests by asking questions on Twitter, LinkedIn, and other platforms.
6.Be creative: Speaking of Twitter, it’s a very simple technology with tons of “applications.” That means any of us can shape the medium in creative ways. Lots of people may merely “text-message” friends and family, but some of us use it to discover new information available on the internet. It’s also a cool way to share personal insights that may be helpful to others. And its a great place to ask questions. On a more creative note, as an English teacher I found it useful in having my students frame a message of “substance” in 140 characters or less. I’d love to hear other creative uses people have for Twitter.
7.Keep in touch: Then there’s Facebook: you don’t have to spend three hours a day for this site to prove its value. Here are some of the ways it works for me: (a) keeping in touch with close friends and new acquaintances who don’t require phone calls; when you connect up with people on this site and they “update their status” you can make a comment and carry on a mini-conversation; (b) showing photos of your grandchildren; (c) letting family members know about the plays you saw on Broadway during your vacation — all at one time if they are on Facebook, too.
8. Start a blog. Set up your own soapbox and proclaim your views and knowledge to the world — online and, even, offline about any topics that excite you.
9. Be an explorer:Then there’s Friendfeed, Del.icio.us, YouTube, Digg, Flickr, Ezine, Squidoo, Technorati and the entire Blogosphere to explore.
10. Make Great New Friends:I made a new friend on Twitter one afternoon, and she said something that rang true for me, as well: “Honestly, nothing as exciting as this social media revolution has happened to me in decades.” Try it, you may feel the same.
Readers, do us all a great service: write a comment and share some of the reasons you believe Baby Boomers . . . of all ages . . . should embrace social media.
TWO: Twitter creator Jack Dorsey has told us Twitter WILL one day [probably sooner rather than later] be as ubiquitous as email.
THREE: The only question, then, is HOW to use this amazing and “simple” technology to ReShape and ReVive Business in America [and all over the Globe]?
The BEST ANSWER is by Reading, Listening, Talking, Thinking, and DOING!
(A) Try search.twitter.com — put in “twitter for business” and VOILA! real-time URL’s to check out
(B) Study the Tweet Streams of progressive companies like @wholefoods, @jetblue, @homedepot, @SouthwestAir and “team” members at places like Dell, e.g. @ChrisBatDell
(C) For more company Tweeple, use Twibs or one of the other listings in Lee Odden’s 12 Directories
Twitter will help marketers get measureable results
Because Twitter updates in real time, you can reach an audience on the spot. It’s a great platform for asking for assistance, getting opinions, and answering questions. Much less expensive than a focus group — and so much more personal.
Twitter builds communities, and this will be especially fruitful for retailers — both local and global — as companies have the opportunity to tell customers about attractive sales and new products.
Use Twitter to engage with customers and create advocates. It really is all about People Helping People.
What’s so cool about Twitter is that there are NO rules: it’s like the “Wild West” where anything goes — as long as you use 140 characters or less.
Q: Why devote an entire post to this subject?
A: The 19th century poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson said that “We are always looking for someone to tell us what to do” . . . and many typical Twitter users [see previous post] “forget” to Tweet.
So here are my thoughts:
1 – Jack Dorsey, Twitter creator, told my class that his mom likes to hear his day-to-day activities whether he’s meeting friends at a restaurant or getting off a plane in Iraq. 2 – Remember there are NO rules.
3 – That being said, you might want to consider WHY you are on Twitter: Do you really want the “world” to know you had a pizza for lunch? [Actually, I’m in NYC right now and called one of my brothers, whom I hadn’t told about my trip. He knew I was in New York because I’d put the word out on Twitter.]
4 – Personally, as someone who teaches public relations — and, thus, reputation management — I like to think about what my “Profile,” i.e. my Twitter Stream, looks like to someone who is deciding whether to follow me or NOT
5 – Therefore, in most cases I write personal comments using the DM [Direct Message] function — or simply send an email — so that my Tweets are more “thoughtfully” targeted to all my followers.
What makes a Tweet more respectful of your followers? Here are some of my suggestions:
(A) Passing along a cool blog entry or website I’ve come across, e.g., Adam Singer’s “What if? (B) Retweeting [RT] an informative link that I’ve read from someone I follow on Twitter — see the previous post to find out about Tweetdeck which makes Retweeting so easy.
(C) Answering someone’s question, e.g.,
Quipsandtips asked: I’m in a lull, waiting for mag assignments & book contracts. How do you know when it’s time to revamp goals or change action plan?
I answered: @quipsandtips how do you know when it’s time to make new plans? When you ask that question 🙂
(D) “Reading” a book and sharing a short insight from it, e.g.,
Reading Putting Public Back in PR by Brian Solis & Deidre Breakenridge #PPBinPR : PR 2.0 creating new toolkit 2 reinvent market conversation
(E) Sharing an insight that you got “all on your own” and were dying to tell someone, e.g.,
People are NOT numbers. When businesses fully understand this, their strategies and tools will adjust.
Just remember, there aren’t any rules Unless You Make Your Own, so TWEEPLE – please tell us your rules and share your favorite Tweets. The conversation is what Social Media is all about.
