Archive for 2009

« Older Entries

Digital Media Press Release – resource and distribution websites

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

This post is the seventh, and last, in a series about why and how to do Social Media Press Releases using best practices. I was going to provide the below info in two separate posts, but what the heck; let’s end 2009 with a bang and start 2010 on a new subject.

Speaking of 2009, most people are happy to see it in their rear view mirror because it was a troubling year for many businesses and individuals. View JibJab’s 2009 in review.

And 2009 Social Media Marketing (SMM) lessons in review…
Trying to buy attention is old school marketing. With SMM a huge marketing budget doesn’t mean much anymore. Old Media = “Pay to Play”.  Social Media = “Play for Pay”.  You can’t just say it about your biz, you’ve got to get people to say it to each other.

Below is a list of links for PR tools and resources. (Source: Mashable.com)

  • Help a Reporter Out (HARO) www.helpareporter.com – This is a free resource where reporters submit queries directly to PR professionals – no strings attached. Subscribers to the list receive up to three daily emails, each with anywhere from 15-30 queries per email.
  • PitchEngine www.pitchengine.com – PitchEngine offers a full suite of Web 2.0 tools for PR professionals and journalists (i.e.: links to your social network profiles, video and audio capabilities). Readers may opt to receive a release on any social networks they belong to.
  • ReportingOn www.reportingon.com – Still in its beta stage, this social network is designed for reporters to discuss their beat or stories. There are around 600 reporters and professionals from around the world subscribed to the network.
  • Journalisted (UK) www.journalisted.com – This site is meant for consumers to search their favourite reporters and stay up-to-date on their work. It currently boasts more than 100,000 unique users. Although it only features reporters in the UK at the moment, it will soon broaden its reach starting with the US.
  • Wikis www.pbworks.com– PR professionals create a shared space to provide information to reporters. From interview source contact information to comprehensive product/company background, a wiki site can become a living media kit. Free wiki sites, like PBwiki, offer security features to protect updates plus email notification options.
  • Media on Twitter www.mediaontwitter.com – This is a comprehensive database of media on Twitter. Use this database to find your favourite media contacts and learn who you should pitch your story idea to.
  • Twellow www.twellow.com – Seek one another out and connect. Type in a keyword such as “journalist” or “public relations” and start connecting with PR professionals and journalists.  
  • BeatBlogging www.beatblogging.org– A resource for beat bloggers, PR professionals can use this as a source to build a strong pitch distribution list. More and more reporters are looking to blogs for trends and upcoming story ideas.
  • WiredJournalists www.wiredjournalists.com – Created for reporters, editors, executives, students and faculty, this tool is for journalists with access to limited resources. The members of the network keep up with Web 2.0 trends and share resources with one another.
  • Your Pitch Sucks (YPS) www.yourpitchsucks.com/about.html – Submit your draft pitch to public relations experts for a serious review. They will let you know whether or not your pitch is up to par (and if it’s not they offer suggestions).

Below is a list of press distribution sites. (Source: Mashable.com)

www.24-7PressRelease.com – Free release distribution with ad-support
www.1888PressRelease.com – Free distribution, paid services gives you better placement and permanent archiving.
www.ClickPress.com- Distributes to sites like Google News and Topix.net; Gold level will also get you to sites like LexisNexis.
www.EcommWire.com- Focuses on eCommerce and requires an image, 3 keywords and links.
www.Express-Press-Release.com – Free distribution company with offices in 12 states.
www.Free-Press-Release.com – Easy PR distribution for free, more features for paid accounts.
www.Free-Press-Release-Center.info – Distributes your release, offers a web page with one keyword link to your site. Pro upgrade will give you three links, permanent archiving and more.
www.I-Newswire.com – Allows for free distribution to sites and search engines, premium membership differs only slightly in adding in graphics.
www.NewswireToday.com – All the usual free distribution tools, premium service includes logo, product picture and more.
www.PR.com – Not only will they distribute your PR, but you can set up a full company profile.
www.PR9.net – Ad supported press distribution site.
www.PR-Inside.com – European-based free press release distribution site.
www.PRBuzz.com – Completely free distribution to search engines, news sites, and blogs.
www.PRCompass.com – Distribute your press release with a free or paid version.
www.PRUrgent.com- Not only distributes your release, but attempts to teach you how to write one, and even offers downloadable samples for you to work with.
www.Press-Base.com – Submit your release for free and get on their front page and the category of your choice.
www.PressAbout.com – A free press release service formatted as a blog.
www.PressMethod.com – Free press release distribution no matter what, but extra services based on the size of your contribution.
www.PRLeap.com- Free distribution to search engines, newswires, and RSS feeds. Fee based bumps get you better placement.
www.PRLog.org – Free distribution to Google News and other search engines.
www.TheOpenPress.com – Gives free distribution for plain formatted releases, fees for HTML-coded releases.

Copyright © 2009 by WSI   /   WSI Social Media PR Kit

If you read the last 7 posts you are now good to go to create your online press releases. If you don’t have the time or find the process difficult or burdensome, don’t give up!  You can concentrate on your core business activities and contact me to unleash the resources of WSI to manage your press releases and Digital Marketing campaigns. Or click on the title line of any of these posts to open a message box at the bottom of the post to contact me.  Happy  New Year, Gary

Spread the word

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization | Comments Off

Digital Media Press Release – what is company boilerplate?

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

writing2

This is the sixth post in a series about why and how to issue Digital Media Press Releases using best practices. The templates in earlier posts indicated you need a Company Boilerplate.

Understanding boilerplate is a necessary, but a somewhat boring topic so here is some interesting information to view before you read on about boilerplate:

The Internet has changed our lives in many ways and is evolving before our eyes, but you ‘may not see the forest for the trees’ when you are in the middle of what is happening. View how the Internet is evolving. And it is difficult to keep up with what’s happening. For example, do you know what QR codes are? See an example of the use of QR codes. And..  QR codes explained

Be sure to stop by this blog for the next two posts in this series about Press Releases to view a list of links to online resources and a list of links to free PR distribution portals.

OK… so what is a Company Boilerplate?

Boilerplate is a brief paragraph and/or bullet points at the end of a press release that describes the company issuing the release. It usually follows the words “About [Company Name]”.

The boilerplate contains just the facts (ie: who a company is, what they do, the services they provide, how long they’ve been in business, and their unique selling proposition). It is a refined, standarized management apporved statement used without modification whenever a general company description is needed; like for Press Releases.

Boilerplate Writing Tips
  
If you don’t have a boilerplate statement for your company, you should create one for news releases about product / service launches, events that you may conduct or participate in, announcements like new partnerships, for awards, or for charitable events participation.  Below you will find best practices and questions that should be answered when writing a boilerplate. If you do not have the in-house resources, WSI would be happy to offer you copywriting services as well as manage your online PR campaigns.

Best practices:

  • Try and limit your boilerplate to about 100 words.
  • Keep focused – don’t go into too much unnecessary detail.
  • If you have trouble in keeping it short, delete any jargon or cut unnecessary adjectives.
  • Rather than including every detail you want journalists to know, supply a link to the relevant page on your website or company blog with more information.

When writing a boilerplate for your company, be sure to answer these questions:

  • When was your company established?
  • Where is your company located”
  • What is your preferred ‘public’ contact information?
  • What products / services do you offer?
  • What is your unique selling proposition (USP)?
  • Where can readers learn more about your company?
    (This should link to the About Us page of your website.)

Need help?  Click on the title line of any of these blog posts and drop me a line in the message box that appears at the end of the post.  Regards, Gary

Spread the word

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization | Comments Off

Digital Media Press Release – charitable involvement PR checklist and template

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

This is the fifth in a series of posts about why and how to do a Social Media Press Release using best practices.

The below charitable involvement PR checklist and template is the third and last of a series of checklists and templates.  Review all three templates and with a little imagination you can create similar templates for other worthy PR topics like: new partnerships, mergers, or acquisitions and awards & recognitions.

Stay tune for the last posts in this series that will include: understanding PR ‘boilerplate’; links to PR tools & resources; and links to free PR distribution sites.

“Our head of Social Media is the Customer” – McDonalds

“With Traditional Media you pay to play. With Social Media you play for pay” – me

If you have not watched the latest “Did You Know” video (Fall 2009) I highly recommend it: Did You Know 4

Involved in a Charitable Cause? – Here is a Press Release Checklist and Template

Getting involved in social outreach programs or charitable causes is definitely a reason to distribute a press release. When releasing a PR about any charitable involvement, remember to include this checklist of components in your release for maximum effectiveness.

  • A link to the relevant page on your company website with information about your charitable involvement or community outreach.
  • Links to your company’s social network pages with more details and pictures of your charitable involvement.
  • Links to share the press release on the social networking and bookmarking sites  (Digg, Delicious, Newsvine, reddit, StumbleUpon, Facebook, Google Bookmarks, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn). You can get the bookmarking code to add to your online PR at ShareThis.com.
  • A link to a podcast interview with your company spokesperson sharing why you decided to get involve in the charitable program and what your efforts will do to further the cause.
  • A link to a video of your company spokesperson conducting the charitable activities and/or a video testimonial from your company employees sharing feedback on the charitable involvement.
  • Links to any recent news coverage of the charitable program. The links can be directly from your press release or from your website.
  • An RSS link to invite readers to subscribe to regular updates from your company. Or you can include a link to sign up for a newsletter.
  • If your charitable involvement is a well-known and respected non-profit organization, it might be a good idea to include a short boilerplate on that organization.

Charitable Involvement Press Release Template

template_charitable_cause

Spread the word

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization | 2 Comments »

Digital Media Press Release – new product / service announcements

Monday, December 28th, 2009

This post is the forth in a series about why and how to do digital media Press Releases (PR) using best practices.

To reinforce the importance of incorporating Social Media into your business marketing  mix, view the latest video about Socialnomics.

Launching a New Product or Service Offering? –  Here is a Press Release Checklist and Template

When your company releases a new product or service line, PR is a great way to get your news story out there. Before you distribute a press release announcing the launch of a new product / service offering, use the below checklist of components to maximize the effectiveness of your release.

  • A link to the products / services page of your website, preferably with a photo gallery.
  • A link to a company or product specific blog with more information about the features and benefits of your new product / service offering. Cover only the essential details in your press release because viewers appreciate brevity – people are in a hurry online – they’ll click on links to more detail if they find the release relevant to them.
  • A photo of the product in use. And / or you can include a link to the photo gallery on your site or blog with images of the new product / service.
  • A link to a video demo of the product / service.  And / or you can include link to a video or podcast testimonial from your company spokesperson discussing the new product / service. Stream the video from your website and / or place it in video portals like YouTube.
  • A link to sign up for a product / service introductory offer with incentivess like a free product demo or service voucher.
  • Links to your company’s social network pages with more details about your company and product / service.
  • Links to share the press release on the social networking and bookmarking sites  (Digg, Delicious, Newsvine, reddit, StumbleUpon, Facebook, Google Bookmarks, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn). You can get the bookmarking code to add to your online PR at ShareThis.com.
  • Links to any recent news coverage of the product / service. The links can be directly within your press release or in your website when users navigate to your site.
  • An RSS link to invite readers to subscribe to regular updates from your company. Or you can include a link to sign up for a newsletter.

Product / Service PR Template

template_product_release

Spread the word

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization | Comments Off

Digital Media Press Release – optimizing PR for an event

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

Optimizing Your Press Release and Event PR Best Practices – the third post in a series about online PR tactics.

Why Optimize Your Press Release with the Right Keywords? The keywords that you use in your press release play a key role in whether your PR appears in the search engines when users search with phrases relevant to your news item.

> Google, Yahoo! and Ask now include a greater variety of content in their general search engine results pages, including a mix of blogs, video and news items.
> Journalists, reporters and bloggers often set up “news alerts” with various sites, such as Google, which are triggered by particular keywords.
> Online PR distribution channels such as PRWeb, PRNewswire or BusinessWire have turned into “press release search engines” where journalists search for news items.
 
Tips for Optimizing Your Press Release
 
Do your keyword research. Before you sit down to write your press release, ensure that you have a list of relevant keywords ready. Use keyword research tools, such as Wordtracker, to understand which keywords users are typing in the search engines.
 
Start with the headline. Consider your online PR as a web page and optimize it the same way, starting with the title (headline). Limit your headline to a max of 80 characters and include the most important keywords of your press release within the headline.
 
Pay special attention to the first paragraph. While it is important to incorporate relevant keywords throughout the PR, be sure to pay special attention to the first paragraph. Since the first paragraph is usually a summary of your news item, it’s a good place to incorporate the secondary keywords that support the theme of your release.
 
Link to relevant pages on your website. Web pages often link to other pages and so should your press release. Add links in your PR to relevant pages on your company website (i.e.: for a new product launch release, include a link to the Products page of your website).
 
Include links to multimedia content. By adding links to photos hosted on Flickr or videos hosted on YouTube, your PR will have a greater opportunity to achieve a good position in the search engines.

Running an event and want to do a Press Release? Below is a template and checklist.
The next post will be about PR announcements.  Check back after the 4 day Christmas weekend.

pr3_event_template

EVENT CHECKLIST

  • A link to a landing page on your company website promoting your event, with a registration form if appropriate, and with more event information.
  • A link to the venue in Google Maps to provide travel directions to attendees.
  • Links to share the press release on the social networking and bookmarking sites  (Digg, Delicious, Newsvine, reddit, StumbleUpon, Facebook, Google Bookmarks, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn).
    event_socnets
  • Links to your company’s social network pages with details about the event, such as the date, time, venue, agenda, registration fee if any and a link to sign up.
  • A link to a company blog with a photo and biography of the main hosts or spokesman for your event and a synopsis of key takeaways or special benefits attendees will enjoy by attending. USe the event logo if you have one.
  • Links to any recent news coverage of the event or tradeshow. The links can be directly from your press release or from the relevant landing page on your company website.
  • A link to a video and/or podcast with a message from the main presenter, company spokesperson, or event organizer.
  • An RSS link to invite readers to subscribe to regular updates from your company regarding this and any future events you may hold or tradeshows you may participate in.
  • An event-specific boiler plate at the end of the press release.
Spread the word

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization | Comments Off

Digital Media Press Releases – the 7 steps

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

pr2One of Social Media’s uses is in managing public relations and brand building.   This post is the second in a series about the use of online Press Releases (PR).

Below are the 7 basic steps for Launching a Social Media PR Campaign

 

  1. Define your main PR points. When beginning a social media PR campaign, the best place to start is to define the details – aim for brevity. Incorporate the most important details and any clear “calls-to-action” while avoiding inclusion of non-critical information that would be better suited for your company website or blog.
  2. Draft a press release. In later posts, you will find PR templates that you can follow when drafting your social media press release. Use an experienced PR copy writer.
  3. Make your PR social. Don’t forget to include “social components” in your press release in order to ensure that it gets maximum reach on the social portals. Future posts will include checklists with the top social media components to include in your PR campaign.
  4. Once your PR has been approved by all necessary parties, it’s time to distribute it to the media. Start with tying to get your PR into newspapers, business magazines, community publications, and  TV/Radio.  After that frustrating effort, hit the online audience by submitting your release to several free PR distribution websites.  At the end of this PR series you will find a list of free PR distribution websites.
  5. In parallel with #4, share your PR with your online community. The key phrase here is “online community”. In order to run an effective social media PR campaign, you must first have developed an online community. You must already have a history of activity within SocNets for the best opportunity to have your news story spread within the social portals such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. And post the release on your website, company blog, and bookmark it on the social bookmarking sites. 
  6. Pass the message on. Social media is viral, so encourage your online community to share your PR with their online following and connections. It also doesn’t hurt for your staff and other parties involved in the news item (like a charity you are sponsoring the event for, or the agency honoring you with an award, etc) to share the message with their online following.
  7. Follow up. The great thing about social media is it allows you to communicate in real-time and monitor results. So keep your online audience aware of the latest updates of your news item and see how well the message is spreading. Follow up, gather their feedback, and comment back.

If you feel you don’t have the time or expertise to accomplish the above, my company, WSI, would be happy to help you build an online community, supply professional copy writing services, and manage your online PR campaign so you can focus on what matters most to you – your business!  Drop me a message by clicking on the post title line to open a message box at the bottom of this post.

Spread the word

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization | Comments Off

Digital Media Press Releases – yes you can

Monday, December 21st, 2009

When I come across useful articles about Social Media Marketing I will link them in this blog. Below are two such articles. 

Using Social Media Strategically  &  Small Businesses Step Up Online

One of Social Media’s uses is in managing public relations and brand building.   Consider Press Releases for example…

prA Press Release (PR) is commonly used to spread the word when a company has something significant to announce like launching a new product / service or sponsoring a charity event.  PR is one of the most cost effective forms of marketing & brand management – IF you can get the annoucement published.

Newspapers, magazines, and TV/Radio are the traditional PR outlets. Large companies with big announcements usually can get their PR published. But small and medium sized companies often can’t get past the ‘Business News Editor’ who is the gate-keeper for PR publications.  Have you ever tried to get a PR published locally or nationally? OK, good luck with that. Editors display fickleness, fussiness, and favouritism when dolling out limited PR print space or broadcast time.

With the emergence of digital media, publishing your PR to manage your brand’s reputation is no longer dependant on editors at print & broadcast companies.  Now you are in control! You can distribute your PR message directly to your ‘public’ in forums, blogs, social network portals, press release portals, etc. You control PR publication that can then go viral which you need to monitor.

An online press release can increase your search rankings, can spike website traffic, attract public interest in your brand, and stimulate new business inquiries. PR provides a competitive advantage over competitors who are not utilizing PR effectively.

Conducting PR in Your Local, Regional, or National Community Helps You…

  • Create a positive impression with your audiences
  • Increase brand recognition and visibility in your market
  • Generate third party endorsement for your product / services
  • Create more credibility than traditional advertising
  • Enhance your company status in your community
      
    The most common newsworthy items that would merit a PR campaign are: events, launches, partnerships, recognitions / awards, and charitable involvement.

This is the first in a series of posts about online press releases. In the following posts you will find the information, tools, checklists, and free online distribution channels needed to run successful social media PR campaigns.

Social media press releases can be DIY managed by companies of all sizes and types.  But not all companies have the time, resources, or know-how to successfully implement social media strategies. If your company is one of them, then put your social media strategy in the hands of a certified professional – click on the this blog post title line to open a message box at the bottom of the post where you can send me a message to learn more.

Spread the word

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization | 1 Comment »

Digital Marketing Tip – the Social Media revolution is here

Friday, December 18th, 2009

If you have been following my last ten posts you are aware , at least at a top level, ‘why’ and ‘how’ to use the the most popular Social Media channels for business purposes. And along with the main-stream SocNet channels there are niche channels too numerous to mention.

socnet-revolution

This video , from the author of the book Socialnomics, reinforces ‘why’ Social Media Marketing is critical to the business world and how it affects you personally. The Social Media revolution is here.  Joining the revolution offers business advantages and ignoring it has business consequences.

Along with the ‘how’ info in recent posts, another consideration is understanding best practices and avoiding possible business calamity when you jump into Social Media. Companies entering the SocNet world need to create employee policies and be aware of possible legal issues. 

And what do you do if disaster strikes your brand within the Social Media world? Remember, you do not control content about your biz  posted by others, not even content from your own employees . If negative information gets into the SocNet world it is difficult to ‘put the toothpaste back in the tube’ so to speak.  Review my ‘be like George Bailey’ post for insights and recommendations.

My company, WSI, offered a recent webinar presented by Lee Plave, Co-founding partner of Plave Koch PLC, on the topic “Social Media: Best Practices and avoiding Calamity”.  The webinar is archived for viewing.

View the webinar here

Business owners & managers who want to utilize Social Media  Marketing have two implementation paths to choose from.  You can either ‘insource’ or ‘outsource’ all or part of SocNet activites. If you have followed my blog, you can not help but conclude that Digital Marketing / Social Media is a diverse, ever changing world with many complexities that take time to master . 

The question you should ask yourself is if you want to use precious internal resources on a specialtized, knowledge based marketing methodolgy or outsource so you can use your resources to manage your core competency activities? 

Of course my opinion is you should find a trusted expert Digital Marketing service provider who will partner with you to accomplish you business imperatives  within the Digital Media world.  That view, of course, can be considered self-serving. But it is none the less true for most small & medium sized businesses.

If you want to learn more about my company’s Digital Marketing services, email me or put a note in the comments box (click on the blog post Title line and a comment box will open up at the bottom of the post).

Spread the word

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization | 2 Comments »

Digital Marketing Tip – Social Media why and how #7: LinkedIn

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

Before reading this post, scan the preceding six Social Media Why & How posts that include a high level overview of Social Media business success factors. This LinkedIn post continues the series outlining top-level characteristics of the most important Social business channels. Note that SocNet Channels offer a complex array of services and capabilities with many administrative set-up & utilization details that are beyond the scope of this post. 

linkedin_logo

LinkedIn is one of the top five channels listed in our Internet experts’ SocNet business utilization poll.  It is a very important channel for those in professional service businesses and contractors. It is popular with recession affected folks from corporations and financial companies and in use by all industry types.

LinkedIn Description –
LinkedIn is a hard-core business-oriented social networking site.  LinkedIn was founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003 making it a senior citizen in the SocNet world.  It is mainly used for networking by professionals and corporate types. In late 2009  LinkedIn had over 50 million registered users from more than 200 countries and territories. About 50% of members are from the USA and 20% from Europe. Membership is catching on around the world. It started with venture capital and reached ad revenue profitability in 2006.

The point of the site is for registered users to create and maintain a detailed personal profile, similar to a mini-resume, shared with a mutually agreed to list of other trusted business acquaintances for the purpose of sharing business information, sharing expertise, recruiting, or securing a job.  The people in your list are called Connections. Users can invite anyone (whether a current site user or not) to become a connection.

In sumamry, LinkedIn is about building a network of Connections and improved personal productivity via help from your network when you need it.

Here is a video to learn more about LinkedIn
Or learn about SocNets in plain English

Publication Methods –
It all happens within the LinkedIn website and via receiving standard & optional email messages that announce things like new discussions (posts to a group), your Connections’ list updates or profile changes, or invitations for actions like new connection offers.

Member’s list of connections is the core function of LinkedIn via a sort of Kevin Bacon-ish ‘six degree-of-separation’ concept.  Contact networks are built up starting with a user’s direct connections.  The people on your list have a list of Connections and those become connected to you as  second-degree connections and those second-degree people have their own list of connections who become connected to you as third-degree connections. This web of primary, secondary, and tertiary connections can be used to gain an introduction to someone through a common acquaintance in this mash-up of networked connections.  Your network is used to find jobs, people and business opportunities.

Groups are a big part of LinkedIn. Groups permit users to establish new business relationships by joining geographic based , alumni, industry, or professional organizations. Group membership is subject to approval by the group’s founder or designated administrator. LinkedIn groups can be created for any subject and by any member of LinkedIn.

Employers are using LinkedIn extensively for posting jobs within relevant groups. Or they are searching for potential candidates with a relevant profile who may or may not have indicated an interest in new opportunities. Job seekers can review the profile of personnel managers and discover which of their existing contacts can introduce them.

The community Q&A section gets a lot of traffic and is a good place to research business topics and get free answers or advice.
 
Authorship and Target Audience –
LinkedIn has the oldest demographic of the major SocNets with a median age of around 40

Message Types –

  • LinkedIn is a global professional’s networking system that delivers local results
  • The Q&A section (asking & responding) gets a lot of action and is frequented by members looking to aggressively expand their influence and connections 
  • One on one conversation is more the norm than broadcasting for multi-user discussions
  • There are message exchanges about biz info, job hunting, job posting, business news, people search, and trends

Message Preferences –

  • Factual content is a must – bogus profile info will get you kicked off of lists and groups and false posting content is quickly sorted out thus destroying a reputation
  • Strictly business
  • Little gossip or advocacy type discussions
  • Many groups prohibit selling or marketing posts – they demand staying narrowly focused on the group’s core purpose
  • A diverse variety of professional network messaging groups have emerged from its roots as a hangout for IT types

Time Commitment –
Usage determines time consumption.  Casual monitoring and infrequent interaction is common, but for business utilization , promotions, or job hunting you might be engaged several hours per day for periods of time.

Business Benefits –

  • Find high quality jobs
  • Find high quality candidates for jobs
  • Gain an introduction to someone of interest or value to you or your company
  • Can position you or your business as a subject authority and thought leader
  • Frequent use will build your brand
  • Great for business research
  • Placement of banner ads
  • Expand networks and relationships – therefore helps sales in the long run as sales are about relationships
  • Can develop traffic back to your website or other marketing campaigns

Miscellaneous considerations –
LinkedIn is a great connector of businesses and business people of all types. Participation in the Q&A section keeps you on the radar screen, but you must be very active or off the screen you will go.  One worthwhile goal is to build your credentials as an expert about your core competencies – but you can’t fake it, LinkedIn has a lot of very sharp users who can sort out wanna-bes from the real thing. The return on effort is relatively high compared to some other SocNet activities – its all about providing high value added business content to your groups and providing many good connections via you list of associates.

Spread the word

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization | 3 Comments »

Digital Marketing Tip – Social Media why and how #6: Twitter

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

Before reading this post, scan the preceding five Social Media Why & How posts that include a high level overview of Social Media business success factors. This Twitter post continues the series outlining top-level characteristics of the most important Social business channels. Note that SocNet Channels offer a complex array of services and capabilities with many administrative set-up & utilization details that are beyond the scope of this post, but some reference links are provided. 

twitter_logo

Twitter placed 4th in our Internet experts’ business utilization poll.  It is a general purpose ‘mini-blog’ communication tool consisting of short messages sent via the Internet known as ‘tweets’.  It started as a networking tool for personal use and has been successfully adapted for business use.

Twitter Description –
Twitter is an online portal where continual updates of your personal or business activities are posted known as tweets.  Personal tweets are aimed at ‘followers’ like friends, family, co-workers, or the general public who wish to stay connected with you through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? It’s all about you. Users are either followers or following. You reach your followers with posts you send or you receive posts from those you are following.
 
Twitter has evolved to become a popular channel for businesses to communicate with their most important audience (i.e.: their customer base).  Twitter’s inherent nature as a real-time news feed; its ever growing population (currently about 24 million/month USA users); and its low cost of use (it’s free – only cost is time) makes it an interesting business tool. 

Twitter began in 2006 from an idea by board members at the podcasting company Odeo to use SMS service to communicate to small groups. The scope expanded from that humble start. Funding so far has come from venture capitalists. Observers are concerned Twitter’s long term viability is limited by lack of revenue streams. Twitter is researching various ways to monetize, but to date no definitive plans have been revealed.

Publication Method –

Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS), or external applications. While the service itself costs nothing to use, accessing it through SMS may incur phone service provider fees. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or by default allow open access. Twitter has been described as like a Web-based Internet Relay Chat (IRC) client with functionality that has been provided via a variety of proprietary software platforms as Twitter matured.

References: If you want details from the source on how-to Twitter, visit here. For an audio/visual explanation of Twitter, visit here.  And Twitter Search allows finding all open access tweets on a topic of interest or what are called high tweet level ‘trends’ within Twitter - very useful – learn more here.

Authorship and Target Audience –
The median age of Twitter users is 31 with growth in all age groups. 

Message Types –

  • Messages are limited to 140 characters which has its routes in SMS messaging limitations. This results in the use of the kind of shorthand notation and slang commonly used in SMS messages like ‘lol’ for laugh out loud.
  • Personal messages and those from celebrities, political figures and the like are about you, the author: where am I / what’s happening / what’s next / etc
  • Business messages can be similar to personal notes and often include offers, links to web pages, coupon codes, etc
  • Rumor trafficking is common
  • Pictures are out
  • Announcements are common
  • Basically anything you can imagine from the trivial to the monumental is broadcast

Message Preferences –

  • Best to have a 1 to 1 ratio of following to being followed
  • Spammers are distained and called out to Twitter for removal
  • Hard selling is ignored, but soft selling with valuable offers does work
  • The more posts the better to satisfy your follower’s curiosity
  • Repeat posting are a must to be reliably seen
  • Followers are finicky about who they are loyal to and will drop off if not feed frequent info

Time Commitment –

  • Each tweet doesn’t take much time – literally seconds – but a high volume of tweets is needed to be effective. Twitter can cumulatively consume hours per day. For business utilization you must commit to it, not play at it.
  • Rapid fire postings are common – like being at a party where everyone talks, but few listen
  • If a business tweet relies on links to content and offers, time needs to be budgeted to prepare that material

Business Benefits –

  • Customer service / Answer questions
  • Offers, discounts, coupons, specials
  • Promote events
  • Announcements of any type
  • Public relations and news
  • Advertising of new products
  • Thought leadership and knowledge sharing
  • Market research / Polling
  • Brand building / Loyalty
  • Keep track of what people are saying about your biz via Twitter Search
  • Build trust, networks, & relationships
  • Real time quick communications ability
  • Can drive traffic to your website or special purpose landing page

Miscellaneous considerations –
The Twitter Channel is one where single postings can go unnoticed or be ignored and where infrequent postings will discourage followers. You must often repeat posting to make sure your followers ‘pick up’. And you must provide a regular flow of tweets to be a player. The Twitter channel doesn’t take much time to use each time, but frequent postings can be considered disruptive to your schedule unless Twitter has become a part of your marketing mix – a habit.  Like other SocNet channels, resources must be allocated for effective business utilization, either as new resources or more usually as a reallocation from ineffective traditional marketing methods.

The next post will be about LinkedIn

Spread the word

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization | Comments Off

Digital Marketing Tip – Social Media why and how #5: YouTube

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

Before reading this post, scan the preceding four Social Media Why & How posts that include a high level overview of Social Media business success factors. This YouTube post continues the series outlining top-level characteristics of the most important Social business channels. Note that SocNet Channels offer a complex array of services and capabilities with many administrative set-up & utilization details that are beyond the scope of this post. 

youtube_logo

YouTube placed 3rd in our Internet Marketing  experts’ business utilization poll.  It works extremely well in the education field.  It is a valuable supporting tool for any marketplace where visualization & audio would aid the communication process which is to say almost any marketplace. For situations within some markets, a video is not only the best marketing tool but perhaps the only viable communication tool. WARNING: YouTube is one of my favorite subjects so this post runs on a little longer than most.

YouTube Description –
YouTube is the leader in online video – the go-to destination to watch and share original content videos via the Web. YouTube allows people to easily upload and share video clips on www.YouTube.com viewable within YouTube’s website or within your website, blog, or a user’s mobile devices and email.  People can see first-hand accounts of current events, find videos about hobbies & interests, see how-to product demonstrations, and discover the quirky and unusual.  YouTube has empowered everyone to become a producer / director / actor on a world stage.

YouTube is the best deal on the Internet. Videos are free to view by anyone and free to upload by registered users who can store & publish unlimited videos despite the relatively high cost associated with storage & delivery. YouTube was formed by former PayPal employees in 2005 with funding from venture capitalists. It grew like wild fire and YouTube was sold to Google in 2006.  Google has not yet implemented monetization methods and gets just about as much press for its lack of YouTube money-making as it does for all its accolades. But Google has experimented with different ideas and speculation is they will find a way to monetize without ruining the service.

YouTube provides search capability within its website to find videos on topics  of interest. This capability has propelled YouTube to become the second most used search entity ahead of Yahoo and all other search engines except Google Search.

Publication Method –

  • YouTube uses Adobe Flash Player technology to deliver videos.
  • YouTube Handbook: Everything you need to know about watching and producing videos for YouTube.
  • Videos can be viewed within the YouTube website portal; embedded code can be placed within websites, blogs, or email for viewing (please refer to how do I embed videos on my website or blog? ); or you can simply provide a link to a YouTube website video page to view that video.
  • YouTube accepts videos uploaded in most formats, including .AVI, .MKV, .MOV, .MP4, DivX, .FLV, and .OGG. These include video codecs such as MPEG-4, MPEG, and .WMV. It also supports 3GP, allowing videos to be uploaded from legacy mobile phones.
  • Many newer video cameras provide a PC USB connection and software upload tools that make the process of uploading videos to SocNets simple and fast.

Authorship and Target Audience –
Average age of a YouTube user is 36, but YouTube appeals to almost everyone as most people are audio/visual learners and fascinated by motion to one degree or another. 

Message Types –

  • Videos are limited to 2 GB and 10 minutes in length. But the average length is closer to 2 minutes to align with viewer attention spans.
  • You can create your own YouTube Channel
  • Videos can be indexed by Search Engines if accurate alternate text descriptions are provided by the author
  • All video content and any comments are carefully monitored by YouTube and moderated
  • ADVERTISING VIDEOS are PERMITTED – but to get viewers to watch ‘ads’usually requires novelty, humor, or offers.

Message Preferences –

  • Videos do not need to be ‘professional quality’, just fresh and interesting to be successful
  • How-to (educational)
  • Entertainment
  • Candid shots of current events
  • Advocacy / politics / causes / etc
  • Use only original content or you may be violating copyright laws and creating some headaches for yourself
  • Authors delight in public distribution, love ratings & comments, and encourage channel subscriptions

Time Commitment –
Active use of YouTube is one of the most time consuming Social Marketing activities.  An active YouTube Channel will require 2 to 4 hours per day to manage plus the time it takes to create videos.  But you can just manage ideas, strategy and so forth and outsource video creation, admin details ,and implementation.

Business Benefits – Wow, where do I begin?  Biz use of YouTube is only limited by your imagination.

  • With Google’s ownership and video popularity, YouTube videos have a big influence on web page rankings. Videos are even given stand alone ranking within Search Engines.
  • Store your company videos on YouTube rather than take up space on your own servers and avoid providing bandwidth for playing.
  • You can build a loyal following to an interesting ‘My Company YouTube Channel’ .
  • Terrific at driving traffic to your website
  • Promote special offers and events
  • Provide access anywhere to all-about & how-to demos for products and services. 1 in 8 viewers of product videos end up buying the product.
  • Occasionally a video will go viral (millions of viewers)
  • Some YouTube channels develop gotta-see-it fans. For example, the video series “Will it blend” by Blendtec has been watched by millions who even make requests for the next video. The idea is if the blender can blend an iPhone etc without breaking, then it will work and last a long time with foodstuffs. View here: http://www.blendtec.com/willitblend/   See how this works? I just gave Blendtec free advertising.
  • People tend to search for a specific video in YouTube and end up watching several per visit. (How many Blendtec videos did you watch?)
  • Business utilization just requires a plan and some creativty.

Miscellaneous considerations –
With YouTube you can start with a modest effort and goals. But the process can grow to be a monster after you get rolling and establish your own Channel.  You will quickly learn if your marketplace responds to your use of video marketing. If it does you have a happy problem on your hands – how to keep the monster fed to grow your business. If that happens to you or you need help to get started, companies like mine are here to handle the load.

The next post will be about Twitter.

Spread the word

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization | Comments Off

Digital Marketing Tip – Social Media why and how #4: Facebook

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Before reading this post, take the time to review the last three Social Media Why & How posts that includes a high level overview of Social Media business success factors. This Facebook post continues a series of posts outlining the important characteristics of the top Social business channels. SocNet channels offer a complex array of services and capabilities thus details about set-up and utilization are beyond the scope of this post. 

Facebook is the #2 Social Biz channel

Behind blogs, Facebook is considered the overall #2 Social Media business channel and is especially useful for vertical markets like retail, travel/tourism, wellness/fitness, and non-profit organizations.

Facebook Description –
Facebook is a social networking service that connects friends, colleagues, or just people who have similar interests or backgrounds. It was started at Harvard by students as a network for students but has evolved far beyond that purpose via open enrolment.  It provides a sophisticated network platform for groups of any type.  It currently has about 350 million users worldwide and is growing rapidly. Facebook is “in” as a well accepted social channel. For Facebook users, it surpasses email usage for online communications - learn more.

And learn about SocNets in plain English

Publication Method –
Facebook is a privately owned website portal offering a global Social Network channel. Services are free – register and jump in. Growth has been financed by entrepreneur investors plus revenue currently generated from advertising such as banner ads funneled exclusively via Microsoft’s advertising inventory. 

Authorship and Target Audience –
Average age of a Facebook user is 26, but the fastest growing demographic is users 26+ years old.  Users create profiles, join existing groups, and can start new groups.  Communications are conducted in a variety of ways such as entries on your ‘Facebook wall’, creating polls, and interactions within your membership groups. 

Although usage is growing with all age groups, Facebook is still a mainstay of the college crowd. learn more here

Message Types –

  • Frequent user updates – what’s new
  • Pictures & some videos to keep things happy
  • Polls
  • Games, games, games – users are getting hooked on Facebook accessed games such as “FarmVille,” the most popular game on Facebook with about 70 million active users, including on average 27 million who daily tend their virtual crops and maybe milk digital cows – go figure!

Message Preferences –

  • Users don’t well tolerate selling of any kind within entries; business users can interact and add value (like with blogs) but shouldn’t hype their business
  • Direct biz promotion is best accomplished  via contextually targeted banner ads

Time Commitment –

  • Facebook provides higher than average interactivity which requires more attention and maintenance by business users
  • Best results are achieved with daily maintenance; business users should budget 2 to 4 hours per day after things get rolling

Business Benefits – Individuals and organizations are able to leverage Facebook in a wide variety of ways.

  • Easily reach target audiences based on factors like: age, gender, location, interests, schools, companies, activities, etc, etc
  • Facebook profiles can be indexed by search engines providing a source for organic search results
  • Display ads to people who have engaged with your Facebook page in their newsfeeds; your ‘friends’ are instantly notified with new feeds
  • Branding and reputation management
  • Customer engagement and retention
  • Drive traffic to your website
  • Lead generation and new customer nurturing & acquisition

Miscellaneous considerations –
Social Networks offer powerful new marketing channels that have been embraced by some organizations and ignored by others. If you jump in, Facebook becomes an effective marketing tool, but it won’t work on auto-pilot – you must allocate resources. Facebook effectiveness can be achieved with a higher than average tolerance to infrequent usage, but will work as a business tool incredibly well if it is utilized and maintained daily.

The next post will be about YouTube.

Spread the word

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization | Comments Off

« Older Entries