Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

Social media has changed the way we work, think and communicate. It must also, therefore, change the way we write.

Throughout history, communication has evolved. Common vocabulary has gone from “thou” to “you” to “u”, and in some cases, to “fu!”

Once common words change spelling, meaning and even become obsolete. (Anyone remember wearing “slacks”?) New is the new old.

Soundbites have become essential to anyone wanting to make a point. If it can’t be said in nine seconds, you’re SOL!

I think it’s policy that no policy is good policy unless it can fit on a bumper sticker.

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The single biggest resistance I get when talking to clients about engaging in social media is the amount of time social media requires. Most companies that are not using social media find it overwhelming and difficult to understand. And, they lack the time or resources required to make social media successful for them.

I’m not going to try to convince you otherwise.

My company has recently ramped up our own social media efforts and I have to tell you I find it overwhelming and difficult to understand. I lack the time and resources required to really make it successful for us. But as with anything new, you just gotta push through. Pulling the plug would be conceding defeat in an area where a victory is needed.

Never give up. Never surrender.

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Sometimes we get to doing something for so long and are so involved in telling people how to do something, that we forget that there are still people who need to be convinced they actually need to do it.

In the last few years social media has jumped to the forefront of online marketing for many small businesses. Some business owners aren’t even bothering to market (or in some cases even build) their websites anymore.

They can just create a Facebook page.

Or a blog on Blogger.com

Or tweet on Twitter.

Or build a Google Places page.

Are we entering an age where SEO just doesn’t matter?

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Moving your PR online opens up a whole world of new adventures. Not only do all the old rules apply, but many new rules are created to ensure that your content can effectively reach your audience.

So far in this series, everything we have discussed has to do with the set-up and creation of your online PR. All of the online elements need to be taken care of before you can push your story out online. Pushing it out before it’s ready will lead to a colossal failure. However, how and where you push your message out is just as critical for it’s success.

In this final post, we’ll look at the details around how you can broadcast your message to get the most value from your audience, search engines and the social sphere. Click here to keep learning

When taking your public relations strategy online, there are some similarities to the “traditional” way of doing things, but there are also a lot of differences. Going online opens up a whole new world of opportunities that, if leveraged properly, can make your PR campaign far more successful than the old-school ways of doing things.

So far in this series we’ve looked at why online readers are different from offline readers, clarified the goals of online PR, and then dived into the background research needed to craft a good story. The following two posts will focus on developing your story in a way to maximize your reach through search and social. Click here to keep learning

If you own a small business or are responsible for marketing one, you probably already recognize the beauty of social media. In leveling the playing field in terms of business size and capital, social media helps you increase your online presence, build your brand and drive many different types of conversions.

Of course, the lines between business and personal use of social media are often blurred. According to a 2009 report from Forrester Research, four out of five American adults who go online use a social media outlet at least once a month, and half participate in social networks like Facebook. Plus, small business employees usually wear many hats. So, you may have your service tech tweeting, your office manager facebooking and your sales team blogging. It’s all in a day’s work!

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In the first two parts of this series, we looked first at how the online audience differs from the traditional off-line audience. There are several distinct characteristics one has to take into account before pushing content out onto the web that was designed for print.

Next, we looked at the goals of online PR in order to identify key things that online PR must do that are both similar and different from offline PR. Good writing is still good writing, whether you are on- or offline, but when writing online content, you have to treat each piece a bit differently.

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I started this series looking at the differences between print readers and web readers. This is critical to understand before moving forward with your online public relations material. We cannot expect to reach online readers the same way we reach those that are offline. We can’t just do the old-world methods in a new-world medium.

The differences between the two readers is vast, and, without that understanding, there will be no way to hit the goals you are trying to achieve. But once you have a firm grasp on who your online audience is, and how they react, you can begin to set attainable goals for your online PR. Click here to keep learning

Several weeks ago I was asked to speak to the Cleveland, Ohio chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). In all my years of traveling and speaking in different venues, this one is near the top of the list of great experiences (SBMU still holds the top spot!)

I don’t know much about public relations, but I do know SEO and Social Media. My task was to communicate the value of SEO and Social Media to this group of public relations experts. What follows is the result. I owe a debt of gratitude to my friend Jennifer Evans Laycock, as she worked with me on parts of this presentation. If any particular slide is valuable (or pretty), it’s probably due to her! Click here to keep learning

Below is the second set of questions from an interview I had given late last year. If you started this series with the introduction, you already know that the answers here differ from the answers given in the interview. One of the reasons I like written interviews is that it gives you a better opportunity to provide a more thorough and thought-filled answer. While these may not be life-changing questions, I hope they are at least thought provoking for the small business owner who doesn’t know a lot about SEO.

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