Essential Social Media for Communicators

National Black Public Relations Society WEB CAFÉ ESSENTIAL SOCIAL MEDIA FOR COMMUNICATORS: How to Use Blogs, Facebook & Twitter for PR Amanda Miller Littlejohn Miller Littlejohn Media Group Mopwater PR + Media Notes April 8, 2010

Welcome to the Web Café! Wynona Redmond, President Deborah Hyman , Executive Vice President Moderator: Dawn Roberts http://www.nbprs.org

Amanda Miller Littlejohn Amanda Miller Littlejohn is an idea oven and brand problem solver working at the intersection of public relations, marketing and social media. Specializing in new media and online communications, Amanda helps individuals, businesses and organizations leverage social media and new media tools to create exciting, creative PR and marketing programs. She has developed messaging for large national non-profits, local associations, consulting firms and small business. A former journalist and a writer first by training and passion, she was one of 10 journalists selected to attend the Academy for Alternative Journalism’s 2006 Summer Academy at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She now enjoys using her journalistic training to report on the latest industry news and trends for her site Mopwater PR + Media Notes, and recently released the Mopwater PR + Media Notes Manual for a Stellar PR Career: How to Land the PR Job You Need & Get the Clients You Want to Create a Career You will Love. For more information, visit: http://millerlittlejohnmedia.com . About Our Speaker

LEARN the basic social media tools you HAVE to be using for communications, and HOW to use them
HEAR valuable case studies of organizations who are using social media effectively for PR
LEARN ways to reach out to journalists using social media, and
GET simple tools for measuring the reach of your social media program
Today’s Learning Objectives

SHOULD I BE USING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR PR?
Does social media fit your organization? Your clients? Your brand?
It’s the buzz term for our industry, but is it just a trend?
By this year (2010) 82% of all companies will be using social media and their biggest barrier to success in this new medium is lack of knowledge
Why Social Media for PR?

SOCIAL MEDIA WILL ENHANCE YOUR MAIN PR EFFORTS.
The online communication environment is here. Embrace it!
Social media is not a panacea
Social media communications is one way to enhance your current program
Social Media is a New Set of Tools

FIND THE TOOLS THAT WORK FOR YOU
There are countless social media tools
Today we are focusing on Blogs, Twitter and Facebook
Social Media Relations
Brief Discussion of Measurement
Resources for other information
What Tools Should I Use?

The Blog The Blog

THE MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA MIX
Blogs are often overlooked or an afterthought
Your hub on the social web-a single reference points
Creates a place for you to tag, drive traffic, house twitter feeds, lists of links
On blogs, content has a long shelf life
First and Foremost:The Blog

WHY ARE WE BLOGGING?
To establish yourself or your CEO as an expert
To position your company
To gain visibility for members in the organization through regular features
To establish your company, candidate or organization as THE LEADER on a specific issue, product, or cause
Uses of The Blog

A FEW EXAMPLES
ASPCA
Zappos
Environmental Defense Fund
Southwest Airlines
Lululemon Athletica
Examples of Well-Developed Blogs

Facebook Is Your Brand on Facebook?

WHAT IS FACEBOOK’S PR APPEAL?
More than 400 million active users
More than 3.5 million events created each month
More than 5 billion pieces of content (links, news stories, blog posts) shared each week
More than 20 million people become fans of pages each day
Growing use across demographics
Explosive Use of Facebook

HOW DO I GET STARTED?
Create a Page, Not a Profile!
Update your content-no one wants a stale page
Don’t upload press releases-there’s a place for those. Facebook is not the place.
Pick a Great, Short Name for your Fan Page. It’s Forever
Use city acronyms when appropriate.
Facebook Page Tips

HOW DO I ENGAGE ON FACEBOOK?
Ask questions on the wall-fans love to share their input
Post photos as it makes for a prettier page
Upload videos, but keep them short. 30 sec-2min.
Tag your fans and other prominent organizations/companies in your updates for added exposure
Don’t have a blog? A fan page can be a great replacement.
Facebook Ideas

A FEW EXAMPLES
Corporate: Target
Celebrity: Alicia Keys
Fitness: TRX Suspension Training
Personality: Nicholas D. Kristof
Small Biz: Georgetown Cupcake
Non-Profit: National Urban League
Great Facebook Pages

Are You Harnessing the Power of Twitter? Twitter

WHY TWITTER?
Twitter users are diverse: 16% of users are African American, 11% of users are White
140 characters=to the point
Low barrier to entry
Great tool to tie to websites, Facebook and blog
Growing use across a diverse group of demographics
Undeniable Power of Twitter

WHAT IS TWITTER’S PR APPEAL?
Twitter gives your message visibility to potentially millions of users
Twitter pollinates your message, taking it from the hive (your website or blog) to the field (a captive audience)
Twitter is searchable-use it to monitor chatter about your brand
Twitter: The Message Pollinator

THE HASHTAG IS THE BRILLIANCE OF TWITTER
To find like-minded users to follow, tag key words or phrases and see your followers increase immediately
For conferences, events, or big announcements, develop and register your hashtag and begin using it as soon as possible
Monitor the tag to see what people are saying
Hashtags Control Conversations

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE KNOWN FOR?
Tag your tweets to tie yourself or your organization to specific topics, products, causes, issues, etc.
Keep tags short, so they can be retweeted by others
Reuse hashtags as often as possible to increase awareness
Start a weekly chat with a hashtag
Brand Through Tagging

WHO’S HAD SUCCESS USING TWITTER?
Best Buy
Pepsi
Dell
Tasti D- lite
Undeniable Power of Twitter

Reaching Out to the Media Social Media Relations

WHO DO YOU WANT TO REACH?
Almost all journalists have social media profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn and increasingly Twitter
Many journalists have blogs
Social media can be a great way to do the soft introduction
Commenting on blogs and re-tweeting shows genuine interest
Reaching Out to the Media

USE ACCESS WISELY
Don’t spam with Twitter DMs
Express interest through social media and use it to build relationships
Give as much as you request through re-tweets and positive mentions of your media contact
Respect reporters’ privacy and willingness to share or not share on social media
Social Media Grants Access

SOCIAL PROFILES OUTLIVE REPORTERS’ BEATS & OUTLETS
Reporters move around a lot
Use social media to keep your media lists up to date
Use LinkedIn to keep a current phone number and email address, as well as job title
Twitter gives us great insight into reporters as people . Use this insight to foster real, transferrable connections
Social Media Keeps Us in Touch

Measuring Your Efforts Social Media Measuring

WHAT AM I MEASURING?
Exposure : Number of post views, retweets, link clicks
Growth of audience : Number of new subscribers/fans per week
Growth of engagement : Increase in comments or interaction
Share of conversation v. your competitors
Measuring

WHAT ELSE CAN I MEASURE?
Positive and negative sentiment
“ Stickiness”: Topics that elicit response
Topics that are touchy
For campaigns, social media can be used as a testing ground for messaging
Social Media Keeps Us in Touch

FREE SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING AND MEASURING TOOLS
Addict-o-Matic
Google Alerts
BlogPulse
Twitalyzer, Tweetreach, Twitter Search
Facebook Admin Reports
Ogilvy Daily Influence Dashboard
Measuring the Reach of Social Media

PAID SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING AND MEASURMENT PLATFORMS
Radian6
Filtrbox
BuzzMetrics
Trackur
Visible
Collective Intellect
Measuring the Reach of Social Media

Flickr (photos)
YouTube or Vimeo (video)
Slideshare (slides)
Foursquare
Tumblr
Posterous
Digg
Ning
LinkedIn
Other Social MediaTools You Should Try

Social Media Examiner
PR Daily
SmartBrief on Social Media
Mopwater PR + Media Notes
Resources for PR and Social Media
Deirdre Breakenridge PR 2.0 New Tools
David Meerman Scott World Wide Rave
My Book: The MPRMN Manual for a Stellar PR Career

Questions? For More Information: Email: [email_address] com Facebook: Mopwater PR + Media Notes on Facebook Amanda on Facebook Twitter: @ amandamogul LinkedIn: Amanda Miller Littlejohn

For more information on national and chapter programs or to join, visit www.nbprs.org . Slide Title/ Subhead Thank You for Your Support

Essential Social Media for Communicators

by Amanda Miller Littlejohn on Apr 08, 2010

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