Sprouter- the next big thing?
February 5, 2010 · → 1 Comment
What are you working on? Sticking to the idea that Sprouter is the entrepreneur’s new Twitter, ‘What are you Working on?’ Replaces Twitter’s famous ‘What’s Happening?’. Sprouter’s question differs to Twitter because instead of asking for posts with general comments covering any and all categories and you then having to filter through all of them, Sprouter offers entrepreneurs the opportunity to post, to their sprouter affiliates, business projects that they’re currently working on.
30 Tips for Using Social Media in Your Business
February 2, 2010 · → 1 Comment
Inc.’s has put together a comprehensive social media cheat sheet for the time-strapped entrepreneur. Here are the first 10 tips:
1. Offer a peek behind the scenes. Offering a sneak preview of new products, services, or features online can help build demand and provide critical feedback to help smooth the launch. For instance, John Doyle, founder of chocolate company John and Kira’s in Philadelphia, posts photos of new products on Flickr and invites comments from customers.
2. Harness your expertise. Chances are your company’s white paper won’t go viral. But sharing knowledge you’ve gathered through your trade can go a long way toward boosting your brand. Ford Models, for instance, became a YouTube sensation through a series of videos that featured its models giving beauty and fashion tips.
3. Demonstrate what your company does. Because multimedia is so integral to social media, getting connected allows you to express your company’s value proposition beyond words. To show just how powerful his company’s blenders were, Blendtec’s head of marketing, George Wright, created a series of videos showing the appliances churning up such diverse items as a rotisserie chicken, a Rubik’s Cube, and an iPhone. The series’ 100 million combined views helped boost Blendtec’s sales by 700 percent.
4. Put your website’s content to work. Want to draw more traffic to your website? Help spread the word by encouraging visitors to share content they enjoy. GotCast, a website that connects television casting directors with aspiring actors, draws new visitors by posting audition videos on Digg and allowing others to share video links on the site. One way to promote the sharing of your site’s content is to install a widget, such as AddThis, that automates linking to popular sites.
5. Be candid. In unsure economic times, transparency goes a long way toward retaining and attracting customers. Giving readers the scoop on your company blog is an easy way to keep the lines of communication open. Giacomo Guilizzoni, the founder of San Francisco software company Balsamiq, even posts sales and profit figures to show that his company is on solid financial footing.
6. But be careful what you say about others. When Leslie Richard, owner of a North Carolina clothing company, described Vision Media Television as a “scam,” she was slapped with a $20 million lawsuit. While recounting negative experiences with others won’t necessarily lead to a court battle, it’s best to steer clear of name-calling.
7. Interact with visitors—really. Just putting up a blog or a Facebook fan page won’t do much good if visitors sense the flow of conversation only goes one way. In fact, Matt Mullenweg, founder of blogging platform Wordpress, lists not participating in comments as a surefire way to kill a community. Mullenweg and his team field the many suggestions users have for Wordpress through his blog.
8. Don’t try to create a stand-in for yourself. With all the other tasks required within your company, it’s tempting to outsource managing your social media or even to try automating the process. That can easily backfire, as Joe Pulizzi, founder of Cleveland marketing firm Junta42, learned when he tried sending automated welcome messages to new followers on Twitter. His online contacts quickly called him out for sending out what they perceived to be spam.
9. Don’t pretend to be someone else. Thanks to IP address tracking, observers can also quickly tell when company figureheads adopt fake identities for the sake of fluffing up their reputation. Not only can the practice hurt your company’s reputation, it could also land you in legal trouble. The plastic surgery Lifestyle Lift had to pay $300,000 in settlement costs to the state of New York for having its employees post flattering reviews of the company without disclosing their affiliation.
10. Help employees bond. Corporations such as IBM have built in-house networks—even virtual worlds reminiscent of Second Life—to link employees working in different locations. Small and medium-sized businesses can take advantage of readily available tools to facilitate collaboration. The Hoffman Agency, a public relations firm, uses Ning, which enables users to build custom social networks, to connect its U.S. staff with employees in Europe and Asia.
Web 2.0 technologies boost NSW tourism
January 28, 2010 · → Add Comments
Government News (Angela Dorizas) has reported that the adoption of Web 2.0 technologies in the NSW tourism industry has increased website traffic and opened up new market segments.
A report commissioned by NSW Tourism, Adoption of Web 2.0 by Tourism Businesses in NSW found that the use of user-generated content and social networking resources, such as Twitter and YouTube, resulted in increased visitors, higher search engine rankings and greater feedback from consumers.
Included in the report was a case study of the Australian Museum’s website.
The Australian Museum was an early adopter of Web 2.0 technologies, including social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.
In June 2009, Web 2.0 tools were integrated into the museum’s own website, with comments, tags, blogs and multimedia file sharing added to the site.
“Web 2.0 to the website provided the Australian Museum with valuable, in-depth insight into their audience,” the report stated.
“The comments contributed by users provided information about who the museum’s audience was, why they were engaging with the museum and what information their audience was interested in.
“Through the adoption of Web 2.0, the Australian Museum was finally able to create a snapshot of its audience.”
The report also found that the Australian Museum also benefited from savings in financial and time resources, access to new markets and increased community engagement.
To download the full report click here.
Schmap.it
January 22, 2010 · → Add Comments
Schmap.it is a great little application on Twitter that can be really useful to broadcast events to your followers.
Scmaps cleverly allows you to broadcast the time and location of your event whether it be a party or, if you’re a restaurant owner, the details of a night you have specials or happy hour etc.
By using schmaps your tweet can have a map attached to it that has cute little icons directing your followers where to go. Furthermore it creates a section for your followers to leave comments about the event. You can also apply Twitter backgrounds and add Schmap.it urls that will direct you to the homepage of the event.
With Schmaps you can also have a guest list to show other followers who will be attending you’re event. Scmap it is unique to merely twittering the details, as it creates an ambience to the event you’re holding. By adding a scmap it to your tweet you are much more likely to catch the attention of your followers. Which means more people are more likely to see your event and hopefully attend!
We created a Schmap for our client, Starlight Cinema and tweeted it.
And the tweet:
Create buzz with social media competitions
January 18, 2010 · → 3 Comments
Last year we saw Twitter go mainstream and despite reports that it might not remain popular, it appears to be stronger than ever. People (and businesses) realised it was so much more than updating your followers with what you had for lunch.
Take your Twitter and Facebook strategy one step further by including competitions to engage and reward your followers. CP Communications has been exploring and implementing social media competitions for clients and gaining remarkable results.
Why you should run a competition
1. To find new fans – The hope is that the lure of prizes will draw followers in and those that like what they see will stick around in the future. To claim a prize an individual needs to either follow you (on Twitter) or become a fan (on Facebook) to be able to claim their prize – meaning they have to sign up!
2. To reward loyal fans – Most social media sites have fans or followers that have been around from the start. I know that on our @CPCPR and @CatrionaPollard Twitter accounts there are a number of long term followers that make an effort to specifically read our tweets. A competition is a great way of giving something back to these fans and provides them with a reason to keep supporting you.
3. To increase participation – When you first start out in social media it is often difficult to get people to visit your site/fan page/or follow you. It is even more difficult to get them to interact with you. A competition gives them something to talk about with you and your community. It gives them something to get involved in, to comment on and to ask questions about. It makes it more exciting and gives people an incentive to become involved.
4. Create a buzz – Everybody loves free stuff and a competition gives people something to talk about. People will start talking about what is being given away and others that see this will be attracted to your site to check out what all the fuss is about – and get in on the action too. A competition creates a positive buzz around your competition, generates a positive vibe to anyone that visits your site and also sheds a positive light on your brand and your community.
Stuck for ideas?
1. We have seen celebrities running successful twitter competitions for huge prizes, including new cars, large sums of money, and the chance to go on holidays with them. One of these competitions offered a donation of $100,000 to a charity of a fans choice. The competition called for fans to convince the celebrity why it should be their chosen charity in 140 words or less.
2. Similarly, CopyBlogger.com ran a short story competition on Twitter. To enter, fans were called to tell a story in 140 characters or less. The winning entry was:
“Time travel works!” the note read. “However you can only travel to the past and one-way.” I recognized my own handwriting and felt a chill.
3. Intellectual twitter competitions can also be implemented such as the one run by @stephenfry: Stephen Fry, British actor and comedian. His tweet was:
“L=50 in Roman. The best tweet containing exactly 50 Ls will win. All tweets to contain the tag #L and none to exceed 140 character limit SF”
4. More simply you can include a 140 character tweet with important information that you want passed around. You need to include the incentive (the prize) and a time frame for the competition. If any of the winners are not followers all you need to do is request them to direct message you their address so you can send their prize – this makes sure they are following you. Such as:
“Starlight Cinema opens this wed 13 Jan with In the Loop at Nth Syd Oval. 1st 20 people to RT this win tickets to opening night”
5. If your objective is to drive people to your website, you can simply ask a quiz question that requires fans to visit your website for their answer. Such as:
“What’s the name of the movie showing tonight at Starlight Cinema? The 1st 10 ppl to answer win a double pass”
Remember to keep these tweets to about 120 characters giving people enough room to retweet them.
6. If you already have enough followers on twitter and want to increase your Facebook fans you can use your Twitter account to direct people to your fan page. Once directed to Facebook, they will need to become a fan to view your site. In your tweet you need to give them directions of what to do once they are there, such as:
“The first 20 people to write Starlight Cinema is awesome on our Facebook page win a double pass” (It is a good idea to include a tiny url to direct them there).
7. Finally, if you are aiming to increase participation on your Facebook fan page you can ask people to upload photos of themselves or their friends attending your event, using your product etc to your site – and give them an incentive to do this. You can publicise this through social media channels as well as in store, at the event etc.
Social media competitions are all about creativity, getting people interested and keeping true to what social media is all about – relationships and communication. They are not limited to Facebook and Twitter but can be used across all types of social media. They are however, limited by your imagination!
Top 5 PR Resolutions for 2010
January 18, 2010 · → Add Comments
2. Network
The start of a new year has always been a time for looking back to the year gone and more importantly, forward to the year ahead. It’s a time to reflect on the changes you want to make and make promises to yourself to actually do something about them this year.
So what are your business New Year resolutions? This year (and even this decade) why not introduce or revamp your public relations strategy for your business. Here is our suggestion for your New Year PR resolutions for 2010.
1. Embrace Social Media
There is nothing to be scared about; social media is just another form of communication. Social media allows any business to engage, listen, share and exchange ideas with consumers in ways that have never been done before. Most importantly – it’s free!
When it comes to social media you need to act just like you would at a New Year’s party; you need to listen, respond, provide interesting conversation, monitor what people like, provide what people like and most importantly be yourself and inject a personality.
To embrace social media in 2010 we suggest you start by creating a Facebook page for your business (read tips on creating a Facebook page), creating a Twitter account for your business, creating a LinkedIn account (read recommendations for LinkedIn) and creating a business blog (read tips on blogging).
2. Network
Networking is an important factor that should be implemented to help you progress in your business or your career in 2010.
According to statistics approximately 75 percent of new business is acquired through referrals or relationship building. There is a similar figure for getting that perfect job. Sometimes it’s not what you know, but who you know. There is an extensive amount of networking opportunities out there just waiting for you to join.
3. Write an Article
Writing and distributing media releases is just one way of getting media coverage. You can also write an article and pitch it to a publication.
Many publications are stretched for resources and welcome well written articles. You can write an article that positions you as an industry expert and offers topical, helpful information. Ensure it is written in an objective, informative and entertaining manner.
Make sure your article is free from blatant advertisement or advertorial. Research which publications your potential clients read, or simply pitch to your major industry publications. This will put you on the path to expert status in your industry in 2010.
Read more on writing an article.
4. Update your website
Search engines like Google, like new, valuable content on websites. These newly updated sites are seen to be providing more timely and relevant information to their visitors. Therefore you should make a resolution to update your website regularly in 2010. The more content you add, the fresher your site is and the more chance your site will rank highly in search results.
If you are stuck for ideas on what to add to your website to keep it fresh, think about what has been happening in your business recently. Did you have any great achievements? Write about them! Readers love to read positive things about your business.
5. Get customer testimonials
Including positive customer testimonials on your website or marketing collateral is a very powerful way to portray your business as an expert and often helps to win new business. Potential customers are much more likely to believe a customer testimonial that praises your product or service then they are to believe your self- written sales text.
Set aside some time in 2010 to either ring or email your customers to ask if they would mind writing a brief testimonial. If they are short for time, ask them quickly to explain what they most like about your service or product and offer to write it up for them.
Remember resolutions are only powerful if you make them happen! CP Communications wishes you a very happy and successful 2010.
Raising money for cancer research in 2010
December 11, 2009 · → Add Comments
Get a team of 10-15 people together and help in the fight against cancer at a Relay For Life event near you. The fundraising event organised by the Cancer Council helps raise much needed funds for cancer and is an opportunity to celebrate the life of loved ones who have survived and remember those who have lost their life to the disease.
Relay For Life is happening across the state on the 27 March 2010. It is not a race, rather teams of 10-15 people take turns to walk or run around a track.
The Northen Harbour Relay for Life is organised by Tony Adamo and team and will be held at Gore Hill Oval, Pacific Highway, St Leonards. Log on to Relay For Life to find the closest relay near you and sign up your team.
Is it time you Facebooked your business?
December 8, 2009 · → 3 Comments
If you thought Facebook was just for keeping contact with friends and family, think again. It can be a great way of building an online community, or simply reaching another audience online.
With a Facebook Page you create a public profile that helps you share your business and products with Facebook users. You ask people to become a ‘fan’ and you can engage with them by posting videos, photos, company news, promotions and discounts and by starting discussion groups.
Also, you can make your page viewable by everyone, whether they are members of Facebook or not.
Setting up your page
The first step when setting up your page, isn’t actually setting up your page. It’s thinking about the name of your page. The obvious is your company name, however you can create a page that is related to your business.
For example we have two pages – Public Relations Sydney and CP Communications. The first relates to my personal blog, which I plan on creating a public relations community around, and the other is about our business.
You can also think outside the square. For example if you own a bottle shop rather than “The Corner Store Bottle Shop” you might think about calling it “It’s beer o’clock”.
Actually setting up your page
Go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php and you need to choose one of three categories for your business: Local Business (and the industry); Brand, Product, or Organisation; and Public band, Artist or other Public Figure.
For the ones we have set up, we have chosen ‘Brand, Product, or Organisation’. Then you choose what type of organisation. Then you type in the name of your name, hit ‘Create page’ and you are done!
Then upload your business logo, provide information about your business, contact information, hour of operation (if you have a retail or local office), and a general description that describes your business.
As you add more details about your business you can view the changes live on the page you are creating. This is all you need to publish a basic Business Page on Facebook.
Adding content
The easiest way of populating your page is RSS feeding your blog into the page. Go to “Edit Page”, “Notes”, and “Import setting” and add your blog url. This then means every time you post an article on your blog, it is automatically feed into your Facebook page. I have also read that you can use an external RSS feed application, but haven’t investigated this.
I have also fed my personal Twitter into Public Relations Sydney Page, and our corporate Twitter in the CP Communications page. You need to use an external application to do this. I have used Involver.
Getting fans
Once you’ve become a “fan” of your business, your friends on Facebook (some of which are likely customers) will see a message in their home page. When your Facebook friends become “fans” of your business then their friends will see a message, and so it goes…
You can also send a message to all of your friends asking them to become friends. One of our clients posted a message on their intranet letting all staff know that the company had a Facebook page so they could choose to become fans.
I also suggest you add the page link to your website, email signature, blog, business card – as many places as possible!
Remember when you get 25 fans you can claim the name of your page. This means you can point people to a direct url ie www.facebook.com/cpcommunications. To do this, go to http://www.facebook.com/username/
To see how your fans are interacting with your page, and to get some demographics click on “Insights” within “Edit Page”. You may like to use this information to develop targeted competitions.
What makes a good page?
A successful Facebook page needs to be engaging, updated and rewarding.
While I was writing this article I read on Twitter @JourneyJottings tweeting about a giveaway on her Facebook page. She was engaging (and rewarding) her fans by running a 10 day giveaway where each day her fans had the chance of winning an Australia Map Journal. She was publicising it on twitter (and I would assume elsewhere) and getting more fans.
Another good page is The Sydney Writers Centre. They use video as well as words to share information as well podcast interviews with leading authors. They are creating a community around writing, and aspiring writers.
Dell has done a great job with their social media resource for small businesses. Understanding that small business owners buy computers, by offering them this resource, small business owners interested in social media keep Dell top of mind.
Marketing Predictions For 2010
December 5, 2009 · → Add Comments
David Siteman Garland has set his 10 Big Marketing Predictions For 2010 on his blog The Rise to the Top. Here is an excerpt:
1. Big Brands Will Learn From Entrepreneurs, Small Businesses and Niche Brands.
These elements of cheap, fast and experimental are going to finally catch the attention of big brands in 2010. Instead of ignoring the little guys, a painful realization to many larger companies when 2009 ripped apart their business, is going to lead to entrepreneurs being a trusted resource and strong case studies.
2. Digital Schmoozing: Networking Online
My favorite phrase. Call it networking. Call it relationship building. Call it whatever you want. Bottom line is being able to network online is going to be a HUGE element of marketing in 2010.
3. Death Of The One-Way Website
The corporate-speak, one-way website is dead. It has always been boring, but now it is really on its death bed. Your website is like your clothes and smile. It will be the first thing people notice when they find you and see you. Your website could be your greatest marketing asset.
4. Content Marketing: Brands As Media Sources And Publishers
Never before has the barrier of entry been so low to create your own content. A plan, a blog and a few pieces of equipment if you want to do video or audio is all you need (or of course text).
5. Online Video: Forget Viral Focus On Function
Everyone wants to create a “viral” video. Sure, a viral video is a marketing weapon if you can do it, but the real benefit of video to marketers in 2010 is content.
6. Death Of The 30-Second Ad: Rise Of Creative Paid Content
Is the 30-second ad dead? Short answer: Pretty much. Why? Customers had to be interrupted and everyone hates interruptions especially when the company is essentially guessing that I might like something because I like something else. Does it still work for mass marketing? Sure, to some extent…but make no mistake, it is dying.
7. Reputation Marketing: Customer Service And Caring
Innovative customer service and caring has always been one of the best ways to market and will become even more prevalent in 2010.
8. Event Marketing
You can do all the online marketing in the world, but face-to-face is vitally important and nothing really replaces it. As Chris Brogan told me (paraphrased), we may not be able to see each other in person for a year, and we can use social media to keep in touch, but nothing replaces the face-to-face interaction.
9. Social Media: No Longer A Buzzword In Marketing
More and more users and brands will pop up, but without real “rules of engagement” many will not be maximizing the potential and need a little help (many of my consulting clients fall into this boat).
10. Relationships, Relationships, Relationships.
Treat your customers (potential and current) like gold online and off and you will win the 2010 marketing game.
Why “No Comment” is never a good idea
December 2, 2009 · → 3 Comments
Plastered across the media in the last week have been reports of a car crash involving Tiger Woods. For those of you who aren’t aware, the golfing super hero was involved in a car accident outside his home resulting in his wife using a golf club to break him free followed by being admitted to hospital.
Tiger Woods leads a very private life away from the often obtrusive media eye. It’s not often that information about Wood’s private life appears in the media. Not surprisingly, Wood has been very vague about what occurred that night and has replied to media inquiries with the dangerous “no comment” creating a public relations nightmare.
What’s the big deal?
When replying with “No Comment” both the media and the public automatically believe that Tiger Woods is lying, or covering up what happened leaving the media to fill in the gap. This more often than not ends badly.
What should be done?
You have to remember that the truth nearly always gets out. The “No Comment” answer will only make the situation worse and there is usually no way of avoiding the situation. Tiger will eventually have to answer key questions at a golf tournament press conference. It is a much better idea to “Tell it first, tell it yourself and tell it all” to avoid jeopardising the Tiger Woods brand.
The car crash story is getting international media attention as well as creating a buzz on Twitter and Facebook. Most of this attention is speculation around what actually happened. From a PR perspective it is a much better idea for Tiger to be truthful and authentic. Public figures are constantly under scrutiny and so it is better to be forthcoming than to leave things to speculation.
What lessons can be learnt?
If you or your business find yourself in a crisis situation it is important to respond truthfully and quickly. If someone refuses to respond, the immediate thought is that they are hiding something. If you really can’t release any information it is important to take control of the situation and explain why. By offering an explanation, you appear responsive and cooperative even if you are not sharing a great deal of information.
What to do if you are in a similar situation
If you or your business find yourself in the midst of a crisis you should keep in mind the following suggestions:
• Never, ever say “No Comment.” Instead tell reporters the situation is still being reviewed and you will have a statement available as soon as you have all the facts.
• Offer as much information as possible to avoid the chance of inaccurate information being reported to the public.
• Respond quickly to define and control public perception of how you are handling the crisis or the media will do it for you.
• If the crisis affects members of the public, always show compassion and concern for the people involved.
• Don’t allow for speculation. If the interviewer says something that is not factual, correct the information.
• Report your own bad news before the media catches wind. This will avoid the media assuming you are guilty without getting your side of the story.
• Always admit your mistakes. Explain why the mistake occurred and what you are doing to fix the problem. Never under estimate the power of “sorry.”
• Forget about “on the record” “off the record” promises. If you don’t want something reported, then avoid discussing it completely.
