Twitter influencing political journalism

Crikey Canberra’s correspondent Bernard Keane, has made an interesting observation about how Twitter has influenced how, and when, we get political information.

It’s now possible for everyone inside and outside Parliament House to know what is happening instantly.

With the Liberal CPRS debate yesterday all you had to do was follow enough political journalists on Twitter and you knew precisely what was happening mere seconds afterward.

Gone are the old days of careful information management, not merely by political parties but by journalists and media outlets. There’s still, notionally, a rule agreed earlier this year, that coalition MPs don’t take mobile phones into the party room. It’s lucky half of them didn’t end up with RSI of the thumb last night given the volume of texts coming out of the room.

This is fundamental change in political journalism. The last leadership contest, Nelson-Turnbull, was just over a year ago and Twitter played virtually no role.

Now it’s a vast combination of news outlet, rumour mill and commentary chamber, and it’s virtually instant. Media in its purest form, with all the flaws and benefits of media similarly magnified.

Keane notes that journalists to follow are not Oakes and Grattan and Kelly (although Grattan does tweet). The important ones are Maiden, Speers and Crabb and Latika Bourke.

You need to be a subscriber of Crikey to read the full story – and if you are I would recommend you take a look.

Aligning your brand with a charity, more than just PR

Let’s face it, people like to associate themselves with businesses and brands that support causes. October was Breast Cancer awareness month and everyone everywhere was out buying products covered in pink.

We attended a Cancer Council fund raising event at Aqua Dining. The owners of the Ripples and Aqua Dining restaurants organised an amazing series of breakfasts raising over $100,000 for the Cancer Council.

Not only did Aqua Dining align their brand to a cause and raise crucial money for research, they cemented their own brand as socially responsible.

So how can you align your brand to a charity or cause?

Do it for the right reasons
When embarking on a charity initiative, consider the sort of giving that you’d like to be involved in and why you’re doing it.  If corporate charity is undertaken as an obligation or as a means of self-promotion, this will show through in your efforts, and no matter how great your giving, it will be seen as less than sincere.

Pick a charity or cause that means something to you
The organisation you choose need not be directly related to the work your business does or be a nationally or internationally recognised group/cause.  Get together with your staff and discuss the various organisations and causes that mean something to you and that you are best able to help with your [limited] resources and time.

While alignment with a charity from the same industry as your business (for instance if you’re in the health industry, working with a children’s health group) does provide a certain synergy, if it better suits your needs, your giving can be as simple as helping out the local animal shelter.

Research the cause
Once you have selected the charity or cause you wish to support, it is important that you research the group you choose to ensure that their objectives and needs don’t conflict with your own business objectives, and that there are clear opportunities for you to help.

Don’t just donate money
There are many ways that a company can contribute to its chosen charity or cause.  Many local level organisations have a greater need for donated goods and services, or for people able to volunteer for a couple of hours each month than they do for a straight cash donation.

Your business may sell a product or service that the charity needs that you can either donate entirely, or offer at a discounted rate.  You may be able to help by selling a selection of the charities branded merchandise at your office reception.

Your next team building activity day can be coupled together with a volunteer working-bee at your charity.  You may also help by organising or sponsoring a fundraising event, or running a garage sale to raise funds or a donation-drive to collect much needed goods.

Contact the charity and they will usually be able to advise what you may be able to donate or how best you can help.

Ask the charity to partner
A strategic partnership built over time, where the business and charity promote the relationship reciprocally, is more powerful than a one off instance of giving.  Through continued involvement both organisations are exposed to the other’s network of contacts providing a greater pool of potential customer/donators, and build a greater brand awareness level within the community than could be done alone.

Using the Twitter Lists function

Have you noticed that there is a new function on Twitter? You can now do lists. You can see how many lists you have been included on on the right hand column next to following and followers. Creating your own list makes it so much easier to finding and grouping people with a similar interest or even networking groups and colleagues.

Social Media B2B have a few ideas for leveraging Twitter lists:

1. Make a list of thought leaders in your industry
2. Thank people using an @reply who put you on a list
3. Make a list of potential sales leads for your sales team
4. Generate a list of influencers in your industry as a way to easily follow what they are saying and converse with them
5. If you have multiple Twitter accounts for your organisation, make a list with all of them so those interested can follow everything your organisation is saying.

How to produce an enewsletter that gets read

Enewsletters improve communication channels with clients, share good news stories, share expertise through tips and also assists in building a database of potential clients.

Not only is it a great way to share your stories, it can also be a powerful marketing tool providing useful information to the reader while indirectly promoting your services.

Make it regular
The first step is to ask yourself – are you committed to sending it out regularly? There is no point in sending out an enewsletter whenever you get around to it. It has to be at least once a month, but preferably once a fortnight. We send out our newsletter every second Tuesday morning.

I am a member of the Women’s Network Australia and they send their newsletter out every Monday evening. I know that it is coming out on that day and time, and so look forward to reading each Monday evening.

Make it relevant
The content obviously needs to be appealing to your readership. Have a think about what type of information they may find interesting. Under no circumstances use the opportunity to sell to your readers.

It is about creating a sense of community and sharing your expertise with them. Keep your articles around maximum 200 words and keep your sentences and paragraphs short. If the article is longer, place it on your website or blog and hyperlink to it from the newsletter. This is a great way of getting your readers to see other material you have written. Use plain language and always check for spelling and typos before distribution.

Make it easy to read
The layout needs to be easy to read. Many people just scan enewsletters to find the stories that interest them. Stats shows that 51 seconds is all we usually spend scanning an enewsletter and most people won’t read past the first three items on your list.

Limit your colours and watch for bad contrast. Simple is often best, with one banner heading. Avoid flashy, distracting graphics, and use low resolution relevant images. Use lots of white space to draw the eye to the text.

Importantly, include a table of contents at the top of the enewsletter so readers can decide what to read. Create hyperlinks on the entries in the table of contents to the articles for quick navigation, but don’t let this take away from your main items.

Never spam
Always ask people to opt in to receive the newsletter. So make it easy to subscribe and unsubscribe. Frustrated subscribers are not likely to return. There must be a simple Unsubscribe link. The email must clearly state the sending organisation and why it was sent.

Add contact details
You want readers of the newsletter to contact you! Make sure you add all of your contact details including phone, email, blog, Facebook, etc. Remember to hyperlink them to make it even easier to contact you.

Click here to sign up to receive the CP Communications newsletter directly in your inbox every second Tuesday morning.

Social media marketing tips

Matt Granfield from marketingmag.com.au has written a great article on Top 10 social media marketing tips. Here are a couple of his tips:

• Use Google Insights to find whatever keywords related to your business are being searched for the most and watch for trends.
• Become an expert, start a blog and use your knowledge for good. We’re operating in a knowledge-based economy. Be the fountain of knowledge, be prolific and people will turn to you, and when they turn to you, you can start relationships with them.
• Start a Facebook group that people will want to join and subtly sponsor it. Don’t just start a fan page for your business, create a community that people want to be involved in. If you sell surfboards, create a fan page for six foot waves. If you sell candles start a Facebook group for people who are afraid of the dark.
• Figure out whoever the key influencers are for whatever it is you’re selling. Read their blogs and leave comments on them regularly.

Read the full article.