Tag Archives: social networks

#ConnectChat Recap: How to Increase Brand Influence on Social Media

Posted on August 8, 2012 by | 2 Comments

Earlier this year,  #ConnectChat  featured social media expert Shelly Lucas (@Hoovers54) who discussed “How to Increase Brand Influence on Social Media,” with advice for social media and branding professionals on measuring and controlling influence, generating interest in target markets, creating brand personas, expanding brands into new social media territory, and more.

Shelly is a senior marketing manager and social media strategist at Hoover’s, a B2B business, and a division of Dun & Bradstreet (D&B). She’s responsible for listening to and engaging with customers and influencers online, including content strategy, online monitoring, new media campaigns and metrics. Shelly and her team increased Hoover’s Klout score from 29 to 61 (celeb status!) and doubled LinkedIn followers in one year.

ProfNet56: Thanks for joining us Shelly!

Hoovers54: Hi, everyone! Honored to be here!

ProfNet: Please feel free to jump in with questions and comments. And remember to include the #ConnectChat hashtag so we can all see your input.

ProfNet: Now let’s do this!

ProfNet: Shelly, what are some benefits that social media provides for branding that other channels cannot?

Hoovers: 1) Ability to scale: one to one, one to many, many to many. 2) High in virality: Beyonce’s pregnancy can generate 8,868 tweets in one second! 3) “Bottom-up” credibility: the influence of friend-to-friend referrals. 4) Real-time interaction: the potential for humanness or bringing a brand to life. 5) Real-time competitive (and market) intelligence — even if anecdotal, still valuable.

Hoovers: It’s important to remember that social media is a channel — not a strategy — and it’s one channel in a multichannel approach.

Hoovers: Social media can also create a brand experience. It’s not just a 30-second spot or print ad. Folks actually talk with the brand.

@skinnytwinkie15: Any secrets to getting something to go viral?

Hoovers: Important to going viral: know your audience. Cisco didn’t — that’s why its Old Spice parody didn’t work. Here’s a link to Cisco’s Old Spice parody: ow.ly/8N75X Compare to Brigham Young University’s (which works): ow.ly/8N78r

lisakanda38: Who manages @Hoovers social media — a team, one person? How do you do it? Social media calendar? Research and metrics? Third-party help?

Hoovers: A team manages social media, activated by expertise. We follow news cycles, company news and weekly themes, e.g., [fill-in-the-blank] Friday. At Hoover’s, social media falls under marketing, but we’re moving to a decentralized model (Altimeter’s “Dandelion”).

First_Retail11:What are some “best in class” companies/brands that use social media effectively and what do they do differently than most?

Hoovers: @Dell64 definitely does social media right! They have 6,000 employees certified to represent the brand and they have a command center.

ProfNet: What are some of the restrictions or limitations that brands face online?

Hoovers: A restriction that social media has is that the we’re not in control of the brand. We always knew that, but with social it’s clear.

KileyG: What is your opinion about responding to social media issues during “off” hours (nights and weekends)?

Hoovers: Depends on what the issue is. If it’s a crisis (and your biz should define this), social media needs to respond immediately. But how feasible is it to respond immediately to crises via social? We already sleep with our iPhones on.

Hoovers: f you don’t have 24-hour customer support — or a PR response team — responding via social media may be limited in its effectiveness.

KileyG: I think generally people are forgiving for some time to elapse if the event happens during strange hours. #vagueanswer

ProfNet: Shelly, you said a brand isn’t truly in control of its own influence. So how can a brand enhance its influence then?

Hoovers: Influencers are in control of the brand. And influencers don’t have to have a Klout score of 75 to be influential.

Hoovers: A group of influencers can aggregate behind a cause. Example: Beautiful Bald Barbie’s Facebook petition to Mattel. Power in social media.

First_Retail: Speaking of being in control (or not), how do brands avoid hashtag hijacking (example: McDonald’s) or is it just a risk with social media?

pcolpitts1127 It only takes one sour voice. Negative comments will always draw more attention.

Hoovers: It’s important to enhance the brand via social — for trust. Seventy percent of consumers actively avoid a product because they don’t like the parent company.

KileyG: @Hoovers I think that is why transparency is so important for brands.

Hoovers: Exactly! RT @KileyG I think that is why transparency is so important for brands.

Hoovers: Hashtag hijacking is an inherent risk. To be cautious, try to troubleshoot the hashtag for unsavory responses. #McDstories is open-ended — kind of like inviting the KFC deep-fried rat urban legend. Are #LittleThings better for McDonald’s?

KileyG: Brands have to be honest with themselves about how they are perceived (positive and negative). #McDstories

ProfNet: How should a brand’s social influence be measured? How important are metrics?

Hoovers: A definition of social influence is important to the question of brand influence via social media. I think of social influence as changing mindsets and actions via social — a form of persuasion.

Hoovers: Social influence does not necessarily = popularity. Dare I introduce the dreaded ROI word? ROI is difficult to measure, as social influence is transitive; it can reach across multiple industries, can fade and recur.

rjmcAssey29 @Hoovers Its true. In today’s business model, companies are unlikely to stick with a simple “social promotion.” ROI is the key.

Hoovers: @rjmcAssey: Yep. They love social but hate advertising.

KileyG: ROI can stretch across several areas — from actual money-related conversions, to increases in customer-service quality, etc.

Hoovers: A few ROI metrics I’ve seen: 1) @jasonfalls66 via @smexaminer50 suggests click per follower (measured against peer group). 2) @Crowdtap14 measures brand influence via a points system, awarded per social action. #gamification 3) You can also measure indirect revenue impact. @pgreenbe49 has discussed customer referral value via @Irregulars20.

ProfNet:How do you generate interest in Hoover’s target market?

Hoovers: We concentrate on creating a brand experience via social media. We try to make our social communities inviting, and hope folks attend. We go where our markets are and talk about what they care about. We target specific social influencers based on vertical and/or sphere of expertise via social media metrics and other tools.

Hoovers: LinkedIn is a very important venue for us (in B2B). We ask and answer questions, and post Hoover’s company updates. We’re trying something a bit different for LinkedIn company updates; we post mini-thought-leadership gems vs. recycled material.

KileyG: After you target them, how do you reach out to the specific influencers?

Hoovers: @KileyG We show targeted influencers social love at first — adding comments, not just RTs, which opens up a conversation.

ProfNet: How is promoting a brand different from promoting an individual?

Hoovers: I think the line between brand vs. personal promotion is blurring; social brand differentiation relies on same elements. People want to talk to other people, not to companies — and not to a flavorless brand. But as more social ninjas are activated in companies, I would say that brands are becoming groups of individuals on social.

TankaBar_Linda32: Brands have always been groups of individuals. It’s just that social media makes the nature of those individuals more transparent.

Hoovers: “If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.” – Mother Theresa. People identify with the “mass” of brand advocates (employees), all expressing the flavor of a brand, which leads to action. The challenge is to trace the action (source of social influence) or ROI.

What is the role of personalization as a brand? Is it smart to humanize brands?

Hoovers: I think it’s a good idea to humanize your brand. Who doesn’t like the Travelocity gnome (a great photo share on Facebook)? Others argue that people don’t want a relationship with brands; they want companies to solve problems, give info or give a discount.

JeniceJohnson18 Humanizing a brand is necessary to be relatable to potential clients. Otherwise it’s just another company.

TankaBar_Linda32 People in a company — customer service, sales, etc. — have always humanized brands. That, plus the quality of products/services.

Hoovers: William Shatner gets axed as Priceline’s spokesperson because of strategy change. An example of the downside of humanizing brands? @TheNegotiator16 become synonymous with “name your price” — when a brand changes direction, so does the mascot/spokesperson?

KileyG: @Hoovers I don’t think it’s a downside of humanized brands, but I *am* curious if/how Priceline will wrap this all together.

Hoovers: @KileyG Looks like @TheNegotiator character is nixed; Shatner remains under contract, says AllThingsD.com: ow.ly/8Nf6F

Hoovers: Maybe I’m big on humanization because B2B companies sometimes struggle with the pitfall of “deadly seriousness.”

KileyG: @Hoovers I talk to a lot of social media managers in the B2B sphere who struggle with this humanizing piece.

ProfNet:What trends are you seeing with social media’s impact on purchasing behavior?

Hoovers: Unleash the stats! The number of U.S. folks whose purchase decisions are influenced by social media went up 14 percent in 6 months (Knowledge Networks).

Hoovers: But 66 percent of small-business owners say their Facebook ads didn’t attract new customers (MerchantCircle study).

Hoovers: Edelman’s Trust Barometer 2012 shows that consumers are trusting social media more (14 percent, up from 8 percent last year).

Hoovers: And people say “regular folks” are more trustworthy! Only 38 percent say CEOs are trustworthy (a decline).

KileyG: Could be tracking error? RT @Hoovers: But 66 percent of small-business owners say their Facebook ads didn’t attract new customers (MerchantCircle study).

KileyG: Lots of questions about that 66 percent stat. Did they run just one ad in an otherwise inactive social effort? How did they track? Etc.

eltiare46 @KileyG No, it’s a marketing error. Probably multiple.

KileyG: @eltiare I agree. Execution/strategy errors need to be considered.

Hoovers: @KileyG: We agree! There are definitely many questions regarding Facebook ads. We found the MerchantCircle study via @OPENForum30: ow.ly/8NcOR

ProfNet: Are there any new or just overlooked social media channels that you’d recommend to branders?

Hoovers: You know I’m going to say something about Pinterest! “Pinterest is pure catnip for mature women.” – Tero Kuittimen. Pinterest drives more referral traffic than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined (via @shareaholic48). Great for storytelling!

Hoovers: @chrisbrogan69 tweeted this morning about Gentlemint — “like Pinterest for dudes.”

Hoovers: I also think social bookmarking (Delicious.com, StumbleUpon.com, Digg) is often overlooked. What’s on someone’s bookshelf says a lot.

Hoovers: Tumblr is also impressive, with multichannel capability. It’s the fastest-growing social network in the world.

ProfNet: Does anyone have any final questions or comments?

MichelleCvCM55: These are the most informative sessions! Thank you for hosting them!

KileyG: Thanks for letting me participate. Enjoyed the conversation!

TankaBar_Linda: Thank you for hosting #ConnectChat. Great discussion.

TankaBar_Linda: @Hoovers Thank you for the nod during #ConnectChat. And thank you for your insight, as well.

ProfNet: That’s a wrap! Thank you so much to everyone who took part in #ConnectChat. Hope you found it informative! Our next chat is on Feb. 14.

ProfNet56: Thank you @Hoovers! It’s been a really interesting #ConnectChat. Hope you enjoyed it.

Hoovers54 Thanks, everyone! Stellar chat! You can also find me via @DnBUS51 and my personal handle @pisarose51.

Written by Grace Lavigne, senior editor of ProfNet, a service that helps journalists connect with expert sources. To read more from Grace, check out her blog on the free social networking site ProfNet Connect.

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Dear Gracie: Hashtags 101

Posted on August 3, 2012 by | 2 Comments

Each week, Dear Gracie answers questions from ProfNet Connect readers with advice from our network of nearly 50,000 ProfNet experts. Has there been a question burning in your mind lately, something you’ve been wondering that none of your colleagues can answer? Please send it to grace.lavigne@prnewswire.com

Dear Gracie,

I’m an amateur Twitter user, and it’s not clear to me how and why I should use #hashtags. Since I can search for keywords on Twitter, I don’t understand what the difference is. What purpose do they serve? And is there a wrong way to use them? Sometimes I see really long hashtags — what’s the point?

Hung Up on Hashtags

*************

Dear Hung Up on Hashtags,

Five social media experts from the ProfNet Connect database “hash” it out for you:

How and When to Use Hashtags

“Hashtags arose out of the tag craze in the blogosphere, where sites like Technorati would allow you to search on blog posts with specific tags or keywords,” says Todd Van Hoosear, principal at Fresh Ground, a social media and public relations PR firm specializing in technology, startup and entrepreneurial companies.

“The characteristic feature of a hashtag is that it’s clickable on Twitter and leads to a platform-wide search for anyone including it in their tweets,” says Patrick Schwerdtfeger, author of “Webify Your Business Marketing Secrets for the Self-Employed” (2009) and international speaker on issues like online branding and the social media revolution.

Think of hashtags as discussion topics, says Dan Grody, partner at Tellem Worldwide, a PR agency that specializes in social media (among other things); and head of youth marketing, entertainment and digital projects. “They are beneficial to users because hashtag topics are easily searched on Twitter and collected and presented to you in one stream.”

“A hashtag is very much like a keyword,” explains Van Hoosear, “though generally they are used more selectively and specifically than keywords.” Different hashtags can be created for the same event, group or conversation, so they compete for attention and usage, he says.

“In some cases, hashtags reference specialties, characteristics or expertise,” adds Grody.

“Hashtags compensate for two shortcomings in Twitter,” says Van Hoosear. “First, they make up for its lack of threaded conversations, so you can easily follow posts and questions and their responses. By searching for a specific hashtag, you can see all of the conversations around a particular topic.”

“And second, hashtags make community or group creation a little easier,” he says.

If you have an obvious keyword in your tweet, put a hashtag in front of it, advises Jim Lakely, director of communications at The Heartland Institute.

“Whenever possible, we use a hashtag as part of a phrase that we’re using anyway,” says Michael Saffran, associate director and manager of new media at Rochester Insitute of Technology (RIT) University News Service, and communications professor for RIT’s College of Liberal Arts. “Other times, they’re included at the end of the tweet.”

“As for which ones to use, it all depends on your tweet topic and who you potentially want to see it,” he adds.

The trick is to identify a few hashtags that your target market might be searching for (and that are simultaneously relevant to your own tweets), and then including them to position your tweets in front of that market, says Schwerdtfeger.

Trending vs. Unique Hashtags

“If you want to start a conversation about public relations on Twitter, you could use the hashtag #PR to reach a larger audience who may be searching for that hashtag,” says Van Hoosear.

By choosing a larger, trending topic to hashtag, Twitter users ensure their tweets will appear in search results across multiple topics, says Saffran.

But if you want to have a conversation targeted at a specific audience, then create or use a unique and exclusive hashtag, says Van Hoosear. For example, the creators of PR 2.0 Chat (@PRtini51 and @JGoldsborough48) created the hashtag #pr20chat, instead of using #PR, so that they could loosely “own” the conversation.

It’s easier to isolate conversations and do comparative analysis using unique hashtags, says Van Hoosear. But it’s easier to get the big picture and run long-term analytics trends using general hashtags.

So it is worth it to start your own hashtag if you are a busy Twitter user/broadcaster or want to start a new discussion, says Grody. “If you are promoting a particular event to your audience, for example, and you have other tweets not related to that event, you could end each tweet about the event with the related hashtag, like #tweetfest2011,” he explains.

To join a discussion, search out hashtags and chime in using the hashtag at the end of your tweet, says Grody. “Remember, you are broadcasting to your followers,” he says. “They don’t know what you are talking about if you just tweet ‘Can’t wait for this weekend!’ But if you say ‘Can’t wait for this weekend! #vacation,’ everyone will understand.”

Hashtags vs. Keywords or Handles

Keyword searches are OK if you use the Twitter website and not a client, like TweetDeck or HootSuite, says Lakely. “But if you want to monitor several conversational threads at once, hashtags are the way to go.”

RIT University staff frequently use #RIT in tweets, says Saffran. “Those searching #RIT will almost always find results specifically related to the university,” he says (although there are occasionally exceptions, like when #RIT was used for Madonna’s “ReInvention Tour”). However, using just “RIT” in a keyword search, without the pound (#) sign, yields results of any use of “rit,” often shorthand for the word “right” and many other references not related to the university, says Saffran.

Grody provides another example: If a guitarist has a tech question about his/her amplifier, they might tweet, “Does anyone else have a problem with their Marshall amp? #guitar”  This is a better approach than just randomly asking without the hashtag, says Grody. “There are exponentially more posts randomly mentioning ‘guitar,’ and your tweet is likely to get overlooked or lost. Use the hashtag to focus on your discussion,” he explains.

On the other hand, for unique words, like the proper noun “ProfNet,” using the hashtag #ProfNet likely won’t yield results much different than those from using just “ProfNet” as a keyword, adds Saffran.

Van Hoosear also explains when to include hashtags versus handles: “Generally speaking, use the hashtag if you want to include everyone on your comment or question, but use the Twitter handle if you want to make sure that the organizers see your comments but don’t care if others don’t see your comments.”

Things to Avoid and Extra Tips

“Be careful not to use too many hashtags in one tweet,” says Lakely. He defines “too many” as more than three hashtags in a tweet.

“Don’t use irrelevant hashtags that no one would be searching for in the first place,” adds Saffran.

For example, some people think it’s cute or funny to use a long sentence as a hashtag, says Grody. But it’s hard to read and takes up valuable character space in your tweet, he says. #Sodontusehashtagsthatarereallylonglikethis

“Avoid including symbols in your hashtag,” advises Grody. “If you type #hi-there, all that will show up as a linkable discussion is #hi” he says.

Don’t include a trending-topic hashtag just to gain additional exposure, continues Grody. “It’s amateur, and smart users will see right through your tactics. Don’t embarrass your brand that way.”

“Additionally, hashtags in Twitter bios are hyperlinked now, so it’s a good idea to include certain hashtags in your bio,” he says.

You could also contact Twitter and advertise through a sponsored hashtag. “But if you’re like me,” says Grody, “That is the last hashtag you will click on because it is indeed ‘sponsored,’ which defeats the purpose of Twitter.”

Gracie

Written by Grace Lavigne, senior editor of ProfNet, a service that helps journalists connect with expert sources. Dear Gracie is published weekly on ProfNet Connect, a free social networking site for communicators. To read more from Grace, check out her blog on ProfNet Connect.

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How Social Media Is Changing PR

Posted on August 2, 2012 by | 8 Comments

On the last Tuesday of each month, ProfNet hosts ConnectChat, a monthly series of Twitter chats exploring key communications and media topics. During a recent ConnectChat, Deirdre Breakenridge, CEO of Pure Performance Communications, discussed the changing role of PR in the digital era and how we can adjust our mind and skill sets accordingly.

Breakenridge says that with the rise of social media PR professionals need to:

  • Master information technologies as a “technology tester,” including video, SEO, website analytics, monitoring applications, CMS and more.
  • Start dialogue and build relationships through new channels.
  • Strategize to connect directly with stakeholders, especially customers.

Breakenridge notes that being a technology tester is the most challenging new skill for PR pros to master because it requires constantly paying attention to new apps, resources and platforms. “It’s so important to understand use technology the way stakeholders,” she says.

To excel in these new practices, people in the PR industry need to become hybrid professionals, says Breakenridge. This process includes:

  • Moving the best of traditional practices forward and integrating them with digital and social communications.
  • Working cross-functionally with marketing and moving outside of the PR “silo,” which includes learning and applying marketing tactics.
  • Collaborating with other departments too, like Web/IT, sales, customer service, HR, etc.
  • Being flexible and adaptable in a global communications environment.

Breakenridge provides some new roles popping up in the PR industry:

  • Internal Collaboration Generator: knows good communication starts on the inside with technology sharing
  • Pre-Crisis Doctor: plans for crises through new approaches, processes and recovery steps
  • Relationship Analyzer: takes relationships to deeper levels through technology and visualization
  • Master of the Metrics: understands metrics tracked over time and can track them back to executive goals

To successfully use metrics, PR pros must have objectives and know what they are trying to achieve, adds Breakenridge. “It’s important to know what you’re measuring: leads, sales, registration, awareness (buzz), community growth, etc.”

Listen to conversations and identify influencers to drive discussion and systematically map out audience connections, explains Breakenridge. “Understand the culture, critical issues and passion in the community to make better connections. Use crowdsourcing, contests, and promotions for deeper engagement.” She notes that you can use @mentionmapp and @TouchGraph to visualize connections.

Social media provides incredible intelligence, and, when filtered, can help PR pros plan more strategically, says Breakenridge. For example, social media can help companies react quicker to negative situations and crises. “You can strategically engage for more valuable outcomes: leads, sales, registration, better CS, more productivity.”

Social media should move across an organization, says Breakenridge. PR should work with other departments (marketing, advertising, branding, etc.); it should cover everything from social governance and planning to content curation and the monitoring of programs. PR should spearhead social media, but not own it. “Working with other groups doesn’t mean we lose our core purpose; we have just expanded our opportunity!” she says.

Where is PR headed? Breakenridge says PR will:

  • Continue to integrate with other areas and strategize cross functionally.
  • Start incorporating interactive living rooms, touch experience, augmented reality, etc.
  • Gain influence by telling more meaningful stories through technology and educating others on best practices.

Written by Grace Lavigne, senior editor of ProfNet. Check out her blog on ProfNet Connect.

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Dear Gracie: Personal Branding Tips Every Social Media User Should Know

Posted on July 13, 2012 by | 9 Comments

Each week, Dear Gracie answers questions from ProfNet Connect readers with advice from our network of nearly 50,000 ProfNet experts. Has there been a question burning in your mind lately, something you’ve been wondering that none of your colleagues can answer? Please send it to grace.lavigne@prnewswire.com

Dear Gracie,

What are some general tips that I can give my clients about creating a personal brand on social media?

Branding for Beginners,

*****

Dear Branding for Beginners:

“Because of the open Web, explosion of user-generated content, social media and mobile apps — anyone who uses the Internet has a personal brand, whether they know it or not,” says Stefan Pollack, president of The Pollack PR Marketing Group.

Therefore, all public interactions must ultimately contribute to a controlled perception of how one wants to be perceived, Pollack continues. Whatever the objectives, only contribute information that supports that identity and an online personal brand will be formed.

“The Internet has already branded you, so it is up to you to cultivate that into a brand that supports your ideal online identity,” he says.

Determine Your Personal Brand

  • There are six ingredients for an engaging personal brand, says Joellyn Sargent, principal of BrandSprout LLC. Consider:
    1. Who you are
    2. Who you want to be
    3. How you see yourself
    4. What you want people to see
    5. What others perceive (how they receive your message)
    6. What they believe (what resonates, or “sticks” from your message)
  • Like company brands, consider what your personal brand has to offer that competing brand don’t, says Catherine Kaputa, author of the book “Breakthough Branding: How Smart Entrepreneurs and Intrapreneurs Transform a Small Idea Into a Big Brand.” Analyze your strengths and weaknesses, and do some fun brainstorming with friends to determine what sets your brand apart.
  • Share a compelling narrative, instructs Kaputa. The best profiles tell a personal or career story that ties all of the pieces of the journey together into a coherent whole. Profiles with captivating narratives are sticky — they’re easy to remember.
  • There are so many social media platforms, it can be overwhelming, says Kaputa. Begin broadly where you can catch the most clients by focusing on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter. Then branch out to Google+, Pinterest, etc., that are more targeted to your industry.

Create a Plan of Attack

  • Try to express your brand idea in one catchy, differentiating line that defines your brand, says Kaputa. (Analogy can be a memorable device, e.g., a market researcher calling herself the “Oprah of Madison Avenue” or a finance executive calling himself the “Steve Jobs of Finance.”)
  • Set both short-term and long-term goals, and come up with a mission statement to identify what you want to be known for, says Bill Corbett, Jr., president of Corbett Public Relations.
  • Determine which vehicles are best for promoting your brand and reaching your target market, says Corbett. For example: website, blog, videos, social media, e-newsletters, real-world marketing, networking, speaking, trade shows, etc.
  •  ”Create a social media and marketing schedule for your brand marketing,” says Corbett. “Identify how much time you will spend each week on social media and stick to it.”
  • Consider automating tweets, blog posts, updates, etc., using services like Feedblitz, HootSuite or Social Oomph to help you manage your brand, suggests Kaputa.
  • “The real challenge is not discovering your personal brand; it’s adjusting and augmenting your brand to work across multiple social mediums,” notes Elliot Tomaeno, head of consumer technology at Morris + King Company. Your voice on Twitter is not your voice on Facebook — each medium requires a different approach.

Share Compelling Content

  • If you only tweet client news, you will not be establishing any personal brand — you will only be furthering your client’s agenda, explains Tomaeno. Share original thoughts, and add personal comments when sharing other’s work.
  • “Your brand is most effective if you mix your personal experience with business interests, skills and expertise,” Corbett continues.
  • “Publish your brand content and messages frequently,” says Corbett. The content should be interesting, helpful and consistent. This will drive people to your brand and lead them to become regular followers, and eventually customers.
  • Keep the content simple, and keep it you, suggests Grace Kang, founder and chief buyer of Pink Olive Inc. “You don’t want to overload people with information, but you do want them to be able to see your overarching style and philosophy.”
  • Balance sharing best practices from thought leaders with original content, says Jeff Bunch, digital strategist at LANE PR.
  • Support complementary brands and businesses, and they’ll be more likely to spread the word about your brand in return, explains Kang. You’ll build a community with similar ideals and audiences.
  • “Make sure you have quality photos and headshots on your social media sites,” says Corbett.

Monitor Feedback and Activity

  • Develop key talking points and see what resonates with your audience, says Bunch. Where does your community think you’re adding value?
  • Ask for feedback from trusted fans and brand ambassadors, says Corbett. Don’t be afraid to change your approach!
  • Protect your reputation online by monitoring your brand by using Google Alerts and regular online searches, says Corbett.
  • “Make it easy for people to pass along your content or your professional information,” says Kaputa. Consider adding Twitter and Facebook buttons, for example, to your website or blog so that people can spread the buzz about you. “People tend to pass on what moves them emotionally.”
  • “Create a system for capturing contact information from people you meet in the real world and online,” says Corbett.

Be Generous, Interesting and Inspirational

  • Be generous and promote good work by others, says Bunch.
  • Don’t try too hard to make your personal brand about only one thing, says Tomaeno. Everyone is multifaceted! Clients, partners and even your boss want to know that you have a life outside of work. Have a sense of humor sometimes!
  • Be inspirational and inspirational, says Kang. “Customers want to find experts that they can trust and follow implicitly. Hold yourself and your brand up to a high ideal and only post what you feel truly represents the core of your brand and vision.”

Gracie

Written by Grace Lavigne, senior editor of ProfNet, a service that helps journalists connect with expert sources. Dear Gracie is published weekly on ProfNet Connect, a free social networking site for communicators. To read more from Grace, check out her blog on ProfNet Connect.

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Dear Gracie: How to Enhance Your Twitter Profile

Posted on May 18, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Each week, Dear Gracie answers questions from ProfNet Connect readers with advice from our network of nearly 50,000 ProfNet experts. Has there been a question burning in your mind lately, something you’ve been wondering that none of your colleagues can answer? Please send it to grace.lavigne@prnewswire.com

Dear Gracie,

I need help designing my Twitter profile. I’m trying to increase my number of followers and am wondering how important the design of the profile itself matters. What should my bio say? What should the background look like (pattern vs. solid color)? What about my profile picture? How do I stand out without overdoing it? Any do’s or don’ts?

Profile Planner

*********

Dear Profile Planner,

Five ProfNet experts share their experience:

Bio: The Chance to Stand Out

“The bio for an individual should be ‘pro-fersonal,’” says Kelly Lux, the online communication and relationship manager for the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University. “Basically a mix of professional and personal.”

“People generally want to know what you do for a living or where you go to school, and what you’re passionate about,” Lux continues. “Strike an air of business acumen and friendliness, especially if you are job-searching.”

“Try to say as much about yourself with as few words as possible,” says Michael P. Grace, founder of Virallock, a social media monitoring and management service. “Be witty and creative without being corny or cliché. This is your chance to stand out.”

Maybe include some fun facts, suggests David Johnson, CEO of Strategic Vision. “We had a technology firm and one of the many things they included in their bio was that nobody who worked there was taller than 5’5″. People actually mentioned seeing that when they contacted the company.”

“If your bio says something to the effect of ‘father, coffee lover and social media addict,’ that doesn’t really set you apart from the crowd,” says Lux. Stay away from words like guru, ninja, rockstar, etc.

“Browse around and see how others describe themselves,” advises Grace. “Don’t copy others, but pay attention to users who have had a Twitter account for a longer timeframe.”

Hashtags, Handles, Links

“Use hashtags in your bio so people with similar interests can find you,” says Lux.

Jonathan Rick, digital and social media director at Levick Strategic Communications, says that if you want to be publicly associated with your employer, don’t write: Director at Levick Strategic Communications. Instead, write: Director at @Levick.

And if multiple people manage a company account, call them out either by their full handles or their initials, says Rick. For example:

  • @Poynter‘s bio lists handles: School for journalism & democracy, with tweets by @juliemmoos, @myersnews, @mallarytenore, @jeffsonderman, @abeaujon
  • @AmericanExpress‘ bio lists initials: Follow Amex’s Mona Hamouly (MLH), Matt Burton (MB) & Amy Tokarski (AT) for insider news, offers & more. Chk out our Favorites page to turn Tweets into savings!

Also, definitely include a link — not in your bio — but as part of your profile, says Lux. “Many people link to their personal website or blog, or LinkedIn profile.” The link allows people to find out more about you than they can from the 160 characters allowed in the Twitter bio.

Adding links helps describe and reinforce who you are, and drives traffic between all of your social media vehicles, agrees Grace.

Expert/Company Bios of the People Quoted in This Article:

Here is the text from the Twitter bios of the experts (or their companies) included in this article (links not included):

  • @Levick: Levick Strategic Communications is the world’s leading crisis communications firm. We are unparalleled in building brand equity and protecting reputations.
  • @KellyLux: #CMGR & SM Strategist @iSchoolSU / Borg Queen of #NEXIS / Co-founder #CMGRchat / Opinionated Wine Connoisseur and +1 Dog Lover / Instagram Fanatic
  • @Virallock: Virallock evaluates, optimizes and monitors social media profiles to help students and young professionals avoid negative perceptions to their personal brand.
  • @StratCommun: Communication consultant. Marketer. Social media explorer. HR/management coach. Teacher. Golfer. Reader.
  • @DavidJohnsonSV: CEO of Strategic Vision | PR Professional | Republican consultant | Facebook: DavidJohnsonSV

Profile Picture: Say Cheese!

The profile picture is probably the most important component of your Twitter presence, says Lux. Your profile picture should be YOU — not a cartoon avatar; not a picture of your dog or the San Francisco skyline; and not a picture of you with your kids, spouse, pet, etc.

“You need to appear approachable, which, in this sense, means: smiling,” says Lux. The picture should be distinctive enough that people recognize it as they scroll by it in the stream.

“You want your Twitter avatar to reflect you as you write about yourself in the bio,” adds Lux. For example, unless you are a business consultant, stay away from the suit-and-tie look.

Johnson once worked with a romance author who wanted to be known as the “Queen of Naughty and Nice.” “She wanted to use a professional headshot from her Wall Street days, but we told her that her photo needed to convey the image she wanted branded in her book,” he says. “So we added a more racy photo.”

The picture should also remain fairly stable, says Lux. Don’t change it as often as your Facebook profile picture, but do change it often enough that the picture still actually looks like you (i.e., more than once every decade!).

Linda Pophal, CEO of Strategic Communications, notes that if a Twitter account is for an organization, rather than a person, then the company logo works well as the profile picture. For example: @ProfNet or @PRNewswire

Wallpaper: Keep It Simple

Trying to establish a perfect Twitter background shouldn’t be the main focus of designing your profile, says Grace.

“I don’t believe the Twitter background is all that important; I’ve never made a decision on who to follow or not follow based on their Twitter background,” agrees Lux.

“That being said, you don’t want to make it look like you’re selling too hard!” she continues. “If your Twitter background is a bunch of pictures of you, your latest book, your Facebook page, etc. — you’re trying too hard.”

“Use a consistent pattern that is not distracting,” says Grace. “Twitter provides a handful of design options that are decent, but feel free to explore colors, patterns and textures that may create a more pleasing aesthetic to viewers.”

Make sure that your wallpaper is consistent with all aspects of branding, like color schemes, adds Johnson.

Rick lists four approaches to wallpaper designs:

  • The Visual Way: employs big pictures that immediately communicate the brand, a la @Disney, @Staples or @WWF
  • The Logo Way: uses the company logo as the background, a la @Ford or @LinkedIn
  • The Informative Way: lists contact info and links to other social channels in the wallpaper itself, a la @Intel or @mashable
  • The Product Way: displays Photoshopped pictures of the company’s key wares, a la @Pepsi (can of Pepsi) or @LAYS (bag of Lay’s potato chips)

Overall Look and Feel: Be Consistent

Your Twitter profile should be designed for the audience you are trying to reach and the image you are attempting to convey to them, says Johnson.

Profiles should reflect the individual or organization’s brand identity and communication strategy, agrees Pophal.

Approach the profile from the standpoint of crafting an “elevator speech,” Pophal continues. What is it that you do that represents value to your target audience?

“Every profile on Twitter has a voice,” concludes Grace. “Always consider how you want your voice to be represented to those who haven’t met you, and let your personality shine through as much as possible.”

Gracie

Written by Grace Lavigne, senior editor of ProfNet, a service that helps journalists connect with expert sources. Dear Gracie is published weekly on ProfNet Connect, a free social networking site for communicators. To read more from Grace, check out her blog on ProfNet Connect.

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Dear Gracie: The Social Media ROI Debate

Posted on April 13, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Each week, Dear Gracie answers questions from ProfNet Connect readers with advice from our network of nearly 50,000 ProfNet experts. Has there been a question burning in your mind lately, something you’ve been wondering that none of your colleagues can answer? Please send it to grace.lavigne@prnewswire.com

Dear Gracie,

I’m curious to hear social media experts take on this ROI issue. How can we prove the value of social media without quantifiable proof? What can I say to clients who want to see evidence of their influence on social media?

Socially Stunted

************

Dear Socially Stunted,

Four ProfNet experts weigh in on this much debated topic:

Why Social Media ROI Cannot Be Clearly Defined

Traditionally, return on investment (ROI) is the ratio of money gained or lost, whether that’s in terms of profit, interest or something else.

“Normally, ROI is a simple numbers game,” says Ari Zoldan, CEO of Quantum Networks. If the investment has negative ROI, or if there are other opportunities to producer higher ROI, then the business stops investing. If the investment has positive ROI, then the business continues investing.

“So why doesn’t social media ROI follow that same formula?” ponders Zoldan.

“The reason is that social media ROI cannot be determined by a simple equation, because it is not measured in monetary profit, but rather in enhanced or broadened relationships with consumers.” And those types of “returns” can take months, or even years, to build and sustain, says Zoldan.

Furthermore, there is no clear endpoint in social media ROI, Zoldan continues. For example, if you own a company and are deciding whether or not to undertake an advertising campaign, you invest a certain amount, and once the money is used up, you decide whether or not the ROI makes the investment worth continuing. This strategy simply does not apply to social media ROI, because it’s not about creating profit in a literal sense, he says.

On the other hand, creating compelling social media content is similar in some ways to creating a billboard or having a placement in The Wall Street Journal, says Gina Bericchia, public affairs and media relations coordinator at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. “It’s hard to draw the exact relationship between placing an ad and an increase of interactions with consumers, but we make the leap that one thing caused the other.”

Social media ROI is confusing because each type of professional is trying to apply it to a metric that they understand, explains Alex Nicholson, director of new media at Cone Communications, a PR and marketing agency in Boston. For example, for a PR person, ROI is based on engagement, but for an advertiser, ROI is based on clicks; and for a brand manager, ROI is based on sales. In other words, the “returns” are conflicting, says Nicholson.

The cherry on top of the social media ROI conundrum is that each social media platform offers different data on users, continues Nicholson. “Engagement and clicks look totally different from one platform to another.” For example, a tweet does not equal a ‘like.’

But there should be some way to measure whether or not a company is meeting its business goals, says Berrichia. “Brands that devote time to providing good customer service and using social media to meet their business goals will be the companies who are successful using these tools and successful in ROI,” she says. “In other words, you can’t just create a Facebook page because everyone else is doing it. You have to have a clear objective.”

Nicholson concurs that it’s essential to understand what success and failure looks ahead of time, even before determining the social media strategy. Establish what you need from the beginning, even if its just media coverage, and make sure the vehicles to track those goals are in place.

How to Measure the Impact of Social Media

“The ‘profit’ in social media ROI is enhanced relationships with users and consumers, and succeeding in branding yourself, your product or your company in an attractive way that will inspire users to figuratively — and hopefully literally at some point — ‘invest’ themselves in your site, wares, etc.” explains Zoldan.

Social media ROI is not a one-step, limited-time-only operation; it requires a great amount of effort and energy to get consumers to like — and “like” — you, says Zoldan. “There may be eventual, indirect profit down the road.”

To gauge success, consider how many followers you have acquired and how invested those followers are in your company’s online space, says Zoldan. Think about quality vs. quantity: having five followers who comment on every piece that’s posted is as equally bad as having 5,000 followers who only check in once every three months for five minutes. “The goal is to gain a large but also consistent following,” he says.

“Both numbers and anecdotal evidence are valid ways to establish a case for social business,” says Bericchia. If your client asks for hard-and-fast ROI numbers, talk about recent increases in engagement. Even if there hasn’t been a huge boost in number of followers, consider how many followers are talking about the brand.

Goals can be set in terms of audience growth, engagement levels, shares, clicks, Web traffic, coupon redemption, sales and more, suggests Nicholson. But ultimately, goals and measurement will be dictated by the nature of the business.

On Facebook specifically, “virality” helps measure the people who have created a story from your page’s post based on the number of people who have viewed it, adds Bericchia.

“Sentiment is important,” she continues. Monitor profiles to see if people are responding to their experience with the brand in a positive or negative way.

“Companies who experience the most success with social media will approach the market from a unique perspective,” says Zoldan. That is, they will “flavor” their brand in a way that is different from everything else in the virtual world.

There is no single “right way” to measure social media success, says Bericchia. Whether you’re measuring engagement or the number or products sold, it’s important to think about what the brand does well and use social media to maximize that.

For example, Bericchia continues, when someone says Zappos has a great social media presence, it’s really because they have exceptional customer service. “They maximize their opportunities by using social media to achieve their goal of providing outstanding customer service using innovative tools,” she explains.

“Companies that ‘get’ social media are doing it seamlessly as part of their marketing mix,” says Nicholson. “They know their consumer and they are activating in ways that feel natural and authentic to the brand across digital and traditional channels.”

Alternative POV: Why the Social Media ROI Conversation Is Pointless

Rob Frankel — branding expert, author and speaker, and founder of i-legions and PeerMailing.com — says in his blog post “The Business of Social Media” that social networks should be used for “socially oriented issues,” but not “business purposes.”

“Have we drifted so far from the purpose of business — making money — that entire campaigns can revolve around efforts which have no direct relationship to revenue generation?” he muses.

“For my money, social media is nice, but no big thing, really,” Frankel explains. “It’s just doing what people have always done, except now they can do it faster because of technology.” That is, before social media, people still found out about news and gossip.

“If raising awareness for your cause is your thing, social media might be the right tool for you,” says Frankel. Yes, social media links connects people, “but it’s a major mistake to assume linkage of people translates into actions of people,” he continues.

Spending a lot of time and resources on social media just to get a million “likes” on your brand’s Facebook page doesn’t add anything to the bottom line, and can therefore be a huge waste of money and effort, he says.

“It’s flattering to get 15 million views on YouTube, but until and unless you can convert those hits to sales, what’s the point?” he wonders. Concentrate on socially oriented issues on social media — not business issues.

What’s your take?

Gracie

Written by Grace Lavigne, senior editor of ProfNet, a service that helps journalists connect with expert sources. Dear Gracie is published weekly on ProfNet Connect, a free social networking site for communicators. To read more from Grace, check out her blog on ProfNet Connect.

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Flipboard as a Content Reflection Tool

Posted on July 28, 2011 by | 2 Comments

The Flipboard rendition of the @prnewswire Twitter feed

You did everything by the book. Your company now has a Facebook page, a Twitter account, photos on Flickr, an active blog with contributors from throughout your organization, and a multitude of other social media presences that you track on an Excel sheet with columns for IDs and passwords.

You work hard coordinating a fresh flow of content to these networks and deserve a like, a +1 and a follow. You’re doing well, my friend.

But when was the last time you stopped and took a good long look at yourself in the proverbial mirror?

As marketers, we start tweeting,blogging and sharing with a certain business intent, but it’s easy to keep cranking out content while getting quite lost or side-tracked from your original objectives.

Sometimes you have to stop and look back to see where you’re going.

Not long after I got my iPad last year I downloaded the popular app Flipboard. If you’re not familiar with it, Flipboard collects content from social networks and displays it in magazine fashion.

One of the first things I connected to my Flipboard was @PRNewswire, and I was immediately struck by the fact that my content looked like a real publication.

I was mesmerized by it.

Sitting in my armchair with my feet up on a Saturday morning, I got a fresh perspective on what @PRNewswire had become, and it actually helped clarify what I wanted it to be. I knew all along that I wanted it to be super informative about issues in our industry, but until that Saturday morning I really didn’t have a clear concept of how it was coming across.

For the most part, I was successful in creating something that was a combination trade publication and meetup, but it wasn’t perfect. The “not working” bits became glaringly obvious in this format, making it much easier for me to adjust.

Now I stop regularly and look back through the Flipboard looking glass.

Along with Twitter, try looking at your Facebook, blog, Flickr, Instagram or anything else you have with an RSS feed through Flipboard. To add, just click on the “More” tab and do a search. Flipboard will give you available options.

Through Flipboard I learned how to balance content to provide a more pleasant experience for the reader, creating something I, myself would want to read, in my armchair on a Saturday morning.

Let me know what you learn.

Author Victoria Harres is PR Newswire’s director of audience development and the voice of @PRNewswire.

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