Tag Archives: SocialMedia101

LinkedIn Enables Brand-Follower Interactions

Posted on October 10, 2011 by | 11 Comments

Administrators of Company Pages on LinkedIn can now issue updates and interact with followers. Updates appear within followers' Headlines.

There’s no question in my mind that LinkedIn is a valuable social network for professionals.   However, until last week, LinkedIn focused solely on the interactions and behaviors of individuals.   Brand presences were relegated to company pages, which were largely static and out of the LinkedIn communications flow.

That all changed last week when LinkedIn enabled a new feature allowing the admins of company pages to post 500-word updates,  distribute links and interact with their followers.    Best of all, followers of brands will see the updates in their personal Headlines.

While this is one more thing to add to the social media management list of things to do, in this case, I don’t mind.  LinkedIn is unusual in the degree to which it enables (and encourages) users to self-select, define their interests and find (and interact with) like-minded people.    This is probably why LinkedIn is consistently a top referrer of readers to this blog.

LinkedIn has built some analytics into the new updates, offering perspective on the size of your brand’s audience and the degree to which the audience engaged with the updates the brand issues via LinkedIn.   LinkIn defines the numbers as follows:

  • Impressions:  The number of times this status update has been viewed organically on LinkedIn
  • Engagement: The percentage of time members engaged (clicked, liked, commented or shared) with this status update organically.

Normally, I have very little interest in vague numbers like “impressions,” but in the case of LinkedIn’s impressions data, page administrators can learn something about their audiences – namely, whether or not they are actively engaging with LinkedIn.  Ultimately,  one can use this information to determine if time spent on LinkedIn and on issuing updates is, indeed, well spent.

The engagement number is obviously more interesting, because it indicates how many people actually did something with the update you issued.  The simple acts of a reader clicking on “more” to read the full update, or (even better) sharing it with their networks are considered “engagement” under LinkedIn’s calculus, and I think that’s appropriate, and accurate.

I do think it’s important to note that brands really do have a responsibility on LinkedIn (just as they do on Facebook or Twitter) to offer useful, credible and interesting information – and to mind dosages quickly.   Too many updates of the wrong sort feel spammy and will get a brand un-followed in the wink of an eye.   As with any network, listening, paying attention and getting a feel for what your audience is interested in are cornerstones o brand success.

It’s too early to ascertain what (if any) beneficial effects PR Newswire will derive from this change.  Once we have a month of data under our belt and I have some refreshed analytics, I’ll post an update. Until then, kudos to the team at LinkedIn.  I like this change and think it will be useful for brands … and our followers.

Author Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media, and is the author of the free ebook Unlocking Social Media for PR.

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Unlocking Social Media for Public Relations

Posted on September 14, 2011 by | 1 Comment

We’ve noticed that many folks are still struggling when it comes to incorporating social media into their public relations strategies. How to do you get started?  How do you determine whether or not a network is a good fit for your brand?  Should you pitch reporters via social networks?

We tackle these questions and more in this beefy ebook, which spans almost 60 pages, and offers advice on getting started, and specific tips on using a variety of networks – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Quora, YouTube and a host of others – to reach new audiences and augment your PR efforts.

Download Unlocking Social Media for PR (it’s free!)

We recognize the social media landscape is continually shifting.    You can always find new information on our blog, and if you want to ask questions or chat about the challenges social media can pose for a PR pro, visit the ProfNet Connect forum we’ve set up for these discussions.

Social Media/PR Discussion Group

 

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Forums: Virtual Focus Groups for Communicators [Tips]

Posted on August 31, 2011 by | 4 Comments

A screenshot of a popular cycling forum. Users frequently discuss brands of bikes, parts, clothing and related gear. BikeForums.net has 200K+ members, 12,000K are active and 1,500 were online this morning.

Before Facebook was conceived or Twitter was launched, before “community” became the flavor of the day and the term “social media” was even coined, people were meeting online to discuss topics dear to their hearts.   All over the web and in myriad languages, people gathered in discussion groups and on forums, where they chatted to their hearts’ content about topics they found interesting.  And despite the popularity of social networks, forums and discussion groups have not lost their cachet.

I love gardening, but maurading deer limit my plant choices. A post like this definitely influences my buying decisions.

ProBoards.com, the internet’s largest free forum host, is home to more than 3 million forums, with more than 20 million users.  Industry associations, publishers, special interest groups and brands host countless more discussion groups and forums.  People flock to these groups to ask and answer questions, networks and simply to hang out with like minded people.  Most are also easily found via search engines, when search queries pull up related discussion threads.

Case in point:  My farrier recently suggested that I consider a hoof supplement for my horse (i.e. vitamins to help grow stronger hooves), but he didn’t recommend one in particular.  So, being the intrepid Googler that I am, I turned to my favorite search engine and plugged in a pretty specific search string: “best hoof supplement for TB.”   (TB is the shorthand for the horse’s breed, which happens to be predisposed to hoof issues.) Okay, so clearly I am an advocate of forums, but even I was surprised by the results of my search.

The top results on my search on Google were all drawn from forums.

ALL of the top results were from forums.  This search was done with personalization turned on, and the top result is from a forum I frequent, however, I do not visit the other forums listed in the search results.  So, while Google knows of my affinity for one of the forums, the inclusion of the others suggests that forums generally are pretty good search engine fodder.

Opportunities for communicators:

You can find discussion groups devoted to almost any topic, from caring for all types of animals to fixing mountain bikes to planning healthy lunch box meals, and the discussions aren’t limited to consumer issues.  B2B groups abound as well, discussing supply chains, technologies and issues specific to professions and practices.  In my mind, these are perfect virtual focus groups, and you can join in, interact, watch and listen to your hearts’ content.

Despite their focused subject matter and audiences, these groups aren’t on the PR radar screen.  Some organizations do have social media monitoring in place, and keep tabs on brand-related conversations online, but generally speaking, that’s the extent of the interest in these groups.  As a long time denizen of a variety of groups related to personal interests, I think that’s a mistake.  While discussion groups are not appropriate places to push messages, they provide a number of opportunities for the dialed-in communicator.

  • Market intelligence. The discussions on forums can be a rich and unending source of market intelligence.  Members will discuss hacks – how they’ve modified an item to meet their needs, frustrations, unsolved problems and theory.  They will share tips, tricks and tactics, and offer candid assessment products, services, vendors and suppliers.  Everything is on the table.  I personally think of forums as ongoing market research groups.  Actively listening to these groups will reveal what is on your audience’s mind, and will surface trends and issues quickly.  There’s far more value to be had than simply monitoring mentions of your brand.
  • Industry research & insight.  If you frequent discussion a discussion group, over time you’ll see subjects pop up again and again.  You’d think the group would be annoyed at answering the same question over and over again (and in fact, many discussion groups have published FAQs which are in and of themselves rich sources of information for PR pros,) but the reality is that people will try to fill in gaps in information. When you see a question – especially one that starts with “What’s the best …” or “How do I …” recur over and over, that’s an opportunity. There’s a gap in public information. People pose questions on forums when they don’t find answers in search engines.  Fill that gap!
  • Connections with enthusiasts and influencers.  Many forum discussions name products.  People will weigh in with comments about how much they love or hate their [item, product]. They will relate experiences. In addition to identifying enthusiasts who advocate your product, you will also start to see who on the forum carries more weight.  Chances are good these folks have followings outside of the forum too, and are solid influencers.  You’ll also find bloggers in the group.  Forums are great places for connecting with enthusiasts and influencers on a personal basis, and you may find opportunities to work with brand advocates who can amplify your message.

 Rules of engagement:

Like any social network, forums are personal.  People make friends on forums, and build associations that last years.  Just as Twitterers will hold ‘Tweet-Ups’ to meet in person, it’s not uncommon for forum members to meet up at events.   So as you venture forth in forums, it’s important to remember that the denizens of discussion groups are not gathered around their computers, eagerly awaiting marketing messages.  They are seeking interesting and valuable information, and interaction with other enthusiasts and experts.  Bear that context in mind.

As I mentioned earlier, I think there’s more benefit to be had in interacting with forum members, but you need to do so as a member of the community. You have to be friendly, interested and knowledgeable.   You can also derive a lot of information from simply observing the interactions on the board as you would observe a focus group.  There’s so much to be gleaned from watching and listening, especially over time.

If you decide to start interacting, especially on behalf of the brand or organization you represent, keep a few things in mind.

  • Don’t feed trolls.  There are rabble-rousers and troublemakers on forums.  Don’t bite when they bait you, especially if you’re new to the board and don’t know the players and the vibe.
  • Get to know the board’s style. Are the conversations grammatically correct and more technical in nature?  Or does the board have a more free wheeling style that is OK with abbreviation and “text speak.”?  Does the board support, advocate or eschew certain trends or practices with in the field of interest?   Finding and communicating within that context is important.
  • Respect specificity.  There are different disciplines and interests in all broad categories, from cooking (vegan, country, gluten-free, light) to cultivating daylilies (heirlooms, natives, hybrids) or cycling (road, off-road, cyclocross, fixie). You can see where thinking in broad terms of cooking, daylilies or cycling could be way too broad.  Focus on specific topics to which your brand or organization is highly relevant.
  • First and foremost, be helpful, and stay on topic. This is a good time to remind ourselves that forums are about them, not us.  When you interact on forums, your answers and comments should be about the topic at hand.  Segues about related products generally aren’t well received, unless the information being relayed is new and (here’s that word again) specific to the discussion.
  • Be transparent.  If you are a representative of a brand or organization, put that in your bio, and put a little disclaimer in your answers reminding others of your affiliation.  I’ve found that doing so actually increases my credibility, and furthermore, folks are often pleased that someone from an industry player is listening.

After putting some queries out to the PR community, my sense is that forums and discussion groups are broadly overlooked.  As a long time denizen of a variety of niche forums, I know the influence these groups generate.  I’ve been a member of different online forums for years – well before the advent of social media.  Those forums taught me the power of online communities to influence decisions and create virtual networks of people who could do some real-life heavy lifting: I’ve been involved with regional efforts to collect native plant seeds for prairie restoration efforts,  moving rescued horses around the country to foster homes, and lobbying for various legislative issues.  The influence of organized and connected online enthusiasts is real.

To find forums clustered around topics near and dear to your heart (or your business!) type your keywords plus the word ‘forum’ or ‘discussion group’  into a search engine (e.g. “daylily forum”  or “cycling discussion group”) You’ll find your people.  They’re out there, talking, interacting and waiting for you!

Author Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media.  She’s been active in online groups for more than 10 years, and currently counts groups devoted to daylily cultivation, wild mushroom identification, cycling [road] and dressage training among her favorites.

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Writing Lessons Learned From Social Media

Posted on August 29, 2011 by | 8 Comments

Like a good PR or elevator pitch, an effective tweet, Facebook status update or Google+ post is compelling, finely-crafted, tightly-edited and impossible to ignore.   Social networks are a great place to test messages and hone your writing to the sharpest of points.

I started to think about the relationship between the improvements in my writing – most noticeably, in my new found abilities to edit myself and tighten the screws on my own phrasing – and the corresponding growth and engagement of my audiences in social networks.   Simply put, if you pay attention to what you write, you’ll quickly learn what works – and what doesn’t – with your audience.   And there’s more to that equation than simply subject matter.  The structure of your missives – along with the language you select, will dictate the outcome.

Facebook:  Be interesting, and pithy

Among the friends and family I interact with on Facebook, descriptive posts that are slightly off-beat generate the most interest.   When I gabbled nonsensically on Facebook when our house was robbed recently, my rambling message received zero (!) responses.   Are my friends and family heartless?  No.  But like any other group, boring messages generate zero traction.

On PR Newswire’s Facebook page, the vibe is a little different.  The crowd there appreciates the content we curate for them, but before they will follow the links we suggest, they need to be sold on why doing so is worth their time.  I always take the time to give my take on why a link I’m suggesting to them is interesting or useful.   That said, brevity is important here, as well.   A rambling paragraph simply doesn’t work.

Twitter: Edit mercilessly. Less is definitely more.

On Twitter, my followers respond to short, crisp tweets.  Seventy characters or less seems to be the sweet spot, and those fifty characters have to sum up the value of the link I’m suggesting. When writing tweets, I challenge myself trim and tighten my messages, distilling the tweets as much as I can.  Here’s a look the most popular tweets (in terms of the number of time the link I attached was clicked) I’ve sent this summer.  As you can see, all are well under the 140 character/space limit:

  • With a single tweet, Lance Armstrong’s PR machine blunts ‘60 Minutes’ segment. (79 characters/spaces)  
  • Google shelves real-time, and my take on what it means for #PR (63 characters/spaces)
  • Fewer than a dozen companies rely on the web to meet disclosure. Here’s why: (77 characters/spaces)
  • Sharable content is the SEO king. (36 characters/spaces)
  • SEO is really public relations. (32 characters/spaces)

I’ve also found it’s helpful to allude to your own take on something you’re sharing, and that it’s entirely possible to do so with one word, or even simple punctuation.  Appending a word such as “Really?” is an easy way to convey skepticism or an element of personal disbelief.  Adding a simple exclamation point in brackets (!) mid-phrase is a brief way to express your surprise.

LinkedIn:  Give the people what they want, and be transparent

LinkedIn offers all sorts of opportunities for brands.  Some of the most valuable, in my experience representing PR Newswire, are found in the Answers and Groups sections, in which members pose and answer questions, and discuss industry issues.

It should go without saying that these discussions are not the place for the hard sell.  However, that doesn’t mean that someone representing a brand can’t interact with others while also positively promoting the brand.  The key is simple – give the people what they want, which most of the time is a straight answer.

I’ve found that directly answering a question – and being up front at the beginning that I work for PR Newswire – can be a great way to share information, start a dialogue, and even win business.    Often, company insiders are in the position to share unique insight or details about a service or industry that others following the conversation appreciate.  However, one must be careful to give the people what they want.  Listen to their questions, and give straight answers.  It’s about them, not you.

Applying the lessons learned:

I know my writing skills have improved since I became active on social networks and started tracking the results of our efforts in social networks on behalf of the PR Newswire brand.  In particular, I’ve noticed:

  • The language used in a post/tweet/update plays an important role in attracting audience attention (and response.)
  • The lessons in brevity, editing and interest learned in crafting effective social posts also translate to headline writing.
  • Relentless editing is an absolute requirement for effective writing. I’m now a merciless editor, with decreasing patience for extraneous language and superfluous ideas.
  • Format content for the wired reader: make it easy to scan and share. I make use of bullets and sub-heads to make content easy for readers to scan, and to highlight phrases that are easy to tweet.  Case in point: the phrase that started this bullet point is 71 characters, and would make a great tweet.  In fact, I think I’ll use it to promote this blog post later.
  • The more time you spend in social networks and the longer you observe what sort of content sparks conversation, the more finely tuned your own story-radar becomes.  It’s easier for me to spot interesting angles for blog posts and press releases now that I’ve spent so much time immersed in networks with my PR peers.

From a professional standpoint, involvement in social networks offers a bevy of opportunities, beyond improving one’s writing.   You can test messages and campaign concepts, floating messaging to your social audiences, and observing which reverberate, and which fall flat.   By listening to social conversations, you can start to zero in on not just the topics of interest to the group, but the very words that are more likely to attract and hold attention.   I would even argue that you can increase the stickiness and uptake of the messages you craft, as you start to spot – and highlight – tweetable ideas or concepts within the content you produce.

What have you learned from your experiences communicating in social networks?

Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media.

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Using Facebook for Public Relations

Posted on August 9, 2011 by | 10 Comments

It can be a little overwhelming at first, but Facebook represents great opportunities for PR.

Our series, “Integrating Social Media into Public Relations,” continues with this discussion of using Facebook for PR.

Building Facebook into PR strategies can either be an obvious win, or a terrible idea. With an audience of more than 750 millon who log 700 billion minutes on the social network monthly, the potential this platform presents to communicators is undeniable. However, as is the case with any social outlet, Facebook is first and foremost a very personal space for many users. Communications – even (and maybe especially?) between brands and individuals – have an intimate, one-on-one aspect. Respecting individual preferences and boundaries is important.

Audience research

I’m in the camp that agrees Facebook has a place in public relations strategies. However, the charge to “get it out on Facebook” isn’t a tactic I’d recommend. Before one starts communicating via Facebook, it’s important to think first your audience. Chances are pretty good a large chunk of them are on Facebook. But why are they there, and how do they use Facebook? Do they tend to be eager and rampant networkers? Or are they more focused on friends and family? Are they active in groups? Enthusiastic game players? A little research into how your audience will help you develop more messages and strategies.

“For our clients, we first determine if Facebook is the appropriate outlet and customize our approach based on our client’s goals,” says Mike Nierengarten, an internet marketing consultant at Obility Consulting. “For example, our client Animation Mentor, an online animation school, is perfect for Facebook because it has tons of great content (video, events, pictures), a strong (current) student presence on the site, and our target customers (potential students) use the site regularly.”

But exactly how does one research an audience on Facebook? You can start by simply purchasing an ad on Facebook. As you go through the process, you’ll learn more about your audience in terms of size and demographics. That said, I prefer the gumshoe method – meaning you log in and start looking. Demographics won’t give you the insight into where people gather, what sort of messages they share, and the overall “vibe” of the community on Facebook interested in causes related to your organization’s objectives. Any social media strategist worth his or her salt will tell you the first step in planning a strategy on social networks is to listen, and you’ll find the same advice here. Find active groups focused on relevant topics, and join them. Spend most of your time listening and observing.

Desired outcomes

Secondly, consider the desired outcomes. Do you want to use Facebook to develop relationships with media people and bloggers? Or are you more interested in finding and engaging your enthusiasts within your marketplace, and building awareness among them? Do you have calls to action you’ll measure, such as lead-gen (e.g. filling out a form), building web site traffic, or generating conversation and buzz? Deliberate planning with your outcomes in mind is always a good idea.

How Facebook can fit into your PR plans

As I mentioned earlier, there are many ways you can weave Facebook into your communications plans. Let’s look at a few specific ways a PR pro can use Facebook.

Media & blogger relations

Virtual environments lend themselves well to building real relationships with media and bloggers.

Andrea Samacicia, founder and president of Victory Public Relations, a New York PR firm, told me that in her former life, several years ago when she was employed by another PR firm, she communicated with editors all day long, but didn’t really start building real relationships with them until she started using social media. “I’m much closer to the people I interact with now,” she says. “I have much closer relationships with the editors, producers and journalists I’m linked to on Facebook and Twitter. It makes keeping in touch much simpler. You can “like” something they’ve done on Facebook and they get a little reminder about you.”

In addition to building relationships and establishing another line of communication with key journalists and bloggers, by paying attention to what they share and post, you can learn more about what interests them, and what they’ve written lately. You may even find a story opportunity amongst the interactions.

You can even pitch media via Facebook – with some conditions.

“For the reporters in the Web 2.0 space, I have begun pitching them via Facebook. I have found they often respond quicker to my Facebook messages as opposed to the emails I send to their corporate accounts,” says Andrew Miller, vice president, external communications at Integral Systems, in a discussion on LinkedIn. “Please note that I have relationships with these reporters and have linked to them on Facebook. For PR people interested in using Facebook as a means to pitch reporters, I suggest doing the same.”

Finding and connecting with enthusiasts and influencers

There’s something for everyone on the web, and on Facebook, or so it seems. For most organizations,

Facebook represents a great opportunity to find and connect with “your people.” Developing a presence people will want to connect and interact with requires the ability to produce, curate and share interesting information and the willingness (and resources) to interact with your audiences one on one. Yes, you want to encourage people to “like” your page. But building interactions with your content – getting people to like, share and comment on the things your organization posts – is where the Facebook magic happens. Those liking and sharing interactions can trigger viral distribution of your message. People won’t like or share boring things, however, so sharing good stuff is an imperative.

Good old fashioned promotion

Facebook is a great place to generate publicity – that’s obvious. And once you’ve done your research, identified what your audience likes, developed the content plan attract and keep your audience’s attention and have been rewarded with a growing following, then you can actually start to promote your company. Please note – promoting the company comes after you do all the heavy lifting described above. Building context – and communicating within that context – is important on social channels. It would be jarring – and uninviting – if a friendly, funny brand presence suddenly switched to the hard-sell.

That said, I believe that people do understand that brands need to promote themselves, and their products and services. And, let’s face it – if you’re in the market for a particular item, you’re probably going to be interested in information related to that item. So it’s perfectly OK to promote your business, brand and products on Facebook. However, if you want to do so effectively, most of your commnications should be focused on building relationships and credibility with your audience. If 80% of your communications are consistently focused on educating and entertaining your audience, they’ll tolerate 20% promotional content – as long as you maintain the context you’ve already built. So go ahead and promote your blog posts, white papers and other promotional content, invite your audience to special events and offer them special deals and discounts for being loyal fans.

Simply put, Facebook can be a terrific medium for public relations, as long as communicators respect the personal nature of interactions and care is taken to connect the right audience with a carefully crafted message.

Related reading:

Study: How People Are Engaging Journalists on Facebook & Best Practices

Author Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media.

Image courtesy of Flickr user stoneysteiner

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Selecting social networks – how many are enough?

Posted on July 27, 2011 by | 2 Comments

The social sweet spot: the intersection of your audience, content and team's strengths.

When building (and maintaining) a social media strategy for your organization, it’s easy to become overwhelmed as you consider all the different networks and platforms on which you can establish a presence, connect with your audience and share content.

In addition to the “Big Three” – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn – a plethora of other sites and networks abound. How do you pick which to use? Or do you just give up and go with D. All of the above.

I wrestle with this question on an ongoing basis for PR Newswire, and yesterday’s blog post about optimizing social content made me sweat a little bit, especially as I looked at the vast content optimization map produced by Edelman digital.  To ease my own angst and lower my pulse rate, I revisited the elements of our strategy that inform our selection of social networks for the PR Newswire brand.  I thought I’d share some of those key points, and what I’ve learned along the way, in the hope that it makes one person’s day a little easier.

Pick the audience, not the network

It’s easy to take a look at all the discussion groups, networks and platforms out there – and then panic when thinking about the sort of resource maintaining presences on all those sites would require.  However, things become much more manageable when you think about where your audience is – and act accordingly.  So, if you’re focusing on teens, you can cross LinkedIn and Twitter off your list, and double down on Facebook and YouTube.   Do you have a B2B focus?  LinkedIn and Twitter will be key but don’t discount YouTube (think of it as a very search engine friendly video repository) and Facebook.

What kind of content does your organization produce?

Some organizations have genius graphics people; others have crews of talented writers.  Still others embrace and rely upon video.  Ideally, you want a mix – but ultimately, you need to think about where your sweet spot is.  Here at PR Newswire, we write.  We write blog posts, articles and white papers.  No surprise – we employ a lot of former journalists and English majors!  Writing is our default setting, and we capitalize upon it, using the blog and knowledge center on our web site to store content and a variety of networks to share it.  Building a strategy that’s appropriate for the sort of content your organization is good and producing is probably the most important factor in determining your ultimate success, because content (whatever form it takes) fuels your social media presences.

What are your team’s strengths?

Sustaining social media efforts – especially at the outset, when you’re still trying to build the sort of success that will enable you to sell programs internally – isn’t easy.  And giving people tasks and responsibilities for which they’re well suited is crucial to your program’s ongoing success.  Don’t expect a non-writer to be a great blogger.

Be realistic about what your organization can support.

The time, energy and effort required to support social presences is considerable.  In addition to producing content (blog posts, images, videos, etc.), your team will also spend time finding and sharing interesting things with their audiences on the social presences they manage. And they’ll need to plan on spending some time listening to and interacting with the audiences, too.  Rather than spreading your team too thin, and developing social presences that aren’t alive and connected, limit the number of presences to a manageable quantity.  This is truly a quality over quantity judgment call.

These are the things I’m keeping in mind as we build out the PR Newswire social presence.  What has your organization learned about selecting appropriate and effective social presences?

Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media.

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Five Tips For Tweeting Press Releases & Other Content

Posted on July 14, 2011 by | 7 Comments

Twitter’s role in spreading news and information is undeniable – more than any other social network, Twitter was built for the relay of information.  The audience Twitter has attracted revels in the consumption and sharing of news, and as a result, Twitter is enmeshed in the workflows of many journalists, bloggers …. and PR professionals. However, there’s more to using Twitter to spread the word than simply writing one tweet.  Tactics that can help expand the audience for your message include:

  •  Tweet all the angles of the content to maximize interest in your message. Press releases, white papers, blog posts and case studies often contain multiple angles.  Find and tweet them all.   Additionally, if the content includes infographics, photos or video, you can tweet those separate elements.
  • Spread multiple tweets out over time, to expose the content to the broadest possible audience.  Remember that for many, Twitter is a real-time news service.  Timing matters.
  • Use correct and effective hashtags to make your content easy to find.  Take the time to research and identify (and then use!) the hashtags used by others when discussing the topic you’re tweeting.
  • Structure the content to be Twitter-friendly.  Encourage others to tweet your messages by offering plenty of ‘tweetable tidbits’ like bullet points and well-edited headings.
  • Encourage re-tweets (RTs) by keeping tweets short.  Pithy tweets are catchy, and leave plenty of room to accommodate others re-tweeting the message.

Tweet all the angles

Instead of simply tweeting a headline, find multiple angles, and tweet those.  By doing so, you’ll broaden the appeal of the content you’re promoting, by exposing different storylines to your audience.  An influential blogger might ignore one tweet, but find another that surfaces a different aspect to the story interesting.

  • Tweet the facts/findings/tips your content offers separately.
  • Turn quotes into @mentions. If the content contains quotes from people who are already on Twitter, paraphrase those quotes in a tweet, and include the quoted person’s Twitter handle. (E.g. “Don’t tweet headlines, tweet angles says @sarahskerik {link to story})
  • If you post related video to YouTube, or have an accompanying infographic, you can tweet those elements separately.

 

Spread your tweets out

While I’m not a fan of automating tweets, scheduling them does have its place.  Often, when I’m promoting a white paper or other content on Twitter, I’ll spend some time writing a series of tweets about the content (using my own “tweet all angles” tip,) and I’ll schedule them across a day or two.   Dumping all of the tweets into the stream at once would achieve little – the same people would see my series of tweets.  Spreading them out over time means I expose my messages to more people as they dip into and out of their Twitter streams.   Search engines also surface tweets, and they look for timeliness of the content.  Spreading tweets out – especially if they are all pointing to the same URL – can help give you a little lift in search results, too.

Use correct and effective hashtags

Hashtags make the sea of information on Twitter navigable – they are how information is organized on Twitter.  Using appropriate and relevant hashtags gives your audience one more means by which they can find your message. You can identify potential hashtags by searching Twitter for your topic, and then scanning tweets to see what hashtags are used.  It’s always wise vet specific hashtags by searching them to ensure your messages will be seen in the type of company you want to keep.

Structure the content to be Twitter friendly

I’ve offered advice on this topic previously, but it is worth repeating.  You can encourage others to tweet your content by making it easy and appealing to do so.  Tight headlines, a well-edited list of bullet points and interesting, pithy quotations will make your content easy (and interesting) for others to tweet.

Related reading: Writing a Tweetable Press Release

Suggested tweets:

I’m of two minds regarding suggesting language for others to tweet.   On the one hand, providing a little direction can help spread the exact message your organization wants to convey.  On the other hand, avid Twitterers like writing their own messages.  My conclusion:  Go ahead and offer language for suggested tweets.  Those who want to re-write the message will, while others may appreciate having the tweet written for them.

At the minimum, always provide relevant hashtags and a short URL for others to reference in their tweets.  And make sure the tweets you suggest are short and well-written!

There’s a decided art to writing a Tweet, however, requiring a fine balance between sparkling creativity, ruthless editing and a feel for the audience’s interest.   What other tips would you add to this list?

Author Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media.

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Integrating Social Media into the Daily Practice of PR

Posted on July 7, 2011 by | 11 Comments

When you ask PR pros about social media, you’re bound to get a broad range of responses.  Some have embraced the social layer, and have incorporated social media fully into their daily workflows.  Others are curious, aware of the opportunities and developing their own plans. And a healthy number of skeptics remain, questioning the value of social word-of-mouth versus journalism, and the credentials of the new crop of social media consultants one meets at every turn.  Gloria Gasaatura, a corporate communications consultant at Bluefront Capital, sums the situation up well, saying, ” Conversation is moving from word of mouth to online, and it’s an IR or PR’s duty to follow and go where the market is – online.”

For this next post in the “Integrating Social Media & PR” series, I wanted to learn more about how PR people were using social media in their daily practices, and the challenges they encountered and the results they generated from doing so.

It’s part of the workflow

Tyler Williams, the author and executive editor behind the Haute and the City blog, is a luxury publicist who lives and works in Manhattan.  For him, social media is “a daily occurrence.”  Social media content is mapped each month as part of the overall media plan for his clients, and he monitors key networks around the clock.

Tyler emphasized the importance of the opportunities springing up in real-time as he explained his commitment to ongoing, real-time monitoring of the social layer.

“If you join in on a conversation early enough you’re considered a leader,” he noted as he described his 24-7 approach to monitoring social networks, to keep tabs on his clients and to find conversations to join.  And he wasn’t kidding – during our conversation, his Blackberry pinged several time, alerting him to @mentions of one of his clients on Twitter.

Andrea Samacicia, founder and president of Victory Public Relations, a New York PR firm focusing on consumer-based health and beauty businesses, has also built social media into her firm’s daily workflows, and her clients’ campaigns.

The first tasks each morning are no surprise – the Victory PR team scans the media, checks their Google alerts and updated everyone’s Facebook page.   The team stays on top of their clients’ Facebook accounts throughout the day, responding to all comments and interactions on the pages.

The team also spends quite a bit of time curating content, looking for news and information and bookmarking the content for future sharing on Facebook. They also encourage their clients to stay in touch.   If anything funny or interesting happens, the clients know to let the Victory team know.  They’ll post pictures of flowers sent to the office by clients, recount funny happenings, and wish staffers happy birthday on Facebook.  “The front office staff don’t understand PR,” says Andrea. “But Facebook they get.”

Media relations(hips)

Social media now plays an undeniable role in media relations.  Services like ProfNet fire out queries from reporters on deadline seeking quotable experts.   Savvy journalists and bloggers use Twitter like their own personal newswire service and trawl Facebook for stories and trends.   Any way you look at it, the social layer represents one more way to get a journalist’s attention.

Social channels also play an important role in connecting people and developing relationships.

Andrea noted that in her former life, several years ago when she was employed by another PR firm, she communicated with editors all day long, but didn’t really start building real relationships with them until she started using social media. “I’m much closer to the people I interact with now,” she says.  “I have much closer relationships with the editors, producers and journalists I’m linked to on Facebook and Twitter.   It makes keeping in touch much simpler.  You can “like” something they’ve done on Facebook and they get a little reminder about you.”

Tyler has also used social media to build key media relationships, recounting an instance last year when he needed a celebrity reporter’s contact info but couldn’t find anything.  He located her on Twitter, where she was active, and tweeted to her about an event. “She responded in three minutes,” he told me. “And she came and covered the event, and now we’re friends!”

New objectives and outcomes

The integration of social media into PR brings new tactics – also new expectations and new outcomes.  Victory PR handles group buying deals on sites like Living Social for their clients, which generate new business for their clinets. .

“As a result of some of these deals they, patients inquire about other services,” Andrea notes as she describes how group buying deals have worked for one of her clients, a periodontist. “Typically – a patient comes in for a cleaning.  They wait, get cleaned, pay and leave. But now that we’re connect with patients on Facebook, we’ll see long term customers say ‘I saw some things on living social, and I didn’t realize that you did XY and Z, can you let me know when the next deal is?’  It helps break peoples’ routines and allows us to encourage people to move out of their routine without imposing on their time.”

Eric Bryant of Gnosis Arts, a New Jersey-based internet marketing and PR firm that caters to microbusinesses noted the shift in customer expectations.

“PR outcomes have shifted.  Marketing and PR are not as distinct as they once were – social media spillover has blurred the lines. The internet brought the worlds of marketing, PR and sales close together – uncomfortably so for some,” he notes. “The outcomes are different – lead-gen and prospecting. Social media has changed the outcomes people expect – and people expect more.”

“People are expecting ROI from PR,” Eric continued.  “As a result of the power of the internet for marketing.  Now that people can measure things they want specific measurement and ROI.  But social media gives people the false idea that social media is free or no upfront costs. It’s forced PR people to demonstrate ROI in some way, shape or form.”

Common themes:  content, monitoring and priority

The new opportunities social channels afford, and the changing expectations of customers, put some distinct pressures on PR.

Social media monitoring:  Across the board, everyone I spoke to mentioned social media monitoring repeatedly.   Keeping their thumbs on their clients’ digital pulses was clearly the most important and pervasive tactic used by the connected communicators with whom I spoke.

Priorities:  The ongoing activities in social networks can present opportunities at the drop of a hat.  Making time for real-time PR requires a shift in priorities and resource allocation.  It’s probably a good time to take stock of PR workflows and activities, and to end activities that are no longer productive.

Content: Most of the discussions I had invariably wound up focusing on the importance of content.  Developing interesting content your audience will care enough about to read and share is absolutely job one in a social media strategy – and most PR pros are well acquainted with the role good content plays in any communications plan. However, social networks up the ante, requiring a steady diet of compelling graphics, catchy videos and meaty text.   (For those days your stuck, here are some good ideas:  21 Ways to Develop Compelling Content When You Don’t Have A Clue)

There’s no question social media increases the scope of the public relations role, touching customer service, prospecting, content marketing and lead-generation.   It’s safe to say (at least I believe) that PR and the other communications disciplines are morphing into something new.  Social media isn’t just a tactic.  It’s a new universe for communicating with our publics – which is at the heart of public relations.

Author Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media.

Image courtesy of Flickr user nan palermo.

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10 Tips for Tweeting as a Brand

Posted on June 29, 2011 by | 18 Comments

The Profnet presence Maria has cultivated on Twitter

When I was asked to start tweeting as @profnet back in May 2008, I had a moment – OK, several moments – of panic. I had just heard of Twitter and had no idea what I was doing. (Some would say I still don’t, but that’s neither here nor there.)

Apart from queries, what the heck would I tweet about? And why would anyone care about anything I had to say? There were many moments when I would type a tweet, delete it, retype it, edit it, delete it and type it again – and then hold my breath as I hit the “send” button.

So what did I do? I found a mentor. For me, it was my colleague Vicky Harres. I respected what Vicky was doing on the @prnewswire feed, and decided to study her tweets and learn as much from her as I could.

What I learned: Friendliness and professionalism are not mutually exclusive. Your tweets can be conversational and still be professional. There’s no reason you can’t show a little personality, but remember: First and foremost, you are tweeting as @yourbrand, not as @you.

Am I an expert on Twitter? Certainly not, although I do think I’ve found a good balance between “official tweets” and “Maria tweets” (aside from my Snuggie obsession of 2009, which I’ve chosen to forget). So, please take my suggestions below as just that – suggestions from someone who tweets for a brand.

Find a Twitter mentor. If you follow someone who you think gets it right, learn from her. What does she tweet about? How often does she tweet? How often does she re-tweet? How does she re-tweet (does she just re-send the original tweet verbatim, or does she put her own spin on it)? When and how does she reply to negative tweets? When and how does she reply to positive tweets? If your mentor is open to it, run a few tweets by her and see what, if any, changes she would make.

Keep it positive. As tempting as it sometimes might be, avoid being negative, sarcastic or snarky. No matter how funny you think it might be, always remember that you’re tweeting as your brand, not as you.

Respond to negative feedback. If someone says something negative about your brand and you don’t respond, the tweet that lingers is the negative one. However, there are two caveats: 1) Be thoughtful in your response. You don’t have to respond immediately. It’s better to take time to think your response through. 2) Beware attempts to bait you. Weigh the pros and cons of responding. If you decide not to respond publicly, consider a direct message instead.

Steer away from controversy. Controversial topics (politics, religion) are controversial for a reason – there are people who are vehemently on one side or the other. Why alienate either?

Humor is subjective. There will always be someone who thinks your joke is in poor taste or inappropriate, so while I don’t think you should censor yourself, stay away from topics or language/slang that might be taken the wrong way.

Get a second opinion. If there’s something you want to tweet but you aren’t sure whether it’s appropriate, ask your mentor for his opinion. And if you’re still not sure, follow the next rule:

When in doubt, leave it out. This golden rule of writing also applies to tweets. If you have any doubts, don’t tweet it.

Don’t get too personal. Tweeting about Snuggies is innocuous. Tweeting about hemorrhoids or ingrown toenails is not.

Follow your followers. I know not everyone will agree with this, but if you want to promote conversation with your followers, you have to follow them back. I explained my reasoning for this in a previous post, To Follow or Not to Follow: Take the Auto-Follow Challenge. When I see someone whose following/follower ratio is pretty even, I find myself thinking that he is more open, and that makes me more likely to interact with him.

It’s not about @you. I come back to this because it’s really the mother of all rules, the one from which all the other rules grow. Every tweet represents your company – whether it’s in a positive or negative way is up to you.

Do you tweet for a brand? What do you think of these rules? Are there any you disagree with? Are there any I missed?

Author Maria Perez is director of news operations for Profnet, and she’s the voice behind @profnet on Twitter.  She blogs actively on Profnet Connect – a free interactirtsve community linking PR pros, bloggers, journalists and experts.

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How Journalists & Bloggers Use Social Media, and Opportunities for PR

Posted on June 22, 2011 by | 4 Comments

The next installment in the series: Integrating Social Media & Public Relations

Paper.li aggregates Tweets into a user-friendly electronic newspaper. This is the Social PR Daily.

There’s no question that the social layer has changed how people find, share and consume news and information – and as you’d expect, the practice of journalism is also changing as a result.  Understanding how journalists and bloggers are using various social media tools and platforms is critical when planning a digital PR strategy.

The social layer has become society’s central nervous system, capable of telegraphing information from one point to another – and across a whole network – almost instantly.  Just as nerves and synapses relay information from our fingertips to our brains, the social layer enables us to find – and broadcast information.  We’re also able to quickly find trusted sources of information, current reviews, and like-minded people who share our enthusiasms and concerns.    The highly networked nature of our society and information marketplaces means more visibility opportunities for public relations pros than ever.

How journalists & bloggers are using social media

Breaking News & Trends:   Facebook and Twitter in particular have evolved into major sources of news for millions of people worldwide, and the search engines aren’t far behind – they’re now surfacing relevant social results within seconds and are displaying that information front and center within search results.   Like the rest of us, savvy journalists and bloggers are keeping an eye on the social networks for breaking news and information.    For PR pros, the simple fact is that your company’s news needs to be found on these social networks – and it needs to be relevant and interesting to your audience, so they share it.  Visibility is a key benefit of a solid social media presence for brands.

What was trending on Twitter yesterday, amongst Twitterers based in London.

  •  Trendsmap:   Trendsmap enables you to get a look at what is trending on Twitter from a particular city.  For a reporter or blogger with a local beat, this kind of information is crucial.
  •  Booshaka:   The search function on Booshaka reveals what’s being said publicly on Facebook about specific topics.  You can also see what’s trending on Facebook.

Research:  Social networks offer a plethora of data and information to writer hot on the tail of a story.  From a PR perspective, cultivating credible presences on key networks is a great way to position experts and attract audiences.

Twitter lists:  Active Twitter users create lists of fellow Twitters, often organized around subject matter or expertise, and users can follow each other’s lists.  Following Twitter lists is a great way to stay informed about a particular topic, identify influentials (and get to know their POV), and for newbies, a good way to observe the ebb and flow of conversations.   Obviously, developing a solid following on Twitter and providing value to your audience is a great way to get listed, and to start accruing visibility exponentially.

  • Paper.Li, the Tweeted Times & Flipboard:  A fleet of social content aggregation services are turning Twitter lists, Facebook posts and RSS feeds into up-to-the-minute glossy digital news magazines.   Here’s an example – this is the Social PR Daily, powered by Paper.li, which aggregates information from leading public relations and social media thinkers.  It’s updated twice daily.

Quora, Linkedin, ProfNet Connect:  Follow a topic on Quora, and chances are good that you’ll soon stumble upon some seriously insightful and revealing commentary.  Quora’s community values and encourages sophisticated insight, and provides a treasure trove of information and potential story angles.  For PR pros, sites like Quora, LinkedIn and ProfNet Connect (a free community of tens of thousands of journalists and experts) that attract experts and facilitate interaction are great places to showcase experts.  And building a credible presence on these networks can provide valuable visibility to people seeking information in your brand’s sector – journalists, influentials and prospective customers alike.

Relationships:   Any seasoned media relations pro will tell you that cultivating working relationships with journalists and bloggers is an important aspect to the job.  Establishing mutual trust and credibility is the foundation for a great working relationship between a journalist and a publicist.

Social networks offer a great way to learn about other people before introducing oneself.  The blog posts a person publishes, their Facebook posts and their Twitter account tell a lot about their interests and expertise.

Building relationships in social networks requires the same grace and tact it does in real life.   A reporter may be active on Twitter, but that’s not an open invitation for you to @mention that person with an unsolicited pitch.   To lay the groundwork for a relationship, first identify yourself as someone who’s interested.  Comment on the author’s blog posts.  Tweet their articles. And when the time is right, offer perspective or expertise that is in line with what the journalist writes.

Content publishing & personal visibility:  For several years, PR Newswire and PR Week together produced a survey of journalists, and we learned that the majority of journalists are either blogging for their own purposes (professional or otherwise) and many are required to produce content for online properties and social channels.   Content fuels social presences – it’s the currency of Twitter, and news sharing on Facebook is undoubtedly driving traffic to sites.  Journalists and bloggers are using these channels to both build audience for their content and publications, and to drive readership for the content they produce and publish.

So what’s the opportunity for a PR pro?   Something as simple as a tweet from an influential journalist or blogger can pay real dividends in terms of message visibility, both in social networks and search engines. Creating content that begs to be shared capitalizes on active social media users’ need for content.   Writing headlines and subheads that can be easily tweeted, providing infographics and other sharable multimedia and always providing URLs that can be tweeted/liked/shared are important tactics that should be embedded in your PR department’s habits.

Related reading:  Twitter, Traditional Media & SEO: the Power Triangle for PR

As we think about how journalists and bloggers are using social media, and the opportunity these interactions afford PR pros, it’s also important to note that while this to realize that other constituents use the same tools and platforms.  Communications in the social layer are very, very public – something which should work in a communicator’s favor.  As is always the case in social networks, spending some time listening and learning about your desired audience’s interests and social style is always recommended.

More related reading:

15 Free Ways Journalists Use Social Media Tools to Track Topics

Media Relations, Meet Twitter

Author Sarah Skerik (@sarahskerik) is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media.

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