Show Me the Blog St. Louis Conference
Below, just some of the awesome tweets that helped convince the conference organizer to include me.
Talking Social Media, Business and Academia at the LSP Conference at UVa
I am one of those odd people who truly enjoys public speaking. The bigger the crowd, the better. I do quite a bit of speaking about social media, social networking, public relations and reputation management. Last week, I participated in a panel on behalf of Standing Partnership and Social Media Club Charlottesville. The topics were social media, business and academia and the session was held at the University of Virginia for a group of IT professionals who support the University’s technology needs. With me (and pictured above, left to right) were Darah Bonham, the director of Charlottesville Albemarle Technical Education Center (CATEC) and the infamous Steve Whitaker, director of technology at the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning/Curry School of Education.
As you can tell from the totally geeked out look on my face, the discussion of social media and its possibilities is my favorite topic. I love being before a group and fielding questions on the topic and can, for hours, talk about the uses of social media and networking for building business, for relationship development, for customer service, for promotion . . . I frequently get the “finger drawn across the throat” signal to shut up already because we’re out of time.
If you can’t tell by the content of this blog, I thought a look at my jazzed up, goofy grinning face above would be more proof of how much I love what I do.
Case Study: Ladue News in St. Louis, Mo.
It is only because I am featured in a current article in the Ladue News that the publication’s use of its online presence caught my attention. I worked in PR in St. Louis for more than 12 years; I have worked with the staff at the Ladue News on behalf of clients and employers. They didn’t ask for it, but I’m providing some advice to help them maximize their use of their website and their presence in social media. The advice applies to any small newspapers or primarily print publications that have incorporated an online version.
1. Don’t simply use the print version of an article in the Web version of the same article. Use hyperlinks in the content and in the print version, supply the URLs. For the article about mom bloggers, I supplied several links for the reporter to use, and it was disappointing to see key blog posts referenced without a link to them for readers to easily follow.
2. If you’re mentioning a local business, provide the URL in print and link to the company’s website online. In the current article, my employer was mentioned only as a St. Louis-based PR firm — an interesting approach for a publication with a St. Louis readership. Leaving out the name Standing Partnership was disappointing, and a missed opportunity for the publication to continue to develop relationships with local PR firms and their clients. As a blogger, it’s also true that I write quite a bit for Where Do You Stand?, my firm’s corporate blog, but again there was no link to that blog supplied.
3. Reformat page links. The URL for the article is: http://www.laduenews.com/articles/2010/04/22/living/special_features/doc4bd0b4deae4b9669028191.txt – this is not an optimized link. As an example of a properly formatted link/URL, take a look at my buddy Jay Baer’s link: http://www.convinceandconvert.com/integrated-marketing-and-media/information-as-theater-the-power-of-humanized-description/ Jay (an expert in social media and public relations) does his the right way.
4. Make it easy for people to share articles. Currently the Ladue News has the option to e-mail an article to a contact. But since the publication has a presence on Twitter and Facebook, and so do many of their readers, it would be beneficial to offer a Share This option. With this tool, readers are encouraged to share what they like on social networks, exponentially increasing the reach of your content.
5. If you have a social network, respect it and use it. Now Ladue News is doing a pretty good job with their Facebook presence; it’s fairly new but has more than 600 “fans” or “people who like them” as is the current structure on the site. On Twitter however, the publication’s presence is weak. There are very few followers and LN is only following one user (as of this writing). It’s clear that no one’s managing the Twitter presence or responding to @ replies. This is something I hate to see in companies or publications using social media tools — an account that’s been set up, then left to languish and die. It’s like setting up an 800 number for customers, then never answering it or responding to voicemails. That’s just bad business.
I eschew the term expert when talking about social media – preferring the term “specialist.” I don’t think anyone can be an expert in social media – with a field so new and ever growing and changing there are only specialists – people like me who devote lots of time and energy to staying on top of the game. I think there are people who are passionate about social media and the power it holds, but to call oneself an expert smacks of an undeserved arrogance.
A word about arrogance, though, as I acknowledge that those of us in this field have a certain amount of it. I argue that it has been necessary and it is an attribute that has grown out of a need to be absolutely convinced and convincing when sharing the benefits of engaging in social media for business. We are the self-taught forerunners of this field who have spent, in most cases, the better part of the last seven years defending the internet. We’ve had to stare down corporate leaders afraid to dip their toes into online waters and demonstrate beyond the shadow of a doubt that the benefits far outweigh the risks.
When most of us started in this area the word blogger was said in the same tone as cancer; bloggers rose from the pasty-faced basement dwellers to a chosen few who make millions and others who just make a difference. By definition, a blogger almost has to have some level of conceit to trust that their thoughts and online ponderings would be of interest to anyone at all.
I’ve been part of an audience of those learning at the feet of those who have taught social media in the PR industry, this guy, this guy, this guy and this guy in particular. They all have one mannerism in common – a dismissive shaking of the head when a member of the community begins down the road of denial (it won’t work! we don’t have time! we can’t allow our people to self-publish! we need control!). I’ve noted this move and truly don’t find it arrogant (although corporate leaders, uncomfortable still with this deep end of the pool into which they’ve been thrown most likely do). I find it admirable – and it’s that confidence, that absolute gut-deep knowledge that you’re right and you know what you’re talking about and can prove it that I believe I’ve realized for myself. Does that make me an expert? No, but I’m practicing that head shake for the next time a doubter is in the room.