Tag

twitter for business

Jan 06
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When Tweets Turn into News or, My Perez Hilton Moment

By Media

I tweeted something yesterday that in hindsight, I regretted.

I was working in a coffeeshop and spotted one well-known public figure having lunch with another well-known public figure. To me, that kind of sighting is tweet-worthy. So I tweeted, providing names and location, even poking a bit of fun at myself for being a gossip tweeter. It was, as my friend Ashlyn said, my Perez Hilton moment.

Less than ten minutes later, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a news crew (videographer and reporter) enter the coffeeshop. At first I thought it was unrelated, then the reporter approached the pair and requested an interview.

I wanted to disappear. I felt terrible! I had no idea my tweet would result in such an invasion. Fortunately the reporter was polite as were the subjects of his interest. They politely declined his request and he left immediately, to my great relief.

I have worked with the media throughout my career in public relations and also as part of it, writing for a newspaper and on television as a social media expert. I regularly provide news ideas and information to members of the media and think I have a pretty good relationship with the local teams. I was surprised, then, that the reporter hadn’t direct messaged me on Twitter, where he clearly got the tip (or called, or e-mailed or smoke signaled).

What’s interesting is that I found myself amid the very issue I’d blogged about a few weeks ago in All the News that’s Fit to Tweet.

I learned something from this and I hope you will, too. In my case, yes, the media is paying attention to what I tweet, and I have a responsibility to make sure I’m anticipating reactions like yesterday’s attempted coverage. It’s likely I’ll never publicly tweet something like that again, unless, of course it is my intent to attract news coverage. This is a lesson for others as well — the media is paying attention to our tweets, and following up on those that seem like potential news — often without contacting the source.

I feel bad about unintentionally interrupting a private lunch between two public figures. I also feel bad that a reporter and camera-person wasted their time driving across town for a story that wasn’t a story.  If the reporter had contacted me, I would have steered him away, and tried to come up with another bit of news for him to use, instead.

It’ s a sticky issue, but a conversation I think needs to be opened. What do you think? Should I have refrained from tweeting, or should the reporter have contacted me?

Jan 02
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The 6 Most Annoying Mistakes Made in Social Media

By Social Media

This is a list of six mistakes I find people and businesses making social media on a regular basis. I’ll bet you have more, so let’s keep this list going as a cautionary document for those new to engagement online.

  1. The blog that died. In 2009 the New York Times estimated that 95 percent of blogs have been abandoned. That’s sad, especially because businesses that are blogging or individuals who blog as a way to increase business are probably still churning out content in the form of advertising, marketing materials or news releases. A blog that hasn’t been updated in months is a death knell for a company.
  2. The Twitter account with no biographical information. You’re who? You do what? Even worse are the accounts with no image. Let us see your face!
  3. The blog that doesn’t allow comments. In my opinion, if it’s not a two-way conversation, it is not a blog.
  4. The automated follow, reply or repost. See Automation Sucks.
  5. The rolling tumbleweed, the sound of crickets; that is, the lack of response when someone is contacted via Twitter, Facebook, online form or e-mail. Be responsive.
  6. The unattended LinkedIn profile. Business people have a responsibility to be aware what they look like online. Completing a LinkedIn profile has to be one of the easiest steps in social networking. It’s important, because it’s searchable and represents you as a business person online. Get it up-to-date today.

Your turn! What social media/networking mistakes are like nails on a chalkboard for you?

Dec 29
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My Top 10 Social Media Posts of 2010

By Social Media

2010 was a great year for social media inspiration, with no shortage of great topics to address and questions to answer. Here are the top ten posts from this blog throughout the year:

  1. Time vs. Newsweek and the Demise of the English Language in which I freak out over the misuse of peak (peek!).
  2. Twitter: Why We Care What you Had for Breakfast I recognize that there are people who still don’t “get” Twitter (while only an estimated 8 percent of the population uses it, 100 percent knows what it is — this validated by the “Mom Index” which is determined by my mom saying “I know what that is.”)  I hope this post helps people in business understand why Twitter is an important communication tool.
  3. How NOT to use LinkedIn: Three D’oh!s from a Real-Life Example In social media consulting, we don’t spend a lot of time talking about LinkedIn, taking it for granted that people know how to use one of the first business social networking tools. It is only when someone steps so far out of line that it becomes necessary to outline the offense and make sure others don’t repeat it.
  4. Five Steps BHG Real Estate III Should Take Right Now I enjoy these social media case study opportunities that pop overnight and result in people sending me links and asking me to provide my thoughts on the situation. This one was pretty shocking and I think it’s been so popular because the lessons are applicable to any crisis or communications faux pas that any company (or representative) unfortunately might make.
  5. Five Ways to Avoid a Social Media Spanking I don’t know if the term “spanking” led to additional traffic on this page, but no matter — this is helpful advice for anyone posting content on behalf of a company.
  6. But Honestly Monica, Five Things Cooks Source Should Do Right Now The Cooks Source debacle was classic — probably the best foot-in-mouth social media episode of the year. Pretty much everyone wrote about it; I couldn’t resist throwing in my two cents.
  7. 10 Things to do on Your Facebook Fan Page I’ll admit it — I think I wrote this post more for me than for you — it’s something I get asked regularly and rather than repeating myself, I share the link to this post often. Of course there’s MORE you can do on a fan page . . . and this might lead to a Part Two post in the future.
  8. Charlottesville Car Dealerships and Social Media: A Study of Four Automotive Brands This began a series of reviewing service providers in my community and their use of social media.
  9. Ambassador You: An Employee’s Role in Social Media Also the topic of a presentation I’ve given to networking groups in several locations, the Ambassador You concept continues to be relevant and valued by businesses and marketing professionals.
  10. We’re Not Really Friends: Six Ways to Balance the Personal and Professional on the Social Web The “how do you separate the personal and the professional” question is one of the most frequently asked during my speaking gigs. This post helps explain my approach.

Thank you to all of you for a great first year of blogging about social media on Change the Conversation — keep reading in 2011 and feel free to let me know if you have any questions, case studies for me to review or would like me to come speak to your company or organization.

Dec 16
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The Four-Step Framework for Nonprofits Thinking about Social Media

By Social Media

I spend a lot of my time coaching and teaching nonprofit organizations on how to use social media. It’s not that simple of a task to take on, and nonprofits should not take the plunge into the social web lightly. It is super important for nonprofits to take this seriously and start getting organized — the tools of social media are free and more effective than any other marketing or mass media tactics used by nonprofits in the past.

There is a simple four-step framework for organizations to think about and to use to guide the process of developing a plan to use social media.

1. Read. Watch. Listen.

There are multiple tools to monitor what’s being said on the social web, but the important thing is to identify your geographic community, the search terms to look and listen for, the bloggers, the news feeds, the Twitter users — and to create all these searches in easy-to-follow alerts and notifications so you can quickly and efficiently stay on top of what is important to your community and, what your community is saying about your organization as well. You’re going to be watching videos, reading blogs and news items, following Twitter users and overall, paying attention to the content created in and about your community.

2. Find and Connect to Your Community.

The definition of community is not limited to geography. Sometimes geography plays a role; sometimes it does not. Maybe your community is the people in Ohio who love Soft-Coated Wheaten Terriers. Maybe the community is comprised of only people who have a rare and particular kind of disease. No matter — a community is a group that has one or more interests in common. Find them by searching for them and inviting them to your network. Find them and follow their content. Find them by uploading the contacts you have already made professionally, as a student, as a family member and a community member into your social networking platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and connect to the people who already have a presence in these social networks.

3. Interact with the Community.

Answer a question. Reply to a tweet or re-tweet something others will find of interest. Click that “like” button often. Leave comments on blogs and on Facebook. Share other people’s links often. Be helpful. And — when the opportunity presents itself for your community to get together in person — at a conference, a tweetup or just for a cup of coffee, go and put faces with names.

4. Produce Valuable Content.

Take photos and publish them. Blog. Tweet. Make a video and post it to YouTube. Create interesting and thoughtful content and share it with your community to help them, make them stronger, to bring them together (and on and on).

It’s a simple framework, but not a simple execution — but it may help your organization take the first step toward getting a handle on how to tackle social media for the community’s benefit.

Dec 07
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Casual Restaurants Doing Social Media Right in Charlottesville

By Social Media

Recently, I took a look at a selection of fine dining establishments in Charlottesville to see which were using social media platforms to attract customers.

Many readers pointed to examples of restaurants that are using social media, and doing it well — but all of these are in the casual dining category — which is what I’m devoting this post to covering.

Three standout examples in the area include Revolutionary Soup, BBQ Exchange (in Gordonsville, Va.) and Beer Run.

Revolutionary Soup is by far, the leader of the pack. Will’s Blog is featured as a main element of the restaurant’s website, with the passion and philosophy of restaurant owner Will Richey coming through loud and clear. The blog is not updated often but posts are thoughtful and have a single-minded purpose, sharing the process of bringing locally grown and nurtured food to the community. Three categories say it all: local, Rev Soup Farm and seasonal specials. I’m particularly impressed with Rev Soup’s website – a design that incorporates a page for reviews, suggested beer and wine pairings and daily or seasonal specials. (It’s no surprise when, upon investigating, I learn that the site was done by my very talented friend Michael Davis of Yellowfish.)

Revolutionary Soup is on Twitter, with an account for its Corner location and what looks like the “main” Twitter account for its downtown shop.

Rev Soup

There’s some opportunity for the Corner account to improve its bio, add a photo, increase followers and friends — but assuming that the focus is primarily on the downtown location, I focused on Twitter.com/@RevSoup. I like the way the account is being used, with tempting descriptions of recipes and daily soup offerings, mixed with observations from Will like, “Marker drawing all over my fav cook book. Should have known the 2 year old was not as impressed with Tournedos Rossini as I.” This kind of tweet, and indeed, all the real interaction from Will and the staff on the social web humanizes the brand and builds its loyalty. One might argue that the soup and sandwiches do that on their own, but if you’ve never been to Rev Soup, you don’t know that, do you?

When there’s more to say than what will fit in a Tweet, the restaurant uses its Facebook page, a smart way to use the additional presence — and to share good content with nearly 500 fans.

The BBQ Exchange is off the beaten path out in Gordonsville and, if you’re not inclined to leave the city of Charlottesville, a destination brand designed to tempt you on a short road trip with delicious smoked pork and spicy fried pickles as a reward. Craig Hartman is using Twitter and Facebook to get the word out to a broader audience than those in the immediate vicinity, a smart strategy for a restaurant that also serves customers’ catering needs. The restaurant has integrated its tweets into the home page of the website as a way to keep the home base of the online presence fresh. You can follow BBQ Exchange on Twitter (not recommended for vegetarians as main topics include pork, bacon and pork. ) As proof, here’s a recent Tweetcloud from the account:

BBQexchange

Last, but certainly not least is one of my personal favorites, Beer Run. While the operation’s website leaves a lot to be desired, and does nothing to point fans to its presence in social media, Beer Run’s Facebook page updates have driven me to tastings or special events on more than one occasion.  It’s disappointing to see Beer Run’s Twitter account so underutilized – there are thousands of engaged Twitter users in our community and yet Beer Run is following only one other user. I challenge Beer Run to get connected to the Twitter community by following and engaging with them, tapping into the power there to promote events or to boost traffic when business is slow.

While this is merely a selection of restaurants using social media well in a couple of ways in the Charlottesville area, I’m sure there are more that are worth a mention. Let me know in the comments if there are any I should see.