This Wednesday's Webinar with @JayBerkowitz: PR Campaigns and Social Media

As social media continues to develop and enrich our marketing lives, you have to wonder just how much the traditional PR campaign plays into our strategies. With the ever-changing face of online marketing, there are a few ways you can integrate the two for a much healthier relationship. Jay Berkowitz, Internet Marketing Club Founder, and CEO ofwww.TenGoldenRules.com will share recommended strategies for generating Public Relations coverage from Social Media

The presentation will cover:

· Building social relationships with the media
· Monitoring and lead identification strategies
· How to make your news social
· Strategies to get new to news to flow uphill, and downhill
· Facebook and PR
· Search Engine Optimized press releases
· The 3 E’s of Social Media
· A Cascading Content strategy for your Social Media

Click here to register for FREE (5-1-13 at 12:30pm EST):
http://bit.ly/11A4koF

About Jay Berkowitz: 

Jay Berkowitz is an author, an educator, an International keynote speaker and an award-winning thought leader. A senior online marketing professional with over twenty years of marketing experience, Mr. Berkowitz has managed marketing departments for Fortune 500 brands: Coca-Cola, Sprint and McDonald's Restaurants, and he has developed online and offline strategies for AT&T and leading health and fitness website eDiets.com.

Mr. Berkowitz is the author of The Ten Golden Rules of Online Marketing Workbook, the Founder and CEO of www.TenGoldenRules.com, a strategic online marketing consulting business based in Boca Raton, Florida. He is the host of the Ten Golden Rules of Internet Marketing Podcast, an Adjunct Professor with the University of San Francisco Internet Marketing Course and he has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal, The Business Journals and he was interviewed on FOX Business TV.
Click here to register for FREE (5-1-13 at 12:30pm EST):
http://bit.ly/11A4koF

Social Media & Small Business: What NOT To Do During a Disaster

When it comes to social media for small businesses, most people think of it as just another channel for communication and promotion. However, it can also be a source of help or hurt during a natural disaster. During and after Hurricane Sandy, which ravaged the east coast earlier this year, we saw very specific examples of how social media can be a lifeline for some and also learned valuable lessons about what NOT to do during a disaster:

1.       DO NOT spread rumors on social media: This one can be a tricky one. During Hurricane Sandy, the campaign manager for a U.S. House of Representatives candidate was allegedly the source of a widespread rumor that the New York Stock Exchange had flooded. It was picked up by both CNN and the National Weather Service before it was debunked. Usually, however, “official” social media accounts at the local, state and national levels can be counted on for accurate information. Only repost messages from credible sources that have been verified, if possible.

2.       DO NOT use social media to promote your brand or product while people are in survival mode: American Apparel, Urban Outfitters and the Gap were all criticized for insensitive promotional messages on Twitter during the storm. If you want to help people by providing them with a discount, you should wait until the storm has passed.

3.       DO NOT just “wing it”: If you already have an online crisis management plan for your small business, consider adding social media as a secondary means of communication with your employees, vendors and customers. You can also use your social media channels to bring the community together as 13 restaurants did to provide Sunday dinner in one Sandy-ravaged town. If you don’t have a disaster plan in place, you should get one. Immediately. Read this Forbes article for some tips.

4.       DO NOT ignore social media: Now more than ever, people are turning to social media for information, and the more you can provide during a crisis, the more value you are giving. In some desperate situations, social media may be the only channel available for communication.

Hurricane Sandy showed us the good, the bad and the ugly of how social media can be used during a natural disaster or crisis situation. Let’s all take these lessons and learn from them, so that we are prepared for the next time Mother Nature decides to show us who’s boss.

How have you used social media to get through a crisis? Do you have a disaster plan that includes social media? Share it with us in the comments below.

What Do Catfish and Football Have to Do With Online Security? Plenty…

This week, the country was swept up in the story that college football sensation Manti Te’o was “catfished” when it was revealed that his girlfriend, who supposedly died of leukemia, didn’t actually die and was not even a real person. College football fans and sympathizers routed Te’o on during the BCS National Championship in January after learning that he had lost his grandmother and his girlfriend within the span of one day.

Beware the Catfish!

Now, it seems that the whole thing was a hoax and that this girlfriend never actually existed. Te’o had an online relationship with this woman and it is not yet clear if he was part of the elaborate scheme or just a victim of someone’s sick games. Either way, the term “catfish” is now certain to become a mainstream word for someone who engages another in a fake relationship online.

The word comes from a documentary called Catfish in which a man thinks he is falling for a woman he met online, but it turns out to be someone else. At the end of the film, it is explained how catfish were used to keep cod active in their tanks while being shipped overseas. This was compared to some people in our lives who might not seem beneficial, but are the ones who challenge us. Catfish is now also a TV show on MTV in which the filmmakers help young people in online relationships discover the true identity of their virtual crushes.

There are questions as to whether or not Catfish the documentary and TV show are real or fake. But one thing is certain either way – Catfish and the Manti Te’o story are wake-up calls for people to take online security more seriously. With the abundance of social networking and photo sharing sites, you never know who you’re really talking to. It’s not difficult to do some research online and discover if things add up or just warrant more questions. As we see in Catfish: The TV Show, it’s pretty easy to reach out to mutual friends and ask about the person, do a Google search or even use free facial recognition software to match photos with social media profiles and accounts.

In this day and age, people need to be savvier about the online world if they’re going to use social media as a way to connect with people who are not part of their inner circles. Some are even calling for universities to educate their athletes on social media so they know how to protect themselves better online, especially as public figures. Assuming that Manti Te’o was “catfished” by this fictional girlfriend, I’m sure he’s embarrassed and extremely hurt. And he’s never going to take someone’s word for it online again. 

Image credit: BFS Man

Using "Facebook Candy" to Increase Engagement

Engagement seems to be a buzzword among social media marketers who are trying to get the most interaction from fans to increase their brand visibility online. So how do you get fans to share, like and comment on your posts? Let’s focus on Facebook since this is still by far the largest social network, but realize that this can be applied across all social media sites.

One way to spark engagement is by using what we like to call “Facebook Candy” – visual images like photos and videos stand out in a users’ feed and makes them more likely to interact with your post. You can add a single photo or upload a group of photos at once into a photo album. Both are eye-catching in your fans’ newsfeeds, but clicking on a photo album requires the user to leave their newsfeed, so single photos are sometimes more effective. Types of photos you may want to post include product photos, event photos, behind-the-scenes photos and memes. Remember to add a brief comment or question with each post to help jump start the conversation.

Posting relevant videos that are humorous, educational or awe-inspiring can also generate a lot of engagement. Don’t be afraid to go out and create your own videos. Use the title and description to help make the video stand out and always include a call to action. Creating engaged users means you’re building a devoted fan base that will help spread the word about your brand or product. That’s why it’s important to craft posts that grab attention in this media-saturated world. You can raise your brand awareness and build lifelong customers by creating more effective posts with images and video.

Tell us how you engage your fans in the comments below.

Instagram Declares War

For those who may not yet have heard, Instagram has cut support for Twitter cards. What does that mean? It means that now hundreds of thousands of Instagram photos will stop properly displaying on Twitter. It seems a huge step backwards from the accessibility and happily synchronized social media services that we, the users, have become accustomed to. Instead of making things better, Instagram has purposefully made things worse.

But why? It seems that the decision might be tied to Facebook's Instagram purchase - and Twitter is a large and growing rival for the social media giant. Teens are leaving in mass exodus for Twitter now that they have to be Facebook "friends" with their parents, grandma, and boss - and Twitter offers a new social sphere that isn't yet completely dominated by adult control. In addition, Twitter has been working on its own set of photo filters - ones that could rival Instagram.

Only one question now: will there be a social media war in the near future?

Using Hashtags for Branding

Originally posted by awkwardimages.com

A few weeks ago, we revealed the mystery of hashtags to explain what they are and how to implement a hashtag strategy on Twitter. But did you know that hashtags are also very useful for other social media sites, such as Instagram, Pinterest and Google+? They are becoming so popular, one couple recently named their newborn daughter Hashtag!

You use hashtags on other social networking sites in much the same way you do on Twitter. Simply add a # symbol in front of the word or phrase you wish to tag (without spaces) in your post. You can also add hashtags to words in comments, although you must be the original poster for this to work on Instagram.

So how can your brand benefit from using hashtags? You can run a promotion asking users to upload photos of your product or from your event with a specific hashtag and use the content in later promotions. (See this Mashablearticle for some examples of branded hashtag contests on Instagram). The best thing about hashtags is that you can be really creative in coming up with ways to use them for your brand – and let your fans get really creative with the implementation!

Please share your hashtag success stories with us in the comments below.

Do You Have a Social Media Policy for Your Business?

There are two types of social media policies: one that dictates employees’ behavior and one that provides guidelines for the social media person or team that is posting on behalf of or as the company. This post is about the latter.

First, why is it important to have a social media policy? A social media policy should not be created to restrict your social media team from certain activities, but rather to provide guidance in situations that cannot be foreseen. If you don’t trust your social media person or team, then why are they handling your social media?

Every good social media marketer should be aware of the company’s voice and strive to cultivate an online personality for it using the company’s brand guidelines. A great example of this is the interaction between @Oreoand @AMCTheatres on Twitter, two powerhouse brands that obviously have great social media policies. The witty and fun repertoire that recently occurred between the accounts played out in a humorous discourse that was retweeted hundreds of times. AdWeekeven called it “one of the best Twitter replies ever.” The digital marketing manager for AMC Theatres, Shane Adams, wrote about this exchange on his blog and gave some important reasons why social media policies should be flexible enough to allow the team not just to post, but to respond:

1. Trust – Yes, the point was made above that if you don’t trust the person(s) in charge of social media, don’t give them the keys to your kingdom. However, it is also important to note that giving trust also empowers your employees: “That ownership in what we do better equips myself and my colleagues to do amazing things,” says Adams.
2. Brand Voice – while you may not work for a brand that’s as “fun” as movies or cookies, understand your brand’s voice and knowing what is and is not acceptable goes a long way toward cultivating that trust.
3. Autonomy – Shane and his team at AMC Theatres and the social media team at Oreo would not have been able to respond as quickly and cleverly as they did if they did not have at least some autonomy to make decisions and embrace opportunities.

As Shane puts it, GAME ON.

Does your company have a social media policy in place? What else do you think is important to help guide your team?