Shabbat will be this Friday.

Why Social Media Belongs to PR Pros

Since the nature of a blog is to point to valuable content threads, found anywhere on the web, I'd like to provide my readers and clients with information about the most common question I recently hear, "What exactly is social media and how can I use it? Should I use it?"

The short answer is that social media is the new vehicle for communicating with any number of people. It's pull instead of push, which means that content is not just pushed by editors to listeners and readers without an invitation. For this reason, some refer to it as "Invitation Marketing." The longer answer is that, for the same reasons the practice of public relations was best left to professionals, so is social media. But if you want to handle it yourself, here are a few suggestions:

1. Login and create a persona on as many social media websites as you can find. Some of the most popular are LinkedIn, MySpace, FaceBook, Diggit, Reddit, Flickr, Flaxio, StumbleUpon, Plaxo, Twitter and PhotoBucket. This list is by NO MEANS exhaustive. The number of social networking sites multiples by the millisecond. So try to choose the ones you find most convenient and most compatible with whatever product or service you are trying to sell.

2. Keep your usernames consistent from site to site. One of the main reasons for creating online personas is to boost search engine optimization. When meta crawlers search for the number of hits relavent to your username, it will only tabulate consistent names. If your preferred username is not available on any one site, go to another. They are a dime a dozen. So it should not be difficult to find another suitable platform.

3. Provide content. Make your point as quickly as possible. Then politely sign off.

To that end, let me take this opportunity to end my post. If you want to read some more suggestions about easily implementing social media, follow the link to this post, which was in my Google Reader.

http://prsay.prsa.org/index.php/2009/05/28/the-nine-lives-of-public-relations/

SMO? What the?

Rohit’s original 5 rules/guidelines for SMO was expanded to 16 rules:

1. Increase your linkability
2. Make tagging and bookmarking easy
3. Reward inbound links
4. Help your content travel
5. Encourage the mashup
6. Be a User Resource, even if it doesn’t help you
7. Reward helpful and valuable users"
8. Participate
9. Know how to target your audience
10. Create content
11. Be real
12. Don’t forget your roots, be humble
13. Don’t be afraid to try new things, stay fresh
14. Develop a SMO strategy
15. Choose your SMO tactics wisely
16. Make SMO part of your process and best practices
Posted by Charles St. Arnaud

Google Wave

My clients pay me, at least in part, to stay on top of tips and trends for marketing their various organizations and businesses. Well, fans; here is the next big thing in Internet marketing. Get ready for Google Wave.

Does Google Wave show the future of the corporate Desktop?

June 8, 2009

PrintEmail to a Friend

• Analysis by: Hans van Rietschote
• Analysis of: Google Wave shows the Future of the Corporate Desktop
• Published at: hvrietsc.blogspot.com

Implications

Google Wave can easily replace email, IM, blogs, Wikis and SharePoint in other words ALL the collaborative tools that are in use in the corporate world of desktops. Almost as a side effect Google Wave is taking on the Microsoft desktop monopoly, forcing them to up the ante, so as to not loose the very profitable desktop business.

Analysis

Google so far is only really interested in maintaining and growing their ad revenue. As I wrote in a previous news article: the only way to do this is to one, make sure the users have a reason to stay on the Google web page as long as possible without annoying them with ads and two, to make sure the advertisers get value for money by only showing their ads to prospective buyers of their goods and services (ad targeting).

So how does Google Wave help Google achieve their goals? Well first of all, as can be seen for the demo, Google Wave can easily replace email, IM, blogs, Wikis, and SharePoint. In other words ALL collaborative tools that are out there. This means that whenever people collaborate (which is all the time they spend on a PC when not just surfing the Internet), they will be on a Google (Wave) web page looking at ads.

And just think how effective the ad targeting will be once the Google technology figures out what topics you are discussing in your Wave!

The side effect of taking on the Microsoft monopoly on the corporate desktop is something that not only Microsoft should worry about but also other software application vendors or the desktop. If the future corporate desktop only has a browser running on it and all its data is stored in the cloud (Wave?), then there will be no need for Anti Virus, Backup or any system management tools. Because if your desktop is not functioning correctly then all you need is another desktop since all your application and data are in the cloud and not on your desktop.

Top 10 Social Media Lessons

I am borrowing these from an article in the most recent issue of the PR Strategiest, a publication of the PRSA. Written by Christopher Barger and Steve Janisse, I think these are key for anyone who wants to include social media in their communication strategy. And, these days, there is no such thing as a communication strategy apart from social media.

1. Research the conversations occuring about your issues and industry.
2. Determine if your brand is buzzworthy. Is there a passioniate base?
3. Integrate social media into your marketing and communications plan.
4. Determine if you are ready to have an honest discussion. Do you have thick skin?
5. Acknowledge who you are and what you are doing in the conversation.
6. Be genuine. Communicate like a real person.
7. Engage in authentic conversation. Talk with people, not at them.
8. Talk about the things the community wants you to talk about.
9. Do not try to control the conversation.
10.Be patient and stay committed. Social media takes time and effort.