UPDATE!   UPDATE!   UPDATE!   UPDATE!   UPDATE!   UPDATE!

I know the twitter buzz today is all about the new Motrin ads (and understandably so). (If you have not seen the ads, watch them.) I’m preparing today to open dialogue about the Motrin ads for this evening’s teleseminar. Mind you, I’m looking at this purely from a PR perspective. (I also may have a very influential guest to chime in.)

A preview… Specifically, one of the questions we will explore:

Will public relations need to and/or be able to bail out advertising?

Now, back to the original concept of the teleseminar… The concept grew out of the MANY questions I get each day from others looking to build their communities.

It’s all about community.

TONIGHT we will talk about:

• Creating your personal brand
• Becoming the content which interests viewers
• Are you part of the community you are trying to reach?
• Social networking as the the first step

Also, my special guest, Jason Kintzler of Pitchengine will talk about some specifics related to search engine optimization and public relations.

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Hi everyone -

A couple nights ago Aaron Foster, from PRSarahEvans.com, got me on the phone and grilled me about the upcoming free social media teleseminar that I am doing on Sunday night with him.

Yes, and he got me to tell him who the special guest is going to be (just in case you can’t wait, it is Jason Kintzler of Pitchengine.

You can listen to the whole interview by clicking the play button.

I’ll see you all on Sunday night.

Sarah

PS - If you haven’t signed up for the free teleseminar yet on Sunday night, but you want to be part of it, please do so by going here and signing up.

Do you remember Arnold asking a room full of kindergartners in Kindergarten Cop about their fathers?

Remember the answers the kids gave? Quick. Funny. Pithy. MEMORABLE! They explained the “who” and “what” in thirty seconds or less.

If you’re engaged in social media you have this opportunity each and every day.

Your social media profile is your opportunity to answer - “Who are you and what do you do?”

On Twitter you get 160 characters (in the BIO SECTION) to write about yourself. That’s it. I look at the bios of each and every follower and choose who I follow (if I’ve not yet interacted with them) by the content of the bio. This isn’t the only chance to connect with me, but it is a first impression.

So, I’ve created a simple formula to help you spruce up your bio. Write wisely. (And if you have additional tips, share in the comments section for all to benefit.)

Tell me first. Are you primarily in advertising? Publishing? WAHM? Start off with your primary venture so I know what it is you “do.”

Be creative. What sets you apart from the pack? I see a lot of bios that list scrapbooking, blog, etc… At least add a descriptive word in front. (FYI - Listing your hobbies is not a bad idea, as it helps people find you when they search for people to follow.)

Write in active voice. Passive voice is no fun. (Typically women are more guilty than men.) I want to know you’re confident (even when you’re not). You can also check out this “strong verbs” guide.

Be a teaser. An enticing or mysterious (but truthful) comment almost always gets me to follow someone (assuming they’ve also told what it is they do)

What’s in it for me? Sell me. I need to know that by following you we will engage in beneficial two-way dialogue.

Call to action. Give me something to do with your bio. (Don’t just direct me to your blog…everyone directs me to their blog!)

Read out loud. Don’t publish your bio without first reading it out loud. In fact, read it out loud to someone else and gauge their reaction.

If this doesn’t help, I came across this great resource, Fifty (50!) Tools which can help you in Writing.

“Now…We’re going to play a little game.”"It’s called, ‘Who is your daddy and what does he do?’”

THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!

Thanks for being part of our super cool twosse (a.k.a. Twitter posse). The network we are growing each and every day is filled with some of the most intelligent, pioneering individual I’ve never met. ;) 

Please display the twosse badge proudly on any and all of your sites. When someone asks about it, tell them to follow you on Twitter and they’ll soon get it! Let’s take the twosse to the next level and celebrate all that we accomplish in our social networking endeavors.

(BTW - Rory Stern, @rorystern, gets the very first badge because of his generous assistance with all things unknown to me!)

 NOTE: Forgive me as I’m a newbie to HTML writing, if I messed up the code, let me know and I’ll update.

USE THIS CODE:<a href=”http://prsarahevans.com”><img src=”http://prsarahevans.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/twosse_large2-copy.jpg” border=”0″></a>

 

Are you following these top tweeps? If not, you should.

(Originally launched, October 2008) - Thanks to all who participated in the first ever Top 50 Tweeples contest. With more than 900 voters and 2,500 Twitter users voted for, turnout was impressive! Keep in mind promotion was solely done through Twitter.

1. popgloss

2. skydiver

3. chrisbrogan

4. jennalloyd

5. coachdeb

6. marismith

7. barefoot_exec

8. agingbackwards

9. guykawasaki

10. newmediajim

11. garyvee

12. mashable

13. realestatechick

14. fussypants

15. problogger

16. badbanana

17. jowyang

18. nwjerseyliz

19. Scobleizer

20. briansolis

21. pistachio

22. timoreilly

23. williecrawford

24. mailourmilitary

25. dreaminaction

26. joehageonline

27. pprlisa

28. warrenwhitlock

29. statesman

30. jeanannvk

31. jpostman

32. pitchengine

33. megfowler

34. stacybrice

35. sweetsue

36. auctiondirect

37. drmommy

38. annepmitchell

39. zachflauaus

40. jessicaknows

41. laniar

42. married

43. techcrunch

44. gwenbell

45. katjapresnal

46. napp_news

47. fakesarahpalin

48. cheeky_geeky

49. jspepper

50. ezrabutler

A special thank you to the following “tweeps” for your assistance:
@PCfirestorm @bizownersonline @rorystern

Last week I hosted my first ever tweetup. (A face-to-face social gathering of people who interact on Twitter.) I was enamored with the thought of meeting my new virtual friends in person. As someone who is passionate about connecting, it is the natural next step in relationships I build. In social networks, especially via Twitter, it is increasingly becoming the norm to host events like tweetups as the first time to interact with people face-to-face.

A few hours before the tweetup I managed to persuade a new Twitter friend, Brent Payne, to come and hang out. Brent works and lives downtown Chicago and our tweetup was held in a suburb about 40 minutes outside the city. He was going to take the train to the suburbs and I said I would pick him up.

Before I went to  pick up Brent a wave of fear hit me–we knew absolutely NOTHING about one another. My mother’s voice was in the back of my head, “are you insane? meeting a man you’ve never met AND you’re letting him in your car?” Not being a social networker herself, the concept of meeting someone “you met on the internet” is ABSURD (I’m sure she’d use a much stronger word)!  (By the way, Brent is a super cool dude!)

Needless to say, everything turned out fine. In fact, when we introduced ourselves, we both laughed at how awkward the situation was and proceeded to disclose that we both took safety precautions before the tweetup.  The point of this post is this–always practice safe social networking.

If you plan on meeting up with someone you’ve never met face-to-face, here are a few tips:

• Google them. Take a look at their online presence. Are they well connected across many networks? Have they been around for at least six months to a year?
• Shared connections. (There’s nothing wrong with asking about someone prior to a meet up. Check to see if you share any mutual connections.)
• Publicly tweet/message the name of the person(s)  and location of your meeting across your social networks.
• Exchange phone numbers. Call the number to verify it belongs to that person. Then give the phone number and any other contact information you have about that person to your partner or a trusted friend.
• Meet in  a group setting in a public location. (Don’t meet at your home!)
• If you’re meeting up with several people you’ve never met, verify that the others are coming.
• Drive yourself or get your own transportation to the meet up. (I know…I broke my own rule in my example.)

Most importantly, trust your gut.  If a request to meet “doesn’t feel right,” don’t do it. There are several internet safety resources out there. It can’t hurt to take a peak.

DISCLAIMER: This post is in no way meant to deter face-to-face meetings, in fact I encourage it (and will continue to host and attend them myself).

What are your tips/thoughts about safe social networking?

Most, if not all, social media sites have opportunities where you can either publicly respond to someone or send a private message. On Twitter it’s called direct messaging (i.e. DM).

For the purpose of this post, I’m primarily referring to Twitter, however these tips can be applied to most networks. Let’s get to it…

Why might you send a direct or private versus a public message?

• Sending personal information like a phone number or email address (It may seem like common sense, but I encourage you NEVER personal information like your social security number over ANY public forum).
• A conversation which will consist of multiple “tweets” or a lengthy post of more than three sentences.  (Many people on Twitter will “unfollow” someone who sends multiple “tweets” in a row. Trust me.)
• Asking multiple questions to the same person or the same question asked to multiple people (Your content becomes less valuable when people see the same thing repeated too many times…especially right in a row).
• Correcting a mistake you’ve identified in someone’s blog post or “tweet” (This isn’t required, but it is considered a common courtesy. The person who made the mistake will thank you.)
• Thanking each of your new followers (It’s a nice concept to thank each of your new social media connections, but keep in mind how many responses you’re sending out each day or within a 10 minute period.)
• Making a request to someone (Want to ask someone to write a guest blog post or partner on a project? Don’t put them on the spot in a public forum. Once you agree on a partnership, then by all means, tweet away!)
• Constructive criticism…this is your call. (If you have some pretty serious feedback to give someone, consider the most appropriate venue.)
• Getting someone’s attention! (Want to make a connection with someone, send them a direct message to get things started. A lot of people on Twitter get direct messages sent to their email or mobile phone.)

What tips or rationale have you discovered for why to send a direct versus a public message? Feel free to share with our community.

NOTE: On Twitter in order to “DM” someone you must be “following” one another.

This is your friendly reminder that the bus leaving for Social Media Station is now boarding.

To all  business owners, top executives, board members, marketing and public relations gurus and those who generally like to impress their superiors…you’re hearing it directly from me:

It’s not too late to engage with your community through social media.

I can count on one hand (maybe two) the number companies who currently have a strong community built around their brand in the social world (see resources at the end of this post).

Let me disclaim: There is a HUGE difference between signing up on social media sites to update your status/profile and that of developing a RECIPROCAL RELATIONSHIP with your community. The trick is finding someone who “gets it.”

Once you find the person(s) who “gets” social media, your product and engaging a community, snatch them up. It will be the best investment you make. Guaranteed.

So how do you find someone who “gets” social media and your product? Go to the source.

That’s right. Search out the pioneer social media users who pimp out your product on a regular basis because they already like it and KNOW it. (If you are a social media newbie, you can Google your company name, but there are other ways to search out this information.)

REMEMBER: It’s okay if you’re not familiar with social media - I know you have customers who ARE. (I should also disclaim - make sure you verify whether or not someone is a social media pioneer…don’t select the first person you find just because they mentioned your product on Facebook.)

A real life example… This evening, I went to eat at Chipotle, so I tweeted about (on Twitter).

(Okay, am I giving credibility to the microblogging stereotype that all we do is talk about what we eat?)

Within five minutes, I received a response that others were now going to get a meal there. Then, the magic started, one of my followers, Stacy Brice, wanted to know whether or not Chipotle was on Twitter, so I gave them a shout out. And, much as I expected…NO RESPONSE.  A missed opportunity to engage and connect with a powerful (and influential) audience. Now, I’m not saying it’s a forever missed opportunity (because it’s not) but how long (or what) is it going to take to get companies on board?

Do you think it’s time to connect with your community on a deeper level? If yes, search for who is talking about you right now. Reach out to those who are advocates for you or your cause and start connecting! (Make sure you are leading the cause for a social media role within your organization, too.)

You don’t need to take my word for it. Cooler people than myself are blogging, too. Check out this great piece by Brian Solis, Comcast cares and so should you.

With this I leave you… are you missing the bus?

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A few resources to get you started:

• Companies who already have a social media presence on social networks like Twitter
• Companies with a strong brand presence in the social media world
• Here is who I think is using is doing it well.

If you’d like to read tonight’s post, you must experience it in its true environment. Thank you.

I posed a question to my twosse (Twitter posse) tonight to find out what they are dying to know about public relations. Most of the responses came back, like @luckystartups, wanting to know if non PR people can do public relations.

The answer is…YES! (Duh.)

That’s not to say I want to put myself or others in my profession out of business–because that’s just not going to happen.

Business owners (and all busy professionals) spend their days building and maintaining strong relationships with customers, share holders, general public, etc… Trying to balance full time media and public relations support on top of that often times becomes unmanageable. (Insert public relations professional.)

Same concept. The reason successful public relations professionals are “successful” is because they are great at building and maintaining strong relationships with the media and the consumer community.

REMEMBER: No one knows your business or expertise better than you. (The public relations professional in your life helps to find YOUR story and to share YOUR story with the audiences who WANT and/or NEED to know.)

So, what to do if you don’t have public relations support? Here are a few basics to help you out:

Go to where reporters hang out. Check out the my personal favorite resource, Help a Reporter Out (operated by my PR idol, Peter Shankman) There’s also a new site, still in its beta stage–ReportingOn where journalists, public relations folks (or non PR folks) can exchange ideas. The great thing about both of these resources (besides being easy to use)? They are FREE!

Build a relationship. Reach out to reporters who are MOST likely to be interested in your content and say hello. That’s right. Begin to build the relationship before you ever pitch anything. Let them know you are a resource for them. How do you find reporters? That can be a time intensive task. If you use social media sites, like Twitter, check out Twello to find reporters.

Read their stuff. Most journalists actually like it when you have read something they’ve written. Pitching a reporter you’ve never read is a big no-no.

Don’t annoy. When you build a relationship with a member of the media, find out how they like to be contacted. If someone says the HATE being contacted via phone–don’t contact them via phone. Simple.

Pitch wisely. Reporters want the exclusive. They do not want news that is being sent to all of their competitors or, God forbid, has run in other media outlets. I’ve heard different rules on etiquette related to the exclusive pitch… I typically wait 5-7 days before selecting the next media outlet to pitch.

Respect deadlines. Media (and public relations folks for that matter) work on extremely tight deadlines. If you’re reaching out to them, be prepared to get them what they need in a timely manner. ALWAYS ask what a reporter’s deadline is–and treat it with the utmost care.

Thank you. If you’ve had a positive interaction with a reporter which resulted in media coverage for you or your business, don’t forget to thank the reporter. I send a hand written thank you note to reporters when a good story comes together.

Have other public relations questions you’d like answered? Let me know.