Using Twitter for Business--Advice From Chris Brogan

Chris Brogan is a social media advisor, President of New Marketing Labs and a New York Times best selling author. His blog (34,835 readers) and Twitter account (107,988 followers) prove that he knows what he writes about.

New Marketing Labs is "a premier digital marketing, strategy planning and social community engagement firm that builds relationships of value." Sony, Microsoft and Pepsico are just a few of their clients.

In August of 2008, he posted "50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business" as an introductory guide. He used the words human, employees, people, community, customer service and balance in this post. This confirms my experiences that even when you are looking at a cold screen touching a plastic keyboard your goal it to reach out and connect with real, live human beings. Brogan recommends adding a picture (idea #2) to personalize your tweets.

Since I was looking for his main points, I decided to create a Wordle from his post for a visual message. As you can see, the largest (used most often) words are people, business, Tweet, others, human and helps. Of course Twitter stands out as the main focus of the text.

Brogan gives good recommendations for beginning your account. If you reread his first 10 steps, you'll see that they all pertain to building relationships and not selling products. He thinks it is important to "talk to people about THEIR interests" and "promote your employees outside-of-work stories."

Since keeping up with social media can be quite a task, Brogan wisely includes 10 ideas on maintaining your sanity. He suggests learning the URL shortening tools, allowing some tweets to go unread and tweeting in a manner that works for you.

This was a concise, but very informative post. It tells you exactly how to set up your own account and start connecting today.

facebook or Facebook, twitter or Twitter?

The branding for facebook, twitter, delicious and other social media sites spell them with a lower case first letter. Then why are they written so many times with the first letter capitalized?

Of course it should be capitalized when it is the first word in a sentence like facebook has on its sign up page. The name of the company is Facebook, Inc. so maybe writers are referencing to the company rather than the Web page.

If you check out their copyrights, both facebook and twitter use a capital letter. They are also proper nouns so technically they should be capitalized. But doesn't their branding over ride that grammar rule?

The YAHOO! branding uses capital letters with an exclamation mark, but we rarely see it written that way either.

Even Wired spells facebook with a capital f when they mention it in an blog, but they use a lower case letter when they list it as a tag at the end of the page.

To be grammatically correct, do you spell them with a capital letter or lower case? What is the prudent proof reader to do?

Writing a Social Media Press Release

In case you thought my last post seemed a bit out of place, you're right. I was writing a Social Media Press Release about an event at MSU this weekend.

Some guidelines for SMRs are:

• Use short sentences and simple sentence structure
• Write with active verbs
• Use minimum punctuation--stick to periods, commas and dashes
• Always use numerals instead of writing out the numbers in words
• Use symbols in place of words--$ and %
  
• Keep paragraphs short at 1-2 sentences
• Write subheads and use your key words there
• Try bullet points for lists
• Provide links for those who want additional information
• Try to keep it to one page or shorter

Check out the Las Vegas Sun to read short news stories that are well written for the Web.

Women and Spirituality Conference, Mankato, Minnesota

Dr. Vandana Shiva speaks on "Women and the Gendered Politics of Food"

10.23.09 — Mankato, MN - Feminism, food and faith all converge at the Women and Spirituality Conference on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Dr. Vandana Shiva presents the keynote address entitled "Women and the Gendered Politics of Food." Her lecture begins at 11:00 a.m. in the Centennial Student Union Ballroom on Oct. 31. Registration is required.

Shiva is a physicist, author and international sustainability leader. She is active in honoring all women and the major role they played in improving agriculture and science on a global level.

She founded a national Indian-based movement to protect resources and promote organic farming called Navdanya.

“When I found global corporations wanted to patent seeds, crops or life forms," Shiva said, "I started Navdanya to protect biodiversity, defend farmers’ rights and promote organic farming.

Shiva is recognized as

• an "environmental hero" in 2003 by Time magazine
• one of the 5 most powerful communicators in Asia by Asia Week
• receiving the Alternative Nobel Prize (Right Livelihood Award),
• receiving the Order of the Golden Ark
  
• receiving the Global 500 Award of UN
• receiving the Earth Day International Award.

For 28 years, men and women have met in Mankato for support to continue traveling on individual and communal spiritual journeys. Over 100 workshops and discussions group are offered this year.

Participants can learn about

• ethical wills
• trance dancing
• esoteric healing
• creating sacred space
• atheist spirituality
• communicating with animals
• channeling loved ones
  
• and many more topics.
  

See the registration form for information on scholarships, Continuing Education Units and course credit. Childcare is provided for registered children only.

Minnesota State University, Mankato is wheelchair accessible. For special arrangements, call 507-389-2077 at least 48 hours prior to the event.

All quotes in the post appeared in:
Vandana Shiva, by FRANCES ROONEY

Contact:
507-389-2077 or email veldhc@mnsu.edu

News Facts
Mankato's population in the 2000 census was 32,427.
Mankato is the county seat for Blue Earth County.
MSU has an enrollment of 15,000 students.


Resource Links
Greater Mankato Convention and Visitors Bureau
Mankato weather
Mankato Free Press
City of Mankato

Solis--Nominated for 2009 Blog of the Year

PRNews presents an annual PR People Awards ceremony to recognize their outstanding professionals. Brian Solis is one of the nominees for 2009 Blog of the Year. Congratulations, Brian, on the nomination; and good luck on Dec. 1 when the awards will be presented in Washington, D.C.

Strengths and Weaknesses

After reading Dave Fleet’s 14 Key Attributes for New PR Professionals, it would be a good idea to take a personal inventory. I am certain that I have experience in the traditional skills. I have received positive comments on my work ethic, writing, proofreading (attention to details) and being proactive.

The new skills are ones that need strengthening. Learning more about SEO and encoding would be very helpful, and I have a good idea of where to go for help. Increasing my knowledge and involvement in social networks would also be beneficial. A large part of me is reluctant to reveal so much about my self; and frankly, I have no desire to share parts of my life with the entire Web world. A shortage of time is the main reason that I have not connected with more people on facebook. For the professional reasons and contacts, I will make it a much higher priority.

Dave Fleet: 14 Key Skills & Attributes For New PR Pros

Dave Fleet has listed skills and attributes that he believes will add to the success of new PR professionsals. He included both traditional skills and new skills. I would say that the game is the same, but the playing pieces are now different. The same rules apply--honesty, communication, writing, work ethic--but the pieces that move you around the board have changed. Players who can prove their worth by using blogs, social networking, RSS, etc. may find shortcuts to the finish line.

FTC: Bloggers Beware

On Monday, the Federal Trade Commission established guidelines for the first time that will regulate blogging and mandate that testimonials reflect typical results.

Bloggers must disclose that the product was given to them for purposes of a review. Returning the product once the review has been written is another option. Web writers must also reveal any payment or freebies they received for product reviews.

The FTC is trying to insure that consumers receive accurate and unbiased information. The final guidelines are going into effect on Dec. 1. The vote was 4-0 by the FTC commissions to approve the 81-page notice of rules.

What will this mean for bloggers? For the ones who are working as professionals, it shouldn't make any difference. They may welcome the regulations. For those who write for less than honest reasons, it could result in some needed changes.

Reputable bloggers would begin their post stating that the product they are writing about was a gift or that they are being paid for their post.

One Way to Handle a Major Mistake

In case you haven't heard, CBS Late Show host David Letterman told a "little story" on Thursday to his live studio audience. He talked about finding a package that someone had left in his car. In the package was evidence that he "did some terrible, terrible things" and a letter demanding $2 million. He immediately contacted the authorities and the person was caught.

Letterman looked directly into the cameras and to the audience and explained that he had sex with some of his co-workers. He made no apologies or excuses for his behavior. His did not admit to being at fault nor did he blame anyone else.

This had not leaked to the press so he had control over the message, timing and delivery. Some people think he did the right thing and respect him for confessing publicly. Others think it is just a ploy to improve a bad situation. What are your thoughts on how this was handled?

I find it interesting that early this morning I was able to view a YouTube video of the entire story from his show. Tonight when I want to link it to this post, I cannot locate the same version. This CBS news story is the only one I can find.

PRSA Ethic Recommendations

In the Sept. issue of TACTICS, the monthly periodical of the Public Relations Society of America, there is an article about ethics on page 14 that relates to my blog on Sept. 2. The PRSA’s Board of Ethics and Professional Standards has the responsibility to give advice on issues relating to their Member Code of Ethics. Two possible situations are discussed with recommended practices for members to follow.

The first situation is referred to as PSA-9: Pay for Play which is “when there is intent to hide an exchange of value between a PR professional and a journalist. It occurs when PR professionals make undisclosed payments to journalist or media to publish or broadcast a client’s story.”

Here are their recommended practices:

"• Disclosure must be requested in any pay for plan situation. Journalists should be notified that any gift or in-kind service in exchange for placement should be clearly disclosed to the reader, value, bias, accuracy and usefulness.

• While it is a common practice to offer free and special travel and lodging rates or product demonstrations items to journalists, we should encourage those journalists to disclose, to protect their independence and integrity.

• Some trade publications sponsor trade shows and special editions that require fees to participate (then they run articles featuring only paid participants’ products in special show editions)—participation fee is required for the coverage. PR professionals should ask for participants and publications to disclose these fees."

PSA-10: Phantom experience is the second situation that you may encounter. A phantom experience is “providing information that overstates or distorts the actual experience being brought to the table by an organization, a company, a group or an individual. The practice of falsely claiming experience, knowledge, and/or implying direct experience or knowledge is unethical and may be unlawful in certain employment circumstances, and in government contracts and contract applications.”

When information (no matter how insignificant) is fabricated, it ruins the entire résumé, presentation or Web site. Beyond that, the reputation and character of co-workers, organizations and agencies will suffer damage beyond repair.

Specific ethical practices they recommend:

"• Candor: Provide clear, simple and truthful information, including helpful facts or data, which the customer, prospect, employer or client many not easily be able to find.

• Corrections and clarifications: When information that you’ve provided has been changed, edited or otherwise make to be inaccurate, then aggressively correct that information in as many formats and forums as you can find it.

• Truthfulness: Information that is provided, which may have more than one interpretation by different sources or users, should be detailed enough so that the users can evaluate what they are looking at and getting from their perspective.

• Transparency: When previous information has been inaccurate, incorrect, misleading or false, the practitioner has an affirmative obligation to publish, pronounce or notify those who might be adversely affected by the information as it was previously made available."

September is PRSA’s annual Ethics Month. I recommend the online article “Can you be just a little more ethical?” by Jenny Schade. She talks about everyday ethics and how to develop and maintain your own ethical standards.

Brian Solis/Deirdre Breakenridge

One of the books I am reading is "Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media is Reinventing the Aging Business of PR" by Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge.

Solis is "globally recognized for his views and insights on the convergence of PR, Traditional Media and Social Media "according to amazon.com, and his blog is highly rated by Technorati.

Breakenridge is President and Director of Communications at PFS Marketwyse, a marketing communications agency in New Jersey.

You can follow Solis at his blog to learn more about what's new in PR.

EPIC 2015

Check out EPIC 2015 at YouTube.

What strikes me most about this message is that all of this technology was up and running in a very short space of time without any regulations, controls or taxes from any government on the planet. Any possible income goes to private companies and individuals.

How did the U.S. miss getting a piece of this industry and finding a way to tax it? Part of the answer may be that many of the developers were younger with an anti-establishment attitude. I think that is the best part.

What if there were censors on Web postings or e-mails? The messages would be lost--think of the World War II censorship that controlled information leaving and entering the U.S.


A wartime censor excises text from a letter with a sharp knife. (NARA, 216-FS-6176B-82)
Source: http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/spring/mail-censorship-in-world-war-two-1.html

Ethics in PR

A PR student/employee/professional can follow all of the Code of Ethics for both the Public Relations Society of America and the International Association of Business Communicators and still conduct research in a way that is unethical. Their job and professional reputation may be in jeopardy .

The basic guidelines are simple. Practice the Golden Rule and treat everyone fairly and truthfully. Make sure you inform all participants of the entire process, allow them a chance to opt out, explain what is being researched, protect them from all forms of harm, and all data should be collected anonymously and held in the highest confidence.

Treat them with respect and refer to them as participants, students, consumers, etc. Never use the terms "victims" or "subjects" (are you ruling over them?).

The Machine is Us/ing Us Comments

Check out The Machine is Us/ing Us

Interesting how we omit the e from using--it reminds me of how both the original word and form (communicating with pencil and paper) have changed. The e is not lost though. We have recycled it as the prefix to email, ebay, ebooks, etrade, ecards, etc.

"You get what you pay for" is a proverb that usually is true for consumers. Except when it comes to obtaining information, music or movies on the Web, you have access to everything without paying for it. Is this right or wrong? "Everyone else is doing it" has been the excuse since Adam took a bite from the forbidden fruit.

What is the future of writing if everyone borrows what someone else has written? Will there be more copy or text out there with so many more writers or will there just be more places to read the same words?

Initial Posting

This is the first post of my blog for Mass 440: Strategic Communications Research. I look forward to exchanging ideas, knowledge and posts during fall semester.

I choose the name Currents in PR because currents includes the flow, power and popular aspects of the subject.