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.