Archive for the ‘Maximize your Web Brand’ Category
How journalists can use Twitter Lists
We LOVE Lists! So I couldn’t resist posting these lists of a few quick and easy ways journalists can use Twitter Lists to keep tabs on their sources. ( From Jeremy Porter, a veteran public relations professional. He is the founder of Journalistics.com) :
* Create a public list of all the journalists at your organization
* Create a private list of your sources, organized by beat, story topic, or by people you’ve interviewed in the past
* Create a private list of your competitors, so you can keep tabs on what they’re writing about
* Create industry-specific lists of experts to brainstorm new story ideas
* Create geographic lists for sources in specific markets
* Create hashtag-based lists, for people who regularly participate in discussions around a particular tag (i.e., a conference or current event)
How PR professionals can use Twitter Lists
* Create a list of your clients who actively use Twitter
* Create a list of your colleagues at your organization
* Create a private list of journalists you want to follow or target with story ideas
* Organize media contacts by geography, beat, past interaction, etc.
* Create a list of media organizations, to keep tabs on current events or stories – for example, create a list of the top social media Twitter users
4 Ways News Organizations are Using Twitter Lists
Though Twitter Lists are new to most users, some news organizations are trying to stay ahead of the curve by taking advantage of the new feature and implementing it quickly. Whether by creating staff directories to make their journalists easier to find, or recommending tweeps to follow on specific subjects, Twitter lists are giving news sites the ability to curate news and further open up to Twitter users that can help them to gather news.
Who has the Most Followers on Twitter? (Top 100)
The Twitterholic.com Top 100 Twitterholics based on Followers
As expected, Ashton, Oprah, Ellen, and CNN Breaking News made the top of the list. Products and shows like Chelsey Lately, Martha Stewart, and Whole Foods Market are in the 2nd 25. Also, notice how few people the top Twitterers follow. BTW, Griff Potter is ranked 206,631st on twitterholic!
The Social Media Marketing Test
Ouch! Graeme Newell has again delivered a much-needed jab to the midsection. If you contribute to your station’s social media efforts, at any level, you need to read Graeme’s new blog post The Social Media Marketing Test. He points out what I’ve been telling partners and clients for months: Social Media is not a new promotion or ad platform. It is a relationship and all the rules of relationships apply. Give freely, don’t dominate the conversation, Listen to what is being said back, don’t rush the conversation.
I have seen so many social media campaigns go wildly off course when they are executed using this Madison Avenue mindset. Social media is not just another form of advertising. We treat it like a monologue, when it is actually a dialogue. Social media really is a new form of communication, not just another medium to be included in a traditional marketing plan.
For those of us who grew up in the traditional advertising world, we just can’t help ourselves. We know that social media is two-way personal interaction, but we still tend to fall back to practiced one-way communication. In the old ad world, copy space was scarce, and messages were short with succinct calls to action. It was a world guided by the need to quickly bang the drum and get attention.
The true power of social media is its ability to persuade by socializing, not advertising. It has a longer selling cycle. This more leisurely pace often chafes the hurried corporate agenda. Impatience is its most beguiling temptation and most ruinous attribute. Social media does not tolerate commercial exploitation and over-the-top selling. Yet, a casual read through many company social media pages quickly reveals a disingenuous, transparent selling agenda. No one wants to be friends with a salesman working a crowd.
Successful social media campaigns have a deeper purpose and are all about human interaction. Zappos uses it to showcase great customer service. Ford & Molson use it put a human face on an impersonal company brand. Dell uses it to battle a perception of bad customers service.
Put your social media posts to the test. Evaluate your fan page. These telltale signs show customers they are a sales mark to be harvested, not a friend to be wooed.
Take the Social Media Marketing Test
How news sites can cover an election night – examples from Norway
Need some inspiration to take your multi-platform coverage to new heights during the next election cycle? How will you cover more with fewer people? Start planning now.
John Einar Sandvand has a fascinating overview, and some great links, from the recent Norway national elections on his site BetaTales.
John writes:
Several of the sites had prepared interactive graphics which where automatically updated as the results came in Services like Coveritlive and Twitter were used to report live from the different party headquarters News sites increasingly provide a platform for users to discuss the election resuts with each other. This was done by integrating Twitter hashtags into the news content as well as through use of Facebook Connect.
You will also be amazed at Norwegian newspapers in general. Much grittier and in-your face that American papers.
The PC is Becoming the New TV
The LA TIMES’ David Colker reports if you’re watching more TV on your computer these days — and less on an actual TV — you’re not alone.
The Times points to a survey by the nonprofit Conference Board released Tuesday which showed that nearly a quarter of households in the U.S. now view television programs online. That’s up from 20% last year.
The quarterly Consumer Internet Barometer survey found that news shows were watched by 43% of online viewers, followed by sitcoms, comedies and dramas, watched by 35%. Slightly less than 20% viewed reality shows online, and 18% took in sports.
Viewership of the Hulu online service — which offers shows from NBC, ABC, Fox and others — nearly quadrupled from last year, but that’s not a big surprise because Hulu didn’t debut until March 2007.
The survey found that 90% of online viewers watch at home. The remaining 10% watch at the office.
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
Getting Your Stories to Show Up on Google News – OTNB Idea
Search Engine Optimization. Everyone who posts content to your news site or channel must understand that:
CONTENT is King,
but KEYWORDS are the keys to the kingdom.
This video from Google lays out the schematic for Google News.
Among the “need-to-knows”:
Google News provides SEO tips for publishers
If you need a review of your web channel, or newsroom staff training, contact me. GRIFF
Five Social Media Sites for Journos
Here are some websites from SPJ’s Techno-J blog – that are worth checking out:
1. Wired Journalists
http://www.wiredjournalists.com/
Social network with over 3,300 members and counting.
2. Muck Rack
http://muckrack.com/
Journalists on Twitter, listed by beat and media outlet. Add yourself to the list!
3. Visual Editors
http://visualeditors.ning.com/
Social network for graphically-inclined journos (designers, photographers, videographers, et al.)
4. Testy Copy Editors
http://www.testycopyeditors.org
Message board for folks on the copy desk.
5. Sree’s Twitter Guide for Skeptics and Newbies
http://bit.ly/twitterideas
Extensive list of Twitter tools and resources for journos, compiled by Columbia J-School tech superstar Sree Sreenivasan. You can listen to his “Twitter for Journalists” podcast here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ColumbiaJournalism/2009/01/09/Twitter-for-Journalists
Until next time…
I’m Emily Sweeney, staff reporter at The Boston Globe. You can follow me (@emilysweeney) on Twitter at http://twitter.com/emilysweeney.
When the big storm comes, change your site
Steve Safran, with MediaReInvent, is out with this important weather reminder:
With the onset of hurricane season, and the first significant storm threat we’ve faced this year, it’s important that you’re ready for the emergency. I don’t mean having plenty of supplies on hand or having lots of meetings. I mean for your web presence — especially that front page of yours. In a big, breaking news emergency, you have to change it.
During the California wildfires in October 2007, KFMB did an outstanding job altering its website to give exclusive coverage to the fires.
TwitterDead – Schott’s Vocab Blog – NYTimes.com
TwitterDead – Schott’s Vocab Blog – NYTimes.com.
Celebrities whose deaths have been erroneously reported in cyberspace.
“Viruses may spread quickly on the Internet, but hoaxes can be pretty contagious, too,” Monica Corcoran wrote recently in The Times:
In the same week that Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died, the Web became a hotbed of made-up death reports about various celebrities.
Jeff Goldblum was the first to go. A headline on Google News read, “Jeff Goldblum Has Died, Falls to Death on Set!” Details were murky, but just specific enough to sound plausible. The story went that Mr. Goldblum, 56, had plummeted off the 60-foot Kauri Cliffs in New Zealand while filming a movie.
What started out as a prank soon took on a life of its own. Twitter users retweeted the item, and the community became an echo chamber. Facebook members chimed in.
By the week’s end, the celebrity death toll had turned into a conga line.
Other “late” celebrities included: George Clooney, Miley Cyrus, Harrison Ford, Natalie Portman, Randy Jackson and Britney Spears.
