Carson and Company

Is email part of you PR Marketing Strategy, or do you only use Social Media?

There have been a lot of discussions about the future and what role email will be playing. Some people, even the COO of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg, thinks email is on its way out and people will rely on social media to communicate. This could be possible, but not in any near future. I doubt in my lifetime this will happen. As some writers said, like Chris Crum at WebPro News, all (most of them) social media requires an email to subscribe, or become a member. So that doesn’t sound like the system of social networks has or is ready to abolish email as the means to communicate.

We can only wait and see what new methods of communication develop over the next decade. Who knows, we may soon just think our thoughts and send them through brain waves. “Beam me up Scotty!”

Ok, enough said. This now brings me to the second part of this blog. How involved are your PR Clients with social media? Do you have a plan? Do you have a campaign in place? Writing one blog, or using twitter once or twice a week is not getting involved in social media. Social media can become a powerful marketing tool for any pr marketing strategy. If and when done correctly, results can be very positive. If you need to refresher course, just refer to some of my blogs that discuss “How to Use Linkedin to Increase Traffic“, or “Learn How to Use Social Media for PR Clients“. Or just click on the archive files to see many other related topics.

When you are ready to begin and implement a campaign, then give George Carson a call at 949-477-9400. It’s the social thing to do!

Social media has become a staple in the world of communication. The proof is the new battle between Bing, and Google who both recently announced deals with Twitter and Facebook. So how does this affect your web site? A lot, and in a positive way! This shows that SEO and social media are partners in your pr marketing strategies success. Be sure your public relations campaign includes these updates.

Since both SEO’s like content, and a lot of it, then your Twitter and Facebook can become major sources to be recognized by these SEO’s. But remember as I mentioned in my recent posts about Twitter, you need to have good content in those limited words. Don’t make sales pitches, give content.

Use keywords in your tweets and Facebook sites. And important are the links you use in the content. One tip, don’t have your feeds cross back and forth from your tweets and Facebook, turn it off, if the messages are the same on both. This may affect Bing from picking up your feeds if the are the same. Make them each unique, and you are good to go.

This is just another change in the war of search engines struggling to become the choice of consumers. Keeping informed of these types of changes is a full time job. So keep following this blog and we will do our best to help you be current so that your public relations campaign and pr marketing strategy is a success

Unlike a couple of years ago, today there are dozens of different social networks to choose from. So how do you know which ones will work for your business? Do you create a Facebook page, or a MySpace page, or do you jump on the Twitter circuit? What about all those other social networks like Friendster, Flickr, or del.icio.us and many others?

Before you begin to use social networking for business, you need to answer these questions. First, do you have a pr marketing strategy? If not, do you have a pr marketing plan? Ok, if these are not in your business plan, then it’s time to develop a pr marketing strategy that includes social networking. It would also be an excellent pr marketing strategy to start a blog site for your company. All successful PR Clients have a solid pr marketing strategy that has social networking as part of their plan.

I have written about using of MySpace and Facebook as a means to market your business. And I wrote a lot on blogging, which in all should be a continued program with all companies and PR Clients looking to be successful in the next 12 to 16 months. Now let’s look at how you can use Twitter as a business tool.

What makes Twitter so exciting? When used properly, Twitter is a great way to reach out to new prospects and keep a trusted connection with existing clients.

Some important issues to know: Unlike the many other social networks, Twitter followers do not like in-your-face marketing. And unlike MySpace and Facebook, Twitter has “followers”. These are usually friends, and other people that you may not know directly.

The rules for using Twitter:

1- Don’t add people you don’t know. This new social group gets annoyed if you just add people who follow others you know. Start slowly, add people you know, and then let it build. The main reason people like Twitter, they can leave if they don’t want to follow you because of your content.

2- Look for people that are in your industry. If you find people that are recognized in your industry, or are smart, then getting them to re-follow you is easier. That’s provided you offer something they want to follow, or know more about. Remember, no one like spam, so don’t start the hard sell with followers.

3- Be genuine about your business. When you begin to tell about your business, tell it from the heart. Not like a sales pitch. Twitter followers will respond if they see you have a passion for what you do.

4- Be active. If you choose to use Twitter, you need to invest at least an hour or two during the week. Just like other social sites, keeping it fresh is important. But with Twitter, people follow because they feel they are getting up-to-the minute info about you.

Still want to Twitter? If not, at least build a social network that includes the blog site and the traditional Facebook site to keep your business alive. Need help with social networking? Then give Carson Marketing, Inc. a call at 949-477-9400. Ask for George Carson, he will personally assist you with your social networking needs.

We are entering another level in the world of cyberspace and social networking. Jut a few years ago chat rooms were the craze, and then came the social networks like MySpace and Facebook, and the business networks like Linkedin. Now they are trying to make money on these successful sites. So why not Twitter? Yes, the overnight successful social network is thinking people are willing to pay to meet friends. Would you pay? At present it’s free. But for how long? An article in web pro news discusses this topic further.

There are still other social networks that are free. And new ones are entering the crowded market, such as Twellow.com (still in beta). So how do these social sites profit from an industry that is hungry to meet others? Place banner ads on the sites? Collect the personal data and sell it to prospects? Or begin membership clubs to keep from all the commercials and banners?

I am not sure what the answer is, or if there is going to be an answer that meets what people will be willing to accept. Only time will tell. In today’s rapid pace of social media, we can only wait and see.

I thought this short blog will help my pr clients and “friends” in the publicity industry, as well as publicity professionals are informed about the latest direction for social networks. If you are a pr client, or publicity firm that needs help in developing a social visible network, then give me a call. I’ll be willing to guide you in the direction to take your business to the next level. Good luck, George Carson.

Here we go again! Another attempt at social media, but this time it is one of the giant Internet companies, Yahoo. It is not well known, but Yahoo did an attempt at social media called Mash. It “crashed and failed” on September 29, 2008. This shows you that just because you have a fat piggy bank with unlimited resources, you can fail. To be effective with your pr marketing strategies you need to know this.

Unlike Google who used “Blogging” to get social with it’s “Follow this Blog” link, Yahoo tried being another Facebook, or MySpace. Now Yahoo has learned a lesson and has re-invented itself in terms of social and blogging. This time Yahooo  is claiming to be more of a social destination. According Stoneham, who says the following about the new yahoo social direction:

I want to make it clear that this new profile is not intended to be a new social destination on Yahoo!. Rather, our plan is to integrate “social” as a central dimension into the services you use every day. For example, if you’re on Yahoo! Messenger 9.0, you’re already seeing Yahoo! Buzz, Mybloglog, and Twitter updates as part of your friends’ status messages. Soon you’ll see social capabilities added elsewhere across Yahoo!, beginning with places where you start your day. The new homepage we’re testing will soon have an application that lets you stay up to date with what your friends are doing across the Web. And Yahoo! Mail will be delivering a smarter inbox, displaying emails from your most important connections first.

Developing a pr marketing strategy for your pr clients, or if you are a pr client, don’t feel these attempts are showing a crowded market for social networks. I still feel the industry is growing and maturing. Yes, there will be fallouts, and that in turn builds a stronger understanding of where the next level of social networks is going. In my opinion, it is going to be more “business” related. There will always be consumer sides to social, but the business community is hungry for this as well, but on a mature level. So keep your pr marketing strategies in touch with the changes and keep an eye open for new social BUSINESS networks, it is only a matter of time, and the time is not far off.

I am constantly being asked to give more information about this growing Internet media called “social media”. To help further understand the power this new media offers you need to read my other articles on social media and also this article. Then maybe you will get a better perspective why your pr client needs to become active in social media. If nothing else happens with your pr marketing strategy campaign, make sure you consider adding a blog or other social media network to the program.

To begin, it is important to know exactly what is Social Media: Defined by Wikipedia (a type of Social Media site) defines it as “the online technologies and practices that people use to share content, opinions, insights, experiences, perspectives, and media themselves. Social media can take many different forms, including text, images, audio, and video. The social media sites typically use tools like message boards, forums, podcasts, bookmarks, communities, wikis, blogs etc.” This quote was in a white paper from More Visibility.

Notice how it describes the different types, and forms this media takes. Such as message boards and forums. If you recall, the web originated from old BBSes (Bulletin Board Systems) and Chat Rooms. In a sense, social media is a more advanced network of chat rooms. But today, anyone can create a post, write a blog– from teens to mature adults in their 80’s and make comments. Unlike chat rooms that were by invitations to friends. Yes, some social media like Facebook, and MySpace keep outsiders out if you don’t know them.

How many different types of Social media web sites exist? A lot. For starters there are:

Social Network Sites. Mainly web sites that are becoming a community with the intent to create a social involvement.

Picture Sites are another. You may already be using them. These are pictures you post online to share with others, family and friends.

Video site. Same as pictures, but use videos. The most popular is YouTube. But many other new sites are emerging daily.

Blogs. Most popular among the youth, now is part of a business network. Companies are blogging faster than ever to get the name out.

Many other types are happening like music sharing sites, podcasting (the next big growth area) and gaming sites as well.

Knowing just this information should help pr clients develop stronger pr marketing strategies for their campaign. If you are a pr client and your publicity agency is not getting you to the social media front, call George Carson at Carson Marketing, Inc. He will get you in front of the line.

Social media is not a fad. It keeps growing and now savvy marketers can target specific age groups and genders.

If you are a local pr client that does Publicity locally in Orange County, or a national company, marketers can now reach their target age customers with social media. It used to be restricted to the younger teens and those who were in college. Sites like MySpace and Facebook were the main arteries to this limited age audience. But now there are many new social media sites that are catering to various age groups. Such as “www.econs.com”. It isn’t surprising that this site was established, because it reaches the 50+ age who are very internet savvy.

According to a study by Pew Internet & American Life Project, they estimate over 70 percent of Americans aged 50 to 64 use the web. And econs.com is one of the sites they frequent most often.

If your pr marketing strategy is to target the generation between Baby Boomers and Generation X (born in the mid-50s to mid-60s) then check out BOOMj.com. This social networking site will get your pr campaign noticed with them.

Another new site called lavalife.com is a narrow niche targeting women in the mature age of 45 and up. This is still a beta site, but as you can see, social networking is expanding. It is helping local companies like those in Orange County, or New York City, to specifically reach a selected audience. To get more niche, other sites are popping up. These include SisterWoman.com, and CafeMom.com. The later is identified with moms raising kids while SisterWoman is a social network for women to chat and connect with girlfriends.

Make sure your pr marketing strategy plan includes these social networks as well as a solid blogging campaign. This is another way to increase the branding awareness and build a solid branding company. To get your pr marketing plan on target, give Carson Marketing Inc a call.

Wow, stop the presses, finally the marketing B2B people are discovering something new…Web 2.0! Well, not to make these slow learners feel bad, but Web 2.0 has been around awhile. It just seems funny how this is big news in publications like BtoB magazine. I like the publication; they are only telling what is happening to the companies who are finally getting smart.

Ok, so what is Web 2.0? It is the new medium of Blogs, RSS feeds, Podcasts, Videocasts, Social Networks, and more.

These are all the pr strategies and publicity tips I have been preaching for over a year to marketers. I guess I was just too excited at the time to not realize that other PR Clients, and local Orange County Publicity firms were not ready to implement these new pr marketing tools. Why, because they just did not appreciate the value it was offering. Now that the “news” is out, will there be over saturation? No. Just means that you need to be smarter, one step ahead of the competition. You need to have a savvy pr marketing professional, like Carson PR, on your side. I’m not bragging, ok, maybe a little, but it needs to be said that if you can’t see the trends or ignore them, then you as a pr client or publicity agency or even an advertising agency, will fall behind. And in this industry, falling behind isn’t that easy to get caught up.

If you have been reading my blogs for a while, then you know that we mentioned all the social networks long before they became “superbrands”. Places like Facebook, once only a college school network, now is a major competitor to MySpace. There are other social networks that pr clients and pr marketing agencies should consider in their overall marketing strategies. If you have been keeping up with these trends, it is now the podcasts, and videocastings that are becoming the “new” social media. These forms of communication are helping small companies as well as talented artists get recognized and become successful. If your a pr client, or have a publicity agency, give George Carson a call to learn how to be part of this growing media. Then maybe, just maybe, you will be the superbrand that others are trying to imitate.