Powerfriending by Amber Mac

This is a phenomenal resource for anyone who wants to learn the basics of social media. Great case studies and practical advice. As I read through it all kinds of new ideas started bubbling. It's one of those books you'll want to have near your desk for quick reference when you're thinking about how to engage your audience(s). Enjoy! Click the image to learn more.

FREE SOCIAL MEDIA MEASUREMENT TOOLS

These FREE social media “listening” tools are available and their RSS feeds can be consolidated into Google Reader for daily scanning and reporting.

· Google alerts – obviously
· Google Trends – tracks trends on key words
· Google blog search – track active bloggers in your industry sector
· Google advanced search “find that link to this page” – tracks other sites linking to your site
· www.search.twitter.com – advanced search on key words
· Trendsmap.com – visual representation of regional “tweet” activity
· Bit.ly – produces customized short URLs and tracks the number of visitors to these URLs
· Socialmention.com – tracks sentiment, tone, etc. on key words
· Klout.com – monitor others talking about you and gauge their influence
· Radian6 – about $500/month – consolidates all the above

FIVE-MINUTE MEDIA RELEASE PLANNER

Planning is key to any great media release. Use this Five-Minute Media Release Planner to map out all the core content for your next announcement.

1. Title of release: Most salient news point(s), succinct, present tense.

2. Date of release: Be strategic. What else is going on in the world/industry. When is best to announce?

3. Distribution: Sending via a news wire, to your custom media lists, both?

4. The point of this release is to... fill in the blank. What do you hope to accomplish through this announcement? What's the main objective? Once you answer these questions you may determine that a media release is OR is not the right tool to use.

5. This release leads with details about... What's the main message? Which of your 5 Ws and 3 Hs is most important (Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? How long? How much?)

6. Audience. Who is the primary audience you want to engage? Secondary audience?

7. List of Key Messages in priority order. Prioritize core concepts (broad-brush stroke messages encapsulating the essence of your organisation) and key messages (specific to this announcement/situation).

8. List of content in priority order. Don't forget spokesperson quote(s), company boiler plates.

9. Support materials. What tools do you need to support this release? Photos, bios, fact sheet(s), backgrounder(s), b-roll, transcripts, embed codes for video, and hyperlinks are all examples of what you might need.

Facebook Facts & Stats (March 2010)

Visit the following link for a rundown of salient facts and stats about Facebook. Might provide some insights about the site to help you leverage it for your next social media / marketing communications campaign.

http://bit.ly/baSeKO

SOCIAL MEDIA CHEAT SHEET

Click the media links below to access a quick reference guide that details how to leverage social media sites. The document is posted in two parts. Click both of the links below to access both parts.

Part 1:

http://bit.ly/9dWeP0



















Part 2:

http://bit.ly/aeReFq

HANDLING MEDIA INTERVIEW REQUESTS

Here's an article Graham Machacek wrote for a recent issue of Communicator, the member news bulletin for the International Association of Business Communicators.

CLICK HERE, then HERE to download page 1 and page 2 of the INTERVIEW TRACKING SHEET that accompanies this article.

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BRAND REPUTATION CASE STUDY: The Obama Special Olympics Scandal

First, please CLICK HERE to view the video clip (the slip is at the 18 second mark).

Obama’s camp was quick to release this statement:

The president made an off-hand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics. He thinks the Special Olympics is a wonderful program that gives an opportunity for people with disabilities from around the world.

In Obama’s case, he has banked so much public goodwill that his “Special Olympics” slip won’t tarnish his personal brand too much in the long run. But I guarantee if former U.S. president George Bush had made the same blunder that Jay Leno himself would have thrown a shoe at him!

CLICK HERE to relive that infamy.


















Just like an erroneous media report, it’s very difficult to reel back the wrong message once it’s out there. So what can you do to build, protect, and maintain your reputation?

Three quick tips:

1- Do research – internal and external – to understand what stakeholders think of your brand.

2- Once you know what people think, develop a strategy that moves them to a LOYALTY position.

3- As part of your reputation plan, identify who the thought leaders are and get them on your side.