Recently I gave a talk at the Kingsport Times News Women’s Expo at Meadowview called “Is twitter the new black?” I freely admit that title is not my own creation. Rather, I had seen it on a couple of blogs including that of The Times editor Jennifer Howze who says the following:
“Forget about ‘the new black.’ For many women I know, Twitter is the new e-mail. It’s more immediate, feels more like a personal conversation, and unlike your overflowing Outlook inbox you can control whose messages make it on to your screen.”
As someone who has been very active on twitter for over a year I quite agree! Email seems like a bit of a dinosaur in the face of a quick DM to catch someone’s attention. And as Howze says instead of a monologue to monologue conversation, twitter lets you be part of an online sharing of great links, photos, fabulous friends and more.
Recently I attended a local chamber breakfast when several people (tweeps) whom I had never met in person came up to me following the event. Each of them said, “There’s MarketingMel. Hey, MarketingMel! I follow you on twitter.” Ah, the power of social media in action.
So, is twitter the new black? When it comes to personal branding, you might say it’s even better. follow me on Twitter
MarketingMel points out JC Penney's Facebook fan page
Since the company launch last spring MarketingMel has been extremely busy assisting clients with their public relations, social networking, marketing and media relations strategies. The firm’s most recent endeavor was a joint venture with my former n-tara colleague Tim McLeod. Together we created a web site for Dan Eldridge, who is a candidate for Washington County TN Mayor. Please visit the site and circle back here to let me know your thoughts. Of course any web site is evolutionary and we’ll be adding more photos and new videos after the launch announcement Tuesday.
I began my career as a broadcaster and it’s strange how life goes full circle. I just signed a contract with Northeast State to do voiceover work for training videos that will be used by Eastman Chemical Company operators. This project is funded under an agreement with the State of Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development . Thanks to Kyle Long who asked me to audition for that project.
I’ve worked closely with former Board Chairman of the Tennessee Appraisal Commission, John Bullington, on publicizing a very specific issue pertaining to the appraisers and the Home Valuation Code of Conduct or HVCC. We got tremendous coverage, including pickups on Reuters, Fox News, Yahoo Finance, etc.
I’ve also worked with Todd Mussard, CPA to help him with his social networking, advising him on his web site, twitter and LinkedIn strategies and I secured a speaking engagement for him in front of a targeted group of professionals.
Lots of public speaking engagements have been on the docket including the talk on social networking as seen in the photo at the Times-News Women’s Expo last week. I’ll write more about those in an upcoming post. follow me on Twitter
Women’s Expo 2009 is this Saturday and Sunday at Meadowview. I am honored to be in the company of some distinguished speakers. I will be presenting during the portion called “Tips, Tools & Resources for Competing in Today’s Environment.” Here’s the line up of topics:
10 am:
Social Networking and Hot to Use it in Today’s Market, MarketingMel 10:30 am
What Opportunities Are There For Me to Start my Own Business and How do I do it?
Bob Justice, Tennessee Small Business Development Center
11:00 am
How do I find the Financial Resources to Obtain the Training Necessary for Jobs in the New Economy?
Marquita Tittle, Coordinator Career Development Services Center, Northeast State Community College
11:30 am
Educational Opportunities for You Today
Dr. Linda Garceau, Dean, School of Business and Technology, ETSU
1:00 pm
Keeping Up My Self Esteem and Positive Attitude When Things are Changing, (Company Sold, Grieving Process) Lottie Ryans, Regional Vice President, CenturyLink (formerly Embarq)
1:30 pm
Life After Layoff: First Steps
Cindy Martin-Hensley, Director of Planning and Program Development, Alliance for Business and Training
3:00 pm
The On-Line World-How do I Make Myself Stand Out?
Carol D. Trahan- Owner, Spherion Recruiting and Staffing
Seating is limited. Call 423-245-2878 to reserve your seat today.
Tickets for the Women’s expo are $5 advance, $7 at the door. Children 12 and under are free. Show hours: Saturday 10am-6 pm, Sunday 1 pm-6pm follow me on Twitter
This is an amusing video and worth watching to see what one of the industry thought leaders, Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle, has to say about Cloud Computing. follow me on Twitter
David Letterman’s recent public indiscretions got me thinking about my own career as a public relations professional. As long as there are people in the world those of us in the public relations profession will have job security. All humans stumble, but some just happen to do it much more publicly than others. So to use Dave’s own top ten list: Here is why there will always be a need for PR people.
10- Politicians and political candidates will keep running for office
9- Companies will want to engage with and not run from their customers
8- Executives will need to know how to look/speak and talk on camera
7- CEOs will need someone to see the long term strategy not just the short term dollars
6- Individuals and companies will seek out new ways of communicating with their customers via the next great twitter, Facebook etc.
5- Public officials will stub their toes and have to make public mea culpas
4- Companies will need a crisis communications plan in place in order to thwart disasters
3- Someone will have to advise the reigning emperor that he is not wearing clothes
2- (Speaking of no clothes) Late night talk show hosts and movie stars will be unable to keep their pants zipped
And the number one reason there will always be PR people:
1- Oprah will keep feeding the media machine full of sobbing apologies and the public will continue its thirst for more
Here is an excellent social media and convergence video. Traditional advertising is dying and, as one who used to work in that trade, I must say I’m not sad to see it go. So glad for the connecting and relationship building that inbound marketing and social networking provides. Thanks to my friend Jeff Brunson of Basic Approach for sharing this video with me. What do you think of it? As the video asks, “are you ready for the future?”
Yesterday it was my honor and privilege to speak about social networking to a group of regional business owners. Many of the folks there were coached by ActionCoach Curt Henry and Master Coach Lee Huffman led the business planning portion of the presentation. It was great to be surrounded by other small business owners who are also trying to make their way in the current business climate and fascinating to hear their struggles and challenges. Curt, whom I met at our regional consultants group meeting, invited me to participate. Kudos to another executive coach, Jeff Brunson, who recommended me. I called my presentation: ” What me tweet? Why business owners should care about social networking.” We had a great conversation using real world examples of companies that have successfully used social media and those who have chosen to dig their heads in the sand. After I showed the social media revolution video I asked the business owners how it made them feel. One said, “old.” Another said, “excited.” I was thrilled for him. He immediately got it and he sees the incredible opportunities that are out there to build brand awareness and engage in direct relationships with customers through social media. follow me on Twitter
Tomorrow I will be giving a presentation to an exclusive group of regional business owners about social marketing. They are all affiliated with ActionCoach and local ActionCoach Curt Henry asked me to be the guest speaker. I call it, “What me tweet? Why business owners should care about social networking.” I will open the talk with this video. It’s made the circuit on twitter and elsewhere but I get something out of it every time I watch it. Hope you enjoy it.
I absolutely went crazy for this video when I saw it and am posting it to all my social networks. It sums up exactly where I am in my life right now. Feeling really blessed to have created a start-up PR business that already has some fantastic clients. Be sure to crank up your speakers. The original piano score is as good as the video. Hats off to the clever folks at grasshopper.com!
Now that regular folks are joining NFL football players in getting in on the social media microblogging phenomenon, it’s time to review some twitter etiquette (twittiquette). Since I’ve been active on twitter for a year and am a public relations professional, I guess that makes me qualified to be the Miss Manners of twitter!
Always use a photo or if you’re a company use your logo. People want to engage with other people, not brown circles.
Fill out your profile. Give people a brief idea of who you are. This is your chance to shine. Consider it a very brief elevator speech that you get to provide to the whole world.
Don’t mention any kind of quick fix scheme. Please! If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Do not use DM’s to spam. It didn’t take me long to figure out how to turn those auto DM’s off and others will do the same. That is how NOT to engage your audience.
Follow Friday. This is twitter karma at its best. Unless someone looks like a spammer, if they give you a shout-out be courteous and return the favor (particularly if it’s someone you know.)
When it all comes down to it just follow the golden rule of twitter. Tweet others as you would have them tweet you. follow me on Twitter
