How Did You Make Your Customers Feel?

via thecustomercollective.com

In today's market place how you handle your customer is more important than ever. The five questions to ask yourself in this article are great and really make you think about how you handle a customer from the first moment to the last.

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Twitter versus Hollywood: Social Media Can Make or Break a Movie

I love movies of all kinds - action, comedy, drama, suspense, chick flicks and even horror.  They provide a much needed escape into another world where I can laugh, cry and shout for joy.  Since I also love social media it was a no brainer that I would post what I thought about a movie the instant the credits rolled.  

Michael Sragow’s article in the Baltimore Sun this week on how movie studios are trying to gauge the impact of tweets was pretty interesting to me.  His article Twitter Effect rattle Hollywood was a good read.  

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Simple Things to Do When Your Online Image Stinks!

I have worked in the area of crisis management since 1989 so when I came across this article by Celine Rogue of course I had to take a minute and read it.  It was worth the minute.  This article Fix Your Track Record: What to Do About Embarrassing Projects from Your Past has great advice for anyone looking to improve their image online.

It is vital that businesses and individuals understand that with the introduction of the internet, and then social media, the rules of engagement have completely changed and you need to change with them.

Since 84% of people will search online before they try, buy, go see or do something it is imperative that people and companies take control of their online presence. 

So take a minute and read this article.

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Big Companies Making Big Money on Social Media

I just finished reading "Live From eTail: Dell Does $3 Million in Sales on Twitter" When asked the secret to their success Dell simply states that they use people on Twitter who are not corporate figures but who are real people and that they post as themselves. I would have to agree that this simple plan is a good one since it follows the basic underlying principle of social media - it is social!

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Why the "Name Random Thoughts..."?

I guess the answer is that I like a lot things, some of them more than others, and I like to share them with, well, everyone. So when I started blogging I would try to stick to one subject but I found it to be very, very hard so I created Random Thoughts. RT, for short, is a simple blog about social media, online PR, public relations and a collection of stuff that I just think is fun!

 I hope you enjoy...

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Switching to Posterous or Am I?

So I have decided, on a whim, to try out Posterous. 

I was reading "The New Influencers" by Paul Gillin(again) and came across Steve Rubel's name (again) and decided to pop online to see what he was doing today. When I Googled him I found him on Posterous and after a quick spin around I decided that I would switch over to see how it handles and if I like it or not.

If I like it then I will permanently switch over - if not then Random Thoughts will remain on Blogger.

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Some of My Favorite Stories from Last Week!

Malls Use Social Media to Connect With Shoppers

3 Social Media Aggregators That Bring It All Together

A Brief and Informal Twitter Etiquette Guide

Pentagon Social Media Czar Pushes Web 2.0, Despite Ban Threat

Mad Men Use Social Media To Promote Old Media

Obama courts worldwide following through social media, but is playing catch-up - Kansas City Star

Business Mistakes in Social Media

I just finished reading an article in the Houston Chronicle by Mary Tuma called "Companies in new age of networking". The article is an interview with the president of the International Association of Business Communicators, Julie Freeman. This article and the interview gave very safe suggestions for businesses looking to add social media to their PR and marketing campaigns. However, the reason I am linking this article to my blog is the comments that were posted in response to the story. While there were only three comments they are very vocal opinions on the potential commercialization of social media.

goofyguy77 wrote, "I sense a corporate 'follow the leader' frenzy here that will blow out in a few months when the failure of these schemes becomes way to obvious to spin anymore (and some ad budgets run dry)"

As someone who works with business owners looking to engage in social media, I am consistently disappointed to find shell profiles, boring blogs and pointless status updates. These are the most common business mistakes in social media.

If business owners took a moment to understand what social media is all about and how it can be used to engage their target public then they would find themselves participating in a means of communication that is both powerful and rewarding.

The Top 20 Business Reasons To Use Social Media Marketing

I just finished reading The Top 20 Business Reasons To Use Social Media Marketing by David Carelton. This article does indeed list 20 reasons for businesses to use social media marketing and all of them are great reasons. So great that I am listing them out here:

The Top 20 Business Reasons to Use Social Media Marketing

Improve customer and prospect relationships

Conduct inexpensive yet effective market research

Build brand awareness, authority and credibility

Drive traffic to your website

Ability to obtain insight into targeted niche markets

Find new distribution channels

Improve search engine rankings through link building

Find and research targeted decision makers, prospects, customers and contacts

Monitor reputation - what are people saying about you or your company

Attain expert status for you, your company or your brand

An effective form of communicating with past, present and future clients

Share information used to educate prospects

Spy on your competition

Provides increased visibility for you, your products or your brand

Generate more leads

Get more referrals

Find joint venture partners

A new vehicle to post PR, events and articles

Provide better customer service

And of course - INCREASE SALES!

More importantly however, this article stresses a very vital component to using social media successfully and that component is simply that the skill set used in traditional marketing is not the same skill set used in social media marketing. In order to succeed in today's market place PRs and marketers are going to have to constantly strive to stay on top on the many new tools available to them AND learn how each of these tools can be used to obtain the products that they used to obtain through traditional channels.

Using Video in PR Campaigns

With YouTube touted as the #2 search engine behind Google, video content is already an important part of any comprehensive PR and marketing campaign.

I just finished reading Online Video: Why We Advertisers Have It All Wrong and the author, Kevin J. Nalty lists out some very valid points on using videos. Whether you are interested in using video for branding or simply want to know what mistakes to avoid, this article is a good read for both the beginner and the person who has already cannon balled into the deep end of the pool.

The ways in which video can be used to make a person, business or product well known and well thought of are varied and numerous, but in order to be as effective and efficient as possible in a world of ever shrinking PR and marketing budgets it is a must that you understand how to use this tool to create the biggest effect possible.

How to Create a Winning PR Campaign

I love public relations. I consider it to be a scientific art form because it is both a precise technology with definite laws and specific results as well as a means of communicating ideas, beliefs and feelings as if it were a fine painting or a beautiful concerto.

A professional well trained in the tools of PR can weave a tapestry of such fine and delicate communication that the fate of a person, a group or a nation can be changed for the better.

So why do some people smirk when PR is mentioned as if it leaves a bad taste in their mouths?

My guess is that at some point in their life they were the victim of or witness to the misuse of the technology of public relations. PR is essentially communication. The communication is delivered through a vast array of tools. These tools include the old standbys or press releases and events as well as the new Internet darlings such as social media, Twitter, Facebook and countless others. However in order to truly communicate the message must be based on fact.

A fundamental law in PR is that what is communicated must be true. Now that I have the Internet to get out my client’s messages I am even more aware of the need for campaigns to be based on accurate and factual information. Campaigns based on fact win and those that don’t leave a lot of people smirking.

So before you send out the next press release, Twitter the next tweet or simply update a status on Facebook, remember that you have one chance to create a true work of art.

Quick Tips for Effective Search Engine Marketing

First, Google is the top search engine by far and controls over 70% of the Internet market. The second largest search engine behind Google is Youtube and 1 in 5 searches currently being done are for images. Youtube and image entries are also now showing up in straight Google searches so they are key to page ranking. The Internet is a fast paced and ever changing world so you must stay on top of the latest trends in order to put together a campaign that gets good results quickly and efficiently. To do otherwise can mean a lot of wasted time and effort.

Second, the Internet is becoming more and more important to a business. Currently, over 70% of American adults are online and when they want to know something 80% of them go to the Internet BEFORE they buy, try, go to, etc. With that said the average person never even makes it off the first page of a search and unless you are in the top five entries you may very well miss out. This is one reason why your online reputation must be constantly tracked to ensure that what is being said about you and your business is what you want your target audience to know.

Finally, it is imperative that you have a complete PR and marketing campaign laid out before you start. This is the biggest mistake I see made on any attempt to raise page ranking or handle online reputation issues. Without a campaign you are simply engaged in a hit or miss game of creating endless profiles, joining countless networks, groups and directories and keeping your fingers crossed that what you have done will keep you ranked highly on the search engines.

Why You Need an Online PR and Marketing Campaign

I was talking with a potential client the other day about the use of online PR, social media branding and search engine marketing for a business and she was quick to pipe in that she had just hired someone to handle this for her company. She hired a freelancer and gladly told me that she was very happy with the results as she had moved up on a page on a Yahoo search but since she did not really understand the use of the Internet in PR, marketing and branding that was all she could tell me. I was confused and told her so as prior to this conversation I had done a search engine marketing analysis on her and her business and found that the only entries I could easily find for her were negative. She assured me that I needed to look again as that had changed. Afterwards I popped online and did a quick search for her and her company. The results were bad, really bad. Not only is she and her company still hard to find, especially on Google, but the reputation damaging entries are still scattered across the first page of Google, Yahoo and MSN. The person she hired to build her brand online is not getting the job done and she did not even know it – in fact she thought he was doing a good job.

How did this happen? Usually this happens because a business owner tries to handle the online PR, marketing and branding themselves by joining every social media and networking site they can find. Simply joining Facebook, Myspace or one of the numerous other sites does not in itself guarantee any page rank results as that is not what they are designed to do. They are a great vehicle for capturing and cultivating an audience that you can share ideas with and promote to and used correctly this can increase website traffic.

I suspect though that this happened to the business owner because the professional she hired did not have a campaign. Instead this person seemed to operate on a shotgun approach of joining and linking to as many online groups and social media networking sites as possible knowing that some change had to eventually occur for the better.

Without a well planned PR and marketing campaign even a professional can come up short in the results department.

A true campaign must take into consideration the target public for what is being promoted, where this public hangs out online, the best online tools for use and must know which social media, online networking, blogs, newsgroups, etc. get the best result for the campaign being created. The person putting together the campaign must be well versed in both the standard tools of PR and marketing as well as the Internet itself and how it works. This is what an online PR and marketing specialist brings to the table – the knowledge to take all of these tools and put them together in a campaign that gets results. And that is why you need an online PR and marketing campaign – to ensure you get results.

Getting the Most Out of Social Media

I just finished reading "Yes, CEOs Should Facebook And Twitter"on Forbes.

This was a fantastic and very well thought out look at how top executives and business owners can use these platforms to their advantage.

In case you haven't noticed, social networking is not just for teenagers anymore. It is a fast paced, exciting and valuable new means of attracting attention, maintaining relationships (personal and business) and generating new business.

These tools can be used to market, brand and make known your products and services to thousands of people with the click of a button. Used wisely they are exactly what this economy needs. Used unwisely they can be a PR nightmare.

The solution is simple, before you start to Tweet or use any other social media tool you must have a well thought out plan that not only incorporates the new online methods such search engine marketing and social media branding but also the basic tried and true methods of PR, marketing and publicity. Having such a plan as well as monitoring the results of your social media actions will ensure that your time online is well spent.

The First Step in Creating a Search Engine Marketing Campaign that Gets Results

The number of new ways to connect, share and hook up on the Internet can be overwhelming, especially to a business owner attempting to take advantage of search engine marketing and the social media craze.

Today you can create blogs, micro-blogs, share information using around forty different means of linking, emailing and Twittering, create at least sixty profiles and in general spend a great deal of time “marketing online” with little to show for it other than maybe a lengthy list of friends or followers.

In order to get the most our of your efforts you not only must know the tools of search engine marketing and how to use them but also have a strategic plan and campaign laid out that will take you and your business where you want to go.

Randomly creating profiles, joining online groups and posting may give you the illusion that you are getting the word out on what you do but the reality is that if you do not have clearly defined goals, purposes and products for these activities then you are not getting the true value of your actions and may be wasting your time altogether.

A vital step in putting together a search engine marketing campaign for your business is to identify your target audience and determine where they can be found online. This is not as easy as it sounds and if this step is omitted you could find yourself marketing your gourmet meat and cheese speciality shop to vegans.

There is a lot of advice out there on how to use social media tools to market and quite a bit of it is very good. But in order to truly expand your business online you need a specialist. You need someone who not only knows the social media and search engine marketing tools but who also knows the technology of public relations, publicity and marketing.

So the first step in creating a search engine marketing campaign that gets results is to do yourself a favor and hire a specialist who will take the time to layout a real plan and a true campaign that will increase your online presence, make you and your products or services well known and drive more traffic to your website.

What Role Does Social Media Play in PR?

As someone who has been in the field of PR for the past 20 years I was intrigued by the concept of using the Internet in public relations and as I usually do I simply rolled up my sleeves and dived in. After several years of using social media branding, search engine marketing and SEO information I cannot imagine doing my job in PR without these tools. In fact I consider what I do now is not just PR but Online PR.

Today I was doing my regular online search to find out "what is new in PR" and came across a wonderful article by Sarah Skerik, VP, Distribution Services, PR Newswire in the Bulldog Reporter which you can read here: http://tinyurl.com/b24aym

Sarah states quite simply the key points that someone needs to understand in order to become proficient in the mixing of PR and social media. A person who knows well the rules of PR and publicity and who also understands the role that social media and search engine marketing plays will have a tremendous advantage in 2009 as well as the years to come.

Are You Using Search Engine Marketing (SEM) To Expand Your Business?

If not you should be. The Internet is so much more today than it was even just a few short years ago. Over 80% of American adults use a search engine such as Google to research a product or service before they buy it. If you do not know how to correctly market to your target public then you are not only behind the times but are most likely behind your competition. Search engine marketing (SEM) is a must for any business no matter the field or size.

Some companies try to short cut the system and will create shell profiles on social networking sites, ghost blogs and phantom groups in an effort to raise themselves in the search engine page rankings and while that might result in a short blip on the radar it will not produce the long lasting expansion that a true marketing plan will.

To succeed in search engine marketing you need to create an online presence that is real, useful and aimed at your consumers. Generic may be a smart choice when filling a prescription but not when you are making yourself known on the Internet.

Correctly done you can increase business from your existing clients and generate business from new clients using the Internet.

So, are you using search engine marketing to expand your business? Do you know how? Does your competition?

Time To Start Thinking Of Twitter As A Search Engine

Last week I was in a meeting with the promotion, marketing and web design team for a client and of course the subject of Twitter came up. I had just started using Twitter as a search engine and was loving the ease with which I could find real time results for the topics that interest me most. Later that afternoon the following article appeared on Twitter! Enjoy!

It’s Time To Start Thinking Of Twitter As A Search Engine

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Three Easy Ways to Enhance Your Web Site or Blog

I get asked on a regular basis how someone can spice up their website or blog. There are a lot of different answers to this question depending on the purpose of the website/blog, the target public for the site, etc. This morning I was doing a little research on this subject and came across an excellent article that gave good sound general advice that would apply to just about everyone so I am posting it here. I hope it helps.

Three Easy Ways to Enhance Your Web Site or Blog : Natalie Glenn, Director of Client Relations - Plexus

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Using Social Media To Grow Your Business

Recently I was talking with another business owner about how a small business, or any business for that matter, can hope to make it in 2009 given the current state of - well everything. He strongly felt that patience was key.

Patience yes, but also hard work. I agreed with him that the economy would not fix itself overnight and also that there are opportunities out there - ample opportunities. The people who will come out the other side of this will be those that not only recognized the opportunities that existed but who also promoted, sold and produced.

That will be true not just for finding new customers but for retaining existing customers.

Retaining existing customers will be key since everyone is logically looking for ways in which to cut back. Providing excellent customer service is a tried and true method of making sure your services do not get cut when someone is reviewing where they can trim the fat.

However, business owners are also going to have to start looking for ways to reach more people with less money. The Internet is a great resource for exactly that if harnessed correctly and the many different social media tools such as Facebook not only offer venues for the sharing of ideas but also for PR and marketing directly to consumers.

I have always relied on word of mouth as my mainstay but am also constantly looking for new ways to get the word out on my business and the businesses of my clients. After seeing what I was able to accomplish for my clients simply through social media and online PR actions I was impressed. The trick is simply knowing which tools to use and how to put them into a plan that will help a business maintain and strengthen existing relationships while building new ones.

An online PR strategy using social media, coupled with sound financial planning, hard work and a willingness to sell will ensure a business rides out the current economic storm.