Persuasive Picks for the week of 11/09/09

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Coping With Social Media Burnout
Have you reached the point of social media burnout? For some, committing to and keeping up with, social media engagement can be overwhelming. CIO.com’s Kristin Burnham contributes this guest post on the topic to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Study: Social Media, Mobile Set to Impact Holidays in Big Way
Retailers might get a little extra business from social media communities this holiday season. Christopher Heine from Clickz.com cites some interesting facts from a recent study by Deloitte.

Your Social Media Content Must Be Valuable
Content might be king, but SearchEngineWatch.com’s Liana Evans reminds readers that quality outweighs quantity when it comes to maintaining your high search engine rank.

Companies Identify Major Business Benefits in Listening to Online Conversation
More great facts, stats and examples of the importance of paying attention to online conversations about your brand, courtesy of Aberdeen and CNN Money.

How Ford does Social Media
JD Lasica shares this great video interview featuring Scott Monty who heads up Social Media at Ford.

Can You Afford Not to Demand Excellence?

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I recently had a conversation with an industry colleague who works on the client side. During that conversation, which took place at a marketing conference, he shared with me his experience at a certain other interactive conference last year: “One awesome week-long party paid for by my company. No real business takes place in terms of ROI. I can’t wait to go back.”

burning-wasting-money-600Huh? With that mentality, no wonder marketing is often the first line item when companies are facing budget cuts.

But wait a minute – aren’t you responsible for ensuring excellence for your company across the board at all times? In this day and age of record unemployment, pay cuts, “turning out the lights,” and more work with less resources, can you afford this sort of mentality on your workforce? Do you have any idea what the marketing department does with its budget? Are you assessing and measuring and demanding excellence on a weekly basis?

More importantly, if you have a marketing department spending money on events, travel, conferences and tradeshows, are you really measuring the ROI of such efforts? Do you assess the cost of the show (in full) and what it yielded for results? Do you pay attention to who’s going, what they’re doing and the expected results? Do you compare these investments to other marketing activities? Can you afford not to have such checks and balances in place these days?

Mind you, this was no multi-billion dollar company – although even they, too, are being affected by this global recession. This was a start up in a precarious and competitive industry. In other words, that kind of irresponsible mentality (like #11 here) shouldn’t be difficult to spot. But if you’re not paying attention – and not demanding results from every investment – then it could be missed. And such ignorance could cost you not only money, but perhaps a future layoff or worse.

Take the time to assess all of your  marketing activities – not just SEO or PR or advertising – but the dollars spent on every activity online and off. Demand excellence in everything and set parameters for employees. Prioritize in advance – know which activities yield the best results and which could easily be diminished with minimal impact.

Can you draw a direct line to results or positive ROI for each  marketing activity? If not, can you afford not to demand excellence and results across the board? I didn’t think so.

Persuasive Picks for the week of 11/02/09

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twitter_spam-300x3004 steps to Get Rid of Twitter Spam
If you’re active on Twitter, then no doubt you’ve seen the recent increase of “Twitter spam” coming from hijacked Twitter accounts. Damian Davila Rojas let readers know that Twitter Spam happens when application developers abuse that access that you have granted them to your Twitter account. He also shares 4 simple steps to help protect yourself by auditing the connections to your Twitter account.

What Social Media Monitoring Won’t Get You
Monitoring your brand online and the plethora of tools available to select from are all the rage of late, while Facebook’s popularity as a place for brands to plant their flag has also exploded. This post from Jason Falls reminds us that access to the vital conversation behind Facebook’s “walled garden” are not accessible by social media monitoring tools.

Get Off Your Computer and Become a Better Blogger
Want to become a better blogger? This post from James Chartrand on CopyBlogger provides some great advice on how to do just that, and it starts by stepping away from the keyboard.

9 digital trends to watch in 2010
This fun read from Nuri Djavit  on iMediaConnection shares 9 interesting predictions for digital trends that “could be” in 2010. 

Create a Virtual Office
Last, but certainly not least is this guest post on WomenEntrepreneur by our very own Christine Perkett where she expands on how a virtual workplace can benefit your company.

Persuasive Picks for the week of 10/26/09

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listenTop 13 Guidelines for Commenting on Blog Posts
Commenting on blogs that are part of your vertical market can be a powerful way to share knowledge with community and build your reputation as an expert in your field. B.L Ochman shares 13 tips and best practices for commenting on blogs.

Customer Data via Twitter
Adam T. Sutton from the Sherpa blog recently interviewed Craig Greenfield, VP, Search and Performance Media, Performics, where they discussed how his team uses Twitter. The result was six takeaways that show how Twitter contributes to the Performics team’s success.

Privacy is dead, and social media holds smoking gun
Mashable’s Pete Cashmore guest posts on the CNN Opinion blog with this piece on how social media is changing the face of privacy.

Your Company May Own Your Tweets, Pokes, and YouTube Videos
Jermiah Owyang discusses content ownership between employees and companies and includes an attorney’s perspective on the topic.

The new rules of business-to-business marketing & PR
David Meerman Scott’s keynote from the Business Marketing Association’s annual conference has been made available online for the first time. Pop some corn and settle in for 45 minutes of great B2B marketing information.

Persuasive Picks for the week of 10/19/09

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No Kidding
I’ll start the picks off with some humor via Scott Monty’s revisit to a post he did a year ago, asking “How many social media experts does it take to change a lightbulb?” I think you’ll enjoy the creative answers he received.

Ways to Be Human at a Distance
Chris Brogan reminds readers of the importance of showing the human side of your business when engaging your online communities. Lots of great tips here along with many additional bits in the comments.

When social media attacks: learn from others’ mistakes
Henry Elliss from the econsultancy.com blog shares five great real-world examples of how companies have made mistakes in handling their brands online.

4 Lies about social media
Penelope Trunk sheds some light on four common lies that many people wrongly believe about social media. We’re fond of correcting beliefs about all of them, but especially #4: “Social media is no place for business.” (Still don’t believe it? Let’s talk – we can help you understand why it is and what ROI you can receive.)

10 Proven Applications For Social Media
No, Adam Singer from the TopRank’s Online Marketing blog isn’t running through a list of tools to start using, but rather a more helpful list of business objectives to which social media can be applied. Read on for inspiration.

“Walk” With Us, Help Beat Cancer Today with 15 minutes and $15

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Today we’re using our blog space to ask you something that has absolutely nothing to do with us, our clients or PR. Thanks in advance for reading.

National Breast Cancer Awareness month is nearing an end. We’re trying to help raise awareness for the thousands of women who have faced this challenge – and are fighting much bigger challenges than anything a day at work can throw our way. In particular, we’d like to call out two of our friends and their efforts to raise money to directly help women facing this relentless disease: Jeanne Fitzmaurice of Design Her Gals and the Gal to Gal Foundation and Alicia Staley of The Staley Foundation.

Both of these amazing women are trying to reach a certain goal this month (today, in Alicia’s case) to help others. Both have been touched by cancer and are inspirational women who remind us to keep going, never give up and to support each other. Will you please help our efforts to do so by taking just 15 minutes and $15 (skip two of those Starbuck’s lattes this week, perhaps?) today to help them reach their goals?

Alicia Staley, the Staley Foundation

Alicia’s birthday is today and her wish is to raise $1,000 in 24 hours for the Staley Foundation – money raised during her birthday wish challenge will be used to purchase books, journals, and JILLIES to include in new patient packs:

  • $10 donation = a journal for patients in a support group!
  • $20 donation = books for patients preparing for surgery!
  • $45 donation = a brand new JILLIES garment for patients having radiation or chemo!

staley134119_logo_final The Staley Foundation acts on its belief that cancer survivors need a strong fundamental base of education, advocacy, and assistance to persevere in their cancer battle and beyond to live their best lives. Alicia should know – she’s a three-time cancer survivor (read her amazing story here). She founded the Staley Foundation in 2007, a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to enriching the lives of people touched by cancer, including survivors, their families, and caregivers. The Staley Foundation fulfills its mission through cancer awareness education, survivorship education, community outreach initiatives, advocacy development, and patient assistance programs. You can help Alicia by donating, here.

Jeanne Fitzmaurice, Gal to Gal Foundation

Jeanne is in her third year of the Gal to Gal Virtual Walk – a fun, easy-to-join virtual walk through a different city each day, to help raise funds to grant wishes for stage IV breast cancer patients. Many organizations are dedicated to helping cancer patients during the early stages of diagnosis, but few are focused on stage IV – Gal to Gal is focused on helping women in this stage to maintain their dignity while receiving treatment through the progression of the disease. Walkers can choose who to “walk” with others – from celebrities like Larry King, Molly Sims and Kristin Chenoweth, to everyday neighbors and friends. You can create teams and invite others to join as well.

This year’s walk honors Dorit Shapiro, past President of the Gal to Gal Foundation, who lost her brave battle to Stage IV last October at age 38. You can listen to Dorit’s own story – in her own words – in the video below. Dorit spoke about last year’s Gal to Gal walk, just one week before her passing. We hope it will inspire you to spend just $5.00 to help Jeanne and her team reach this year’s goal of $250,000 (a figure that was Dorit’s personal hope for this year). You can create an avatar and search for the PerkettPR team to “walk” with us, or you can choose to simply just donate.

Thanks for reading, for donating and for your support through posting these efforts on Twitter, Facebook, your own blog and more. Not for us, but for the patients.

How Will You Crush It in 2010? Gary Vaynerchuk: “Cash in on Your Passion”

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Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV is an inspiration, even if you do think his story of “follow your passion” stems from receiving just a wee more help (“quite a bit more than nothing”) in doing so than most of us get – as Bobbie Carlton wrote in her blog recap of Friday’s events at The Estate in Boston. We joined up with NomX3 to celebrate Gary’s Boston leg of his tour for the new book, “Crush It! Why Now is the Time to Cash in on your Passion.”

At the very least, while our economy continues to cause stress and anxiety – as reported today by the Boston Globe – Gary’s enthusiasm for chasing your passion is a message we can all benefit from hearing. He’s energetic enough to make us believe we, too, can cash in on our passion – yet wise enough to provide advice such as “it takes hard work and won’t fall in your lap” as well as “if you’re passionate about three things, choose one and go after it.”

Smart words – and a fun event. Thanks to Jeff Cutler and Mike Langford for inviting us to work with them on hosting this event. It was a pleasure to meet many of our Twitter friends in person and to hear Gary once again. Check out our Whrrl story below for more – or watch NomX3 or BelchingMonkey’s videos for the “I was there” effect – you’ll see PerkttPR’s very own Kim Kennedy and Crystal Macaulay in the latter!

And tell us, how will you “crush it” in 2010?

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Persuasive Picks for the week of 10/12/09

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PR pros drank hard in the 1960s
Get a taste of the the “Mad Men” era and the “three or four” martini lunch with this Big Think video interview featuring The New Yorker’s Calvin Trillin. Trillin explains how the PR and journalism crowd engaged in a liquid lunch just as much as the ad-men did.

Social Climbing: Luxury Fashion Brands Must Embrace Social Media
This Forbes piece by Dana Gers shares her view of how luxury brands are still stuck in older traditional media modes and have yet to make the leap into social media and social marketing. She also provides a few points for brands to consider before rolling out their social media strategies.

The Average American is Gone – and so are Demographics
This post from Paull Young suggests that standard lines of demographics are blurred on the playing field of online social communication. Research results from Ad Age are included to back up his point of view.

7 Reasons Why People Comment on Blogs
Bloggers love when readers comment on their blogs, but what actually triggers a reader to make that response? George F. Snell III from the Hightalk blog suggests seven potential reasons that might send readers to the keyboard after reading a post.

Twitter Sputters Over Spammers and Spitters
If utilized properly, Twitter can be a powerful networking and communications tool, but at the same time it has become a new channel for spammers to run with their mind-numbing messages. This post from Renay San Miguel explains the state of spam (or “spit”) on Twitter and how SPAM legislation might need to be tweaked as result of this new annoyance.

Women as Entrepreneurs – Sharing Inspiration and Lessons

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Last night I had the honor of speaking on a panel to a group of women for Girls in Tech’s “Women as Entrepreneurs, Women as Leaders” event at Babson College. The discussion focused on leadership lessons and advice from – and for – women entrepreneurs in today’s technology and business communities. My co-panelists, Amy Cueva, Founder & Chief Experience Officer of Mad*Pow, Heather Margolis, Founder & President of Channel Maven Consulting, and Lynn Andres Stein of Olin College, were inspiring and thoughtful. They shared many tips with the audience based on various years of entrepreneurship – from nine months up to nearly 20 years. Some of my favorite tips, lessons and observations included:

  • Don’t be afraid to be different – entrepreneurs are the core of innovation by thinking differently
  • Women tend to be more emotional leaders – an attribute that can be both helpful and a hindrance
  • Take time for yourself on a personal level – a personal life makes you a better business leader and a happier person all around
  • Leaders make tough decisions every day (the right choices, not the popular ones) – you’ll never have everyone’s approval so stop waiting for it and trust your instincts
  • Be definitive and decisive – know your values and stick to them
  • Women are often their own worst enemies – support each other and our choices to work, to not work; to have a family or not. Only we can force the change we seek in respect for our gender’s choices.

What tough lessons have you learned that you’d share with other women considering the leap to entrepreneurship?

In addition, the audience was chock full of inspiring women. Two of my favorite were these brilliant ladies from Leotus Home Cooling. Katherine Harty, President and Beeni Mathew, VP, have created an innovative home cooling system with a few team members that is “the first effortless air conditioner — providing the comfort you want, without the compromises.” The design is sleek, innovative and sure to be a smash success. I’m sure these ladies will have many lessons of their own to share with future entrepreneurs. If you’d like to support their efforts today, be sure to vote for them in ideablob’s October sprint, where the participant receiving the most votes will win $10,000 from ideablob to further their business idea. (Although, unfortunately, I think requiring registration to vote is hindering the process.)

A special thanks to Kate Brodock of Boston Girls in Tech for asking me to participate.

Persuasive Picks for the week of 10/05/09

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What Do Clients Want Now? Six Top Companies from Tech to Travel Reveal the Biggest Opportunities for PR Firm Work in 2010
Brian Pittman from The Bulldog Reporter contributed this guest post to The Firm Voice, sharing perspectives from 6 top company execs including what they are now looking from their agencies in the upcoming year.

Rubbermaid Social Media Effort Thinks Inside the Container
Douglas Quenqua provides an interesting overview of Rubbermaid’s recent social marketing campaign that was the company’s first experience with “paid” social media.

The tacky techie conundrum
Seth Godin offers food for thought for marketers launching new technologies, hoping to gain the acceptance from the “top-right” demographic.

Integrating Social Into Traditional: 10 Tips For A Remarkable Blogger Event
Christine Whittemore provides some practical advice of what to do and not do when planning a launching for your own blogger-centric event.

It’s people not tools that matter
While its easy to be drawn towards all the fancy free tools for social media and PR measurement that keep popping up each month, KD Paine reminds us that only real human beings can help provide proper measurement in areas like reputation, relationships, brand health and brand strength.