Posts

Persuasive Picks for the Week of 08/24/09

in /by

Twenty-One Top Twitter Tips… from Forbes

Still not convinced of the business value of Twitter? Forbes understands your concern and did some research for you – canvassing scads of businesses and pricey social-networking gurus looking for honest answers on how to make money – if you can make money – with the microblogging service. Their answers may surprise you, as they share 21 ways Twitter can have an impact, and not just as a marginal marketing tool.

College Optional?

Larry Cheng, Partner at Fidelity Ventures wonders aloud if college is necessary for a true entrepreneur. “Sitting in a classroom listening to a teacher every day for four years in so many ways is exactly the opposite of what someone with an entrepreneurial DNA should want to do.” In this post, he outlines what he sees as a “blueprint to success” for those with no degree. First lesson? Take $1.00 and turn into $1.10 by this time next week.

Use Teamwork to Tackle Problems

Of course you know that teamwork is important, but in this Marketing Profs Daily Fix post, Paul Williams outlines in detail – complete with instruction template – how to create a GroupChallenge. Beyond basic brainstorming, a GroupChallenge is a simple and inexpensive way to―on an ongoing basis―inspire creativity and teamwork to generate ideas and solve problems.

Group Challenge Setup - Image from Marketing Profs Daily Fix

Group Challenge Setup - Image from Marketing Profs Daily Fix

Why Waltham Doesn’t Matter

For those on the East Coast, this piece by Scott Kirsner of the Boston Globe has created quite a stir. Will it be the new turf war? Kirsner claims, “The new core of Boston venture capital has moved in closer to the city, toward Copley Square and Harvard Square,” and that “as a group, they [Waltham venture capitalists] represent the worst of the old-school business culture.” He has some great viewpoints on risk taking, the innovation economy and what he terms “the vibrant new culture of entrepreneurship.”

Should PR Professionals Use Social Media to Build Their Personal Brand?

PR Week takes a look at two opinions on one of the hottest debated topics in our office. How do you balance personal brand with your corporate brand? Should you? Two PR professionals weigh in.

Persuasive Picks for the week of 06/23/08

1 Comment/in /by

Jared FogelSmart People, Stupid Tweets. Fake News Spreads Fast on Twitter.
Yet another argument to not believe everything you read, and be sure to check your facts. A lot of people fell for this one earlier this week, and Louis Gray lays it all out on the table in this post.

Microwhatting in the enterprise?
Laura Fitton contributes this guest post to Jennifer Leggio’s ZDNet blog and discusses the adoption of “microblogging” as a communication tool in the enterprise.

Using Facebook Pages to Promote Your Blog
Guest blogger, Mike Henry takes a brief look at how Facebook Pages can be a valuable tool in your arsenal when trying to promote your blog.

Twellow!
Bub.blicio.us guest blogger, Michelle Lentz introduces readers to a new “people search” tool for Twitter. Since using the tool myself, I would imagine that Twitter users will finally start paying more attention to the keywords they use in their profiles.

Applying Personal Social Media Techniques to Corporate EMC
EMC Social Media Specialist (and personal branding authority), Dan Schawbel takes readers through an overview of the extensive social media programs he has been involved with at EMC during that past year.

10 Blogging Tips from the Web 2.0 Expo

3 Comments/in /by

It’s been building for a while now, but being at the Web 2.0 Expo and attending sessions led by, and attended by, some of the biggest names in blogging right along side first-timers, made me realize how common blogging and micro blogging are now. Every session had a plethora of busy bloggers/wannabes from all over the world, with laptops open with Twitter up all day, cameras and camera phones, audio recording devices and of course PDAs constantly in hand. Everyone in the same boat feverishly plugging down nuggets to share with their respective online audiences. We are all becoming bloggers and want to tell our stories in one way or another whether it be blogging or micro blogging or both, we were all there to gather information and share it with our friends and colleagues as soon as possible.



Image courtesy of James Duncan Davidson

One of the Tuesday afternoon workshops; Intro to Blogs & Social Media Marketing 101, hosted by Nick Gonzalez (SocialMedia), Eric Eldon (VentureBeat) and Trisha Okubo (eBay & Omiru fashion blogger) was my first observation point. The workshop was well attended, and though many more experienced bloggers probably found it fairly basic, they indulged the audience with their presence, rolled their eyes and probably left patting themselves on the back for how much further ahead of the game they were than others in the audience. For others it was an eye opening experience that provided some great basic tips on how to get into the game or be more effective as a blogger and micro-blogger.

Here are the Top Ten take aways Nick, Eric and Trisha shared during the session:

  1. Create content that’s easily packaged and reusable for example; Top Ten Lists and How-To’s
  2. When blogging or micro-blogging provide news or exclusive content that’s not available elsewhere
  3. Remember Seth Godin’s Purple Cow use catchy headlines and out of the ordinary content to draw attention
  4. Take advantage of blogging distribution channels and measurement tools such as; FeedBurner, Digg, StumbleUpon, Yahoo Buzz, Friend Feed, Facebook, Techmeme, Del.icio.us, and Aide RSS to ensure maximum distribution
  5. Let your fans know when a new post is up, email influencers and key sources cited to let them know you’ve posted and ALWAYS give credit to other bloggers and use link backs on Twitter, and other micro-blogging applications, whenever appropriate
  6. Do offer free advice and incentives like a free informational PDF file or white paper as an incentive to gain new subscribers
  7. Guest write on other blogs and offer the opportunity for other bloggers to guest write for you
  8. Share opportunities with other bloggers and get involved in the community, posting regular comments on other blogs
  9. Meet other bloggers in the ‘real world’ to get know each other in person
  10. Be passionate about your content and don’t shy away from including some of that passion in your blog profile page, the more your readers know about you the more they will connect with your content.

Hope you found this information helpful. Just remember if you do end up using this content in your own blog or micro-blog please follow tip #5 and cite PerkettPRsuasion as the source! 🙂