Social Media in Wilmington N.C. « Talk, Inc

All I really needed to know I learned on Twitter

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

Going to college has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. However, the real value of college hasn’t been limited to what I learn in class. I’m not talking about developing social skills or experiencing life lessons. I’m talking about real, career-specific learning that is taking place online.

Today, I learn more practical, real-life information about my fields of study on Twitter than I do at school. As with any good social technology, the real value isn’t about Twitter – it’s about the people who use it. And many of the people who are using it are leaders in their respective fields.

Let’s say you’re interested in technology companies. Following tech blogger Robert Scoble on Twitter (@Scobleizer) gives you a great view of what topics he thinks are important to read about and what his thoughts are on those topics. Interested in how the CEO of a web company thinks about his work? Try following Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh (@Zappos).

Twitter doesn’t magically give you the ability to ask these people anything you want, but it really does provide valuable insight into how they spend their time and the way they think. The wealth of information on the Internet is unquestionable, but finding what you need in an efficient manner is a daunting task. Rather than visiting 50 blogs a day and 20 newspapers, I rely on the people I follow on Twitter to bring those articles to me. If you follow the right people, they essentially become your ultimate RSS feed. I don’t waste time searching for what to read, I let established industry leaders point me to what’s important.

This approach is certainly more valid for some industries (technology, marketing, pr) than others (engineering). Think about leaders in your industry and see if they are active in social media. If they are, try following everything they post for a week, or even a day. I’d love to hear if you found the experience valuable or enlightening in any ways. Who knows, maybe you’ll find that the differences between that industry leader and you are smaller than you thought. And who can’t use a little confidence boost once in a while?

Tags: Social media, Social Media in Wilmington N.C., twitter
Posted in Professional Development | Comments

Twitter like a CEO

Monday, May 11th, 2009

This week, BusinessWeek published a list of 50 Twittering CEOs, featuring who they like to follow and how it helps them run their business. The result is some very sound advice for people on all rungs of the corporate ladder, which made me think of these ten specific ways you can Twitter like a CEO.

1. Follow Back: Founder of Alltop.com @guykawasaki says he follows everyone back as a courtesey so that they can direct message him if need be. While he admittedly doesn’t have time to read the stream for his 100,000-some followers, he should be applauded for opening up and being accessible to his followers.

2. Create relationships with your customers: Build Direct President & CEO @jeffbooth engages with his Twitter followers and tries to be useful, rather than trying to sell them. This giving attitude has helped him to create relationships with customers who he couldn’t ordinarily.

3. Reward your customers: Mike Ferrari, Co-founder of @SmartyPig, a social media online savings site, uses Twitter to run monthly contests to reward customers for reaching their savings goals.

4. Publicity: @CommunispaceCEO Diane Hessan gets the word out about her company through Twitter. She says announcing her company’s new blog to her followers resulted in 1,000 visits that day.

5. Put a face on your company: JibberJobber.com CEO @JasonAlba tweets to put a face to his online company, which offers career resources. He freely uses his personaly to extend a personality to his company.

6. Employee relations: Twitter helps @tombed, CEO of AKQA, the global digital marketing and tech firm, talk to his more than 750 employees spread out over six offices across the world.

7. Listen to customers: @lebrun CEO of social media monitoring company Radian6 uses Twitter to listen to his customers, naturally. He practices “listening to the point of need,” in which he focuses on answering questions, delivering a solution and adding value to his followers.

8. Establish corporate culture: One of the first CEOs to embrace Twitter, Tony Hsieh of @zappos, started using Twitter to build the company culture among employees. Little did he know his customers would also catch on - to the tune of more than half a million followers.

9. Connecting: President of PerkettPR, @missusP uses Twitter to connect her company and its clients with opportunities - particularly media opporunities (like the BusinessWeek article as it turns out)!

10. Staying on the Cutting Edge: Like many companies, CEO of Socialtext @eugenelee uses Twitter to find, translate and rebroadcast interesting news and trends in his industry that helps his company stay current and position him as an authority.

Photo by: sub.site

Tags: Internet Marketing Wilmington NC, Social media, Social Media in Wilmington N.C., twitter
Posted in Internet Marketing | Comments

Talk on the Street: May 11-17

Monday, May 11th, 2009

Welcome to our first edition of Talk on the Street. Every Monday we’ll be posting events, seminars and meetings you can’t miss if you live in Southeastern North Carolina. So, if you’re interested in business, marketing, advertising, public relations, social media, networking and much more, check back here weekly. Send any events for our consideration to kirsty@talkinc.com.

Thursday, May 14 | Coastal Entrepreneur Awards

Join our favorite business journal and hundreds of the region’s most inspiring entrepreneurs for breakfast at the UNC Wilmington Burney Center. Co-presented by the UNCW Cameron School of Business, the event will honor the “Cape Fear region’s next generation of business stars.” Register online here.

Saturday, May 16 | Wilmington Bloggers Meetup

This is the 7th meeting of a new group in Wilmington, who informally gets together the third Saturday of every month at Connections Internet Cafe on Racine Drive, to talk about blogging, Internet marketing and social media. Whether you are a novice or an expert, you will fit right in with this group of journalists, small business owners, Realtors, business coaches, marketing mavens and much more. You can RSVP through Facebook.

Tags: blogging, Events, Greater Wilmington Business Journal, Internet Marketing Wilmington NC, Networking, Social media, Social Media in Wilmington N.C.
Posted in Internet Marketing, Marketing, Public Relations | Comments

Why I won’t follow you back on Twitter

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

Because many experts have already addressed this subject in the blogosphere, I won’t waste your time beating around the bush. There are a few, textbook, terrible things that you can do to ensure that influential tweets won’t follow you back. Keep in mind, social networking can be a trial and error type of process but if you want to get people talking about (and not mocking) your brand or message in the Twittervese, do not take on the following nasty habits.

No Profile/no photo
Having no profile or no photo says to me, “I’m pretty guarded. I’ll try this Twitter thing, but I’m not going to put my WHOLE LIFE on there!” That’s pretty over dramatic and says that you’re not interested in getting to know me, or any of your other followers for that matter.

Protected profile
If I don’t know you, I won’t request to follow you. There could be 1,000 reasons you feel the need to protect your lame Twitter updates - you’re on the lam, you’re in the witness protection program, you’re slandering your girlfriend, Samantha Ronson - and I don’t want to get mixed up in any of that.

Sex Pot name/photo
Unless you’re 19 and in a sorority, there is no reason to have the following words in your twitter handle: candy, kitten, hunny or angel. Also, if your photo looks like it could be the profile picture for a website that charges by the minute, you’re not getting followed back.

Cat got your profile?
For the most part, I won’t follow you if you have a photo of a cat as your profile pic. This just really freaks me out. Human photo is better than a pet photo, which is better than a logo.

Banned words
If you use the words: inspirational, goal, dream, leader, winning, guru, make-money-online, addict, expert, audit, network, free report, marketer or extraordinaire, I won’t follow you back.

#tcot
If you use up 5 of the 160 characters permitted in your profile to let me know that you are one of the “Top Conservatives on Twitter,” and you’re not John McCain or Michael Steele, you might be seriously deluded. This applies to other self-important hashtags as well.

Following fanatic
If I can tell from your last few status updates that you’re only interested in getting more followers, you probably won’t have me to add to the pack.

(In need of) Retail therapy
If you use your Twitter page to link to your online store and you have nothing to else to offer, I can’t offer myself as your newest follower.

I’m a celebrity, get me out of here

If you are a celebrity and you have 1,522,398 followers and you’re only following 137 people back it’s terrible twittiquete. I don’t care how interesting you are (Ashton Kutcher) or how many times your promote your tweeting on the Ellen Show (Diddy).

Essentially, you have the best chance of being followed back if you do the opposite of the activities mentioned above - be open, put yourself out there, be cautiously intimate, don’t hard-sell your product or service, be useful and please, please don’t use cat profile pictures. And when in doubt, use some of Talk’s best Twitter resources here, here, here and here.

Photo by: kopp0041

Tags: Internet Marketing Wilmington NC, Social media, Social Media in Wilmington N.C., twitter
Posted in Internet Marketing | Comments

Follow Talk’s social media webinar today at #talkinc

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

Today Talk is hosting its first webinar entitled Talk Therapy: How the online conversation can grow your business at 12 p.m. EST. You can still sign up from our blog by visiting this link. Our President, Debbie Elliott will explain that business as usual no longer exists. Consumers have taken communications into their own hands and they are talking about your business, products and services online. You can either join the conversation or get left behind. Get started now, and you’ll have a jump on your competitors. Wait too long and you’ll be playing catch-up. Either way our webinar will help put important tools in your hands for how to tackle this new world of social media.

If you’re already registered and you want to follow the conversation and ask questions from Twitter, use the Twitter hashtag #talkinc.

Tags: Internet Marketing Wilmington NC, Social media, Social Media in Wilmington N.C., twitter
Posted in Internet Marketing | Comments

Talk’s favorite social media posts

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

We’re hosting our first webinar tomorrow and in light of that we’re bringing you a short history of our favorite social media posts from TalkIncBlog.com. Enjoy! And in the meantime, be sure to sign up for our free webinar, “Talk Therapy: How the online conversation can grow your business,” by clicking here.

BLOGGING

Ten ways to build your blog readership

Building a blog is only half the battle. You have to keep content fresh and optimize it properly to attract a loyal audience. Here’s 10 simple steps anyone can take to build their blog readership.

FACEBOOK

How NOT to use a Facebook fan page

Facebook has a lot of priviliges available to businesses and organizations to promote their products, services or events. But everyday we essentially get “spammed,” because of their lack of Facebook fan page ettiquette. We offer a rundown of what not to do.

How to control your privacy on Facebook using Lists

The good news about Facebook’s recent redesign is that we finally have the capability to control which friends see what on our pages. Job hunting college students across the country rejoice! Here we tell you how to set up this vital function.

TWITTER

Principles of business networking applied to social networking

Let’s hope social networking won’t ever replace face-to-face networking, but let’s face it the two aren’t so different. In this post we highlight the key comparisons to help you be a better networker overall.

Can Twitter increase your business?

This simple answer is yes, if you know how to use it. With a little help from CopyBlogger.com, we point out the key ways you can get measurable returns from this social medium.

Five things I learned from my dog on Twitter

One of our most popular posts all year, our President Debbie writes about her experiences setting up Talk’s Top Dog Camden on Twitter and how it helped her to become a better Tweeter in the process!

Ten things every new Twitterer should know

New to Twitter and overwhelmed by what is seemingly a very strange language? We will help get you pointed in the right direction so that you can become an important part of the conversation in the Twittersphere.

PR, MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA

Outsmart your boss if he outlaws social media in the office

Here we outline the ways you can talk your boss into letting you sign into Facebook, Twitter and more in the office. Use our arguments and you will be building your business in the world of social media in no time!

PR pros have leadership role to play in social media

Good PR pros today are integrating social media into everything they do. It’s important to take on this role if they are responsible for the communications and reputation of their clients/company. We explain why you should take this responsiblity out of your IT department and into your marketing or communications department.

Be heard among all the online chatter

There’s no arguing that there’s a lot of noise online today. But, we’ll tell you some key ways that you can Find Your Voice online, and actually be heard by your audience.

An online marketer’s reading list

Need to get up to speed, or even better, get ahead in the world of online marketing? We offer a few of our favorite titles to get you started.

Tags: Branding in Wilmington N.C., Facebook, Internet Marketing Wilmington NC, Public Relations Agency in N.C., Social media, Social Media in Wilmington N.C., twitter
Posted in Internet Marketing | Comments

PR lessons to be learned from Amazon.com crisis

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

In the glitch heard round the world, Amazon.com is this week paying for its poorly handled cataloging error that marked all 57,310 gay and lesbian books as “adult content,” thereby excluding the authors from their rightful place on the site’s lucrative sales rankings. This set off your worst-nightmare-crisis-communication scenario and in its wake is an important reminder of some essential PR lessons.

1. Tell it all and tell it fast.

This is my hands-down favorite and truly the first commandment of crisis communication. It’s the first commandment and Amazon.com didn’t do it. They released this wish-washy statement late Sunday instead:

“We recently discovered a glitch to our Amazon sales rank feature that is in the process of being fixed. We’re working to correct the problem as quickly as possible.”

It doesn’t tell us what happened, doesn’t tell us it’s a priority to get fixed and it doesn’t show any empathy to the community it offended with the censorship error. If anything the statement just inspired greater anger, which has dominated the Web and the Twitterverse for the last two days. That brings me to point number two.

2. When you do something wrong, expect your customers to tell you - in force.

As if this technical glitch wasn’t enough of a challenge to fix, now Amazon had a full-fledged crisis on their hands. Thousands of Twitter users began tagging their posts with #amazonfail, making it one of the most popular searches on Twitter. In addition, some of the affected authors started a boycott petition online that has at this time attracted more than 22,000 signatures. In today’s online environment, you can barely afford to make such a mistake, let alone not be held accountable for it. This makes your initial statement ever more important.

3. Squash conspiracy theories.

By letting the Web run rampant with conspiracy theories, you are essentially prolonging the story and keeping it front and center in the news. Face the conspiracy theories head on. In this case, a hacker tried to get publicity take credit for the error. That is why it is so important to try to be as detailed as you can in your statement and answer any questions you expect up front, before they are asked of you. Otherwise you will have every disgruntled employee and competitor try to take control of the story from you.

Photo by: bronwynmaye

Tags: Internet Marketing Wilmington NC, Public Relations Agency in N.C., Social media, Social Media in Wilmington N.C., twitter
Posted in Internet Marketing, Public Relations | Comments

Things We Love 4/8

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

Debbie loves Twilert – It’s a Twitter application that allows me to track mentions in the twittersphere. For instance, I’ve been tracking mentions of Port City Java. Every day I get an email of tweets that mention Port City Java. You’d be amazed at how often people tweet about their coffee. It’s a great way to track what people are saying about your brand.

Holly loves Carolina basketball – I know this isn’t marketing/PR/advertising/social media related, but we just won a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP and I honestly can’t think of anything else more exciting to write about this week! I watched my alma-mater stomp Michigan State then proceeded to get a little teary-eyed as I ran to Franklin St. to celebrate with about 35,000 of my closest friends and Tar Heel fans. All I have left say is GO HEELS!

Kelly loves Advertising Age’s “Top 10 Reasons Your Company Probably Shouldn’t Tweet” – Despite the fact that celebrities, CEOs, and marketing mavens are twittering away doesn’t mean it’s the best marketing tool for everyone. According Ad Age, the top reasons a company should not tweet include using Twitter as a social-media strategy instead of a tactic, having to get approval from legal for every single tweet, and thinking it’s alright to use a “ghost tweeter” for the president of your company. Let’s face it, social media is a multi-faceted marketing tool that can very easily become overwhelming for those companies who don’t take the time to monitor what is being said about their brand before joining the Twitter conversation. Simply starting a Twitter account for the sake of being like everyone else is not a smart move. Check and see if you fit under their top ten reasons not to tweet.

Kirsty loves HootSuite.com – Not only does it help me schedule my tweets when I’m very busy (I think I’ve perfected my method), but I can tell which tweets people like the most from its statistics function. In March, links in my @kpiper tweets had 1,800 clicks and I learned that tweets about Jerry Seinfeld, bad PR pitches, Sacha Baron Cohen and LinkedIn are big winners!

Susan loves AT&T Wireless’ commercials – Being in marketing, I pay attention to commercials. Not just the product, but the quality, the script, the music, the actors. All of these components can make or break a spot. And I have to say that AT&T has done a great job lately of getting my attention in a good way. I can’t help but watch, and sing along to, “Sweet Pea” and “Backpackers” every time they come on.

Tags: Advertising, Social media, Social Media in Wilmington N.C., Things We Love
Posted in Marketing, Professional Development | Comments

Principles of business networking applied to social networking

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

As much as I enjoy engaging and networking with other professionals on Twitter (@kpiper), I quietly wonder if social networking will ever replace face-to-face business networking. I certainly hope not because for those of you who are not yet hooked into the world of social networking, many of the same principles apply. Here’s just a few:

Talking

Whether you are blogging, tweeting or linking in it’s important to remember to only talk if you have something to say. Try to be useful and memorable. Be thoughtful and respect your audience. Be clever, be funny and be engaging.

Giving

A common mistake people make is getting on social networks with the sole intent of selling a product or service. This is the same mistake a lot of business networkers make. When you’re on these social networks, definitely don’t be “pitchy.” But, don’t hesitate if you can deliver a solution to someone’s problem.

Sharing

A network like Twitter is built around sharing information. And just like in face-to-face networking, sharing information about one of your contacts makes for great karma. Actively share and promote your friends and associates’ information and they will do the same for you.

Connecting

Introducing or connecting your social network to contacts or resources is equally important as when you do it in business networking. Networking in general is about discovering opportunity and if you are known as a connector you too will become a powerful resource to your network.

Listening

Listen to your audience to understand the information they like to get from you. When you figure that out, deliver it consistently.

Tags: Public Relations Agency in N.C., Social Media in Wilmington N.C.
Posted in Professional Development | Comments

Outsmart your boss if he outlaws social media in the office

Thursday, March 19th, 2009

I’ll preface this entry and tell you that I realize I’m probably not the norm.

I work in an office where it’s encouraged - even required on some level to explore and engage in social media networks. I’m convinced Debbie knows what she’s doing when she mandates this. She’s studied up and witnessed the benefits first hand. So, I can’t help but feel sorry for the folks I come across who say Facebook and the like are off-limits at the office. Perhaps their bosses don’t know what they’re missing.

Well, get ready to chant “Viva La Revolucion!” because I’m here to arm you the best arguments for allowing the use of social media in your office.

1. Make a sale.

True story - I asked a question on LinkedIn looking for recommended vendors for a project. Someone responded to me, gave me options but also encouraged me to check out his company. Days later we signed a $15,000 contract with the company to utilize their services. What a coup for that company, who I would not have known about if they hadn’t been on LinkedIn. When appealing to your boss to allow to use social media networks at work -try to emphasize how it can build your company’s bottom line. It’s the very best argument you can offer.

2. Network.

Simply, social media can help you optimize your networking. Do it right and you can do in 15 minutes what you can’t do in five hour-long Chamber After Hours socials. Relationship building on social media networks like Twitter are a prime place to find top talent in today’s market, where many accomplished professionals are looking for new work. This is a great HR reason for using social media in the workplace.

3. Get publicity.

Smart reporters today are demanding that PR pros “tweet” their pitches. That means 140 characters or less. That means one, you better get good at getting to the point quickly (as in under 140 characters) and two, you better familiarize yourself with the conversations on Twitter, so you can get a piece of the huge publicity pie to be had in the Twitterverse. And when you get publicity, social media networks are the best places to aggregate it. You can add your hit to your Facebook, Digg, Stumble Upon, Del.ici.ous and more. Tell your boss that user-generated news is the way of the future and your company’s latest announcement is no relegated to traditional media outlets.

Are you ready to make your case now? Don’t forget to register for Talk’s free social media webinar on Thursday, April 23. You’ll get resources and tools for using social media to grow your business. And why not invite your boss to sit in?

Tags: Advertising in Wilmington N.C., Public Relations Agency in N.C., Social Media in Wilmington N.C.
Posted in Issues Management | Comments

June	Use Blogs to Grow Your Business

May	Avoid A Crisis by Planning for One

April	Get Online or Get Left Behind

Sept 24	Local SEO

Oct 22	Crisis Management

November 19	Facebook 101

Dec 17	Twitter 101

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