Hear those Birdies?

NO?  Then you must not be on Twitter, one of the most interesting social media sites.  Twitter can be a useful tool in the PR practitioners kit bag, but it's also good to get an overview on what it can do for you first.  Here at Running with Scissors, where I have my art studio, they recently had someone come in to give a low-cost class in it. Unfortunately it didn't work out with my schedule so I wasn't able to attend.  I'm always interested in seeing what other folks have to say about the intersection of Twitter and PR. 

But the big issues with any kind of marketing (more than PR) is how to measure results.  In PR, it's rather loosey-goosey as it can take years of solid work to create an image in the public's eye, especially when you're just using that and not spending money on advertising.  So I thought it was interesting when this arrived in my email.  I'll save you the spam that you'll get if you sign up for it with your own email address.

Then I stumbled across this article on Forbes.  Best takeaways for me were:

• Join a Directory: There are dozens of directories of Twitter users online, including Twiends, WeFollow, and Twellow. Add yourself to as many directories as you can find under the proper categories, and you will begin to see some users following you from these sites.
• Guest blogging or blogging about your twitter account.  “This strategy works very well if you can give readers an incentive to follow you.”

Follow me @anntracy..... and now for the unrelated photo of the day

 Shot during a performance by Collective Motion, a new modern dance company here in Southern Maine.  Shooting by the seat of one's pants is always exciting and even more so when the photos turn out!  If you'd like to follow my photography blog, here it is.

Hear the Little Birdies?

A couple of years ago when I was still living in Sacramento, I joined the PR Association there and went to their annual luncheon.  The food was meh, as usual for that kind of event, but the speaker,  Shane Rhyne of Ackerman PR, was very interesting and talked about social media - Twitter in particular.  Follow this LINK for a very basic tutorial about Twitter and how it can help your PR efforts.  I do agree with Rhyne that I'm more of a editor on Twitter, sharing information among my followers.  Of course there's always the link to the funny cat story, but everyone needs a laugh, right?

Social Media and Communications

Thanks to the folks over at Mashable, we have our new post here!  Although the article is geared towards people managing their social lives, it does have resonance for folks doing PR.  I must admit that I've not yet tried one of Facebook's newest additions - Groups.

But I am going to try it today to see if I get any more traffic for my December 5th Holiday Open House at my studio.  My plan is to NOT set up an event page on FB, but instead set up a group for all my local contacts here in Sacramento.    I set up an event page on FB for the Capitol Artists Studio Tour this past Sept and I didn't get much action from it.  I'll also set up an Evite list and see if that helps build the crowds for me.

The reason some of this works is that the biggest part of PR is merely communication.  Although PR can also take in marketing for some folks, it's really trying to find a way to get information to the individual.  We used to do it with newspapers but due to their dwindling editorial space and the fact that most folks under the age of 30 don't even subscribe anymore, social media is the other place we can post information, without even having to sell a reporter on a story idea!

Is it more effective?  Only time will tell or have you had great success in using social media to promote your clients and causes?

Arts and Social Media

Today instead of focusing on just PR, I thought we're branch out into another interesting topic - The Impact of Technology on Cultural Partnerships.  I must thank my Irish Twitter friend Saoire O' Brien for turning me onto this.  If you;re on twitter, go ahead and follow her for very interesting stuff that's arts-related.

Do you Hear Birds?

If you do, it might be that everyone around you is Twittering!  OK I know that was a very bad joke, but if I can't torture my small but growing audience with bad humor, who can I torture?  I admit that I'm still a new user of Twitter and am in the process of discovering how to use it for PR for clients and myself (must mention that I'm also a digital artist and photographer in addition to being a writer and PR consultant).

Matter of fact it was a Twitter message that led me to making this post. Thanks @DawnSandomeno, who I found after gawking around at my friend Margaret's Nanny Goats in Panties Twits.  It shows the genius of the site as a way to spark conversation and providing resources for many of us. 

Dawn listed the url to this article in the New York Times by David Carr.  I'm down with most of what he talks about except for surfing the web less often.  Maybe in time, I will be able to do that too.

Love Your Twitter-ers

My friend Chard Sorg - social media marketing maven that he is - posted a very interesting link on Twitter today.  Here it IS

The post above reminds me of many of the things that Chris Brogan and Julien Smith make in their book Trust Agents, which I will comment on in another post in the next few days.  It's about the love, people!  And being helpful and commenting.  We're moving into a different paradigm shift in communications.  For more about paradigm shifts look HERE.

Change is good!

Views on PR and Social Media

Here are more views on Social Media from Linked In professionals around the country.

• Kathy Griffith, who is in Administration for Qoro, LLC Fine Art Services in the Philadelphia area has this to say:  "Qoro, LLC (www.qoro.com and www.qoroart.com) is using all forms of social media to forward our new website and online art gallery. We have used Facebook, LinkedIn, blog and Twitter (all joined together) to reach more artists and end clients. We have seen increase in our stats to our website in the few months that we have ramped up the social media PR but have not reaped the ROI/Sales from those hits yet. 

• We have reached many artists we wouldn't have with just cold calls or emails but what we need to reach is the end clients that want to purchase the fine art giclees.  This is our dilemna, how do you friend people you don't know or reach them? We are hoping that providing the artists with information they will come to us for their prints and that is working slowly.   If you would like more information on our social marketing plan, please feel free to call at 877-470-4278 or email kgriffith@qoro.com. 

• On the West Coast, David Dubrino an Online Marketing Manager at DRS & Associates chimed in with this comment: I think the key is that you have to use all of the social tools out there together to help each social account and platform. You also just can't create the accounts and then leave them, whether it's a blog, twitter account, fb page etc... you have to be consistent and stick with it... every day.   If it's NOT your goal to get people to your website so that they will contact you to hire you for your services or purchase something, then you don't need to worry about social networking. Otherwise it's going to be crucial to your business sooner than later.

• And finally we hear from Giselle V, who is a Sales Director at the Deco Design Center in the Miami Beach area:  Deco Design Center http://www.decodesigncenter.com is using all forms of social media but we prefer twitter and linkedin the best out of all of them. Facebook is more difficult I think and less targeted clients. You can follow us on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/DecoDesignCente 

It seems to me that everyone who has commented on this issue realizes the importance of Social Media  in the 21st Century.  Apparently it's more of a PR than an marketing tool from the comments we've listed over the past few posts.  Which is something that I've always felt.  If you disagree, tell us... leave a comment!

Since this blog is already linked to FB, I'm going to go Twitter about it now...

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More on Social Media

I'm going to try to get comments from more folks on this post about Social Media as part of a PR tool kit. Niki VanEch who is the principal at VanEch Studio in Washington, DC, thinks this is a "très groseille" subject:

"Yesterday I attended a panel discussion at the Washington DC Design Center "Growing Your Business Through Marketing Communications: Big Results from Small Budgets". The panel was comprised of Arianne Nardo and James Barra of Interiors Magazine and Designer Victoria Neale from Washington DC. They focused on having good web sites and getting work submitted to editors for publication. Interestingly, the majority of the questions from the attendees were about the relevance of social media as facebook, twitter, linkedin, etc. as well as blogs. All three of the panelists basically implied that while these efforts may keep you somewhat connected, they do little to bring in new business. "


We also have this comment from Tyler Broome the Marketing Coordinator at Ballard Designs in Atlanta, GA:
"We have utilized social media with no intent of achieving any ROI. We mainly use it as a tool to build upon the already existing loyality from our fans. We also use it to get instant feedback about product related issues from our customers. Also, a great way to keep your brand in the minds of the consumer..."

And finally for today, we have thoughts from Denise Butchko, a Designer/Marketer from the Chicago area who says she's "passionate about teaching the benefits of social media":
"The idea with social media is to create an opportunity to make a sale. It really is, first and foremost, about participating from a place of sharing. You really do build relationships - and those relationships bring all sorts of opportunities. And every day there are more ways to track efforts - so you can get a handle on what's working and what's not. And take Jennifer's advise and check out "Social Media Revolution" on Youtube - it's worth the four minutes and some odd seconds."

Who Do You Trust?

Your FaceBook friends?  There seems to be almost as many opinions about social networking and it's relative value to PR and marketing, as there are books about the subject.  Ironically, this post is based on a comment from one of my groups at Linked-In and a possible new job that a friend might be taking soon.

One woman posted in the discussion section about how she had set up Twitter and FaceBook accounts for her company but wasn't exactly sure what she should do now or if there were other sites they should be listed on.  To my way of looking at it, all businesses should have a presence on social media, because it's just plain ole easy PR to keep your name out there.

But the person who responded to this woman told her that she needed to read a book (Trust Agent by Chris Brogan) that had been recommended to her by a Boston-based PR agency.  Chris's blog/website is a very interesting read with some damn good advice on blogging.  Matter of fact, I hadn't realized that one of my techniques about seeing something interesting about PR and then blogging about it was one of his hints. 

Has your business or organization had positive reactions to blogs or social media?  Tell me about them, it's another way to generate some PR because I will write about it!

And if you are thinking of getting some new art for the home, office or gift giving, come see me at the St. Mary's Art Fair, 58th & M Streets in East Sacto, this Saturday, Nov 14th from 10 am to 6 pm.  Print this post out and I'll give you a 25% discount on any framed art or print.

To Twit or not to Twitter

Social media is the hot new PR topic right now.  This includes sites like FaceBook, My Space and Twitter.  But not everyone is thinking that they all make sense:

"Twitter has become a playground for imbeciles, skeevy marketers, D-list celebrity half-wits, and pathetic attention seekers: Shaquille O'Neal, Kim Kardashian, Ryan Seacrest. Sure, some serious people, like George Stephanopoulos and Al Gore, use Twitter. And a lot of publishing companies and bloggers (myself included) use Twitter to send links to articles we've published. But most of what streams across Twitter is junk. One recent study concluded that 40 percent of the messages are "pointless babble."

The quote above is from Daniel Lyons who writes for Newsweek Magazine and is included in the September 28th edition.  And I think he's right!

I set up a Twitter account last year, but have rarely used it.  I might just try to use it for a client, but I would put a caveat in the short post so it could be tracked.  For an artist it might be, come to the reception and get a free 4 x 6 print if you tell me that you saw this on Twitter.  At least that way you would know if it worked.

However, looking at the way most people are celebrity-focused, why would anyone want to listen to my twits, except perhaps by a twit.