Who are you following?

When was the last time you looked through the people and organizations that you’re connected to via social media? To align your social media efforts with your business goals, it’s important to find ways to engage the people and organizations that can help you achieve those goals. Refreshing and replenishing your connections can be an important step in that process.

Selecting the Target

It helps to go through and categorize your followers and rate them high to low depending on their possible engagement. Making it simple by putting them in three categories of high engagement, medium engagement, and low engagement will allow for a better understanding of content that will generate the most pick up on social media.

To define each category, it is best to see how active each person is on social media. Here are a few things to look for when determining engagement:

1.    Is this customer reposting frequently? If so, what types of posts are being reposted?

2.    Do they have other social media pages? If so, which ones?

3.    Are they active and engaging with other organizations? If so, what types of posts (pictures, video, contests)?

The information that you find should become part of any future campaign involving social media. This will help to ensure that your posts become attractive to the right audience. Remembering to stay engaged with the customers directly is important.

Follow the Followers

Take a look around different social media platforms. Is your target market really all over Pinterest? If they aren’t, then why are you? Make the most out of social media by making sure you are on the sites that your target audience is involved with! So many organizations are on forms of social media they do not need to be on. It is a waste of time and resources.

Instead of being on every platform, take on one or two and be strong in that area. Be an engaging leader for your customer base. Knowing the content that’s most appealing to your audience can lead to new followers that can become strong influencers on your social media pages.

Make it Count

Getting a post to really jump out at someone is great. Getting your social media targets to talk about your posts is pure gold! When someone shares your post, your reach obviously becomes much larger. If you can reach new potential targets, your social media campaigning will become much more effective.

Engagement is a two-way street. If there is a post from an engaged follower, like it! This helps that one person know that your organization wants to be engaged with its clients. This little gesture will help to give a face to the organization. It also gives your organization a little bit of notoriety among that person’s connections.

Creating content that will engage the right audience can ultimately lead to new followers and clients for your organization. It will make your brand unique and a target destination for followers. Making the most of every aspect from posts to followers makes for a strong social media platform that can be used in all marketing campaigns and will generate a strong ROI for your organization.

Use Social Media to Generate Business Leads

Social media has become the way of the world. People all over the globe use social media in some way. It is not just individuals, either; organizations are all over social media sites. The question for organizations is how to turn social media into a good return on investment. Social media helps you engage with your audience, build a ‘corporate personality,’ and communicate directly with your audience – but the most powerful social media pages also generate business leads and inspire sales. Leveraging social media effectively can help you to make a good impression on both your current clients and potential clients – and inspire them to do (more) business with you. Every day, organizations and their target audience are directly interacting through social media. Here are some quick tips that could help you turn your social media visitors into quality leads.

Make Your Page Shine

Signing up for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn is a start, but each page needs to show your organization in a consistent way. Make sure each page is reflecting consistent messaging to your target audience. It is important to make your page unique; that can be done using specific types of content, including enticing visual images.

With so many different organization and brand pages, being unique is difficult, yet vital. An example of a Facebook page that does that very well is The Federal Trade Commission  -- this organization does a nice job of making an impression on first sight. The picture of the building is visually appealing. The site has a lot of visitors and followers, building on its interactions with interesting posts designed with their followers in mind.

Posts and Content Make Connections

Posts are the way that organizations show people who they are. They are a way to relate and engage your audience – quality posts can really attract a good following to your organization.

Here are a few quick tips for posting:

·      To generate a good post, remember who you are trying to reach. Each post is a building block to demonstrate your credibility and knowledge of your given field.

·      Direct your followers to your content. If there is an event or news that the public should know about, post it! People want to know what is going on.

·      Creating contests is a good way to build interaction and get your customers and followers’ contact information. It allows the customer to feel involved while also providing a good way to secure lead information.

People follow your organization to see what the organization finds important and to personally engage with the organization. It makes them feel involved and it helps your organization build recognition with the followers.

FedScoop is a great example of using social media to promote content and build credibility. They give their readers the top government headlines of the day in a quick and informative manner. They understand that not everyone is going to read an entire story; they use social media to quickly inform their readers of the government headlines they need to know about.

Let your followers know you are listening

Responding and commenting on your followers’ feedback is important to build trust. It will help to create a strong conversation with the customer. It lets the customer know that they have a voice when working with your organization and that their input is taken seriously.

A good example of a way that customers and organizations interact is Federal News Radio. Not every post has a comment on it, but when there is a meaningful conversation or something to add to a recent post, they do a good job of interacting and following up. This lets you know instantly that someone from Federal News Radio is interacting with their readers directly.

Promote Your Pages Everywhere

Getting others to follow your pages is an important way to leverage social media. Make sure to let others know that your organization has and uses social media. Put social media symbols in an email signature and on your social media sites. Have a link at the bottom of emails linking to your social media pages. Make sure that everyone has an opportunity to find your company on every social media page you have. If no one knows that you have a social media page, no one will follow it.

It is important to remember that there is not a limit to the number of followers an organization should have. The more people who follow your page, the more people hear what you have to say, but quality is more important than quantity – don’t post kitten videos to get followers; only post content that is relevant and of value for your audience in relation to your organization. It is important to monitor what your organization is saying on all forms of social media. Responses and comments should be made quickly and should be well thought out.

Building a relationship with your customers doesn’t just happen because you’re on a social media site - it takes time, creativity, consistency and commitment – just like anything else that works well in business. The advantage is that you can reach many people quickly and relatively inexpensively, providing a broader canvas that also encourages one-on-one attention and interaction. Use social media effectively, and you can build not only your organization’s credibility and reach, but also its source of quality business leads. Social media gives your organization a direct link to your customer – be sure to use it well.

 

What Are Your PR Needs for 2014?

This has been a rocky year in the government IT space; many of us are relieved to see this year finally come to a close, and look forward to 2014 – a new year, new opportunities, and a new government budget almost in place! This is a great time to assess your organization’s public relations and marketing strategies for the New Year, and make sure you’re on track for higher visibility and awareness in 2014.

Public relations is hands down the best bang for your buck – it is the single most powerful tool in any organization’s marketing communications arsenal. If it’s not in your arsenal, 2014 is the perfect time to take advantage of this influential tool. Consistent, focused PR educates your audience on the solutions you provide to help solve their problems; a results-driven PR campaign builds name recognition and brand awareness, helping you expand your organization’s sphere of influence. Here are five tips to consider when you think through what you need to accomplish through PR to help you support your strategic business goals in the coming year.

 

1.    Think through your business goals and objectives for 2014. You should be ambitious about where you want to be in a year and how much you would like to grow, while also making sure your goals are attainable. Then align your PR goals with your business goals. Want to expand your thought leadership presence? Grow a specific vertical market? Defining your goals helps you clearly identify where PR can provide support and ‘air cover.’

2.    Ask your PR agency/team to define the PR/marketing actions needed to achieve your goals and objectives. It’s important to be realistic about how much you can accomplish in twelve months, and you need to ensure that your actions truly support your goals. For example, if you want to grow a specific vertical market, you want your PR effort to focus on the media and events that serve that specific market.

3.    Review the past year’s successes and efforts that were especially effective in communicating your message, and integrate these initiatives into next year’s campaign, as well. You want to continue to nurture and leverage these successes to ensure continuity and consistency.

4.    Establish metrics to be achieved: how many feature articles are you aiming for, and what’s reasonable to expect with resources committed? Remember, consistency is key, so an important element is securing feature articles that truly tell your story throughout the year, not just clustered around an important event. Want spokespeople quoted in the press? Work with your PR team to define the metrics that make sense with your level of effort and commitment, then put them in writing, and track results.

 

5.    Enjoy the holidays! Make sure to take the time out of your busy end of year work schedule to spend time with friends and family. You have been working hard all year long, so take the holidays as an opportunity to relax and re-energize for next year.

 

And if you need an engaged, focused PR team to help you achieve your goals, please call me – we’d love to help you plan and implement a focused, results-driven PR campaign for 2014! Our promise to you – we’ll consistently deliver results, exceeding your expectations!

 

Happy holidays!

 

For more information on how Advice Unlimited can help you create and implement a successful public relations plan, or provide support for other public outreach and communication initiatives, please contact me at 301-924-0330 or slevine@adviceunlimited.net.

Dos and Don’ts of Blogging: How to do it right

Blogging has become an essential part of an organization’s online presence. Blogs can be seen on just about every organization’s site. Although it may seem like a good idea to just jump onto the ever popular bandwagon of blogging, understanding what makes a good blog can make all the difference. Having a blog just to say you have one is not effective and could create a negative perception of the organization. Being able to engage a reader and being consistent are the key aspects to being able to maintain a strong blog. Here are some of my dos and don’ts for successful blogging.

 
Do: Have a clear direction

Many of the negative comments about organizations’ blogs focus on the writers of the blogs. The main issue with poor blogs is that there is no clear objective. This can be a main deterrent that turns readers away. The goal should of course be known to the author of the blog but more importantly, to the reader. If a reader has no idea what to expect from a post, there is a good chance they will not be subscribing to the blog. For example, The Federal Times blog has a clear mission – inform and create brand loyalty. They make it easy to navigate and spark strong interest by using up-to-date posts, topic separation and page interaction.

Do: Create order out of chaos

For a blog with multiple writers, it is good to have each writer have their own page that links to the main blog of the organization. On the Office of Management and Budget blog, they feature a main column of blog posts from each of their different writers. On the right side of the page, the reader can easily find past posts of a specific author they might like. There is no clicking from page to page to find the information; it is all in one place. This is a great example of a blog that could have been much more cluttered or chaotic.

Do: Make your posts social

Writing a blog is pointless unless people read your posts. An extremely easy and effective way to do that is by linking your organization’s social media pages to the blog. Nextgov is a prime example of how to link a blog directly to a story. Every story on this page is linked to Twitter at the beginning of the post. It makes it easy for readers to share the story with as many people as possible and gives the blog a much wider reach.

Do: Create interesting content

For every blog, creating a buzz should be a goal. Having a blog that posts content that matters is great. Having a blog that posts that same content but can make it compelling -- that is huge! VMware does this very well. They have many bloggers covering many different topics. The one thing that they all do very well is post stories that capture the attention of the reader instantly because of the uniqueness of the topic and the relevance of the topic to the targeted audience

Don’t: Post without purpose

Some people might think that because your organization has a blog that they have to post every day. This is not true at all. Posting regularly is a must; however, doing it just for the sake of frequency is not the best idea. This is what I would call “empty posting”. Empty posting gives the perception that the organization does not put thought into what they are saying. It also can take away from the credibility of the organization if the post is rushed and sloppy. Be sure that you have a purpose with every post.

Don’t: Forget about Design

A blog can really lose a reader if they have a hard time navigating the blog. A blog that I really believe captures the audience by design alone is FedScoop. FedScoop has brilliant colors and is easy to navigate. The black and white color scheme with a touch of pink is simple but also catches the reader’s attention. The page is also linked to all of FedScoop’s social media pages in the top right corner. This makes the blog well-rounded as well as well-designed.

Don’t: Talk to yourself

Blogs are a great place to spark a conversation. Having a blog that people can respond to and want to comment on is wonderful. This gives the writer a chance to respond to comments and create buzz on their story. All the comments that a story gets can be used for great feedback for future posts and insight on if and how you are reaching your target audience. An organization that has a good blog comment section is the USDA. On their blog they have a large section for commenting and feedback. They also integrate the rest of their brand throughout each post by linking to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and email. 

Don’t: Forget to use the power of the internet

For any blogger, this should be an essential element of their blog. The internet has so many connections and can relay a story in a more interactive way than a print copy can. So take full advantage of it. NASA does a great job of using the power of the internet. On their page they have videos, pictures, links and news feeds which can be easily navigated on their homepage. They also include links to their social media pages on the top of the page. This not only looks great on the page, but it keeps the reader on the page longer. Clicking and following a picture to a story and a video creates more time for the reader to connect with the brand.

Creating a blog is a great idea for any organization, especially when the blog leverages its platform for optimum communication outreach. Using the power of the internet, social media and strong writing skills, blogs can create good site traffic and brand loyalty – and help you communicate your message directly to your audience in a fun and memorable manner. Maybe it’s time you started blogging?

10 Steps to a Great Headline

Creating headlines is a difficult skill that can be a struggle for many writers. Headlines are extremely important whether you are writing for online content such as blogs, social media, or webpages or you are writing articles and thought leadership pieces as a journalist or public relations professional. Being able to connect with your target audience in a quick and concise manner is one of the most valuable writing skills in today’s society of social media and online content writing.

Even though the content of an article may be extremely well written, only a small portion of people will read that article. Headlines pull people in. A good headline will catch the eye and help the reader engage. The following tips can help you create a strong headline:

 

Be Accurate

 

Although it is basic, many people make the mistake of creating misleading headlines. It is crucial not to mislead the reader about the content of the story. Be fun, be catchy – but ALWAYS be accurate.

 

Here are some extreme cases of misleading headlines.

Misleading Headlines	Accurate Headlines
Kids Make Nutritious Snacks	Nutritious Snacks Created by Kids
Two Soviet Ships Collide, One Dies	Two Soviet Ships Collide, One Person Dies
Hershey Bars Protest	Hershey Staff Protest
Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim	Squad Helps A Dog Bite Victim

Marry Your Headline with Your Subject

Let the reader know what the article is about quickly and in a focused manner. Being direct will help the reader know what to expect instantly. Being straightforward will lead the reader to the body of the article. Obscure headlines can turn away a reader as quickly as a direct one can draw them in. Having good flow in an article goes beyond the body; make the headline flow into the content itself.

Add Spice with Strong Adjectives

Adjectives really make a headline stand out. An expanded use of adjectives will draw readers into the article. Headline writing is about separating from the pack; finding unique strong language helps you differentiate your story from others. Think of strong adjectives as bright colors on a page -- the brighter the colors, the more likely a person is to see that color.

Spark the Imagination

Make the reader want to know more. Sparking interest is a key in headline writing. Ever wonder why “How to” articles are so common? They always seem to spark interest right away – largely because they promise to solve a problem for the reader. The reader feels connected to the story immediately.

On The Boston Globe’s website, sparking the reader’s interest is a regular occurrence. Check out some of the stories on their page for some great examples of interesting headlines.

Cut the Fat

Creating a headline that can be read quickly is extremely important. Your headline should be descriptive enough to give your audience an idea of what the article entails, yet short enough to ensure you don’t lose their attention before they even get to the first graph.

Making the headline short is especially helpful when writing online. If there is a short headline, it can not only be used for the site, but it can be blasted on social media exactly how it appears.

Use Active Voice over Passive Voice

Headlines should always have an active voice. Having an active voice makes the author sound more definitive, while a passive voice can make the author seem unsure of the topic. This is important, as it can affect the credibility of the writer.

CNN really has some great active voice headlines.

Use the Spark Notes Version

Headlines should almost tell the story -- they should almost sum up the article for the reader. Clearly let the reader know what is coming. The goal is to lead the reader into the context of the article; this will result in a larger number of reads.

Use Superlatives

Superlatives will help to draw an audience into the story. This is especially effective when writing for blogs or web articles. For example, at the blog Upworthy, the team is tasked with finding superlative phrases for story headlines. This is credited with helping them draw in millions of readers to their stories. According to the New York Times, the headlines that they produced created so much buzz that the site had 2.5 million new viewers in its third month of running.

Name Dropping Works

Having a name in the headline can be extremely helpful. It is especially effective if the client you are writing about has a strong brand. People want to know about brands they care about. Using a recognizable name connects the story to the reader quickly, increasing readership interest.

News sites like The Washington Post name drop a lot in their headlines. Political subjects are a great place to name drop in a headline.

Most Importantly: Catch the Reader’s Attention

The number one goal of a headline is to catch the attention of the reader. It’s worthwhile to spend a bit more time on the headline for any story you write, to ensure it not only describes the article, but entices the reader. Hopefully these tips will help you make the story pop off the page. It is not an easy task, but this is a skill worth learning, to help you engage your audience and deliver your message.

Strategic Communication: Catching On

Government organizations' communications budgets are getting slashed, but they still have to educate their constituents, share information, and provide guidelines and insights about their area of responsibility to support their mission. In addition, they need to keep their message fresh and engaging to reach the new generation. Many programs and messages are targeted to millennials -- but how do we ensure they're actually paying attention and absorbing the information?

The good news is that approved social media sites are relatively inexpensive tools, as they really only require the cost of labor -- creating the content, vetting it, posting it, monitoring the sites and responding to constituents' postings. This method of communication is fresh and easy to use, and millennials are very comfortable perusing these sites for information and insights.

The key question then becomes: how do we make our message catch -- and keep -- their attention?

According to a study done in 2010 by the Pew Research center, 90% of millennials use the Internet and 75% of millennials have created a social networking profile. It is important to remember though, that social media users are looking for more than just information when they browse. Several studies have shown that people participate in social media for socializing, entertainment, and self-status seeking, on top of strictly searching for information.

Social media is a setting in which two essential processes take place: peer-to-peer influence, and interaction-creating connections. These processes, along with the nearly instantaneous speed of the Internet, make for the perfect vehicle for distributing messages. Government organizations can tap into and creatively utilize this space to generate a "viral" campaign. Package your message in a medium that can be easily distributed from peer-to-peer and dress it up in the latest/dominant trends and fashions of your audience. And enjoy how effectively your constituents will help you share your message.

Here are some tips on getting a message to go viral:

• Plug in: Take a look at current dominating mediums that your audience is latching on to. In addition, popular themes can serve as a powerful tool for getting those initial contacts.
• Do something unexpected: Rather than emphasizing what is great about your message or product, do something that draws the attention of your target audience to it. The message promotion should be visible but subtle.
• Follow up: Give your audiences more of what they like. If you have a great idea, play with it and reinvent it for as long as you can. People say millennials have short attention spans, but they also know what they like and will only share brands they trust to deliver.
• Allow and promote sharing: Make your content as accessible as your organization's guidelines allow. When appropriate, create opportunities for people to participate in your campaign: ask for insights, suggested themes, etc.

An example of an organization that has taken these tips to heart can be found in a recent Center for Disease Control and Prevention campaign -- they pioneered an out-of-the-box, viral campaign with flying colors.

In 2011, the "Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse" campaign swarmed the U.S., inspiring families all over to "get prepared." Director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response, Dr. Ali Khan, pointed out, "If you are generally well equipped to deal with a zombie apocalypse you will be prepared for a hurricane, pandemic, earthquake, or terrorist attack." This campaign creatively provided information on staying safe, outlined how the CDC operates in potentially dangerous situations, and allowed anyone to make their own preparedness videos to share on the site. The campaign was so successful that from it, the CDC developed lesson plans for educators, t-shirts, posters, and even a graphic novella.

The government sphere has the power to distribute important messages creatively and effectively. Government organizations' passions no longer have to suffer the limitations of yesterday. It's about time we caught on. With the power and accessibility of social media, combined with a little creative fortitude, government organizations can really leave a lasting footprint in the web-space of tomorrow.

The Power of Pure PR

There has been energetic debate about the definition of PR. What is public relations, and why is it important for accomplishing the goals you have for your organization? The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) recently initiated a crowdsourcing campaign and a public vote to establish this new and concise definition:

“Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

To define more clearly what public relations is, it may help to delve deeper into two aspects of the PRSA definition: strategic communication and beneficial relationships.

Strategic Communication:

Just about anyone can communicate. But effective communication requires thorough planning, connections, and craftsmanship. There is a common misconception that the only way organizations can communicate to the public is by dispersing their message to as many people as possible through as much advertising as possible. This method works for some organizations, when the target audience is broad based, undefined, or difficult to define. “Inbound marketing or content marketing,” an approach used by many PR/Marketing professionals, is the purposeful placement of your organization's message in a way that earns the attention of your customers and entices your customers to come to you.

To break things down practically -- the world each and every one of us navigates is entirely made up of information delivered in different forms and through different venues. Each of our decisions, especially regarding business, is based upon the information that we’ve come across throughout our navigations.  As we go through life, we find ourselves maneuvering through this world of information overload as efficiently and effectively as we can; avoiding information we deem useless and holding onto information we regard as useful (or potentially useful). Sometimes we hold onto information simply because it’s fun, sometimes we ignore information that might be good for us because we don’t trust or like the messenger. We will only hold onto the information that we find valuable enough to keep and we can only hold onto the information we find during our daily maneuver-filled navigations. For an organization to be successful it needs to disperse information in a way that can and will be retained, using communication channels your target audience uses and trusts. Public Relations presents your information so that your target audience can find it and will hold onto it.

Pure PR is when the message and the outcome desired drives the communication channels used. The strategic PR professional will determine which media or communication channels are most used and trusted by your target audience, and most appropriate for the type of message you’re delivering. This ensures your message reaches your target audience in an environment that they respond to, where they’ll read and absorb the message, and in the language and format that resonates with your audience and inspires your desired action.

Beneficial Relationships:

The advantage of this strategic communication is magnified by ongoing proactive PR; which leverages the PR professional’s relationships with respected journalists and helps build beneficial relationships between you and your audience.  When you’re doing it right, PR becomes a key channel for developing a positive relationship with your audiences. A PR professional gets your information to the places it needs to be in order to get the optimal retention from your audiences. Continuous PR gives your target audiences frequent and varied positive encounters with the information they need to better trust, understand, and respect your business.

An essential factor in any organization’s growth is reputation. What people say and who is saying it both play an immense factor in making any monetary decisions. Pure PR communicates your organization’s trustworthiness to deliver on the expectations you establish, through communications channels that your audience views as trustworthy and capable.  

Having your solution or service talked about as news in the right publications is at the heart of what makes public relations so valuable. This third party credibility is validation that your organization does what it says it does. Positive press coverage builds trust in your organization.

When a consumer reads a particular publication, it is out of the trust, respect, and credibility they associate with that publication. They rely on these publications to serve as a trusted distributor of news they care about. When your organization’s successes and visions for the future are articulately expressed in an article, readers transfer the esteem they give the publication they’re reading over to the businesses mentioned – this establishes credibility via association. This pathway to credibility is particularly valuable in the government sector, and in any industry where there is a trusted pool of influential media, and balance, fairness, and third party credibility are crucial in procurement decisions.

With good public relations, organizations are properly presented to relevant audiences and audiences are pleased to be introduced to relevant organizations. Pure PR is the symbiotic element added to the organization/public relationship. Proactive PR -- continuous strategic communication -- is an invaluable tool to engage, educate, and influence your target audience regarding your products, services, and vision.