Social Media: No Need To Get Blogged Down

"Social Media & Your Business: A Phase or the Future?" enjoyed a solid and receptive turnout on Thursday night at the Oak Park Public Library. About 30 people, mostly business owners, attended and learned a ton from Sherri Lasko of Sunspot Marketing and, I hope, at least a few pounds' worth from me.

I learned a bunch myself, including this reminder: people are at a loss when it comes to blogging--and it need not be so. We polled the audience and found:

13 were on LinkedIn,
10 were on Facebook,
And four were on Twitter.

The grand tally of folks who blog: zero, zilch, nada, one big, fat goose egg.

As much as I have seen the collective reluctance to blog, I was somewhat astonished that not even one soul raised a hand to claim themselves as being an active citizen of the blogosphere.

Below is a 55-second excerpt of my blog-encouragement, which was a riff off of a tongue-in-cheek hand-out I provided on Blog Schmog: Why You Absolutely, Positively Don't Have to Blog.

Blog, Schmog: Why You Absolutely, Positively Don’t Have to Blog

You hear “blog,” and think, “Blah!” As in, “Yuck!”

No, make that “Blah-blah-blah!” As in, “A royal waste of my time—as a reader, and certainly as a writer.”

OK, I hear you. And it’s true—you don’t have to write a blog. Isn’t it so 2007, anyway?

Of course, if you are looking to grow with the 21st Century way of doing things, then there’s got to be some online formula to help you promote and grow your cause, business or widget of the moment. Try this combination on for size:

Hone the Discipline of Reflecting

Take some time to actually think about what you’ve done, what you’re doing and what you plan to do. Then distill those thoughts into words. It’s not simple, but on the other side is a huge pay-off: improved processes and practices.

Psst, let others in on your mental journey. It increases their understanding of and respect for what you’re up to.

Display Your Expertise

Through anecdotes and insights that only you possess, convey what separates you from the pack. Give a bit of yourself away—not the whole store, but enough to add value to those who come across your path.

Send a Signal That Your Cause or Business Is Alive and Well

When you haven’t updated that website in years—or, God forbid, haven’t gotten around to creating one in the first place—think of some simple way to let this cat out of the bag:

“Hey, everyone, I’m still around and gainfully engaged in the marketplace.”

Hint: if you’re thinking of cutting-and-pasting those very words into an e-mail, then sending it to everyone you know, it’s time to ponder Plan B.

Create An Anchor for All Your Communication

In the online realm, it’s a good idea to figure out a way to rise above the din that comes with billions of options.

So, amid enticements to check out this video, to read that product review or to study your baseball team’s latest box score, how do you help cyber-surfing Hansels and Gretels find their way to your home?

By consistently leaving trails of crumbs—on your e-mail signature, in comments on websites and everywhere in between—that all lead back to the same URL (Uniform Resource Locator).

That’s a good start: engage in reflective thinking; show and share your expertise; regularly remind the world that your business is in business; and establish a reliable communication anchor.

By now, it should be abundantly obvious that you absolutely, positively don’t have to blog. Then again, you don’t have to harness one of the most multi-dimensional, dynamic ways for kick-starting your efforts.

'Tis the Season to `Go Green' With PR

"Green is the new black."

Over a year ago, that phrase was the centerpiece of one of my clients' involvement with a design project at her alma mater. You can see some of the efforts to the left, and the story here.

Stories focusing on environmental stewardship are hot this time of year. Witness recent Inside Edge PR releases about Better Homes & Gardens Gloor Realty and McAdam Landscaping here in the Chicago area.

Is there something your business or organization is doing in the "green" category? My advice: think of a fresh way to position it and get the word out to your local media.

Coming May 28: Social Media Workshop

On Thursday, May 28, I will be co-presenting a workshop, "Social Media & Your Business: A Phase or the Future?" at the Oak Park Public Library.

To learn more, click on the image to the left. Better yet, right-click it, save it to your desktop and share it with others who may benefit from the session. That would be social media in action.

Along with Sherri Lasko, in the workshop I will provide an easy-to-follow introduction to the various social media services and how they can benefit individuals, organizations and businesses.

The workshop begins at 7 p.m. and will go until 8:30 p.m. It'll be fun, illuminating and will employ layman's language, so you won't get a headache from techno-geek-speak.

ULI Update: State of the Industrial Market in Chicago

A few weeks ago, I had my latest writing assignment with the Chicago chapter of the Urban Land Institute. The session covered the "State of the Industrial Market: Past, Present and Future Opportunities" in the Chicago area.

You can also check out prior blog posts about ULI topics I've covered, from talks the organization held last November, as well as in January and in March.

Want To Drive Online Traffic? Then Tweet!

To Tweet or not to Tweet?

That's the question that has surfaced with increasing regularity the past few months. In addition to the compelling data about Twitter's growth, anecdotal indicators abound: in the last week, I've seen that my pastor and the National Basketball Association are on Twitter.

(I'm following Pastor James, but don't feel the need to be an NBA disciple just yet.)

Having attracted about 90 followers since opening my Twitter account almost exactly one year ago (May 15, 2008 was my debut), my presence on the social-media service is modest, at best.

But I have seen upticks in traffic when I post links to this blog and other writings on my Twitter account (you can follow me by going to my page on Twitter, "InsideEdge".

Then, late last night, I got a compelling glimpse of Twitter's power.

Around 11 p.m, I took a few minutes to provide links to two recent news releases that I had posted previously on Triblocal, with specific introductory verbiage so people would know the gist of what they would see. I had shared the releases with a variety of media outlets, including posting them on Triblocal.com, the Chicago Tribune's citizen-journalism site.

Here are some preliminary findings:

Link I: After nine days, a piece on an upcoming skin cancer fundraiser at Five Seasons Sports Club in Northbrook had generated a mere four hits. Within 10 minutes of Tweeting about it, the hit count jumped to 14.

As of 8 a.m. today, the tally was up to 23--more than five times the pre-Tweet tally. What will the hit count say when you click on the above link?

Link II: Intrigued to measure the Tweet-pact (Twitter impact) on another Triblocal story, I offered a link to a two-month-old Scheck & Siress news release on a family's efforts to address their infant son's plagiocephaly, or flattened head.

Within nine hours, the number of people who had viewed the story climbed from 28 to 41. After a protracted period of stagnation--less than one visit every two days--that's more than one hit per hour.

Granted, these figures don't measure what, if anything, anyone will do about having read these pieces.

As a result of my late-night Tweets, will Five Seasons see more visitors at its skin-care fundraiser on Tuesday night, or gain new members down the line?

Will a parent who hadn't thought about contacting Scheck & Siress do so now that they learned about the company's various services?

We will probably never know--though any organization ought to be continually asking clients how they found out about them, so they can measure what marketing efforts are working.

Although the extent to which those Tweets make a difference may never be clear, much more obvious is the answer to the alternative question: What if, after having already invested hours upon hours in developing those news releases, I had not taken a few moments make that extra awareness-raising nudge?

Shining A Light on Police `Rush To Judgment'

This week, I began working for Elliot Zinger & Associates, a Chicago law firm whose specialties include criminal defense. The firm recently began representing Hyungseok Koh, a Northbrook man charged last month with murdering his son, Paul.

After a preliminary investigation by the defense team, Elliot Zinger says Mr. Koh is himself the victim of an overzealous police force’s “rush to judgment."

So far, a press release issued late Tuesday afternoon and posted on Triblocal.com has led to coverage in the Northbrook Star, a Pioneer Press newspaper, and Examiner.com.

Marketing/Journalism Tension Flares at Tribune

If you haven’t noticed lately, the line between journalism and marketing has been getting blurrier.

The latest case in point: the Chicago Tribune’s marketing department apparent soliciting of “subscribers’ opinions on stories before they were published,” according to an Associated Press story.

As the AP reported, “An e-mail signed by 55 reporters and editors, sent Wednesday to Editor Gerould Kern and Managing Editor Jane Hirt and obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, questions why the newspaper was conducting the surveys and what stories were used.”

It will be intriguing to see how this plays out, though it is unrealistic to expect any clarity emerging as to whether subscribers had any effect on news coverage.