how to promote your SM presence offline

Not sure how to tell customers at your brick-and-mortar stores that you’re also on Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare? Take a look at these examples at the Flickr group, Signs of Social Media, a gallery of signs that point customers online.

This is a screenshot of the back cover from the latest Crate and Barrel catalog. Note the two signs of social media in the bottom right-hand corner.

It’s amazing how social media is now a part of normal, everyday life. Marketing folks call this “online/offline integration.”

It looks a bit flashy, but it’s TGIFridays in Time Square so they’re on brand.

Greeting folks as they enter Dillard’s in Cincinnati (Glenway/Western Hills)

at Coffee Emporium in downtown Cincinnati

Interesting to see how Oreo pushes people to their Facebook page to engage with the brand. Note it says TELL US vs. FOLLOW US. Subtle but important.

HT: PR Daily

catastrophe is a strong word…

If you’re not following @BPGlobalPR, then you’re missing out on some great tweets. When I first saw the account (and believed it to be the official twitter handle for the company) I was surprised at how well BP was taking the enormity of the situation. Tweets like:

and

caught my attention right away. “Wow, that’s a gutsy move on their part” I thought. And for a day or so, I was impressed with the coverage. Here was an oil giant accepting responsibility for their actions, but also making us laugh about it. Still though, it was gutsy and I appreciated that.

Then I found it was a fake account and it all made more sense. The fake site is gaining traction as it has over five times more followers and counting than the real @BP_America account.

And what’s coming from the @BP_America account? Nothing but dull corporate jargon without a glimmer of personality. That’s what attracted me to the fake one: personality.

People connect with people more than they do faceless, nameless entities and corporations. It’s 2010, y’all, and social media has been around long enough that companies should start getting this! Of COURSE @BPGlobalPR is getting more attention. Sure it’s irreverent, but he has the attention because the guy sitting on the other end knows how to engage an audience.

And what about BP? They should be doing a better job at connecting with their people. The fake guy created his own social media campaign called #BPcares and is giving away “Free BPcares t-shirts for only $25 to cover the shipping.” I doubt it’s real, but a GREAT idea!! C’mon, BP. Not only do you have a mess in the Gulf to clean up, but now you’ve allowed some socially savvy tweeter to smear oil on your image as well. You’ve got some catching up to do.

My all-time favorite so far:

And some other tweets from @BPGlobalPR:

tweeting for the doves… a debrief

Last night I had the incredible experience of tweeting live for the Dove Awards under their name, @GMCtv. I blew it up.

I was set up in the press room with 60+ media outlets including reporters, camera crews and TV networks. Artists would be introduced to us and then take the platform for pictures and questions. I was able to tweet from my desktop using Tweetdeck allowing me to track everyone’s @replies as well as keyword searches for “#DoveAwards” and “GMA Awards” so I could see what everyone was talking about. In other words: I could see (in real time) when anyone in the Twitterverse used the words “#DoveAwards” or “GMA Awards.” It meant that I could introduce myself (as @GMCtv) and engage them. Most of those people were in the audience and sending out TwitPics of their view of the stage.

That I have the 3GS iPhone meant I could be mobile and have a greater impact covering behind-the-scenes pictures and even a Twitvid of TobyMac’s (@therealTobyMac) dancers on their “down time.” Fans loved it.

I made it a point to engage the GMCtv audience. I asked them questions and wanted to see if anyone had a prediction for an upcoming category.

I was also sure to do a fair share of @replies and ReTweeting (RT).

Being ReTweeted by a company like GMC can be a big deal for people. [It was a big deal for me when EXPRESS (@ExpressLisaG) and Nordstrom (@Nordstrom) both @replied me in the same week.] That kind of interaction only strengthens brand loyalty.

I also tweeted the winners, of course. I was sure to stay on top of this as to be the first one to tweet it.

How is your business using Twitter or another form of social media to strengthen your brand/company? It’s not going away anytime soon and if you haven’t embraced it, then you need to. I’m actually looking to move into a social media role like this full time so if you have a company that’s in need, please contact me!

All in all, it was a great night. I’m thankful for the opportunity and the exposure it created both for GMC and for myself.

But seriously… I want to do this full time so get in touch with me today.

the new dork

My, my how the tables have turned…

120 is the new 140

TWITTER TIP: If you want to be retweeted, then limit your messages to 120 characters so people don’t have to reconfigure your message and abbreviate when they want to ReTweet (RT) you. It’s as simple and easy as that. Leave room.

If you REALLY want someone to RT your message, then insert a “ReTweet” link at the end. You can learn how to do that here.

add RT links to you tweets

If you’ve got something important to share that you want to spread far and wide on Twitter, this is the easiest way to do it! Introducing a way to add a RT link (meaning, ReTweet) in your tweets so anyone can RT your tweet. Oh, efficiency.

Why should I be interested in this? Good question. This will allow anyone to be able to RT your tweet regardless of what Twitter Client they’re using. It’s another way to help people who don’t have Twitter apps to RT your message.

This short video will explain how to maximize your tweet by retweeting with tweetsmarter.

social media in plain english

The same group that brought us “Twitter in Plain English” now have a video for social media! They do a GREAT job of breaking down what social media is & how it’s effecting big businesses today. Hopefully this clears up any questions as to what all the heck we’re all talking about.

this is why i love twitter

About 2 or 3 times a week I get an email from Express that showcases current styles and upcoming sales. At the bottom of today’s email I noticed they were on Twitter.

After getting lost in the “suits” section, I Twittered a tinyurl showing everyone the kind of suits I’d wear to work if I had to wear them. I also announced that Express is now on Twitter with a link to their twitter page.

Read more…

5 brands that “get” social media

As we battle a global recession, corporations are looking for new ways to sell their products and engage their consumers. Many have turned to the Internet, with Social Media in particular, to market their goods. Let’s take a look at 5 companies that have done a phenomenal job of taking advantage of social media platforms.

Read more…

How Twitter will effect blog design in 2009

In 2008, Twitter really started to hit the mainstream and bloggers began adding widgets to their sidebars to display their latest tweets.

In 2009, Twitter will become much more tightly integrated with the rest of the blog in a variety of ways – watch out for tweetbacks and tweetstats to make their debut, and tweet comments to TwitterRolls to start appearing on blogs. Here are 10 ways Twitter will impact blogs this year.

Read more…