5 Killer Social Media Tips for PR Pros. The Social PR Series is supported by Vocus. Vocus helps businesses get heard and talked about on social media and beyond. It brings you all the conversations that matter, without information overload, and lets you find influencers fast. Take a quick online demo and see what it can do. So you've got the social PR basics down, and you're following and engaging with relevant media and influencers. Maybe you've even developed a few social media campaigns for your company or clients. What are some other ways you can give your PR efforts an added social boost? Here are five social media tips for PR professionals. 1. While you can't always predict what news or events will become a #hashtag that people will follow, it’s a pretty safe bet that events like the #Oscars or #adtech will have a large group of people following the hashtag before, during and shortly after each event. 2.
Four key things to ask yourself when writing a tweetable press headline are: 3. 4. 5. Series Supported by Vocus. 12 Mind-Blowing Statistics Every Marketer Should Know. It's no secret that the marketing landscape has changed dramatically over the past few years as social and mobile technologies have gone from early-adopter novelties to mainstream essentials. Still, there are plenty of traditional marketing stalwarts out there who aren't buying all of the social media hype or can't convince their boss or marketing team to experiment in the brave new world of inbound marketing .
So we've rounded up a dozen powerful stats that are sure to be eye-openers, if not total mind-changers. 1. 78% of Internet users conduct product research online. That means your website stands a good chance of being a prospect's "first impression. " That also means your new business card isn't a business card—it's Google. 2. 3. 78% of business people use their mobile device to check email. 4. 40% of US smartphone owners compare prices on their mobile device while in-store, shopping for an item. 5. 200 Million Americans have registered on the FTC's "Do Not Call" list. 10. 11.
5 Ways to Sell Your Expertise Online. This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business. As a small business owner or entrepreneur, the lessons you learn are valuable. Not only will those lessons help you succeed in your core business, but that expertise has value for your peers. Sharing your expertise and becoming a thought leader in your industry can help you to attract new customers and develop lucrative, long-term business relationships. Beyond that, however, your expertise can also be utilized as a separate revenue stream in its own right. In 2008, the folks at software company 37signals announced that they had turned their expertise into revenue streams worth more than three quarters of a million dollars in just a couple of years.
Here are five ways that you can follow in their footsteps and leverage your existing expertise too. 1. 2. One easy way to sell your advice is Ether. 3. 4. 5. How Not To Embarrass Yourself When Doing Your Elevator Pitch. 20 Questions to Know for Avoiding Website Project Disasters. When working on a new web design project with a client, especially a new site launch, it is vital to have a clear definition of the project’s scope and the expectations of the future website owner. It’s far too easy for corporate politics and personal preferences to drive the features and processes of a website unless you consciously force the client — and yourself, at times — to focus on the needs of the users and the purpose of the site.
Outlining the basic requirements and goals also helps to limit scope creep later on in the project. Especially because many clients are non-technical, they struggle to explain what they want in the context of websites. By providing them with a list of questions, they can fill in the blanks for you without feeling like they are expected to know how to design a website. After all, that’s what they’re paying you to do, right? How to Avoid Website Project Disasters It’s best to customize these questions per client. 1. 2. Tough? 3. 4. Is the audience young? What to do when you outgrow your blog name? Way back in June of 2006, I found myself surprisingly pregnant with my 3rd child. I'd been blogging under a psuedonym for about 18 months and knew that as much of a great stress release as blogging was, I'd need a new blog to blog about this new chapter in my life. Baby # 3. Out of nowhere, the name "Coming to a Nursery Near You" found it's way from my brain to the top of my blog header.
I began it on a whim, really - not really thinking any further ahead than "holy sh*t, I'm pregnant - I'm going to GO CRAZY!!!! - I better blog it! ". Over the last nearly 4 years, it's been a great source of support from readers who empthacized and even birthed their babies alongside me, and then followed me down the path that life took me, that of post partum depression, and then just plain old, ordinary clinical depression. Well, now here I am, on the virtual eve of my baby boy's 3rd birthday.
Do you feel that changing a blog name is sacriledge? What say you, oh wisest of the wise bloggers of the blog? How to Build a Loyal Blog Following. It's no secret that blogging can be a great way to expand your business, reach out to new customers, and form a closer dialogue with existing ones. There are an extraordinary number of bloggers out there trying to do just that, but without an audience of loyal followers, it's unlikely a blog can become a significant growth tool. Driving new traffic to your blog is a start, but the trick is to turn first-time visitors into repeat readers who can build your social network and add credibility to your brand. So what's the secret to transforming your blog into one readers want to come back to?
"I actually think there's a myth that there's one thing they can do to drive traffic," says Maisha Walker, president of message medium, a New York-based Internet marketing consulting firm, and an Inc.com blogger. "It's a combination of things that all work together and feed into each other, especially if you're just starting out trying to build a name for yourself. " "It's pretty simple," Godin says. 20 Easy Ways to Ruin Your Blog. Written by Susan Gunelius in If you want your blog to be successful, then you need to start thinking immediately about how your blog is designed and configured. In other words, the way your blog is set up could ruin your chances of building a successful blog.
With that in mind, following are 10 of the easiest and most common ways that people ruin their blogs. Avoid them! Too many adsBlinding colors or colors that are too light to readPop-up ads – make them go away! Keyword stuffing – you’re not fooling anyone with that list of keywords stuffed into the sidebar or footer.Clutter – where’s the real content? Content scraping – be original, don’t just copy content from other blogs and sites.Text overload – long blocks of text are hard to read.Poor formatting – floating sidebars, images that don’t load, and so onToo many links – links are important but don’t go crazy with them or no one will know what to click on! Time to add your own to the list! Image: Flickr. Five Best Personal Web Hosts. @madisomi: Rackspace is the best of the best, but the service comes at a price. I have worked with Rackspace for the past couple years while managing several Linux servers and a Windows Server (now cancellled...). 1.
Rackspace customer is excellent. These guys spend big money to build a highly experience technical support team. 2. They had a couple problems last year, one of which such down the entire Dallas Fort Worth server farm. OK, that was a freak accident and it only serves to underscore one thing - nothing is "bomb proof". 3. You pay, I would say, at least 30% more for dedicated servers at Rackspace than, for example, Wiredtree.com. Also, Rackspace has an excellent control panel for managing servers, DNS, ticket history, firewalls, back-ups, IDS, etc. 4. Big companies, because they can afford it. Recently, Rackspace has ventured into "Cloud Hosting" (I hate that effing phrase... my pet peeve).
Mosso was Rackspace's first venture into Cloud Hosting - stay away. Keep this in mind: