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Lisa Orrell, The Promote U Guru 
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Posts Tagged ‘media’Queen of Twitter Shares Social Media Tips for Small Business OwnersAugust 01st, 2010Hi All! Are you curious to know what it takes to get 70,000 (yes, I wrote 70,000) followers on Twitter? Are you interested in knowing basic tips that can potentially generate an increase in traffic to your website of over 5000%? Then you need to know about the fabulous Jessica Northey! She is pushing 70k followers and she has helped some of her clients see an increase in their web traffic by that gigantic percentage using Twitter as the driver. Jessica recently wrote a quick-hit list of around 30 tips that can help small business owners, entrepreneurs and solopreneurs (such as: coaches, consultants, trainers, speakers and authors) have more success using Social Media in their overall Marketing Plan. And she gave me the thumbs-up to share 15 of those tips here…and, sure, you may already know some of them. But, you may not. And unless you’re totally content with the amount of followers you have, and you’re totally happy with your web traffic numbers, keep reading! But before we jump into the tips, just who IS this Queen of Twitter on the verge of hitting a mega amount of 70k followers? Well, aside from being a Social Media Expert who is contributing a chapter to my new book due out this fall, “The Promote U Guru Guide to Branding and Marketing”, Jessica has 20 years of experience in the Media industry, including Television, Radio, Internet and Print sales, as well as being an on-air personality. Now, as The SocialMediologist, she is known for being able to create complete successful marketing campaigns and bridge partnerships. Plus, she is the Associate Editor and Social Media Expert for the popular entertainment industry blog, FullThrottleCountry.com. In her weekly column, Finger Candy Friday, she offers advice and opinions on social media trends and topics. So what are 15 of the 30’ish quick tips she advises? Here you go: 1. Set a strategy for Social Media optimization and be consistent. Nothing looks worse than months without activity! 2. Take advantage of the free applications like ping.fm to streamline your Social Media efforts. 3. Don’t forget the blog! It is such a great way to control your own content & establish yourself as an authority in your industry! 4. Think of Social Media like you were scheduling radio commercials. When is your target audience listening? 5. Don’t spray and pray. Narrow your message to your target audience. 6. Connecting with other people should be your number one goal. 7. Educate yourself and understand how your target audience uses Social Media. 8. Don’t put all your “eggs” in one basket. Diversify your Social Media efforts and use multiple platforms. 9. Add Social Media Platform Participation links to Business cards, letterhead, vehicle wrap, Broadcast and Print Media. 10. On Twitter, register with wefollow.com & twellow.com and use to find people w/similar interests to get social with. 11. Define your goals and manage your own expectations. 12. Don’t get caught up in the Social Media drama & try to stay connected to positive people. 13. Budget at least half an hour a day to Social Media efforts. 14. Download Tweetdeck, Seismic or Twitterific for a better understanding of how to use Social Media platforms to their full potential. 15. Use Social Media to have discussions w/followers. Ask them for feedback and see what they want! CLICK HERE TO READ THE FINAL 15! And don’t miss the last 15 tips…she shares names and links to tools to support and improve your social media marketing efforts. Want even MORE great tips to build your personal brand or business brand awareness, increase traffic to your website, and drive your target audience to your social media communities? Then also be sure to CLICK HERE to access my YouTube Channel! View short “how to” videos loaded with marketing, PR, social media, book marketing, and branding tips. Thanks for the great info, Jessica 🙂 And to all of you… Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa  How to Write a Killer Press Release and Where to Deploy It OnlineMay 01st, 2010Hi All! If you’re like a lot of the clients I work with, you probably don’t have a lot of experience writing a Press Release…if any! So I’d like to provide you with some very helpful tips for not only crafting one, but also where to deploy it on online so that the media actually sees it…and so that it shows up in Google searches to provide on-going traffic to your website. Ready? Let’s get started… 1. Make Sure It’s Newsworthy: Some people want to write a Press Release about everything and anything they do, and that’s not a good strategy. Save writing one for big, worthwhile news: Your new book, landing a significant client, an event you’re conducting, etc. And they are not meant to read like articles! They are meant to be “news”! 2. The Headline: Make sure it’s short, effective, and not like the headline of an ad, eblast or direct mail piece. A Press Release is not a “marketing” promotional piece; it’s meant to share news in a factual, straightforward way. 3. The Body Copy: I have read many Press Releases that read like an ad or marketing brochure. Wrong! Using hype, exclamation points, marketing speak, etc. is not appropriate. 4. Basic Structure: Headline, intro paragraph that covers the “5 W’s” (who, what, where, when and why) because some media may only run your first paragraph and not the whole thing, second paragraph with more support info or a quote from you, a third paragraph with more support info and details, a fourth paragraph with a quote/testimonial from a client (or expert) about you, a fifth paragraph with boilerplate info about your company, and a short final paragraph with contact info. Keep the paragraphs short and try to keep the length to around one page. Click here to see a formatting example. You can use variations of this! 5. Add Testimonials: It’s always good to include one Testimonial so that someone else is quoted in it saying how great you are. It gives you more credibility. 6. Get Client, Organization or Individual Approval: If you want to mention a client, or any other organization, business, or person, in your Press Release, get approval first! This is BIG. Example: You may have just landed a big newsworthy client, or landed a keynote speech for a high profile company or organization, and want to tell the world about it. Yes, this type of news would warrant a Press Release, BUT those entities may have strict policies about being mentioned in someone else’s Press Release (mandated by their legal departments), and you can get into A LOT of trouble sending out a Press Release with them mentioned in it without approval. A LOT of trouble. 7. Optimize Your Press Release: Add 5-10 keywords or phrases that have received good search results because when you deploy your Press Release through an online service, those keywords will help it get found by people doing searches related to the topic of your Press Release. Click here to use a free keyword search tool that Google offers. You can type in keywords and phrases into this tool and it will tell you how many searches were done that month for them. This will help you determine which ones are worth putting in and it will also provide you suggestions that are variations of the ones you came up with. Online Deployment & Distribution: Okay, so now your press release is written…now what? You’ll want to deploy it through an online service. There are tons of these Press Release distribution services. Note: They vary in cost, so it will boil down to your budget. But most of them enable you to choose the industry(s) and media you want to reach, add keywords, select the date of deployment, and add pictures, images and logos to the upload. Here’s a few that most PR pros I know use, and ones I use: PR9.net is super cheap, around $15 per Press Release. Even when I use one of the other more expensive services listed above, I always deploy through PR9.net, too. I do this because I find my Press Releases do show-up in Google searches through their service, so that’s worth $15 bucks. Also, in addition to deploying it online for mass coverage and distribution, you’ll want to create a targeted list of media you want to reach. Then you can email your Press Release to them and do follow up calls and emails. But don’t attach the Press Release to your email! Paste the Press Release copy into the body of your email to them. OKAY! There is your crash course in writing a killer Press Release, and where to deploy it. I hope you found this helpful! Good luck! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa Do You Know How to Pitch the Media Your Ideas? These Tips Can Help!March 09th, 2010Hi All! I work with my clients (small business owners, entrepreneurs, speaker and authors) a lot on formulating “story” ideas to pitch the media (radio, tv, magazines, newspaper, blogs) as part of our PR and brand building strategies. Prior to working with me, many of them have either never done media pitching, OR they have sent general info out like: “I’m a small business owner who owns a flower shop, interview me!” (and they wonder why they never get call backs). The key to pitching the media for publicity is giving them easy-to-digest “nuggets” that will benefit their target audience. GIVE THEM the article/segment idea, don’t give them “general” info and hope they’ll think of a reason to interview you. Even on a tight marketing budget, here are 3 solid tips that can get you publicity: TIP ONE: Make sure the media you pitch actually reaches the target audience YOU want to reach! Sounds like common sense, but…I have one client who spent tons of time issuing press releases and ideas to media contacts and when I looked at his list, only about 50% were even worthwhile. If you’re a corporate Executive Coach, don’t waste your time pitching ideas to the “morning zoo” Top 40 radio stations that primarily reach young people between 14-21 years old! TIP TWO: Create a compelling segment/story idea. Let’s say you’re a divorce attorney who wants to get media coverage for yourself and your practice. An angle could be: Is your wife cheating on you? 4 ways to tell. Or if you’re a financial advisor, an angle could be: Is your current retirement strategy really working? 3 ways to tell. The media loves “quick hit tips” segments and articles, so approach them with this type of strategy. And the “posing a question” will grab a producer’s or guest booker’s attention. TIP THREE: FOLLOW UP! Sure, if you have a media contact’s email, you can start by sending your idea that way. But you’ll typically have to follow up with a phone call because producer’s or (editor’s of mags and newspapers) get swamped with media pitches. HOWEVER, if you have a decent (or great!) idea, the squeaky wheel approach helps. Don’t just send one email or make on phone call and let it go. Sometimes 3-4 follow ups are required to get the yes/no answer you are seeking. Okay! Start thinking of your media pitch ideas and start pitching!! These tips have gotten me interviews on ABC, MSNBC, TIME, WSJ, NPR and many others! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa |
