Social Media – Continuing the Relationship

In celebration of MLK Day, the affiliate of Habitat for Humanity I work for hosts a Building on the Dream event to engage high school students on their day off. Their involvement means a lot to Habitat because they are our future ambassadors.

During lunch we had MLK trivia and each student read aloud a famous quote. Remembering the purpose of the federal holiday and our gathering together was an important part of the day. Since it is easy to loose contact with the students after the build we encouraged them to engage with us on our Facebook page.

We tried something a little different this time and were very pleased to see the results. We promised the first 5 students who became a fan of our page and who posted their MLK quote would receive a free Habitat water bottle!

Using our Facebook to engage with the students is a step we had not taken before. Staying in touch with them past their time on site is extremely important. We hope they will remain fans, and learn about other events we have and possibly attend!

Filed under: Non profit, Social Media, Build on the Dream, Engagement, Habitat for Humanity, MLK Day, Social Media

My Decision to Choose WordPress for Business Blogging

I had been dreaming about starting a blog for my company since I started, and the day finally came! My blog concept, guidelines, and editorial schedule were all set… but I had not created the actual blog site. I was debating between a few platforms and couldn’t decide which was best.

I finally decided on WordPress for the following reasons:

• Blogger: Although a great and easy platform to use, it requires a gmail account to activate. I love Google, but didn’t want to create another email for my organization; 10 million accounts are already floating around. It would mean one more account to check when moderating comments, and that’s just silly…
• Tumblr: I considered this platform based on its ability to create community. It’s a unique way to blog where individuals follow you and receive feeds of your entries. I researched the community topics that my organization’s blog would chat in, and those topics were not prevalent on Tumblr. Also, posts there are typically short and sweet, and I plan on writing “How to” ideas and stories. Not a good fit.
• Posterous: This platform is gaining popularity and I hear about it everywhere; so I obviously needed to think of it as a possibility. It’s known for being super easy. It’s pretty similar to Tumblr in my opinion, with short and quick posts. Many people update from their phones and email (or so I hear). My plan is to create a personal account here and use it as a guinea pig to learn more.
• WordPress: I have some experience with WordPress (um, this blog…!) and haven’t run into any issues. Everyone I’ve talked to agrees that it is great for business because it offers a professional appearance and reputation. Many people say it is easy to customize, which I’m sure is true, but I have yet to learn. My skills are lacking in CSS editing and are in desperate need of a boot-camp class. Regardless, our CEO also has his blog set up here, so we already have an active account.

After truly comparing these 4 options, my decision was a no brainer. I created the new blog in our existing account and got to work. The site will be ready next month, so stay tuned!

Filed under: Public Relations, Social Media, Advice, Best blogging platform, Blogger, Posterous, Tumblr, WordPress

#Foursquare Backlash

Today the main topic on my Twitter feed was about the dangers of Foursquare. The discussion started from a great post by PR Breakfast Club – “Is this the first confirmed case of Foursquare stalking?” http://bit.ly/c0AQ9i

Although this issue is freightening, I still think the benefits of the social media platform outweigh the dangers. Am I crazy!? I don’t think so… let me explain why Foursquare doesn’t have to be dangerous.

-Check in when you leave! Dugh. Isn’t this common sense? Gather points and jump to the top of the leader board between your friends, but don’t jeopordize your safety. It’s still fun this way, and the creepiness factor goes down about X100.

-Be selective of your friends. When someone from another state friend requests you, ignore it. Unless this is a close friend or someone from your personal network, there is no need for them to know where you are. Plus, why do you even want to know where they are visiting? It make no sense.

-Don’t post to Twitter. It’s annoying, and defeates the whole purpose of being selective of your friends on the platform. Twitter is extremely public. I personally only post my new badges and mayorships to my page. In my opinion, it is almost spam when someone is constantly posting there whereabouts.

Foursquare can still be used for location based promotions and friendly competition without putting your life at risk. What do you think? Still a speptic, or do I have good advice?

Filed under: Social Media, Foursquare, PRBC, safety, Social Media

Interactive Magazines

The continued success of magazines has been in question for awhile now. Many have stopped production while others have been able to stay up with new changes in the world of social media, the Internet and technology. I am a subscriber to the magazine ReadMade, and I feel they are becoming a strong contender in the world of news innovation and customer involvement.

For starters, they have a strong website with multiple blogs, which they use to truly respond to readers’ requests. They have undoubtedly built a strong community for those interested in food, art, travel and DIY projects.

But the purpose of this post is to point out their new interactive addition to their print magazine. In their latest “From the Editor”, there is a paragraph describing their new addition, SNIPP:

As you comb through our pages, you will see that there are some callouts inviting you to “S-N-I-P-P” a story via text message. This is a super-easy way for you to receive and store additional information diresct from ReadyMade HQ- it’s as easy as sending a text.

S-N-I-P-P it! invites were placed throughout the magazine underneath articles. My favorite was in their ‘We Heart Snail Mail” section. This is a section that highlights a letter or present from a magazine fan. This month a box of cookies from The Hot Cookie store in Indianapolis was featured. The paragraph talked about The Hot Cookie’s two bakers’ enthusiasm and how delicious their product was. At the bottom of the article was this invite, “To learn more about Richcreek and Kujawa, visit readymade.com or text “RM HOT COOKIE” to 76477 (S-N-I-P-P).”

I decided to check out their new interactive feature and actually text “RM HOT COOKIE” to 76477.

They responded with, “Hi. Welcome to Snipp! Text back your email address (just reply to this msg) to get addl. info on the item you just snipped emailed to you.”

I sent my email and they responded, “Thanks! We just sent you an email. All future snips will be auto-emailed to you. You can also view them at www.snipp.com (they then listed my personal user name and password).”

My email promptly received it’s Snipp! The additional information was actually fun and informative! There was a detailed interview with the two Hot Cookie owners. I was surprised how fun the email actually was. I was expecting something rather boring and repetitive of what I already read in the magazine.  I am a fan!

ReadyMade also splashes Facebook and Twitter invites beneath articles, reaching out for further involvement.

• “If you go to the Iowa State Fair, tweet us at @readymadetweets and we’ll do our best to meet you for mullet watching!”
• “…We hereby invite you to post a comment on facebook.com/readymadeonline or drop us a line at articles@readymademag.com. We’ll search our website, and poll our community of bloggers to get you making what you’re after!”

I am impressed by their content and desire to please subscribers. There is a very strong community!

Do you know of any other magazines showing similar involvement? What do you think about ReadyMade’s new S-N-I-P-P addition? Have any of the magazines you read created a special interactive feature?

Filed under: Social Media, Community, Interactive, ReadyMade, The Hot Cookie

Privacy on the Internet? Perhaps a little bit.

(Written as a guest post for the Dixon Schwabl WOW! blog - http://bit.ly/aK6910)

We all know that the Internet and social media are not known for their privacy. Whatever you post to Facebook and Twitter can be seen by almost anyone. Let’s not forget Foursquare that tells everyone exactly where you are.

But for those of you who are a little bit more reserved, or for those who just want to be devious, there is now something that adds a small bit of privacy to the links you post.

The company Acar created a ULR shortener Trick.ly that allows you to be a tiny bit secretive. When you share a URL within a post or on a site you can now hide it behind a question.

Make your clues as simple or as complex as you wish. Only the people who can decode your clue will have access to the link.

This new tool can also be used creatively. Clever ideas for using Trick.ly include:
Job search
Contests
Promotions
Online scavenger hunts

Have fun with this cool new gadget. Use it for business and marketing, or simply use it for entertainment.

Filed under: Social Media, Acer, Facebook, Foursquare, Marketing, Privacy, Trick.ly, twitter