Archive for October, 2010

Twitter helps the U.S. Geological Survey disseminate information to its publics instantly and gather scientific data about earthquakes. And the USGS gets unbeatable publicity from it all.

One way to engage people in conversation about a topic of interest to your organization is hosting a Twitter chat. There are a few common-sense rules to keep the conversation sharp and flowing. Here’s how.

Are laptops, surveys, focus groups, and market research dead and gone? Will you do marcom and PR from your mobile phone? Social media expert Gini Dietrich hazards a guess about what will be hot in 2011.

Did you know (1) website marketing photos annoy customers, and (2) photos actually divert attention from themselves. Communicators should spend more time writing strong headlines to attract visitors.

Whirlpool’s online hubs about cooking and cleaning, coupled with its social media presence, tout Whirlpool’s expertise without promoting its products in a crassly commercial way.

Small-business owners can tap into American Express’s global community—Open Forum—for information and professional connections.

In social media, says this expert, it isn’t what you can do right now with channels you already know well so much as it is finding out what you might do in new media you’re unfamiliar with.

Is your job writing top-down motivational messages? The new communicator may be in charge of supporting and enabling employees to produce their own content, says this editor.

Are you looking to develop widespread brand awareness or to form groups of articulate, energetic consumers who are passionate about your company’s products? These are two separate goals, asserts this expert.

Global hotel chain melds multiple Twitter feeds and a central Facebook presence to convey individual hotel personalities and address complaints.