PR Freelancers. Social Media Experts. Social Media Training.
Archive for May, 2010
Planet Content launches social media ‘catch-up’ training course
May 25th
We’ve launched a one-day “catch up” social media crash course for in-house marketing teams and PR consultancies. We were inspired by our own experience of widespread misunderstandings about social media and this worrying piece of research last week which found that 80 per cent of in-house public relations teams “don’t get social media”.
Social media is unavoidable. It’s here, it’s happening, it’s changing the way marketers need to think and act. If your company is not on board then you will miss out in the long-term. However, for those new to social media or who have only dabbled it’s not surprising that you may have been left behind – it all changes so fast! Social platforms emerge and disappear just as quickly as new channels spring to the fore. How can your company get involved or, for PR consultancies, what can you offer your clients to supplement and further support their ‘traditional’ marketing methods?
Planet Content managing director Chris Lee will come into your office and present to your staff over the course of the day. We cover the basics then run through the programme below before finishing with a brainstorm using what we’ve learned and thinking about where social media could be applied within the organisation or for clients.
The course programme includes:
• Current assessment of understanding
• Why you should care about social media
• Glossary of useful terms
• Overview of channels
• Search marketing and search engine optimisation (SEO)
• Blogs and Microblogs
• Social Networks
• Social Bookmarking
• Multimedia (podcasting, videos, virals, photo sharing)
• Location-based networks
• Email marketing
• Message boards, Virtual Worlds and chat rooms
• Wikis
• Monitoring and Measuring
• Questions
• Brainstorm
About the trainer
Chris Lee is an award-winning blogger*, contributes to the University of Westminster’s New Media Knowledge resource site and small business blog, SmallBizPod, and established RunMarketing.co.uk, the DIY marketing site for SMEs.
Interested agencies should contact Chris Lee on +44 (0)7833 781720 or info@planetcontent.co.uk. The course costs £500 plus VAT, plus travel expenses if outside the M25.
*Awarded “Best Business Blog 2007” for work on “Wadds’ Tech PR Blog” with Rainier PR (now Speed Communications) by Communicators in Business.
Mail on Sunday scores spectacular own goal
May 19th
For the sake of a story on (now former) England World Cup bid leader Lord Triesman’s off-record comments to a “friend” the Mail on Sunday could have jeopardised England’s chances of hosting the 2018 FIFA World Cup with all the associated income, jobs and youth inspiration that would have brought with it. Was it a story too far?
If you take a look at the backlash from football fans, the media and general public it will be interesting to see what the Mail on Sunday’s circulation will be this week and the next. The Guardian reminds readers of the Sun/Hillsborough backlash on Merseyside, although any boycott against the Mail on Sunday would be nation-wide, not local, and therefore even more damaging for the paper, potentially. PR professionals likewise think it was a major own goal for the Mail on Sunday.
The damage may not be terminal for the paper – and it’s certainly not alone in using entrapment tactics – but at a time when newspapers are taking increasingly desperate measures to secure more readers it seems the Mail on Sunday picked the wrong subject matter. It strikes me as unpatriotic (which should hurt) and not acting in the national interest to publish, and if England does not win the right to stage the 2018 FIFA World Cup then it will be the Mail on Sunday who will most likely be held responsible by the public, not Lord Triesman.
Social Media: Keep it Simple
May 13th
I was talking to a potential client last week for whom social media is perfectly placed to help them with what they need, due to the visual nature of what they do. The choices of what they could do – budgets withstanding – was really quite incredible, but therein lays the problem: with time as the key investment the main message here is KEEP IT SIMPLE.
It’s all very well for the likes of Starbucks with its dedicated social media team (six people, I understand) and multiple platform engagement, but what about the small business that recognises that social media can help promote its brand, showcase its wares and engage with customers but can’t throw a great deal of time at it?
It’s easy, really. Simply identify a few platforms which you think will best represent you, spend a little time getting content on there and then start engaging. Most platforms are free, which allows you to focus on ‘fishing where the fish are’ (horrible cliché, I know, but wonderfully illustrative). Often you can syndicate this content on multiple platforms, so you don’t need to reinvent the wheel (there’s another cliché…).
Depending on your audience, focus on:
- Audio/visual: iTunes, YouTube, Vimeo, MySpace etc
- Conversational: Twitter
- Personal interest: Facebook
- Business: LinkedIn, Slideshare
- Location-based: FourSquare
I’ve been experimenting with multiple platforms and you can now find RunMarketing on Facebook, Twitter, iTunes, Slideshare and YouTube.
Further reading: Social Networking and Social Media for Small Business (White Paper)
Further listening: Social Media for Small Business (podcast)