These were the questions posed by a client recently, and I thought the answers might be useful for others looking to kick-start their social media presence. Here are a few of the main differences:

Page

• When you, as the administrator of the group, post messages on the wall your profile picture will be your official logo, rather than your personal profile picture,
• Google indexes Facebook pages, meaning someone may find the page by using a search engine,
• A page gives users the option to “like” its content, meaning a link to your page will show up in their ‘interests’ section,
• Messages sent by administrators will come up as updates; and
• Anyone can “like” a page.

Group

• Even as administrator, your own personal profile picture will be included when you post to the group’s wall,
• Google doesn’t index groups, they are seen as more of an interactive platform, and are perhaps less official,
• Rather than “liking” the page, you become a member of the group,
• Groups under 5000 can send emails that will land in users’ Facebook inboxes; and
• You can approve or disapprove members.

Both

• You can enable and disable who can and can’t post at any time,
• You can choose whether people can put links up, pictures, and wall posts; and
• You can also add and remove administrators.

Questions to consider

• As administrator, do you want your messages to be an extension of yourself, and be associated with your personal image?
• Do you want an official style?
• Do you see your audience as members or fans?
• How do you hope to deliver messages?

Social media strategy Brisbane: There’s more to a successful Facebook strategy than a set-and-forget. If you want to develop your status as a trusted advisor and communicate rather than advertise, call Bluewire Media on 1300 258 394.

I’ve been hugely taken with and amused by the Old Spice viral campaign that’s been unfolding over the past few months, from “I’m on a horse” to the string of personalised video messages addressed to the likes of Rose McGowan (“we are both attractive movie stars who just got married in my brain“).

It’s a basic and effective appeal to the audience, and I like it!

I’m also impressed by the makeshift version World Vision unleashed today. It’s a clever crack at piggybacking off some phenomenal viral success, and I wish them many  happy views on their YouTube clip.

“Enter world vision: I might not be riding a horse, baking delicious cakes, building your kitchen, or performing perfect-ten swan dives, or fortunately for you, wearing a towel. But what I do have to offer is the charity of the future.”

Take a look:

Read more about the background of the Old Spice campaign and how you could apply the same principles.

Social Media Brisbane: We’re not saying you’ll get 13,475,888 views on your YouTube channel immediately, but we are insinuating it. Call Bluewire Media on 1300 258 394.

This is a guest post by Michelle James, post-grad student in writing and publishing at UQ and all-round lovely lady. Michelle interviewed me about what working as a web copywriter entails and the fundamental differences between print and online. Here’s her take on the conversation.

Writing well still the key

Since the mechanised printing press was invented in the early nineteenth century, the
writer’s craft has been crucial for communicating with mass audiences. With the
emergence of the World Wide Web in the early 1990s—and the proliferation of web
sites, blogs, and social networking—society is more text-dependent than ever.
Organisational writers today must be technologically savvy or willing to learn.
Entrenched Luddites need not apply.

The initialism-infused digital age of URL, HTML, PDF, RSS, and SEO can be a
confusing place for people who grew up before the advent of new media—those who
e-learning specialist Marc Prensky has dubbed ‘digital immigrants’. (For the uninitiated,
the above initials denote Uniform Resource Locator, HyperText Mark-up Language,
Portable Document Format, Really Simple Syndication, and Search Engine Optimisation
respectively. For clarification of these terms, please see the Internet.)

Twentysomething Sarah McVeigh is a ‘digital native’, someone for whom personal
computers, e-mail, and the Internet have always been an integral part of life. As a
copywriter for Bluewire Media, a web-strategy firm in Brisbane, McVeigh says that, no
matter what medium you are writing for, the reader must come first. “You need to give
people valuable information.”

With this first principle in mind, there are distinct considerations that arise when writing
for the web, such as optimising text for search engines. Search engines—Google being
the behemoth—are computer programs that sort through large amounts of web-site text to
find keywords, which are then indexed. When someone types specific words into Google,
it checks these against its keyword indexes and the best matches are returned as ranked
hits. Search engine optimisation means including keywords in web copy to move a web
site up a search engine’s ranking.

“You need to always have SEO in mind and always be writing with search engines as a
priority but it’s really important to only ever put it second. Your web site exists for the
human visitor and you can’t lose sight of that. When you go to web sites that are so
stuffed with keywords—because they want Google to find them—you just click straight
off them because they’re not valuable to you. A search engine won’t buy your product; a
search engine won’t engage with you,” McVeigh says emphatically.

People read on screen differently than they read material printed on paper, skimming
rather than reading closely. The presence of images, pop-ups, and hyperlinks encourages
non-linear reading. For this reason, scannability—using headings, bullet points, and short
sentences—is important.

McVeigh advocates brevity. “People have ever-shorter attention spans and you are
competing with the rest of the web for somebody’s attention. You have to be concise and
grab the reader quickly so you don’t lose out to this other site over here. I suggest you
leave long-winded prose at the door. It really doesn’t have a place on the Internet,” she
says.

“For other writing—for a magazine feature, for example—you can paint a picture and
then go into the specifics. You don’t have the flexibility to do that when writing for the
web. Lower down in the site hierarchy you can … but on that home page you’ve got to
say who you are, what you’re offering, and where [the reader] can find the information
required.”

So do grammar rules still apply to the World Wide Web, or can writers be a little more
‘creative’? “I think they should apply. Grammar is very important. Organisations want
their web sites to be professional. They don’t want their branding to go out the window.
With blogs, you can be a little less formal and the writer can use their own voice, be more
colloquial. But I don’t think the web is an excuse for sloppiness,” she says.

At Bluewire Media, McVeigh’s workdays are spent creating copy for clients’ web sites,
re-writing—which she describes as “webifying”—supplied content, and writing articles
for Bluewire’s blog. She says that she uses her own writing style only for the blog. “You
use lots of headings, bolding, bullet points, and image captions when writing for the web.
It’s very different to how you’d write for an offline publication. For the blog, the style is
conversational. I’m discussing things, such as SEO, that people may not be clued in on,
so I write it in a way that they would understand. That casual style is mine. The actual
structure of web copywriting is a learned thing, as opposed to a style thing.”

McVeigh, who aims to become a professional journalist after completing her Bachelor of
Journalism degree at Queensland University of Technology, is finding her courses
relevant to her part-time copywriting role. “They go hand-in-hand. My degree covers
sub-editing, search engine optimisation, the use of blogs, and having a real understanding
for writing for the web, as opposed to, say, writing for a newspaper.”

For organisational writers taking their first steps into the unknown world of the web,
there are resources available. McVeigh suggests Glenn Murray’s e-books on SEO
copywriting, which are available online. “Glenn Murray’s e-books are really insightful.
He was a technical writer before he was a web copywriter so he knows how to explain
things.”

Murray majored in English literature and linguistics at university and describes himself as
“no techo” who, accordingly, understands “the importance of explaining things in
layperson’s terms”. His e-books cover strategies to increase a web site’s search engine
ranking, but not at the expense of readability. Like McVeigh, he emphasises writing
helpful content. “If you write for your reader first, and you do focus on quality, you’ll
find you won’t have to do much optimisation of your copy at all.”

The World Wide Web is the new ascendant. Although the medium has changed in the
two centuries since the mechanised printing press revolutionised mass communication,
the principles of good writing have not. Effective communication through the written
word still connects the writer and the reader. Nevertheless, organisational writers have
additional factors to contend with in the digital age. For McVeigh, writing for the web
presents one unique challenge. “Not being distracted by the Internet,” she laughs.

I’ve been dipping in and out of a book I found lying around the office, The Big Moo.

Edited by Bluewire deity Seth Godin, the book is a hugely successful collection of ideas from a slew of the top business brains around the world.

The particular excerpt that got me excited this afternoon is an idea dreamed up and implemented by Ron Johnson, the senior Vice-President of Retail Operations at Apple Inc. (Yep, Apple impresses again.)

What Johnson did was, well…genius. He started “bars” across Apple shop fronts which rather than selling drinks, dealt out free tech support. He called the concept “The Genius Bar”.

Rather than understaffing, using the cheapest staff possible, or not training their staff properly, Johnson ensured the Genius Bar offered the highest level of service possible. So when millions of people (Apple product owners and the uninitiated alike) stepped foot in Apple stores, they expercienced the company to be helpful and personal.

So often public relations and marketing is self-serving and one dimensional. But this willingness to share the knowledge base of their company for free is a fabulous example of Apple’s ongoing ability to position themselves in the role of the trusted advisor.

What could your company offer others for free?

Web Strategy Brisbane: Bluewire Media has a free one page web strategy plan, endorsed by David Meerman Scott. That’s our gift to you. To discuss implementing the ideas that come out of this resource, call us on 1300 258 394.

We’ve talked to the gurus Glenn Murray and Jonathan Crossfield about the benefits of blogging – raising your company’s profile, optimising your website for search engines and sharing your expertise to name a few. But sometimes, despite knowing just how beneficial it can be, keeping a regular flow of fresh blog topics coming can be tough. Here are five brainstorming ideas I use to keep the furrowed brow at bay.

1. Brainstorm in down time

During a busy work day, inspiration can often allude. For this reason, I come up with most of my ideas in down time – at the end of the day or on a lunch break when I’m reflecting on what’s been going on, and what I have learnt.

2. Don’t just stare at a blank screen

Staring at a blank screen is hardly an inspirational activity. Get your notebook out – draw, scribble, think about what you’ve blogged about before, and what areas of relevant information you haven’t already shared.

3. Delve into the depths

If you’ve written blog posts explaining certain ideas to beginners, why not refer readers to those posts with a link and then go on to discuss the idea at a more intermediate, then advanced level? Let your readership’s understanding of an idea grow, through providing foundational knowledge and then building on it.

4. Read, read, read!

To write, you need to be reading all the time. It will give you an idea about what your target audience is interested in hearing more about, plus chances are you’ll stumble across an opinion you disagree with or can elaborate on. Blogging is an ongoing dialogue – link to what you’re discussing, offer opinions, give advice and share stories of your own experiences.

5. Bookmark pages

Bookmark sites of interest through the day and then once a day or once a week collate them into a directory of resources for your readers. For an example of this, check out our “weekly round-ups”.

Blogging Brisbane: Fired up and ready to share your wealth of knowledge with your clients? Bluewire Media can help you integrate a blog into your site and start climbing the Google ladder. Call 1300 258 394.

During a recent brainstorming session with Malcolm Burrows over at Rostron Caryle we came up with a new way to plan, implement, and measure the success of a social media policy.

Here’s how it goes:

Target Market

Who are they and how will you reach them?

Buyer Persona 1:

Buyer Persona 2:

Buyer Persona 3:

Watching

How will you measure what’s being said on social media sites?

Who will be responsible for monitoring this?

Emergency

What constitutes an emergency for your organisation?

1.

2.

3.

Who is responsible in the event of an emergency?

Employees

Who will be authorised to participate in social media?

For each account type (official, incidental employee, personal) identify which social media activities are authorised?

• Facebook fan page
• Facebook personal page
• Tweeting
• Blog – organisation
• Blog – personal
• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• Commenting (forums)
• Other

Technology

Which social media channels will the organisation utilise? (List the approved activities)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Success

How will you know that your campaign has been successful?

 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

We’d love to hear your feedback on the TWEETS method!

Social Media Brisbane: If you would like help developing and implementing a social media strategy and policy contact Bluewire Media on 1300 258 394.

We love YouTube!

We use it to share testimonials, press appearances and interviews we’ve conducted with inspiring and interesting people. We also use it to introduce ourselves and our services to clients, potential staff and anyone interested in what we do!

What do you use it for?

Here are some examples of what you’ll find on our YouTube channel:

Our welcome video

Here, we get the chance for our audience to ‘meet’ the directors of our company and explain first hand what it is we do.

Testimonials

Rather than us telling you what we think of our work, you can hear it from our clients.

Expert Interviews

We discuss a range of topics with fascinating people!

Press Appearances

We use YouTube as a bit of a portfolio for some of the mentions we’ve had.

So, where can we find your YouTube channel?

YouTube Marketing Brisbane: If you’d like help harnessing YouTube and other social media platforms to promote your business, get in touch on 1300 258 394.

We’re passionate advocates of using social networking for business marketing and delight in sharing success stories that began at a tweet, a Facebook discussion, a YouTube clip or a blog post.

Remember our interview with David Meerman Scott?  The one where he blogged about General Motors and ended up landing a meeting with the CEO?

Amazing right?

On a much smaller scale many of us are continually experiencing the benefits of social networking. A personal success story of mine unfolded a couple of weeks ago…

I’m currently enrolled in a music blogging course as part of my journalism degree at QUT (yep, blogging has hit the curriculum). Everyone in the class is grouped up and working on music blog projects. We’ve only been going for a few weeks and we were averaging about 50-ish hits a day. Then one day our views spiked to 500 – a crazy amount for a school project!

School Assignment Stats

I looked over our analytics and realised that the vast majority of our hits were coming from the Brisbane Times website. They’d compiled a “Best of the Brisbane blogosphere” list and included our little bleep of a blog on there!

But how did they know about us?

We follow Brisbane Times on Twitter. It was that simple. Through following them, they’d become aware of us.

Social Media Book Prize

To me this is a perfect example of how social media can be used as an inbound marketing medium – an idea Adam discussed at our workshop on Tuesday night.

Being present in the social networking sphere can reap fabulous rewards.

So, what’s your social networking success story? Large or small, we want to know how getting social online has helped you.

Comment us with your answer and you could win a copy of Verne Harnish’s “Mastering The Rockerfeller Habits”.

Social Media Marketing Brisbane: We can help you implement a social media strategy and get your success stories rolling. Call 1300 258 394.

Photo source: www.networxevents.com.au

Last Wednesday night I went along to Cloudland to the Networx event Maximising The Media.

I wanted to find out a couple of things:

• Do journalists ever actually use press release submission sites?
• What amount of news stories in these particular journalists’ publications or broadcasts come from press releases?
• Is writing and sending a press release every time something notable happens in your company a good idea?
• What separates successful press releases from unsuccessful ones?

Happily, all my questions (and more) were answered by the panel of four journalists who included:

• Chris Hague, Breakfast Producer, 97.3FM
• Cayla Dengate, Features Editor, mX Brisbane
• Catherine Noble, Editor, City News, Quest Community Newspapers
• Conal Hanna, Managing Editor, brisbanetimes.com.au

Preceding the panel discussion, guests were treated to a performance by Jay Jay, a local illusionist adept at stealing watches, swallowing balloons and coughing up cards.

Next came the talk. Here’s a summary of the main things I took from the night:

Journalists are too busy to go looking for press releases on submission sites.
Despite what I’ve read on many a marketing blog, even if they need a source for an incomplete story, they won’t look on these things. In fact, none of the journalists on the panel had ever sought out a press release from such a site.

Press releases are still hugely important.
Both Cayla Dengate (mX) and Catherine Noble (City News, Quest) said a great deal of their content came from press releases. Chris Hague and Conal Hanna said less of theirs did, but the general consensus was that press releases are still hugely important in maximising the media.

Don’t send press releases unless there’s something in it for that publication’s readership.
Journalists are time starved. That’s no secret. And according to the journalists on the panel, if you bombard them with press releases that aren’t specifically valuable to their readers you can expect to be unsuccessful. What they did say, was that a follow-up call after you’ve sent a press release can be really valuable. It draws attention to the email you’ve sent and separates it from the hundreds of others flooding their inbox.

Also, the panel stressed the importance of having your hook in the first sentence. If the first sentence doesn’t grab them, you’ve lost your chance.

Send your press release to every relevant person in the organisation.
Something that surprised me was that the journalists on the panel unanimously agreed that sending a press release to the generic news email, the editor AND as many different journalists as you can increases your chances of getting a look in. I would have thought they’d see it as a hassle, but their reasoning is that it’s more likely to be noticed. It’s something I’ve often wondered about so it’s good to know.

Men without their shirts on will almost guarantee coverage in mX and City News.
According to these journalists (with the exception of Conal Hanna), sex sells. They revealed that men with their shirts off or scantly clad women help a company’s media presence a lot.

That, and free stuff.

Overall it was a great night, I learnt a lot about a certain section of the media and how that relates to marketing and business. But I still can’t figure out how Jay Jay swallowed that balloon….I didn’t hear it ‘pop’ during the discussions.

Bloggers book prize!

Here’s the deal:

We love blogging and are constantly being inspired by the multitude of talent in the blogosphere. Here we’re sharing some of our favourites.

Thing is, we’re always on the lookout for a new read.
That’s where you come in.

All you need to do is comment us with your blog’s URL and you’ll go in the draw to win a copy of David Meerman Scott’s fantastic book “The New Rules of Marketing & PR”.

So, here are our favourites:

Marketing

Seth Godin – Brilliant, short marketing posts.

Web Ink Now – Thought provoking web marketing ideas from David Meerman Scott. We loved his book “The New Rules of Marketing & PR” and the blog is an ongoing source of inspiration.

Square 2 Marketing – Marketing advice from the authors of Reality Marketing Revolution.

Search Strategy – SEO tips from the Reload Media team.

Writing

Divine Write – Glenn Murray is the author of the two fantastic ebooks SEO Secrets and SEO Copywriting. These DIY guides are accessible and jargon-free, just like his blog.

Copy Write – Thoughts on writing from Netregistry’s Communications Manager and blogging extraordinaire Jonathan Crossfield.

Copyblogger – A blog that’s been listed in more “super important writing/marketing blog lists” than you can poke a stick at. A constant resource for web writing that works.

Snappy Sentences – A snappy (surprise, surprise) tip-laden read for anyone who wants to write effective copy.

Design

ffffound – Not only can you upload and share images, but this nifty site works out what you like and gives recommendations! A staple for designers.

FormFiftyFive – This site is a constant stream of images that intrigue and inspire. It also features handy links to design support tools.

Graphic Exchange – The web home of French graphic artist Fabien Barral.

Booooooom! – Film, art, design, music, all the things we all love, go to Booooooom! to get inspired!

Inspiration

TED – This video blog features really exciting presentations on a range of topics from leaders in their fields.

101 Cookbooks – Reward your hard work with these delicious feeds! Seriously amazing healthy, generally vegetarian recipes photographed beautifully and using all those crazy grains and vegetables you’ve never experimented with before.

Tim Ferriss – Author of “The Four Hour Work Week”, Ferriss has amazing ideas about living life and prioritising what’s important to you.

Emma’s Design Blog – This one feeds our designer’s obsession with mid-century scandinavian interior design and superb photography.

The Selby – For the voyeur in all of us. Beautiful photographs featuring beautiful homes and their beautiful owners.

So? Where can we find your blog?