January Social Media Star: Meghan Miller

The television news business is ever changing. The industry has gone from news on only three networks to 24-hour news channels to the reach and speed of the Internet and social media. Meghan Miller, the Web producer for WMBF News, the NBC affiliate in Myrtle Beach, saw the power and importance of social media in TV news early on, and has been using it ever since to keep a step ahead.

We picked Meghan as January’s social media star, because she’s on the front lines of journalism embracing all that social media can do for this industry. She “gets” it where so many media outlets continue to struggle.

Meghan started the WMBF Facebook page in August 2008 with only 10 fans, but has grown the page to over 10,000! Daily, she manages multiple social media accounts for WMBF, including Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and, one you may not have heard about, Bubbletweet. Here is what Meghan had to say about social media:

What was the first social media technology you used?
Facebook. Over the years, it’s slowly become the No. 1 way I can keep a personal connection with my family and friends back in my hometown of York, Pa.

What is your favorite social media tool?
Definitely Twitter. Believe it or not, I was actually against getting a Twitter account, because I didn’t see the point in posting to the world what I was doing 24/7. Now it’s one of the first things I check on my Blackberry when I wake up – to see who’s doing what and what topics are making news in the Web world.

How have you used social media for your business/company and how has it benefited?
In all honesty, it’s one of the most important tools I use as both a journalist and as a Web producer. Social networking takes news to a whole new extreme – it allows us to see who’s doing what, what issues are important to our viewers, and really allows us to make those important connections with those who keep close tabs on our news product.

Our Facebook fan page has just exceeded 10,000 fans – many of which were gained in 2009. That’s an outlet where we can interact with our fans with a “Question of the Day” and post controversial news stories that we know will draw a response from the public. It also allows us to strengthen the push-pull from social networking sites to WMBFNews.com.

Twitter is another – I can’t tell you how many news stories we’ve broken because of Twitter and how many relationships we’ve built with legislators, community leaders, businesses and organizations because of the exchange of a few tweets. If we can’t pull any news stories off of Twitter, it at least helps us get our brains pumping to come up with new, fresh news content for our shows.
On the flip side, we can keep better track of our competition this way.

How have you seen TV news change since you started in the profession with regard to social media?
It has exploded! I can remember when we had 20 fans on our WMBF News Facebook Fan Page and 100 friends on our MySpace page. We’ve been nursing our social networking sites since we first launched in August 2008 and now depend on it for comments on controversial stories that really affect our viewers or our market drivers. Now, you’ll see a “Facebook Question of the Day” on each of our newscasts – and a big push to become a fan of WMBF News either on Twitter or Facebook.

What role do you see social media playing in TV news in the future?
I see it as a way to gather news stories, build the WMBF News brand, draw people into our product, interact with the community and share breaking news when it happens, as it happens.

How much time would you say you spend a day engaging social media?
Ha – it feels like 24 hours a day! It’s hard to gauge because my TweetDeck is always open, I’m always fiddling with UberTwitter on my phone when I’m away from my desk and always checking out Facebook. It’s a part of the job!

How do you incorporate it into your day so it’s not a time waster?
It’s hard! I make sure that when I’m at work – that’s what I’m on Twitter or Facebook for – just work. When I go on dinner break, am heading out to do a story or am on my own time, that’s when I hop on my personal Facebook and Twitter accounts.

What’s your best tip for using social media for business?
Use it as just another tool to better your product and your overall image. Don’t ignore the fact that your viewers or clients are interacting with you on a “virtual” level – it’s the perfect time to draw people in! Engage, interact and don’t ignore!

Is there a social media tool/technique that you think is underutilized that you would like people to know about?
This is where I plug BubbleTweet, I do believe! I think BubbleTweet is an AWESOME alternative to Tweets if you have a webcam. It’s been a cool way to take people behind the scenes during a newscast, break news stories on a more personal and visual level and to show people that the news is more than just TV.

Where can people find you online and via social media?
www.twitter.com/wmbfmegmiller
http://www.facebook.com/meghanmillerwmbf

Finding Your Blogging Voice

The mechanics of setting up a blog are pretty simple: create an account with a free blogging site like Blogger or Wordpress; select one of the pre-made templates; decide on a name for the blog; and add a few widgets and a blogroll. That can be done in less than an hour.

The next step is a little more challenging. How do you create a blog that’s engaging, informative, smart, witty and well read? Well, if I could bottle that up, I’d be a millionaire for sure.

But there is one piece of the blogging puzzle that shouldn’t be discarded: finding your voice. The beauty of the blog is it’s an extension of you, reflecting your opinions, thoughts and ideas. To grab your readers, they need to get to know you through your blog.

Even the most prolific writers struggle with finding their voice – that style of writing that is uniquely theirs. So don’t give up if you’re stuck, just try of few of these techniques to get started:

1. Find your focus. First and foremost, what is the purpose of your blog? It could be political commentary, information on green living, tips for parents or simply a day-to-day diary of your life.
2. Reach your readers. Think about who might read your blog and write to engage them. Are you trying to reach people interested in international news, green living, organic gardening or how to discipline a toddler? Don’t write to moms if you want dads to read too. Don’t right for left-wing politicos if you want to grab the attention of all political junkies.
3. Write like you talk – for the most part. In many ways, blogs are a compilation of your thoughts and your conversations. That’s not to say your blog should be filled with sloppy grammatical errors, but keep the writing conversational, approaching your blog post as you would meeting a friend for coffee.
4. Don’t be afraid. If you have a dry wit, use it. If you have an uncanny ability for description and can really turn a phrase, do it. Play to your strengths and you’ll quickly see a pattern in your posts.
5. Write what you know. If you have no interest in cats, don’t start a cat blog. If you don’t know the first thing about computers, don’t start  a tech blog. But if you love college basketball, start a college basketball blog. Or if you have tons of great cooking tips, start writing about cooking.

These tips can apply to company blogs as well as personal ones. You company has a focus, an audience and an expertise – all those can be honed to create a well-written blog that gives a voice to your business.

I’d love to hear how you found your blogging voice or if you have examples of great bloggers who have their own distinct voice.

Finding the Best Blogs

Keeping up with all the blogs in the world can be one tough challenge.

Check out this post on our client Spirit Telecom’s No Static Blog about how to weed through the maze of bloggers to find the ones that are best suited for you and your business.

And be sure to share some of your ideas for managing the blogosphere too!

March Social Media Star: Leah England

If you own a dog, you’ll want to meet our March Social Media Star: Leah England, founder and publisher of Lowcountry Dog magazine. Leah has created a fabulous publication that serves as a great resource for anyone living in the Lowcountry of South Carolina as a dog owner.

We picked Leah, because she has recently taken the magazine’s print presence online, as well, and is quickly becoming known as the expert for all things doggies in and around Charleston. She’s on Facebook, Twittering about the latest pet events and news, blogging about the pet world and has become the go to resource. And all this is helping grow her audience both online and in print. So with that, meet Leah!

What was the first social media technology you used?
LinkedIn. Ironically, though, I use it the least now.

What is your favorite social media tool?
Twitter and Facebook are neck and neck. With MySpace in second place, and LinkedIn in third.

How have you used social media to spread the word about Lowcountry Dog (LCD) and how has it benefited?
It’s amazing how social media enables me to interact instantly with LCD readers. It’s like having a constant focus group right in my living room. I ask LCD readers for their content ideas, what issues matter most to them, what they love most about LCD and what I should do more or less of. And the best thing is, they talk to me – like a real person! Not some elusive publisher holding a charette, but someone with whom they can have an open and honest discussion.

This year I’m heavily promoting the annual LCD model contest, held at PetFest, through social media. Even though we’ve always had a good turnout, I’m really pumped to see how things go this year!

I also promote LCD advertisers when it is relevant and newsworthy. If a groomer is offering a discount, a kennel has new online reservations and Web cams, or a retail store is hosting a meet and greet for a rescue – it all gets posted! So social media is giving me another opportunity to help pet-related businesses connect with their demographic.

How much time would you say you spend a day engaging social media?
2-3 hours. Weekday only. You’ve got to set some limits.

How do you incorporate it into your day so it’s not a time waster?
I schedule my social media activity. Morning, mid-day and late afternoon. I think it’s good to space things out, not only for yourself so you can get other things done, but also so you have the chance to catch different people at different times.

What’s your best tip for using social media for business?
The conversation should flow both ways. Don’t just constantly shove yourself down your followers’ throats. Ask questions. Respond to your followers’ posts. Post truly beneficial, entertaining and useful information. Be gracious. Be authentic. If you use a lot of auto-responders and post one-sided information, people can smell it a mile away. Social media is one of those things where what you get out of it directly correlates with what you put in it.

Is there a social media tool/technique that you think is underutilized that you would like people to know about?
I’ve only been using social media for about three months, so I’m not an expert. There’s a lot I feel I don’t use enough. I’m excited to begin using Flickr as a visual social networking tool and to start a Squidoo lens for Lowcountry Dogs!

Where can people find you online?
www.lowcountrydog.com
www.lowcountrydog.blogspot.com
www.twitter.com/leahengland

Hubspot Study Suggests Blogs Best Social Media for Leads

A new study from Hubspot, who canvessed 167 small to medium sized business owners and executives,  is both encouraging and confusing.

The percentage of leads from each source was broken down as:

Other (including public relations and print and online display advertising) 25%
SEO 16%
Email Marketing 14%
Pay Per Click 13%
Telemarketing 9%
Blogs+Social Media 8%
Trade Shows 8%
Direct Mail 7%

I find this very encouraging – particularly as we offer services for PR, SEO, email, PPC and Social Media, that’s 76% of the leads right there! – it’s certainly good to know that more and more businesses are trying a variety of methods to generate leads, rather than sticking to whatever they have done in the past. That has certainly been my feeling from talking to clients in all kinds of businesses lately.

However, I’m also slightly skeptical of the accuracy, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, if you’re in are a small or medium sized business yourself, you know the difficulty in pinning down exactly how a lead found you.

If they remember you from a trade show, but Google* you to find your contact info, does that count as SEO or a trade show?

If you send offers via both email and direct mail, as many of our clients do, which one gets the credit for the sale?

And Mike Volpe, Hubspot’s VP of marketing, even goes on to say that there are additional benefits to blogging,

“Not only are you creating a community around blog articles, but all those articles get indexed by search engines, so blogging has elements of search engine optimization (SEO) as well”

So how can we accurately claim that SEO is 16% vs Blogging’s 8%?  I don’t feel that we can. But I also don’t see that as a problem.

One thing we try to stress here at Step Ahead is that your marketing efforts, particularly onlne, will help each other. Being active on Twitter can drive traffic to your blog, which can help with your SEO, which can get people to sign up for your email marketing, which can inform people about your trade show appearances, which, well, you get the idea.

One final thing which jumped out at me from this was this statistic:

Companies with less than 50 employees earmarked more than three times as much of spending on blogging and social media than larger ones, and 36% more on SEO.

On the Internet, there is no reason the small companies can’t compete with the Big Boys. In fact, the lack of barriers to getting things accomplished, which plague many a large corporation, can be to your advantage. If you aren’t already blogging, tweeting, facebook-ing, etc, you can start right now. You don’t need to organize all the different departments, have a bunch of strategy meetings, get the lawyers to overlook things, and waste months of everybody’s time. Just sign up for an account and jump in.

So, what are you waiting for?

*I really don’t like using Google as a verb, but everyone else does it!

Social Media Star: Stacey Crew

Meet our very first Step Ahead Social Media Star: Stacey Crew, organizing expert, author and speaker. Stacey, whom I met many years ago through a friend of mine and who is based in Charleston, S.C., helps moms-to-be, new moms and generally busy women organize their time and space. Her book, The Organized Mom, will hit bookstores nationally in 2009.

Stacey is very active on all the main tools, but has also networked herself well within niche social networks like Girlfriendology, The Integrated Mother, Posh Mama, Twitter Moms, and the Mom Bloggers Club where she has developed a following of moms who look for her seasoned advice on keeping our lives together! Here is what Stacey had to say about social media:

What was the first social media technology you used?
Facebook

What is your favorite social media tool?
Facebook, then Twitter

How has social media benefited your business?

Social media tools have helped me keep my followers informed of blog posts, Web site updates, and general information that I’d like to share—all in a very simple way! Anyone who has been following me, knows that getting a book published is a long process.

How much time would you say you spend a day engaging social media?
1 hour

How do you incorporate it into your day?

Sometimes I schedule it. For example, if I’ve made specific blog entries, I’ll post that on my Facebook page and on Twitter. Or if I’ve made changes/updates to my web site, I’ll do the same. Essentially, while working, I’m always connected to Facebook and Twitter, but try and use the time wisely so it’s not all of a sudden the end of the day and I haven’t completed my To Do List.

What’s your best social media tip?

Be yourself. People don’t want to feel like you’re all business or all personal, so find a balance. In my market (moms, essentially), I mention my kids and post pictures. Keep it real, but maintain your position as an expert in your field. It’s like walking a tight rope sometimes.

Is there a social media tool/technique that you think is

underutilized that you would like people to know about.

Well, I suspect the iPhone technology. I’m waiting for my new iPhone to arrive and once it does, I think I will be saying, “How did I ever live without it.” I’ll be providing tech tips on my web site for the iPhone and other technology and social media tools. We’ve entered a time when we can truly be more effective and efficient with technology.

Where can people find you online?
www.staceycrew.com, staceycrew.blogspot.com, Facebook and @staceycrew on Twitter.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Everyone should analyze how technology can and does work for them, whether it’s personally and/or professionally. Facebook is a great tool for staying in touch with both family and friends, but it also serves a purpose as a business tool. Twitter, on the other hand, is a fabulous tool for networking outside your local venue. If one is attempting to reach a national audience (like myself), Twitter can get you connected to people far and wide. Just remember to follow Twitter etiquette!

Lyn Joins TwitterMoms as Featured Contributor

I’m so excited that I was selected from some 250 applications to become one of 15 featured bloggers on TwitterMoms.com. TwitterMoms.com is a social network of highly influential and “networked” moms who are very active bloggers and Twitterers.

View my page on Twitter Moms: The Influential Moms Network

Twitter and being a mom definitely sum up two of my biggest passions in life and how great to be able to combine the two in a space with other like-minded individuals! Each of the selected contributors will blog on different topics and guess what mine is? You guessed it — social media!

So for my first post I tackled the infamous Twitter phishing incident and offer some tips on what to do if affected and how to avoid these types of scams to start with.

Were you “phished”? If so, weigh in on what happened and if you got it fixed. And feel free to join TwitterMoms. It’s a great network!

Just Give Me Something to Blog About…

Been blogging for a while and running out of ideas?

Here are some thoughts to stop writer’s block and get you back on the path to blogging!

• Subscribe to newsletters related to your topic. Pick a hot story of the day and offer your unique take on it.
• Post an interesting article you read or even better, help another blogger, and share one of their blog posts that you enjoyed.
• Recycle existing content
• • If you’re writing an email to a client explaining something, consider turning it into a blog post!
  • Got an email newsletter? Chop it up and rework it into a blog post with a more conversational tone.

• Provide helpful, step-by-step, information on how to do something (like this post). People want help and tips and this will keep them coming back to your blog.
• Share the love — give your spin on someone else’s topical post with a link.
• Interview people and include them as profiles. This will help build your readership (because they’ll tell everyone they know to read your post about them) and gives you a break. All you have to do is send them a list of questions and let them answer!
• Ask a question or post a poll. Let your readers weigh in on a hot topic.
• Post a photo from an event you attended with a quick one-liner or share a video.
• Keep a notebook with you always to jot down ideas as they come to you. This way, you’ll never run out of topics! I’ve got a list a mile long of things to blog about. Hope that becomes your problem too.

Any other ideas out there about what you can write about or how to brainstorm topics?

Target and Moms, Not a Match Made in Heaven

Target and moms go together like peanutbutter and jelly, don’t they? Well, we always thought so, but I guess Target does not.

I’m sure many of you read my blog post about my disappointment (that’s putting it mildly) that they advertised a Britax carseat for $40 and then canceled all orders after they discovered it was “incorrectly priced.”Not a great way to get in with moms, thank you very much.

They were all excited and when I interjected my note of being wronged by Target, I was pretty much ignored or shut down. That’s OK, I know they were excited about Target, and like the rest, I’m very disappointed to be disappointed in a store I loved so much too.

Sooo, turns out Target summarily dismissed their pitch to create a mom panel with one email.

Now, Target, come onnnn!!! You had a group of enthusiastic moms who wanted to get involved and spread the word about Target. Do you have no idea the value of that these days? Moms are probably your biggest shopper and spreading the word virally online would have been a great way to try to counteract the decline in sales all stores anticipate this year, not to mention setting yourselves further apart from other retailers who are not so savvy or who don’t even have such a dedicated group of moms.

Now, maybe they didn’t have to create a panel, but they could have taken advantage of this group in some way. The email linked above is pretty dismissive and discouraging.

The worst part is Target probably is not monitoring any of this stuff online or on Twitter, so had no idea how much excitement and buzz was going on out there about this group (not to mention the customers disappointed about the carseat). Clearly they are not, or they would jump on this opportunity.

So, now they’ve ticked off moms with the carseat thing and ticked off moms who were their biggest fans.

Target, you just don’t get it. Call me if you want to PR advice on how to smartly use social media, but it might be too late…

Turns out some of the moms still are trying to love Target anyway. I know, I know, it’s hard to walk away from. I guess that’s why Target can get away with this.

Oh, and they did offer me a $25 gift certificate after the carseat incident. What do you think? Should I take it? Am I overreacting to this whole thing? Tweet with #targetmoms or post a comment and let me know.

Motrin Moms, Target Too

There are lots of good uses for social media, but I’d like to highlight consumer power today. Social media tools give us the ability to share a message far and wide in near real time. Companies, beware. If you make a misstep, the world is going to hear about it fast and you’d better be listening and prepared to get in on the conversation fast!!

Have you heard about the Motrin ad that got moms across the country in a tizzy? Maybe not, because this amazing incident took place in about the span of 72 hours.

Let me give you the story. Motrin posted an ad on its Web site (watch it above) that used the voice of a mom, citing how while the use of baby carriers and slings made her feel like “an official mom,” they sure made her body hurt and, thus, had to take Motrin. Well, moms across the Internet, bloggers and Twitterers and more, took offense to this seemingly shallow and not very well thought out depiction of moms who carry their babies. And frankly to me, they missed the point. I mean, carriers and slings are supposed to take some of the strain OFF your body. They HELP, not make it worse. But that’s beside the point.

Moms on Twitter created a special group called MotrinMoms just for talking about this topic. They blogged about it, emailed Motrin, called them out on Twitter (read their discussions) and spread the word far and wide. In fact, for a couple of days, it was one of the most popular things discussed on Twitter.

Within 3 days, Motrin posted an apology on its Web site and pulled the ad completely. I think we can thank social media for this quick response. I’m sure it would have happened eventually without Facebook and Twitter and blogs, but moms would have had to write letters, emails, make phone calls — all of which, are not as instantaneous and viral as social media. Kudos to Motrin, however, for listening and doing the right thing. Best thing they could have done in this situation.

Now, on to Target. I hope you will help me spread the word about this as well. Earlier this week, a Mom blogger who writes the “Deal”icious Mom blog, posted a fab deal on Twitter. A Britax carseat, normally $280 now on sale for $42. We really needed a second car seat for our youngest and had been looking for a deal, so as soon as I saw this, I had my husband hop on and buy it. Done, no problem.

Well, two days later, Target sends us an email “canceling” our order because the item was “incorrectly priced”. Here’s what else the email had to say:

“We’re sorry, but we are unable to offer this item for the incorrect price. The correct price is $279.99. We have canceled your order for this item. If you would like to order this item at the correct price, please visit Target.com to check for availability.

Despite our best efforts, a small number of items on our site are occasionally mis-priced. We do, however, verify prices as part of our shipping procedures. If we discover that an item’s correct price is higher than our stated price, we will either contact you for instructions before shipping or cancel your order and notify you of the cancellation. This pricing policy is posted in the Help section on Target.com.”

This is such an example of poor, poor customer service, which I would not expect from Target. In these times of economic uncertainty and predictions of poor holiday sales, do they really want to alienate more customers, a lot of whom are probably moms, their biggest customers?

They have seriously underestimated the value of word of mouth here, as well as the viral abilities to spread this horrible service online. I have started my own group on Twitter – #TargetMoms. See the discussion thus far. Please join me in lobbying Target to correct this grievous mistake. Please blog, Twitter and email them here.

Power to the people man! Thank you social media!

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