We set up the My Creative Team Twittering Journalist wiki last year in order to develop a directory of journalists who were using Twitter. This was not an ideal solution, but it was good enough at that time. With the new Twitter list, we can move that wiki online. This makes it easier on everyone to follow twittering journalists.

We have established a USA Twittering Journalist List and a Canada Twittering Journalist List. They are not yet complete, but feel free to begin following them, and let us know if there are other journalists you are following who should be on the list. Next on our agenda, media outlets using Twitter.

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First of all, small businesses may not clearly understand how social media can help them. Nor, do they know how to measure the impact of social networks.  For instance, friending a brand may not always result in immediate sales. So, the small business reporting that social media doesn’t work is probably not giving the program sufficient time to develop.

Additionally, like businesses of all sizes, small businesses have trouble focusing their efforts. They want to jump into Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter all at once. Now, I believe in utilizing all three of these networks, as does Paul Chaney. However, small businesses should pick one platform that makes the most sense for their customers and master that one before adding another one.

And most of them don’t have the necessary resources to make the most of social media.

We’ve written about this often: strategy should drive tactics, no matter what type of business you run or what type of program you are planning to implement.

Duck Tape Marketing’s John Jantsch agrees that the most successful organizations approach social media with a strategic bent. According to Jantsch,

It’s about connecting, not automation. The best companies are using the latest communication tools not for automation or as “just another tactic,” but to truly connect and create relationships with customers.

Are you having any luck with your social media forays? Wade into the discussion and let us know.

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And it was a hoax on the media, not on the US Chamber of Commerce, as Bloomberg characterized it. Says Bloomberg,

The Yes Men, a New York group that pulls pranks on corporations, issued a fake press release and the text of a purported speech by Chamber President Thomas Donohue under the chamber’s letterhead yesterday, said Jacques Servin, a Yes Men member. The imposters also held a news conference at the National Press Club with ersatz chamber officials.

No, this was a hoax on the media. Plain and simple. Today’s media follow their template and biases, try to get the “news” out too fast, with little to no fact-checking.

Reuters called it more correctly after the fact. Initially, they too ran with the false story that the US Chamber of Commerce was changing its position on cap and trade. That’s what the liberal media wanted to hear and that’s why they didn’t question it. That’s what I mean by the template.

Today’s media members are overwhelmingly liberal.  A 2005 UCLA study confirms this. Former CBS newsman Bernard Goldberg has written a book on the subject - Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How The Media Distort The News that was spawned by an op-ed piece he wrote for the Wall Street Journal. Goldberg says that it’s not a purposeful left-wing conspiracy. According to an article in Newsmax,

Goldberg, who spent his last years at CBS in the doghouse for his 1996 Wall Street Journal piece, says that if these correspondents were to take a lie detector test as to whether they slanted the news leftward, they would deny it and pass with flying colors. Many of them don’t consider that they’re leaning in any political direction. They really think they are simply mainstream. There is no other side of the argument except what you hear from a few right-wing nut cases. In their world, mainstream conservatism doesn’t exist.

Don’t be surprised by more of these hoaxes.They are just too easy to perpetrate.

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Whenever you design a survey, a feedback form, write a phone script - throw away everything you know about your product and service. Your customers and prospective customers are not in your head - they don’t have your same history and assumptions about what you ask. Instead, look to capture the outcome they’re seeking. What job are they trying to do?

 It’s not that customers don’t know what they want, it is that they don’t know the possibilities.

Krispy Kreme gives us a prime example of asking the right questions and actually listening to their smart customers. They didn’t ask the customers what they wanted in a donut. They asked questions that got to the heart of the Krispy Kreme brand experience. Consumer input brought about the “Hot, Now” signs and the drive-through window.

Maltoni suggests that marketers ask questions and listen to customers for,

• indications as to how they’re solving a problem now or thinking through it
• hints that the second answer is where you should focus
• clues as to what gets their hearts racing in addition to their minds going

Listening to your customers is always good, particularly in a reccessionary period.

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Think about what’s happening in marketing and advertising right now. Every brand is rushing to social media and converting every message into a digital one. Well, if you are going to zagnow, whatwould you do?

I’m not saying to stop social media and go totally old school from a communications perspective. What I am promoting is some old school tactics that help bring the brand to life.

My lunch companion works in events and sponsorships. Now is the time to do events. Many brands - particularly those in NASCAR - have gotten out of the events and sponsorship business recently. This means that you can do events for less money now. Why would you want to, you ask?

Whether your audience is allies, employees or customers, events - done correctly - are a great way to bring the brand to life. An event allows you the unique opportunity to inform, educate or entertain your audience. I’m not talking about a trade show. I’m talking proprietary events.

Research shows that  proprietary events are:

- rated more highly in terms of meeting the particpant’s needs than a trade show

-  more than twice as likely to result in sales compared to a trade show

- more likely to draw C-level attendees

We’ll be talking more about zagging in the days ahead. What are your thoughts on the subject?

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One of our longtime clients is Bank of Commerce, a business bank right in the heart of Bank of America country.  When this bank was starting up, it was open to the idea of color as a branding tool. Says President and CEO Wes Sturges,

Banks typically use red or blue for their color. We wanted something different to differentiate us, so we went with purple. Purple is a symbol of royalty and riches, and is said to be the color representing good judgment.We use it in everything we do from signage and business cards to our website and email newsletter.

William Arruda agrees with us that color is a powerful branding tool. In a recent article at MarketingProfs, Arruda writes,

“Some organizations are so consistent and steadfast in their use of color that they practically own that color in our minds,” he says. “Think Home Depot, National Breast Cancer Foundation, UPS, and Target.”

He offers some excellent tips on the use of color,

• Choose a color that reflects the values of your company and resonates with your audience. Don’t pick one simply because it’s your favorite, or commit to a certain hue without first testing to see how your target market reacts.
• If you have an international presence, determine what attributes a color might have in other cultures. Colors can mean different things in different countries, and you run the risk of sending a message you didn’t intend.
• Be consistent in your use of color. “Always use the same shade and hue,” advises Arruda. “Know the PMS, RGB (red, green, blue) and CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, key) formulas for the specific shade you choose. Your designer will be able to help, and Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign have built-in conversions.”

What colors are you using? Do they truly reflect what your organization is about?

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Twittering Journalists

Top 10 Story Starters For Blocked Bloggers

Newspapers: Dig The Grave 

When Billboards Go Bad

It’s The Relationship, Stupid

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Newspaper Online Traffic Heads Up

Google Fast Flip Speeds Online News Reading

iPhone App Helps You Find Guinness

Measuring The Business Effects Of Web 2.0

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57.7% of respondents “ideally” plan, and 56.3% “realistically” plan to include social media in their media plans next year. That finding is significant, because it shows the rapid speed with which social media, including social networks like Facebook, micro-blogging services such as Twitter, and other new and emerging formats connecting people to each other online have taken a precedent with both consumers and marketing and advertising industry professionals.

Now, if you ask these buyers why they want to add social media to the advertising mix, you won’t get much in the way of solid, credible support for getting on the social media bandwagon. They want to be there because it is all the rage. Hello, people! What happened to hard-nosed number-driven media planning?

I ran across this piece from ClickZ Columnist Sean Carton, who agrees with me that this trend is worrisome.  Says Carton,

Sure, plenty of clients (and prospects) I’ve spoken to in the past year or so made vague noises about viral video or being on Facebook or tweeting, but when I’ve pressed them for why they want those things, few can give me an answer.

They have been hypnotized by the steady media drumbeat extolling the virtues of social media. They, too, are probably being pressured by clients and organizational higher ups to add social media to the plan, strategy or not.  It is up to us to help determine whether social media makes sense for our organizations.  And if it does make sense, what should our approach be? Like every other media decision since time immemorial, your target audiences will direct you to the appropriate decision.

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Fighting For The Middle Ground

Tell Me A Story

I Spy: Top 7 Links For Online PR Espionage

Customer Diss-Service

Your Personal Brand

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