How To Tweet For Success!

In almost every meeting we attend at the moment there’s a marketing director or business owner that is still completely miffed by Twitter - ‘what’s all the fuss is about’ is a very common question. In fairness to them, it’s as if non-tech folk don’t already have enough to get their heads round!!

According to recent research, there are approximately 6,000 new businesses signing up to Twitter every day at the moment, many of whom are simply following the crowd and don’t have a clue why they are indeed telling the world what they had for breakfast or what the weather is like in darkest Wiltshire (for example). With the sheer amount of businesses and individuals arriving on Twitter, there’s a fantastic opportunity to raise your profile and brand awareness and build some loyalty . Simple eh ;->... well, after reading our guide to Tweeting below hopefully it will be more so.

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Social Media On The Up!

We recently picked up this piece of news from Matt Williams from Brand Republic and wanted to share it with you. What we found most interesting was that the age of the social media user is getting older and well on the increase. This surely makes for a stronger case for services such as Online PR and blogging for your business.

LONDON - The social networks and blogs category has become the fourth most popular online, according to a new report by Nielsen.

The report, called Global Faces And Networked Places, has revealed that such sites are now visited by more than two-thirds of the global online population, accounting for almost 10 per cent of all time spent on the internet.

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Do Bloggers Count As Journalists?

In America there’s been a recent stir in the bloggersphere relating to a bill of Congress that state a journalist has the right to keep his or her sources confidential, effectively banning the government from forcing journalists to reveal whistleblowers.

Bu wnen it comes to bloggers as well as freelancers, independents, and nonprofit journalists – the government can in effect force you to divulge where information has come from. 

The reasoning is that if journalism is a hobby or passion you do as a public service, or if you are a freelancer without a boss, both of which easily describe a blogger, then the government reserves the right to force you to tell them who told you something, much like the government tried to do with New York Times journalist Judy Miller under the Bush Administration.

What do you think? Is this fair? Will it stop radical views being aired online?

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Ten Reasons For Adopting Online PR

When I mentioned that I thought this was the right time to work in PR to an unemployed PR account manager a few weeks ago, his immediate reaction was to say: “Are you insane? PR budgets are being cut, marketing budgets are being cut, advertising budgets are being cut – now take a cold shower and think about what you’re saying!”

I’ll skip the cold shower and admit he had a point. However he did have a number of fundamental flaws in his thinking that I believe are endemic within PR companies, advertising agencies and media companies. It’s these flaws in understanding which concern me, and which are particularly relevant to what’s happening in the online world.

There are 10 key points to contemplate when talking about this brave new world:

1.        Acceleration in Online PR growth: Whilst it’s true to say that PR budgets are being cut, we are also seeing a significant shift into online PR. Why? Cost effectiveness, ability to hit specific niche demographics, vast quantities of accurate campaign metrics data or analytics and long term exposure benefits (stretching into years) beyond the initial phase of the campaign are all proving compelling reasons. We are predicting that the current financial squeeze will see a dramatic acceleration in this trend over coming years.

2.        ROI measurement: ROI in offline PR is a fairly homogenous concept. Not so in the online arena. It really depends on the client’s objectives. Concepts to consider are cost comparison to equivalent PPC (pay per click) campaign; cost comparison to equivalent banner ad campaign; exposure to unique users; exposure to page impressions; dwell time of users on content; growth in the use of campaign keywords within search engines; growth in the number of inbound links to home site, exposure to RSS feeds; eZines and eNewsletters.

3.        Targeting of appropriate online media: Online PR seeding of the correct blogs, sites, portals, forums, social networks is crucial. Whilst you cannot control viral distribution, targeting the right web real estate sets the tone for leading online opinion and conversation. Some site checks that should be made include: global distribution of traffic, demographic make up of site users, history of the site in terms of reputation, identification of key topic focus, levels of traffic, general indicators like Google page rank, Alexa rank, inbound link distribution etc.

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The UK’s first ‘Professional Blog Training Course’

Orbital Media Network is one of the leading blog networks in the UK. Founded three years ago by a small group of enthusiastic writers, the network now receives well over 1.5m page impressions per month.

As brands in the UK wake up to the power of blogging and the benefits a blog can bring to their online presence, we are experiencing a huge demand from all manner of businesses to learn the secrets of creating a successful blog.

We have developed a 10 module blog training course suitable for any business that values its presence online. There’s no escaping that fresh content rich with keywords updated regularly is the future of search engine optimisation, therefore the brands who realise this now will have a far greater advantage over those who don’t!

Our course structure (as below) takes up to 4 days to complete. It is intense… but practical and hugely rewarding. It is run by two founders of Orbital Media Network who will share with you their experience and knowledge of how to create a successful blog and increase the value of your business online.

You have the option to select whatever modules you wish to learn about – as soon as you have selected your modules we provide you with a cost for your particular course. The course is supported by a workbook for you to keep that is written specifically for your needs and details all the elements we discuss.

Module 1 – Introduction To Blogging (4 hours)
Module 2 - Understanding How A Blog Can Help You (2 hours)
Module 3 - Digging For Those Niche Keywords And Phrases (4 hours)
Module 4 - Writing For Your Blog (4 hours)
Module 5 - Blog Design and Structure (2 hours)
Module 6 - Ongoing Management Of Your Blog (2 hours)
Module 7 - How To Get The Most Out Of Your Blog (2 hours)
Module 8 - How To Market Your Blog (2 hours)
Module 9 - Blog Linking Strategy (4 hours)
Module 10 - Online Blog Public Relations (4 hours)

Blog strategy formulation - specific to you (8 hours)

For more info on this click: Blog training course

Or alternatively give us a call.

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