Apr
15

Social Media Tips from Green Chamber of the South Panel

Posted on April 15, 2010 by Nora DePalma2 Comments

Starting at left, moderator Beth Bond, editor of SoutheastGreen; Gretchen Miller, Vitrue ; Nora DePalma, O'Reilly/DePalma; Sean McCandless, Green Chamber member; and Candace McCaffrey, Cookerly PR

O’Reilly/DePalma principal Nora DePalma participated on a social media panel for members of the Green Chamber of the South last night.  Nora’s Green Earth PR colleague, Nancy Rogers, took notes of the tips, the best of which are listed below:

Facebook

  • Vitrue just finished a study that estimated 3.6 impressions for every fan on Facebook.
  • Rate of posting depends on audience: there is no set schedule that works for all brands.
  • Ask people to fan you; promote it on main website and other sales collateral.
  • Audience skews female.
    • Building products takeaway:  Good consumer play; think female -oriented content.

Twitter

  • Better to retweet and have public dialogues, rather than direct messaging. This helps build followers
  • Engage in conversation by searching for topics related to the brand, and then answer questions or offer advice.
  • Mention others 12x for every one mention of you.
  • Audience skews male. Also a lot of journalists on Twitter.
    • Building products takeaway: Most of our trade press is now on Twitter, along with a surprising number of professionals: plumbers, kitchen & bath designers, and builders.  We almost think of Twitter as a b-2-b play.

Linked In

  • Good place to search for journalists seeking experts
  • Answering questions and posting good articles on the right forums can help establish thought leadership
  • More corporate than other social media channels; more buttoned up and formal language.
  • Audience skews male and c-suite.
    • Building products takeaway: be very mindful of talking more about others than yourself.  Some of the groups are very insightful to read for trend info.

You Tube

  • Second largest search engine after Google.
  • Small “flip” type video cameras are inexpensive and easy for newbies to shoot interviews, testimonials and do fast editing.
  • Speed of editing and posting more is preferred over polished productions.
  • Audience skews male.
    • Building products takeaway:  how-to videos and how-they-work videos do really well.

General Tips

  • Tagging articles on Delicious, Digg and Stumble Upon helps get key messages out to influencers.
  • Cross-promote all digital properties online and in press releases as warranted.
  • Best starting point: a blog. Can even be your website (as O’Reilly/DePalma has done). Gives you an “anchor” for content that can be cross-promoted on Facebook, Twitter, etc.
  • Plan for content and then repurpose it to keep costs and time commitment low.
  • Just do it.  Start with personal accounts and experiment.

The panel was well received, according to Ofra Tessler of the Green Chamber, “Both social media novices and experienced people said it was a great event, they learned a lot, it was interesting, interactive and inspired action.  Everyone said they took quite a few new bits of information back and that it was well worth their time.

“One or two people said this was the best event they had been to on the topic. “

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google Bookmarks
  • BlinkList
  • blogmarks
  • Blogosphere
  • Diigo
  • eKudos
  • Fark
  • Faves
  • FriendFeed
  • Google Buzz
  • Identi.ca
  • LinkaGoGo
  • LinkedIn
  • Live
  • MySpace
  • Netvibes
  • NewsVine
  • Orkut
  • Ping.fm
  • Plurk
  • Propeller
  • Reddit
  • Simpy
  • Slashdot
  • Technorati
  • Tumblr

2 Comments

  • Beth Bond

    April 15, 2010 — 12:41 pm

    Nora,

    Thanks so much for coming to the event and being a part of the panel. You were such an important part of the discussion. We are so glad you could make it.

  • Green Earth PR Network

    April 15, 2010 — 1:36 pm

    [...] The conversation echoed themes that support our Grammar of Green whatever the channel—transparency, engagement, value, and strategy for clarity among the clutter. For more social media tips from the event, visit the O’Reilly/DePalma website here. [...]

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