PR and marketing

Reputation matters- Klout, Kred, and the growth of the social recommendation economy with Kate Carruthers.

How do you measure reputation on social media? It’s so much more than the number of followers you have.

Both Klout and Kred measure influence based on your ability to drive action. The Klout Score uses data from social networks to measure true reach, amplification and network impact. Kred analyses billions of tweets from the last 1,000 days to calculate your Kred. Every interaction you have made in that time is part of your score. It measures Influence and Outreach level.

But are they accurate? Kate will explain the new social recommendation economy and why reputation matters. She will discuss how to make the new social recommendation economy work for you.

About Kate:

Kate Carruthers is an expert and forecaster in online collaboration, social media, digital integration, unified communication, email and search marketing.

With extensive experience in senior executive roles for diverse organisations such as GE, AMP, Westfield and State Government she currently works in business strategy and implementation roles. Kate has also lectured in postgraduate business at Macquarie University and taught TAFE level courses in business and management.

She is Co-Founder of Social Innovation Sydney and was a long standing member of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers and is a Senior Member of the Australian Computer Society. She is on the Advisory Board for the　Schools of Computer Science & Software Engineering and Information Systems & Technology at the University of Wollongong.

Kate is currently studying law part time as an external student with Queensland University of Technology.

Twitter: @kcarruthers 
Blog: http://katecarruthers.com/blog/

Please note: This month's Social Media Women is being held on the FIRST Tuesday of the month as the second Tuesday falls on Valentines Day.

A not to be missed event- learn about the new social recommendation economy and why reputation matters.

Register now for our February event at

Date: Tuesday 7 February 2012 (First week in February)
Time: 6:00pm - 8:30pm
Venue: The Supper Club at the Oxford Hotel,
134 Oxford st, Darlinghurst.

(Enter the Oxford St side of the hotel and walk up the stairs. Metered parking is a few steps away on Bourke St, $1.10 per hour)

On the weekend I attended the launch of ln Situ, an exhibition featuring traditional sculptural works and contemporary installations in shops along Military Road in Mosman.

The exhibition is billed as “Australia’s newest art trail with over sixty works by Australia’s leading sculptors and installation artists.”

One of my fibre sculptures is featured in the exhibition and when I was listening to the speeches it occurred to me that Mosman Council is using this as a tactic to create community as well as drive visitors to the area.

This year it is part of a bigger event called Festival of Mosman with the tagline as “An unmissable Sydney experience”. Obviously Mosman isn’t Bondi, but Mosman Council is aiming to draw in crowds from outside the area like Sculpture by The Sea. It’s a great idea.

The sculptures are in shops so it’s like taking art to the people, and hoping they shop while they are there!

They using Twitter, Facebook and Youtube to promote the event and build online engagement. When I was installing my sculpture a videographer shot footage for the Youtube channel and was taking photos for the Facebook page.

They have also used an augmented reality program,Layar, which recognises real world objects and display digital AR experiences on top of them using a smartphone.

Its early days for their social media engagement, but it’s good to see a council taking steps to use social media and art to engage their community.

I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter.

Outsourcing your social media campaign
So you want to start up a social media campaign for your business but don’t know where to begin? If you decide its best for your business to work with an expert there are a few things you need to think about.

Do your research before picking a company. Different companies work within different sectors, such as lifestyle and retail, and can be experts in different fields.

Set targets: Know what you want out of the social media campaign and set realistic targets. This can be a certain amount of engagement, comments on a blog or number of customers taking up an offer from a social media site.

Communicate with the company to make sure you are both on the same page. Social media is an ongoing, daily activity and you want to make sure you both have the same idea when it comes to the message and public persona you want to showcase. 

Read the article on CP Communications News.    

  
How to determine your target audience
Your target audience are the individuals, groups and communities that have influence and decision making power over your brands’ products or services. They are the ones you are trying to attract and sell to – they are the people want to communicate with.

The key is to dedicate time to really refine your audience before you start ‘talking’ to them. To clarify your target audiences answer these questions:

• Who needs to hear your message? Who are the people that would be interested in hearing and learning about what you have to offer them?
• Who are the influencers? All target audiences have people who have great influence over their decisions. They can be family members, friends, authoritative figures such as doctors and even the media.
• Who must be moved to action? Who are the targets that actually follow through with the purchase?
• Who has the greatest impact on the business’s outcome? Who are the people who will affect whether you fail or succeed?

Once you have researched and determined your target audience, you can now begin to create strategies, messages and tactics that are tailored to your target audiences needs, wants and values.

Read the article on the Public Relations Sydney blog.    

  
Upcoming events
Here are some events coming up that we thought you might be interested in:

Social Media Women: Website and Ecommerce: Set- up and beyond - Tips, trends and ideas with Nancy Georges
Websites and Online Stores are essential for EVERY business. Integrating the website to your social media & offline activity is as important as the site itself! Nancy will discuss her own experiences with a wide range of products and services, and will give you the information to get you started and to define the world that we are now operating in.
8 November – Sydney, NSW

Magazine Week
Magazine Week is a full week of events that will bring all segments of the magazine publishing industry together to learn and share the latest information on business and technology trends. Featuring international and local industry experts and case studies, the Magazine Week conference will offer guidance on how to do better business.
9 November - Sydney, NSW

Google Analytics Seminars for Success
Learn Google's own best practices directly from a Google Analytics Certified Trainer. Ensure the accuracy of your website visitor data and learn how to use Google Analytics to measure the performance of your website and online marketing results. The seminar is great for people involved in marketing, advertising, public relations, e-commerce, business development or web management.
9, 10 and 11 November - Melbourne, Vic

ADMA Digital Day
Marketing is evolving more rapidly than ever before as technology empowers customers and marketers across the globe. Digital Day brings you some of the world’s most successful digital marketers from leading brands to help you improve marketing efficiency and effectiveness through deeper insights, enhanced capability and the implementation of new platforms and technologies.
14 November - Melbourne, Vic

Social Media and Communications Summit
The Social Media and Communications Summit brings together Australia's leading social media intelligence, communications, Innovation, generation and trend practitioners to share industry insights with your organisation. Four of Australia's thought leaders on social media and digital communication will power your organisation with a SWOT analysis of your social media strategy.
15 November - Sydney, NSW

The 5 Pillars of Web Engagement Management Revealed
Online Engagement Management is the new idea in web publishing – it’s no longer enough to simply publish material and hope your customer gets the right message. Join Mammoth Media, and web veteran Greg Baxter from Sitecore, for a journey through the new paradigm, and understand the power behind the “connected customer”.
18 November - Brisbane, Qld   

So you want to start up a social media campaign for your business but don’t know where to begin?

There are many different types of social media from Facebook to Twitter to Foursquare and blogs. Knowing how to use each one, getting the best results and keeping up with your ROI can be a full-time job in itself. Not to mention constantly updating the content that is on topic and interesting.

Experienced social media companies will be able to do the research for you and develop a comprehensive social media strategy.

Another point of difference is social media campaign companies will have experienced writers on staff who can utilise their skills for the different platforms from writing 140 character tweets to 1000 word technical blog posts.

Tips for working with an outsourced company:

Do your research before picking a company. Different companies work within different sectors, such as lifestyle and retail, and can be experts in different fields.

Set targets: Know what you want out of the social media campaign and set realistic targets. This can be a certain amount of engagement, comments on a blog or number of customers taking up an offer from a social media site.

Communicate with the company to make sure you are both on the same page. Social media is an ongoing, daily activity and you want to make sure you both have the same idea when it comes to the message and public persona you want to showcase.

Once upon a time, in a non-digital world, people met in real life and got to know each other as people rather than as brands. Business and branding were an extension of a person but they didn't make a person.

Today everyone is, in one way or another, digitally branded. Whether it is through Facebook, Twitter, a blog or LinkedIn, your personality and your brand - in both colour and design - are online for all to see.

So what happens when you meet your friends and contacts in real life? Does your personality in real life match the experience people have of you online? In real life do you reveal another (better or maybe worse) aspect of yourself? How do you live up to the expectations that have been created by you online?

Mariette Rups-Donnelly will share with you some tips, tricks and techniques to make sure that when you meet your contacts in real life you live up to every expectation and perception that they have of you.

Mariette will explain that in order for your physical being to compliment your digital one, you must first understand that people have created perceptions of you because of what you put out there both in branding and online presence.

When you understand that, then you can actively work to make sure your real life presence is just as strong.

About Mariette Rups-Donnelly:
Mariette has taken her years of experience as a leading actor and teacher of actors and combined it with an astute business understanding to create programs that go to the core of presence, presentation skills and business performance.

Through her company, Powerhouse Presentation, she runs a wide variety of one on one programs and customised workshops for small business owners, professional speakers, executives and corporations.

As a professional speaker and MC she is becoming more and more aware of the disconnection between people's online presence and their 'In Real Life' presence and performance.

She draws her expertise from a 34-year career as an Actor/Singer/Dancer and 26 years of teaching in some of Australia's leading acting institutions.

Her professional acting work is both national and international and includes theatre, television, film and cabaret with leading roles in A Chorus Line, Annie, Big River, Company, The Seagull, Hamlet, Emerald City, Away, among many others, and the title role in Evita, twice.

With her experience both in the performance world and the business world she has a wealth of knowledge to share.

A not to be missed event - learn how to match your real life presence to your online presence.

Register here for our September event.

Date:      Tuesday 13 September 2011
Time:      6:00pm - 8:30pm
Venue:   The Supper Club at the Oxford Hotel,
                134 Oxford St, Darlinghurst.
(Enter the Oxford St side of the hotel and walk up the stairs. Metered parking is a few steps away on Bourke St, $1.10 per hour)

Enter the draw to win LUCKY DOOR PRIZES, simply by attending!

Meet amazing women as well as discussing the ever changing world of social media.

The open discussion about social media is one of the best parts of the event. So bring your social media questions for the group to answer.

Social Media Women is all about inspiration, collaboration, supporting each other and growing. Join the community:

• Become a fan and check out the launch photos and post comments on Facebook
• See, subscribe and view the guest list on SocialMediaWomen.posterous.com
• Join and start discussions on LinkedIn
• Visit the official Social Media Women Site
• Follow us on Twitter @SocialMediaWomn

Decoding the world of marketing and PR can be a challenge, especially for a small business. Uncover the many elements of effective marketing and public relations and identify the right strategy for you and your business.

Catriona Pollard will share tips with you on how to build the profile of yourself and your business through events. This will include attending networking groups and exhibitions, and public speaking.

Other topics to be covered include:

• Why you should use PR, and its benefits
• How to make the most of media coverage
• Sources you can use to gain free publicity
• The role of social media as part of your PR strategy

Don’t miss this rare opportunity!
Top tips and hot topics in the one event!

Date: 16 September 2011
Time: 3:00 PM - 5:30 PM (doors open at 2:30 PM)
Venue: Level 47, MLC Centre 
            19 Martin Place, Sydney, 2000

Register now for this event, click here.

Yesterday I had corn & quinoa soup for lunch. So what? I hear you ask. About a year or so ago a cafe in Crows Nest called Montagu started following me on Twitter.

As a result of conversations on Twitter I started going there for lunch and having business coffee ‘catch ups’ there. In the last month or so they have started tweeting me what soup they have on.

Why this is special is because I’m vegetarian. So in winter I struggle to find soup in cafes that I can eat (as most vege soups are made with chicken stock).

Now mid morning, if Montagu have a vege friendly soup available for lunch, they tweet it out and include my twitter handle so it comes into my ‘mentions’ section of Twitter. 

I love it! It means I get to eat yummy soup that I know is vege friendly. And how clever of them to use such a creative way to generate business!

Learn how to do your own PR! – My next one day workshop on PR and media releases that get results is on next Thursday (11 August). Learn how to construct a PR strategy including how to develop media angles, pitches, media releases, articles, case studies and editorials. You will also learn how to strategically use these tools to maximise your chance of achieving your PR objectives. Sydney Writers’ Centre. Book now!

I hope you enjoy this newsletter.

________________________________________
Using PR and social media to engage a community
Macquarie University has been running the annual Women, Management and Work Conference for 23 years, with the 2011 conference focusing on Women and Leadership: Ignite your strengths. Leading women spoke about how women can use their unique strengths to become influential leaders.

This year, Macquarie University once again asked CP Communications to run the PR and social media of the event as well as the sponsorship drive. CP Communications drove engagement and registrations by expanding and renewing the online community, in addition to traditional PR strategies.

The focus of our strategy was to use the various issues the conference would cover, to strike a chord with the target audience. We wanted a long lasting campaign that didn’t end when the conference did.

We reignited the conversation in the online community “Women at Work Australia” which included blogging, Tweeting, Facebook and a YouTube channel. We also added a new platform, a LinkedIn group.

CP Communications identified that the media talent were the conference speakers and invited them to be involved in PR. We sent media releases, various pitches and invited the speakers to provide contributed articles, which were pitched into online publications

Yet again we achieved amazing engagement and print and online coverage.

Read how we achieved these results at CP Communications – Success Stories

________________________________________
YouTube for business - How to create a professional YouTube Channel
We can all be TV stars now by starting a YouTube TV channel. Creating compelling videos helps you engage with your target audience and is a great way to bring exposure to your business and also a way to position yourself as a thought leader or expert in your field.

Here are some tips for creating quality videos:

1. Use a good camera.
   The whole point of a YouTube video is to visually show or demonstrate your product, service or expertise. There is no point in uploading a video onto YouTube that is fuzzy, dull or blurry.
2. Get the lighting right.
   Again the whole point of YouTube is to visually get your message across professionally and that also includes making sure the video looks professionally made. Make sure the lighting is even and that there are no dark shadows.
3. Buy a good microphone.
   There is nothing more frustrating than trying to decipher what someone is saying while watching a video. If you want your messages, tips and advice to be clear investing in a good quality microphone is a good idea. Also, remember to test the sound before doing the whole recording.
4. Aim for one to five minutes.
   Your audience will probably be busy people who have short attention spans. With that in mind your audience will most likely press stop after the two minute mark. If you can, create short two minute videos but if you have to go over be sure to keep within the five minute range.

Read more tips and how to set up your channel on the Public Relations Sydney blog.

________________________________________
Upcoming events
Here are some events coming up that we thought you might be interested in:

Brand Management 
This one-day master class workshop will equip participants with the core knowledge and skills necessary to successfully and profitably manage a brand. Learn about brand equity, brand research, positioning and managing your brand and brand building. This workshop is designed for marketers and senior managers who have responsibilities over one or more brands within their organisation.
4 August 2011– Brisbane, Queensland

Social Media Women August: Learn about social media's role in the health industry with Heidi Allen of BodyinMind.org
Finding information about health is one of the highest uses of search engines today. Is the information we find reliable? How do we know? Is my doctor using social media? How do I feel about my health information going online? Heidi will help you understand the challenges of implementing a digital and social online strategy in a quickly evolving business ecosystem.
9 August 2011 – Sydney, NSW

Doing Business Online: The Latest Trends and the Legal Risks
The internet and Smartphones are now being used by many for business purposes. During this seminar a panel of expert speakers will present information about the latest trends and techniques being used by businesses. The legal risks of conducting an online business and how business owners can cover themselves will also be discussed.
9 August 2011 – Robina, Queensland

PR and Media Releases That Get Results with Catriona Pollard
Catriona will teach you how to construct a PR strategy that gets results. By the end of this workshop you will understand how to come up with a media angle, write a pitch, media release, article, case study and editorial. You will also learn how to strategically use these tools to maximise your chance of achieving your PR objectives.
11 August 2011 – Sydney, NSW

AFR Leadership Conference
The Australian Financial Review Leadership Conference 2011 brings you a fresh look at corporate leadership. At this one day conference learn about how to get the best out of multigenerational workforces, how to be a leader in the aftermath of a crisis and the importance of strategic HR.
16 August 2011 – Sydney, NSW

Integrating Online Services to your Existing Community Engagement Strategy
The explosion of online communications tools offers an enormous and often untapped potential to address a great deal of challenges faced by community engagement practitioners. Topics to be explored include the integration of online strategy with traditional methods of community engagement and examples of effective online strategies.
30 - 31 August 2011 – Melbourne, Victoria

Do you want to see you and your business profiled in the media but don’t know where to start?

Have you sent out media releases and received no response?

When you get the right media coverage, your sales can double (or triple), you gain new customers and you can position yourself as a leader in the market place.

However, if you don't know the tactics of a publicity/public relations (PR) strategy or how to write an effective media release, you won’t get the results that will make a difference.

You'll learn the science behind an effective PR strategy including writing media releases that get results, how to approach journalists, how to write articles and case studies for the media as well as clever online tactics.

In one day, you'll discover the secrets to getting good publicity that you can use for your own business.

This seminar covers:
• the elements of a typical PR strategy
• how to determine your target audiences
• how to structure media releases and what you must include
• who you should quote and what they should say
• how to deal with journalists
• online distribution strategies
• contributing articles to publications
• how to approach bloggers as part of your PR strategy

This seminar is ideal for:
• Business owners, coaches, speakers, entrepreneurs who want to promote their business
• Professionals who have been given PR or marketing responsibilities but who may not have had formal training in this area
• People who are relatively new to a public relations role

This seminar covers all the issues you need to consider before you even put pen to paper - or fingers to the keyboard! Once you have these issues covered, you will have a strong framework that will guide how you write the release.

About Catriona Pollard
This seminar is presented by Catriona Pollard, director of CP Communications. Catriona has 18 years experience in developing and managing public relations and marketing programs.

Prior to establishing CP Communications in 2001, Catriona set up the marketing communications department for a leading software company and managed a diverse range of accounts within PR agencies. She also has extensive experience in managing public affairs and marketing in federal and state governments.

Catriona's blog Public Relations Sydney was shortlisted as media & marketing blog of the year 2009. She is a co-founder of Social Media Women, a formal online and in person networking group that encourages and assists women to participate more prominently in social media.

This seminar is held at the Sydney Writers' Centre.

PR and Media Releases that Get Results with Catriona Pollard
11 August 2011 9.00am - 5.00pm
Fee: $495 (includes GST)

To book, please click here. 

Ground Floor
55 Lavender Street
Milsons Point NSW 2061

Starting any business can be challenging. Practical advice based on experience helps save time, energy and money and a free program that helps support a start-up is the cherry on the cake!

Catherine Eibner will share her tips and advice for entrepreneurs on starting a business.

Catherine runs the Microsoft BizSpark program in Australia. BizSpark is a free program specifically designed by Microsoft to help early stage technical companies really hit the ground running during the first three years of business - a time when resources are low, cash is strapped and challenges are plentiful.

Catherine will explain how BizSpark works and how she learnt her lessons the hard way and in turn hopefully she will save you from experiencing some of the stress, insanity, health issues and money losses she experienced!
 
Catherine Eibner - Developer Evangelist (Startups): Partner and Customer Innovation Team

Catherine is responsible for the Microsoft BizSpark program in Australia. BizSpark is designed to fast track the success of early stage technology companies by offering software, support and opportunities to increase visibility.

Catherine joined Microsoft in 2008 as a Dynamics Developer Evangelist to build the local Dynamics Developer Community. She is particularly passionate about supporting and encouraging other women in IT and is involved with the GeekGirlBlogs.com site.

Twitter: @ceibner
Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/ceibner

A not to be missed event - learn how to start a new business properly!

Register here for our July event.

Date:      Tuesday 12 July 2011
Time:      6:00pm - 8:30pm
Venue:   The Supper Club at the Oxford Hotel,
                134 Oxford St, Darlinghurst.
(Enter the Oxford St side of the hotel and walk up the stairs. Metered parking is a few steps away on Bourke St, $1.10 per hour)

Enter the draw to win LUCKY DOOR PRIZES simply by attending!

Meet amazing women as well as discussing the ever changing world of social media.

The open discussion about social media is one of the best parts of the event. So bring your social media questions for the group to answer.