alyssagardina.com - listening

Listen Up: Making the Most of Twitter Search

agardina — Tue, 04 May 2010 22:17:33 +0000

In my 2 years on Twitter, I've found it to be an incredible networking tool, resource and place to vent. And in the past months, it's become even better - brands are proactively reaching out to answer questions I have. How? A variety of ways, but many are using a tool called Twitter Search.

Now, some may call this an invasion of privacy. But, as I see it, I put the question out there in a public forum. Even if I wasn't asking the general public, it's still up to me as a user to know that whatever I say on Twitter (unless my tweets are protected [sometimes]) is there for the public to see, respond to and remember.

In the past few days, I've interacted with a couple of brands who are just getting it right. And it's refreshing:

Teleflora
I had a coworker ask me if I knew any florists in NYC. And, honestly, I had no idea. So I put it out to Twitter. Less than an hour later, I received an @ reply from Teleflora (and no, I wasn't following them prior to this - but I am now!)

Takeaway: Someone is listening, and listening well. I didn't ask about their brand, nor did I need to know about buying flowers online. But somewhere in Teleflora's social strategy, they built out a search and gave someone the task of watching it. And guess where I bought my mother's day flowers this year...

QuestCare Urgent Care
I'm very very clumsy. And so, some part of me is usually injured - right now, it's my foot. And like most people, I never know when to go to the doctor, so today, I asked. And quickly, I got a tweet from @QuestUrgentCare (and I wasn't following them either!), an urgent care office here in Dallas.

Takeaway: The text of my tweet didn't mention that I was in Dallas, but by using Twitter search's advance search functions, Quest Care was able to see my "injured" tweet that was sent from their area.

Travel Portland
Sometimes trip planning for unfamiliar cities can be a struggle. I'm headed to Portland at the end of this month, and I wanted to know where the best places were to go hiking. Luckily, Travel Portland, a visitor information site, was able to help. Their Twitter bio helpfully lets me know that I can include the hashtag #inPDX in a tweet to get an answer from them. I did just that, and they retweeted me moments later. Now I've got an entire to-do list of parks to visit.

Takeaway: Make it easy on yourself to find questions to answer. If you're a service that has a lot of information to offer, make that data readily available.

What companies have you seen listening and acting on social media?

Learning to fit your life

agardina — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:26:23 +0000

We're all busy. We have work, family, hobbies, exercise, cooking, networking and, of course, sleep! During that time, social media and technology are constantly evolving. You could stay up from dawn 'til dusk just reading blogs about Internet marketing. What's a busy marketer to do?

Luckily, there are resources, articles and insights almost everywhere you look:

Blogs - I spend hours every day going through blogs. I comb through mine in Googe Reader and on my iPhone using Net News Wire. Because the RSS feeds are aggregated in one place, I don't miss much if I have a busy day. Plus, wih Google Reader's share and like functions, I can find new blogs from my friends' recommendations and skim through blogs that update hundreds of times a day.
Podcasts - Podcasts are like blogs-on-the-go. They provide in depth insight on a variety of topics, and you can listen to them anywhere: in the car, at the gym, while on the train. Podcasts come in two forms: audio and video, so you can choose which media works best for your routine.
Email Subscriptions - monthly, weekly, daily - whenever you get them, email newsletters & subscriptions often offer highlights from some of the web's best blogs and publications. My favorite, CMO, sends me a list every Friday of some of the best social media and marketing stories of the week.
YouTube/Online Video - if you need to know something specific, YouTube has a plethora of interviews and screencasts to help you out and give you advice.
Forums - Forums can be subject specific, location-based, or even as all-encompassing as Twitter and Facebook. Yes, those are most definitely forums to me. Where else can I tweet that I'm having Drupal problems and, minutes later, have offers of help from several developers?
Books in all forms - ebooks, audio books, books made of paper and dead trees. They can provide insight into strategy, trends and best practices. What am I reading right now? The Rule of Three (Affiliate). Next on my list? Trust Agents (I'm behind, I know!) (Affiliate)
Google - when in doubt, Google it. Odds are, you'll find an answer in a wiki article, Q&A site or a blog you've never explored before.

Make sure that learning fits your life. Follow a variety of resources via different media, and don't neglect your personal interests. Do you love wine? Watch Wine Library TV, read Dr. Vino and follow people on Twitter who share similar interests. Being well-rounded will help you in networking, in meetings and in creating content for your own site.

How do you make learning fit your life?

(Thanks to @twistedraisin, @karla_porter, and #teamCJ for their help!)

Social Media for Nonprofits: Getting Your Hands Dirty

agardina — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:11:13 +0000

In one of my earlier posts, I discussed social media strategy. Nonprofits, corporations, professionals, students - no matter who you are, you need to have a goal for your interactions on social media and a path to reach them. As a nonprofit, your goal could be to increase awareness, grow local event attendance or create issue advocates. Take that and create a strategy (maybe with a solid trunk and branches?), and you're ready to start getting your hands dirty.

It's time to get down to the nitty-gritty of social media tactics. In my next couple of posts, we'll talk best practices, ideas for campaigns and some case studies. There are a lot of great resources to help with specific tools and technology questions. Following are posts that serve as a great jumping-off point for nonprofits new to social media, or anyone who has a few questions:

From this blog:

Technology Terms Translated (Need to explain "Twitter" to your boss? This is a good place to start!)
Trunk and Branches: Social Media Strategy (It's important to start with a solid foundation and a strategy that coincides with your brand and mission.)

From the web:

4 Ways Social Media is Changing the Non-Profit World (Beth Kanter, writing for Mashable)
Social Media for Nonprofits: 26 Great Slideshare Presentations (These presentations, collected by Rebecca Leaman, cover a wide variety of topics, tips and case studies)
Messages, Stories, and Conversations: Creating a Strategy for your organization and your supporters (Great post from Amy Sample Ward that can apply to overarching strategy or individual messages)
Market or Promote Your Cause on Social Media? Yes, You Can! (Kivi Leroux Miller)
Are You Ready to Take the Social Media Leap? (LevelTen, registration required for download)

Next post, we'll talk online video - in a video! If you have any additional resources you'd like to share for nonprofits who are new to social media, let me know in the comments!

Research & Relationships with Twitter Lists

agardina — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:27:26 +0000

Twitter Lists. They were introduced (slowly) a few weeks back, and, largely, confusion still reigns. Do I make a list? Whose lists am I on? What exactly are these darned things for? I can't answer all the questions, but I have found out a few things about Twitter Lists that I'd like to share:

They're useful for finding new resources & connections. Example: I was looking to connect with non-profit science education organizations and museums in regards to an upcoming project. Before Twitter Lists, I'd go to websites like We Follow and Twellow, where users put themselves into groups. Due to the opt-in nature of these sites, I was missing out on anyone who just hadn't updated their directory entry. Now, with Twitter lists, users are creating their own groups of the followers they find most valuable. That said...
They add a degree of credibility to an account. Before, you could assume a user was a spammer if they were following, oh, 1200 people and had about 50 followers. Now, you can also glance at how many lists they're on. 20,000 followers and 9 lists, none of which pertain to your interests? Might not be in it for the conversation. And, if you're a selective follower, you can glance through the lists a user is on to see what you have in common.
Application integration will be key. Twitter has spent a lot of time over the past month improving their web interface. Tweets now automatically refresh, and the same goes when you're viewing users within a Twitter List. But, if you're loyal to an application (like me!), integrating Twitter lists into an app like Tweetdeck will make your social media life infinitely easier. Example: I live in Dallas, and want to know what other Dallas Twitter-ers are up to. There are several lists to choose from (a little homework never hurt!), but once I decide, I can import that list into an application and voila! Those updates load like a group or column. (Ideally. Seesmic Desktop currently offers integration, while TweetDeck does not)

Twitter Lists can be used to save you, or your organization, time as well as help enhance the conversations you have. What other uses have you found for Lists?

Watching Your Back: Online Reputation Management

agardina — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:42:24 +0000

I recently spoke with some awesome students at Ithaca College’s Park School of Communications who are looking to get jobs or internships in the near future. We discussed the role of social media in their searches, and also covered a topic that’s very prevalent: personal online reputation management.

As these students graduate, employers will not only be looking at their resumes and cover letters, but at their Google search results, Facebook profiles, blogs and Twitter pages. Social media is a great equalizer (where else can you talk to a Creative Director at a major agency about baseball?), which is both a good and bad thing. I gave them some advice about making sure that their online reputation matches the image they want to show to potential employers.

The One-Click Rule
As far as marketing yourself (or your product) is concerned, you want whoever is looking for information to get it via the path of least resistance. I recommended that employers be able to find a portfolio, resume and contact information in one-click whenever possible. This means linking all social networks, so that your YouTube page is listed on your LinkedIn page, your Twitter profile linked to your blog, etc. You don’t want to miss out on an opportunity just because someone couldn’t find your email address.

3 Takeaways for Online Reputation Management

Privacy Understanding the privacy policies of any site where you have personal information is key to ensuring that your online reputation is under control. Industry trends, such as Bing making a deal with Facebook to index status updates, may threaten those who use Facebook for solely personal purposes (Beacon, anyone?) Keep up-to-date on any policy changes and take an active role in keeping whatever you want private, private. Most of all, think twice about anything you put online. Just because you have it set as private, doesn’t mean it will stay that way.
Consistency Your message and image should be consistent across all public networks and sites. I emphasize public because you may or may not have your Facebook or MySpace page made private (see above). Aside from those private, social sites, try to use a consistent image, tagline and focus of information. Tweet about what you blog, have your LinkedIn picture reflected on your Flickr profile – make it easy and obvious that this is you on every network.
Cohesiveness If at all possible, list your other social networks on every profile or site you develop. For your blog, add a widget (depending on your content management system) that lists your other social networks. On sites like Flickr, YouTube and LinkedIn, add links to each site that you’d like employers to see.

And, most importantly: Google yourself. Every couple of months, take a look and see if something’s showing up on there that you don’t want public or if your name has been mentioned on any sites you don’t want it associated with. Knoweldge is power, and knowing what’s out there with your name on it can be the difference between hired and fired.

Giving the public a voice - and what it means for your nonprofit

agardina — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 02:16:43 +0000

CNN's iReport, New York Times using Twitter to build commentary, it seems like major news outlets are turning more and more to citizen journalists for photos, videos and context for current events. Anyone with an iPhone or a Flip camera can now be the source for the next front page story. While the consequences for journalism are numerous, this trend will also have an impact on your nonprofit in a variety of ways:

Transparency
Even if your organization doesn't currently have a substantial online or social media presence, the rise of citizen journalism means an inevitable increase in the transparency of your industry, if not your organization. Attendees can share their experiences from your events and programs on their blogs, and now, even in major publications and on major news networks. A commentary on your use of funding may no longer be contained to Twitter, but can be a headline on CNN. Public relations moves from press releases to responsiveness plans, and knowing what people are saying about you becomes more critical than ever.

Listening
Which brings me to my next point. Social media aficionados love to tout the importance of listening as part of a social media strategy. However, even if your organization isn't ready to take the step into social media, it's still important to keep track of what's being said about you on these networks. Set up Google Alerts, check Twitter Search every now and then, and look through Flickr and YouTube after major events, programs or giving campaigns to see if any new content has shown up there. You may be able to head off a problem, provide customer service, or share in content with your perspective before it gets picked up by these big players.

Content creation
Who says you can't be your own citizen journalist? Now, I'm not saying to post content other a different name - be sure to own your brand and don't decieve the public. But, if you have quality video, photos or a story to tell, get that content out there. You can share content with publications to make their lives easier, but also get some press for your cause. It's a win-win situation - the first step is to sign up and start posting.

Citizen journalism isn't a fad, it's a longterm trend, and I believe it's here to stay. With preparation, listening and giving video or photos a shot, nonprofits can prepare for this next step in journalism.