I Tweet…Therefore I Am
Twitter really allows one to do that. Have a thought and a quick link? Keep your message short and crisp and send it out to a universe that you’ve hand-picked. Maybe they’ll see your message this time, and maybe they won’t, so that’s why you want to keep tweeting – because eventually they’ll become familiar with your tweets, and hopefully, if you have something worthwhile to say, they’ll start taking a closer look. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is your audience on Twitter. The important thing to remember is the old reach and frequency rules of advertising – they couldn’t be more relevant than on Twitter – you want to reach the largest group of people (your followers) and you want to reach out to them as often as possible — so they get to know you, and can depend on your information. Jump in, keep up an active dialogue with your followers, and say things that they and other people will want to hear.

Jumping into the Soup
We recently gave a talk entitled “Social Media — Jumping into the Soup.” It was a quick primer on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, and what we found, is that in a given group of working people, there are many different levels of social media experience. You’ve got your early adapters and your luddites, and then a whole group that fall somewhere in between. Many of the people listening to our talk already knew how to use Facebook, and wanted to know more about how to effectively use LinkedIn. In this particular group, Twitter was still as new as commercial space travel, and the majority of audience members said, “Twitter — No way!” To them we said, “there’ll come a day when you’re being interviewed for a new job, or competing for that piece of business, and the decision between you and the competition is going to come down to 140 characters.”

Here’s a quick, basic slide we used to show the old way of thinking about and using Social Media, compared to the “New Way” to use these tools to one’s business advantage:

Using Social Media

The Old Way
Connecting with friends
Connecting with family
Connecting with current and former co-workers
Connecting with your network in real time

The New Way
Forming business relationships and networks
Reaching potential business partners, employers and employees
Reaching and retaining members and donors
Raising awareness to your cause, project, program, product or company
Developing dynamic, interactive relationships
Keeping current in the marketplace
Driving traffic

I was invited onto Blog Talk Radio this week to discuss the secrets of entrepreneurial greatness. Here are some of the secrets I revealed. - Karen Sperling

1. Entrepreneurs start out with a dream
2. They make goals for themselves
3. They are ambitious
4. They ask questions
5. They listen
6. They have a plan for getting where they want to go
7. They review their plan often and change it when necessary
8. They won’t take NO for an answer
9. They are always open to learning
10. They view every experience as a learning opportunity
11. They use their strengths and recognize their weaknesses
12. They have mentors and role models
13. They make mistakes
14. They learn from their mistakes
15. They celebrate small victories
16. They are not afraid to follow the path less taken
17. They pick themselves up and they keep going
18. They keep their eyes on the prize

Many years ago I had the honor of representing Inner City Broadcasting, owner of WBLS and WLIB radio, and at that time, also owner of The Apollo Theater on 125th Street in Harlem. Back then, Harlem was going through the beginning of what would become a neighborhood renaissance. It was an exciting time, with commerce moving into the area, and a renewed sense of pride and purpose in the neighborhood.

The Apollo Theatre, once the showplace of Harlem, was sparkling once again as Amateur Night reinvented itself every Wednesday with the Legendary MC Ralph Cooper at the helm, and the incomparable ”Sandman” shooing bad acts off the stage with a dance and a shuffle and “the hook.”

My client at Inner City was the Honorable Percy Ellis Sutton, but my daily contact was his nephew, Chuck Sutton, who passed away February 19th after a valiant fight with cancer.

Chuck was a remarkable man, even to a PR agent like me who was concerned mainly with bringing in the hits. In the same conversation Chuck would tell me about the week’s upcoming talent at The Apollo, fill me in on his plan to “Jump the Broom” at his wedding, talk to me about community action in his neighborhood, go over details for his creation – “Showtime at the Apollo,” and rave about his son and the birth of his daughter Amena. In an age before blackberries and text messages, it was challenging to get a callback from Chuck; because the guy never stood still.

On Monday, Chuck’s life was celebrated at Riverside Church in Manhattan. The Honorable David Patterson said that without Chuck, he never would have entered public life, and never would have been Governor of New York. Mayor David Dinkins spoke of him as a quiet activist, a tremendous advocate and environmentalist for the Harlem community, a good friend and a devoted family man.

The Reverend Al Sharpton took the redeye from California and almost missed the service because of a record snowstorm in the North East. In his eulogy, Reverend Sharpton talked about how Chuck had worked his dash…that hyphen between the year of his birth and the year of his death 1950 – 2009. I had heard this reference to the dash before, but this time, it really resonated with me. Standing in front of the congregation, the outspoken and often controversial Reverend Sharpton said that Chuck lived an exemplary life of service, and had worked his dash to the fullest. Then he turned to the congregation and said: “After the fancy cars and big houses and beautiful clothes fall away, what are YOU doing to work YOUR dash?”

It was still snowing when I left the church. I recognized some of the pallbearers, and was amazed to see Amena all grown up.

I said farewell to Chuck, and thanked him for being such a good, great man and for sharing in some of my memories, and I thanked Reverend Sharpton, for the wakeup call.

Here’s why:

1. While you were waiting, your audience grew to 1 billion The number of Internet users surpassed 1 billion when you weren’t looking. Twitter hit one billion tweets.  Facebook has 10 billion photos stored, and has became the most trafficked social media site. That means there are more vertical and horizontal audiences to choose from, so you won’t get lost in the numbers.  You won’t get lonely.
2. Social media has had time to grow up Twitter was launched in July 2006. Facebook is almost five years old, Digg is just over four years old and Twitter is two and a half years old. It can still get wild, woolly and confusing, but it’s a big improvement over the always-in-beta early months.
3. There are more tools to make it more efficient, effective and strategic Take Twitter for example. Launched in July 2006, there are now hundreds of tools designed that create shortcuts to post, organize and measure.  Here are 35+ social media tools  you’ll appreciate.
4. Social media has gained acceptance by consumers 70% of consumers now consider social media sites to be sources of information that influence their purchasing decisions, according to research data in MarketingSherpa’s 2009 Social Media Marketing & PR Benchmark Guide.
5. The real party is just getting started And now the biggest reason of all. With all the noise and storm and one billion users, Web-watcher Donna Bogatin shows that most of the world is still just watching and reposting existing content. Only 1% of users are actually creating fresh new content. That’s your opening — the grand entrance you’ve been waiting for.

By bringing fresh content to social media, rather than re-tweats and a list of links, your brand can become the life of the social media party. Congratulations.

Blogging (34%)
Microblogging (Twitter) (29%)
Search engine optimization (28%)
Social network participation (Facebook, LinkedIn) (26%)
Email marketing (17%)
Social media monitoring & outreach (17%)
Pay per click (14%)
Blogger relations (12%)
Video marketing (10%)
Social media advertising (7%)

So, if you’re not blogging you’re sitting still. And the best way to find the value in Twitter is to tweat.

The Environmental Defense Fund’s www.papercalculator.org  is a great tool for marketers looking to provide some dimension and context for their environmental message.

Here’s an example of how to use it based on our experience with an industrial recycler of paper tubes, Paper Tube & Core, Inc. in Paterson, NJ. The question:

The question: How much energy is saved when customers turn to Paper Tube & Core, Inc.?

• We asked the client to calculate how many pounds of paper came to them for reprocessing each year. We were advised that every year, they recover and reprocess 7,800 tons of cores (this was admittedly a rough calculation based on the estimation that each truckload weighs on average 1,500 lbs)
• We took that number and subtracted the weight of material that was disposed.(Thanks to the company’s rigorous three step quality process 20% of those materials are removed for recycling and remanufacturing by third parties. As a result, Paper Tube & Core successfully re-uses or recycles approximately 95% of all material they secure, fitting the accepted definition of a “Zero Waste” Operation.)
• Then we went to papercalculator.org and used the pull down menu to choose the kind of paper(in their case kraft) had the material been manufactured from pulp.
• According to the Environmental Defense Fund’s Paper Calculator ( www.edf.org/papercalculator/ ),this reprocessing saves 78,168,209 Kilowatt Hours each year.
• Divide that by 10,655 (the wwkilowatt hours needed to power a typical house for a year).
• And you have a useful, if roughly estimated stat:  The firm saves enough to light and heat  734 homes each year

Of course, this is a rough number in need of some discounting. Although the client’s proprietary process avoids traditional manufacturing energy usage, every operation burns some carbon. Nonetheless, it’s a cost-free starting point and one you can apply before you bring in the essential consultants.

Check it out. Visit www.edf.org/papercalculator/ and test your numbers.

Upcoming posts:

- What you learn about HARO when you give away free press releases

- More on Anti-Social media and how to make it lesss Anti

- Eating your way into social media

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“I met with sperlingreene recently .. advocates for using social media in the service of creating “Powerful Conversations.” Steven Greene spoke to the anti-social aspects…”

 More on this subject soon.