This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Sponsored Tweets. All opinions are 100% mine.

I’ve been working with Sponsored Tweets for a while now, occasionally tweeting out a relevant tweet for an advertiser. It’s painless, easy and lets me make a little bit of pocket change. Let me explain how it works.

Companies are looking to reach a wider audience. What better method than through Twitter, the viral social media tool? If you’re a die-hard Twitter fan like me, you know that sometimes when you post something of interest, others will retweet it. It can spread like wildfire that way.

So as a Twitter user, why not make some money by spreading the word about quality advertisers (and every advertiser I’ve tweeted about has been a good one; no crappy spam tweets)? Getting started is really easy.  Just sign up for sponsored tweets and start looking for good opportunities to tweet. You can set how much you make, although Sponsored Tweets gives you a suggested rate based on how many Twitter followers you have.

Once your account reaches $50 you can cash out. It couldn’t be easier.

Something I really like about Sponsored Tweets is that it requires you to disclose in the tweet that it’s sponsored. You can’t even submit your tweet unless it meets their stringent disclosure requirements.

If you’re on Twitter, check out Sponsored Tweets and sign up for sponsored tweets.

She points to a really fantastic presentation by Olivier Blanchard, which I will also use here:

Christina talks about goals, and the importance of having them before you even try to find your ROI. And it’s true. I know so many companies who want to get into social media because everyone else is. But why? What do you hope to attain by doing so? It’s not going to get you instant sales, so you need to be ok with using social media to build your brand and connect with your customers. If you think this is a waste of money, social media is not for you.

Assign a value to everything you do. If your Twitter reach is 5,000 people, that’s worth something. (not if you don’t interact regularly, though). If a Google AdWords click is $1, that’s a value. What’s a click worth from Twitter? Even if you start with arbitrary numbers, at least you’ve got something to look to for metrics. If you spend 20 hours on Twitter to get 1 sale, that ROI isn’t as good as if you spent 15 minutes crafting a custom email. Got it?

Here’s an interesting Twitter conversation I had with @jacobm on the subject.

What are your thoughts? Do you measure social media ROI? How?

Networking

If you’re looking for a way to share your contact info with others, try the Professional Profile: Networking app or Business Cards.

Planning an Event

If you hold events, be it online or in person, you can use one of the many Event applications to help herd people and gauge attendance. Eventbrite is popular, because you can accept payment through this app.

Fundraising

If you are a nonprofit or organization, you know that collecting funds online can require a sophisticated web interface. Try instead using FundRazr, the Facebook app that lets you collect money and communicate with supporters.

There are tons of other Facebook applications that might serve other needs you have. Search for them and see how you can add to the experience a fan has on your Facebook page

Flash forward to today. Stories come in via Twitter, Facebook and AP RSS feeds. Journalists are now hybrid reporters/bloggers. Their content is more important online than it is in print. Newspapers themselves are forced to adapt to how technology has changed its format…or shut its doors, the way so many have.

Good journalists know they have to open the doors to the masses via social media tools. They need to be accessible, even if that means a constant stream of pitches. They have to, because their jobs are about communicating. And that’s what social media does.

And yet, I’m amazed at how few newspaper websites list journalist and editor Twitter IDs.  Back in Orlando, the Orlando Sentinel has a page with all the journalists’ Twitter IDs. MuckRack is a gathering of journalists who can be found on Twitter. Why, then, don’t more journalists embrace the inevitable and use social media to get their jobs done?

Maybe because they’re resistant to change. Maybe because like so many large corporations, they fear what social media will bring.

I say, bring it on.

Are you familiar with trending on Twitter? Basically it’s what people are talking about right now on Twitter. It could be Kate Gosselin. The real Shaq. The economy. Halloween.

If you use Twitter, you may have noticed on the right hand side of your profile page a list of Trending Topics. Click on any of them and you’ll see the most recent streams mentioning this word or hashtag. If you’re interested in the topic, it’s a great way to see what people are saying about it.

Halloween is currently a trending topic. Understandable, since it’s just around the corner.

Let’s look at this from a marketing perspective. If you could find some relationship to Halloween and tweet about it, your tweet would appear in that trending stream. People would click on it. They’d follow you. They’d visit your website. Not bad for 140 characters.

Let’s give it a try. What do you do? Are you having a Halloween sale? Selling special items just for Halloween? If you can’t think of anything that directly relates, try offering tips. Write a blog post (a la this one) and tweet it out to get traffic to it. Here’s a few suggestions:

• PR people can tweet 10 Halloween-worthy press release ideas
• Real estate folks can tweet top not-so-scary housing markets with hashtag #halloween
• DJs can tweet Halloween party venues

Get creative. It’s fun. And you don’t have to stick to Halloween. Take any trending topic and relate it to what you do, then make sure to use that keyword or hashtag in your tweet. Track the traffic that comes to your site as a result.

It’s clear that the public relations landscape is changing. No longer does emailing a journalist a press release always result in coverage on major news channels (there are exceptions, naturally, but the average business doesn’t get on Oprah). These days, journalists (and yes, bloggers too) are inundated with press releases. It’s easy to hit delete and move on.

How do you get your pitch heard above the din? Conversation. Engagement. Interaction.

Social Media is Key in Your Pitch

Pamela Johnston of PJ Inc. Public Relations says she avoids doing certain things on Twitter () that are looked upon negatively, like:

• pimping client news

• straight out traditional pitching

• sending random things to people/journalists she doesn’t know

I like that she doesn’t use traditional methods of pitching on social media. You can’t apply the same methods you used 10 years ago to Twitter. It’s impossible. Instead, you must find new ways to reach media contacts.

The world is small these days. Social media tools like Twitter, Facebook , LinkedIn, Kirtsy, Digg, blogs, video and web sites are quickly becoming integrated. It’s fairly easy to connect with someone and keep up with what they’re doing. Journalists and bloggers are no different.

Social Media as a Learning Tool

I make notes in my contact database with links to all her sources. I then make a plan to interact with the journalist in her own space. I comment on posts I like. I retweet her content on Twitter. I send a brief note on Facebook (not pitching a story, but sharing one of her posts I liked and asking to connect). This way, by the time I’m ready to pitch her, I’m already on her radar.

Pitching a media contact is a process. It’s not something that will happen overnight. Plan ahead and work for several weeks to get to know a journalist or blogger for best results.

Be A Resource

It is quite common for reporters, news producers and anchors to post something along the lines of “looking for interesting stories about ______ to discuss today.” Being part of an agency, it is critical for me to capitalize on those opportunities for my clients. Often times, this doesn’t require a “pitch” as much as connecting a reporter with a resource (hopefully my client).

This goes back to monitoring social media. Your best successes might not come from a pitch at all, but rather the reward of being a good listener and paying attention to the journalists you can help. Journalists like being helped better than they like being pitched.

Keep reading the post on Mashable.com.

Work with what you’ve got: followers

When looking at your Following list (which you should do several times a week if you’re heavy on Twitter), look at each person who recently followed you. Scan their profile and their tweets and determine if it’s a good fit. If their Twitter stream consists of them posting their own link over and over again, I move on. If they seem to be engaging in dialogue with others, even if it doesn’t relate completely to my field, I’ll follow back. But if I see the words MLM, make money fast, I just added 455 followers…I run for the border.

I judge a book by its cover. I do. And on Twitter, if your profile page has you pointing at me or holding up lots of money, I’m not interested in what you’re selling.

Finding new contacts

Once you’ve gone through your Following list, you’ll want to add others to follow. Use the Twitter search bar and search for keywords you’re interested in. This might be your industry (for me, marketing, PR, social media, etc) or a hobby you’re interested in. Or your location. Find the people that are talking about these keywords and follow them. Feel free to jump into a conversation that interests you. That’s what Twitter is for.

Grow your list

For me, Twitter is about expanding my reach to an ever-increasing audience. That means a relevant audience. The more people I can help with my marketing wisdom, the better I feel. And hey, if it turns into sales or speaking engagements, so much the better. Work to grow your list smartly. Don’t just add people just because you can, because this won’t get you anywhere.

The Old Days

After World War I, a guy named Ivy Lee invented the press release. It was said that a press release helped foster a two-way street, where the client would listen to the public, but let’s be honest: it was more of the “enough about me, what do you think about me?”

In other words, companies wanted to know what the public thought of them, not just what they thought in general.

Fast Forward to Today

It’s been slow going to get to the conversations that are happening today: not just about brands, but about what consumers want. And I mean slow. A year ago, I didn’t see nearly the number of companies who got it. Who understood that social media and blogger outreach was part of the PR landscape that was not an option but rather a requirement for survival.

I go to these conferences today and see brands that don’t need me to explain why they should work with bloggers. They’re there, in the thick of things. They know that a well done product review by a blogger has 10 times the selling power that a print or even internet ad has.  They know that giving away free products on blogs helps get them traffic and interest. They want to be a part of the revolution.

And I sigh with relief.

Because I’ve spent the last year trying to swim upstream in a river of small businesses who want solid results. Apparent ROI. Familiarity. Companies who, because they didn’t know what a blog was assumed they should ignore them. Companies who were run by old white men who have secretaries do all their work and never ever used a computer.

All this is changing, and I am thrilled. It’s a new day in public relations, and I, for one, am happy to be part of the pack leading the way.

This is something I could stand to be better at. I do it well for my clients but not for my own brand.

The key is to find conversations that you can contribute to. Twitter Search makes it easy to look up keywords in your industry to see who’s talking about them. You might find someone asking what the best brand of {insert product here} is to buy, or someone who wants to know more about what you already know. Follow these people and reply to what they’ve written.

But a caveat:

Don’t try to sell them on your product.

It’s better to answer a question they have or send a link to a relevant post or article. They’ll be grateful for the help, but if you come after them with “My product is best!!” they will flee for the hills and talk about you.

@ComcastCares is an overdone example of using expertise on Twitter, but it works. Comcast isn’t even my cable provider, but one day I had an issue and they offered to look into it for me anyway. @JamesPero, a contact I made in Florida, always answers when I have a tech question. Nothing in it for him but help. If you’re on Twitter a lot, you can probably think of a person or two who always helps you out. Be that person.

My assignment for myself, once I recover from 2 conferences and determine whether I’m going to a third, is to start delving into the conversations about marketing, social media and PR on Twitter. I want people to know I’m available to answer questions they have.

And if you’re not following me on Twitter, I’m @eggmarketing.

With more than 300 million active users, Facebook is nearly the size of the United States in terms of population. In fact, odds are that you’re a Facebook user, perhaps using it to keep in touch with family and friends, with a dash of business thrown in for good measure. Maybe you look at some of the 2 billion photos uploaded each month, or contribute a few of the 40 million daily status updates. In short: Facebook is where it’s at, and you’re already there.

But what about your business? Does it use Facebook ()? If you’re a business owner, you really need to set up a Fan Page, or else you risk being left behind as more businesses shift to social networks like Facebook. This post is a beginner’s guide to setting up and getting the most out of a Page on Facebook for your business.

Facebook Pages 101

- Overview of company
- Website and contact info
- Press releases
- Videos
- Blog RSS
- Twitter () updates
- Company news and status
- Customer interaction

One of the major benefits of a Page on Facebook over (or in addition to) a webpage is that it’s so simple to update. With a website, if you’re not technical, you have to contact your web developer, who will then charge you to make even a tiny change. With Facebook, updates are as easy as logging in and typing or uploading. The fresher your content, the more you will engage people.

Setting Up Your Page

Google ()

Keep reading to find out how to use apps and promote your page.

And yes I just realized this was a How-To Tuesday post published on a Thursday. Oops!

Anyone who does PR for a brand knows that getting the attention of the media is like trying to get President Obama’s attention. Reporters and editors all seem too busy to care about our stories, intriguing though they may be. Sure, they are bombarded with pitches and press releases daily, but how do you cut through the crap and rise to the top of that stack?

One trick of the trade I’ve discovered is Twitter. When I’m researching contacts at publications, blogs and websites, I look to see if an editor or the company has a Twitter account. Then, a week after I send the email pitch (carefully crafted, of course), I send a tweet as a followup.

Most journalists don’t seem to mind being contacted via Twitter. After all, it’s not exactly a private channel. For a recent client of mine, ioSafe, who makes external hard drives, 90% of the media placement I got was as a result of following up on Twitter.

Some of the writers hadn’t received my emails (thanks, CAN-SPAM Act!). Others had forgotten about it and were glad to be reminded of it. I found the immediacy of the interaction on Twitter to be gratifying. After all, it’s harder to ignore a tweet than it is an email.

I’ve also pitched directly through Twitter. I’ll send a quick note saying I think XYZ product is a good fit for their website/magazine/blog, and are they interested in learning more? I include a link so they can easily click it and decide if they want more information. If they do, we exchange emails and the process is set in motion.

My final words of advice are: target, target, target. Even though Twitter provides a new channel for public relations, it’s still essential to do your homework and understand the channel you’re pitching. Read the articles or blog posts. Read the editor’s bio to see if he even writes product reviews. Pretend you’re going to be quizzed on the company and be that prepared. The editor you’re reaching out to will be that much more likely to take you up on your pitch, and hey, who knows? Maybe you’ll actually develop a relationship with that media contact!

But that’s what I do.

Well, not exactly. I don’t sell people on getting more friends. Egg creates or manages Facebook profiles and pages on behalf of clients who don’t want to do it themselves. We do add targeted friends. We also post updates, photos, videos and more. Are we a third party if we’re acting on behalf of the company??

In this day and age, it will be difficult to keep people from doing this. I searched for “buy friends on Facebook” and there are apps within Facebook that purport to do just that. Why aren’t they being lashed out at?

What do you think? How will Facebook enforce this policy and still keep businesses interested? If companies cannot employ third party marketers to use a tool they either don’t know how to use themselves or don’t have time to use, what will Facebook do to grow?

You probably have a Facebook Profile for you, the person. But do you have a Page for your business? Creating a Facebook Page for your business can be great for SEO and can help new people find your business on Facebook.

FYI: A Page isn’t as interactive as a Profile, meaning your fans may not comment as much as they do on your Profile, but it’s a great way to post news, updates, photos and links on your business in one easy place. Many people prefer to get their info from Facebook rather than websites these days, so it’s important to speak their language.

Let’s get started.

1. Log into Facebook. Easy enough.

2. At the bottom of the page, click the Advertising link. You’ll see several choices on this page. Click “Pages.” From there, click “Create Page.”

3. Fill in your info. The more information you fill in, the better your Page will be. Once you fill out what is required, click the Info tab and edit to add your website(s) and information about your company.

4. Fatten up your Page. That’s basically it. But it’s a good idea to add photos if you have products or something people can see. As time goes on, you can add links to your press releases and products, start discussions with fans, add videos…whatever you want.

How to Add Fans

The tricky thing about Pages is you can’t Friend someone the way you can from your Profile. So my suggestion is to go through your Profile Friends and invite those you think would benefit from being a fan of your business’ Page to become a fan. If your Friends aren’t business-related, consider adding friends that are business related to your profile (start by searching for your contacts and clients) so that you can easily convert them over to your business’ page. It’ll take a while but then you’ll see a snowball effect when it comes to fans!

Publish info about your Page on your Profile so people know it exists!

Don’t neglect!

You may not think about your Page as often as you do your Facebook Profile, but update it several times a week. Give people a reason to visit it.

Sometimes I spend a lot of effort in getting visits to my site. Other times? Not so much. But with a little effort you can start a snowball effect and get more traffic to your site without doing much. First, though, roll up your sleeves. It’s time to work.

Step 1: Look at your site. The first step to getting traffic is making sure your site is a friendly place to be. Is it easy to navigate? Understandable? Do people have to scroll down to read all of your copy (that’s a bad thing). Make your web copy concise and to the point. Not a writer? Call Egg and we’ll write it for you.

Step 2: Do you have SEO? If you don’t know what SEO is, find out. Your site needs to be rich in keywords that people are searching for. This article, for example, would have good SEO ranking for the term “generating traffic to your website” or “how to get traffic on my website.” Use these keywords in the copy and behind the scenes in the metatags and descriptions (Again, if you don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, contact me so I can help).

Step 3: Start promoting. The sky’s the limit when it comes to places you can promote your website. Remember to do it in a non-pushy way. As in don’t force people to go to your website. Find a natural reason a contact on Facebook or Twitter would want to go. Try this.

@lostinmarketing i heard your confusion about email marketing. check my blog. it’s got good articles on how to do email marketing successfully. http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing

You want to provide value. Here are some places you can promote your website:

• Facebook: Post an occasional link on your wall. Include RSS to your blog.
• Twitter: Have your website in your profile and find a way to suggest it usefully as in the above example.
• Blog: Blogs and websites are great cross-promoters. On your blog, include your website in the Blogroll. On your website include link to blog.
• Article marketing: On article directories like AssociatedContent.com, you can submit articles in your field. Include a link in the About the Author section.
• Other blogs: Post relevant comments on other people’s blogs. Your link will be included.
• Press releases: Any time you put out a press release, it should include multiple links to your site.
• Email: Your web address should be in your signature so that every person who gets an email from you gets your website.

And remember, the more contacts you have, the more people will visit your site. Work to increase your Twitter and Facebook contacts and maintain the relationships so that people have a reason to click the link to your site!

Readers of the Small Business Trends blog were invited to submit their tips (through Twitter), and the results are in this ebook.

Some of the tips I already knew, but there were Twitter applications and concepts I wasn’t familiar with, so I definitely got something out of it.

The download is free, so I recommend you get it now. I plan to follow everyone in the ebook because they’re just so darn smart!

I was recently contacted by the PR contact for Eggology, a company that sells egg products for people on the go. Now, normally I wouldn’t review food on my marketing blog. But the company happens to have a pretty good grasp of social media, so you know that tugged at my heartstrings.

On Facebook, they’re using their Page to share recipes with fans. So if you’re curious like I was to see what kinds of recipes you can make with egg whites, become a fan of their Page.

Eggology uses Twitter to connect with fans, link to articles relating to eggs and health, and communicate with others.

It’s a simple effort, but one that is working for them.

Here you can view my unboxing of the egg whites they sent me.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYHbp8IRM7k[/youtube]

So how do Eggology’s egg whites taste? I was surprised. I always thought of egg whites as being for people who would sacrifice taste for health, which doesn’t describe me at all. But they’re great! I love the way you pop the container in the microwave and it’s ready in 90 seconds. I like mine with salsa and monterrey jack cheese.

What about you? How do you like your egg whites? Eggology has agreed to give a 3 month supply of egg whites to the winner of our Eggcellent contest.

How do I enter? Just  follow Eggology on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook. Then leave a comment telling us how you would use Eggology’s egg whites, as well as where you’re following Eggology. I’ll choose a winner August 7.

I love, love, love social media. And I love even more those smart people who come up with smarter apps every day. Whenever I think I’m using the best, latest, greatest Twitter app,  another takes its place. So today’s focus: HootSuite.

First let me say that for someone who works on marketing day in and out, I sure am swayed by cute packaging. Curse me. HootSuite has an adorable little owl as their mascot, which was the first thing that got my attention.

After that I thought, “Gaah, another Twitter platform? Don’t I have enough of these?”

And then I visited the site. And tweeted my entire experience. I was in love with an owl.

My favorite feature by far is the Hootlet. You just drag it into your toolbar and whenever you’re on a page you want to tweet about, you just click the owl. Oh. My. God. So great. In case those directions were too hard for you, here’s the video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHxUm7atb0o&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

So since this is how-to Tuesday, let me give you a few how-to tips. You are smart enough to set up your own account on HootSuite, so let’s skip that.

Setting up Columns

If you’re an avid Twitter user, you know that it can be overwhelming to pay attention to a stream of thousands of people you’re following. HootSuite’s columns work a lot like TweetDeck or Seesmic’s. You name them and add people to them. So for instance, I have a column for Social Media and follow people like Chris Brogan that are saying smart things about social media (and I regurgitate it to you on my blog). You can have as many as you want, but the feature I don’t like very much is having to know the name of someone to add. I liked TweetDeck’s former capability of scrolling through my list and checking off people to add to a column.

Using Stats

Another feature that makes HootSuite unique is its Stats. You can see how many people click on a link you tweet and where they come from. Very handy. Just click “Stats” in your account and select your profile to view.

Profiles

Speaking of profiles, HootSuite lets you manage multiple! I’m actually not working with multiple Twitter accounts right now, so I haven’t tried it out, but it seems pretty straightforward. Just remember to select which account you’re tweeting from.

There’s really nothing else to teach you. It’s just that dead simple. Check out HootSuite and let me know what you think!

PS If you’re listening, HootSuite, please add Facebook interaction to your platform!

The book starts out pretty technical, but don’t get turned off by that if it’s not your language. The second and third parts are where it gets good. Shih walks you through how to use Facebook to grow your business, including step by step instructions on how to create profiles and pages (and why one would be better than another).

She also talks about why social networks are important, and how they’re growing exponentially and can’t be ignored. She gives great case studies of brands who are successfully using Facebook, including Victoria’s Secret, as well as a New Orleans school that uses Facebook to update students, parents, and alumni.

And if you haven’t tried Facebook ads, her book has a coupon for a free $25 credit to try it out. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize you had to be a first-time ad user to redeem the coupon, which I am not.

Not to toot my own horn, but it’s rare that I find a book on marketing or social media that actually teaches me. Shih succeeded in teaching me some new things, and got me curious about others. I made a list of things I want to learn more about, including using apps as an advertising mechanism.

So buy the book and become a fan of the book on Facebook.

This week I want to talk about TweetDeck, an amazing Twitter tool.

A lot of newbies to Twitter are overwhelmed with the stream of updates coming at them on their page. They don’t realize there are applications that help make it easier to sort different groups of Tweeple. There are many of these, but the one I really like is TweetDeck.

Why do I like it?

I have over 2,000 people I’m following (don’t worry; you’ll get there), and that is a lot of noise. I need a way to separate people out.

• Some people I’ve met in person and like to keep up with.
• Some people I identify as leaders in social media or marketing, and want to know what they’re saying.
• Some people I don’t really connect with (yet) and are less important to focus on.
• Sometimes I like to do a search on something like “marketing” to see what people are saying.

TweetDeck lets me separate all these groups out.

Ready to try it? It’s free, so what have you got to lose?

1. Visit http://tweetdeck.com/beta/ and download the free program.

2. Once you have it set up, decide how you want to group people. It might be Business and Personal, or you could do a search for a topic you’re interested in. If you do this, any tweet that contains that word will appear in that column.

The toolbar at the top of your TweetDeck is pretty easy to follow. It lets you:

• Send a tweet
• View all friends
• Reply to someone
• Send a direct message
• View favorites
• Create a group
• Search for a word or phrase
• Use TwitScoop to see what words people are talking about the most
• Share a video with 12seconds.tv
• Get stock updates with stocktwits
• Update your Facebook page at the same time as Twitter

I really like the ability to post something to Twitter and Facebook. Before TweetDeck had this function, I used a Facebook application to update my Tweets to Facebook. Problem was, whenever I replied to someone, it would post my half of the conversation, so no one in Facebook knew what I was talking about!

There is also a nice shorten URL field, so you don’t waste your 140 characters with a long URL. You can’t do this on Twitter’s page.

Try it for a week and let me know what you think.

Enjoy!