Tweets for a Cause... and More

Around here, we tend to think the tweet craze is pretty interesting and can be used not only to tweet about your life and your company, but also to help out a good cause. In fact, this month is Child Abuse Prevention Month and we are working on a Twitter campaign with Noble Energy and Tennyson Center for Children www.childabuse.org. If we can get 1,000 followers on @TennysonCenter by the end of today, Noble will give Tennyson Center $5,000. Friends and colleagues have been rock stars about promoting it. A big thanks to @ahjobslist and @mhsmc for their help. We are now at 600 members and we will get there before the end of the month. We also used Twitter to help promote the launch of Impact 105, a new group of young (and young at heart) professionals that are coming together to advocate and donate (time and money) to fighting child abuse. Our kick-off event was on Wednesday, April 22 at Max Gill & Grill in Wash Park. Many of the attendees asked, “So what’s next?” I am encouraging everyone to go to www.childabuse.org/impact105.html and sign up to become a founding member of Impact 105. For $105 a year (tax-deductible), you will not only be invited to attend our quarterly networking events, but most importantly you will help us shape legislative policy around child abuse prevention and provide basic services for the children of Tennyson Center.

If you are interested in doing more, please send me a tweet at @llovek and I will make sure you are informed of the opportunities available to you. That may include joining us for a wine tasting event at Morton’s, adopting a child for the dress-a-child program, participating in Operation Santa (where you can adopt a family for the holidays) or Stuff the Bus (gathering school supplies for Tennyson Center kids), hosting a table at the 32nd Annual Denver Dinner or playing in the summer golf tournament. There are also opportunities for individuals and companies to develop a custom giving plan and/or volunteer their expertise in the world of marketing, fundraising or special events. The giving opportunities are endless. I just need to know your level of interest.

Businesses are using Twitter as a brand builder, a customer service center and a promotional arm. There is a great article on Elance on doing business with 140 letters or less http://www.elance.com/p/blog/2009/03/elancers_more_business_with_140_letters_or_less.html?rid=1HN94
After all of the Twitter craze, I figure there is nothing about my life that now can’t be summed up in under 140 letters or less. This is going to make the holiday cards a lot less painful this year.

Expanding Our Reach through PRGN

As one of the three newest members of the Public Relations Global Network (PRGN), I’m proud to be a part of such a fantastic international public relations “family.” This past weekend, GroundFloor Media attained membership, along with CooperKatz out of New York and The Harrell Group in Dallas. For those of you who are not familiar with the network, PRGN is an international organization of leading independent, owner-operated public relations agencies working together to serve client needs with local knowledge and global reach. It is an invitation-only network with 40 member agencies and more than 50 offices worldwide based in the United States, Central and South America, Europe, Canada, Pacific Rim, South Asia and the Caribbean.

What does that mean for GroundFloor Media? It expands our reach not only in key specialty areas – including Hispanic marketing and investor relations – but also in key geographic areas – including Los Angeles; New York; Washington, D.C.; Brussels; Melbourne; and Singapore. Our partner agencies in PRGN are ready, willing and able to provide expertise and hands-on assistance when needed.

The two days of meetings were filled with professional development, including the hot topic of social media. It was very fulfilling to learn from and share with colleagues from around the globe, and I look forward to continued opportunities to do so! There are two meetings each year, with committee work feverishly taking place in between.

You can see Tweets from the recent meetings in Sao Paulo by checking out #PRGN or visit the PRGN group on Facebook.

Need a New Accessory but You’re on a Budget? Old Poker Chip, a Little Glue and a Few Beads Will Do

I have become an avid fan of Cathie Filian, host of Creative Juice, DIY Network. She is in town for the Colorado Women’s Expo this weekend in Denver. Not only did she call me late last evening to confirm her arrival and excitement for a 6:20 a.m. segment on KUSA Ch. 9, but she met me 10 minutes early this morning. Cathie then impressed the Ch. 9 team with her re-crafted jewelry by demonstrating how to transform bits of scrapbook paper and game pieces in to fun jewelry accessories.

Yes, you too can use an old poker chip to create an amazing necklace. This is so easy that even I could make it. My favorites were the rings made out of scrabble pieces and necklaces from dominos. Time to dig through that bin of magazines in your corner to clip cool patterns for jewelry fronts.

Here’s a look: http://www.9news.com/life/programming/shows/weekends/
Feeling crafty? Want more tips? Check out Cathie’s blog: http://cathiefilian.blogspot.com/
The 2009 Colorado Women’s Expo features celebrity speakers on fitness, fashion, finance, cooking, design and crafting. Join us today from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. or Sunday, April 26 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the Colorado Convention Center.

For more information about the show, please visit www.ColoradoWomenShow.com

APRil is APR Month!

For many professions, some form of graduate education is key to getting ahead. When you're in college studying public relations, however, professors really drill into your head that experience is what counts. Looking back, I think the professors were absolutely right, experience makes all the difference in public relations, particularly at an agency like GroundFloor Media where we don't specialize in any one area but instead apply our skills across the spectrum for our clients.

That said, public relations professionals can benefit from brushing up on their skills and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) offers the perfect opportunity through a program called APR. APR is a voluntary certification program for public relations professionals. APRs demonstrate their commitment to the profession and to its ethical practice by advancing through a readiness review process (an in-person "interview" of sorts) and then taking a computer-based APR examination that tests your knowledge of the profession, it's history, and various tactics and strategies. PRSA has cleverly dubbed April as APR month...

I received my APR several years ago and I'm so glad that I went through the process! It felt like I was reaffirming the solid foundation of my college education, not to mention that I've met great people along the way and now feel more connected to the public relations profession than ever. If you live in Colorado and have an interest in pursuing your APR, contact me for more information about an APR event being held on Tuesday, April 21 at Morton's The Steakhouse in downtown Denver. We're going to bring together current and aspiring APRs to discuss the APR process and next steps for those who are ready to embark on this exciting adventure!

Whether you're just starting out or a seasoned pro, APR is definitely a path to consider as you further your career in public relations. Hope to see you on Tuesday!

SOCIAL MEDIA RESOURCE: Did you just say Google?

When I first got into social media (~2 1/2 years ago) there weren't a lot of tutorials available. I read TechCrunch and other tech blogs and even attended a "new media conference", but to be honest, there wasn't much that really outlined tactics. So like a lot of my social media peers, I learned about social media by doing it.... and with a little help from my friend Google. Surprised? You shouldn't be. In fact, Google is still one of my fave social media resources today. Let me explain just a few great ways that Google can help you get a handle on social media.

Google Search: Let's start with the basics. Yes, the basic search page on www.google.com. Want to know how to embed a video into a blog post? Google it. Looking for a way to connect your tweets to your Facebook status? Google it. I'll bet you $5 that you'll find an answer to your question (and maybe even a video tutorial) within the first page of search results. I still do this at least once a week when I get a social media question that I can't answer off the top of my head.

Google Alerts: To PR and marketing folks, Google alerts are like air. We need them to function and do our jobs properly that's because a big part of our job is knowing what people are saying about clients and their industries. However, for those of you outside of our PR bubble, you may not be familar with this handy little service. Just set up your own Google search keywords (web, news, blog, etc.) and Google will "alert" you via e-mail with your results either once a day or as they happen.

Google RSS Reader: If you haven't discovered RSS feeds yet, you need to. RSS feeds are a great way to stay current on the latest news from your fave blogs or news outlets. By setting up Google's free RSS reader, you can aggregate all you RSS feeds and folder them by categories. If you find yourself pressed for time and unable to check out your fave blogs everyday, you'll love this. Trust me.

Google Trends: Not sure what keywords to base your social media campaign on? Check out Google Trends. You can compare multiple search terms over variable times, correlate specific dates with online news and even compare search term geographically. Super handy.

Still want more? Click here.

Enjoy! (And no, I do not do PR for Google.)

Federal government employees gaining much-needed access to social media sites in order to do their jobs

It's a pretty common challenge these days: social media is on the rise, it's a great marketing tool when used properly, but many communications professionals cannot access social media sites from work. I recently came across this news on ReadWriteWeb.com about federal government employees accessing social media sites from work for professional purposes. This seems like a good first step for our friends from the metro-Denver-area government agencies who attended GroundFloor Media’s Social Media 101 training last week…

Government employees can now access social media sites
Despite widespread adoption of social media by private companies, most government employees could not access the social Web from work—until last week. After nine months of negotiations, government agencies can now officially use YouTube, Flickr, Vimeo and blip.tv thanks to special service agreements that meet federal terms and conditions. The Government Services Administration, which negotiated the service agreements, is currently working on similar deals with Facebook and MySpace. Twitter’s service agreement is already in line with federal requirements.