PR 20/20 Blog

Announcing Cleveland HubSpot User Group (HUG) - First Event July 20

By Dia Dalsky | Posted Jun 30, 2011 | 4 Comment(s) | Filed in: Marketing
PR 20/20 announces the launch of the Cleveland HubSpot User Group (HUG), an in-person network for local marketers to share ideas, keep informed on HubSpot updates and tools, and support local businesses. The group will meet regularly for educational and professional networking events, and provide ongoing updates and constructive discussions through its LinkedIn Group.

While dubbed the “Cleveland” group, it is open to all those interested in joining, and intended for HubSpot customers, partner agencies and other marketers located in Northeast Ohio.

The Cleveland HUG will be supported by a network of volunteering members. So, if you are interested in learning more, we encourage you to join us on LinkedIn and attend our first event — see details below!

Our First Event — A Taste of Cleveland {Marketing}

We invite you to join us for our inaugural meeting, and kick off the group with a proper introduction! Our first meeting will focus on introducing members to HUG and one another, explaining the opportunities available to you through involvement, and providing local marketers with an opportunity to network.

The event will offer you a chance to introduce yourself, the company you work for or represent, and the campaigns with which you are currently involved. The open forum will focus on discussing successful inbound marketing campaigns.

Come enjoy a “taste” of the Cleveland marketing scene on Wednesday, July 20 at 6 p.m. in the PR 20/20 office (812 Huron Rd., Suite 780, Cleveland, OH 44115). Going along with our theme, we ask that attendees bring an appetizer to share with the group and an open mind to discuss their marketing experiences.

We look forward to meeting you, and kicking off the Cleveland HUG!
Event Details:
- RSVP: http://tasteofclevelandmarketing.eventbrite.com
- Date: Wednesday, July 20, 2011
- Time: 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
- Location: 812 Huron Road, Cleveland, OH 44115, Suite 780 (Google Map: PR 20/20 office)
- Parking: The Quicken Loans and Progressive Field parking garage. Entrance is located off Huron Road. Flat lots are also available off Huron and E. 9^th.
- Food & Drink: Please bring an appetizer to share with the group; drinks will be provided.
RSVP through Eventbrite, or contact Dia Dalsky, Cleveland HubSpot User Group leader, with any questions or suggestions you have regarding the event. Please note: Space is limited to the first 25 reservations made.

About HubSpot User Groups

Currently, there are more than a dozen HUGs located throughout the U.S. and abroad that have been established to provide local users with value beyond HubSpot, online tools and resources. Each HUG is created to accomplish the following goals:
- Encourage members to continue learning about inbound marketing
- Enable the sharing of experiences and new ideas
- Help keep users informed of new HubSpot features and products
- Support networking within the geographic location
Not from Northeast Ohio, but still interested in joining a HUG? Check out a full list of HUGs to find one in your neck of the woods: http://hugs.hubspot.com/

About Cleveland HUG Host PR 20/20

PR 20/20 is an inbound marketing agency and PR firm specializing in search engine marketing, social media, content marketing and public relations. We function as marketing consultants for clients seeking to grow smarter and faster than the competition by concentrating on the activities that build inbound links, drive website traffic and convert visitors into leads.

PR 20/20 is a leading HubSpot partner agency, having worked with more than three dozen HubSpot clients providing services such as: web design, search marketing, social media consulting, content marketing (i.e. case studies, eBooks, white papers) and PR services.

We are establishing the group as part of an ongoing effort to foster industry innovation and support like-minded professionals. It is our hope that by continuing to shed light on the state of the industry we can encourage other agencies and marketers to move away from the traditional marketing model, and embrace more effective and measurable processes.

Related Blog Posts:
Dia Dalsky is a consultant at PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. Follow Dia on Twitter @DiaDalsky.

Stay updated: Subscribe to the PR 20/20 blog, check us out on Facebook or follow the team on Twitter.
Quora Strategy: The Incomplete Guide for Beginners

By Dia Dalsky | Posted Feb 3, 2011 | 0 Comment(s) | Filed in: Social Media
There’s been a lot of talk in the industry recently about Quora, a new Q&A social media site. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the platform, or are considering its applications to your clients or business, here's a quick overview of the opportunities it presents.

Founded in June 2009, Quora is an ever-growing collection of questions and answers that are created, and shared, by users of the network. The company's objective is to have each question page become the best possible resource of information relating to a given topic. Quora is an open site, which means it is indexed by search engines, and its content will appear in organic search results for relevant queries.

In fact, though I've only been on the site for a short time, Quora activity already appears on the first page of Google results for my name. (See screenshot.)

The network presents users with an opportunity not only to acquire collective knowledge, but also to share personal experiences, information and opinions that serve as a resource for others.

While Quora does not currently offer business profiles, this does not diminish the importance for companies to:
- Monitor the conversations surrounding its brand
- Respond to questions posted when necessary
- Encourage employees to professionally represent the company, exhibit thought leadership and build personal brands
(For additional insight on how businesses can use Quora, check out Jeremiah Owyang’s recent post.)

Monitor Your Brand

While a large number of current topics revolve around professional advice and methodology, consumers are also turning to the network to discuss brands, products and services.

Similar to implementing online monitoring activities, such as Google Alerts or a paid tool like Radian6, company representatives should monitor their brand name on Quora and consider responding when appropriate. For example:

Negative Comments — Questions may be positioned as criticisms, such as “Why does Nestle water taste like plastic?” At time of writing, Nestle representatives have not responded to this question. This is a missed opportunity for the brand to respond to an unsatisfied customer and show proactive interest in delivering a better product.

Positive Conversations — Brands may find positive conversations regarding their brand. “Why is Chipotle so popular?” is a running thread of support for the company’s unique approach to “food with integrity,” social media, innovative advertising and promotions, and more.

Rumors and False Information — If someone was spreading inaccurate information about your company, employees or products and services, wouldn’t you want to offer them the correct information? Companies should monitor mentions of their brand to debunk false statements or rumors, and protect what information is being disseminated about their brand.

For example: “Is it true that some of the new YCombinator class are getting funded on their way into the program?” This question may or may not be true, but at the moment no one from YCombinator has stepped in to offer the correct answer.

Respond When Appropriate

If you find complaints about your business on Quora, have an approved and credible team member respond to the issue. By proactively engaging people who are actively discussing your brand, you can help to improve the Quora experience and conversation, as well as help people connect with your brand in a meaningful way.

HubSpot’s founder and CTO, Dharmesh Shah, posted a good example of addressing criticisms on Quora in response to “Why is HubSpot still such a nightmare for designers?” Excerpt from his response:

“This criticism is totally justified and well placed.

We make things much harder for designers than they should be. I promise, it's not intentional. Our challenge is that HubSpot is a very broad platform, and our content management system is a small piece of the puzzle. We're growing as fast as we can to deliver on our vision. We are doubling-down on our product team.”

Imagine if you were the dissatisfied customer in this situation and received a response like this. Would it help to improve your opinion of, and experience with, the company?

Exhibit Thought Leadership

Similar to LinkedIn Answers, Quora can help businesses raise the profile of experts within the company and put a face behind the brand. By sharing knowledge in their given field, individuals can build their own personal brand, and positively impact their company by association.

Develop a strategy for your team to answer questions relating to your industry — best practices, experiences gathered from customer interactions, preferred tools, etc. — and use that to guide your adoption of Quora.

Have you joined Quora?

If so, where are you in the process of following and contributing to questions and answers? Have you found anything to be particularly effective for your business? We’d like to her about your experiences thus far.

Dia Dalsky is an associate consultant at PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. Follow Dia on Twitter @DiaDalsky.

Stay updated: Subscribe to the PR 20/20 blog, check us out on Facebook or follow the team on Twitter.
Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: 3 Key Takeaways

By Dia Dalsky | Posted Aug 24, 2010 | 0 Comment(s) | Filed in: Brand Marketing, Marketing
Like many influencers ahead of their time, the Grateful Dead took risks and made sacrifices to pursue their passion and ultimately change the landscape of the music industry. Lucky for us (and them), their struggles paid off and now present an excellent case study that is inciting the rise of a new, niche fan base —today’s marketing professionals.

Since the mid-1960s, the band has abandoned standards in branding, building a business model, communication style, marketing and performances — all of which are examined in Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead by David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan.

The book documents the band’s success in creating a unique brand and encouraging a truly engaging fan experience. Scott and Halligan present simple marketing tactics used by the band, apply them to today’s business world and provide examples of companies that, like the Grateful Dead, have found success in going against “the norm.”

Here are a few marketing takeaways I found particularly insightful:

Create an Original and Innovative Brand

From the beginning, the Grateful Dead built a unique brand that set them apart from their competitors and intrigued fans. They did this by selecting an unusual name, constructing a band of unlikely musicians and creating a business model that defied normal success factors (e.g. achieving platinum record sales). As a result, it was able to establish its own category focused on listening to (rather than defining) its audiences’ needs.

Similarly, Scott and Halligan urge companies to think from a customer standpoint. Forget about the industry norm and ask yourself “What is the most logical way to fill my customers’ needs?” and “What differentiates me from my competitors?” While it’s important to stay in touch with your industry and remain conscious of your competitors, it should never dictate or limit where you take your business.

To champion the brand and connect with your audiences, you need to build a marketing team with diverse talent. Scott and Halligan encourage companies to build teams with a range of skill sets and experiences, including digital citizens, analytical thinkers, content creators and those with industry reach.

Attract and Engage Your Fans

The leading factor behind the Grateful Dead’s success was its die-hard community of Deadheads that supported, listened to and lived for the music. From its beginnings in San Francisco, the band sought to encourage personal connections and open dialogue with fans.

For example, the Grateful Dead placed a direct call-to-action inside the October 1971 live Skull and Roses album, requesting their fans to connect with them:

“DEAD FREAKS UNITE: Who are you? Where are you? How are you? Send us your name and address and we’ll keep you informed. Deadheads, P.O. Box 1065, San Rafael, California 94901.” – pg. 70, Ch. 9: Bring People on an Odessey

The response was overwhelming, receiving 10,257 responses in six months. Within five years, 63,147 Deadheads (in the United States alone) had requested to receive regular mailings from the band. Scott and Halligan relate this permission-based fan connection to a pre-Internet social network.

With this opt-in mailing list, the band was able to know their audience better, deliver fan communications and establish a community for Deadheads. The list also supported a variety of the band’s marketing activities, including ticket sales, which were kept entirely in-house and generated a majority of the band’s income.

Share Your Value Through (Free) Content

Deadheads also benefited from premium, or “fremium,” content, which is also the foundation of inbound marketing today.

By allowing fans to record live performances, permitting entrepreneurial vendors to create band paraphernalia and encouraging the distribution of both, the Grateful Dead removed the usual obstacles for music enthusiasts during the pre-Internet era. This availability of content without barriers makes the Dead’s music and brand “spreadable.”

“The Grateful Dead teaches us that your most passionate fans will pay a premium price for the best quality….The challenge in the upgrade model is to give away something that is considered valuable, and something that people will use regularly and become familiar with. It is the familiarity that grows from regular use…that generates the value and desire for the premium version of the same product or service.” – pg. 122, Ch. 15: Upgrade to Premium

Scott and Halligan have found professional inspiration from a shared interest in the Grateful Dead, the music and the experience they receive from being loyal followers (aka Deadheads). What brands give you inspiration from their marketing mission or core values? What lessons can you draw from them to implement in your own marketing strategy?

For more information

To learn more about individual businesses implementing Grateful Dead marketing tactics, watch How to Market Your Business Like the Most Iconic Band in History, a recent HubSpot webinar hosted by co-authors Scott and Halligan. The webinar showcases innovative companies such as Rue La La, Burton Snowboards and the New Belgium Brewing Company.

Dia Dalsky is an associate consultant at PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. Follow Dia on Twitter @DiaDalsky.

Stay updated: Subscribe to the PR 20/20 blog, check us out on Facebook or follow the team on Twitter.

Photo credits taken from Flickr Creative Commons (in order): Tony the Misfit; ActiveSteve; Jared
How to Rock in Social Media: Connect with Customers

By Dia Dalsky | Posted Jun 14, 2010 | 0 Comment(s) | Filed in: Brand Marketing, Social Media
Social networks are rapidly changing the accessibility society has to new ideas, content and conversations. We have entered a new social structure that offers endless opportunities to expand your connections with brands and friends alike. Because of this shift in social interactions, we have blurred the line between being a “friend” or a “brand-loyal customer” — combining relevance to both relationships under one roof (the social web).

For the music industry, the social web has created an online community that removes the traditional geographic and physical limitations once experienced by those seeking new sounds. Social networks provide musicians and their fans with an opportunity to share new music, establish a larger following and communicate on a personal basis like never before.

“Short of being a spouse or a roommate, social network sites allowed fans unprecedented access to artists and bands.” – Is Social Media Saving Music?

This shift isn’t unique to musicians. Observing successes in the music industry can provide valuable insight for any brand looking to increase awareness and develop personal relationships with their target audiences.

10 Lessons for Brands, From Bands

An important factor in a musician’s success is a strong fan base, and the same goes for businesses and their customers. Without a group of people who are continually aware of your presence, loyal to your products and willing to be brand advocates, the greatest content in the world can fall on deaf ears.

By emulating some of the strategies and tactics that music artisits have found success with online, brands too can use social networks to cultivate personal connections with customers in new ways. From encouraging interaction and responding directly to customer comments, to rewarding Twitter followers with special offers, to being proactive in response to criticism, brands can adopt a social media strategy that will add value to thier audience and increase loyalty among its customer base.

Following are several lessons from the music indstury for brands looking to connect with customers on a personal level:
1. Establish an authentic social presence
2. Publish original, quality content
3. Provide genuine commentary that exhibits enthusiasm
4. Dedicate time to respond to audiences wanting to interact
5. Show appreciation for followers
6. Accept criticism and respond in a proactive manner
7. Provide special incentives to followers
8. Monitor the conversations of your customers and competitors
9. Seek opportunities to participate
10. Capitalize on financial benefits
Read on for the stories of three musicians that have engaged their audience online through relationship-building approaches to social media, and have reaped the financial and personal benefits.

Example 1: Colbie Caillat

Caillat is a surfing, “bubbly” girl from L.A. who propelled herself into stardom using the social network MySpace. At the recommendation of a friend, she posted several songs to her personal MySpace profile. What started as a hobby quickly turned Caillat into the platform’s most-listened-to unsigned artist. Because of MySpace’s sharing capabilities and Caillat’s natural talent, in 2006 her page drew thousands of listeners, receiving more than 50,000 plays a day.

The exposure of social media landed Caillat a record deal with Universal, and in 2007 her first album, “CoCo,” debuted at number five on Billboard’s Top 200 albums chart. She is now a platinum-selling artist and one of the most notorious MySpace success stories.

The formula for her success is the result of:
1. Quality content
2. An authentic presence
3. Passion
4. The accessibility and sharing capabilities of MySpace
Example 2: Imogen Heap

Although slightly less involved in mainstream popularity, Heap (formally part of the group Frou Frou) is a British singer/songwriter who uses a variety of social network channels to connect with a multitude of fans. Between her personal website (which offers incredible transparency into her life and work), Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, she provides her fan base with frequent updates and access to a personal connection behind her creativity.

Heap is an accomplished collaborator and solo artist, as well as a Grammy Award winner. Her music has been featured on a number of movies and hit television shows, including Garden State, V for Vendetta, The O.C., CSI: Miami, Grey’s Anatomy, Heroes and more.

“The music industry has gone through intense turmoil over the past two years with traditional business models being ripped to shreds and new models giving artists more tools and opportunities than ever before to market and distribute their music themselves.” – No Borders, “Imogen Heap is Connecting with Your Fans”

The result of endless tweeting and an interest in fan input:
1. Twitter: More than 1,455,000 followers (the first Twitter-sourced blog)
2. Facebook: More than 332,000 fans
3. YouTube: More than 50 video blogs posted
(Other accounts: MySpace, Flickr, last.fm)

Example 3: Amanda Palmer

Palmer speaks to an even tighter niche of musical interests, but also enjoys success through social media involvement. One example of her communication with fans was fueled by a lonely Friday night and the aid of her Twitter community:

Palmer sent out a tweet about being a lonely loser at home on a Friday night. Her followers started joining in on her conversation and ended up creating a faux organization “The losers of Friday night on their computers.” When one member recommended the creation of a t-shirt, Palmer quickly responded, drew and uploaded an image of her sketch. Two hours and $11,000 later, she had sold more than 200 t-shirts and allowed her fans to be a part of a real conversation. The group even created its own Facebook group.

Because Palmer was listening to her audience, engaging them in conversation and willing to be authentic, she was able to capitalize on an impromptu marketing effort and expand her brand awareness. Hear more about Palmer’s Friday night success by watching her interview with David Meerman Scott.

From beginnings as a street performer in Harvard Square, to becoming half of The Dresden Dolls duo and a solo artist, Palmer has enjoyed a range of artistic success. Her quirky sense of style, candidness about her career and life, and commitment to being herself, has earned her an exceptionally loyal following.

Ways Palmer engages fans in authentic, two-way conversation:
1. Blog: Regularly updated
2. MySpace: More than 3,600,000 profile views
3. Facebook: More than 45,400 fans
4. Twitter: More than 413,000 followers
What brands do you know of that implement similar tactics to establish a social media presence, create a following and increase their dialogue with customers?

Dia Dalsky is an associate consultant at PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. Follow Dia on Twitter @DiaDalsky.

Stay updated: Subscribe to the PR 20/20 blog, check us out on Facebook or follow the team on Twitter.

Photo credit: Finding Josephine
Graduate's Guide to Preparing for a PR Career

By Dia Dalsky | Posted Apr 27, 2010 | 7 Comment(s) | Filed in: Public Relations
One year ago, I was a soon-to-be graduate of Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. With June quickly approaching, I was presented with two challenges:
1. Find an entry level PR job I liked, with an agency I could grow with.
2. Prepare myself for the actual activities I would need to perform at my job.
Not only would my class be entering into the worst economic recession since the 1980s, but we also needed to adapt to an industry that had evolved more in the past 10 years than it had in the past century.

Most students I graduated with accepted the fact that a majority of skills and training needed for our first job would be learned at our first job. This situation was not unique to my college, but due to the traditionally static structure of academia. By the time new concepts and technologies are accepted, textbooks are rewritten, and courses are updated or completely restructured, the industry and the required skills have already moved forward greatly.

This rapidly increasing disconnect between traditional PR and marketing and today’s industry can mean the world of difference to a collegiate about to enter the job force. So how do you prepare yourself to be a next generation PR pro and bring real value to an agency? (Hint: it isn’t a resume padded with club involvement and an inflated GPA)

After one year of experience at PR 20/20, I can offer five tips and free tools that I believe can be extremely valuable to someone in that same position today.

1. Monitor Industry News

Stay up-to-date on industry news, conversations and the leading influencers of change by reading and subscribing to relevant blogs, news feeds and hot topics. Some good follows include Todd Defren’s PR Squared, Mark Schaefer’s {grow} and Rohit Bhargava’s Influential Marketing Blog. Use the following tools to help you organize the blogs you read:

Netvibes

Create a free Netvibes dashboard to monitor and organize the blogs, news and social media sites you follow.

Start by signing up for an account and begin searching for content that interests you, or go directly to a blog or news site and retrieve the RSS feed. Feeds update automatically, which simplifies the process of going to each source separately or receiving multiple email updates. You can then sort the content into categories or groups and log into one, centralized location to receive your daily updates.

Google Reader

Similar to Netvibes, Google offers members its own online aggregator to streamline the collection of content you monitor with Google Reader. You can organize blogs, news and the people you follow, as well as share link-worthy content with your followers, track trends and create personal notes.

Google Alerts

Another way to receive regular news and industry updates is by setting up Google Alerts to automatically email you hyperlinks for content posted to the web. Alerts are set up by identifying keywords you want to monitor, such as “public relations,” “inbound marketing,” or “entry level pr job,” and setting the frequency of notification, either real-time, daily or weekly. Each email update is broken down into News, Blogs and Web Alerts.

Also create Google Alerts for your own name and the agencies/companies you’re interested in working for. This will help you be conscious of your online brand, and the brands you are seeking employment with.

2. Actively Network

Create a strong personal brand online by conducting yourself professionally on social networking sites and participating in relevant industry conversations. This will help you find agencies and professionals to connect with. Be sure to make these connections and continue engaging with companies even after you have interviewed.

If you are interested in a particular niche, such as sport marketing or non-profits, you should also look to expand your network for groups relating to these areas.

Twitter

Follow the authors of blogs you read, agencies or companies you want to connect with, and other professionals you know. If you’re not sure who to follow, start by using Twitter Search to look for people talking about topics that interest you. Consider joining discussions such as #prstudchat.

Make sure your tweets are professional and relevant. Potential employers will likely scan your profile and look into the content you are creating and sharing with your network. Don’t be afraid to share your personality, but understand that professionals are more likely to follow someone sharing link-worthy information than someone detailing menial day-to-day events.

Facebook

Before you start professionally networking, be conscious of your Facebook privacy settings and clean up your profile, photos and wall posts to be presentable. Facebook offers an advantage over Twitter, by providing you with more space to contribute your own comments on articles and resources you want to share with your network. After you have completed these activities, connect with the business pages of companies you are seeking employment with.

LinkedIn

Upload information about your education and professional experience to your LinkedIn profile, which serves as an online resume that can be continuously updated and shared. This is a great link to include in your email signature and printed resume or business cards.

Under profile settings, you can link your Twitter account to into your LinkedIn updates. If all of the information you tweet is relevant to your LinkedIn audience you can select all tweets be updated, however, I would recommend selectively updating, which will ensure the tweets shared on LinkedIn are highly targeted and relevant to professional networking.

LinkedIn applications also offer additional functionality to showcase yourself professionally, such as Blog Link, Events and Reading List by Amazon. Lastly, joining relevant groups can help you make connections with professionals in the industry, or your particular market of interest.

Comment on blogs you follow

To develop a relationship and establish yourself with influencers, you must contribute to the conversation. Whether you have your own blog or not, you can still comment on other bloggers’ posts. Add some additional thoughts, thank them for the valuable resource or inquire about a related topic that wasn’t considered within the post. Bloggers won’t know you are reading their material unless you let them know who you are.

3. Write and Publish Content

To truly be a leader and active contributor to the industry conversation, you must create original content. There is no limitation to the content you create, but here are a few ideas to get started:

Blog

Write about industry news and topics being discussed by other professionals. Link to their content, expand upon their ideas and do some analysis of your own. Look to timely events and news, online tools and resources or the projects and information you are exposed to at your own university. Or, write about a topic you are passionate about, but do it well.

College papers/projects

When you are given assignments in school, try to select topics that could be of use to you as a writing sample. Consider what types of writing would be useful on an informational interview, and think ahead to build out your portfolio pieces.

Account activity through an internship or student-run PR/marketing club

Nothing compares to real-life experience. If you’ve had an internship or are involved in your school’s PR or marketing club, be sure to keep track of account responsibilities, activities and projects you work on to share as professional experience. You can use these experiences and samples of work in interviews to refer to a particular situation you have faced and learned from.

4. Educate Yourself

Agencies and corporations that embrace blogging, social media, inbound marketing and online PR tactics are utilizing tools that support, monitor and report the measurement of integrated campaign activities. These are most likely tools you haven’t learned about in school. Become certified in the following programs to be able to contribute to and understand a business’ online marketing activities:

HubSpot’s Inbound Marketing University (IMU)

HubSpot offers a free marketing certification through 16 Internet marketing webinars taught by industry leaders, including Chris Brogan, David Meerman Scott, Lee Odden and Mack Collier.

IMU Webinars cover topics such as blogging, email marketing, lead nurturing campaigns and landing pages, search engine optimization, social media and website analytics. Learn more about IMU Classes.

Google AdWords

Ever wonder how Google determines which sponsored links appear above your organic search results? Businesses pay for these by launching highly targeted advertising campaigns through Google AdWords. Ads are specifically designed for target keyword searches and linked to website landing pages of a business’ related products/services.

To become qualified as an AdWords advertiser, complete the free education and training at the Google Adwords Learning Center. There are also several certification exams to complete the Individual Qualification process. (Because the exams are paid, you may consider completing the training and waiting to complete certification, in case your new employer is willing to reimburse you for the exam expenses. However, depending on the job you are seeking, this may be a worthwhile investment.) Google AdWords Certification Program.

Google Analytics

Google offers a free analytics program that provides in-depth tracking and analysis of website traffic and marketing activities, including Google AdWords campaigns and their associated landing pages. Analytics education is free and will enable you understand and think critically about analytics metrics.

5. Take Initiative

If the opportunity isn’t handed to you, find it for yourself. Don’t expect your college and your professors to provide you with everything you need to be successful. Without personal drive, you will miss out on opportunities other people are actively seeking. Here are some recommendations:

Request informational interviews with agencies or professionals that interest you.

Learn about their business, what tools they use and how you can best prepare yourself for the job market; this is a great networking opportunity and learning experience.

Attend industry events in your area.

Find groups in your area to become involved with. They will provide you with a chance to meet people face-to-face and practice personal communication and networking skills.

In Cleveland, we have organizations like the Cleveland Social Media Club that hold events for professionals in the area looking to learn and discuss topics related to social networks and how they can be used by businesses.

Welcome to the Real World

Don’t expect your college courses to equip you with all of the experiences and skills you need to land and succeed in your first job. Instead, prepare yourself for the workplace by finding out what your ideal career will expect from graduates and highly qualified job applicants, and make yourself into the ideal candidate.

To learn more about what an agency like PR 20/20 values, read some of our related blog posts:
Photo: Me and fellow PR major, Jarrell Cunningham

Dia Dalsky is an associate consultant at PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. Follow Dia on Twitter @DiaDalsky.

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Is Social Media for Everyone?

By Dia Dalsky | Posted Nov 12, 2009 | 7 Comment(s) | Filed in: Internet Marketing, Social Media
In 2009, companies and the consuming public have been focused on the idea of social media and its increasing role in the evolution of business marketing. Great examples are being set by brands like GM, Whole Foods and possibly your local news station, which have led to businesses in every industry scrambling to get connected.

Whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or the large amounts of social sharing tools (e.g. digg, delicious, StumbleUpon and so on), businesses are starting to realize if they aren’t participating, then they will be left behind.

So should every company start “tweeting” on Twitter, “friending” on Facebook and “connecting” through LinkedIn all at once? Not necessarily. But that’s what a lot of businesses are doing, and without a strategy to support their efforts, many don’t realize they could be hurting their brand more than they are helping it.

Social media is not as simple as creating profiles on each social network site and making random posts. It is about listening, learning, building relationships and bringing value to the communities relevant to your organization.

Social media, when connected to search marketing, content marketing and public relations strategies, can help your organization boost search engine rankings, build relationships, manage and strengthen your brand, and enhance your positioning as a thought-leader and innovator. In other words, you need a strategy.

So, is social media right for your business?

Here are six questions to consider before launching your brand onto the social Web.

1. Have you defined your brand?

Every organization must differentiate and define itself. For starters, answer the question, “Who are we (in 140 characters or less, and without meaningless jargon)?” Until you can define who you are, you can’t expect anyone else to understand. For instance, PR 20/20’s Twitter bio reads that we are an, “inbound marketing agency, PR firm. Focused on content marketing, PR, social media, search engine marketing.”

2. Do you know your audiences?

Every business must understand its audiences’ needs and clearly define its buyer personas. Discover where your audiences congregate online, and what types of communications and content they value. With this information, create and implement a strategic social media campaign that will reach and influence all audiences relevant to your business.

3. Have you established a content strategy that will deliver value?

When sharing content and participating in social media, the most important question to ask is, “What value can I bring?” Consider your organization’s knowledge and capabilities, as well as the needs and goals of your audiences, then publish things that matter. This will help your brand connect in meaningful and personal ways. Zappos.com’s CEO, Tony Hsieh, does an awesome job at delivering content to his followers on Twitter.

4. Do you know where your audiences are and how to connect with them?

Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook are the obvious starting points, but do your homework and discover where your audiences are congregating and connecting. Start by researching forums, blogs and niche social networks for opportunities to engage with your core audiences. Learn about where they want to receive information and how your business can bring value to their experience on the social Web.

5. Do you have the internal resources needed?

You can’t outsource social media participation. Like any relationship, it requires time and a commitment to authenticity. Make sure you have the people, permissions (i.e. management support) and policies in place within your organization to make social media an integral, ongoing part of your marketing and communications efforts.

6. Do you know how to measure and monitor your success?

The network platforms previously mentioned come equipped with the elements needed to track the growth of your success, or reach. Start by benchmarking your social network profiles (i.e. number of followers, fans, subscribers, comments and so on) and continually track these figures monthly. There are also a number of free tools you can employ, such as HubSpot Twitter Grader, Google Feedburner and more. It’s also important to connect these metrics to your business acquisition and retention goals.

One size does not fit all businesses

There are endless opportunities for organizations in social media. However, it’s not about doing it ALL, but rather it’s about deciding on the RIGHT combination for your business, and doing it WELL.

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Dia Dalsky is an associate consultant at PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. Follow Dia on Twitter @DiaDalsky.

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