You can't spell Promote without PR

When marketing in the 21^st century, one of the biggest problems many companies encounter is trying to stand out in an over saturated online community.  How do you get noticed?

In last week’s class, Zack Sandor-Kerr, Digital Strategist at H+K Strategies,

discussed the various ways in which businesses use Twitter’s “promoted tweets,” “promoted trends” and “promoted accounts” to expand and reach new audiences.

Here’s the breakdown:

Promoted Tweets: How it works is you establish a daily budget and pay each time someone clicks on your tweet.   With promoted tweets, you have the ability to reach past your current followers and select any previous tweet to promote in 2 different ways. The first option is to promote a tweet to similar users who you share followers. The second option is promote a tweet that uses specific keywords to target users who are searching on Twitter. The benefit is that it helps attract followers who share and amplify your messages and can help you connect with new clientele.

Promoted Trends: is an extension to the promoted tweets. According to Twitter “With promoted trends, users see time-, context-, and event-sensitive trends promoted by our advertising partners.  Users interact with Promoted Trends the same way they interact with any other Trending Topic. They are able to click on a Promoted Trend to view all Tweets containing the trending #hashtag or trend terms. They are also able to Tweet about the Promoted Trend by including the terms in their Tweets. The only real difference is that a Promoted Trend is purchased by an advertiser and clearly marked as being promoted.”

The major difference between promoted tweet and trend is it's price tag. According to the Wall Street Journal, the hefty charge of a promoted trend could cost a company up to $120,000 per day.

Promoted account: is featured in search results and within the “Who To Follow” section, where Twitter identifies and recommends similar followers to help users discover new content and people.

Twitter promotions are one of the most important social media tools when marketing and advertising your business. As a platform of communication, it creates an open dialogue between company and consumer, and is an important utility to promote brands, offers and news. From a PR perspective it’s an amazing tool connect your business with its public. However, it is an extremely costly tool that many businesses cannot afford. 

As a PR practioner I think finding a way to utilize promotions can only have a positive impact on your business. It not only connects you to a large audience, but also helps control and steer conversations and dialogue online.

Check in or Code out

This week we were asked to investigate foursquare and QR codes as social media platforms and give insight into the single biggest learning.

Here’s the breakdown:

Foursquare is an app that helps you share, track and save locations you habituate by “checking in.” When tracking all your locations about town, foursquare will recommend certain venues i.e stores, coffee shops or restaurants based on your previous recommendations. This platform also let’s your friends see where you have visited and review your recommendations. Users can earn badges, special promotions and discounts based on how frequently they visit specific venues. According to Foursquare.com, as of September 2012 over 25 million users are “checking in” everyday, worldwide.

I have never been a fan of foursquare prior to this week. I couldn’t understand the purpose of letting the whole world know where I was every moment of the day.  After some timely research and “checking in,“ I can see the advantages for small business owners establishing an online community while using this app.  What it comes down to is free advertising. Get your most loyal customers to convince their friends that checking into your business is worth their time. The incentive program is no different then a stamp card for patrons. 

QR barcodes is a matrix code readable by scanners on your smartphone through your camera. Thus you can upload any information to your phone just by scanning a products QR code.

The first time I came across a QR barcode, I was completely dumbfounded. While visiting the Tim Burton Exhibit at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, the curator informed me that if I had a smartphone, I could access the same information as the $5 audio tour, only for free. With just a click of a button, I could scan the code next to each individual artwork and the audible information would download onto my phone to listen at my own discretion.  Imagine having access to all that information just by scanning a tiny barcode? Two years later, I’m daily user of my own personal QR code. When ordering my morning coffee, a lovely barista at Dark Horse Espresso scans my barcode and knows that I only use lactose free milk in my beverage. As well, every time it’s scanned, I collect points. Since the beginning of August I’ve earned 227 points (don’t judge, I’m a caffeine addict.)

I think the major difference between foursquare and QR barcodes is that one application focus’ more on advertising vs. providing immediate access to information. Both have their perks and rewards but are equally important to businesses looking to establish an online social identity.

Here we go...

I’m about to jump head first into the blogging world and hope that one day, these words won’t come to bite me in the butt. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about being judged and harshly criticized by the work I put out here. I mean we’ve all seen Youtube comments…things can get pretty cruel out here on the web.

I should start off by saying that I only use social media as a way to keep in touch with friends and family. More truthfully, I’ve sometimes used “likes” and “retweets” as a way of validating how funny I think I am. Deep down inside I always knew there was more to social media platforms then a bunch of shmo’s logging online to see how popular they are. So that’s why I’m here, to learn the other side of social media. In many ways I feel like Jasmine in Aladdin, discovering a whole new world I never knew existed.  Until I can truly understand how to use social communication as a tool to my advantage, I won’t be able to further my career as a PR practitioner, or a Disney princess.

Social media is a communication tool that serves a very important purpose in today’s business. It helps you connect with potential clients, like minded businesses and consumers. Particularly in PR, it provides a tool to help answer these important questions: What are people saying about my business? Who are having these discussions? How are these discussions impacting my corporation and it’s clients? This form of communication is keeping us all connected in a faster and more comprehensive way.

I’m hoping that come December, I can be a pro at using all forms of communication platforms and establish an online identity through social media to further my career in PR. I’m also hoping that this course will help me find more up to date references other then Disney films made in 1992.