Well, the Pew Internet & American Life Project released a new study today that backs me up.

In summary, this report, Older Adults and Social Media, finds:

• Social networking use among internet users ages 50 and older has nearly doubled—from 22% to 42% over the past year.
• Half (47%) of internet users ages 50-64 and one in four (26%) users age 65 and older now use social networking sites.
• One in ten (11%) online adults ages 50-64 and one in twenty (5%) online adults ages 65 and older now say they use Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves or see updates about others.
• Email and online news are still more appealing to older users, but social media sites attract many repeat visitors.

The important thing to realize is that email remains king with this older demographic.  Overall, 92% of those ages 50-64 and 89% of those ages 65 and older send or read email and more than half of each group exchanges email messages on a typical day.

What this means is that a balanced communications program is vital to reaching older Americans — one that relies on email as a foundation, but doesn’t ignore social networking sites.

The amount of older adults on these sites has absolutely exploded during the past 12 months — and will no doubt continue to do so in the months and weeks to come.  Are you tailoring your communications plan to reach this demographic?

Just take a look at comScore’s latest online video viewership report for July:

• Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube, ranked as the top online video content property with 143.2 million unique viewers, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 55.1 million viewers.
• Facebook jumped one position to capture the #3 spot with 46.6 million viewers.
• Of the 178 million U.S. Internet users who watched online video content during the month, also viewed nearly 3.6 billion video ads in July.
• Leading the pack with 783 million ad impressions was Hulu.
• Hulu was followed closely behind by the Tremor Media Video Network at 451.8 million, and the Brightroll Video Network at 248.4 million ad impressions.
• Online video ads reached 27 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 44.5 times during the month.

Online video is single-handedly changing how we get our news, weather, favorite shows, and entertainment. The advertising potential is enormous, and the impact is bigger still.

With 89% of Internet users consuming online video, it is essential to incorporate this valuable tool in your modern communications arsenal.

Similarly, an online marketing strategy cannot be built on Twitter or Facebook alone because they — like a hammer — are just tools. Without a content strategy, those tools don’t mean much.

For many, whether a small start up or a big brand their first venture into social media is the decision to create a Facebook page. They upload the company logo, post a few office photos, and write a status update from time to time.

Most of these same companies would not undertake any other marketing on a whim, but carefully craft their campaigns to target specific markets and plan their marketing strategies to the smallest detail. No company would want their marketing activities to be based on luck alone.

Creating and managing a page in such a cavalier manner, in hopes of becoming a hit on Facebook, is as likely to be effective as say standing at the side of the freeway and yelling to rush hour traffic about your products over the drone of passing cars. No one wants to listen, and if they did, they couldn’t hear you anyway.

In creating and managing an effective social media campaign you should identify your target audience and the platforms they already use. Demographic information is available for most of the major social networks, so there is really no reason not to target your social media activities to your audience.

If you plan how your grow your online following steadily by engaging with the right people, on the right platform, with the right content, you are more likely to get predictable results. Your social media strategy must detail your marketing aims and objectives. If you don’t have a social media strategy, how will you know when you have achieved your goals?

The first step of creating an effective social media strategy is to take an inventory of your organization’s content. It’s as simple as what you produce, or could be producing, on a regular basis. Things like:

• The obvious: Company announcements, press releases, marketing materials, company information.
• Events: Any special events that either your organization is putting on or that is related to your organization, that you can “live tweet”.
• News of the day: Comment on news of the day that is relevant to your organization or your mission.
• Your experts: Who are your organization’s experts and what they have to say about your mission, recent events, or news and world events.
• Human interest: Don’t overlook content about employees weddings, birth announcements, anniversaries, and other accomplishments. Your employees stories puts a human face on your company or organization.

Once you have considered and decided upon your content the next step is to decide what platform would be most effective for your company or organization. Click here to read our previous post in which we provide specific examples of how some companies and individuals are doing just that.

As your organization looks to delve into the world of social media take a good look at your overall content strategy. Without a solid message, the medium doesn’t really matter.

A new report from 360i shows that most brands are coming up short in their attempts to utilize Twitter as a marketing tool.  But let’s be clear — it’s the brand’s use (or abuse) of the medium, rather than the medium itself, that is holding them back.

According to 360i, after a six month study, Twitter users barely know or care about brand presence on Twitter.  When brands tweet and try to communicate with their followers, it’s mostly a one-way conversation.  The study finds that only 1% of consumers who mention a brand in a tweet are in a conversation with that brand. The large majority of users’ tweets are on a personal level.  They tweet about seemingly mundane details of their lives, such as meals, plans, and get-togethers.  360i reports that 94% of tweets are personal, with 85% being original content that is not re-tweeted.  Instead of truly engaging and trying to become of this personal conversation, most brands have resorted using Twitter as a type of press release service.

“There is still a misperception that if brands show up, people will listen to them, kind of like Facebook a few years ago,” 360i Senior-VP Sarah Hofstetter told Advertising Age. “Twitter can be used as a promotional RSS feed, but that’s not going to establish a relationship with anybody.”

Modern communications isn’t simply about “eyeballs” anymore — it’s about engagement.  And those brands that choose to use Twitter as a press release service are simply living in the past.

On the other hands, those brands that are engaging best are seeing the true benefits of this communications tool.

What’s the best way for them to engage?  We’re fond of comparing Twitter to an “online cocktail reception.”

Why?  Have you ever walked into a cocktail party where you don’t know anybody and everybody seems to be already be engaged in familiar conversation?

What do you do?  Do you walk up to a stranger and start reciting your company’s latest press release?  Of course not.  You usually break into a conversation by making some small talk. Maybe you mention the weather, or the type of drink you’re consuming, or something about the drapes in the restaurant — let’s face it, small talk can be mundane.

But my point is that there are all these conversations going on, and you use some mundane, sometimes personal, detail to strike up conversation. Then that personal conversation may lead to a discussion of business, then an exchange of business cards, then perhaps a business deal.

So it goes with Twitter. Most “tweets” are people talking about what they’re watching on TV, or the kind of work day they had, or what food they’re cooking for dinner, or what they’re doing on their vacation. Those tweets can lead to conversations with other people who have the same interests. Sometimes — just like the cocktail party — that can lead to business.

So is Twitter merely a networking tool? Yes, but it’s much more.

• Frank Eliason was a customer service manager at Comcast who, in 2008, started Comcast’s first Twitter account: @comcastcares. A few years later, Frank was managing a full team of customer service “tweeters” and he tells us that (as of January 21, 2010) his team serviced a total of 160,000 people via social networking sites — more than 50,000 of them on Twitter. That’s just since February 2008. Frank’s team monitors Twitter to find out who is talking (or complaining) about Comcast and reaches out to them to help solve their problems. They also receive a good number of service requests by people who now know they will receive quick replies from Frank’s team via Twitter.

• Similar to Comcast, major brands monitor Twitter to find out who is a) Tweeting about their brands, b) Saying good things about their brands, and c) Who is complaining or “trashing” their brands. For example, according to a recent Forbes article (Daniel Adler, “Twenty-One Twitter Tips,” Forbes, July 31, 2009), there were 3.37 million mentions of “Starbucks” through May 2009. Starbucks follows those mentions like a hawk — using it as a real-time focus group.

• In Illinois, we have a fast food chain called “Culver’s” that has great burgers and custard. The local Culver’s franchise in my town has its own Twitter account (@culvers177) and provides daily tweets of their “flavor of the day.” Many times, these tweets are tempting enough to lure me and my family for dinner (or dessert.)

• In Los Angeles, the nightclub crowd is familiar with the “Kogi BBQ” mobile trucks that park outside the clubs late at night and sell Mexican tacos stuffed with Korean-style meat. The company has 52,000 Twitter followers and uses Twitter to send out alerts on the locations of its four mobile trucks. How successful is this marketing effort? The trucks regularly draw crowds in the hundreds — and they have been featured in publications ranging from the Los Angeles Times to the Wall Street Journal.

• K9Cuisine.com is an online purveyor of premium and organic dog food. They have a Twitter account managed by the company founder and president, Anthony Holloway (@k9cuisine). Anthony uses Twitter as a customer service tool — but also as a way to help answer questions and provide tips and advice to pet owners. Although they don’t overtly use it as a sales tool, Anthony tells us that Twitter is the third-largest source of traffic to the company Web site — very warm leads that could lead to hot sales.

So, you see, different organizations are using Twitter in different ways to communicate with their unique audiences.

The new report from 360i report may seem negative on Twitter on the surface.  But further reading shows that it’s the message, not the medium, that makes the difference between success and failure.

Most small businesses return to traditional advertising, such as the newspaper, Yellow Pages, and radio. But some businesses have forsaken these advertising staples all together, and created successful marketing campaigns online — for far less money.

Facebook and Twitter present a unique opportunity for small business owners. There are currently more than 1 million small business profiles on Facebook which reach out to millions of customers everyday.

Businesses with fewer than five employees “see Facebook and others as a way to reach targeted consumers” while saving marketing expenditures during a rough economy, says Darren Waddell, vice president of marketing at MerchantCircle.

According to the MerchantCircle report, “More than half of the nearly 10,000 respondents to the survey say they plan to create or maintain a social-networking presence in the next three months.”

Some businesses have found a degree of success with their online exposure.

John Swartz writes in USA Today, “Online sales at Southern Jewlz have doubled in six months since recent college grad Randa Yezak, 23, started using Twitter and e-commerce software. Her 2-year-old business also has 8,000 fans on Facebook.”

As with any success stories, we must add the tag “results are not typical.” HipChat, a group chat and messaging service for companies, reports that more than 90% of the 2,000 small businesses it works with use social media, but few have seen a business benefit.

Fact is, Facebook and Twitter offer a way to effectively communicate with consumers interested specifically in your product or services. Small businesses are the only way to steer our economy back on track, and a majority of them are now using social networking to do so.

Will you join them?

Foursquare is a social networking platform that allows its users to “check-in” to virtually everything from restaurants to airports via their smart phone and 3G connection. Users can add tips and reviews, or even caution their friends away from an undesirable experience. When you check in, it is linked to Facebook and Twitter, so your friends can see where you are and possibly join you if in the area.

The ability to see your friends recent check-ins opens up a whole new realm of social networking. This new wave of “exploration networking” is allowing businesses to get valuable exposure to consumers who are on the go. Companies are even able to promote specials, coupons, or other marketing strategies directly to Foursquare users.

Click here to see how Foursquare worked for the Charleston Fine Art Dealers Association’s Palette and Palate Stroll, and how it helped create a successful PR campaign.

Should Foursquare join Facebook and Twitter as part of your companies social media communications strategy? We think so.

As more and more users depend on this style of social network to virtually interact with businesses around their area, the potential for promotion and exposure is priceless. So put your business on the map and reap the rewards of the Foursquare revolution.

As this new survey from eMarketer shows, companies are getting the picture (or, um, video) and starting to “throw their weight” behind online video.

How are they using it?

For one thing, heeding our call that it’s more about “engagement than eyeballs,” they’re moving beyond video advertising and into the realm of two-way dialog with consumers.

They’re also utilizing video for product demo’s, video podcasts, and comedic shorts to push their products. It seems this new strategy is producing results.

According to the new eMarketer survey, “46% of US multichannel retailers picked video” as the most important feature of their site.  Additionally, “42.3% of respondents said they planned to add video capability in the next year.”

Online video has become a staple of companies marketing budgets — and for good reason.

“Creating an online video presence helps marketers facilitate an ongoing dialogue with consumers, boost brand equity, lure prospective customers and solidify support among brand loyalists,” eMarketer’s Tobi Elkin noted in the report “Consumer Packaged Goods Sector Taps into Online Video.”

With today’s internet speeds and the ever expanding 3G wireless market, consumers expect to see interactive features like online video.

In order to stay at the forefront of the marketplace, companies must include online video for future success.

So, is it necessary — or just a case of “shiny new object” syndrome?

Well, it depends.

If you’re a national campaign with a robust online program — then an iPhone app may be right for you.

If you’re a state and local campaign, however, you really need to do a cost-benefit analysis and determine how it would fit into your overall communications strategy.

First, according to this survey, an estimated 42% of Americans use smartphones, with only 3% using iPhones.  That survey is from January, and with the new release of the iPhone 4, that number may have grown a bit — but Android-based phones have actually been growing at a faster rate than iPhones.

So, in other words:  if you’re a local campaign, and only 3% of your total potential universe is using iPhones, minus those who are politically active, minus those who are your actual targeted base — the costs may outweigh the benefits of building an app that nobody will use.

Yes, you can build apps for both the Android and iPhone — but if you are a state or local campaign, your total universe (out of the 42% of smartphone users) is still relatively small.

There are a number of political organizations here in Illinois who have iPhone apps.  A few of them are quite good.  But the amount of users they will attract pale in comparison to if those same organizations actually had a strong online campaign (which they do not.)

If you do have a robust online program with a good, core group of online activists who you would like to further empower with a mobile app — by all means go ahead.

But remember — being able to brag about your nice, shiny app is not nearly as important as having an online program that actually engages a network of voters who will make the difference on Election Day.

– From Betty White’s recent Saturday Night Live Monologue

Betty White’s line (above) got a lot of laughs during her recent SNL monologue.  Of course, she owed her very appearance to a Facebook campaign that garnered thousands of supporters pushing for her to host the Saturday night sketch comedy show.

That’s not to say we don’t think she really believed what she said.  There certainly are a lot of people out there who don’t “get” Facebook.

But just because Betty doesn’t get it — doesn’t mean that all senior citizens feel the same way.

In fact, new survey results from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) shed some light on the social media habits of American seniors.

Mashable reports:

The AARP spent some time last month interviewing 1,360 adults over the phone. They found that more than a quarter (27%) of Americans age 50 and older use social networks. Facebook is the most popular — in fact, 23% of all survey respondents said they preferred it to sites such as MySpace,  LinkedIn and Twitter.

When it comes to general web surfing, 49% of respondents between the ages of 50 and 64 and 40% of all adults age 50 and older, said they consider themselves extremely or very comfortable using the Internet. In other words, we’re very close to seeing the majority of senior citizens embracing the web as a content medium and communication tool.

As for discovery of social services, however, it seems the young folks are to blame for spreading word of Facebook to more venerable generations. Around 47% of AARP’s respondents had heard of social networking from a family member other than their spouse, and of those, 70% were tipped off by a child or grandchild.

The overwhelming majority of these boomers are using the social web — at least to some degree — to keep in touch with family members. Almost three quarters of AARP’s survey group said they’re connected online to relatives other than children and grandchildren, 62% are connected to their children, and 36% are connected to grandchildren, as well.

So, in short, don’t believe the social media naysayers who claim that it’s “just for kids.”  Because it just isn’t true.

These online tools are becoming part of our modern communications fabric.  Actually, they are fast becoming THE modern communications fabric.

Does your company, organization, or campaign have a content strategy to engage with these diverse audiences?

We’ve all heard about the “Six Degrees of Separation” — the theory, originated by Stanley Milgram, that any two people on earth are connected to each other by a maximum of six interrelated contacts.

But does Twitter actually provide a closer network?  A mere four degrees of separation?

According to a new study by researchers at the Department of Computer Science at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, that may be the case.  Their study shows that, despite the fact that only 22.1% of links on Twitter are reciprocal, the average path length between users is 4.1%.

That means that your “Re-tweets” may have more global reach than previously thought!

The research shows a number of interesting findings, the toplines of which you can view at the SlideShare presentation below:

I wanted to share this article from the latest issue of The Public Relations Strategist about how PR professionals can adapt and score successes in this new media environment.

My favorite point:

“Train your company and your clients to stop thinking of social media as a ‘strategy.’”

You need a content and communications strategy — of which so-called “social media” is one of the tools at your disposal.

Click here to read the full article.

The following post is taken from our new, free booklet, The Press Release is Dead: Using New Communications Tools to Build your Business, Non-Profit or Campaign.

Have you ever walked into a cocktail party full of people you don’t know and cringed at the mere thought that you’d have to break into one of the many conversations going on around the room?

Getting started on Twitter can be the same way.

There are millions of conversations going on at once. Who do you follow? Who’s going to follow you? Why are people you don’t know suddenly following you?

What’s the point of Twitter?

Well — the cocktail party analogy is perfect, because Twitter is the ultimate conversation tool.

Let’s take the analogy a bit further …

When you walk into the cocktail party, you usually break into a conversation by making some small talk. Maybe you mention the weather, or the type of drink you’re consuming, or something about the drapes in the restaurant — let’s face it, small talk can be mundane.

But my point is that there are all these conversations going on, and you use some mundane, sometimes personal, detail to strike up conversation. Then that personal conversation may lead to a discussion of business, then an exchange of business cards, then perhaps a business deal.

So it goes with Twitter. Most “tweets” are people talking about what they’re watching on TV, or the kind of work day they had, or what food they’re cooking for dinner, or what they’re doing on their vacation. Those tweets can lead to conversations with other people who have the same interests. Sometimes — just like the cocktail party — that can lead to business.

So is Twitter merely a networking tool? Yes, but it’s much more.

Frank Eliason was a customer service manager at Comcast who, in 2008, started Comcast’s first Twitter account: @comcastcares. Today, Frank manages a full team of customer service “tweeters” and he tells us that (as of January 21, 2010) his team has serviced a total of 160,000 people via social networking sites — more than 50,000 of them on Twitter. That’s just since February 2008. Frank’s team monitors Twitter to find out who is talking (or complaining) about Comcast and reaches out to them to help solve their problems. They also receive a good number of service requests by people who now know they will receive quick replies from Frank’s team via Twitter.

Similar to Comcast, major brands monitor Twitter to find out who is a) Tweeting about their brands, b) Saying good things about their brands, and c) Who is complaining or “trashing” their brands. For example, according to a recent Forbes articleDaniel Adler, “Twenty-One Twitter Tips,” Forbes, July 31, 2009. , there were 3.37 million mentions of “Starbucks” through May 2009. Starbucks follows those mentions like a hawk — using it as a real-time focus group.

In Illinois, we have a fast food chain called “Culver’s” that has great burgers and custard. The local Culver’s franchise in my town has its own Twitter account (@culvers177) and provides daily tweets of their “flavor of the day.” Many times, these tweets are tempting enough to lure me and my family for dinner (or dessert.)

In Los Angeles, the nightclub crowd is familiar with the “Kogi BBQ” mobile trucks that park outside the clubs late at night and sell Mexican tacos stuffed with Korean-style meat. The company has 52,000 Twitter followers and uses Twitter to send out alerts on the locations of its four mobile trucks. How successful is this marketing effort? The trucks regularly draw crowds in the hundreds — and they have been featured in publications ranging from the Los Angeles Times to the Wall Street Journal.

K9Cuisine.com (mentioned earlier in this booklet) is an online purveyor of premium and organic dog food. They have a Twitter account managed by the company founder and president, Anthony Holloway (@k9cuisine). Anthony uses Twitter as a customer service tool — but also as a way to help answer questions and provide tips and advice to pet owners. Although they don’t overtly use it as a sales tool, Anthony tells us that Twitter is the third-largest source of traffic to the company Web site — very warm leads that could lead to hot sales.

So, you see, different organizations are using Twitter in different ways to communicate with their unique audiences.

There are also a lot of people on Twitter using it to converse with like-minded people about life, politics, hobbies, sports, etc. This provides a huge marketing opportunity for any business looking to market to the more than 75 million consumers who have Twitter accounts.

So how do you get started?

First, go to http://www.Twitter.com and sign up for an account. For your Twitter name, try to pick something personal — not just your company name. For example, if your company name is AJAX Corporation, pick a name like FrankatAjax. Also — use your real picture (or a fun avatar) of yourself for your profile pic. Consumers like to feel like they’re talking to a real person — rather than somebody hiding behind a corporate name and logo.
Now, go to http://Search.Twitter.com. This is like a “Google” for Twitter. Let’s say you are an online purveyor of frozen beef and want to find everybody who is “tweeting” about steak right now. Type in “steak” and you’ll get the results of everybody who is “tweeted” about steak. Go ahead and follow these people. Most of them will follow you back and see your regular tweets — and perhaps become customers.
Are you a small storefront business and want to find people in your town who are on Twitter? Go back to http://Search.Twitter.com and click “Advanced Search” at the top of the page. This will take you to a page in which you can fill out a series of search options. You’ll be surprised at how many local people are tweeting. Follow them. They are potential customers and will most likely follow you back.

I want to caution you that Twitter — like any other communications tool — is not to be abused. Twitter is not a place to merely start robotically tweeting links to coupons or company announcements. You need to build a personal relationship with your Twitter followers.

Frank Eliason from Comcast (mentioned earlier) doesn’t merely tweet about Comcast service issues. He also tweets about what he’s doing during the day. He might tweet about putting his kids to bed, or a sporting event he’s watching on TV. It allows him to build that personal relationship and trust with his followers, which directly benefits Comcast’s customer service efforts.

And Anthony Holloway at K9Cuisine.com tells us:

“I think the most important insight is this is not a sales tool for K9 Cuisine. We never pimp coupons or specials. It is a branding tool and an excellent form of two way communication. The real beauty is the transparency. Anyone can see how we handle problems or respond to customer feedback. It makes helping people very easy.

The benefits are tied to the tips and insights in a way. This really helps us raise the profile of a small company. I have also made some incredible contacts. I regularly converse with journalist from major media outlets and influencers in the pet food industry. Our new team of bloggers are all professionals. They all came from Twitter contacts. They are now cheerleaders for K9 Cuisine. There would no economical way for to have this reach otherwise. It is completely opt in and generally followers welcome we I have to say.”

Transparency. Cheerleaders. Opt-in subscribers.

Are you starting to get the idea of the benefits of Twitter?

The possibilities and uses of Twitter are endless, and companies are finding new uses every day.

If we had to sum our advice on how to get started, we’d say:

Sign up.
Find out who’s talking about your industry, brand or product.
Join the conversation.

The following post is taken from our new, free booklet, The Press Release is Dead: Using New Communications Tools to Build your Business, Non-Profit or Campaign.

When we use the terms “social media” or “social networking” most people immediately think of Facebook or Twitter or MySpace.

They rarely think of email.

But the truth is that email is a social networking tool. It is the largest such tool — and the oldest.

As noted Web strategiest Jeremiah Owyang explains on his blog:

Well if you agree that Facebook, a private community of your friends is a social network, then so is email. They both have the same requirements 1) profiles (emails have signatures), 2) Ability to connect to each other (the act of emailing, and often responding, 3) Do something useful (email users share information, and sometimes collaborate). Next email still an important mode of communication, while we often complain about email overload, trust research indicates people still trust emails from friends — this will only continue.

Some our clients are focused on Facebook and Twitter because they’re the “hot” new tools. While we also utilize those tools (and address them later in this booklet), we always make email the bread-and-butter of any communications program we manage.

The sheer size of the email universe makes it so important. In that same blog post above, Owyang writes that Hotmail has an estimated “375 million active accounts worldwide” — and “Yahoo mail is reported at 280 million” active accounts. Combine those numbers with Gmail and countless other email providers, and the amount of active email users dwarfs that of any other online communications tool.

There are a number of free or almost-free email software tools on the market. These tools are great in that they allow any business (large or small) to utilize ready-to-go email templates to send nicely-design messaging to customers, fans and supporters at the click of a button.

To be sure, there are some drawbacks to these tools. For one thing, some of the templates they provide are limited (and some are downright ugly.) They also have limitations on the numbers of email contacts you can load into their system — limitations being either cost or actual amount of email addresses.

But the biggest drawback I’ve seen is that it puts a lethal weapon in the hands of business owners who may not be the best communicators.

What do I mean?

Well, as we stated earlier, the key to your successful online communications program is content. That includes well-written marketing materials that are proofread and in keeping with your company’s message.

I’ve seen plenty of emails come from businesses in which the author is obviously challenged by the English language.

Another problem is that of inexperienced marketers who are unable to resist the temptation to over-send to their email lists.

Which leads me to this important principle: please kill the “e-newsletter” — and do it quickly.

If you’re somebody who thinks a weekly e-newsletter (a compendium/rundown of organizational updates from the prior week) is the key to winning new customers, voters or supporters … please keep reading.

Let’s get something straight: we’re defining the word “e-newsletter” as a compendium of news. It is not the same thing as an direct email piece. (Just as a newsletter or brochure is not the same as a letter to a client, a friend, etc.)

An “e-newsletter” may have its place: namely to a core audience of people who specifically have opted-in to receive an e-newsletter from your organization.

But too many people use this weekly (usually on Friday) email as the cornerstone of their marketing efforts. They are usually way too long, stacked with photos and updates from the prior week and too heavy on graphics.

So — how should you run your email campaign?

The key to an effective email campaign (and any communications campaign, for that matter) is delivering unique, compelling content. Providing timely news of value that a new or existing customer can use.

Let’s say you’re a wine shop. A new customer comes in and buys a bottle of wine, and signs up for your email list.

Why is that customer signing up for your email list? To receive updates on a new wines, new specials, and upcoming events.

Make sure your first email to that new customer is a “thank you” that includes a very brief description of the kind of news they’ll be receiving in the future — and then a quick list of upcoming specials or events.

A new customer isn’t signing up for your email list to receive photos of of last week’s event, or a listing of company news.

How often should you send these emails? My rule of thumb is: whenever you have something compelling or valuable to say.

Don’t feel chained to the notion that you have to send out a weekly email on Friday afternoons. So, if you get a new shipment of Pinot Noir in on Tuesday morning and decide to run a 10% off special — send a short email with that update.

If, two days later, you decide to run a storewide discount on Chardonnay — send out a quick email.

Try not to abuse your email list, of course. But if your emails are providing value, your list will remain strong and your unsubscribes light.

Your customers (especially new ones) want value. Give them value.

After a customer has been on the email list for a while, you can provide them the option of signing up for your weekly “e-newsletter.” Let them know what will be included in that e-newsletter. Once they’ve been part of the “family” for a while, they may be more apt to receive photos of events, “insider” news, etc. But this should only go to a small segment.

Truth be told, we like to use Facebook to replace the e-newsletter. We use email for short, value-added updates. People can opt-in to Facebook and receive those photos, insider news pieces, etc. without having their email inboxes cluttered.

We’d like to reiterate: Emails should be short, with minimal graphics, a clear call to action, and timely, compelling content that is relevant to the lives of your recipients.

You should also be taking steps to learn more about your list. Who is opening your emails on a regular basis? Who is clicking on your emails? Where do these openers and “activists” reside? What types of emails are they opening?

Most credible email software programs allow you find out the answers to all of these questions. This isn’t just interesting information, it can allow you to segment your lists by location, demographics, issue area. This further allows you to target your lists to deliver content of maximum value to each person.

To sum this all up, we like to use the example of the 2008 Presidential campaign as a simple, high-profile case study. For much of the campaign, John McCain sent out a Friday afternoon “e-newsletter” compendium.

The newsletter (heavy on graphics) contained key speeches or announcements for the week, the candidate’s schedule and other news the campaign thought was important.

Obama? They focused on deploying short, timely action alerts with clear calls to action — whether it’s watching a video, emailing a friend, signing a petition or, yes, making a contribution. Every Obama that hit the email inbox had a clear goal. Minimal graphics (if any). No wasted news compendiums from the week. That’s what Web sites are for …

Needless to say, the McCain campaign killed their e-newsletters during the summer or fall of 2008. They realized it was worthless. It was a waste of resources and took up bandwidth that could be better spent on timely action emails.

A high profile case study, yes. But a good example of why you your organization should give your e-newsletters a quick death. Save your email recipients the energy used in hitting the delete button.

Concise. Short. Minimal graphics. Clear call-to-action.

This is Part III in a series of answers I provided to the Hilton Head-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce in advance of my keynote address at their February Hilton Head-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce Business Expo.  You can view Part One here and Part Two here. Following is my answer to the question, “How techno-savvy does one have to be to start a “social media” program?

The greatest thing about modern media tools is that you don’t have to be tech-savvy at all. Today’s tools are turnkey. To use Facebook or Twitter, all you need to know how to do is write concisely, and fill in a blank.

There is plenty of blogging software out there that allows you to choose from ready-made templates so you can start blogging in a matter of minutes. Modern email distribution software allows you to upload your contacts and start sending well-designed emails to your customers in no time.

I would argue that today’s customers’ thirst for compelling, regular content makes basic writing and communication skills more important than “tech” skills.

One thing we stress with our clients is that it’s not about the “tech” it’s about the content. The tech is the megaphone — but the message is all about you. And if you can’t deliver a message, the best megaphone in the world isn’t going to help.

I’m pleased to be the newest member of the Merc Strategy Group Team — and to building successful communications campaigns for our clients using a comprehensive array of modern media tools.

As someone who has worked in the world of “traditional media relations” over the past decade, I’ve been able to see firsthand how the climate has changed.

What happen to the good ol’ days (2006!) — when all we had to do was pitch reporters at newspapers and other so-called “mainstream media.”

In 2010, successful communications efforts require a much broader content effort and media push. These days, the term “public relations” has taken on new meaning, as modern tools do allow us to better communicate directly with … well, the public.

But using the broad array of tools means more than just setting up shop on Facebook or starting a Twitter account. That’s the easy part.

The real challenge (and opportunity) is to develop strategic content that not only broadcasts your message — but also engages your audiences in a two-way conversation that develops trust, allows you to generate word-of-mouth buzz about your brand, and, hopefully, results in “communities” being developed around your brand, message, organization, etc.

We realize that many of you may be skeptics. You may see Facebook, Twitter, and other modern tools as mere fads … or playthings for kids and college students.

But, like it or not, the face of media is changing.

According to a recent AdWeek/Harris survey, only two in five Americans read a newspaper almost every day. The newspaper and “traditional media” are on life support. Consumers are getting their news from a variety of online sources — including their networks on Twitter and Facebook.

Heck, reporters are even getting their stories ideas and conducting interviews on those platforms.

My point is this: ignore any of the new modern media tools at your own risk.

Consumers are still hungry for content, but they’re getting it in a wider variety of places. Go where the consumers are, even if that means taking your content campaign online.

With almost 300 million people on Facebook, tens of millions of daily tweets, and billions of video views on YouTube — it’s our responsibility to our clients to meet the challenge of engaging the public in as many of these places as possible.

After all, that’s what public relations is all about.

Over the past few years, a handful of political candidates have utilized online “money bombs” to raise significant sums of money for their campaigns.

The first high-profile money bomb occurred for 2008 Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul, who used the tactic to raise millions of dollars online for his insurgent campaign on a single day.

In recent weeks, Massachusetts Republican U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown also used the tool to raise $1 million online over a 24-hour period.

These high-profile (and, I might add, rare) case studies show the potential of successful online fundraising — but they also leave many candidates hungry to use their e-campaigns at ATM machines and wondering why their money bombs aren’t working. From our perspective, in the wake of these newsworthy successes, we get a flood of requests from our political clients to spearhead “money bombs” for their campagins.

It’s time for a reality check.

Ron Paul’s money bomb worked for several reasons. First, his base of supporters were outsider, independent activists with a “revolutionary” mindset. The Paul campaign had spent considerable time using an online content campaign to build relationships with these supporters. The money bomb itself wasn’t even a product of the Paul campaign — it was a truly grassroots weapon developed and promoted by his supporters. And — he was running for President, drawing upon a national base of potential donors.

Scott Brown’s money bomb worked because he is Republican running in a nationally-watched U.S. Senate special election for former Senator Ted Kennedy’s seat. As I write this (today is Election Day), he is ahead in the polls and his victory hold ramifications for the President’s policy agenda — and the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.

There are also a handful of libertarian-leaning Republican U.S. Senate candidates who have held successful money bombs by tapping into Ron Paul’s “Campaign for Liberty” support base. But keep in mind these are U.S. Senate candidates who are able to nationalize their campaigns.

The common theme with all of the above is: high-profile campaigns with national bases of support.

Take a look at the high-profile campaign of Governor-elect Bob McDonnell (R) of Virginia, who won last November. He had a very successful online campaign. But, as his online strategist Mindy Finn writes in this post, “82% of the contributions came in after August 1.”

Primaries (unless you’re a national, insurgent, libertarian-leaning candidate) are simply tough environments to raise significant money (online or otherwise.) Lower-ballot candidates should avoid raising online fundraising expectations too high — and focus on building a successful content campaign that communicates your key messages, recruits grassroots supporters, and helps turn out the vote.

The priority for your online campaign should not be to raise money. It should be a tool in your overall communications arsenal that can raise money under the right circumstances.

When a presidential candidate (Barack Obama) can generate 6 million YouTube views of just one of his speeches — it’s clear that the world is empowered to circumvent the media and take our message directly to the public.

So we read with great interest this morning this Bulldog Reporter interview with Jim McQueeny, who is, among other things, the U.S. Representative to the Council of the International Public Relations Association (and, importantly, a former reporter at the Newark Star-Ledger).

The article (and our shared philosophy) is best summed up in these excerpts:

“PR professionals who are organized could play the role that The New York Times or The Los Angeles Times played in the ’70s and ’80s—a paragon of all things virtuous and ethically professional,” McQueeny says. “One of the things I keep asking clients is, ‘Why should there be media intermediaries to define what you’re doing? If you’re the expert, why even use the media?’”

The world has become a mediaocracy—a democracy for media. This spells trouble for conventional media—and people should get with it. The time has come. At the Newark Star-Ledger, they’re now taking blog-oriented stories and putting them on the front page. The argument that online media is “news light,” or irresponsible, represents a lack of faith in people. You have to trust people’s abilities.

For good or for bad — we absolutely agree.

Nothing to say? Few people have something profound or even interesting to say all the time. Come to think of it, the smartest ones I know don’t really talk all that much but when they do everybody listens.  I don’t use Twitter (don’t like herds) but looking in from the outside I see a lot of trivia, screaming for attention, overt self-promotion, product-hawking and self-serving hype. I also haven’t used a typewriter in a while, but I do remember that it required at least some reflection before the result seemed fit for distribution.

Perhaps many corporations “don’t get” Twitter because there isn’t much to get.  Just because a large number of people engage in some faddish activity doesn’t mean that it’s meaningful or valuable.

This commenter went on to invoke the term “Astro Turfing” to describe Twitter, which is a complete distortion and/or honest misunderstanding of what the term “Astro Turfing” really is.

After looking at this commenter’s LinkedIn profile (which, in and of itself, could be described as a “self-promotion” tool), I found it interesting that he is a film producer and photographer.  I would think that, in order to serve his clients, he would readily adapt to new online tools that make it easier to reach a growing audience that numbers in the hundreds of millions.

Obviously, he has strong feelings about Twitter.  We’ve also heard his gripes thousands of times.

Are there some folks on Twitter who abuse it?  Of course.  Just like their are advertising firms who abuse their media, and direct mail firms who abuse theirs, and so on, and so on…

And is Twitter the end all/be all of great communications tools?  Of course not.  There are a number of great online communications tools — including LinkedIn, of which our commenter is a user.

For the record, we do agree that, like the typewriter, the successful use of any online tool calls for “self reflection” before distribution.  A) That was the point of our original post, and B) That is why, time and again, we have preached the importance of a content strategy that drives use of any/all communications tools.

But, the fact remains that real-time communications is here, whether we like it or not.  Rapid response, interactive communications, authenticity — this is how people are expecting to interact with organizations, corporations, brands, etc.

And Twitter is a real-time communications tool that is driving real results – in a variety of ways — for a number of users.

Just ask Comcast or Dell, companies that are using Twitter as a very effective customer service tool.  (By the way, as of June 2009, @delloutlet had surprised $2 million in sales via Twitter.)

Or activists who are using “live tweets” of previously closed government meetings to shed light and transparency on government.

Or local chambers of commerce who are using Twitter (and other online tools) to bypass the media to communicate important issues to their members.

Or the U.S. Air Force, which uses Twitter as an important, real-time rapid response media tool to respond to things that the media gets wrong.

Or the brave protesters in Iran who used Twitter to communicate with the outside world — because their government had shut down all media coverage.

Or the people caught in the massive May 2008 China earthquake who used Twitter to bypass their government’s media blockade.

The point is — Twitter is a tool. Just like a cell phone. Or a press release.  Or a typewriter.

But it’s a communications tool which, used in the right way, can be a powerful one.

If you “don’t get” a press release — it’s because you have nothing to say in it.  A colleague of mine has pointed out that the original press release was a hand-written letter sent via postal mail in 1906 by public relations pioneer Ivy Lee.

Yes, things change.  The way we communicate changes.  The press release of yesteryear is the 140-character tweet of today, or the status update of tomorrow, or the 30-second YouTube video of next week.

So, is Twitter just a fad? Perhaps. But right now, it’s just one of the many effective new online tools that allow organizations to reach key audiences and transforming the way people consume, digest and produce media.

So as I drove to Midway Airport earlier this week, I started actually paying attention to the billboards. And my thoughts immediate turned to Facebook ads.

Let me explain why …

From past experience, I know that billboards in the Chicago area can run anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000 per month, depending on location.  So, let’s use a nice round average of $10,000 per month.

Now, let’s say you’re a car dealer paying this amount every month to have a billboard on I-55 going into Chicago (there are a lot of new car ads.)  That’s $10,000 a month to advertise to a large audience — most of whom are not in the market for a new car and may not be for a while, and many of whom do not reside/shop in the region or live out-of-state.

Bottom line — that’s a lot of money for a shotgun approach at advertising to a lot of people who may never purchase your product.

So … what if these car dealerships started spending their money on Facebook ads instead of billboards?

I decided to run the numbers.

First, a quick Google search turned up the following demographics of the average purchaser of a new SUV:

• Young married couples (30-35).
• Medium family income $60,000
• Over 50% female buyers

So, I decided to enter those  demographics into the Facebook ad manager for the city of Joliet, IL (near where I live.)  The results should be of interest to any Joliet-area car dealer currently wasting $10,000 a month on highway billboards….

For a mere $50 a day, using the car buyer demographics listed above, a Joliet car dealer could expect to reach a total Facebook audience of about 119,000 women right in their city — and receive 66 click-thrus a day from that audience. That’s just over 2,000 click-thrus a day from a targeted demographic of local consumers who are actually choosing to view your new car ads — for a total cost of about $1,500 per month.

Of those 2,040 people who click on the ads, how many will actually purchase a car?  Hard to say — but are car dealers currently tracking the return on their $10,000 a month investment?  Hardly.

To me, it seems like a no-brainer.  And it doesn’t just apply to Facebook ads.

I used the above example during my presentation yesterday to the U.S. Chamber Regional Government Affairs Conference in San Francisco.  I used the car dealer example — but then asked the audience if they could do the same to target Facebook users by political preference, demographics and keywords to take action on specific policy issues.

The uses are endless, really.

Is this post meant as a cheap ad for Facebook?  No — new online tools such as these are popping up all the time.  We’ve used keyword ads on Google and MSN in the past with good success.

My point is that online tools are changing the way people consumer their news, information and, yes, ads.  We now have the ability to target ads as never before.

And, in a tough economy, that can be hte difference between $10,000 a month for billboards — or $1,500 a month on ads that might actually work.