Mike’s Points

My early professional roots (and even education) are in journalism, and it’s something I am passionate about for many reasons. For most of my career, however, I’ve been in public relations — including being active in social media marketing since 2005. So, when I get to combined both strong interests — it’s a FTW! type of moment.

Since March, I’ve worked with the Toledo (OH) Free Press as its social networking manager. Until then, I wrote regularly for the TFP beginning in September 2008. So when Editor in Chief Michael Miller asked me to write about how Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan dealt with the June 6, 2010, tornadoes and storms via social media, I said yes.

As pointed out in the story, social media plays a great role in connecting people and building a sense of community — even if only for a night of deadly storms.

Below is a repost of my story from the June 9 Toledo Free Press STAR. (As you can see, the version below does not include the reader-submitted photo, and I included links to tweets, Facebook updates and a YouTube account.)

Local residents get involved in storm coverage through Facebook, Twitter 

Written by Michael Driehorst | | news@toledofreepress.com

As deadly and damaging storms rolled through Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan into the morning of June 6, many people kept one eye on their TV, one eye on the skies — and their fingers on their keyboards.

In the age of free and easy access to online and mobile broadcasting, Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms enable everyday people to broadcast firsthand news just like traditional media have done for decades.

As the first severe weather started to hit the region, Traci Curth of Sylvania (@TraciLeigh) tweeted, “There goes the tornado siren. Headed to basement now. Will stay online …”

Around 1:30 a.m. June 6, J.M. Leong of Toledo (@Joys_Desk) tweeted, “Thunder and lightning now here in South Toledo; wind picked up about 20 minutes ago.”

At the same time, Maumee resident Becki Thompson (@bek1826) also was up, keeping an eye on the skies with this tweet: “This weather is getting really scary. Hope the tornados don’t hit our neighborhood.”

Toledo’s TV stations kept viewers updated throughout the early morning hours on the changing conditions and damage reports, with at least one weatherman, 13ABC’s Bill Spencer, citing “social networks” as sources for some of his reports.

As the Toledo-area media reported damages, they had plenty of help in spreading the word.

Toledo resident Nancy Hooven-Widman, who lists Delta as her hometown on Facebook, posted this Facebook update around 1 a.m.: “Guess the tornados hit Delta pretty good but, personally, we only saw lightning. No wind. No hail. Some rain. Round two is supposed to hit around 3 am.”

In addition to broadcasting, social media allows people to develop a sense of community in times of crisis and to try to help others. For example, as rescue and assistance crews started setting up across the region, many on Twitter and other platforms helped spread the word. Around 3:30 a.m. Sunday, a woman who goes by @BuckeyeLynn on Twitter sent this to her followers: “Delta Memorial Hall now shelter for storm victims in Delta, OH area. #tornado #storm #ohio”

Allen Mireles (@AllenMireles) of Waterville sent this call for help around 3:30 a.m. June 6: “One of my Facebook network posted that her uncle is missing and his house possibly leveled. Send her your prayers.”

As the dawn broke Sunday, many area residents who escaped major storm damage ventured out to survey their area, with many taking pictures and video.

Anthony Petronzi is a Flint resident attending Siena Heights University, Adrian, Mich. He posted this Facebook update: “Watching some videos from the tornado last night that hit Dundee. Touched down at 2:17 a.m., about 5 min after Adrian got hit with some 70 mph wind gusts. Dundee’s only like 20 min east of Adrian. It tore the roof off Cabelas.” Included with that update was video of storm damage in Dundee. That YouTube video was recorded by Skipa97.

Like many others, Toledoan Amanda Aldrich (@SweetPeaAmanda) volunteered to help in Lake Township. She sent this tweet Sunday morning: “I’m headed to Lake Township Fire Department today with @FFTToledo to help our friends with the #Toledo tornado devastation. Please join us.” Aldrich is the volunteer marketing director for Food for Thought.

Matt Book of Woodville (@MattBook) also volunteered his time Sunday and tweeted several pictures. Sunday evening, he published this tweet: “If you want to help this week, show up in the affected communities with a willing spirit, some gloves, and maybe a chainsaw. #tornado”

If you know of any fundraising or relief efforts to help those in Delta, Dundee, Lake Township or other areas that suffered damage, please post the information on the discussion page we’ve started on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ToledoFreePress?v=app_2373072738. If you have pictures or video from the weekend’s storm damage you wish to share with Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan, visit our Facebook page and upload them.

Michael Driehorst is the Social Networking Manager for the Toledo Free Press.

In the relatively short life of work-related and Internet-related software, and the even shorter life of social media, we’ve seen countless products rise to the top — only to be replaced a short time later by something else.

There was Word Perfect…now (and for a while) there’s Word.

There were WebRings…now there’s blogrolls.

We’ve come to accept that the latest new social media site and tool likely may not last long.

But, what about Facebook?

At the October 2009 Social Media Breakfast-Toledo, Curve Detroit’s Charlie Wollborg said that Facebook has staying power because of its “nesting” services. We post family photos and videos. We stay connected with friends and family. We’re not going to leave that behind.

However, I’ve always had a bit of concern over the business-related uses of Facebook. With its servers generally closed to Google, Yahoo!, Bing and other search engines, the only way I saw reaching members and gauging success was through apps and contests. And, I wasn’t alone in that view of Facebook being not business-friendly.

So I am glad to see several recent developments.

One is an opening up of Facebook to search, highlighted by Google’s recent announcements, via Inside Facebook:

This specifically means that any brand, famous individual or other Page owner who shares status updates or media like videos or photos from their Page will get this content showing up in real-time Google search results, which could increase SEO traffic for Facebook Pages.

You also can view AdAge’s story for details.

Combine the search engine news with a study about college students’ preference for Facebook, and you can easily see long-term success for Facebook.

Anderson suggests that this decrease in blogging and discussion-board visits may be because Facebook is quickly becoming more of a communications hub than a social networking site. He noted that its increasing variety of applications, functionality and flexibility enables it to deliver “one-stop shopping” in the otherwise fragmented digital space.

While Facebook may some day fade off into the sunset, it’s the shining star for now.

Point to Ponder: While Facebook may be here to stay and be tempting to use it for your business — with 350 million members worldwide — don’t rush to Facebook. Only start a Page, Group or Cause if enough of your customers and prospects are there, and if it suits your overall marketing objectives. Having a Facebook presence likely will benefit you, but just be sure it’s right for you and you know what to expect. Set objectives! I developed a simple how-to for creating a Facebook Page that you might find helpful.

Thank you.

-Mike

The great thing about social media marketing is how encompassing it can be, and how many parts of business it can touch. With all of its potential and many opportunities, a part of me still likes things to be simple.

So, in this 1:37 video, I try to sum up what social media marketing is. In four simple words.

Please have a look. I very much welcome your comments and if you agree or not — especially if not.

-Mike

(The post headline is supposed to be said in the voice of a newspaper boy selling newspapers at a downtown corner. Sarcastically, of course.)

Last month, I tweeted:

Creating in social media is easy. It’s the maintaining that requires know-how, patience & time.

And, for the most part, that’s true. Social media technologies are cheap at worst; free at best. While there is value in the know-how in the creation of social media activities like a blog, a Twitter account, etc., the process often is not complicated.

So, during the past few days, I created a four-step process to create a Facebook Page. I have a few more thoughts on the social media creation v maintenance issue at my latest Toledo Social Media Examiner article.

If you want to see and download my “How to Create a Facebook Page for Your Business / Organization,” you can click on over to the Toledo Social Media Examiner article or see the file at my DocStoc account.

Of course, any feedback on the how-to will definitely be appreciated. Anything left out? How can it be better?
-Mike

During the last couple days, I looked at using search — or better, social media monitoring — to help with blogger outreach, and search to help improve one’s Twitter community.

Today (yes, I know I’m very late with this post), let’s take a look at LinkedIn for building business prospects. This can be used for various objectives, but, in my example, I’m looking at it as a small agency or solo practitioner using it in business development.

LinkedIn has many great ways to find people within your community — professionally and/or geographically — that are open to business relationships. While LinkedIn offers many ways to search, you do business with people, not “companies,” right?

So, use the advanced people search: see right.

While there are many ways to filter your search, I want to point out a few key ways:

Keywords: You can search for prospects based on terms related to vertical industries you have experience in. Sure, you can filter by Industry, but using keywords allow you to refine your search around specific industry terms.

Geography: Looking to do business near you or in your favorite city? LinkedIn has a lot of flexibility to help you search by geography.

Open to potential: The bottom box highlighted is the real key: It shows you who on LinkedIn is interested in what. I have the “interested in: Consultants/contractors” option. There’s also:

• Potential employees
• Entrepreneurs
• Hiring managers
• Industry experts
• Deal-making contacts

And, the ever-there: all option.

Once you get your results, you can sort various ways, from relationship to you, recommendation, keywords and relevance.

So, what are your good LinkedIn tips?

Since business is all about relationships, be sure you are networking with local Social Media Breakfast groups, Social Media Clubs, PRSA, chamber groups, etc. And, be sure you check out LinkedIn to see who is closely connected to you — but you don’t yet know.

-Mike

If you’re interested in learning more about how you can use social media to build business — either having me talk with your group or help your social media marketing efforts — I would appreciate it if you’d contact me.