As millions worldwide watched a stoic, unfamiliar Tiger Woods admit wrongdoing and attempt to repair an image shattered by secrecy and sex, reactions on Twitter were as diverse and polarizing as Tiger’s mistresses. Much has been made about Tiger’s public relations response, or lack thereof, since the golf icon’s single car crash in November and stories of infidelity flooded the news.
Today, The Buyer Group was monitoring the public’s reaction online and has compiled a collection of Tweets. Feel free to leave your own thoughts in the comments section, or join the conversation online with @thebuyergroup or @mattinnes(more…)
Websites, blogs, texting and social media are serving as a viral PR and marketing platform for the recent Haiti disaster relief efforts.
The Red Cross texting campaign went viral through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, and donations for Haiti alone have already doubled the $4 million that was donated to all charities by mobile texts in all of 2009.
Think about how you can use your own website, blog or social media network to spread the word and make it easy for people to access ways to donate. If you haven’t already done so, think of these possibilities for your business to help Haiti.
Add Tweets to your Twitter broadcasts linking to an organization such as the Red Cross
Post info on your Facebook
Add a link to your email signature
Donate some time to helping locally
For example help a local Red Cross chapter. My sister’s restaurant La Gondola donated food to the Chicago Red Cross on Friday via @PrSarahEvans Tweet media push. Evans spent the day on location with the Red Cross Tweeting and pitching in to help spread the social good. You can too.
The Buyer Group will continue to donate time and a portion of sales to the Clinton Bush Haiti Relief Fund as well as ShopToEarth’s partner Charity Water.
What can you do? Get creative! Below is a list of some ways the media and social media are spreading the word:
1. The Huffington Post has an ongoing list of relief efforts and how you can get involved that it is going to continue updating. Check it out here.
2. CNN has compiled a list of organizations that will be providing support to the estimated 3 million people that have been affected by the earthquake.
3. Many people are engaging the Twitter community to raise awareness, as well as funds. Search “Haiti” and see what the latest updates are.
Unprecedented damage and destruction on the island nation of Haiti has been met by an extraordinary fund raising effort through the Internet and social media.
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Aid workers began updating followers on Facebook and Twitter within minutes of the 7.0 earthquake striking Port-au-Prince on January 12.
The Red Cross alone has raised over $8 million through their “Text Haiti” campaign that allows cell phone users to donate $10 via text message.
The Buyer Group has compiled a list of ways social media is contributing to the relief efforts in Haiti.
@RedCrosshas been providing updates and requests for assistance through Twitter. They announced yesterday that more than $35 million has already been donated in support of the people in Haiti.
@wyclef Wyclef Jean tweeted a message to his almost 1.4 million followers: “Please text ‘Yéle’ to 501501 to donate $5 to Yéle Haiti. Your money will help with relief efforts. They need our help.” His followers have responded by donating nearly $1 million since Tuesday.
@decappealis the Disasters Emergency Committee, a group that coordinates efforts by United Kingdom charities. The DEC has seen its followers double in Twitter following the quake and is expecting “astronomically higher” donations because of their increased Web presence.
@whitehouseEven President Obama is using social media as a fundraising source. The White House issued a video update Thursday afternoon and has designed a graphic for bloggers and Web sites to post on their pages.
@cbhaitifundAt the request of the White House, President Clinton and President Bush are also partnering in the efforts to help the Haitian people reclaim their country and rebuild their lives through the creation of the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.
Within moments of stepping into the Zappos headquarters in Las Vegas, it was easy to see the buzz CEO Tony Hsieh is generating by his company’s unique corporate culture is no fluke.
Employees ring cowbells and blow horns to greet guests, conference rooms are extravagantly themed, and Hsieh, one of the youngest and most successful CEOs out there, works from a cubicle that looks like it came straight out of a frat house. Sounds fun doesn’t it?
But the beauty of this zany atmosphere is there is so much more to this strategic culture than fun. It works. Period. See for yourself how Zappos turns happiness into powerful results.
Hsieh has proven that allowing employees to express themselves and in turn, truly connect with customers, fosters the perfect environment for relationships to develop.
As a public relations CEO for The Buyer Group, I look for ways to initiate and advance relationships on a day-to-day basis, and there is certainly a lesson to be learned from the way Zappos does business. Zappos and Hsieh proved to be my inspiration for 2010. I hope these pictures help bring a little fun to your New Year as well.
Lisa Buyer and Sarah Van Elzen interview with Greg Jarboe at SES Chicago. The question? What can Google give me for Christmas this year? The answer. Page one in search!
Let it snow for SEO at Chicago’s Search Engine Strategies conference where Lisa Buyer presents on the News Search SEO panel today with Newsforce CMO Dana Todd (@danatodd) and YouTube and Video Marketing author Greg Jarboe (@gregjarboe), moderated by Top Rank Blogger Lee Odden (@leeodden).
The power of search is changing the game for public relations and social media says Buyer, president and CEO of The Buyer Group, an interactive online PR and branding agency.
Presenting to Internet savvy CEOs, senior marketing executives and search engine optimization professionals, Buyer offers insight and examples of ways to use public relations techniques, social media channels and SEO strategies to leverage an increase in online visibility.
“Google’s roll out of Real Time Search yesterday is a big indicator of the direction in search and social media,” Buyer said. “News is happening in real time, and now Tweets as part of Google Search shrinks the press release down to 140 characters or less. Let’s not forget Facebook alone has added 50 million new users in the past two months to reach a total of more than 350 million.”
“Interactive media has taken the communications industry by storm in the past year,” Buyer said. “With this enormous growth comes a frequent and exciting shift in strategy and practice. Implementing SEO strategies into public relations is the latest movement as search engines begin to place increased importance on these messages.”
“Writing a killer press release and distributing promotional materials is not enough in today’s multimedia landscape,” Buyer said. “Journalists in today’s fast-paced environment are using search to find or add to stories, while consumers are finding their news via the search engine, alternative networks like YouTube, and even through social networks.”
For more information, join the conversation on Twitter by following @lisabuyer and @SESConf.
Every social media user puts such great importance on building a large following on Twitter or group of Fans on Facebook. It definitely is important to connect with as many people as possible in both public relations and social media, however the strength of your connection is dependent on how well you know your audience. Ask your followers questions about themselves. Gain a sense of who they are, and customize your responses to them based on their personal details.
It’s what every CEO should know, SES San Jose keynote speaker Charlene Li maps future of search and social media at SES San Jose 2009.
CEO’s, decision makers, marketers, and business owners need to break out of the bubble and explore social media. An authentic relationship with clients and prospects via social media can create essential benefits for any business.
Charlene Li, the Founder of Altimeter Group and co-author of Groundswell, gave her keynote speech at SES San Jose 2009 on the future of search. Charlene described the “pyramid,” outlining your target market, in particular, those who are sharing the content you provide. Charlene also said that companies need to start at the bottom and reach out to those who are consuming and absorbing your content. The first step is interacting with those consumers, which in turn builds a stronger foundation to market your product.
The video below shows portions of Li’s speech about CitySearch partnering with Facebook and also commentary from The Buyer Group’s Lisa Buyer and Pattie Simone, from Womenentrepreneur.com. Pattie suggests that companies are still silent about giving up control in the social media space when they should encouraging the use of this medium. Charlene confirms this saying that companies must create relationships in social media space in order to foster trust and authenticity. Lisa Buyer adds a client case study about how The Buyer Group has created relationships of value for their client using social media tools such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
The Buyer Group highly recommends the book Groundswell to all clients and prospects to get Li’s perspective and valuable insight on the impact social media and social networks for all businesses.
Starving for the latest stats, figures and social media rankings? So were we…
According to a study from Compete.com, Facebook has taken first place for unique visitors, which are now more than 68 million, as well as monthly visits, topping out at nearly 1.2 billion for the month of January.
MySpace is now the second most used social media site (58 million), with Twitter in distant third place (6 million). Even with the dramatic growth Twitter has experienced in the past year, its still lags behind social media giants Facebook and MySpace.
Looking for more detailed info about these sites?
A Nielsen study supports the finding of compete.com but ranks the social media outlets by total minutes spent on each site. Here, Facebook again edged out MySpace and this time, quite handily. Facebook users logged a combined 13.9 billion minutes on the site compared to the 5 billion minutes spent on MySpace. Twitter recorded roughly 300 million minutes, with LinkedIn at about 200 million.
Overall, the total time spent on social media sites has increased by 83 percent in the past year, according to Nielsen. Amazing.
Social media statistics 09, presented by The Buyer Group.
In the ever-changing, fast-paced world of social media, there is always something new to learn. Continually striving to be ahead of the PR curve, The Buyer Group took part last week in an emerging technology webinar presented by SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization).
The webinar highlighted the intersection between social media and online search results. SEMPO stressed that the future of all media is social and that search engines are increasingly displaying social media as top results.
SEMPO also explained that social media usage is more frequent and strategic than ever, pointing out that over 90 percent of SEM (search engine marketing) agencies are using Facebook as a public relations tool – good thing, considering 31 percent of CEOs have are active on Facebook.
The instant response platforms of social media sites have allowed for more brand communication than ever, placing new pressure on companies to monitor and engage in dialogue with consumers. For information on how your business can use social media to its advantage contact Lisa Buyer at lbuyer@thebuyergoup.com.
On Tuesday, Lisa Buyer and Sarah Van Elzen hosted the first Social Media Boot Camp for ShopToEarn associates. The Buyer Group covered some serious territory talking about the ins and outs of social media with a half hour of introductory information for social media beginners.
The Social Media Boot Camp line up included: LinkedIn – The Professional.
Network, discover professional connections and join the ShopToEarn group Facebook – The Connector.
Share and connect with friends. Twitter – For Updates.
What are you doing right now? This social messaging site is all the talk and mini updates. YouTube – For Watching.
Let the Official ShopToEarn channel tell the story. Flickr – For Photos.
It’s where all the online photo-sharing happens.
ShopToEarn associates that are new to social media were encouraged to pick their favorite channel and follow ShopToEarn and ShopToEarth. As a result of the webinar, ShopToEarn had 300 new subscribers, tweeters, and social media brand advocates behind the ShopToEarn name!
The Buyer Group will be heading up monthly Social Media Boot Camp’s for Shop To Earn with the next date on Tuesday May 12th, 2009.
