DREAM JOB: $70k to use Twitter and Facebook!

I was reading this article…http://mashable.com/2009/05/09/twitter-facebook-job/

And, honestly, I’m not really surprised. A county in Oregon wants to pay someone $60k-$70k a year for a job that requires using facebook and twitter. Seems a bit outrageous, but take a look.

Nowadays there are so many social media butterflies around that Facebook, Myspace and Twitter have become a huge part of promotion. It is the most efficient way of reaching more target public in less time.

The most expensive method of advertising in America today is through television commercials, averaging about $400,000.00. Now, promotion of your business through television is obviously going to reach many people around the nation who happen to be watching TV at the moment of your commercial, so I'm not necessarily against it. But promotion of your business through the Social Media tools available to all of your target public on the web, internationally, is guaranteed to get a lot of people in the know about who you are and what you do.

Linkedin is the most popular tool right now for business and networking, with Facebook up and coming right behind. It has been predicted that 2009 is going to be a huge year for business networking. So, makes sense, right? And all this great PR for you and your business for a fraction of the cost of a television commercial.

This doesn’t mean that advertising and public relations through Social Media has to cost $70k a year, but for Oregon, it does. Don’t be surprised when you get a friend requested by Multnomah County in Oregon or any of the other Counties around America that have started creating Social Media sites as a way to keep you up to date.

Ali Magnano
Director of PR
Richter10.2 Media Group
www.whywebpr.com

White House Embraces Social Media.

What is Social Media? Wikipedia defines it. “At its most basic sense, social media is a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information and content.”



With the success of Barack Obama’s campaign through the use of social media web tools to gain fund raising and support, the White House has officially launched pages on Facebook, Myspace and Twitter. This transition keeps web savvy citizens up to date on the latest news and information. You can probably imagine that Obama himself is too busy lately to keep up with his old Twitter account, so this new account is the perfect way for others in the White House to “tweet” on his behalf and keep people informed about what’s going on.



In their ways of “old habits and stale thinking”, as stated by Obama, they are fundamentally changing the way that they do business in the White House. I believe the plan is to build a new foundation for the 21st century and the way to go about it is by reforming the government so it is more efficient and more creative-through social media.



In a recent blog post titled WhiteHouse 2.0, the White House says,
“In addition to WhiteHouse.gov, you can now find us in a number of other spots on the Web: Facebook .com/WhiteHouse, Myspace.com/WhiteHouse and Twitter.com/WhiteHouse.”



As you can see, technology has profoundly impacted how and where we gain information. These sites like Myspace, and Facebook have become the ways of communication to one another. If you look, you can see the demographics continue to shift. Now more than half of the Myspace visitors are age 35 or older. New users pour onto these sites every day, not only to keep up the communication with their friends but also to get insight on what’s happening around the world.



It seems the White House has noticed that WhiteHouse.gov is an important part of the Administrators effort to reach the public quickly and effectively-but it isn’t the only way.




Ali Magnano

Director of PR

Richter10.2 Media Group

Barack Obama - Web PR Case Study

Close to 65% of the American population voted in this election, its highest turnout since the election of 1908. By all means, this election was profound in its results. Obama’s victory is deeply symbolic. Politics aside, whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, Independent or member of the Green Party, we cannot overlook the power of real world community relations combined with the reach and engagement of online social communities and networks.

Online tools such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter contributed to the netting of record-breaking campaign funding and the staggering galvanization of a younger generation of first-time voters who truly made an impact and a difference. The Obama campaign leveraged multiple technology platforms, social immersion strategies and good old fashioned door-to-door relationship building to engage constituents directly, raising an astounding $600 million in campaign contributions.

On Twitter, Barack Obama sent messages to convert prospective voters to action and subsequently extend reward for the result. This is extremely effective.


On Facebook, the Obama page boasted over three million fans compared to McCain’s 618,000.

In a text message sent to supporters on the eve of the election, he reaffirmed that they will be part of Presidency moving forward;

“We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I’ll be in touch soon about what comes next. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree…and to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too."

**Messages like the ones above that are focused on your target public telling them about your product or service offerings will deliver results for your company.

This isn’t just about broadcasting content through new channels or merely soliciting feedback, participating in popular networks or actively listening, it’s the ability to identify and internalize themes to precipitate change and earn support through action – not just words.

For the first time, the U.S. President can simultaneously cultivate communities where people create, discover, and share information online.

For example: Obama Web PR Campaign Scope

- Launch a social network at Change.gov and/or whitehouse.gov

- Create a citizen feedback and collaboration page at GetSatisfaction

- Solicit policy proposals that people can vote up or down on Change For Us.

- Open the blog to comments on Change.gov (with community moderation).

- Address the country on YouTube and all other video networks with updates, polls, and also address issues in between official State of the Union broadcasts.

- Capture behind-the-scenes footage of the inner workings of the White House and share across all video networks.

- Create a user-generated channel on Magnify.net that features content from constituents.

-Create an @obamacares or @whitehousecares account on Twitter and other micro-blogging communities to listen and respond directly within each network.

- Complement the Presidential radio show with a regular podcast or livecast on uStream.tv or BlogTalkRadio and also interact with the people online, in real time.

- Publish speeches and important policy documents on document networks such as Scribd and Docstoc to be shared and disseminated throughout blogs and personal social profile pages.

- Create a portable and evolving Obama Widget using a SproutBuilder.

This is how a President, or any politician or business for that matter, can authentically connect with the people formerly known as the audience - in the real world.

**People shouldn’t only have a voice during an election time; listening and responding should be an ongoing practice and process of any office.

Adam Rooke,
Director of Operations Canada
Richter10.2 Media Group
http://www.whywebpr.com/adamrooke