Several of my clients have been in the news lately.  One of them gets amazing coverage through the local and national news media … and the other is regularly interviewed by magazines, newspaper articles and the news media.

HOW you get this kind of coverage is the topic of a different post (to come) … but before you start looking for publicity  you should have all your media information in one place, so that when you get asked, you are ready.

All the information you collect should go in your “Press Kit” … which is a collection of material you use to “sell” yourself to the media.  You may send the whole Press Kit to some members of the media, and only “parts” of your Kit to others.  Having everything you need in one place will save you loads of time, money and stress!

Having your Press Kit ready and up-to-date at all times will help you get more interviews.  Most members of the media are on tight deadlines, when they want something, they want it NOW … not two days from now.

Your Press Kit should consist of:

1. A really FABULOUS headshot of yourself.  This should be available in several resolutions … from a high resolution version that can be used by the print media, to a lower resolution version that can be used on websites.

2. IF you are promoting a product, you need some great photos of your product … a few different shots, different sizes and a choice of high resolution and web resolutions.

3. You need a well written BIO, this should include information about yourself and your company.  These could be combined, or totally separate.  i.e. a company profile/bio and your personal profile/bio.   You MUST include your personal bio at a minimum.  The media is interviewing YOU, not your company!

4. Depending on the media coverage you are looking for, you should include a Question/Answer Sheet. These are most often used on radio interviews.  I’ve had radio hosts go down my list of questions and ask every single one of of my questions, in the order I’ve presented them.  Q&A Sheets are more appropriate to promoting a book, or a service, or a cause  vs.  “breaking news” coverage.

A few tips for creating a great Q&A Sheet:

• Write the questions in the order that makes sense. Think of a story … beginning, middle, end.
• Give a one sentence summary of where the answer is going (if not apparent from the question) AND how long it will take.   For example:  This is either a 3 point answer (30 seconds) or can be expanded to a 5 point answer (2 minutes).  This gives your host the ability to make better choices on the questions s/he chooses.
• Put asterisks beside the most important points.  That way you make sure all the basics are covered.

5. A list of “been there, done that” media coverage.   Radio and TV hosts will love you “more” IF you have some kind of experience.  They are afraid of getting a dud interviewee who freezes or answers with one word or 5000 words.   IF you don’t have any experience, get friends to “interview” you so that you feel more comfortable with the process.

6. “Tear Sheets“  of previous coverage.  Tear sheets is a term that originated “way-back-when” you actually tore a newspaper or magazine article out of the publication … and then included it in your physical Press Kit.  Today’s electronic version of a tear sheet is either a screen shot, or a scanned copy of the article or coverage.   Attach this as the last section of your Press Kit.   How many?  As many as you have … up to dozens.  If you have hundreds, choose the best and most current.

What Format Should Your Press Kit be in?

Your press info should be available in a variety of formats and should be able to fit the requirements of the media source making the request.

For example, you could get a request to “only send PDF“   or “I need a microsoft word doc“  or “please send everything WITHIN the email … we don’t open attachments“  or “just tell me where I can get the information online.”

1. Include the separate elements of your Press Kit on your website (either one “media” page or a media section.

2. Bundle everything up (except the photos) into a PDF file.  Send the photos as a separate attachment.

3. Create a .doc file.  Again, the photos should be a separate attachment.

4. Create an email version.

Put all the information into ONE place on your computer, so you can easily change and update it … and always have the most current version available to send.

Your final task should be to create a “template” email which includes an introduction, a description of what is in the attached Press Kit, and ALL your contact information.

Make all of this look as professional as possible.  You are probably looking at two skill sets here: your webmaster or online designer, and a print designer or layout artist.  Believe me … it makes a BIG difference to have a fabulous looking and professional Press Kit!

Do You Want to Grow Your Business?

Reserve your space now.

You might be familiar with Ali Brown, but if not, you should know that she grew her business from a used-computer and a one-client-at-a-time system into a multi-million-dollar enterprise within a pretty short span of time.

To propel this growth faster, she sought out a mentor who operates at a higher level — Anne McKevitt. Anne is a world-renowned “serial entrepreneur” who built her first business from nothing to $24 million in its FIRST year when she was just 23 years old. Since then, she’s had a truly global impact in business, television, publishing, and now in political and philanthropic circles. She has worked shoulder-to-shoulder alongside 52 heads of state with the Clinton Global Initiative, and advises some of the biggest names in business today.

On Wednesday, April 28 at 8pm Eastern time, Ali Brown and Anne McKevitt will present: “Your First Million: Keys to Creating Your Business Cash Windfall” If you want to learn what you need to do to break through, build your business and hit your first million! Reserve your space on this free call now

Click on THIS LINK to find out more about the information you will get on the call.

I have been STRUGGLING more and more lately. Trying to get through each day with a feeling of actually having accomplished something … anything.

I finally decided I had to get into action and figure out what was going on. On my desk I have a notebook and a timer. The timer is set for 15 min intervals. When the beeper goes off, I write down what I have been doing for the past 15 minutes. It took only two days to see that one of the BIG problems was my email. I have been spending hours and hours going through my emails, several times a day. I get HUNDREDS of emails a day, not including spam. And even though I wasn’t reading most of them, it was still taking gobs and gobs of time to process them into various file folders.

Conquering the email problem has become my main mission. Everyday as I get emails, I decide do I really want this newsletter? If I do, I am changing the email address … so that all newsletters automatically go into my newsletter folder. I am deleting a huge number of ezines I never read and am automatically shuttling a few of my “affiliate” and “joint venture” partners into another file folder.

So far I have been doing this for five days and it looks like SUCCESS is on the horizon. Today I only got 30 emails when I opened my in-box. My intention is to keep on deleting and/or changing subscriptions until I ONLY get friends or clients in my inbox. What a blessing in time and energy that will be.

IF you too are struggling with information overload:

1. Get yourself a notebook and a timer and diligently figure out where you are spending your time. Find YOUR time wasters.

2. Set up two or three different email addresses. Use ONE for your clients and friends. Use #TWO for newsletter subscriptions. Open these only when you have time (this IS a joke!) OR when you have purposefully scheduled time for this.

3. Set up #THREE for other stuff that is relevant to your business. For example, you could use this on your business card and filter all leads and inquiries here.

Let me know how it works for you … or if you have any other tips that might work for all of us.

Melanie

Setting up a Fan Page on Facebook is easy … but only after you spend hours ripping your hair out to figure  out where the add a page panel is!

Here’s the step-by-step setup process:

1. Log into your Facebook Account (your Profile)

2. Click on HOME

3. On the right hand menu, click on “Ads and Pages.”  If you can’t find it … try clicking on “More.”

If you still can’t find it, go to the very bottom of your page and click on “Advertising”

4. Now depending on how you got there, you are going to see one of the following two screens.  Click on PAGES

5.  FINALLY! Click on Create Page

6.  Almost done:

• #1  Choose a category.  Don’t worry too much about this, just pick the one you think is the best fit.
• #2 Enter the NAME of your Fan Page.  If you are Tom Cruise, enter Tom Cruise. If this is a business page enter the name of your business. If you are promoting a book, enter the name of your book.   You can’t change this once it’s up, so spend a few seconds deciding what would serve you the best.
• #3 If you want to spend some time building your page before you reveal it, check this box.  You can publish at any time in the future with the click of the “publish” button.
• It’s actually a good idea to read the FINE PRINT so that you are not breaking the rules. Facebook will remove your page if you do not follow their terms and conditions.  A brief overview of the rules can be found in Profiles, Fan Pages and Groups
  

• #4 Click on CREATE PAGE and ta da … you are done.

Your next steps will be determining what restrictions (if any) you want to place on your Fan Page, filling out the information panels and creating some “stuff” for your wall.

]]> http://focusontraffic.com/facebook/setting-up-a-fan-page/feed/ 0 http://focusontraffic.com/facebook/profiles-fan-pages-and-groups/ http://focusontraffic.com/facebook/profiles-fan-pages-and-groups/#comments Thu, 25 Mar 2010 21:04:26 +0000 Melanie http://focusontraffic.com/?p=22

One of the challenges with Facebook is understanding the differences between the three main ways of connecting with an audience.  Once you understand the differences, then develop a strategy for using the various elements to build relationships and market your business.

1. Facebook Profile
2. Facebook Page (Fan Page)
3. Facebook Group

1. Facebook Profile = Friends

Your first step is to create a  Facebook PROFILE.

You automatically get a profile when you open a Facebook account. This account MUST be in your own name. Profiles are for REAL people and you must use your real name. You are not allowed to use pseudonyms or business names nor are you allowed to set up an account for your cat, dog, gerbil or elephant.

You are not allowed to use your Facebook Profile for “commercial purposes.”

You are allowed to have up to 5000 FRIENDS.  You can invite other Facebook users to join as a friend, or they can  offer to be your friend.  You must ADD friends to your network, they cannot join your list without your permission.

2. Facebook Pages = Fans

Facebook “pages”  are also called Fan Pages, because instead of “friends” you have “fans.”  This is where you set up your business, your pseudonym or celebrity profile if you are famous or even somewhat famous.

You CAN set up more than one Fan Page.

You are only allowed to set up a page for something you OWN or have the rights to.  For example, you cannot set up a Fan Page for Tom Cruise, unless you ARE Tom Cruise. You cannot set up a page for ipod unless you are Apple. You cannot set up a page for your cat, dog, gerbil or elephant … unless they are a celebrity of some kind.
The inner workings of a Fan page is very similar to your profile page.  A Fan Page can have an unlimited number of Fans. There is no direct messaging ability. Though you can send notifications, most people never check their notifications, so why waste your time!

Fans can just join, it is not necessary to accept them. The good news is that you CAN block anyone who is an annoyance.

3. Facebook Group = Members

You can set up any number of groups, or belong to up to 200 groups. Each group can have an unlimited amount of members and you can send direct messages to your Group until it reaches 5000 members.

Think of a group as a “club” or “association” or “community” with a specific interest, commonality or purpose.

Groups have MEMBERS.

You are not allowed to use a Facebook Group for “commercial purposes.”

Groups can be open, private, or even secret.   You can have a group that is a fan of your cat, dog, gerbil or elephant. You can have a Tom Cruise Fan Club group … or an ipod user group.  You can get very creative and have a lot of fun with groups.

You can use groups as a place to complete projects or get things done.  For example … if your Mom and Dad’s 50th anniversary is coming up and you and your siblings need to plan the “event” … you could create a SECRET group  (so Mom and Dad don’t find out). You could do all your planning, communications and keep track of everything on your 50th  Anniversary Group page.

Where do you start?  Develop a STRATEGY. Setting up a Profile, Page or Group is NOT a strategy.  Deciding what you plan on using each of  the elements for is the beginning of your strategy.   Here’s an example:
I am setting up my Facebook Profile – Melanie Rockett – as an open forum.  My policy is to accept anyone who “applies” as a friend.  I will include an even mix of some personal, some business on my Profile page and will work at creating and fostering relationships. If anyone gets annoying I will block them.

My Fan page  – Focus on Traffic – is connected to my website .. http://focusontraffic.com.  The blog section of my website feeds into my Fan Page.

I will talk about everything to do with generating traffic to your business and your website, including SEO, SEM, Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing and even a variety of offline marketing tactics.  My Fan Page is basically an extension of my website and is a way for people to easily connect with me.

My strategy also includes: how often I will post, what I will talk about, how I will promote my website and Fan Page, whether or not I will have my assistant help me, and if yes, who will do what.

Here is a list of  163 Social Media sites.

The reason I’m sending you to this list is …

Backlinks.

One of the things we do at  “Focus on Traffic” is create hundreds of one-way,  in-coming links  (backlinks) to our client’s websites.  Some backlinks get you a BIT of juice, while other links get you a LOT of juice. The more juice you have in your container, the better chance you have of getting higher rankings on Google.

Go and sign up for each of the social marketing sites and create yourself some juice.  You don’t have to do all of them, nor do you have to do them all at once.  Pick a few and do one a day.  It will slowly add up.

Melanie

Got this question from a client today.  Since it is a common question from new twitter users, I thought I’d share.

“How do I find and follow someone on twitter?“

1. Go to your twitter account:

http://twitter.com/your-twitter-name

2. Log in:  user:  your-twitter-name    Pass:  your-twitter-password

IF you know the name of the twitter account:
1.  Visit the page of the account (person) you want to follow:
http://twitter.com/xxxxxxx       xxxxxxx is the account (person) name.
2.  At the top of the account page is the account name and photo/logo/avatar …. right under that is a button  labeled “Follow.”   Click on Follow.

IF you do not know the name of the account, you can try searching for it. Here are three ways to search:

Use Twitters “Find People”  Search
1. At the top of every twitter account is a menu bar.  Look for “Find People”
2. Enter the name of whom ever you are looking for.

Use the Twitter Search Engine:
** Note, I don’t think the twitter search engine is as good as it could be!
1. Go to http://search.twitter.com
2. Enter the name of the person you are searching for.
3. If the account comes up in the search results … click on it and then click on “follow”

Use Google:
1. Go to google.com
2. Search for:   First name +  Last name + twitter    i.e. Melanie Rockett twitter

I constantly have clients asking, “What can I do to help get better rankings in Google?”

My immediate answer is:

1) Start a blog  (your blog MUST be part of your website.  E.g. http://yourwebsite.com/blog/ )

2) Add posts to your blog on a regular basis

Once your blog is set up, you don’t need ANY technical knowledge to add posts or pages to it.  If you can cobble up a document in Microsoft Word, you can add and edit blog posts.  Blogs make it easy to create and edit pages, put photos on your site, offer products for sale, and even add ads.

Have I convinced you?  Well … here’s the BIG thing.  You need to maintain your blog on a regular basis. If you are not prepared to maintain your blog, don’t install one … there is nothing worse than a dead blog.

How often should you post?

A few times a month is minimum.  Better yet is once a week or even more often.

The good news is … you don’t have to do it ALL yourself.

If you have staff, ask for volunteers, or assign your best writer to make regular additions to your blog. Hire a freelance writer. Invite guest bloggers … for example, if you are a real estate agent, invite your favorite mortgage broker to add a few guest posts.  And of course, YOU should also be blogging.

What should you blog about?

One of the purposes of a blog, is to let your personality (or your business personality) shine through. People want to do business with REAL people. That’s what they should find at your blog. You can include:

• Interesting tidbits about your company
• News about your employees, new clients, new projects
• Helpful information
• Quirky information
• News about your industry
• Suggested resources
• Case Studies
• Customer testimonials
• Occasional off topic rants, raves and opinions  (be careful here)
• Guest bloggers (keep them ON topic)

THIS POST is a perfect example.  My business is all about “getting website traffic.”  I use a variety of techniques includind SEO, SEM, Social Media Marketing and any other kind of Internet Marketing technique that works.

The posts you will see on Focus On Traffic …  will be about “all of the above” and more.  You will notice that I have definite opinions about almost everything and that I am not afraid to tell you what they are.  One of the results of revealing my “personality” is that the clients I attract will be a perfect match for me.

OK … so change of subject.  Back to the Title.  Search Engines LOVE Blogs.

Why?  Because SE’s love to see movement, growth, and participation on a websites.  The more often you add posts, the more often the spiders or “bots” come to visit.  Presumably your blog posts will use some of your keywords, which will help the SE’s give you better rankings.

That’s it for now.  A lot MORE to come.

Be sure to visit our Focus On Traffic  FaceBook Fan Page.

Melanie