Right now you can download the best of ebook and see the best PR tips of the year.

Here’s what you’ll find in this year’s book.

Social Media Tips Galore

• Tips on how to attract more Twitter followers by using Twellow, my favorite Twitter directory, to really drill down and identify people in your target market—and make it easy for others to find you
• 6 bios that need updating. Trust me. They’re either filled with stale information, or your bios are missing key links for new social media profiles you’ve created.
• 3 strong reasons for joining groups on LinkedIn, and the recommended number of groups to join.
• How to create a link for a Facebook status update so you can pull more people to your Facebook page. This still stumps many Facebook users.
• 3 ways to use Twitter lists to save time, get in front of influential bloggers who write about your topic, and start to build relationships with journalists.
• A big no-no that several LinkedIn “gurus” are teaching about how to write your LinkedIn profile.  It looks bad, it smells bad and it can get you into trouble.
• A  new feature on YouTube that lets you edit your videos right in the browser!
  
• Where to find a valuable template on how to write a product review that you can share on the social media sites or at your blog.
• Where to find “52 Headline Hacks,” a handy cheat sheet for writing blog posts that go viral, or headlines you can use on articles.

Publicity Tips for Traditional Media

• An important reminder if you’re planning an event so you don’t blow a big chance at publicity in a magazine.
• 6 ways to avoid corrections and what to do if a mistake in your press release or article slips through and ends up being published.
• The one word to never use when you’re talking to journalists.
• Angles for news stories you can pitch so you can get onto the most watched TV newscast of the entire week on your local station.
• Why press releases are usually ineffective if you want a journalist to cover your story—and the one thing that works instead.
• 3 types of publicity photos that scream “We’re lazy. And we don’t mind boring you with this photo.”
• The one person to follow on Twitter who can provide lots of hot leads from traditional media who are looking for sources to interview.

Tools for Online Publicity

• A hyperlocal website that’s begging for neighborhood news in 16 bigger cities in the United States. This site is perfect for news from clubs and civic groups, schools, nonprofits, churches, political campaigns and neighborhood groups.
• A news powerhouse that you should be pitching because its stories get high rankings on Google News and Google Blogs. You’ll also find a link to a valuable video that explains exactlyhow to pitch.
• A local publisher that wants news from hundreds of communities in 19 states in the United States. They’re competing with local newspapers for stories, photos, videos and ad dollars.
• 4 tips for creating your 2012 Publicity Plan for online and traditional media.

Tips for Building Your Business & Nonprofit

• Where to find step-by-step instructions on how to format a book for the Nook, the Barnes & Noble ereader, and Amazon’s Kindle—sometimes in less than 30 minutes.
• Where to find detailed instructions on how to produce webinars that sell your products and services. Includes a recommendation for what webinar company to use.
• Nonprofits, 9 ways to make it easy for people to donate at your website.

Listening to today’s New Social Customer #SMTLIVE twitterfeed, we are in the third phase of a social world.

3 phases: pre-Google (information scarce), Before Social (information available online), and Now (information abundance)

How do we navigate through this era when the buyer has as much information as the sales person? Here are some highlights from the New Social Customer twitterfeed.

• Only 1/4 of site visitors want to be contacted by sales. (retail)
• E-mail has been passed by social media on the amount of people who use it daily.
• E-mail use is down 59% among people 12-17.
• Build relationships with qualified prospects regardless of their timing to buy.
• This “new revenue cycle” thing is critical. Take notes.
• Awareness and Friend stages precede traditional relational development sales stages. Use brains, not budget.
• Seed nurturing – building relationships with qualified prospects before you even have their contact info.
• Difference in marketing today — using content, social media rather than traditional big, costly advertising, etc.
• “seed nurturing” precedes lead nurturing. Build relationships before you have contact info.
• Seed nurturing is 2-part: listening, then engaging. Can take place on your site and off your site.
• Gonna just start with one platform? @lazerow says go with Facebook.
• 50% of #facebook users login daily!
• How companies are investing in social media: 1. Facebook 2. Twitter 3. YouTube 4. Blogs.
• Who’s doing the Social Media work? Marketing, digital and PR seems to be the biggies.
• Everyone, though, is really touching SoMe for a company.
• Socialmedia is now seen as cutting across #customerservice.
• Only 13% of companies use #socialmedia for recruiting, content generation, & community.
• Do you have sharing functionality on your website? Do you know how much revenue is driven through the sharing?
• The average FB share generates $2.10 in incremental sales. (retail)
• The average conversation rate for a Facebook shore is 10.2%.
• What days and times are people sharing? Who is sharing? 27-33 yr/old women share the most.
• 12:13-1:45 is a “magic hour” for sharing on #socialmedia.
• How do you take everything that you do, across all of your touchpoints, and add a social layer?
• Fans, followers, & likes are not business #metrics.
• Social commerce is all about empowering the customers – give them info, relevance, and the tools to share/advocate.
• World has reorged around people.
• How are @lazerow numbers fit to B2B? Even in B2B you’re selling to people.
• 4 levels of #socialcustomer engagement: 1. none 2. individual 3. departmental 4. enterprise
• Social CRM is the biz strategy – business rules, workflow, conversations, transparency.
• Departmental engagement gets company involved with customers.
• #SocialCRM: #Marketing-soc marketing insights, rapid soc mktg response, soc campaign tracking, soc event mgmt, soc pull thru mktg
• SocialCRM #Sales: sales insights, rapid sales response, proactive lead gen, direct & distribute comm, demand gen, dynamic supply
• SocialCRM #service – #social support insights, rapid social response, peer to peer unpaid armies
• With the rise in use of mobile devices…time to develop engaging video content for ppl to view on these devices-#YouTube!
• For small biz, use tools for customer engagement and monitoring. Build relationships. You time is your biggest expense.
• Most tracking tools are free. Money for a small business in social media is in time. Do you hire out? When do you do it?
• Seed Nurturing On Site (Anonymous) requires Visitor Analysis (Listening) and Dynamic Content/Personalization (Engaging)
• Seed Nurturing Off Site (Online/Social Media) Social Profiles, Listening and Social Signals and FB Open Graph (Listening)
• For those who attended the #SMTlive webinar with @lazerow @socialmedia2day, we have a ton more free resources here http://t.co/o6gFSZh4

Also, this infographic by HR Marketer shows just how much marketing and public relations are changing.

As consumers have more access to information, buying cycles are changing. Add to this changes in the media and how to reach them, which is a  fundamental shift in the way marketers and PR professionals reach the public.

Her recent post “So what do YOU do?” really resonated with me. I have been in this type of conversation socially more than once and still describe myself as a former working parent who is now home, as if I need to apologize for it. That I’m not measuring up since I haven’t gone back to work full-time.

I like to think that I’m a hybrid – a new crossover incorporating being home with my kids and freelancing when I can. Where does this fit on a resume? Or in society for that matter?

I am acquiring leadership roles like room mom and girl scout brownie leader. I volunteer at nonprofits donating my time through marketing, public relations and fundraising. I utilize negotiation skills with my kids daily. I multitask on the fly and stay organized with my old school Retro Mama calendar in the kitchen.

And best of all, I am spending more quality time with my children. They come home after school and can relax. They have not been sick as often. Dinner time is more pleasant since we are all not arriving home at the same time and tired after a long 9-10 hour day elsewhere. The list goes on.

All moms work and there is guilt on either side – I have been on both. Unfortunately, there are perceptions on each side about the other.

I hope that this divide, this wall will crumble and that we realize that it’s not a title or occupation that defines us.

SEO seminar with Jenny Munn.

I recently attended Jenny Munn’s “SEO On A Budget” presentation during Digital Atlanta last week. Munn gave an informative talk, chock full of tips and techniques for those new to the world of SEO.

What is SEO? Search engine optimization is a way to make sure your web site appears in search engines when people are looking for your type of business or service. There are no guarantees with SEO and algorithms are always changing with search engines, but there are some basic ways to improve your web site search ranking.

Munn was right on when she said “there is so much information out there about SEO, that people can get paralysis with analysis.” I was pleased to learn many things about the SEO and am ready to further optimize my site and those of my clients.

Munn offers a three-phase approach to get started with SEO. Her bite-sized tips are great for small businesses who want to improve their web site search appearance without being overwhelmed with data.

Phase 1
- keyword research – a keyword is usually a key phrase of 2-3 words that people search to find your type of product or service
- competitor research
- title tags and descriptions

Phase 2
- on-page optimization
- understand anchor text
- Google Analytics
- commit to blogging

Phase 3
- create content pages
- backlinking strategy
- advanced social media strategy & execution
- creating linkbait

Keyword Research

Brainstorm a list of keyword prospects. NOTE: keywords are not your company name or name (unless you are a brand or celebrity.)

Google has a free keyword tool - look for keywords with low competition and high searches.

Create an Excel spreadsheet with your keywords. The order of the words is important as well as using singular and plural keywords. Log out of Google for an objective search result.

If you are a small business, utilize location as part of your keywords. IT is impossible to compete with large corporations on common keywords. They have entire departments staffed in IT, marketing, blogging, social media, content creation and pay-per-click advertising. You can stand out locally.

Keyword Research Mistakes

- Trying to rank for 100 keywords (pick 5 – 15)
- Selecting many keywords per page (no more than 2 keywords per page)
- Not knowing keyword competition
- Choosing keywords that have no relevance to web site.

1) Write down all of the web site pages that you have.
2) Pick 1-2 keywords for each page.
3) Map out pages/keyword strategy.
4) Any other popular keywords – optimize blog posts for specific topics.

Title Tages and Descriptions

Is your web site current in design and navigation? Or is it five years old and has no social buttons or updated material? Make sure your web site is presentable before you optimize with SEO.

Once your web site is updated, fill out title tags and descriptions first. You have 60-70 characters in the title tag. If you are using WordPress (which is recommended for ease of use) get the All in One SEO plug-in to easily add Title and Description tags to pages/posts.

Optimize Web Pages

Focus on 1-2 keywords (key phrases) per page.
Start with your home page.
If you have a blog, this gives you additional opportunities to talk about specific topics/keywords.
Prioritize and assign keywords to specific web site pages.
You optimize web pages, not web sites. Search engines examine each page – which is why blogs are extremely helpful with SEO.

Place keywords in the Headline (first), once or twice per paragraph in the body. Write for the reader and try to keep the keywords naturally flowing in the text. It is tough to balance the creative message with the keywords. Include keywords in image ALT tags and anchor text. Use anchor text in a call to action. Google likes anchor text links.

Link Building

Half of SEO = your efforts to optimize your site and content. The other half? Links that point to your site. Google sees credibility in people linking back to your site. Build links where you can – in directories, press release sites, etc. Guest blogging can link back to your site as well as anytime someone else references your site.

Key Takeaway

Just get started. A halfway optimized page is better than a non-optimized page! Learn as you go, check YouTube for how-to videos and Google for SEO articles.

HR professionals need to source, find, and retain great talent for their organizations. They also need to do about 100 other things throughout their days and weeks. Which is why social media can be a valuable addition to HR for recruiting, staffing and employer branding.

I recently wrote a post for Talent Acquisition.net titled “Social Media Basics for Human Resources.” Employer branding is a key way to bring talented folks to your company – inbound recruiting, if you will.

Employer branding helps communicate the company, culture and values. It supports the organization’s corporate voice and helps tell the story of the company, giving it a human touch.

Companies need to show why someone would want to work there and that should reflect in the web site, social media sites and throughout all of its touchpoints.

Thanks to Food Allergy Kids of Atlanta, the 2011 allergy friendly halloween trunk or treat will help ensure that kids with food allergies have a ball at Halloween.

From @smedio – “3 Apples changed the World. 1st one seduced Eve, 2nd fell on Newton and 3rd was offered to the World half bitten by #SteveJobs. R.I.P.”

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking that you have something to lose.” – Steve Jobs

Find local AOL Patch sites for your city. Sign up for the newsletter and get active on the site. Add your events, if applicable. Comment on stories. Reach out to the local editor and offer to write a column on your area of expertise, if it relates to local readers.

Have any other neighborhood publications? Do the same with them. Build a local media list. Create a relationship and watch it bloom!