“What Should I Do?” – Promotion

I hope you’ve been enjoying this “What Should I Do?” series on implementing and excelling your social media. It’s based on this MindMeister mindmap. Each week (or so) I will take a branch of this map and talk about it in detail.

This week’s mindmap category branch is labeled “Promotion (Other)” which is an awkwardly broad category that I was tempted to skip over and deal with another day. There’s nothing wrong with the content, I have an aversion to “other” and “miscellaneous” categories.

In this branch of the Social Media Framework map, the map’s creator lists 3 subcategories: Events, FriendFeed, and PR.

Events: I really like that events are listed in this social media map. Events are way more interesting when they are social. For example, people tweet about a conference or convention, or when they have a tweetup; it helps inform and connect people who can’t make it to the event. The framework lists 4 sites where people can post their events. (BTW, while checking out each site, I found a great wine-lovers’ event nearby that I might check it out). This could be a really good way for you to meet new prospects:

• Pick a topic or type of meeting that your potential customers will be drawn to. It could be a seminar-style information-sharing meeting or it could be more of a one-on-one meet and greet.

• Find a place that you can test it out (and make sure it’s appropriate to the type of meeting you’re offering: Your local library might have really affordable meeting rooms that you can use. If you want a more casual meeting place, reserve a table at a restaurant.Prepare your content AND prepare for contingencies. Be ready with one kind of meeting in case you have a few people who show up all at once and another kind of meeting in case you have just one or two people show up or if people come and go at different times.

• Post your show and see what happens. If lots of people show up, do it again. If no one shows up, try it one more time at a different time or day.

FriendFeed Room: This is an interesting idea and very social. It’s a place where others can join you to talk, brainstorm, and share. It’s kind of like an open-invitation Google Wave or a slightly more robust Facebook Groups page. I’ve never used a FriendFeed Room but it’s a good idea and worth exploring (although I’d probably end up using a Facebook Group page myself).

Press Releases: Press Releases have turned social. The map lists 3 press release distribution sites (of which PRWeb is my favorite) for more traditional press releases and it lists social press release sites PitchEngine and Pressit. These are social because comments can be attached and because they don’t blast out to the world but are rather carefully released to social networks of your choosing. Here are a couple of press release tips to remember:

• Press releases are news so make sure that you have something newsworthy before you write your press release. This is the key reason why press releases are rejected.
• Keep your press release shorter – to 500 words or so – because people don’t want to read longer press releases.
• A mix of conventional and social press releases is, in my opinion, the perfect blend of PR.
• Include press releases at regular intervals (at least once a month) for maximum benefit.

If you’re promoting an event, or any other aspect of your business, this Social Media Framework mindmap has some good places to go. But they are just scratching the surface, I think. I’d love to hear your recommendations: Where do you announce your events? Where have you seen successful press release distributions?

Good luck!

Related posts:

1. Creating Powerful Press Releases in 10 Minutes a Day
2. Focus to Move Forward
3. “What Should I Do?” – Livecasting
4. “What Should I Do?” – Social bookmarking