Lorrie stole the spotlight with her ability to relate to what people need and by really making the audience feel empowered to help themselves lasso the wild web and all of it’s marketing offerings.

Here are few things from the discussion, both from traditional PR to the new school web marketing, which I found useful and interesting:

Marketing is about maximizing relationships: The ideas are the same for both traditional PR and web marketing strategies; you want to connect with an audience whether it is writing the perfect press release to get you noticed in print or sharing your expertise on a blog.

List all of your media channels and do your research: Just like anything you do for your business you want to know and understand what your options are. Make a list of all of the media channels available to you (radio, tv, magazines, newspapers, web) and do your research on them. Understanding how you can maximize these channels will give you and your marketing an upper hand.

Something to always keep in mind: Publicity is free and advertising is paid. Getting on the front page of the paper can’t be bought people!

Utilize the freebies: Marketing can be tricky but don’t underestimate the power of educating yourself. Find free sources to learn the tricks; just because you don’t have a huge PR budget doesn’t mean you can’t do it! Great sources for press release writing and other free marketing tools can be readily found on the web. Here are few examples that were brought up in the discussion:

• Web Marketing Therapy’s PJ PR-How to Generate and Distribute Your Own Powerful Press Releases WMT offers a great selection of free E-books to get you going.

• PR Web is a great source for learning how to write and distribute a press release. See their Press Release Writing Fundamentals and get writing!

• Google Places: get your business on Google for no charge. Simply follow the steps and wait for you confirmation postcard. Free!

Marketing Multitask: Put your traditional PR press releases to work and repurpose them in a blog post. Highlight your organizations spotlight in the media by housing a press page on your website. Co-mingle the traditional PR work with your web marketing arsenal and you have got yourself a powerful partnership.

So the moral of today’s post: don’t limit yourself in your marketing strategies. Traditional PR and web marketing strategies go hand in hand. The same concept of maximizing relationships applies across whatever method you choose. Utilize both schools of marketing and multitask your way to greater visibility and credibility for your organization.

The Mashable article explains a little more about HOW restaurants are utilizing social media to help their patrons feel more connected to the restaurant, anticipate their visits and even receive special treatment during their dining experience!  In a prior career life, I was a professional pastry chef, so to say I am a foodie would be an understatement!  I have totally jumped on the celebrity chef band wagon as I Tivo cooking shows, follow my favorite restaurants on Twitter and Facebook, and even visit YouTube to get inspiration from snippets of recipes being prepared by my favorite chefs.  This is exactly what restaurants are hoping people will do!

As Lorrie points out in the article,  connecting with potential customers through the KNOW, LIKE and TRUST factors are developeded through the use of social media!  Read the full article to find out why social media is more than just marketing!

Just in time for the NEW YEAR, it’s a fun-filled, jam-packed review of 2009.  Narrated with a catchy musical tune, JibJab covers our nation’s big news, everything from Obama, Sarah Palin, Octomom and “a Twitter Revolt in Iran”… to the latest Tiger Woods scandal! (just to name a few!)

To check it out on YouTube, click here:

“Never a Year Like ‘09.”

Wow, I don’t know about you, but this makes me more ready than ever for a fresh new year! …Phew!

For a little WMT inspiration for 2010:

Focus on creating your own GOOD NEWS. –The news can be what you make it!

BE CREATIVE AND HAVE FUN —It’s contagious!

Your brain is for thinking, NOT STORING.  Use the web to store what you think so you can use it for wild web marketing!

I can’t tell you how many times I re-reference old blog posts I wrote, share free eBooks our team writes, forward press releases about events we are doing, or send articles I have published that already live on the web.   It takes time to write and distribute content, but the time SAVED to re-share it (and the visibility and credibility we reap) is well worth the up-front investment.

When you have great press releases or articles, you can publish the content on AND off your website to get more readers and help attract people to your organization.  Today’s healthy marketing advice is to publish what you publish! Below is a list of places you could distribute your press releases or articles for more traction.

Article Distribution
Ezine Articles www.ezinearticles.com
Go Articles www.goarticles.com
Article Dashboard www.articledashboard.com
Articlebase www.articlesbase.com
Article Snatch www.articlesnatch.com
Idea marketers www.ideamarketers.com
Amazines www.amazines.com
iSnare www.isnare.com
Article City www.articlecity.com
Article Cube www.articlecube.com
Scribd www.scribd.com
Squidoo www.squidoo.com

How-To Sites
Ehow www.ehow.com

Press Release Distribution
Press Release Point www.pressreleasepoint.com Submit PressRelease to 50+ Free PR Websites in one easy place (versus tons of one by one free press release sites)

Pitch Engine www.pitchengine.com
Build a social media press release for Free on this site! Pitch Engine helps create value by making it easy for others to follow your news or spread it via word of mouse. The social media press release you create effectively packages stories for sharing (with editors, bloggers, consumers, investors, etc.)

PR Newswire www.prnewswire.com
Distribute your news to 10,000 outlets total, 5,500 newsrooms – including wires like AP and 5,500 websites plus thousands of relevant trade lists.

Don’t forget to use your existing marketing channels/contacts as additional content awareness too!

Announce your news to your social media networks (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc.), your email list and post it on your website AND blog.

Also, be sure to showcase your press release and PR plugs on your website.  If you don’t have a Press or News page, add one to your site!  Example: http://www.webmarketingtherapy.com/news/

Happy Content Sharing!  Remember, marketing is about building:

AWARENESS

CONNECTION

DISTRIBUTING INFORMATION

DOING GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE

and MAKING SALES

We build trust though EDUCATION. Content in the form of articles, blog posts, press releases, videos, podcasts, how-to’s and more help you serve, support and sell.

Use tools that make sense for your organization, but do not forget the critical step of distribution.

Your web visitors will not use your web marketing in the same way so tell them, tell them what you told them and TELL THEM ONE MORE TIME.  Make your content multi-task to brand, build and boost your business!

Strategically share photos and videos on Flickr to boost your online brand and search engine visibility

Flickr is a highly indexed web site for photo and video sharing owned by Yahoo. What does this mean for your business? Flickr makes it easy to strategically share images on the web to boost your online brand and visibility!

Each photo page you create on Flickr will get indexed by the search engines and may rank highly on their own – increasing your online presence and potential to drive additional traffic to your site.

Achieving T.W.D (Total Web Domination) via Flickr:

• Start by uploading decent quality images (this can include logos, headshots, product shots, etc).
• Select the option to make your photos publicly viewable.
• Create strong, keyword-rich, unique and descriptive titles for each photo to boost search engine visibility.
• Write good descriptions for each image. Sure, you may have a great logo or product – but WHY should users care about it? Tell them something you may not be able to share with them on your corporate web site and give them a reason to connect with you!
• Add a hyperlink in your description to a relevant page on your site. (Note: You do not need to plaster your URL all over your Flickr photos.)
• Tag each photo with descriptive, searchable keywords.
• Pimp out your Flickr profile page and Flickr “sets” with tasty search titles, tags, fun descriptions and links.
• Be social: Get additional exposure for your photos by joining relevant groups and posting your photos.
• You can also share your Filckr photo pages on social sites like Facebook and Delicious, especially if your image or video is unique and has potential to spread virally!

What Else Can I Do With Flickr?

In addition to using Flickr to help increase your search engine marketing and enhance your brand, it’s also an excellent way to organize, store, and share photo/video content.

• Flickr is also a convenient way to store photo/video content to share with your team internally. (You can choose “private” account settings if you don’t want your image made public.)
• Still waiting for your online press room to go live on your site? Send your media contacts a link to download your logo and headshots from your Flickr page – and save their inbox that huge attachment. They’ll thank you for it!

How Will You Use Flickr to Serve Your Audience?

Finally, remember that Flickr is a social media site- so be creative and remember to focus on providing value by serving (not selling) your audience. Like any social media platform, it is NOT cool to exploit Flickr and its community for commercial purposes.  Spamming Flickr with photos specifically for the purposes of advertising your company, products/services will not benefit you – and may even end up getting you banned from the community. So as always, be sure to think strategically before implementing Flickr as part of your marketing mix – and have fun!

For more social media marketing tips and healthy marketing inspiration, follow me on Twitter @my_dog_ate_it