If your organization publishes a membership directory, allow members to include URLs for social media sites like Facebook Fan pages, Twitter profiles, YouTube channels and LinkedIn profiles, not just URLs for their websites.
That would be a nice value-added feature for chambers of commerce, convention and visitors bureaus, health care associations, school groups, etc. and it would distinguish your group’s benefits from those of your competitors.
I just received a copy of the 2010 Business Directory for the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. While glancing through the members’ section, I noticed that all the companies, even mine, have only the URLs for their websites.
Can’t afford to let every member include social media URLs because of high printing costs? Then charge a small additional fee.
Does your organization include these URLs in its membership directories? If not, why not? What other information do you include that members find valuable?
The Publicity Hound
Commenting at blogs? Mention your expertise
State your expertise whenever you comment.
For example, if I’m commenting on a post about how to write well, I’ll start by saying…”As a publicity expert who worked as a newspaper writing coach for many years, I disagree with….”
Here are ways to state your expertise:
Mentioning this just might tempt people to click the link.
When Patsi Krakoff was my guest expert on the webinar “Time-saving Tips for Smart Business Blogging,” she mentioned the value of comments, especially for people who don’t yet have blogs. I spend as much time as possible commenting at other people’s blogs. In a few instances, the bloggers have liked the comments so much that they extended an invitation to me to be a guest blogger.
How much time do you spend comnmenting at blogs? Have you seen a good return on your investment of time? If so, what has happened as a result?