Facebook sends out viral marketing guide

Facebook has sent out a viral marketing guide to its Facebook Pages group - http://www.facebook.com/FacebookPages with no fewer than 28 pages full of advice on viral ways to get your message out both on Facebook and taking it wider.

Now doing the wider rounds already on the web.

Tips and tools for your video career online

Flagging up a really helpful article today from TechCrunch for newbies wanting to get started with videos online -

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/17/tools-for-your-video-career/

This is a really good starting point to get to know the basics. Combine it with this great toolbox from the Mashable guys recently -

http://mashable.com/2007/06/27/video-toolbox/

And you'll be a video star within days. Seriously, there's so much good information here to work with however you're weaving video into your online strategy or activities, it's worth sharing widely they've done a ton of research.

If nothing else you can learn some tricks not to embarrass yourself on YouTube.

Beta - Google Earth 4.3 is out

The gracious and good Googlers have today delivered to us the new Beta upgrade of Google Earth.

Thank you to the Googleplex geeks and I'm off to find my home beach in New Zealand and see if you've put our new house on it by now!

http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/04/introducing-google-earth-43.html

Google LatLong: Introducing Google Earth 4.3

New ad-supported blog community site - another alternative

Out of Beta phase and out on the market today and picking up some buzz is AdRoll, aiming to fill the gap between AdSense and specialist competitors such as BlogAds.com, FederatedMedia.net, AdBrite.com and Pubmatic.com.

Remuneration for the millions of bloggers online continues to evolve and AdRoll adds to the online offerings, with individual bloggers signing up to AdRoll able to state their prices in an auction-type system, grouping themselves within the site's communities with aligned blogs on the same or complementary topics to present advertisers with a niche audience in Adroll communities clustering together similar blogs and subject areas.

Advertisers place a bid for that niche inventory and if the AdRoll rate betters the current AdSense rate, AdRoll ads appear in the banner space where Adsense or competitor networks run. With a reasonable 20% commission for the house system, that still leaves a respectable amount for the bloggers.

Small blogs and individuals will be able to work together in creating shared communities and commanding a better ad rate than their page views would allow individually. Guaranteed it won't yet make you rich, but with new options coming onto the market regularly such as AdRoll, blogging may just pay decently yet for more than the handful of top bloggers or early adopters worldwide.

Copyscape

I respect and use this system to protect my work online.

Pitching Your Story To The Media

Or ‘How Not To Have Your Story Binned’

Both online or offline, you’ll sometimes find yourself steeling yourself to pick up the old-fashioned telephone and dial the media to attempt to interest them in your story.

It’s something most people find tough to do. Up there in the same league perhaps as public speaking, which is another nerve-wracking ordeal for many business people or non-professionals. And no, you can’t rely on emails, with unknown email addresses regularly now intercepted by spam filters

It’s most effective if you have the name of the editor, producer or journalist. Call the switchboard first and ask the operator. Then when you call back you can ask for that person in a confident professional manner by name, rather than be blocked by the switchboard or receptionist. If you have a particularly distinctive accent or voice, mask it a little or have someone else quickly make the first call, so the operator doesn’t join the dots immediately that it’s you again!

If you do end up dealing with the receptionist or secretary, be extremely courteous with these ‘gate-keepers’. They are used to handling these approaches regularly and can often decide whether to ‘green-light’ your story idea or turn it away on their bosses behalf.

Some guidelines to help you through the cold-call exercise:

· Be natural in your delivery, as you would in any conversation. Speak clearly and stand up - it helps your voice to project authority. Even though you’re on the phone, gesture and use facial expressions – actions you would normally use to enhance/sell in a message in person.

Keep it Together!

Stay focused – do not do anything else during the call or get distracted. Concentrate totally on the conversation.

Think. Be deliberate and don’t gabble. You have a very brief window of opportunity (this also applies if you’re writing in) to make a persuasive, low-key pitch.

Don’t come on like a car salesman and over-sell. Do say that you think they’ll find it interesting and relevant (obviously if it isn’t, you’ll get very short shift. So put yourself in their shoes before you call and have your key points ready).

· Ask if you can get them information to glance over by email and then give a quick call back to check whether they’re interested. They’ll often say yes, sure.... it gets them off the phone and buys them time to look at your information quickly in their own time. Ask for the correct spelling of their name and that they quickly tell you their contact details. Getting these things right is all-important and means you don’t get email bounce-back.

· Give them time to read the material before calling back - you’ll get a hostile or incredulous response if you call ten minutes later and think your story is a big priority. When you call as promised, be succinct and friendly and ask if they are in fact interested in your proposed story angle?

· Reinforce your key messages a couple of times in good clear language to make sure the editor/journalist have taken them on board. But unless you have a very receptive audience or an opening to develop the story idea, don’t over-stay your welcome. Keep it concise and respect that the journalist has to field literally hundreds of calls like yours every week.

Take No for an Answer

If the answer is unfortunately no on this occasion, thank them and say that you’ll try and get them a good relevant angle or story when one next presents themselves (eg. a local interview).

Be professional and leave the door pleasantly open for making another contact when it’s appropriate. If they haven’t bitten your head off, ask if there’s a particular angle that they would be interested in following through on instead?

Take ‘no’ for a complete answer. You can re-think your strategy once off the call, but arguing your case or trying to prolong the call at this stage is not going to win the day. And they’ll also remember next time that you were a pain to deal with. Media relations is a long-term approach where like any other business area, working relationships are developed and pay off over time!