Use These Clever Tools to get Likes, Followers and Shares

By Montrie Rucker AdamsJune 12, 2013 Blog content lockers, facebook, lead generation, sharing, twitter

When you make the decision to use social media, you are making a decision to share what you know. You’re being “social.” You want people to read what you have to say. If they don’t, the outcome is like standing at the podium before an empty auditorium.

There are a few clever little tools out there to get your web visitors to share your content and to generate leads. My website is built on the WordPress platform. I’ll share a few WP tools, but there are other non-Wordpress tools you can research that work the same way.

Pay with a Tweet – This allows your visitors to download files after publishing a tweet on his/her twitter account. For example, you have a free eBook you’d like to give away. Once the visitor clicks the download button, a Tweet screen will appear for them to Tweet your message. Once the Tweet is sent, they are returned to your website where they can then download your eBook.

Content Lockers – There are several branded content lockers available to lock down content. You place a small code in between content and when a visitor comes to your website – they must either “follow” you on Twitter or “like” you on Facebook. A few free content lockers are:

Easy WordPress Content Locker – Easy WordPress Content Locker allows easy implementation of content lock gateway widget code to monetize your content. It works with code from CPALead, Leadbolt, BlamAds, Adscendmedia, Adgatemedia, MGCash, Dollarade and many other CPA Networks.
Facebook Like – Content Locker – With this powerful Content Locker you can lock your entire blog for a user, until he hits the Facebook “like” button.
Twitter Content Locker – The plugin allows the user to lock part of a post or page. The user must share it on Twitter to view the content.

If you aren’t a WordPress user, you can use Google to search for these keywords to find codes that will be suitable for your website. You may find that there is an increase in “likes” and “followers” by using one of these tools.

National Small Business Week –You Should Go!

By Montrie Rucker AdamsJune 10, 2013 Blog awards, national small business week, sba

Small businesses are the lifeblood of our country. Using the SBA’s definition of a small business – any company that could range up to 1500 employees with receipts up to $21 million – we can see how restaurants, specialty shops, construction companies and wholesalers are helping our economy thrive.

For the first time, National Small Business Week events will be held in multiple cities starting June 17, 2013. The cities below will feature one day of events during National Small Business Week. The week will culminate with the NSBW awards ceremony in Washington, DC. Speaker and schedule information for the events will be updated on a regular basis on these pages – http://www.sba.gov/nsbw/.

The cities are Seattle (June 17), Dallas (June18), St. Louis (June19), Pittsburgh (June 20), and Washington, DC (June21). As part of National Small Business Week, the U.S. Small Business Administration takes the opportunity to highlight the impact of outstanding entrepreneurs, small business owners, and others from all 50 states and U.S. territories. Every day, they’re working to grow small businesses, create 21st century jobs, drive innovation, and increase America’s global competitiveness.

Every year since 1963, the President of the United States has issued a proclamation announcing National Small Business Week, which recognizes the critical contributions of America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners. More than half of Americans either own or work for a small business, and they create about two out of every three new jobs in the U.S. each year.

Speakers this year include: Karen Mills, SBA Administrator; David Steward, Founder and Chairman, World Wide Technology; and Angie Hicks, Founder and Chief Marketing Officer, Angie’s List.

The event is free, however registration is mandatory. If you live in or near one of these fine cities, you should try to attend.

For more information, visit http://www.sba.gov/nsbw/

Lessons from Being an Apprentice

By Montrie Rucker AdamsJune 7, 2013 Blog apprentice, donald trump, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, forbes, pr, public relations, the enstitute

MontrieandDeB — Dr. DeBorah Thigpen and Montrie Rucker Adams

When I had “officially” made up my mind to start Visibility Marketing Inc., it was after being down-sized from a sales engineer career. I knew if I didn’t switch gears now, I may be forever beholden to the automotive industry.

I met my mentor, DeBorah Thigpen at a Toastmasters meeting. In her introductory speech, she mentioned she’d just moved to the area and was opening a public relations office. The light bulb immediately went off. We talked after the meeting and I started working for D. Thigpen & Adsociates a few weeks later.

That was my foray into the world of apprenticeships. This was the early ‘90s so the Internet was just starting, there was no Google, Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. I learned at lot about the public relations industry by doing. It was all new territory for me.

Thanks to Donald Trump, there’s a new face to working as an apprentice. I read this blog on Forbes entitled, “The Apprentices: Learn-By-Doing Entrepreneurship At Enstitute” – http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2013/04/17/the-apprentices-learn-by-doing-entrepreneurship-at-enstitute-2.

Although it is long, it’s an interesting story about The Enstitute, “where 11 wannabe entrepreneurs, aged 18 to 25, are packed in a Lower Manhattan loft.”

If that opportunity was available to me years ago, I may have jumped at the chance to at least apply. As I mentioned before, you can watch someone swim, but you can’t do it unless you jump in.

I am forever grateful to Ms. Thigpen for opening her doors to a “wanna be” public relations professional. She wasn’t the first in the industry I’d approached. There were other public relations firms. However, she was the only one willing to assist me in my goals…while at the same time getting the help she needed.

What College Didn’t Teach Me about Being an Entrepreneur

By Montrie Rucker AdamsJune 5, 2013 Blog college, college experience, entrepreneur.com, entrepreneurship, learning

My college was a rite of passage. Not only was I able to cultivate life-long relationships, but coming from a homogenous environment, it thrust me into a new demographic dimension.

I majored in business with the thought of one day being an entrepreneur. In those days, there weren’t specific classes about owning a business, you took the courses that were geared to Corporate America and if you were lucky enough to know or work for an entrepreneur, you learned the ropes from there.

I come from a family of entrepreneurs. However, just watching someone swim wont’ cut it. You only learn by getting in the water.

College grads today who have a passion for entrepreneurship have many choices. They don’t necessarily have to “work somewhere else” before venturing out, they can just jump right in.

I was reading the Young Entrepreneur area of Entrepreneur.com today and came across a thought provoking blog entitled, “10 Entrepreneurship Lessons College Didn’t Teach New Grads by Adam Toren. In his blog he noted several things about the college experience that just won’t cut in the world of an entrepreneur.

One thing he mentioned, there’s no skipping class. Being an entrepreneur means that you have to go to work every day – whether it’s an office or your dining room table. Where ever you work, that’s where you need to be each and every day – come rain or shine…. even at night, and even on occasional weekends.

Check out Adam’s blog in its entirety here to see some of the other things “college didn’t prepare you for”… you may even find that you have a few more things to add to the list.

After you check it out, let me know what you think…

Know Your Audiences

By Montrie Rucker AdamsJune 3, 2013 Blog audience, clients, communication, contacts, media, media professional, pr, public relations

This is the second blog in a 3-part series. Didn’t see the first one? Click here…

If you are contemplating a public relations career, there is a lot to think about. Most people believe public relations is just networking and building relationships. They may believe it’s taking someone to lunch, hitting the golf course or tennis courts, or eating at trendy restaurants and bars. That’s not it. There is much more to it.

For public relations to work, you have to pay attention and know in whose hands you need to get that vital piece of client information. You have to know and understand the client’s audiences.

Reading both magazines and newspaper in print and online, subscribing to blogs, watching television, and other sources of media, etc. – you need to find out who the key players are that report on a particular business industry.

If we represent an author, we would not send out a press release or contact a reporter/writer in the technology field. If we represent a music artist, we wouldn’t contact a writer who writes for corporate entities. Most of us have clients in various industries so we need to have an arsenal of contacts in all fields.

It can take several emails or telephone calls before we can even get to the contact person. However, using key words in an email or voicemail to get their attention might speed up the process. By merely mentioning an article they’ve written or an award they’ve received – that could be the ticket to getting your foot in the door.

However, if time goes by and we haven’t connected – we may have to be a little more persistent. Send a follow up email asking if they received the first one, or drop them a note inviting them to lunch – we all have to eat. Be subtle – you don’t want to look like bothersome pest.

What happens when you finally get that meeting? How will you take advantage of the time you spend with them? Know that media professionals are always looking for new stories and subject matter. Good stories and subject matter. Be creative. Add a special twist to the new product launch. What is new and innovative about it? How can it help the reader? What will it do to make the reader’s life better? This is the information they need to have. Their audience is the reader. That’s the appeal.

If you have more than one client in their field of interest – kill two birds with one stone, talk about all of your clients. Be prepared – develop a brief overview of each of the clients. Have electronic information ready to share that includes your client’s expertise, products and/or services, website and any other information that will help them make a decision. If a client has products – it might be a good idea to have a few giveaways handy.

A public relations professional has to know audiences. You must know your audience: media professional, client… and you must know their audience, the end-user.

Learn How Your Small Business Can Sell To the Government

By Montrie Rucker AdamsMay 31, 2013 Blog government contracting, naics, sba, selling to the government, size standard tool

I’ve written a few blogs on becoming an 8(a) certified small business so we can compete in the government’s marketplace. Just recently the Small Business Administration (SBA) shared a video on how small business owners can learn how to sell their products or services to the federal government.

The SBA has a Size Standards Tool (http://sba.gov/size-standard-tool)you can use to determine if you qualify as a small business. Before you use the tool, you may want to find the NAICS codes that apply to your area of expertise and business profession. NAICS means, North American Industry Classification System, which is the standard used by Federal statistics agencies in classifying business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing and publishing statistical data related to the US business economy. http://www.census.gov/eos/www/naics/index.html

A couple of other links mentioned in the video to assist small businesses are:

http://sam.gov (System for Award Management)

http://sba.gov/contracting

http://sba.gov/gcclassroom

However, one of the major themes that run through our experiences is networking. Just as any organization, the federal government is a group of people. As the saying goes, “People do business with people,” not with a business. So, make the calls, forge the relationships and work them.

You don’t have to be a large company to sell your products and services to the federal government. You just need to learn how and get to know the right people.

Hey That’s Mine! What About My Content Copyrights?

By Montrie Rucker AdamsMay 29, 2013 Blog content copyright, copyright law, copyrights, hubspot

As I am beginning to blog more often, I’ve wondered about the content I share and whether or not it’s copywritten. Isn’t it funny how you think of something, or you may have been talking to someone about a particular subject, and at that very moment… Bam! a piece of information lands before you? Well, that happened to me while I was searching for information on a particular subject.

I came across a slideshow presentation prepared by Hubspot entitled, “Are People Stealing Your Content? How (and When) to Fight Back.” This is a very informative presentation and answered my question – is my content copywritten? – Yes, as they indicate in one of their slides – my blogs are covered under the Copyright Law.
If you are starting to blog, you should take time to read through Hubspot’s presentation. It will give you a better understanding of how to handle “content thieves” should your content be “stolen” and used.

Are People Stealing Your Content? How (and When) to Fight Back from HubSpot All-in-one Marketing Software

What is Public Relations?

By Montrie Rucker AdamsMay 27, 2013 Blog pr, prsa, public relations 2 Comments

Glad you asked that question! As an accredited member (thus the APR after my name) of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), I am often prompted to come up with a simple answer. People are generally unclear, and the lines between marketing and public relations are often blurred.

To help my readers understand what we do at Visibility Marketing Inc., I will share it in our upcoming weekly series on public relations.

The following information is an excerpt from PRSA’s national website (http://www.prsa.org):

PRSA’s Widely Accepted Definition of Public Relations

The formal practice of what is now commonly referred to as “public relations” dates to the early 20th century. The earliest definitions emphasized press agentry and publicity, while more modern definitions incorporate the concepts of “engagement” and “relationship building.”

In 2011/12, PRSA led an international effort to modernize the definition of public relations and replace a definition adopted in 1982 by the PRSA National Assembly. PRSA initiated a crowdsourcing campaign and public vote that produced the following definition:

“Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

As a management function, public relations also encompasses the following:

Anticipating, analyzing and interpreting public opinion, attitudes and issues that might impact the operations and plans of the organization.
Counseling management at all levels in the organization with regard to policy decisions, courses of action and communication, taking into account their public ramifications and the organization’s social or citizenship responsibilities.
Researching, conducting and evaluating, on a continuing basis, programs of action and communication to achieve the informed public understanding necessary to the success of an organization’s aims. These may include marketing; financial; fund raising; employee, community or government relations; and other programs.
Planning and implementing the organization’s efforts to influence or change public policy. Setting objectives, planning, budgeting, recruiting and training staff, developing facilities — in short, managing the resources needed to perform all of the above.

We hope this answers the simple question of, “What is public relations.” In the following weeks, we’ll discuss the process a little more. That’s the fun part.

Shark Tank’s Daymond John on Lessons from His Worst Mistakes

By Montrie Rucker AdamsMay 24, 2013 Blog businessman, daymond john, fubu, shark tank

Daymond John is the founder of fashion brand FUBU (For Us By Us) and an investor on the reality television show Shark Tank. He sits down with “Behind the Brand” host Bryan Elliott to discuss his background and business philosophy.

I met John when he came to Cleveland last year for an event sponsored by our local business chamber of commerce. John is a very positive, engaging and inspiring businessman.

When you get a chance, watch the video and let me know what you think.

http://youtu.be/2ST6cnXgQhM

Six Free Tools to Help Measure Your Social Media Activities

By Montrie Rucker AdamsMay 22, 2013 Blog backtweet, facebook, facebook insights, icerocket, klout, pinpuff, pinterest, twitter

Some of my clients are small businesses. Does this mean they should not participate in social media? Does it mean that return on investment (ROI) doesn’t matter? Of course not. I hear it all the time… “It’s not in my budget. My budget won’t allow that expenditure.” If you want to measure your social media ROI, there are many tools you can use.

Some typical products used for Facebook, Twitter, blogs and websites are:

BackTweets.com: BackTweets is a Twitter time machine which enables you to search through a tweet history for tweets that link back to your site. It doesn’t matter if the sharer tweeted your domain name or it was hidden in a tiny URL, BackTweets will be able to find it. This can come in handy when searching for people who love your product/service or who are out there complaining about it – you can immediately address those issues.
Facebook Insights: Facebook Insights provides Facebook Page owners with metrics around their content. By understanding and analyzing trends within user growth and demographics, content consumption, and content creation, page owners are better equipped to improve their business and create better Facebook experiences. Only page administrators can view Insights data for the business pages they own or administer.
Icerocket.com: Icerocket works like a typical search engine – except it searches on Facebook, Twitter and blogging systems.
Klout.com: Klout for Business is a set of tools designed to help you unlock the reach and power of your most influential audience members. By joining Klout, you will have access to free cross-network statistics, tracking and measuring your audience’s influence, and discovering moments and topics that matter most to your social media audience.
Pinpuff.com : On Pinpuff you can measure “Pinfluence,” your popularity, influence and reach on Pinterest. It also decides monetary value of your pins and the traffic your pins generate. It’s similar to Klout and offers perks for popularity.
Pinterest Web Analytics: Pinterest helps people collect and organize the things they love. It allows you to see what people are pinning from your website.

I haven’t used Pinterest yet, but I hear a lot of great stories about it. I think I will make that one of my work-weekend activities – to think of things I may want to “pin,” join Pinterest and start pinning.

What about you? Are you on Pinterest? Let me know so I can see what you’re pinning!

Project Work Plans – How to Make Them Work

By Montrie Rucker AdamsMay 20, 2013 Blog business plan, communications plan, IT plan, marketing plan, public relations plan, work plan

I have been working with my web developer for several years. One of the things she did for us was to develop a project work plan. After carving out and documenting what services we needed, she then took the contract and turned it into a project work plan.

It’s important to have a plan. There are all types: public relations plan, business plan, marketing plan, communications plan, IT plan…You name it. The most important thing is to have a plan, and try to stick to it. A plan is like a map on your GPS system. It leads and guides you to your destination. Sometimes you may get off course, but you can always get back on course.

Some basic elements of a project work plan are:

~Dates: When an item is scheduled to begin, how long it may take, when it should be completed

~Task: What is to be done. This should be as comprehensive as possible

~Responsibility: Who is responsible for completing a particular task? Who will sign off?

You may add other elements as needed. For example, some plans include budgets.

Remember, the work plan is not meant to be a static document. It can be revised as needed. As you move along with the project, you may see other tasks that should be added or deleted. It may take a particular task longer or shorter to complete, thereby changing the due dates.

The project work plan, like any plan, is meant to assist and guide all parties in completing the project. No project is meant to go on forever. If there is no project work plan, you run the risk of never completing it.

With many people handling many responsibilities at once, project work plans are a good tool to stay focused, on task and ready to check the “project completed” box.