You do so by visiting this page within Facebook.

Why?

If you’re publishing items on Facebook and want to be sure your Twitter followers can also view them, then connecting the two platforms is helpful.

I’ll bet you’ll find that you have people on Facebook who like your Page who don’t follow you on Twitter, and followers on Twitter who haven’t said they like your Facebook Page.

Connecting Facebook to Twitter versus Twitter to Facebook

Linking Facebook and Twitter this way, in my opinion, is more helpful than importing all your Twitter updates into your Facebook profile or Page status updates.

If you really want your Twitter posts to appear as part of your Facebook Page, I recommend utilizing the Involver application and adding a tab to your Page that displays Twitter posts.

You can access the Involver application suite, including the Twitter plugin for Facebook, here.

What’s your strategy for publishing on Facebook and Twitter?

Plus, attending WordCamp meant I could network with other WordPress aficionados in the Salt Lake area and not do yard work today.

Community

The first thing that stands out to me is the strong sense of community that exists among WordPress users. Many of my Social Media Club of Salt Lake City friends were also in attendance. I guess that makes sense because we’re interested in similar things.

Beyond attending your local WordCamp, or Social Media Club events, are there organizations that help connect you to like-minded individuals? I’d suggest getting involved, volunteering and participating in local and virtual events that help you become better at what you do and more connected professionally.

Supporting the community, especially an open source community, is so important. After basically devoting 10 hours a week last year as I led the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City and chaired the Utah Social Media Awards, I understand how valuable it is to have support from your own community.

Plus I’ve been the local chapter president (in Las Vegas) of both PRSA and IABC. So I know all about volunteering for the good of the community and your own profession.

What’s New?

We spent an hour with Matt Mullenweg, the founding developer of WordPress. He was engaging, open and even entertaining. He shared with us, in a straight-forward Q&A session, his thoughts on the direction of WordPress and what the future holds for Automattic, the company that owns WordPress.

It was also good to hear from other presenters ways they put WordPress to work for their companies and learn of some tools and plugins I haven’t used.

In this digital era, things change so quickly. Staying current on the latest trends and tools is important. Attending conferences like WordCamp helps you keep up with trends and hone your skills.

The Power of Twitter

I love Twitter hashtags for conferences and events. They can archive the online Twitter conversation, kind of as a collective stream of conscience, in one place.

The Twitter hashtag for WordCamp Utah is #wcut. Check out the conversation on Twitter’s search or on What The Hashtag?!

If you want to learn what those in attendance thought was important, check out the Twitter stream. There are a lot of very cool resources included there.

The Power of Online Video

We also spent an hour with Tom Dickson, the creator of Blendtec, who walked us through a history of his Will It Blend? YouTube channel and what it has done for his company.

In a nutshell, instead of a marketing expenditure, the Will It Blend? campaign has put Blendtec in a position where it’s paid to come do Will It Blend? sessions for other companies. What started with a $50 investment has yielded millions and millions of online video views and something like a 700% increase in product sales.

Tom was very entertaining, down to earth, and downright funny. He shared many behind the scenes experiences he has had at Blendtec and specifically with the Will It Blend? campaign, like blowing up a bunch of cigarette lighters in a blender and having the hair on his hands, arms and eyebrows singed.

Tom led a great conversation, and of course, he ended with a Will It Blend? demonstration blending a USB drive that contained the WordPress code with a ceramic WordPress logoed mug. We’re pretty sure it was a first for any WordCamp in the world.

The whole mug wouldn’t blend completely, at least not in the time he gave it, but we’ll cut him a little slack. It was entertaining nevertheless. And he gave the blender away afterwards (with a clean blending jar).

Tom mentioned that their Will It Blend? videos are usually at the top of the list for views, except for recently when the Old Spice campaign got more attention. Someone suggested a new Will It Blend? episode where the Old Spice guy came in and they blended some Old Spice. Could be very funny!

Blendtec certainly is the benchmark for selling a product on YouTube. Their case study shows how effective online video can be for awareness and sales.

Thank You

To all those involved in orchestrating the 2010 WordCamp Utah, thank you! It was an information filled day with great food by The SugarHouse Barbecue Company, sponsored by Bluehost.

I left with some good ideas for improvements to my WordPress installations and two new t-shirts from WordCamp and Bluehost.

An Update — 8.31.10

I’ve been asked for some specific ‘ah-ha’ moments or recommendations of new tools based on what I learned at WordCamp. Instead of taking detailed notes, I used Twitter.

So, I have exported the Twitter conversation from What The Hashtag?! and included it here (a 32-page PDF).

Feel free to download the PDF and look through the Twitter stream.

You’ll find dozens and dozens of URLs and links to some great WordPress resources.

Well, for me right now, I get only bragging rights, but I’ll come back to what could be.

And if any of you haven’t eaten there, and you’re in the vicinity, I highly recommend it. You’ve got to be in the mood for a good American burger and fries though. The fires are fresh cut and double-fried in peanut oil. Need I say more?

Microblogging

Remember when business executives and marketers started dabbling with a little microblogging platform called Twitter? Most people would say, “Why do I care that someone just bought a cup of coffee from Starbucks?”

They were only scratching the surface of what Twitter could be used for. Think: reputation management, customer service and crisis management, not to mention inbound marketing.

Location-Based Microblogging

Enter Foursquare, a geographically based microblogging service and game all rolled into one.

Now we have microblogging status updates tied to locations using Foursquare.

Users compete for the most points and fun, different badges that reward them for checking in.

I’ve read some reports lately that suggest that such a small number of consumers are using Foursquare that it’s hardly worth it for businesses and marketers to include Foursquare in their campaigns.

I disagree. And I’ve written about it before.

Why Businesses Should Include Foursquare

Tonyburgers has a “wall of fame” that posts the names of people who eat for free.

If I owned Tonyburgers, in addition to the wall of fame celebrities, politicians and others who are just too popular to ever be seen at Tonyburgers, I’d reach out to the common consumer (you know, the ones who keep me in business).

I’d let the mayor of Tonyburgers on Foursquare get a free order of fries with every order (hint, hint), or something like that.

Think of the competition (i.e., consumption, or increase in purchases) when others catch wind of the opportunity and also begin using Foursquare.

It doesn’t take much imagination for retailers, restaurateurs and other business-to-consumer marketers to see the potential.

What about watching check-ins on Foursquare and when someone checks in nearby, sending them a text offering them a special discount on a purchase in the next hour?

Better yet, how about one-upping your competition by reaching out to their consumer as soon as they check-in at their establishment?

So many possibilities!

Your Experience?

Do any of you have experiences with geo-based social media you’d like to share? Please feel free.

An annual conference by PR News on social media, crisis communication, reputation and brand management, and media relations. I’m one of the presenters.

Digital PR Next Practices Summit

Date: October 6, 2010

Time: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Place: Grand Hyatt New York – Park Avenue at Grand Central

RSVP: check out conference registration pricing | register here | use the code Speaker9 to receive a rate of $695 per person

Hashtag: #prnews10

How to Leverage Video for Your PR Efforts

By Pete Codella, APR and Doug Simon of DS Simon Productions

Like social media and blogging, video is fast becoming a powerful tool to get your PR message across almost instantaneously. Whether you are creating a compelling corporate video or filming an impromptu interview with a Flip camera, leveraging video can improve your communications initiatives and help to meet your bottom line.

This session shows you how to leverage this often untapped resource and how to effectively tie video PR to your business goals. More specifically you’ll learn how to:

• Create a valuable message for video
• Generate buzz and build relationships with the media
• Use platforms like YouTube to engage with existing and new audiences
• Accomplish video search optimization
• Leverage the Flip camera and its editing features for immediate on-site interviews
• Effectively track views to measure your PR efforts
• Prepare broadcast video for media relations and reputation management
• Identify which site is best for hosting your video
• Increase brand awareness through a viral PR campaign
• Utilize broadcast TV for crisis response and reputation management

If so, knowing what your Google profile is, how to locate and preserve it, is valuable knowledge.

Your Google profile

First, let’s explain what a “Google profile” is.

It’s the search results when searching online for your name, business name, product name, brand, etc. It’s an online audit of your important keywords.

I heard an interesting interview on NPR where someone floated the idea of “reputation bankruptcy,” a legal action that would function much like a financial bankruptcy, forcing Internet sites to remove information about you and give you a clean online slate.

Think about this concept — a reputation bankruptcy — both from a personal and business perspective.

What privacy?

Basically the idea of privacy is dead. People can learn so much about you individually by searching online, by Googling you.

It’s the same for business. Once people are aware of your company and considering buying from you, you can bet they’ll do an Internet search to learn what others have to say about you. Or, better yet, they’ll login to Facebook or their social network of choice and ask their online friends about you.

Whether you as a business choose to participate or not will NOT determine how much information is shared about you online. People will talk about you. They’ll tell their friends and acquaintances about you.

And they’ll do it in a very public way. That’s something businesses haven’t had to deal with until recently.

The only choice for business is whether or not you will be a participant in the conversation, whether you’ll jump on the train for the ride or be left alone in the station (where staying behind in the station will likely result in financial bankruptcy).

I remember you

The Internet basically serves as a universal memory. It’s the end of forgetting.

Once information is published online, it’s there for good.

In our Information Age there will surely be new laws and ways of dealing with information overload and the fact that what you did in your teens and 20s will be publicly viewable when you’re a well-known business person or elected official in your 30s or 40s, or grandmother in your 60s.

Lessons learned

Hopefully we recognize first that what is shared online, either by us or someone who knows us, is a type of archived, indexed, searchable life history.

And second, that imperfect people will sometimes do silly or offensive things.

We’ll all learn from our mistakes, accept and apologize for them, and move on.

A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Let’s hope we can be mature enough to be forgiving.

And let’s all recognize the importance of integrity and transparency in all we do, in the real and digital world. After all, the digital world is now our reality.

You know the story. You’re sitting in that social media seminar as the instructor hops from one incredible new media platform to another. You want to know more, but you don’t want to raise your hand and ask, “Hey, how can I use that in my job?” or maybe, “How can that help my career?”

Sound familiar? If so, this PR Daily webinar will help answer those questions—and so many more!

Pete Codella will walk you through 17 social media sites and show you the secrets for harnessing these tools. He will explain how these incredible social platforms can improve your career and simplify your life. When this webinar is over, you’ll be the one in the social media seminars with the answers.

In this webinar, you’ll learn how to:

• Monitor what’s being said on Twitter using RSS and third-party applications
• Automate Twitter status updates and the people you follow
• Manage your agency, your client or your company’s online communication and marketing
• Set-up an RSS reader to stay current on what’s being said about you, industry news and trends
• Optimize your Facebook fan page for business; 10 tools you’ve simply got to use
• Differentiate between personal, business, fan and group pages on Facebook
• Understand how your sites stack up when it comes to traffic and search engine optimization
• Generate and read a Google Analytics report
• Search blogs for comments and commentary then subscribe to the RSS for that search so you only have to do it once
• Grade your web site and attend to actionable items to boost your traffic and sales
• Set-up a Lifestream to aggregate your content from multiple platforms to just one site
• Manage FriendFeed to aggregate content, engage online networks, join groups and search for content
• Update all your social media sites from one location
• And more!

Details

17 social media tools to help communicators save time and money

Date: August 26, 2010

Time: noon to 1:15 p.m. Pacific

Place: This is a webinar that can be accessed online from any Internet enabled location

Cost: $99 for the webinar; $129 for the webinar and a CD recording

RSVP: visit Ragan.com to register

Hashtag: #prdaily

Moderator: @msebastian (Michael Sebastian, editor of PR Daily)

The Next Steps in Social Media: How Independent Practitioners Can Increase Business and Client Value With Online Tools

Featuring Pete Codella, APR, Jason Falls and Kristie Aylett, APR

Date: July 28, 2010

Time: 1 to 3:30 p.m. Eastern time

Cost: PRSA Member $229 | Non-Member $329 | Independent Practitioners Alliance Section Member $169 (you can sign-up for this webinar and receive a membership to PRSA IPA – see the registration page for info)

Register: on PRSA.org

Hashtag: #ipaprsa

Description

As an independent public relations practitioner, knowing when and where to allocate your time in the online space is the key to accomplishing clients’ goals (and expanding your business’ reach). From Facebook to Flickr, effectively working with an arsenal of new media tools requires insight into how each tool works independently and in unison. During this virtual conference, an expert team of independent practitioners will share best practices and detailed strategies for efficiently creating an integrated public relations campaign.

You Will Learn:

• The importance of knowing where you are and where you want to be before jumping in feet first.
• Where to find and how to use free and cheap social media measurement tools.
• Ways to streamline your online activity and integrate your online platforms so they support, not compete, with one another.
• Tactics to build credibility and connections.
• Best practices for using social media to build business and attract clients.
• How to craft content to make your online presence stand out.

Learn more about the presenters by visiting their websites: Pete Codella, Jason Falls, Kristie Aylett.

My Presentation Slides

Click here to download at PDF of my presentation slides (1.3mb).

However, I have simply fallen behind in keeping up with hundreds of emails I receive each day.

The email newsletters I receive are crowding out important messages from clients, prospects and others.

So, I have determined to clear out my email inbox by unsubscribing from a multitude of messages.

I’ll be turning more and more to my RSS reader and Google Search to locate valuable information.

Have any of you taken a similar approach to your email inbox? Have you found the number of emails you receive unwieldy, especially after being out of the office for a few days or weeks?

I have, and now I’ve taken steps to reclaim my inbox.

This guide by Marketo provides one of the most comprehensive, easy to understand outlines for using social media for business that I have seen.

I highly recommend downloading the PDF from their site.

His thoughts and presentation are available on his blog and I am embedding his shared presentation below.

I recommend reviewing the presentation to get an idea of where we’re headed with all this talk of social media and its implications for business.