Lee Aase | Social Media University, Global (SMUG)

Facebook, Texts Warn Students of Gunmen

Crisis communications plans, as I said earlier and as Dennis McDonald agrees, should have some kind of social media component, whether they use Facebook or Twitter or some other way of delivering text messages, along with “dark site” blogs.

The main idea is to build in multiple levels of redundancy for your communications, because no one method gets to everyone, and you can never trust in just one delivery mechanism because you need to account for the possibility that your primary means may be knocked out.

In a college environment, though, Facebook and texting via cell phone come close to being universal delivery methods, as St. John’s University and UW-Madison showed last month.

When a masked freshman came to campus at St. John’s University with what police said was a loaded rifle sticking out of a bag, the school alerted students via cell-phone text messages within 18 minutes.

I think that with the growth of social media sites like Facebook, and with high-profile examples of success like this, these methods are going to go from being back-ups and nice add-ons (like a belt and suspenders), to becoming the main way people communicate quickly in a crisis.

Technorati: Crisis Communications, Facebook, Twitter, St. John’s, social media, social networking

Sign of The Times

A colleague just pointed this out to me. She knows I’m the blogging and new media guy, so she thought (correctly) I would get a kick out of the fact that the New York Times‘ online edition has a slightly different masthead. Instead of “All the news that’s fit to print” it’s (see lower right)…

So…is this new, or did I just miss it previously? Is it a sign of the Times, or just a sign that my eyes don’t pick up the small print as well anymore?

And I see that Tara Parker-Pope, who previously had written for the Wall Street Journal, has her blog going for the Times. I had heard she was moving, but didn’t know she was starting right away. Seems she’s been at it for about 10 days, starting here.

Technorati: New York Times, Blog, Health, Tara Parker-Pope

Will Blogs Make Vanity Publishers RIP?

blogs vanity publishers
Vanity publishers trade on, well, the vanity of people who feel they have a book within them that just needs to be published, no matter whether a regular publishing house thinks the book would be profitable or not.

I wonder whether vanity publishers are having a harder time these days, now that anyone can publish his or thoughts to the world for free through a blog.

After all, why would someone pay a publisher several thousand dollars to print a few cases of books (which then would need to be distributed and sold), when a blog provides instant worldwide access, with free distribution?

I think this might be another way in which the internet, and particularly Web 2.0, is disrupting the publishing industry. We know what it’s doing to traditional media, such as newspapers like the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Chicago Tribune, and broadcast networks like NBC. The Star Tribune lost 56 percent of its market value in barely 8 years, for instance.

Are those selling the dream of book publication to aspiring authors having a more difficult time these days, too? Are blogs enough of an outlet, so writers don’t feel the need to be published? Or does the experience of writing on a blog whet writers’ appetites to take the next step and paying to have their prose printed and bound? And how does this relate to the trend of authors giving away their books for free on the internet, either in PDF format or as audio files? Have you seen any information on what is happening to vanity press sales?
Technorati: vanity publishers, vanity press, blogs, books

Free Copywriting Seminar from a Crook

I have a debt to pay, so I need to tell you about a free copywriting seminar.

I wrote in an earlier post about some free book offers, (PDFs and audio files), and how that is a growing trend. I’ll have more reflections on that trend in a related post soon, but first I need to share another of those offers.

I saw another example yesterday on Lee Hopkins’ Better Communication Results blog, via his link from Walter Jennings’ blogroll. I had heard Lee (gotta like the name) previously on the For Immediate Release podcast, where he’s a regular contributor. Walter and I met (sort of) at the Page Society conference in California last week (we actually met via our blogs and Facebook afterwards.)

The other Lee had an interesting post about a 10-hour copywriting seminar Trevor Crook formerly offered at $197, but which he is now giving away for free from his web site. I did it and started listening, and as Mr. Hopkins puts it, “Blimey, they’re good!”

All Trevor asks is that you pass the offer along to at least three friends (Oh, and you have to give him your email address, too.) Here’s the suggested text for an email to my friends that he sent with the download link:

What if I did you a favor, something big, something powerful and
proven to help you grow your business which you would usually have
to pay for and instead of paying for it, you simply pay it forward
to 3 more people as full ‘payment’.

You may think there’s a catch.

No, there isn’t. World class copywriter, Trevor Crook gave me his
10 hours of Copywriting Blueprint audios, his proven blueprint for
creating compelling sales copy and letters which he usually sells
for $197.

Trevor gave it to me as a favor because he has started a
revolution to help one million entrepreneurs in the next 30 days
and you and get a brilliant gift to help you get more sales plus
you can help change history at the same time.

You do not have to buy anything. There’s no gimmicks.

Too may people want to ‘take’ in today’s world instead of giving
and this is a recipe for a complete disaster.

When you understand the ‘Laws of Reciprocation’ like I do, you will
understand how much your life will change when you give freely
of yourself without any thoughts of getting anything back in return.

The sound quality on these isn’t great, but the content is really good. In the first session, for example, he focuses on the most important priority for successful sales copywriting, which is honing the offer: developing a compelling value proposition for your potential customers.

He’s putting that tip into practice, offering this seminar at an unbeatable price. Obviously, he’s betting that people who have heard his seminars will want to either engage him as a speaker, consultant or copywriter, or will want to buy some of his other products later.

So, instead of sending this in an email to a few targeted friends, I’m doing like Lee H and linking to it from my blog. I’m also posting it on my Facebook profile.

You may be asking, “Why would I want a teleseminar from a direct mail copywriter?” But that’s just like the problem I’ve been describing with how too many people see social media tools; they fail to think creatively about how Facebook or Twitter or MySpace can help them achieve business goals.

Even if you’re not in the direct marketing business, you’re probably selling your ideas in some way. Take the lessons you learn from Mr. Crook (admittedly not exactly the best name for someone in the mail order sales biz) and see how you can apply the concepts to your situation.

I’m going to continue listening, and hopefully Trevor’s tips will make my blog posts more compelling, too.

You’ll have to let me know whether it’s working, but remember: I’m only on the third lesson.

Technorati: Copywriting, Free, Seminar, Trevor Crook, Lee Hopkins, Walter Jennings, Facebook