Did your favorite Fresh Ideas posts make the list? Be sure to leave a comment and let us know.

20. The Art of Storytelling

19. PRSSA National Conference Speed Networking PR Student Questions

18. How to Speak C-Suite

17. Disappearing Act: 10 Brands That May Not Be Around in 2012

16. The New York Women in Communications 2011 Matrix Awards

15. When a Hashtag Leads to Help: PR Tips from #BlueKey

14. Zappos, 24/7 Customer Service in the Internet Age

13. Oscar’s Social Media Fever

12. Snooki’s Appearance at Rutgers – Good PR or Poor Reputation Management?

11. Poll Results: Should PR Interns Pitch the Media?

Flickr Image: United Nations Photo

We all know there are many reasons to use social media, but why not use it for a good cause? Well, that’s what many non-profits, NGOs, and supporters do! 

Let’s take a look at a recent social media campaign launched by USA for UNHCR. The initiative, called The Blue Key campaign, aims at raising awareness of UNHCR refugee work and raising money through the purchases of blue keys that symbolize a key to a home, which refugees no longer have. Their goal is to “dispatch 6,000 Blue Keys by December 31, 2011.” To date, they have dispatched over 3,400 keys. The campaign has had huge success this year and still has a presence if you run a Twitter search today. #BlueKey

I recently had the opportunity to talk with Shonali Burke, a public relations and social media strategist based in metro D.C., who consulted on The Blue Key campaign (USA for UNHCR is her client), and blogs at Waxing UnLyrical. From our discussion, I was able to see that the tactics fell into several categories.

Measurement
If you are a PR professional running a campaign, you may choose to set a goal that you can measure such as a set-amount of followers, hashtag mentions, or number of group members. (One of their goals was the number of blue keys.) You can then relate these quantitative metrics to monetary measurements and numbers of people positively affected as a result of such aid. You can also take a look at qualitative metrics, think tone or sentiment, to see how people may be reacting to your campaign and how your campaign may have shifted their awareness – positively, negatively, or neutrally.  What types of response can you get?

To understand how analytics helped UNHCR tell their story, check out this interview between Shonali and Beth Kanter, author of Beth’s Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media.  

Timeliness/Relevancy
Use holidays and events to your advantage. A great idea in the Blue Key campaign was to incorporate an online frenzy via a tweetathon (on June 13th) that approached World Refugee Day, held each year on June 20th.  These tweets then led to more awareness which, for UNHCR, resulted in a direct increase in support through purchases of blue keys. In fact, the tweetathons were so successful that they were held again in September and again on Monday, October 24th in honor of United Nations Day.

According to a recent email message sent by Marc Breslaw, executive director, USA for UNHCR – The UN Refugee Agency, the tweetathon held last week generated 1, 800 tweets with the hashtag #bluekey and have helped to spread even more awareness and keys.

And as 2011 draws to a close, another tweetathon is planned for November 17th from 9am – 9pm.

Word-of-mouth
Clearly, USA for UNHCR and other organizations can create their own campaigns to raise awareness. But how can people get involved with these organizations if they don’t launch the campaign themselves? That’s where the Blue Key Champions come into play. Social media users, in general, can aid in these campaigns by participating by spreading knowledge, posting info for events or fundraisers, and sending targeted info to their friends.

Community Engagement (In Real-Life)
Since part of the goal is to actually bring real world action to causes, it is important for organizations and the communities to meet in real life, not just online. Today (November 2nd), in the NYC-area there is a  tweetup (NYC #bluekey tweetup) organized by local Blue Key Champions and the D.C. #bluekey tweetup will be on November 10th. These tweetups are a great way for people who are passionate about a cause to come together and meet others who are equally as passionate and foster a sense of active community.

Want some other causes to follow on Twitter? Help promote a cause that you are passionate about. Use your social media power to your advantage. Here are a few Twitter handles I suggest you follow to get started: @UNRefugeeAgency, @planuk, @unicefusa, @Polaris_Project, @PlanGlobal, @tkhf, @VolunteerMatch, and @ecoteer.

I hope I’ve encouraged you to get involved and help promote through your social media accounts. It’s easy and it means something important. What organizations do you follow on Twitter? Tell us by leaving a comment on Fresh Ideas.

***

Bio: After receiving a B.A. in communications, and briefly working at a TV production studio, Andrea began volunteering abroad. This lead her to work in the non-profit world, where she was fortunate enough to learn about international education, women’s empowerment and social issues for the elderly, while traveling to over a dozen countries.  Since joining BurrellesLuce in 2011, Andrea is excited to share her thoughts and views on branding, social media, and communications with the growing Fresh Ideas audience, as well as her passion for cultural awareness, volunteerism, and sustainable efforts. Twitter: @AndreaCorbo; Facebook: BurrellesLuce; LinkedIn: BurrellesLuce

Tomorrow, November 18, at 9pm eastern, my BurrellesLuce colleague, Debbie Friez, will be joining the #PRStudChat (PR Student Chat) community on Twitter as part of a special panel of experts who will be discussing events for professionals. Whether she is attending events on behalf of BurrellesLuce or helping to lead them as President of Washington Women in PR (WWPR), Debbie has an innate understanding of how to maximize the value of an event.

Debbie notes that social media offers many opportunities to create awareness and generate enthusiasm for events. “With WWPR, we try to post information and teasers on the event across many social media platforms, like Facebook fan pages, Facebook events, LinkedIn groups, LinkedIn events, and Twitter,” she shares. “If the speaker(s) have a Twitter handle, we like to promote it and our hashtag #WWPR. And, we encourage live tweeting from the event. We have found several free calendars on the Internet, which we use to promote our events.”

For students, and seasoned media relations and marketing professionals, alike, Debbie offers valuable advice — “In Washington, DC, networking is big, but not always taught in school.” She suggests that attendees looking to maximize learning and relationship building at events:

1. Make a goal to meet X number of people at each event you attend. And, try to spend only two to five minutes talking to a new person before you move on to meet more new people.
2. You should always carry business cards, even if you are in school, to help people remember you. After the event, send them a personal note and invite them to connect with you on LinkedIn or other social media.”

Have you found industry events to be an effective means of building new business relationships? What best practices would you recommend? What challenges have you encountered? Please share your thoughts with me and the readers of Fresh Ideas.

I hope you’ll join Debbie (dfriez) and I (ValerieSimon) Thursday evening for what is certain to be a dynamic conversation that helps bridge the gap between academia and the public relations profession. If you are new to Twitter chats, be sure and download Using Twitter Chat for PR Success available for free in the BurrellesLuce Resource Library.

I recently spoke at the YNPNdc (Young Nonprofit Professionals Network) second annual social media conference. Rosetta Thurman gave a great presentation on basic social media tools you should be using to enhance participation in your conference. Some of my favorite tips include:

• Make a hashtag and promote it early.
• Make a Twitter list of attendees and follow it.
• Don’t hire a videographer; use Flipcams and digital cameras.
• Allow attendees to take pictures and share them.
• Integrate social media into your event. It is a great way to get information to your attendees and allows for more contact points than any one person can manage.

 “Building social media strategies into your event allows other people to speak and respond on your behalf. Sometimes the best answer to a question comes from a fellow attendee,” says John Chen, publications/project manager, International Society for Performance Improvement.  

What tips do you have for BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas readers looking to increase engagement at conferences? What has worked best for your organization?

This use of a hashtag has allowed me to achieve a new level of engagement:

1. I’ve found new people to connect with by following the conference hashtag. I really enjoy meeting other Twitter users at the sessions, and adding live interaction to our online relationship. Tweeting gives us instant camaraderie!

2. I rarely take notes anymore. My tweets (or someone else’s) will tell me all the important points.

3. I am adding value for my followers, who are able to get the key points from the conference. Many of the conference tweets have been re-tweeted by followers who are not attending.

Here are some of my recent tweets highlighting the latest industry conferences:

• Steve Holt of WCBS does not answer his phone. Don’t send follow-up e-mails. Don’t pitch a story CBS network is doing. #mrs09
• A good pitch is a new idea. Parker-Pope doesn’t have time for meet and greets. #mrs09
• Old media relations tools still apply to social media. Be transparent and have something to say. #mrs09
• Remember to optimize your tweets for search says @courtneymbarnes #ca2009
• Hagler: for pitches-don’t lead with your strength, lead with what you want to grow. #CA2009
• Tip – Measure relationships i.e. process measures, quality of relationship or value of no coverage. #CA2009

Are you creating a hashtag for your next conference? Are you live tweeting from conferences you attend?

Consequently, the conversation flow on Hashtags isn’t easy to discern. You can see the whole twitterview with the closest accuracy by going to Twitter and doing a search for #twitview.

My biggest challenge was staying within the 140 characters while providing valuable content. I exceeded my limit on several occasions and had to resort to the “…” and then quickly send another tweet with my remaining thought.

I’m far from an expert, but here are some tips to use as a starting point when you conduct/participate in your own twitterview.  

Tips for twitterviews:

• Make sure you have a reciprocal follow relationship with the interviewer so you can confirm time and date via DM
• Agree to the time length of the interview or question maximum
• Agree to a hashtag and communicate it to followers
• Promote the interview on your blog and other social media sites
• If possible, get a scope of the twitterview so you can develop a few 140 character messages in advance – really less since you need to reference the hashtag in your tweets
• Have some tiny or tr.im URLs at hand – to pertinent blogs and websites (including your own, if it fits with the interview topic) so they are tweet-ready

If the Huffington Post has its way, twitterviews will not be a growing trend, but it’s always good to be prepared. That being said, as this practice continues to develop so will its PR use. I encourage you to share your tips and lessons learned here on BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.

Here are a few of the informative tweets from the forum, including some from my BurrellesLuce colleague Johna Burke, @gojohnab. Please be sure to check out the full hashtag  search, as well.

smittyPA: #MRF09 “take the digital road less travelled” says Cody. Don’t just comment on big news!

clynnpete: “Keep your clients close and keep the client’s clients closer – Face to face is key in the digital age” – Steve Cody #mrf09

dfriez: Prepare the last question emphasized again. Bragale used her own experience of using the last sound bite many times at AP. #mrf09

dfriez: We have a hard time going from pitching to participating. We need to listen. #mrf09

gojohnab: #mrf09 there is such a thing as bad press. We all need to realize it. There are times when clients should stay quiet.

dfriez: Pitney says to hold off responding sometimes to negative blog postings. A good response is to call them. #mrf09

jmascott: Virtually no difference between under 50 / over 50 population in use of online communities. #mrf09

robinhlane: Monte Lutz strongly recommends not altering or editing Wikipedia entries #mrf09

web20blog: Relations with the C-suite are critical if you are measurements are going to have impact. #mrf09

Q: Could you please define hashtag (on Twitter)?

A: A hashtag is a way to add additional context, grouping and indexing to you tweets. By using #ashortindex (not a real hashtag), you can make it easier for others to find your tweets about that subject. To follow a particular hashtag, checkout hashtag.org, which provides real-time indexing. For some great PR advice, check out #pradvice.

Q: How do you personally separate business contacts from social contacts on Facebook (i.e. two separate profiles or just one)? When is a tweet considered too much information? Can you separate your personal life from your professional?

A: Let’s look at these questions as one. As I said during the webinar, I do know people who have more than one Facebook profile and more than one Twitter username. But, I do not feel this promotes transparency. As hard as you may try to keep your profiles separate, people are bound to still find both of them. We all know information on the Internet, does not disappear. It’s OK to mix in the personal and the business. I don’t mind that my all my followers on Twitter and friends on Facebook know I like to share PR information, but I am also a huge fan of college hockey and the TV show “Lost.” I suggest checking-out the Word of Mouth Marketing Association’s (WOMMA) code of ethics guide.

Q: I work for a nonprofit with zero funds for consumer awareness and a PR staff of two (that includes myself). How can we work social media into our plan without it draining all our time?

A: It is easy to let your involvement in social media drain your time away. The first thing to do is to include your social media monitoring into your overall monitoring. Use tools to make it easy to scan what is being said about your organization, and review it quickly each day. Pick the tool(s), which will help you engage your audience, and don’t try to do it all. Remember, social media is just another communications tool, and responding on a platform like Twitter is fast and easy (only 140 characters). Our latest white paper, discusses ways to effectively manage your social networks and micro-blogging sites.

Q: Is this media being utilized by older groups (i.e 40-60 year old crowd or is it mostly for those under 30?

A: I discussed this question during the webinar, and although I know people over 40 are utilizing social media, Media Post ran an article, Women Over 55 Fastest-Growing Group on Facebook, which helped to validate my answer.  Check-out the latest Don’t Get Caught blog, as well.

Keep the questions coming, and I will try to address them in a future blog post or webinar.