Social media is a source for hot topics, opinions and more

For some of us, reading hot topic discussions on social media is a pet peeve. For others, posting opinions on social media is a way to let off some steam. Regardless, social media is a source of differing opinions, a way to keep informed of trending topics, and a way to be entertained (or annoyed).

When voicing opinions, however, we should all be aware that the content we post has the power to come back and haunt us. According to market moose there are five important things to keep in mind while voicing your opinion online.

          - Social media is community blogging. In a society polarized by ideology, it requires that we learn how to share one giant whiteboard and get along.

          - Censor a response, and you’ll be perceived as unreasonable and dictatorial.

   - Generally speaking, you want to avoid trying to govern conversations, and also avoid fighting too hard for your own ideas (because the venue you’ve chosen is not yours, even if you’re on your own page).

          - If you really don’t like something, translate that into what you have to offer in its place, and post it on your wall as an update, instead of pinning a comment on their stuff.

     - If you find you’re friending and unfriending all the time based on someone’s thoughts and ideas, you don’t get it. You aren’t expected to like everyone’s views, but you are expected to accept them.

What was your social media involvement with hot topics last year? Thanks to bynd.com we know the hottest topic on social media in 2012 was the US Presidential Election. With 30 million followers on the social media site Facebook, President Barack Obama is considered the most popular political candidate in the world! This is more proof that social media continues to be a leading source of information for our society.

Is Adobe Socal the answer to social media measurement

Since the beginning of social media, it has long been debated how useful the channel of communication is for businesses. When creating messages, businesses often craft them to reach a specific audience. Posting these messages and hoping they reach these potential people is no longer enough. Knowing the specific outcomes behind social media efforts is becoming more and more necessary as people are looking to find faster and more effective ways to reach their goals.

Previously, there were only a couple of ways for people to track their outcomes. A popular tool, Klout, uses a scoring system for the amount of interaction displayed over several different social media websites. Also, people were able to track how many clicks were produced by a web link through sites such as Bitly. Quite possibly the most effective was Radian6 for seeing how messages reached people. Although these were steps in the right direction, these services still leave a lot to be desired.

Recently, Adobe expanded its Digital Marketing Suite efforts with the new Adobe Social. Launched in Sept.  2012, the program is meant to help people learn their ROI (return on investment) for social media.  The program is intended to actually provide a dollar amount matched up with a specific action taken, such as how a mention by someone makes a difference in revenue and not just who messages are seen by.

Users of the program can connect their Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, blogs and other platforms for evaluation and measurement. Centralized publishing, automated targeting and personalization, conversation monitoring, tracking competitors and application creation are some of the other features of this new product, which can all add to the overall ROI for a campaign.

Now, the question remains on how useful this tool really is. At this time, it is probably too early to speculate the success of the program. No reviews have been posted for the product and Adobe is just now starting to promote Social through commercials. If the product can really do what it claims, it will undoubtedly be a useful material for any social media effort. 

Tribute to National Grammer Day; I mean "Grammar Day"

Did you know that this Monday was National Grammar Day? For some, it just meant another typical day. But for others, it had a deeper meaning. After biting their tongue all year, they could finally put on the police grammar badge and crack down on those with poor grammar skills. It was a day of freedom, to finally lash out at those who made grammatical errors all year long.  

In an interview for the Chicago Tribune, Martha Brockenbrough, founder of this holiday, gave insight into the world of grammar and its importance, saying “For me, the goal is to get people to think about language and why being careful with it matters. There was this idea out there that speaking well and knowing what words mean and how they work was somehow elite and untrustworthy. This is ridiculous.”

And it is indeed ridiculous. Having good grammar not only makes you sound more intelligent, it makes you more trustworthy. There will always be a time when you make a mistake, such as misspelling a word because the AP stylebook was just updated last week. The goal however, especially for PR majors, is to make as few mistakes as possible. After all, we are still learning and growing in our PR skills, but don’t use that as an excuse.

Another thing to remember is that we have technology on our side. We can use social media to reach people all over the world. When we’re feeling rushed and to reach that person  we can call them or shoot them a quick email. The point I am trying to get at is that just because we have these options, doesn’t mean we should take advantage of them by doing whatever we want and not giving a darn if there is a mistake. Think of it as a privilege rather a right.   

Last, but not least, always proofread your material before you finalize it. Be it through social media, a news release, a phone call, email, you name it, if your grammar looks or sounds bad, that person probably isn’t going to take you very seriously. And it brings your credibility to question.

So stand up and be proud! If you know that your grammar skills are good then don’t hesitate. If someone makes a mistake, do them a favor and politely correct them. It not only makes you feel better, but it saves the world from poor grammar usage.

Do you have G.O.D. syndrome? Watch the video on this website to see if you have it. http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/13972.aspx