Top 5 List of Twitter Need-to-Knows

Everyone has heard of Twitter. Not everyone knows how it works. Here is a list of the Top 5 things you need to know if you're a person who's curious about using Twitter.

1. Show Twitter the love. When I say love, I mean the real thing. No passive aggressiveness, no fighting, no complaining, no yelling, no hating. Think of you and Twitter in an endless honeymoon stage. Spend hours learning as much as you can about Twitter. Become enthralled. Enthusiastic. Excited. Enlightened. The more time you spend with Twitter the more you'll understand about Twitter. In return, Twitter will give love back to you. See how that works? Who said relationships are hard?

2. Show your profile some love. Spend an hour or so showering Twitter with presents. Presents that come in the form of designing your personal Twitter page. Make sure one of those presents is a profile picture because otherwise you'll just make Twitter seem sketchy to everyone else. If you have trouble drawing stick figures than maybe consult one of your artistic friends who could help you out. There's always the Internet as well for those questions. And, Twitter of course. That's a good Tweet right there--"Anyone know how to easily create your own profile for Twitter?" And speaking of Tweets...

3. Filter your Twitter thoughts. It might seem really easy to quickly type a 140 character Tweet that you've just thought of. Well, hold that thought. Make sure it's one of your "I should write that down somewhere" thoughts and not one of your "Um...good story..." thoughts. Food, for instance, falls in the "Um...good story..." category. Unless you did something AMAZING with it, like build a workable desk out of apples or write a press release for Frito Lay using only potato ships shaped into words, then chances are no one cares about your food intake.

4. Channel your frustration into Twitter success. Don't get overwhelmed by your Tweet Deck constantly telling you every other second that 375637856378563 people have just updated their Twitter and there's no way you can read every single one. Half of those updates probably aren't even worth your while anyway. So. Focus on the ones that are. Then go back to those OFTEN. ReTweet those people. If they have blog they reference, follow it. Become a Twitter companion. The more REAL friends you have, the better your life is, right? And when life gets tough, you lean against those friends. So don't take your frustration out on Twitter.

5. Never underestimate your Twitter knowledge. You don't know a lot about Twitter. "Yes I do!" you exclaim, "I spend 4 hours on Twitter every day!" Well, while you're on Twitter, Twitter headquarters, who, by the way, is the top social media company in Fortune 100 companies, have put their thinking caps on to come up with even better ways to use Twitter. Make sure to check their links, pages, whatever else they offer on their site to see what they're up to. And don't forget to keep up on the web outside of Twitter. You don't want to become a Twitter addict, just a Twitter genius.

Until next time,

Sloane and Chelsea

DEbranding to INcrease brand awareness

Someone in the marketing department at corporate Starbucks must be having a good month. Only someone feeling creative, innovative, and unrestricted would be able to come up with adding booze to the menu, free ice cream giveaways, free pastries (only this morning!!), and now trial DEbranding a few of their stores.

Well, we say debranding, but my opinion (and Starbucks' too most likely--we're similar in genius thought) is that they are actually branding their name even more. How so? You've heard about Twitter, facebook, and other insanely popular social networking sites, right? They're allll about connecting people. Connecting people in similar areas, interests, markets, industries, businesses, ideas, opinions, and pretty much anything else you can connect about. Starbucks is simply applying the same strategy to a few of their Seattle locations--connecting with the locals and the nearby community.

If all goes according to plan, we'll soon be hearing how Starbucks cares SO much about their customers that they want to adapt their locations to their customers likings. They'll be known for catering to their customers, being unafraid to think outside of the box, and paving this new marketing road for others to follow.

Think it will work? Time will only tell. We'll give you an update when we hear of anything!

Until next time,

Sloane and Chelsea

Practicing what I Preach

Have I mentioned that social networking is important? Just to lodge that point further into your brain I'm following my own example and have now updated Blueprint's Twitter page, and created a facebook fan page. Go ahead and boost our ego by following us. Then go create or update your own accounts! Viva Social Networking! 

And if your blog, facebook, myspace, or twitter needs a makeover -- we can design you something cool.

Until next time,

Sloane and Chelsea

Blogs, Twitter, and Facebook, Oh My!

The Information Age is sometimes overwhelming--even for the professionals who deal with it on a daily basis. I'll be catching up on a blog and suddenly a perfect, witty, 140 character tweet pops into my head! Next thing you know I'm attempting to blog in 140 character sentences. 

Here's a way to keep track of ALL your social networking accounts: Tweetdeck, Skimmer, and Seesmic. 

And guess what? They're all FREE downloads!! Check out what the Wall Street Journal had to say about them for more info. 

Now you don't have any excuse to confuse your social networking accounts! 

Until next time, 

Sloane and Chelsea

Twittering, tweeting, tweet, twurped.

Yesterday someone must have Tweeted "Social media skeptic alert: PR Pros believe in social media choosing, not full on delusion. Attack!" Everywhere I turned there was an article, reference, or conversation about social media use. 

While I by no means think social media is overrated (hello...this IS a blog I'm writing on, not a typewriter) I stick by my original thought that it can be taken to a level deemed, let's say, Not Necessarily Necessary. 

Before you start waving numbers and success rates in my face, remember that I am indeed a Public Relations professional, and in this industry you HAVE to acknowledge the trends that help clients take on a new aspect of meeting their consumer and marketing needs. 

I also acknowledge when it gets carried away. I mean, do we really need to know that Ashton Kutcher is angry at his next-door neighbor's early morning construction? Maybe some of you do. But no matter your take on the subject I'm sure you'll find this take on the hype amusing.

Blog comments, tweets, and texts can wear out their welcome sometimes, wouldn't you agree? 

Now that you've had your laugh for the day, make sure to check back to our website to see how we might carefully choose the best social media aspect for you. Because if you haven't noticed, we're well in tune with the subject. 

Not had enough of social media? Check out this Wall Street Journal Article about Twitter's founders. 

Now, enough with social media for a while!

Until next time, 

Sloane and Chelsea

The Truth Behind Social Media

While reviewing PR Week I stumbled across an interesting opinion of the social media hype currently taking over the world. Twitter is obviously the current front-runner while Facebook, Myspace, Linked in, blogging, texting, and on down the list, take a close second place. 

You're aware of this already, we know. You don't live under a rock. But did you know that the current hype is actually NOT current, but ever present? 

Confused? Let me explain: Remember when computers became popular? Pagers? Cell phones? AIM? Texting? Internet on cell phones? Or more recently in the past few years, Myspace? Facebook? Gchat? And now jump all the way to Twitter.... caught on yet? 

Social Media is like an old habit that keeps popping up whenever you start to get over it. It's frustrating, isn't it? 

This article in PR Week talks about how every person, business, university, whomever, jumps on the next big thing that's considered social media development no matter what. Why? Because they're afraid they're going to get left behind, lose business, and ultimately fail. 

This isn't always the case, but it's difficult for people to determine whether or not they should invest their time and money into a new development, and they'd rather take their chances then risk losing out. 

How to get around this social media pickle? That's what we're here for! We can test, strategize, and determine which social media aspect is best for your business. You may not need the short blurbs of Twitter, but you may need the witty banter of a blog. 

Successful and savvy PR professionals know how to make their clients succeed...this is our specialty! So let us take on the Social Media frenzy while you get back to business. 

Check out the PR Week article to find out more. 

Until next time, 

Sloane and Chelsea