1. Do you feel compelled to respond to Tweets, LinkedIn invitations and comments on your blog as soon as they land?
2. Do you let a single day pass without engaging in some form of social media activity – whether for work or for play?
3. Do you spend more time in the virtual – as opposed to the real world?

If the answer is yes, it reflects the evidence emerging that time spent on social media rocketed by almost 50 per cent in one year and that social networking now eats up twice as much of our online time as any other activity.

How much time should I invest in social media each week? is a question we at Quest are frequently asked by SMEs and MDs of owner managed businesses at our social media strategy seminar.

At Quest we plan and allocate a set number of hours – establishing key performance indicators and targets in much the same way as we plan and manage our clients social media campaigns. Most of which we fuse with traditional PR programmes to position them as thought leaders.

And, because social media can be so addictive, setting your plan – and sticking rigidly to your set hours – is crucial.

With planning, we find the following formula effective – and always take into account that everyone’s social media strategies may differ as they dovetail into the strategic plan and turbo-charge the marketing campaign.

Break your time into 3 chunks:

• 25 per cent for listening and intelligence gathering
• 50 per cent for commenting/communicating/crowd sourcing
• 25 per cent for creating great content

We’d love to hear how you allocate your time. In the meantime, happy planning!

• Are you getting closer to your hot prospects by inviting them to submit guest posts?
• Are you maximising the power of influencers by filming and interviewing them for a storming guest vlog?
• Are you linking up with your peers by positioning your blog as a ‘sharing and learning’ platform for them to get involved?

At Quest we love to celebrate the expertise of guest bloggers such as Gini Dietrich, Mickie Kennedy and Jon Buscall.

It’s also fantastic to be invited to spark debates on your peers’ blogs and meet more great people.

So get your guest bloggers planned into your blogging and vlogging calendars and enjoy the ‘win-win’ of:

1. Giving them a great opportunity to boost their profile
2. Giving yourself an opportunity to show them how awesome (and fun) it is to work with you
3. Enhancing your relationships with clients, prospects, peers and influencers
4. Boosting your SEO
5. Watching your blog become a magnet for generating ‘buzz’
6. Giving yourself a breather from your calendar to keep creating great content

Before you take off down this route – here’s a couple of excellent tips on what to do before you invite your guests. As More Google Traffic says ensure your blog is worthy of your visitors by having a respectable ranking and that it well prepared for them by looking good.

After all you wouldn’t invite anyone to dinner without getting dressed, setting the table and getting the shopping in – would you?!

For more information on how Quest PR can help you to build your profile through the power of blogging contact Sharon Cain on sharon@quest-pr.com or through Twitter @sharoncain or on LinkedIn.

The press release can be used as one of the most effective tools in your SEO campaign, but most people try and stick to the standard one page format. I’m here to argue that the standard format should be stricken when writing your search-engine-optimized, keyword-filled linkbait!

Why SEO?

If done correctly, search engine optimized press releases can launch your campaign into the stratosphere. Obviously, the first rule is to make sure your press release is a well-written, professional document, one that otherwise would make it into newspapers and “how to” books worldwide.

The importance of the keywords in a SEO press release is easy to perceive. Google “women’s recovery retreats” and check out the first page of results. Four results are from the same press release. That press release was released well over three YEARS ago

Four results. Three years. One press release. Easy math.

Two Pages?

Yes. You’re not bound by any restrictions when you’re writing for the Internet. If the idea is to get your page rank to #1, stuffing a one page press release full of keywords probably won’t cut it if you’re also trying to tell a legitimate story. Expanding your SEO press release to two or more pages ensures you can achieve both of these goals.

You may not make it into your local newspaper with a longer format, but if the press release is well done you could score some distribution through website databases. If the press release then makes it on to the first page of results, then you could easily enjoy years of incredible return. Off of one press release!

Just the text of the press release isn’t all you have to work with when you’re utilizing the power of the Internet. SEO press releases can also integrate custom images and videos, which help your readers that are more visual to understand your points. Not to mention, Google Image Search can offer even more hits for your press release if you name your images something easily searchable.

Keyword Usage

While you should concentrate on optimizing the body of your text, don’t forget about your headline. Adding keywords here will allow for ease of recognition when people happen to search in Google. Google’s bots are just that – robots – and they assume that the headline of your piece is pretty important.

Also remember that keywords should be words that won’t get lost in the mix of other searches. Instead of promoting your new line of “shoes,” advertise your “red clown shoes.” Keywords should be very identifiable. The more competitive the keywords, the less chance the users have to run across your beautiful prose and wonderful new product.

Tell your full story. Pick long tail keywords. Integrate pictures and media in your SEO press release. What’s stopping you? Click here to read more about SEO Press Releases.

This article is written by Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases, the online leader in affordable press release distribution. Grab your free 160-page copy of the Big Press Release Book – Press Releases for Every Occasion and Industry by clicking on the link.

Is it serendipity that just a week after we blogged about how to compile storming award submissions and then made a vlog on how to shout about your awards’ success – that our MD Sharon Cain is shortlisted for The Women in Enterprise category of The Press Business Awards. The news is twice as exciting following hot of the heels of another short listing success in the Yorkshire Women of Achievement Awards.

We’d like to congratulate all those shortlisted and look forward to meeting the various businesses at the sparking awards ceremony later this year.

Finalists at a glance

Business Personality of the Year
Lewis Hull, of Noverre Ltd, Bishopthorpe
Kevin Hollinrake, managing director, Hunters Property Group Ltd, York
Carolyn Van Outersterp of Jollydays Luxury Camping Ltd, Scrayingham, York

Women In Enterprise
Louise Smith, The Jug & Bottle, Bubwith
Sharon Cain, managing director Quest PR, Harrogate
Angela Langton, director of Bellezza Academy Ltd, Bridlington

New Business Of The Year
Scoot Cycling Holidays Ltd, Stillingfleet, York
Snapshot Media, York
Synergy Cleaning Ltd, York

Family Business Of The Year
Nature’s Laboratory, Whitby
Tech Tyres Ltd, Osbaldwick, York
Mr Moo’s, Driffield

Small Business Of The Year
Wold Top Brewery, Wold Newton
RJB Couriers Ltd, Clifton Moor, York
Renovo, York

Best Employer & Education Link
Harrogate & District NHS Foundation Trust, Harrogate
Electric Angel Design, Scarborough
Firmenich UK Ltd, Thirsk

Tourism & Hospitality Business Of The Year
Superbreak Mini Holidays Ltd, York
The Grange Hotel, York
York Racecourse Hospitality, York

Science & Technology Business Of The Year
Extreme Creations, Harrogate
PureNet, York Science Park
Waverun, York

Young Business Entrepreneur Of The Year
Adam Thorpe, managing director Superior Stay, Harrogate
Ashley Mason of Yormed, York
Dario Grandich, of Snapshot Media, York

Best Business & Higher Education Link
Nature’s Laboratory, Whitby
Northern Rail Ltd, York
Appollo Creative, Knaresborough

Large Business Of The Year
Benenden Healthcare Society, York
York Racecourse Hospitality, York
Gear4music.com,York

Think Green Business Of The Year
Best Western Monkbar Hotel, York
The Hawk Creative Business Park, Easingwold
Scoot Cycling Holidays Ltd, Stillingfleet, York

For more information on how Quest PR can help you to build your profile through the power of awards contact Sharon Cain on sharon@quest-pr.com or through Twitter @sharoncain or on LinkedIn.

There’s no doubt that winning awards reflects your success and expertise.

Success is a great motivator and everyone, especially the Quest team, loves a reason to celebrate them!

Our previous post featured some great tips on award submissions – including the importance of research and supporting material.

Fast forward and visualise that you’ve scooped that fabulous industry and/or business award – and you’re over the moon.

Now over to Carol and Sharon on how to shout your success from the rafters!

Quest and Primeast shout about their awards success

• Are you frustrated when competitors win awards yet your business performs better?
• Do you get so close to the submissions that you can’t see the wood for the trees?
• Do you lack the writing and associated skills required to compile storming entries?   

We love to celebrate our own and our clients’ awards success at Quest PR  where we’ve won eight industry and business awards, four shortlistings – and reap the benefits of the media profiling that comes with them.      

As ex journos with great writing skills and business acumen, we’ve written dozens of award submissions which have won our clients prestigious accolades including The Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For, Orange Business Awards, Institute of Director Awards – and many more.

Everyone loves working with winners and we were over the moon when Gini Dietrich and the Arment Dietrich team  scooped  a brilliant and well deserved blog award.          

Follow our 10 top tips to maximise your award entries:               

1. Take the time to research awards that most reflect your expertise
2. If available, read previous winning entries – study the content and format
3. If you don’t have the skills in-house, outsource the work to a business writer
4. Take yourself outside of your business and put yourself in the judges’ shoes
5. Summarise your achievements at the outset (judges may not read the whole submission)
6. Don’t be woolly with figures – spell out year on year growth, profit and staff increases
7. If testimonials are required, give clients advance warning to do you justice
8. If your work has been recognised/praised via traditional and social media, include the evidence
9. If shortlisted, get the story out fast to clients via your social networks
10. If attending the ceremony, go armed with plenty of business cards and network hard!              

Good luck and stay tuned for our next blog post on how to publicise your awards once you’ve won them! For more information you can contact me by email sharon@quest-pr.com, follow @sharoncain on Twitter and find me on LinkedIn under Sharon Cain.

Tips & etiquette for Twitter bliss

Newbies, seasoned tweeters and gurus rejoice! Search for Twitter mistakes on Google and you will get nothing but the same old dross about ‘having a profile pic’ and ‘don’t auto-follow’ etc, in your results. Dull, dull, dull. It’s all been done and said before. So without further ado, I bring you 10 completely new Twitter mistakes, observations and tips to creating value for your followers, avoiding common pitfalls and more.

Enjoy!

1. DMs
People who begin using Twitter, gravitate towards DMs as it feels like email. Safe private conversations. People need reminding not to bring the short falls of email to Twitter, conversations should be public where possible and only private if absolutely necessary.

2. RTs without reading
An easy trap to fall into if you don’t have enough time to read an article. You may begin retweeting based on the strength of a title alone. But that title may be misleading and not what the article is about, so always check first. Sending around flippant retweets, is the equivalent of spam emails or unsolicited mail through the door.

3. Hidden Messages
Any tweet which is sent to many, but with a message intended for one. A cowards way of bringing a tricky topic to light with one individual that you should be talking to directly. Messages like these tend to leave everyone else scratching their heads and maybe even the intended recipient uncertain of the importance of the message because it’s been sent to everyone.

4. Chat
We’ve all got caught up in multiple tweets in a public stream, but for the majority of overseers, it will be annoying ‘email-tennis’ filling up their Twitter stream and will have them hovering their fingers over the ‘unfollow’ button. Whilst it can be tempting and fun to message one person continually through Twitter, check yourself and consider whether your audience is enjoying it as much as you are. If not. Phone? Email? Or indeed, move the conversation over to a real chat client like Skype or MSN Messenger.

5. Trending Topics
Talking about topics because they are trending. Sure there’s some good causes and great charity based trends which develop. But otherwise, where is the value in talking about something that everyone else is talking about unless you can contribute something new? You will just end up becoming a voice in the crowd. Stay away from trending topics if you’re trying to make an impact. And definitely stay away from talking about them, just because everyone else is.

6. Apologies
You have just published that perfect 140 character tweet and then realised you’ve spelt something wrong. What should you do? Delete the tweet? Re-publish with the correct spelling? Or apologise? Unless the miss-spelling changes the context of the tweet, leave it. People will gloss over the slip and still understand the message. We’re human, we make mistakes, and your intelligence on Twitter will be acknowledged over time, not in the space of one tweet.

7. Generic Hellos / Goodbyes
Bringing small talk to Twitter such as hellos and goodbyes are completely unnecessary and valueless to the majority of followers. Who cares that you’ve just got up? Or you’re just going to bed? Where is the value in telling people this? Why is it important to you that people know this? This space isn’t ‘Chat’ remember? Imagine if you said hello to the twitter-verse and 4000 followers said hello back. Or worse, imagine saying goodbye, then logging off and logging back on the next morning to find 4000 replies from people saying goodbye from the night before, and then you say hello to them all again? How useless would your Twitter stream suddenly become? It doesn’t bear thinking about.

8. Connecting Accounts
Lots of websites allow you to channel your updates through Twitter, however this should be used wisely. Ask yourself ‘what value does this give my followers?’ first, if your only answer strokes your ego, forget it. A pet peeve of mine is people that pump their music playlist through Twitter—every 3-4 mins I get another message about their music track. Very annoying, and if you or that person doesn’t tweet frequently the stream will become full of music tracks. This is probably fine if you’re Pete Tong, but not if you’re anyone else. Are your LinkedIn or FaceBook updates suitable for your Twitter community? If not, un-tick the box that posts to directly to Twitter, or better still, disconnect them entirely.

9. Generic Notifications
Also related to the above, any generic message pushed out to your followers that ‘I’ve just uploaded a YouTube video’ or ‘I’ve just updated my profile bio, check it out’ only tells me that one thing. What I want to hear is ‘what’ has been created and ‘why’ should I go and view it? Stay away from generic automated messages, customise them to add in personal context. The majority of generic messages, will be ignored by everyone with the exception of your best mates and biggest fans.

10. Public DMs
A big no-no and one that you may do whilst getting used to the service. You discover you can’t send a private DM, as the other person isn’t following you, so you send a public reply instead. Ouch. Again a message that has no relevance to anyone else other than the recipient, so all it will do is create some form of public embarrassment, damage a friendship, and bloat the twitter stream of your followers.

If you’ve finished reading these points and don’t have a bead of sweat on your forehead, congratulations, you’ve probably been there and done that, and realised the error of your ways. If you’ve cringed your way through this list, then maybe you should reassess your Tweets, search for words of more value and follow my golden rule: ‘If in doubt, don’t’.

MediaSnackers are the go-to guys for companies and organisations who want to understand and effectively use Social Media. For more information visit them at mediasnackers.com

We hope you’re all having as storming a week as we are at Quest where we deliver social media training, traditional PR, and media training and campaigns to small and medium sized enterprises, the public sector – and not for profit organisations. 

Meet our team of former journalists and experienced PRs who enjoy hobbies varying from cycling tennis, trekking (Harriet is on a sabbatical in Peru at the moment and we’re really envious!) and running. Sharon and Sarah are training for this year’s Great North Run for one of our favourite charities Henshaws. 

We’d be delighted to hear from you on our blog and to answer any questions you may have.

There’s nothing better than getting on your bike after a challenging week – finding a BIG hill to tackle – and savouring some stunning scenery and some well deserved nosh afterwards.  

I recently completed a 150 mile quest across the North Yorkshire Dales with fellow Vistage members and our team captain Richard Bosworth. I split the money raised between a cure for Polio and HenshawsYorkshire which provides a range of educational, residential, day-care and community services for blind and visually-impaired people of all ages.

Outside of this specific event, at Quest we have a strong CSR ethos and commitment to ‘putting something back’. Since 2002 we’ve donated hundreds of days of PR expertise and time to regional and national organisations including Henshaws Yorkshire, Candlelighters, and the groundbreaking WalkTalk project spearheaded by 7/7 survivor Gill Hicks. It’s been fantastic seeing how much our team enjoy taking part in projects which include making a video for The Wilberforce Trust. My next challenge is to be able to run 13 miles for this year’s Great North Run.

Now back to the bike ride. Here is a snapshot of our adventure – all donations gratefully received on http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/sharoncaincycle.

Following on from Quest’s previous posts on our video blog training courses and what equipment to use we’re now focusing on how to present great vlogs. 

Some of the tips are similar to the ones we give our clients in our media training programmes. 

Sharon Cain, a former Sky TV on-screen reporter, shares six top tips on how to prepare and present fab vlogs for your blogs.

1. It’s important to project well so start with some breathing exercises to get everything flowing  – they can include things like la, la, la, laa – you may want to do these somewhere private!
2. Check your hair and clothing and jewellery before you start – even if it’s just head and shoulders you don’t want people distracted by strands of hair sticking out or a tie that’s askew – or a necklace that’s lopsided.
3. Pick a great background – Gini Deitrich has set her vlogs against a lake which looked stunning.
4. Look straight into the camera if you’re doing it yourself – this is in contrast to looking at the interviewer if you were doing it for TV.
5. Watch your hand gestures – windmill gestures can be off-putting although it’s good to see a bit of hand movement from time to time.
6. When standing find what’s the most comfortable posture for your hands either keep them beside you or behind your back.
7. Give your presentation energy and exude enthusiasm.
8. Smile – you may even enjoy it!