For more information about Pivot, call 303-499-9291.

Social media isn’t just for distribution of content.

Sure, you want to distribute your own content via social media channels. But, responding to your audience, sharing their content and otherwise engaging with them is vital to creating a following that will want to respond to you and share your content with their network. Make sure that you share relevant content from other sources on your channels and that you interact with your audience regularly.

Get inside their heads.

Spend some time thinking about what your audience would like to know. What interests them? What problems do they have? Hone this basic skill and share information that’s useful to your followers, which will cause them to trust you, or your client’s business or product.

Keep it short and sweet.

Think of your social media posts as an extension of an in-person conversation. People respond better to short messages, both in spoken conversation and when reading content online. Statistically, shorter tweets and posts also have much higher engagement rates.

Don’t obviously cross-post.

Tweets that come from Facebook are obvious and look lazy. Facebook posts that come from Twitter are obvious and look lazy. Spend some time tweaking your content so that it’s fresh.

Spend time updating who you like and follow.

It’s like choosing your real life friends, but easier. Take a few moments to follow new accounts or like some new pages. This will also give you an arsenal of content to re-post or share with your own audience.

Be aware of the best times to post content – and know the worst times, too.

Just like you most likely wouldn’t dive right into a lengthy conversation the moment you wake up or right before you go to sleep, there are certain times that users tend to be more engaged online.

• Facebook – between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
• Twitter – between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
• LinkedIn – focus on posting before and after business hours, 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 5p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday.
• Google+ – 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on workdays.

Again, effective social media is equal parts art and science. There’s no formula to being social online that will automatically get you a responsive audience, but there are certain frameworks that you can follow to create a receptive following that is willing to listen to your messaging.

Piedmont’s elder care program, a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), opened in 2008. Pivot will assist with marketing efforts to attract seniors to the program.

1. Know the team.

We have staff that love music and sports. At a drop of a pin, they can tell me more than I’d ever want to know about the players on a team or members of a band – their likes, dislikes, details about their family and more. Know the media that covers a client business with the same passion. Follow them on Twitter, dissect their articles and digest their columns religiously. Only then can you understand what they think is a good story and how to catch their attention with your idea.

2. Help them help you.

If a reporter reaches out to you with a question, answer it. And if you can’t, find someone else who can. By helping them the first time, you build a rapport that can go toward a trusted relationship.

3. Time it.

Insert yourself or your client when it makes sense. For example, is there a jobs report due out Friday? Ask the local radio, TV or beat reporter on the economy if they’d like a perspective from your client who happens to be in the staffing industry. Additionally, call or email when reporters want to hear from you. In many cases they are entirely up front about it, and will tell you when a good time to pitch them is. As a rule, it’s bad form to reach out toward the end of the day when most daily media are under deadline.

4. Don’t waste their time.

If you send pitches out en masse – 50 people get the same idea – you are going to fail. Instead, only pitch reporters who will care about your idea. Back to point #1, if you know them and what they like to cover, you’ll know if your idea makes sense to them before you blast away haphazardly.

5. Get to the point.

Have a story idea? Great, get to the point when pitching the media. These folks are busy and don’t want to get to paragraph five to learn what you are thinking. Like a good news story, a good pitch should use an inverted pyramid format. Get to the point and they will respect your effort, even if they don’t bite. I’ve found pitches that get results are one or two paragraphs – just enough to capture attention.

6. Why should they care?

If you don’t relate your idea back to a media outlet’s readers, viewers or listeners, you are less likely to succeed. Think through your angle carefully, considering why a reporter’s readers would be interested. Local media are typically very in tune with what their readers want. Give them a local or tangible hook that ties back to their audience and you’ll up your chance of success.

7. Persist, but don’t badger.

Some members of the media will respond to your pitch quickly with a thumbs up or down; unfortunately, most do not. Rather than giving up, consider following up in a week or so (depending on the urgency of the issue or topic) to see if they received the idea and may be interested. So many times, a reporter will say: “Yeah, I remember seeing that. Send it again and I’ll let you know.” Don’t badger them, but politely email them again and see how it goes. If you get no response, move on to another possible outlet or circle back at a later time. You never know what issue a reporter or editor has on his or her plate, so don’t take the rejection personally.

What other ideas do you have to help a person successfully earn coverage for a good story idea?

Crafting a good press release is essential. Why? Editors and journalists are flooded with story ideas and pitches on a daily basis, so you need to do whatever possible to catch their eye. A key element of every release, of course, is getting to the point from the get-go. Every important point should be addressed in the first few sentences. The subsequent paragraphs should be for supporting information.

The following are five tips to make your release stand out from the pack.

1. Grab attention with a strong headline.

If your headline fails, your press release will never see the light of day. Editors and writers are a cynical bunch. When they see hype in a press release headline, they usually don’t bother reading the rest of the release. Your headline should be as engaging as it is accurate. Keep this in mind, too, when writing your email subject line. Oftentimes editors will scan through their inbox, and if the subject line doesn’t catch their eye, they hit DELETE.

2. Avoid jargon.

Unless the press release is being submitted to a tech-savvy person writing for a tech-savvy publication, refrain from including industry specific jargon and insider buzzwords in your press releases. Straightforward language in the body of a release can be a big asset in establishing credibility and gaining traction with an editor.

3. Grammar, grammar, grammar.

Your release needs to be grammatically flawless. Remember your audience. Before sending it out, be sure to proofread and let a few other people proofread it as well. The more eyes reviewing it, the better.

4. Include quotes whenever possible.

Quotes add a source of natural color, and are often a further source of information. Including a good quote from someone in the company or close to the product/event can give a human element to the release. And for busy journalists who might not have time to call for an interview, good quotes come in handy when writing stories.

5. One page is best, two is the maximum.

When it comes to press releases, shorter is usually better. Condense your information down, and if a journalist is interested in the topic and wants to learn more, they will contact you for details.

1. Provide complete and accurate information.

One of the main reasons you should control and update your company page is to make sure viewers see current and accurate information. Make sure to fill out the page with as much information as you can provide, including a list of your services and products, and a brief “About” paragraph that tells your company’s story.

2. Dress it up.

Just like on other social networks, a page with graphics looks more legitimate and inviting than a page with blank placeholder squares. LinkedIn allows page admins to add three types of graphic images: a logo, sliders and services/products images. The company logo is a must-have graphic, but one or more well-designed sliders can give the page a huge facelift. Since the slide image is a specific long rectangle and situated in prime real estate on the LinkedIn company page, it can be worthwhile to have a designer create a custom image that showcases your company brand.

If you have a number of different services or products, you can also add small thumbnail graphics or icons to your Services and Products page to represent your offerings. Having graphics demonstrates a commitment to the quality of your LinkedIn company page and an overall professionalism that will resonate with visitors and potential connections.

3. Start with the people all around you.

Growing an organic following on any social network can be quite an undertaking (and sometimes a real chore), but just like with other platforms, your employees are the first line of connection. Use internal communication channels to encourage employees to link their personal profiles to the company page (this is done on their personal profile by updating their employment entry, typing the company name into the “Company” field and clicking on the correct organization when it auto-populates).

4. Be present.

A static LinkedIn company page can serve its basic purpose – to be a landing page for visitors on LinkedIn, provide some basic business information and ultimately lead people to the company website. If you treat the LinkedIn company page more like a Facebook business page, however, LinkedIn as a network can foster more interaction. The company page format allows you to post status updates just like on Facebook, complete with link recognition and tagging.

Recently, Denise Chapman wrote about optimizing personal LinkedIn profiles. To read the blog post, click here.

To view Pivot’s company LinkedIn page, click here.

If you search for “online feedback tools,” you will find a slew of them. From SurveyMonkey to Zoomerang and Get Satisfaction, there are many sophisticated and specialized options that you can evaluate to see what best meets your project needs and price point.

Much of our use has been straightforward, yet the tool has saved us time, expanded our reach, made it easy for people to sign up for events, and provided organized individual feedback for projects. Here are the most common things we do with online tracking software.

1. Track RSVPs for events.

We send out quite a few e-blast invitations for client-hosted activities, such as performances and professional speakers. The RSVP address, which is a link in the email invite, goes directly to the clients’ email address with a CC to our staff. Then a day or two prior to an event, we make sure the client has all the RSVPs.

2. Conduct public surveys.

We’ve created online surveys to reach people in the community and ask their opinions on things that they do or see every day. Once created, we pushed the survey link out via websites, electronic newsletters and Facebook posts. Last year, we gathered more than 300 responses to 10 questions about crosswalk safety in two weeks. We used multiple choice and 1 – 5 ratings with the questions, while allowing people to add comments at the end.

3. Gather feedback and test ideas.

Online survey links can be used to tally and track feedback on design projects. From logos and campaign concepts to graphics, you can post examples with questions and feedback options to learn what a client/customer thinks about an idea, layout or design. It’s nice because people can look at and respond to the material individually on their own time, which reduces “group think,” something that can happen when testing ideas in a focus group format and undermines effective decision making.

These three suggestions are a great way to get started with online tracking tools, but their uses are numerous. Once you get started, you’re bound to think of other creative ways to use them.

1. Hone your core message through practice and study.

Prepare ahead of time by identifying the key message or messages you hope to impart through your interactions. When you are asked a question, you should use your response as an opportunity to both answer the question and reiterate one of your key messages. Knowing them inside and out is crucial to this.

2. Diffuse any negativity before answering an aggressive question.

When you’re faced with a potentially antagonistic question, do your best to respond in a positive manner. Any hostility or negativity you send back will be noted and, in all likelihood, turn out to be the single quote you have in the next day’s paper.

 3. Learn how to bridge from a reporter’s question to your key messages.

This is not an evasion tactic, but rather a way to drive home your key messages. Answer the question at hand, then use transition phrases such as “Let me just add,” or, “To put that in perspective,” in order to bridge back to the most important messages you want to leave reporters with.

4. Speak the reporters’ language.

If you communicate in a jargon-heavy, complicated way, you increase the likelihood that your message will be garbled and come across in a way you didn’t intend. And, once that quote is out there, it’s much harder to pull it back or clarify. Speak simply and conversationally to increase the chances you will be fully understood.

5. Prepare take-aways.

Much like preparing your key messages, prepare one or two boiled-down, simple take-aways to round out the event. Leave reporters with the most easily understood and concise version of your message.

Showing strong samples of typography is often the best way to distinguish yourself as a graphic designer. Good typography requires high attention to detail that other designers will recognize and appreciate. Here is a list of ten common mistakes you can avoid to improve the use of typography in your designs.

French spacing

Also known as full stop double spacing, French spacing is the practice of adding two spaces after the period at the end of a sentence. This practice is a carry-over from the traditional typewriter, which, like the practice of full stop double spacing, has gone the way of the dinosaur.

Widows & orphans

When the final line of a paragraph contains only one word, it is referred to as a widow. When that widow jumps to start the next column, it becomes an orphan. Avoid creating widows and orphans at all costs.

Base alignment

When aligning text vertically, keeping a consistent baseline is the best way to maximize readability even if the copy is set in a different size or typeface.

Auto hyphens

Auto hyphenation is a shortcut used by many designers to help keep column lines from becoming ragged. But in some cases, especially with narrow columns, the majority of the lines will end with hyphens, making the copy tortuous to read.

List indentation

Whether you are creating a numbered or bulleted list, the copy should never wrap under the number or bullet. The number or bullet should always be cleanly offset from the copy.

Title kerning

Kerning means increasing or decreasing the space between letters. Taking the time to kern headlines to eliminate awkward spacing is a level of care every graphic designer should take. Keep in mind that specialty or handwritten typefaces often require extra kerning attention.

Lack of leading

Increasing leading often increases readability. A good guideline is to always set your leading a minimum of 25 percent greater than your text size; for example, 14 pt. for the text size and 17.5 pt. for the leading.

Justified alignment

Justified text was the all the rage 70 years ago during the height of the print newspaper era. Every major publication used justified alignment to make their column structure appear orderly. What they forgot to consider was how difficult justified alignment makes it to actually read text. Many publications still use justified text today, partly because of tradition but mostly due to time constraints. Good typography takes time. In short, don’t use justified text unless you have a really good reason.

Ragged edged

Too often graphic designers paste copy into a column with little concern as to where line breaks occur and how ragged the copy looks. Taking a little bit of time to manually add soft breaks or adjust the tracking of the lines of copy can greatly improve the appearance of a design.

Typography style

What does the style of your typography say about your design? Most graphic designers focus on the visuals of a design and set the type as an afterthought. This often leads to disconnect. Taking some time early in the design process to think about typography will improve the quality of the finished product.

Image credit: Web Design Library

• 200 million members in over 200 countries and territories
• 74 million members in the United States
• Professionals are signing up to join LinkedIn at a rate of approximately 2 new members per second
• 5.7 billion total searches were conducted by LinkedIn members in 2012
• LinkedIn counts executives from all 2012 Fortune 500 companies as members – its corporate talent solutions are used by 86 of the Fortune 100 companies
• As of the school year ending May 2012, there are over 20 million students and recent college graduates on LinkedIn – They are LinkedIn’s fastest-growing demographic
• More than 2.7 million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages

Why is it important to build your LinkedIn profile?

Well, the facts above speak for themselves. If you do not have a robust presence on LinkedIn, you could be missing valuable opportunities to connect and grow your professional network or find a job. Leveraging the power of LinkedIn begins with building a solid professional profile and presence. If you want to be found in LinkedIn searches by potential employers, customers and partners, you need to make sure your LinkedIn profile is 100 percent complete.

With most job searches now done online, how you present yourself on social websites is very important. Your LinkedIn profile may now be more important than your resume. More and more recruiters are going straight to LinkedIn to seek out candidates to fill positions.

Want to go beyond the basic LinkedIn profile and take it up a notch?

Consider creating a group and participating in groups that allow you to begin branding yourself as an expert in your field. You can use social media management tools like HootSuite or Buffer to automatically update your status on LinkedIn.

DO! Give and request recommendations

Request “Recommendations.” Once received, they will be displayed on your profile. The best way to receive recommendations is to first give them. You will need at least three recommendations in order for LinkedIn to label your profile 100 percent complete.

DO! Give and request skills & expertise endorsements

Endorsements have become a popular feature on LinkedIn. The best way to receive endorsements is to first give them. The goal of the endorsement feature is to make it easy for people to recognize you for your skills and expertise, without taking the time to compose a recommendation. You can only endorse first-degree connections. Seek endorsements from people who know your work well. If you’re working on a project with someone or you have an ongoing relationship with a colleague or boss, ask them to endorse your work.