Image: Chicago Cubs, Major League Baseball

Most Major League Baseball teams are now in full swing with their spring training game schedules, leading up to the season opener April 4^th when the World Series Champion New York Yankees visit the Boston Red Sox. Long suffering Cubs fans like me are filled with hope and excitement this time each year. It’s the one month annually when we can boast that “this is our year!” Now this isn’t a knock on my Mighty Cubbies, just the transparent truth that we haven’t won a World Series in over 100 years. Taking the positive approach – we have a big celebration to look forward to, and this requires preparation.

All teams, in fact, are doing their pre-season due diligence to evaluate each player’s talents and select their final rosters for the season. Spring seems a time of year when we all can step outside, stretch out in the sun, clear the cobwebs and identify improvements we can make in our lives, both personally and professionally.

Professionally speaking, marketers and PR practitioners are among those who can benefit from some annual spring training. A few baseball tenets can guide the way. For instance, you can:

Assess your roster – You know your team and which tools are at your disposal. Perhaps someone or something is clicking, yet only needs a new position assigned to shine. Maybe you have a gaping void in centerfield, so assess your prospects internally and externally to fix it. Stepping back to survey your operations can be revealing, and in the context of a still young season you can likely correct course.

Keep your eye on the ball – Don’t have a vacation mentality. In business it is always game on, and even seasonal businesses should seek to make downtime productive by prospecting and networking. It’s not uncommon to get caught up in the hustle and lose sight of your stated goals. Review the marketing and communications plans you poured your heart into preparing for the executive board. Are you on course for the All-Star team and to make a playoff run?

Use your relievers – We’re working in the knowledge economy, and most of us have at least several colleagues or contractors with varying talents. Make sure you are aware of your team members’ core competencies and don’t hesitate to put them in the game when needed.

There’s probably no limit to the baseball clichés we could come up with to get ourselves motivated, but you get the point. Baseball teams don’t solve all their problems in a day. They work on them game by game, inning by inning, and you can too.

A Season Of Social Media?

Ok, being a social media enthusiast I couldn’t help but scan for teams using Facebook, Twitter and social networking in interesting ways. The Cubs have some common elements in play including a Facebook fan page (with a half million fans, nice), but it’s the south side White Sox who impress me most early here in the pre-season. The team works with Amy Jo Martin and her Digital Royalty team, ensuring high creativity.

All Major League teams follow a specific format for their Web presence, which at times seems limiting to me yet I can see the overall benefit of consistency. The Sox have taken what they have to work with and blended in some social elements including links to Facebook and a collection of Twitter accounts, as well as use of the league’s MLBlogs network.

Digital Royalty’s work with the team for SoxFest in January was impressive for giving the team’s social networking a jump start in the offseason. dR created some interesting activities to bridge virtual Web connections and onsite activity including games of “Hide and Tweet” where tickets to SoxFest were hidden around Chicago for fans to find via Twitter hints.

The good vibrations have expanded since SoxFest. Just yesterday for example I saw a tweet from @InsideTheSox (club VP of Communications Scott Reifert) who was demonstrating the importance of listening – that classic we all preach regarding social networking.

Reifert spotted a couple of fans chatting on Twitter and offered to reward their loyalty with tickets to today’s game: “@ciaomari and @DiyaMarketing – overheard you talking about Spring Training. I have tickets, tomorrow’s on us. DM me for details.”

The simple things truly are some of the best. As this attention to detail keeps up a critical mass of fans are sure to follow.

Wishing a great Spring Training to everyone!

And for us Cub fans, some encouragement via a social video courtesy of Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder…

Image Valerie Simon, BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas Blog

The first ever “Help a PR Pro Out” Day Twitter chat (hashtag #HAPPO) happens this Friday Feb. 19^th from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. This post is but one of many from bloggers supporting awareness of the event. Leave it to PR and communications folks to conceive and rally around a meaningful and timely event that has the capacity to help many job seekers, and likely create some new friendships along the way. If the turn out for #HAPPO is anything like mainstay PR-themed chats including #journchat and #prstudchat, it’s sure to be a critical mass moment on the social web (trending on Twitter and such).

Valerie Simon of BurrellesLuce teamed with digital communications consultant Arik Hanson to hatch HAPPO. She says “the great thing about HAPPO is that it helps everyone realize how social media can empower people to leverage their most valuable resources – their time and networks – to help others.”

Simon, a true social media sharer if there ever was one, thinks there’s a little something for everyone in the #HAPPO event, whether you are a job seeker, employer or helpful PR pro. She points to recent growth indicators for the PR profession as favorable timing for the event. Her advice for Friday: “Don’t necessarily think of yourself but of others who may be suitable for positions you’re aware of. Using our collective relationships we can all help some people out.”

I must admit I like the vibe … helping others will eventually bring some goodness back to you. And this is the ideal mantra for social networking outright. I wouldn’t be surprised if HAPPO itself becomes a mainstay.

The HAPPO event will go something like this … PR pros seeking employment should prepare a creative blog post to share on Twitter Friday, using the #HAPPO hashtag in their tweet. Employers can share links to career opportunities with a team of dedicated HAPPO bloggers (link below), and PR professionals can jump in and help connect those seeking and offering jobs using the #HAPPO hashtag as well. I assume college students approaching graduation are welcome to participate as well. Makes good sense. (Fyi, I featured two savvy PRSSA students in my PR Tactics column this month, “Getting ahead of the class, social media style.”)

Abbie Fink, VP & GM of HMA Public Relations, plans to be a HAPPO contact here in Phoenix. I can assure that you’re in good hands networking with Abbie, this Friday or anytime. And as for Friday she simply notes she’s “happy to hook up quality people with great jobs!”

HAPPO Fast Facts

• What – “Help a PR Pro Out” Day social networking event
• When – Friday Feb. 19^th from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Eastern
• Where – Twitter (use #HAPPO hashtag)
• Why – C’mon, it’s the spirit of networking and sharing social media style
• How You Can Help – share career resources, opportunities and network contacts; and spread the word online
• For Best Experience – consider using TweetGrid or HootSuite to keep up with the #HAPPO hashtag action
• Regional contacts – Valerie Simon’s HAPPO blog post includes a list of contacts
• Keep A Lookout For – regional hashtags that you can follow i.e. #happodc or #happoaz

Ok, add me to the list of marketers, PR practitioners and bloggers who feel compelled to comment about Apple without any prompting from the company whatsoever. Or have I been prompted in some cosmic way?

Last week’s “at last” arrival of the iPad, its launch event in San Francisco and the PR halo surrounding it signaled yet another moment of truth for the company’s recipe of experience-driven innovation, secrecy and consumer buzz.

Apple’s iPad even made an appearance on the Grammy Awards television broadcast. I found this to be cheesy product placement (I’m not aware if it was an Apple tactic or otherwise), but the Grammys is certainly where eyeballs were last weekend and only an iPad in the President’s pocket during his State of the Union address would have trumped it.

As the Grammy telecast kicked off comedian Stephen Colbert just happened to have an iPad inside his tuxedo pocket when announcing the Song of the Year award winner. I will say that Colbert made the prop “fit” his routine with a funny “what, you didn’t get one of these in your gift bag?” quirk to Jay-Z and the celebrity audience. He further passed it off as trying to be cool for his daughter who was in attendance.

Making the iPad “fit” is really a fitting point here. The cool factor that is Apple products makes many industry observers, techies and consumers want to find viable uses for them. This power of attraction is such an asset for brands. And this doesn’t always require revolutionary but rather evolutionary product strategies, as CRM industry analyst Denis Pombriant commented on in his recent Apple post.

My perspective is less technical and more focused on the communications aspects Apple have at play. I mentioned the company in my “Inside Inbound Marketing” post last week and, the more I ponder, it certainly employs a form of Inbound Marketing, not so much by creating tons of its own compelling and sharable Web content per the intended Inbound definition, but certainly via content. Apple’s content is great products. It’s also the music, videos and iPhone apps it sells (which it does not create but profitably distributes). And most notably it’s the word-of-mouth the company’s presence generates.

The elements of Apple communication mainly boil down to: innovation, mystery and community.

Innovation’s inherent leadership quality

There’s a pecking order to power and influence in just about any market. Apple certainly makes the short list of enterprise-level organizations that move technology markets. Testimony to this was offered this week from a former Microsoft employee. In a New York Times piece Dick Brass contemplates what might be the diminishing impact of Microsoft when compared with Apple on the scale of innovation. In short, fusing its focuses on customer experience and technology has netted the easy-to-use products that have placed Apple in an enviable leadership position.

The moat of mystery (and its occasional, strategic leaks)

Apple seems to make a living out of being quiet and letting the rest of us tell its story. There are pros and cons to this approach, of course, and it is best reserved for a few solidified brands that can weather the cheers and jeers of its publics. Apple has launch events down to an art form and between these occurrences a sort of super sleuth mentality produces much of the Apple chatter. Take these iPad prototype photos for example, or this lavish timeline about the iPad’s history – the iPad that didn’t officially claim until last week. Such examples of speculation and debate usually require a kernel or two of fact, so Apple soft peddles information in some fashion to influencers. It’s all permissible when you have a charismatic leader like Steve Jobs who surfaces occasionally at events to confirm and add context. (I profiled Jobs’ persona in my keynote presentation to PRSSA chapter presidents at their Leadership Rally last May.)

The pure power of communities

For Apple it’s communities of developers and techies. It’s the blogerati. It’s admired tech columnists and reviewers like Walt Mossberg, David Pogue and Lance Ulanoff. It’s consumers. I’m sure there are many other community types but you get the point. Word gets around.

The innovation, mystery and eventual facts feed the communities that create a surge of Apple interest. How long can it last, and what other lifestyle and communication standards will Apple innovation create? I’m certainly not claiming to know Apple’s inner workings from a communications standpoint, or any other, yet even removed from specifics I find that watching its marketing machine work offers an educational and entertaining view. How about you?

I love when a good book finds me. This was the case with “Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, And Blogs” by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah of HubSpot. It was next up on my Amazon Wish List but then – Boom! – it came my way via a promotional copy handoff from Social CRM consultant Brent Leary.

This friendly exchange ended up being a nice example of what the book is all about; creating content (online content for the most part) and relationships that help people find you and your business. These guys are good… I called up Brian right away and he was open to sharing some additional thoughts regarding Inbound Marketing implications and opportunities. His comments became the basis of my January PR Tactics article “Welcome to the DARC side: Creating compelling content for your Web site.”

The article focuses on the authors’ DARC acronym detailing essential qualities for every communicator in the digital age (Digital Citizens, Analytical Chops, Web Reach, and Content Creators). I couldn’t fit everything from my discussion with Brian into this piece, so here are some additional insights he shared. His comment regarding Apple is timely this week given introduction of the iPad, and extension of their simplicity and ubiquitous themes. (Apple PR, by the way, is an interesting study unto itself. This New York Times article by David Carr gives further details.)

Ryan Zuk: You cite Apple and the iPod among the inspirations for HubSpot. Are there elements here communicators can apply to help do their jobs better?

Brian Halligan: When I think of the iPod, instead of a complicated MP3 player, I think of a great experience focused less on features and more on user interface. Apple designed an alternative focused not on features but on an enjoyable experience. This is the takeaway everyone in business should consider. At HubSpot, for example, we take complicated Web concepts and simplify them for marketers. Most marketing firms wanting to do modern marketing right need to assemble SEO, blogging, lead management and Web analytics consultants. This can get rather complicated. Our Internet marketing software harnesses these elements to help businesses generate more inbound leads and convert a higher percentage of them into paying customers.

RZ: How does Inbound Marketing change business operation and communication?

BH: I was reading a comment by David Meerman Scott basically suggesting that the old-school rules of marketing focused on buying attention (advertising), begging for it (PR) or bugging people one at a time (sales). Inbound Marketing is about creating really compelling content for your Web site (videos, blogs, EBooks etc) that pulls people in to learn more about you. The people attracted include other Web site owners who link to your content, and people tweeting about your content and sharing it on other social networks. Lots of links naturally bring more people to you, and meanwhile you start ranking nicely on Google.

When you have good content it tends to snowball. More and more people start to find you. The nice thing about creating remarkable content is that it is very cumulative. You earn a few more links after each post. It’s kind of like compounding interest in your bank account.

RZ: What can we do as marketers, PR practitioners and communicators to get on board?

BH: Marketing teams and PR agencies need to help clients change their culture of content creation. Bigger, older businesses need to understand that every piece of content shouldn’t be scrutinized through legal reviews. You really need to crank out lots of good stuff, so focus on turning your clients into publishing machines. Businesses who win on the Internet are prolific publishers. Zappos and Whole Foods are a couple that come to mind.

Help your clients craft content that is right for them. Maybe it’s videos for one and blogs for another. Getting remarkable content to the masses creates an inbound flow of traffic that becomes your prospect pipeline, and eventually your paying customers.

My thanks to Brian for his time. You can find HubSpot’s free Grader resources at Grader.com if you haven’t experienced them already. The tools help evaluate and improve your Web presence as well as how you use Facebook and Twitter.

Also check out www.hubspot.tv which airs Fridays at 4:00 p.m. Eastern

(c) 2010 foursquare

I’m starting to check out foursquare to determine its business value. Foursquare is an iPhone mobile application (BlackBerry beta app now available too) that lets users share their whereabouts as they travel. The “Learn More” page on the app’s Web site explains its usefulness in further detail.

I’m a pessimist to some degree on geo-location apps. It’s mostly a privacy thing for me – as in I don’t want to wear a cowbell that transmits my every move (albeit with foursquare and most social apps a share-what-you-want with whom-you-want approach guards some of these concerns). But it’s a relevancy thing too – as in you don’t really care what I had for lunch, just like hardly any of us did when we first got on Twitter.

You might, however, be interested in where I ate lunch if you live in or visit Phoenix, Arizona. Better yet, you might value searching the aggregated preferences and advice of hundreds, maybe thousands, of people who have recently dined, worked, played and lodged in Phoenix. Still better, establishments you frequent might want to reward your loyalty and incent more visits.

Of course we already have apps like Urban Spoon and Yelp (which now also lets users “check in“) for much of this, so how can tools like foursquare and Gowalla build upon the utility of location awareness to benefit Cindy Citizen and Bob The Brander? I asked some friends and forward thinkers to enlighten me. My thanks to all of them, and here’s what they shared…

Jay Baer, social media strategy consultant, Convince & Convert

Whereas Twitter recently added the option to tag tweets with geo-location (a feature utilized by a scant few twitterers), foursquare and Gowalla are inherently geo-aware, because they reside on mobile applications and use GPS to “tag” locations. This has widespread potential.

I think real value will come when foursquare and Gowalla are tied into Facebook and Twitter, and destination check-ins from members show up on the social radar of larger groups of “friends.”

The mid-term potential for these services is something entirely different. They allow a physical place to “be” social, just like a person. A restaurant, bowling alley, insurance agency, theatre. All of them can now interact with people using these check-in services, including providing just-in-time coupons, incentives, and so forth.

Already, organizations are starting to build semi-custom implementations that use the base foursquare and Gowalla services as a platform (like Facebook) rather than as a free-standing application. What Harvard University is doing with foursquare, encouraging students to interact with campus locations and leave notes, compete for prizes, etc. is the direction this is heading.

It’s a bit hard to get your head around at first, but being able to be “friends” with locations as well as people could be a social media game-changer.

Brandon Zeuner, startup advisor and managing partner with Venture51

I agree with not wanting everyone to know where I am, so I presently keep a handful of friends on foursquare and similar services I evaluate. The “mayorship” aspect of foursquare caught my attention early on. I witnessed foursquare dictating where people wanted to meet with me for business so they could maintain their mayoral status at those locations. This is ego-based behavior, yet could be powerful from a marketing sense if used appropriately.

Location-based services are the future of mobility because they are functional on very local levels. For instance, I was eating at Uncle Sam’s in Phoenix and received an offer from Sweet Republic, a nearby ice cream shop, to redeem within a couple hours. This is a simple example of mobile at its best because, as a consumer, it’s serving me offers that I’m double-opting or qualifying myself for based on 1) the use of foursquare on my iPhone in the first place and 2) the actions I take (redeeming a digital coupon in this case) at specific locations.

Provided by Brandon Zeuner

Authenticity is something to consider too. Foursquare users can cheat to some degree since it is not presently GPS based – claiming they’re one place when they’re really somewhere else and thus gaming the system for mayorship of a location. With Gowalla, users have to be several meters within an establishment’s door to have their check-ins validated.

Yelp is still the biggest player for location-based service with about 1.25 million iPhone app users, yet it would be easy for Facebook to build similar functionality and roll over some of these apps with smaller user bases. Anyway, maintaining multiple location-based applications is a pain for general users so it will be interesting to see how these aspects of mobility grow and potentially consolidate.

Greg Head, strategic marketing consultant for CEOs of emerging companies, New Avenue

I think right now foursquare is a practical way to see what friends tell other friends (and Twitter) where they are. It’s clear that there is some social benefit to sharing your location with your network and seeing “who else I know is here too.”

I do think this precedes the huge opportunity for local promotion by retailers that promote offers to their loyal visitors and to visitors who promote the retailer’s location. I don’t know that this will turn into one combined foursquare/Yelp/Twitter/Facebook app that combines our location, network and location into one system. Facebook has a shot at it.

Ed Kless, senior director of partner development and strategy, Sage North America

My initial experience with foursquare was quite interesting. I loaded it the day before going on a business trip. While at the airport, the tips based on my location pointed me to a new place for lunch at an airport that I had been to dozens of times. While checking into my hotel I also was informed that one of our business partners who is also on foursquare was at the same hotel. So I went to dinner with him rather than eating in my room.

A couple of initial ways businesses could use foursquare come to mind. One of the more obvious would be to give the foursquare mayor of your establishment some kind of special privileges such as preferred pricing or bonus goods or services. Another is to develop a foursquare badge for your company. While there is nothing on the foursquare site for doing this, I would imagine this would be an excellent revenue opportunity for them to sell this as a service to companies.

The Fire Brigade on foursquare

And here’s some bonus perspective from Paul Armstrong’s “Fire Brigade” a virtual panel of PR professionals offering weekly opinions and advice about “drinking from the social media fire hose” on PR Week’s UK blog. Foursquare happens to be Paul’s chosen topic this week so have a look at the discussion thread for additional perspectives.

Have you tried foursquare, or do you plan to? Is it fueling you with foresight, or leaving you a bit forlorn?

The Simpsons (TM) Fox Broadcasting

Ninety countries, 45 languages, an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary (for “D’oh”) and 450 episodes of quality programming spanning 20 years … this is “The Simpsons,” or, these are the Simpsons I should say. As an entity, individual family members and as a diverse cast of characters they’ve helped shape how we express humor in our lives and, I think, have taught us a few simple lessons about communicating along the way.

The Simpsonian Institute of Communications

You don’t have to dive too deep into any Simpsons episode to extract a kernel of wisdom. The program makes fun of American life yet often nails the reality of our existence (with sarcasm and hilarious consequences, of course). There are infinite learnings you can draw from the show. Here are just a few broad thoughts that come to mind.

Be Bold If You’re Going To Break Or Change The Rules

The recent Simpsons 20^th Anniversary Special (which you can view here) notes that in its early days the show could get away with a lot of things others couldn’t on television. The show’s creators attribute most of this to being an animated rather than live-action program, which seemed to allow usually censored occurrences and character lines to fly under the radar.

We may not have cloak of animation as a built-in advantage, yet a lot of appreciation and respect can be gained for being a game-changer provided your intentions are good (and I suppose sometimes even when they’re not, considering a tabloid perspective). Being up front with your actions generally gets your message across most effectively, as this classic McBain clip helps illustrate.

A Cast Of Characters Enriches Your Program

While The Simpsons focuses on the dysfunctional family adventures of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie, the show’s longevity and ability to reach the masses is powered by its universe of interesting characters. Ned Flanders, Comic Book Guy, Lionel Hutz, Apu, Moe, Selma Bouvier-Terwilliger-Hutz-McClure-Stu-Simpson … there’s someone for everybody to identify with and root for or against. While communicators understand the importance of having a central spokesperson and a consistent message, even a corporation’s leader or a brand’s representative becomes more likeable when they’re interacting with others.

Star Power Isn’t A Necessity, It’s Good Color

The Simpsons have had hundreds of A-List celebrities and people-of-the-moment appear in episodes. While these moments are often interesting and quiet funny, most aren’t essential to the main plot. Even household brands that emphasize celebrity spokespeople should be careful not to put all of their eggs in one basket. Consider Accenture’s quick dissolution with Tiger Woods. One of my favorite Simpsons clips is the all-star music ensemble for Timmy (the boy trapped in the well) which Sting kicks off.

Familiarity And Repetition Works

The Simpsons are among those who have proved that when something works it doesn’t really need much adjusting. Plots have been repeated over the years and the show even makes fun of itself for doing this. Bart, for example, has had a pet elephant on more than one occasion. He and Lisa have foiled the evil plans of Sideshow Bob ten times now, and the annual “Treehouse Of Horror” episodes are among the series’ most popular. Consider the NBC late night programming scuffle with Leno and Conan for example. The scheduling shakeup of just a few months ago seems to have only created more problems.

Memorable Sound Bytes Help Us, Well, Remember

“Eat my shorts. Don’t have a cow, man. D’oh!” Practically anyone passively aware of television programming over the past two decades can instantly identify these phrases with The Simpsons. It works in marketing too: “We try harder. Less filling, tastes great.” And sometimes in life it backfires. “Read my lips, no new taxes.” Regardless, creating memorable sound bytes can catch people’s attention, grow a person’s or brand’s reputation, and potentially solidify their position in history. It sure has worked for Matt Groening, his Simpsons creative team, and the characters themselves.

December’s PR Tactics journal from the Public Relations Society of America includes my latest Digital Dialogue column. “Social media home schooling: Create your 2010 lesson plan” focuses on some basics that individuals and businesses interested in social networking can use to organize their profiles and help expand their Web proficiency.

There is a lot of noise on the Web to sift through, and likewise a lot of knowledgeable people to learn with. Just this morning I read a post from Todd Defren about how he’s scrubbing his Twitter follower list, not in an effort to abandon followers but rather to weed out spam that has accumulated and restore the list of those he follows so he can return to the level of Twitter conversations he originally benefited from.

Time management is essential. Identifying some favorite resources to visit regularly – blogs, podcasts, communities etc – while leaving your door open to additional discovery requires a bit of planning and maintenance that is worth a bit of effort, and sanity, in the long run. This is what the December piece seeks to offer: a few starting considerations for presenting yourself online and keeping up an appropriate learning curve, along with encouragement for others to add their ideas.  The article cites just a few resource specifics within space constraints. Any favorites you would add heading into the New Year?

The latest Digital Dialogue column for Public Relations Tactics, a publication from the Public Relations Society of America, is available in the November print edition and here online. It’s in PDF format this month, as I believe PRSA is ironing out how my column will post to their freshly redesigned Web site. (They did a nice job by the way.) So hopefully the comment function will return next month for the articles going forward.

I spent some time thinking about the plethora of interesting social media channels that are available, most freely, for our potential use as communicators. I believe it is healthy to give these – the ones you use and those you might want to – a good checkup every once in a while. This is similar to how an organization’s IT department might evaluate their technology vendors. You look at things like existing functionality, planned enhancements and also the financial viability of the social media providers themselves — are they going to be around after you commit to using them to support specific communication tactics for example. Anyway, I’m spoiling the fun. Give it a read and please share any thoughts you may have to build upon this.

My October Digital Dialogue column for PR Tactics, a publication of the Public Relations Society of America, is a Q&A piece titled “Grow into your social media strategy” that also appears on the newly redesigned www.prsa.org site (tip of the hat to PRSA’s editorial and design teams). I interviewed Lee Aase, Mayo Clinic’s manager of syndication and social media about his efforts getting Mayo involved with podcasting, blogging, and YouTube. He described his approach to social media as developing a balanced communications diet, and I rather like the analogy because it emphasizes the benefits of educating and pacing yourself along the way.

The Tactics article gives a quick snapshot of Lee and his team’s journey since that’s what space limitations of the print journal permit (and the online version mirrors; though with the site redesign I’m told we’ll have more opportunity to “explore the space”). The press page of Aase’s personal SMUG site highlights additional Mayo social media achievements and contains more detailed examples of the tools in use.

SMUG, or Social Media University Global, is Aase’s personal contribution to the social media community. He started his “Lines From Lee” blog in July 2006 and in January 2008 morphed it into SMUG. Lee says SMUG allows him to unleash some creativity. “I’m the chancellor,” he notes for example, and his “Old Main” campus facility is actually a photo of his house.

Lee initially used his blogging as a way to get hands-on experience with social media and, over time, was asked by colleagues to give a Facebook 101 course. Eventually he received more complex questions so he designed a 201 course and subsequent curriculum.  ”This set me about using the college course format to organize all the material,” he explained.

SMUG is a helpful site for communicators or anyone wanting to learn more about popular social networking formats, and it seems to be building community too with activities like voting on logo designs for the “University,” and of course blog comments and insights from students. Definitely worth a look when you’re able.

How about you? Are there some go-to sources you consider essential for keeping your social media mindset sharp?

My September “Digital Dialogue” article in the Public Relations Society of America’ Tactics journal is entitled “Develop Your Mindset For Social Media Measurement.” It quotes Brian Solis, author of “Putting the Public Back in Public Relations,” and customer relationship management consultant Marshall Lager of Third Idea Consulting. My thanks to Brian, Marshall and as always, the editorial staff at PRSA.

The article discusses keeping measurement in mind when initially designing your social media strategy, so you can better map your efforts to desired outcomes. It also touches on developing social objects for sharing on the social Web.

Take a look. The complete article on PRSA’s site is at http://bit.ly/6Bymt.