K Street Cafe

Facebook Forms Political Action Committee (Reuters)
The social network has pledged to begin supporting ‘candidates who share [Facebook's] goals of promoting the value of innovation to our economy while giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.’

Facebook’s New PAC Shows DC’s Innovative and Risk-Taking Methods Are Spreading to Silicon Valley (TechPresident)
According to Micah Sifry, Facebook’s creation of a Political Action Committee indicates that large campaign contributions and ‘intensive lobbying’ are becoming the norm for tech giants.

You’re the Entire Social Media Marketing Team. Now What? (PR Daily)
PR Daily has created a 6-step list of “must-dos” to maximize your online branding efforts, particularly useful if you’re on a tight budget.

HOW TO: Maximize Your Brand’s Relevance With Facebook Post Targeting (Mashable)
Facebook marketers can choose to target by location or by language in order to reach the right audiences.

5 musts for managing Twitter during a crisis (Ragan’s PR Daily)
As a real-time reporting tool for citizens and journalists, Twitter has become key in crisis management.

Jeff is right on the mark in his post “Your Social Media Strategy May Not Be A Strategy.” But it may even be worse than he reports. Some companies and organizations don’t even have clear tactics when it comes to social media, but still think they have a strategy.

I often remind people that knowing how to use social media is not the same thing as knowing how to use it strategically and tactically.

I have trained many college students (in my classes and interns at work) who claim to know how to use social media at the start of the training. By the end of the training the invariable comment that they never thought it through strategically or tactically before.

Our strategy at the Center for American Progress and Center for American Progress Action Fund is to use social media to influence influencers so they will share our ideas with their audiences. Sometimes that is simply to get our policy reports, videos, and interactive graphics out to an influential audience. Sometimes our goal is to mobilize people to take action to influence policymakers.

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America’s fiscal crisis is fueling activism in cities and town across America where Tea Party rallies shine the light on our national debt and out-of-control government spending. But there’s also a revolution happening online, particularly with web videos that tell the story of an economically challenged country.

Debt, spending and taxes don’t exactly translate into blockbusters. Over the course of the past couple weeks, however, web videos on each subject have illustrated just how significant those issues are for engaged citizens.

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Ten Commandments of Campaign Social Media (e.politics)
Ten rules of campaign social media you should live by.

Choose the Right Marketing Channels to Reach the Right Members (Forum)
Association marketing, like television, provides tons of choices, however, you’ve got to find the right channels.

How Tweet It Is!: Library Acquires Entire Twitter Archive
(Library of Congress)
Ever tweeted on Twitter? Congratulations, your 140 characters or less will now be housed in the Library of Congress.

10 Books to Seize What is Happening with Grassroots, Communications + Marketing (Advocacy 2.0)
Discover 10 great books to help you understand and capitalize on the current trends in grassroots, communications and marketing.

An Inventor’s Shocking Forecasts for Marketing Technology (iMedia Connection)
Renowned futurist and inventor, Ray Kurzweil, gives his thoughts on the future of technology in the marketing industry.

DC Will Debut “Digital Capital Week” in June 2010 (Cheeky Fresh)
Digital Capital Week is a 10 day festival in Washington, DC that will focus on technology, innovation and all things digital in our nation’s capital.

Critics Say Social-Media Should Be Off Limits for DTC Drug Ads (Advertising Age)
Critics of using social media as a means of advertising for the pharmaceutical industry believe that the drug companies should not promote their products via e-mail, social networking sites, or text messages due to the seriousness of their message.

Is Starting A Corporate Blog True To Your Company Culture? (PR Communications)
Find out if your corporate culture is one that would benefit from blogging.

Cross-posted on e.politics

A tough question came up in a conversation with a visiting group of Danish communications professionals last week — how do you actually measure the effectiveness of social media outreach? At that moment, the questioner seemed to be looking for some grand sweeping mechanism, but I think the reality is much more complicated: how you measure social media depends on what you’re trying to make it do.

Trying to Grab Hold of a Cloud

Here’s the problem: as with so much communications work, the effects of social media outreach can be quite diffuse. Say your advocacy campaign has a video on your issue out on YouTube — how do you measure the influence it has on the public mind? Some thing with that network of activists you’ve laboriously built up through Facebook — how do you find out how much good they’re actually doing you?

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