You can never have enough reminders! Start 2012 out right and refresh your mind on the keys to success with your Twitter account. Dallas Lawrence doe a great job highlighting what you need to know in his Mashable article, 6 Tips for Handling Crises on Twitter. Here is an excerpt from his article.

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Despite widely discussed and accepted social media best practices, many of the most significant crisis poster children of 2011 failed to deploy the basic digital tactics necessary to cauterize potential threats before they metastasized into full-blown reputational disasters.

Some may be tempted to fault the dizzying speed of digital change for the current sad state of crisis preparedness, but the reality is that the basic rules of effective communications have not changed for generations.

From Gutenburg to Zuckerberg, the principles of sincerity, transparency, accuracy and speed still largely determine success or failure in the court of public opinion. What has changed – and what will continue to evolve over time — are the platforms that we use to communicate these principles. No platform in 2011 had a more profound impact on crisis awareness and response than Twitter.

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Read the full article

You’ve followed the advice of your social media gurus: found your inner Tweet, created a popular e-book, maximized your SEO and built a respectable Facebook following… but reached a plateau?  Let’s not forget that most successful thought leadership strategies get a considerable boost by bridging the gap between the blogosphere and conventional media. Saying it on your blog and getting nods from fellow bloggers is a great beginning, but getting quoted in the second paragraph of a breaking story in New York Times or a leading trade magazine can propel you into a totally different league. Bottom line (though we hate to admit it): people care more about what you have to say when you’re quoted as an expert by mainstream news media.

While taking the ‘If you build it, they will come’ approach to blogging may lead some industrious reporters to your door, targeted media outreach can help reporters make the expert connection faster and more often.  Here are a few tips we recommend for getting on the inside track with media when and where they need you most:

• Audit editorial calendars for your top trades and regional magazines. Develop pitches far in advance before the editors assign the story. Ask ‘What perspective do I have to offer the story?’ and get on their radar of experts to interview. Avoid self-promotion and stick to a what-I-can-do-for-you approach.
• Subscribe to free daily media query alerts from HARO (Help A Reporter Out) and monitor the leads for relevant stories.
• Keep your eyes peeled for breaking news and contact reporters directly to help fill the second paragraph of follow up stories.  Check out best-selling author and social media strategist David Meerman Scott’s blog with tips on riding the media wave while a story’s still hot.

Yikes! You better watch out. It doesn’t matter who ‘is right’, social media enables any customer to say anything about your company in their social network. And guess who they are going to believe?

Here is an excerpt from Penni Crabtree’s Union Tribune’s article, Retail’s Big Shift: More Consumers Buy Online.

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Consumers are sharing information with others digitally — and retailers must understand how to monitor and respond to feedback or comments.

It’s an issue that Tim and Emily Marusich, owners of ComfyRobes.com, had to confront recently when a customer emailed that she wanted to return a robe she’d purchased online six months earlier. The woman demanded a refund, claiming the material was defective.

Once the robe was returned, it was apparent that the material wasn’t defective — one of the sleeves was suspiciously shredded and worn. Only then did the customer admit that her cat had been sharpening its claws on the robe for months.

“Obviously, our answer was, ‘We can’t help you,’ ” said Tim Marusich. “We pointed out that terry cloth and claws just don’t mix, and suggested another robe that was more affordable and less susceptible to cat’s claws.”

The customer’s daughter then took portions of ComfyRobes email exchange and posted it online, out of context. Soon the company was getting “thumbs down” and snide emails from many of the woman’s 300-plus Facebook friends.

“You know how people get into their cars, and turn into different people behind the wheel?” said Tim Marusich, who refunded the customer’s money despite the cat damage. “Now they can sit there using these (social networking) tools and they don’t realize they aren’t anonymous, and that their actions have consequences.

“We have a great reputation as a company, and never had a charge back,” Marusich added. “But the danger is that consumers have the power to do real damage to a company, and sometimes it isn’t justified.”

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Nothing is more annoying than bad netiquette. Here are five of the most common business eMail mistakes. Read Arndrea Bartz’s and Brenna Ehrlich’s article, ’10 Business e-mails You Shouldn’t Send’ to make sure you avoid bad netiquette.

Top 5 eMail Mistakes

1. YELLING. No caps please!

2. Going all kindergarten with your fonts.

3. Misomers. Spelling errors are bad!

4. Emoticons. No or please…

5. Overly informal greetings. Wassup…. doesn’t wuite cut it.

Read the full story on CNN