Twitter Tips From the True Twitter Makers

The Midas Center would like to share an email we recently received from the co-founders of Twitter. We hope you will find this resourceful as they share a comprehensive list of tips on how to get the most from the Twitterverse.

After you've read the list, feel free to share your thoughts from your twitter account and include @midascenter to your tweet so we can hear your comments too! Tweet on tweeps!

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Our resolution is to help you get the most of out of Twitter this year. To start, we thought we'd send this note with four simple suggestions. Come on by our web site to try these out anytime!

1) Follow your interests.
We've found that the people who enjoy Twitter most tend to follow a variety of accounts: friends, family, people in their profession, local shops and events, and most importantly, people who share their passions.

2) Get specific.
Like sports? Follow your favorite leagues, teams, players, coaches, commentators, writers and fellow fans. Love food? Follow chefs, restaurants, critics, bloggers, specialty shops and respected foodies.

3) Don't panic.
People turn to Twitter during emergencies. Snowstorms, power outages and fires are just a few emergencies where Twitter may be helpful. Search for #hashtags and follow local civic accounts to stay informed.

4) Return to Twitter.
There are about 200 million accounts on Twitter now - that means new interests, new voices, and new ideas every day. We offer services in seven languages, apps for most devices, and SMS worldwide.

Thanks for being part of Twitter,

@Biz, @Ev, & @Jack
Co-founders, Twitter

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P.S. Stay connected to The Midas Center via our Linked In Group, The Midas Center Social Media Club, our Facebook page, or our Twitter account to get more information on the upcoming workshop we will be offering on Twitter. The Midas Center provides monthly workshops on a variety of business development topics. Feel free to stop by The Midas Center, anywhere you can get a connection to our online presence to learn more about the details of our workshops!

Local Social Media Workshop for Beginners

You are invited to attend a beginner's social media workshop titled iHEARTplymouth 101.

iHEARTplymouth is a free local social media resource for everything we love about Plymouth. This workshop is open to persons of all ages. Workshop will provide hands on, step by step instructions for getting your own page for yourself, your business, church or neighborhood. Printed materials will be provided and will include how to set up a page, upload photos, add events, add friends, integrate with other social media tools like Facebook and Twitter and more. Bring questions and an eagerness to learn. All questions are welcome!

iHEARTplymouth 101 is a class sponsored by People's University as part of the Plymouth Park Department's Art and Leisure fall courses.

Cost is $3 for city residents, $5 for out of city limits.
Students need to bring a wireless laptop.

Classes will be held at Webster Recreation Center.
Located at 110 Webster Avenue, Plymouth, IN, west of South Michigan Street near Felke Florist.

Register for workshop by contacting People's University by phone or email.
phone: 936-9904 or toll-free at 1-866-936-9904 or email mcoas@hotmail.com

Select preferred date and class item number:
Friday, September 17, 9:45 a.m.
AL 110-1 Social Media (Instructor Cook)

Friday, October 1, 9:45 a.m.
AL 110-2 Social Media (Instructor Cook)

Interested in other social media workshops The Midas Center has available?

Some topics include:
- Branding: It is More Than Just For Cows
- Twitter 101: To Tweep Or Not To Tweep
- Social Media Pioneers: A New Frontier
- Be Famous: Get Your Blog On
- You’re Never Too Old: Social Media

Contact Andrea Cook at The Midas Center to schedule a workshop customized to meet your individual or group's needs today by calling 936 - 7058.

Social Media and Its Impact on Today's Journalism

We'd like to share an insightful article on social media, how it has impacted journalism and legal marketing. With over ten years in legal marketing, The Midas Center has a strong understanding of the challenges law firms and attorneys face when trying to market themselves. This article addresses legal marketing within the new frontier of social media and may apply to any professional service provider looking for additional ways to expand their market outreach through social media. We found Janet Ellen Raasch's perspective fresh and would like to share it with you here.

Lawyers and law firms:
Broadcast journalism evolves in the Internet age
Written by Janet Ellen Raasch

Not so long ago, the term “broadcast journalism” was limited to traditional radio and television news on local and national stations. If a reporter or editor liked your press release or recognized you as an expert on a particular legal area, you might get interviewed for a story. If you (or a potential client) missed the one-time broadcast – you missed it. The airwaves were limited.

Today, broadcast journalism includes not only these traditional media, but also their interactive Web sites and online research capabilities. A broadcast reporter might interview a lawyer as the result of a Google search using certain keywords. The audio or video clip will be available 24/7 on the station’s Web site – coded with an RSS feed that automatically delivers it to searchers around the world. The Internet is unlimited.

In fact, thanks to the Internet, the line between print, radio and television news has become increasingly blurred. Read more >

Social Media and Its Impact on Journalism Continued

Print publications like The Denver Post host audio and video on their Web sites – some of it generated by professionals and some of it by “citizen journalists.” Radio and television station Web sites include not only audio and video podcasts, but also text and photographs.

All of these sites host blogs by their reporters, which can include links to audio and video. All of them offer versions for mobile devices. All of them offer subscriptions via LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, RSS, email or text message. All of them accept user contributions.

Because of these changes, journalism is no longer the exclusive province of traditional “gatekeeper” publishers and producers. Anyone can get into the game, publishing original content on their own Web sites – including law firm sites and blogs -- or on a wide variety of user-populated “content” sites. YouTube, for example, is popular for video. All of this content enhances your search-engine results.

How lawyers and law firms can work with all kinds of broadcast media was discussed by a panel of media experts at the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association monthly educational meeting, held Jan. 12 at the Curtis Hotel in Denver.

Panelists included Jessica Roe, program moderator and director of marketing and communications at law firm Kamlet Reichert; Don Knox, founding editor of Law Week Colorado and former business editor at both the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post; Larry Nelson of Talk Radio w3w3 and author of a recently published book, Mastering Change; and Kristine Strain, assistant news director at News4 .

Tips from the broadcasters

“Lawyers have always been much more comfortable with print than with broadcast,” said Roe, who is also a coach at www.tvappearances.com. She has served as multi-media manager and executive producer at The Denver Post, 9News, and various other stations. “As broadcast becomes more accessible, lawyers will need the skills for this medium.

“Also, be aware that television and video sites are interested in content that is not only newsworthy, but also lends itself to the camera and resonates with a wide audience,” said Roe. “They are not interested in ‘talking heads’. When you contact the broadcast media with a story idea, have an interesting visual in mind and some real people, who have been affected by the story, who are ready and willing to speak to reporters.”

It is also important to honor deadlines. “Print deadlines are tight, but broadcast news deadlines are even tighter,” said Strain. “With an unrelenting schedule of early morning, midday, evening and late-night news shows, reporters must research and write their stories in just a few hours.

The lawyer who follows breaking news, is knowledgeable in a legal subject area, can tie the two together in a good sound-bite, and makes him- or herself available to a reporter on short notice will always be popular with the local broadcast media.

“The 10 p.m. news broadcast has the most viewers but is the most difficult to prepare for,” said Strain. “Reporters on this shift get their assignments at 1:30 or 2 p.m. If you leave the office at 5 or 6 p.m., that leaves a very narrow window for reporters to reach you at your work number or location. Make sure that reporters have your cell and home phone numbers. Be willing to do the interview on your front porch.”

Do not expect payment for your time and expertise. “Commenting on radio or TV is not something a lawyer or other expert does to make money,” said Strain, “especially in the current economic climate. You do it for marketing purposes – to establish yourself as an expert in a particular field.”

Jump into the pool

Panel participants expressed a common interest in deepening their pool of legal experts – especially for stories with a criminal, business or political angle. “Let us know what you are good at and would be willing to discuss,” said Knox. “That said, we are pretty good at finding a legal angle to almost any story.”

When news is breaking, it helps to be on-site. “When Najibullah Zazi was in the federal courthouse, there were many, many reporters waiting outside for hours in the frigid weather,” said Knox. “Local lawyer and broadcast media commentator Craig Silverman braved the weather to join them and, as a result, ended up doing a lot of interviews.

“Another tip is to participate in the federal Criminal Justice Act panel,” said Knox. “You don’t get paid much for the assigned cases, but they tend to be quite newsworthy.”

Law Week Colorado is a good example of how print media are expanding into broadcast. The weekly print version is complemented by a daily online version, which includes video reports as well as text articles. “We’ve just hired our first full-time broadcast journalist to create content for Law Week as well as our broadcast arm, State Bill Colorado,” said Knox.

News media of all types also rely heavily on social media for story ideas and research purposes. “For example, we have set up Twitter searches for every state senator, representative and staff member,” said Knox. “If they tweet about breaking news or someone tweets about them, we find out immediately and follow up on the story.

“We often use social networks to find sources for our print and video content,” said Knox. “If you do not have a robust social media presence, we won’t find you.”

Another broadcast alternative is w3w3 Talk Radio, “Colorado’s Voice of the Technology Community,” which offers online interviews and speeches organized into 15 different topic channels – including a law channel featuring local lawyers.

“Our model is completely different from those presented by others on this panel,” said Nelson. “We focus on in-depth treatment of business trends rather than ‘breaking news’ – so our work is not driven by deadlines. We archive these interviews as a valuable resource. If you come to us with a good story idea that will benefit our listeners, long or short, we will record the interview and run it.”

Panelists agreed on the importance of trust between lawyers (and their media relations specialists) and reporters. If necessary, test the relationship with smaller, less-important confidences before proceeding with more-sensitive stories. “We are not out to get you,” said Strain. “Almost always, we are able to respect confidentiality. It is not in our best interest to disrespect a trusted, long-term source just for the sake of a one-time story.”


Janet Ellen Raasch is a writer, ghostwriter and blogger who works closely with professional services providers – especially lawyers, law firms, legal consultants and legal organizations – to help them achieve name recognition and new business through publication of keyword-rich content for the Web and social media sites as well as articles and books for print.

Social Media Expertise Now Available

Technology has rapidly changed the way that the marketplace communicates, especially for the customers under the age of 40. Reaching out to this customer requires more than business cards, newspaper ads and color brochures. To effectively communicate your product, service or brand, you must have a Social Media Expert working for you.

A Social Media Expert lives and breathes in the new age frontier of communication. This frontier of social media requires an expert who can not only navigate through the world wide web and blogospheres while using Google, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Digg and other Web 2.0 technologies, it also demands a level of professionalism with a proven track record in both the traditional methodologies of marketing and the use of online media.

Ms. Cook has aspired to live on the cutting edge of creative marketing for 10 years and is currently available to work as a New Media Marketing Expert.

Known by friends and colleagues as “web savvy,” “a creative genius,” and sometimes a “tech geek” her favorite past times include blogging, tweeting, googling, digging, analyzing, tracking, reporting, commenting, updating, uploading, searching, linking, tagging, stumbling, sharing and just surfing around. She has a hint of compulsion when it comes to online media and knows how to get the message to stick.

As Founder and President of The Midas Center, Ms. Cook is currently interested in offering her expertise in both marketing and social media to promote products, services and brands as a Social Media Marketing Expert. Contact Ms. Cook today to learn how hiring a Social Media Expert can turn your vision into results.