socialmedia

Bravos for Social Media Bootcamp

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Tons of transformational ideas, tools and Twitter tips highlighted the AAJA Seattle Spring Training Social Media and Self-Branding Bootcamp on March 28. Sona Patel, Lauren Rabaino and Brian Rosenthal of the Seattle Times did a dynamite job dishing out info and inspiration (plus a tour of the newly consolidated Times newsroom).

The talented trio asked us to blog about our five top takeaways. My list:

Interact. Subscribe to blogs. Follow people who are doing what you want to do.  Comment on their posts. Lauren shared an anecdote from her student days how she posted on a Big-Shot Journalist’s blog and he responded, much to her delighted astonishment. It marks you as someone who contributes to the discourse and helps establish you as a credible source of information.

Use your name or a consistent alias across all platforms. To build the brand, you need a unified naming convention on Twitter, your website, Facebook, LinkedIn.

Tweet where you’re at. Beaming out that you’re at a school board meeting, tech conference (or AAJA event!) builds credibility that you’re covering what’s important, doing the footwork.

Don’t sweat the SEO. People will find you if you write well about what matters to you, said Lauren. Brilliant strategy.

Always have visuals – makes posts more shareable. To wit: Fueling up for the drive home to Bellingham, I stopped afterward at Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream for a triple hot fudge sundae (salted caramel, Scout mint and vegan coconut chunk!). Noticed they had a map showing their ingredients’ origin. Noticed their milk and cream come from the Edaleen Dairy in Lynden. Realized this would make a fun post on my Blue Ribbon blog about local food, farming and fairs. Also, realized, with regret, that a photo of the little thumbtack on “Lynden” would’ve made the post 10 times cooler. Hit home that I need to take my camera everywhere — even the malt shop.

Heading to LA for the AAJA Convention? Check this out! — UPDATED

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UPDATE: The AAJA Convention Blog is on Tumblr. Check it out for regular updates.

The 21st Annual AAJA Convention: Back to the Future begins in  Los Angeles this week.

Here’s some tips to help you get the most out of the experience.

A cheap way from LAX to the Convention hotel

Here’s a handy tip from Kevin Leung of the Los Angeles Times:

Consider taking the FlyAway bus to Union Station in downtown and then
taking the Red Line subway to the Renaissance (Hollywood & Highland
station). It’s cheaper ($7 for bus + $1.50 for subway) than taking a
shuttle and probably faster (you are not being driven all over L.A. to
drop off other passengers).

The bus stops are just outside the baggage area. Make sure you take the
one to Union Station; there are separate buses to UCLA, Van Nuys and
Irvine. They run 24 hours.

The Red Line runs approximately 5 a.m. to midnight.

Plan out your convention

A full schedule can be found here.

It’s not all work in LA

Check out this handy guide from the AAJA-Los Angeles chapter. The guide offers information on popular dining and night spots, recreation areas and events happening during the week.

Be generous!

Check out the highlights of this year’s silent auction. A bottle of champagne from Robin Leach’s collection? Oh yeah!

Get connected with social media

Twitter

Mark your AAJA Convention posts with the hashtag #aaja.

Here are some Twitter users to follow while you’re at convention:

@aajajcamp — J Camp, a multicultural high school journalism workshop, is currently in session through Wednesday at Loyola Marymount University. Athima Chansanchai (@TimaMedia), AAJA Seattle’s National Board Representative, is J Camp trainer this year.

@aajavoices — Check out AAJA Voices, the convention’s student news project, directed by AAJA Seattle member and Seattle Times reporter Marian Liu (@marianliu).  AAJA Seattle student member Peter Sessum (@petersessum) is on this year’s Voices Staff.

@aajaseattle — AAJA Seattle’s Twitter feed.

@aajala — Follow the AAJA- Los Angeles chapter, who is hosting this year’s convention.

@aaja — the official Twitter stream for AAJA National.

Foursquare

Get the latest things to do while you’re at convention by adding AAJA to your Foursquare friends list.

Facebook

Official Convention Facebook Group

AAJA Voices Facebook page

Want a great convention experience?

Be a rockstar! [Thanks to the 10,000 Words blog]

Executive Development Institute presents social-media workshop June 22

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The Executive Development Institute presents a 2010 Leadership Together Educational Forum – “Invasion of Social Media – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly!” – on Tuesday, June 22, at The Seattle Times.

The event is sponsored in part by the National Association of Asian-American Professionals (NAAAP) and Qwest’s Pacific Asian American Network (PAAN).

Speaker: Charlie Harger, technology and social media reporter, KOMO Newsradio and president, Bohado Media

What: Learn how to take advantage of social media to advance your professional presence, define your professional brand, do business and expand your network. In addition, find out how to repair and change your current image in the virtual world.

When: Tuesday, June 22

    5:30 p.m.-6:20 p.m.: Registration and appetizers
    6:20 p.m.-7:30 p.m.: Educational forum
    7:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.: Networking


Where: The Seattle Times, auditorium, 1120 John St, Seattle WA 98109

Parking: Street or after 5 pm, in Seattle Times lot

Cost: FREE! Call or email EDI by June 18th at 425-467-9365 or edi@ediorg.org

Ten Twitter lessons from AAJA Seattle Innovation Salon at TASTE

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AAJA student member Peter Sessum, a three-time recipient of Northwest Journalists of Color scholarship who writes for The Daily, documented the event and wrote up 10 Twitter lessons he learned at our AAJA Seattle’s first Innovation Salon:

1. Be yourself. While Twitter can be used for business, it is expression of who you are. Relationships with customers can be built if your Twitter has that personal touch. Better to be loved, or hated, for who you are than to be invisible.

2. Don’t retweet compliments. It comes off as self indulgent and will get you deleted from Becky Selengut’s feed. It is enough that all of the sender’s followers can read it, all of your followers don’t need to as well. Simply reply a thank you and move on.

3. Be mindful of which account you are using. For the professional Twitter, posting a personal Tweet, or replying to a friend, from a business account reflects on the business. Remember to log out and log back in from your personal account.

4. Deleting posts. Recent news proves that deleting can be just as troublesome as the original post. Twitter is in real time and instant gratification. There is a feeling of urgency to post right away or retweet before there is a gap in the posting. In a professional setting, take a moment before posting. It will get read, might as well have it right.

5. Misspellings. Make a correction and move on. Do not be too critical of another’s mistakes; it will happen to you too someday.

6. Inflection is lost when typing. A public forum is not the place to give someone new a taste of your sense of humor.

7. Do not argue over twitter. A healthy exchange of ideas is good, shouting matches are not. In online fights there are no winners, only losers.

8. We are all connected in the Twittersphere. Retweets are a good way to link people you don’t know with people you don’t know. Selengut’s beautifully convoluted story that linked up strangers illustrates how to help one another. As a result, you may end up with jam.

9. There is still room for improvement on Twitter. Creative people will find new ways to utilize twitter at 140 words at a time. Limitations do not stifle imagination, they inspire innovation.

10. Most importantly, know when to unplug. Despite all the “connections” on Facebook and Twitter, it isn’t real interaction. Sit down with friends and family without phones and computers. Have some real connections, there will be plenty of time to Tweet about it later.

AAJA Seattle holds first innovation salon at SAM

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AAJA Seattle moderator Karen Johnson leads a panel on applications for Twitter. From left to right: Karen Johnson, managing editor of SeattleMag.com; food writer Matthew Amster-Burton; PR-pro Hsiao-Ching Chou; and chef Becky Selengut.
From left to right: Karen Johnson, managing editor of SeattleMag.com; food writer Matthew Amster-Burton; PR-pro Hsiao-Ching Chou; and chef Becky Selengut.

AAJA Seattle held its first Innovation Salon on May 25 at TASTE Restaurant at Seattle Art Museum.

These salons are aimed at getting journalists outside their comfort zones. By hearing from innovators in marketing, media, technology and other fields outside traditional media, journalists can learn about innovative concepts, integrate this thinking into their own work and become innovation leaders in their organizations.

Our first salon, not surprisingly, focused on the culture of Twitter and how various users wield it to have conversations, cultivate sources and disseminate their messages – all of them outside traditional newsrooms.

The stylish downtown restaurant, between the foodie suppliers at Pike Place Market and the social-media startups in Pioneer Square, was the perfect setting for journalists, foodie bloggers, marketing executives and tech analysts to gather for an evening of stimulating conversation.

The event was co-sponsored by AAJA Seattle, TASTE Restaurant and Seattle Magazine. About 40 people attended the event, which was designed to be small to encourage meaningful conversations and networking.

After chowing down on delicious appetizers prepared by TASTE chef Craig Hetherington, the audience heard from a panel moderated by Karen Johnson, online managing editor of SeattleMag.com.

The panelists were food writer Matthew Amster-Burton; PR-pro Hsiao-Ching Chou; and chef Becky Selengut.

Shoutouts to Johnson, online managing editor of SeattleMag.com, for organizing the panel and venue; chapter treasurer Nicole Tsong for providing support; and volunteer Jillian Dinnie, who sold tickets and collected money for AAJA Seattle at the door.

Want to learn more? Read AAJA student member Peter Sessum’s post on 10 things he learned about Twitter etiquette from the salon.

Eating While Tweeting: Social Media Lessons from Seattle’s Fooderati

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You can have your food, Twitter and iPhone all at the same time

AAJA Seattle’s 2010 INNOVATION SALONS:
Join us for a lively evening of food, drinks, networking and twitterific conversation at TASTE Restaurant at the Seattle Art Museum.


“EATING WHILE TWEETING: SOCIAL MEDIA LESSONS FROM SEATTLE’S FOODERATI”

For AAJA Seattle’s inaugural Innovation Salon series, we bring together a group of the city’s hungriest tweeters: PR-pro Hsiao-Ching Chou, food writer Matthew Amster-Burton and chef Becky Selengut.

Journalists, businesses owners and just about anyone else with a message is scrambling to carve a presence in emerging social media markets. This panel represents a micro-community that adopted social media and pushed its boundaries since before it was cool.

Moderated by Karen Johnson, Seattle magazine online managing editor, this intimate salon will focus less on the Twitter basics and more on the broad lessons, stories and musings from a foodie community that has embraced, and in turn, been transformed through social media

DETAILS
Event: “Eating while tweeting: Social media lessons from Seattle’s fooderati”
When: Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Where: TASTE Restaurant at Seattle Art Museum, 1300 FIrst Ave., Downtown
Time: 6 p.m.
Cost: $25/$20 for AAJA Seattle members (includes appetizers provided by TASTE)
Buy tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/112278

ABOUT THE PANELISTS
• Matthew Amster-Burton Food writer and author of Hungry Monkey: A Food-Loving Father’s Quest to Raise an Adventurous Eater
• Hsiao-Ching Chou Partner and social media director at Suzuki+Chou Communimedia, writer and former food editor at the Seattle P-I
• Becky Selengut Chef and co-author of The Washington Local and Seasonal Cookbook

SPONSORS
AAJA Seattle
Taste Restaurant at Seattle Art Museum
Seattle magazine

The Asian American Journalists Association-Seattle chapter is a local, non-profit professional and organization. Since 1985, the chapter has provided scholarships for students, professional development for journalists and service to the community in the Pacific Northwest. For more info on AAJA Seattle visit: www.aajaseattle.org

(Images courtesy of CIO.com, Flickr Creative Commons: photos by The Mooncake Box, smcgee, highway.skylines. Graphic by Hot Chai Media)