I switched from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser years ago. When my Mozilla Firefox web browser started doing squirrely things (like crashing Microsoft Outlook), I moved to Google’s Chrome and I am loving it.  It’s clean and fast.

I recently started using Better Facebook, a browser extension which adds some desirable features to the way Facebook appears.  For example, have you ever signed up for an event and then been unable to find the information because you couldn’t remember the exact name of the event?  Better Facebook remembers and shows all my events in one place.  Anyway, Better Facebook doesn’t even offer a version for Internet Explorer.

“IE is a bad browser,” their website says. “Do not use it. It is most vulnerable to viruses and spyware, and it lags behind most other browsers in capabilities. Seriously. Switch to Google Chrome at least!”

If you’re deep enough into the Internet to be reading this, then your business probably has a website.  If you don’t, you must, for defensive reasons.  If unhappy customers start posting bad stuff about you, whether it’s on a website, in blogs or on Facebook, THOSE entries will be at the top of the Google results when somebody searches for your name.  Having an active website, suitably optimized for search engines, will put you at the top of the queue and push their comments down the page.

Constant Contact recently named me as one of their All Stars.  Oooooo!  I wondered for a moment if this was like those pay-to-play “Who’s Who” directories but didn’t detect any financial strings attached to this great honor.  They say I qualified because I

• • • Communicate with customers and members for all four quarters of the year
    • Update mailing lists often and obtain permission from my subscribers to contact them
    • Have high open and click-through rates and low bounce rates
    • Use mailing list sign-up tools like “Join My Mailing List” on my website or Facebook page
    • Use reports to gain insights about my contact list and online marketing activities

Golly.  Here I thought all that stuff was standard procedure for professional communications and they seem to think it’s something special.

In May, 2010, I wrote about the change in the Associated Press Stylebook from Web site to website.  At the time, they still clung to the hyphen in e-mail but earlier this month they threw it under the bus. The correct spelling is now “email,”  although the hyphen lingers in words like e-reader. Smart phone is two words and fan, friend and follow can be used both as nouns and verbs.  The AP also announced social media guidelines, summarized here by Mashable.

You’ve heard me say, “Never screw up on a slow news day.”  The flip side of that coin is, “Seize the slow news day.”  During the 11 p.m. news on a Saturday, WDIV TV aired a story about funeral home owners who had misused  money they’d received as pre-payment for funerals.  I immediately dashed off a email to the Channel 4 news desk, offering my client, William Sullivan & Son Funeral Directors, to comment on the story.  The station called me at 8 a.m. Sunday:  Could they interview someone that morning?   You bet!

Sullivan VP Michael Lope met the camera person at 9:45 a.m. then emailed the producer several points of advice for people thinking about pre-paying for their funeral.  The 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts aired Mike’s comments and the bullet-point list, right underneath the company’s name.

A single breaking news story – traffic pile up, apartment fire, party store shooting – would have derailed us. We took a chance and it paid off.

Here are conclusions from a study done between August 2007 to October 2010, evaluating 1.64 million status updates with 7.56 million comments.

• • The most activity occurs at 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. with the biggest activity occurring around 3 p.m.
  • The most popular day and time of the week is Wednesday at 3 p.m.
  • Sundays are slowest

The study said that posts that are published in the morning will receive more comments than posts published in the afternoon. The morning posts are 40% more effective. The most popular time of the hour is 00:00 to 00:15.

So update your status between 11 and 11:15 a.m., especially on Wednesdays.

Thanks to HKO Media for the analysis.

I’ve written in the past about crowdsourcing graphic design.  I did just that when I needed a logo for Cabaret Detroit, my new music performance endeavor.

I started with Logo Tournament and was disappointed with the results.  I only received 15 entries.  Happily, they will refund your money if you get fewer than 40 entries.

I had much better luck with logomyway.com.  I bid $200 and received 199 entries from all over the world.  You can view them here.  Once the contest was over, I was able to fine tune the winning design before paying.  The winner sent me the final entry in several formats, including Adobe Photoshop, so I could pull out the layers I wanted for different uses.

by Erik Meier

Becoming focused on what you need to do to accomplish your sales goals seems like an appropriate thing to do.  Homing in on exactly what needs to be done, how it needs to be done, and when it needs to be done might be considered an essential element for developing an effective plan.  And it is… until “getting focused” becomes an activity onto its own.

Too much research and planning can be worse then no research and planning.

How can that be?

If you performed no research, had no plan, had no strategy, but instead, just pulled up your prospect database and started making phone calls… or went out and started “knocking on doors”, at least you’d be doing something.  Some people would talk to you, some wouldn’t.  Some people would have meaningful conversation with you, others would dismiss you quickly.  Some people would qualify as prospects, some wouldn’t.  And, some people, not prospects themselves, would point you in the direction of others who may be.

Even though your activity would not be based on or directed by a well thought out plan, it would ACTIVITY.  And, results come from “doing”, not “thinking” about what to do.  So, invest a sensible amount of time to do the research, target your prospects, develop your plan — then ACT!

Erik is the CEO of the EAM Consulting Group in Troy.   He trains, coaches and consults as an authorized licensee of Sandler Training,  a world leader in innovative sales and sales management training.

By Gary Mach

You are in charge of your organization’s big event.  Everything is ready to go… except, for the “host.”  Many people who play important roles in an organization are not good speakers.  A skilled host can help make a good event great.  This is someone who is comfortable and experienced speaking in front of groups, has a sense of humor, and knows the mechanics of working a crowd.

If you are the host, here are three tips to consider.

1. Script it, and practice it.  Read the script out loud. With a few practice sessions, it will appear that you are not truly reading, but rather using notes to simply stay on schedule.  Use an outline of the points that need to be covered. Speak clearly, somewhat slower than normal conversation, and look up from the script from time to time to make eye contact with your audience. If you will be introducing people, be sure to look at their names in advance. If necessary, spell them out phonetically (fo –net- ick- a-lee) in your script to make pronunciation easier.

2. Relax and enjoy it!  Remember to relax,  the focus is not truly on you. Your job is to make things go smoothly and to put the audience at ease.  So smile, take a breath, have a sip of water, and enjoy your time at the podium.  Body language is important.  Stand comfortably, feet spaced apart the same distance as your shoulders. Your hands should either be by your side, or rest on the podium out of sight of the audience. You can use one hand to “track” your way through the script, and turn the pages.  Try not to “grip” the sides of the podium with the whites of your knuckles showing.

3. Microphone/PA use. You should be able to hear yourself in the public address (PA) system and can adjust your volume by moving closer or further away as necessary.  Whatever you do, don’t apologize for your presentation before it begins.  No matter what happens, just roll with it and show some humor if things don’t work exactly as planned.  Everything you can do to put your audience at ease will make the event more successful for you and your organization.

Gary Mach is a freelance writer, trainer, facilitator and event host.  Find him at www.wordsyouuse.com

The media landscape continues to shift.  As the news hole at traditional media outlets declines, we have fewer opportunities to reach hundreds of thousands of people at once.  Simultaneously, we have many more changes to reach 5,000 keenly interested people through a website or blog.

In his Bad Pitch Blog, Kevin Dugan describes what that means to public relations professionals and their clients.

• News releases must feature actual reportage.
• We must be relevant, understanding the current events filters editors use to choose stories.
• We must talk with and understand our clients’ customers
• Response must be rapid and brief (See “relevant”)
• If we help the reporter/blogger generate clicks, we generate clicks for our clients.
• We have to know how to use the front-end tools, like fundamental storytelling and multimedia, as well as the back-end tools, like search and analytics.