Summary transcript for 3 Oct 2013 #AWCchat: Templates and Checklists

Thanks to everyone who participated in our 70th #AWCChat on Twitter, where we shared and swapped our favorite templates and checklists for both business and life in general.

Here is what we discussed:

1)  What are your favorite general business plan templates?

2)  What are some of your favorite templates or checklists for marketing?

3)   Let’s talk about checklists/templates for general life. Anyone have meal plans for weekday dinners?

Many Resource links were shared, too.

**  On our AWC Chirpstory channel – the summary transcript for the 3 Oct chat.

**  Chat schedule and topics for October 2013.  (Reminder – no chat scheduled for the next two Thursdays, 10 & 17 October due to host travel conflict.)

Thanks for your support of the AWC (Association for Women in Communications) community.

Summary transcript for 22 August 2013 #AWCchat: Sarah Petty on Small Business Marketing

Thanks to everyone who participated in our 65th #AWCChat on Twitter; the guest host was Sarah Petty who is our opening keynote speaker for the 2013 AWC National Conference in Springfield, IL October 18-19.

The chat focus was on charging what you’re worth and successfully marketing a small business.

Here is what we discussed:

1)  So many small businesses fail; how do you manage to keep your business booming?

2)  What is your greatest challenge with charging what you’re worth?

3)  If you’re a small business owner, you don’t have a huge marketing budget. What do you do to get the right clients in the door?

4)  What advice would you give to someone who wants to quit their day job & start their own business?

Sarah gave us two freebie resource links, too (thanks for that!)

a)  An email course – 10 days of free marketing strategies

b)  A free chapter of the New York Times best-selling book she co-authored, “Worth Every Penny“

**  On our AWC Chirpstory channel – the summary transcript for the 22 August chat.

**  Chat schedule and topics for August 2013 (no chat next week August 29.)

Thanks for your support of the AWC (Association for Women in Communications) community.

Summary transcript for 11 April 2013 #AWCchat: Blurred lines between PR, marketing and advertising

Thanks to everyone who participated in our 51st #AWCChat on Twitter about today’s convergence of PR, marketing and advertising, and what that means for professional communicators.

There were only two questions posed, but a lot of discussion flowed from them….

1)  Defining terms as they are understood today: what really IS the big difference between PR and marketing? Or is there one, in reality?

2)  Sponsored content = content you pay for that looks “real” (if it’s done well.) How can you avoid the landmines inherent in creating it?

Some top-notch resource links shared in this chat, too!

**  On Chirpstory – the summary transcript for the 11 April chat.

**  Chat schedule and topics for April 2013.

Thanks for your support of the AWC (Association for Women in Communications) community.

Summary transcript for 24 Jan 2013 #AWCchat: Publicizing awards

Thanks to everyone who participated in our 43rd #AWCChat on Twitter, about how to acknowledge, celebrate and publicize when you win an award, but not come across as an annoying show-off.

Three questions were posed:

1)  If you get a significant award, should you send out a press release? Why or why not?

2)  How can you publicize your award(s) on your website & social media channels? Or is it not appropriate for social?

3)  How can you give back if you’ve been blessed with award recognition? (nominate someone else for one, yo!)

—>>  We mentioned that the AWC Clarion Award nominations are open, with a wide variety of communications award categories. Check it out!

**  On Chirpstory – the summary transcript for the 24 Jan chat.

**  Chat schedule and topics for January 2013

Thanks for your support of the AWC (Association for Women in Communications) community.

Summary transcript for 6 Sept 2012 #AWCchat: social media toolbox

Thanks to everyone who participated in our 32nd  #AWCChat on Twitter, about what kind of apps and software can help you manage social communications.

Four items were up for discussion:

1)   Which tools keep you on top of Twitter? (I’m a TweetDeck girl, myself.)

2)   As long as we’re talking Twitter tools, add your thoughts on best mobile apps for managing tweets.

3)   Particularly for managing Facebook Pages, what tools help you handle updates?

4)   How do you handle Facebook status updates from mobile devices, including photos to Pages & profiles?

We had lots of participants on this chat; thanks everyone!

**  On Chirpstory – the summary transcript for 6 Sept chat on building your social media toolbox.

The next chat is on Thursday, 13 September at 1130 am CST, about whether a résumé is still relevant to today’s hiring process.

**  Chat schedule and topics for September 2012

Thanks for your support of the AWC (Association for Women in Communications) community.

Summary transcript for 30 Aug 2012 #AWCchat: Nonprofit communications

Thanks to everyone who participated in our 31st #AWCChat on Twitter, about how to juggle it all when you’re a nonprofit communications professional.

Huge thanks to our guest host @JanGunter; she’s the Communications Manager and “Jill of All Trades” for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Austin and Central Texas.

Four items were up for discussion:

1)   How does one prioritize work across so many areas: website, fundraising, media relations, social media, email & marketing?

2)   What resources (other than OJT – on the job training) are available? How do you learn the job duties that you don’t know?

3)   As a nonprofit associated with a for-profit brand, how do you create awareness of your need for support?

4)   When do you DIY (do it yourself) & when do you hire an outside professional? e.g., for video, photography, web design or PR campaigns.

We had lots of good resource links, too!

**  On Chirpstory – the summary transcript for 30 August chat on thriving as a nonprofit communicator.

The next chat is on Thursday, 6 September at 1130 am CST, about building a “toolbox” of software and apps to manage your online/social media work.

**  Chat schedule and topics for September 2012

Thanks for your support of the AWC (Association for Women in Communications) community.

Summary transcripts for 16 Aug and 23 Aug #awcchat events

Thanks to everyone who participated in our 29th and 30th #AWCChats on Twitter, about video content creation and decision-making.

We had some problems with getting full transcripts for each, but wanted to try to stay caught up anyway, so here they are:

**  16 August, guest host Lisa Angle from Ninety Degrees Media on video content creation (partial transcript) – http://chirpstory.com/li/19579

**  23 August, on decision-making and clarity using Suzy Welch’s 10-10-10 concept as a template – http://chirpstory.com/li/19578

The next chat is on Thursday, 30 August, with guest host Jan Gunter (@JanGunter) from Ronald McDonald House Charities of Austin and Central Texas, on how to juggle it all as a nonprofit “Jill of All Trades” communicator.

**  Chat schedule and topics for August 2012

Thanks for your support of the AWC (Association for Women in Communications) community.

Summary transcript for 9 Aug 2012 #AWCchat: is print dead?

Thanks to everyone who participated in our 28th #AWCChat on Twitter, about whether print communication is still relevant today.

We had great turnout and our guest host @MaryAnneComm (a former print magazine editor) was terrific!

Four items were up for discussion:

1)   Where do you get news/information/inspiration/industry info? Which print pubs still work for you, & why?

2)  Is the decline of print such a big deal? Should we care about which is hit worse, newspapers or magazines?

3)   What about ‘Twittification’ or ‘textification’ of journalism & communications in general? Are feature articles dead?

4)  Should content format matter? Are multiple platforms (print, online, video, socmed) the answer or is that too costly?

**  On Chirpstory – the summary transcript for 9 August chat on whether “print is dead.”

The next chat is on Thursday, 16 August, but the topic is still TBD, either video-related or about crisis comms.

**  Chat schedule and topics for August 2012

Thanks for your support of the AWC (Association for Women in Communications) community.

Summary transcript for 24 May 2012 #AWCchat: arts, culture and historical organizations

Thanks to everyone who participated in our 22nd #AWCChat on Twitter, about communications issues for those who work with arts, cultural or historical organizations. Turnout was pretty thin, but we shared great resources and learned a lot.

Four items were up for discussion:

1)   Instead of reaching out to “the usual” audiences, how can communicators connect the arts w/new audiences?

2)  How can you communicate to your loyal patrons that you still care about them while you’re trying to find new people?

3)   If you’re seeking business support of your arts/culture/history organization, how best to sell your value?

4)  How can you get buy-in from your Board if you need to make big changes in your communications message?

**  On Chirpstory – the summary transcript for 24 May chat on arts/culture/history communications.

The next chat is on Thursday, 31 May, and the topic is staying healthy and productive during business travel.

**  Chat schedule and topics for May 2012

Thanks for your support of the AWC (Association for Women in Communications) community.

Summary transcript for 15 March 2012 #AWCchat: editorial calendars

Thanks to everyone who participated in our fourteenth #AWCChat on Twitter, on the topic of creating editorial calendars that work for online content creation (like blogs and Facebook Pages.)  Our guest host was National Board of Directors member Aliah Davis-McHenry – she’s @AliahPR on Twitter.

Four questions were up for discussion:

1)   What are some initial steps to set up an editorial calendar that supports your overall communications strategy/goals?

2) Are there “low-hanging fruit” online content topics that can help busy communications professionals get started on their editorial calendar?

3)   Let’s talk tools. What services/software can we use to set up and run our calendar? How about for multi-author planning?

4)   How is an editorial calendar for online content significantly different than one for print?

**  On Chirpstory – the summary transcript for 15 March chat on editorial calendars.

The next #awcchat is scheduled for Thursday, 22 March 2012, on successful internships – being an intern and hiring an intern. Our guest host is PR and marketing strategist Jane Baxter Lynn – she is @JBLStrat on Twitter.

**  Chat schedule and topics for March 2012

Thanks for your support of the AWC (Association for Women in Communications) community.