Traditionally, photos and videos have been a pricey option for businesses when creating advertising or public relations messages. It involved hiring photographers and videographers and even models to capture that perfect shot. Luckily today we’ve traded “picture perfect” for “grassroots and down-to-earth”, but small businesses and B-to-B firms are always maximizing this option.

Here’s an example of a video podcast I just did for our client, Centennial. They built the world’s first recycled plastic train bridges and as interesting as it is to read about, it’s even cooler to see the train actually cross the bridge and hear from the inventor and builders. I took the footage myself and edited it on a (gasp!) PC. Sure, it doesn’t have the special effects of a Tom Cruise movie, but it doesn’t have to because it’s going on YouTube and blogs, not the silver screen.

Photos work much the same way. Setting up a photo gallery under your own account on searchable photo sites like Flickr and posting photos that you want people to view, or even want people to use on their blogs and articles, is easier than ever. They also spruce up your blog posts.

And all of this can be linked to your Facebook page and tweeted. This underutilized medium opens up a realm of possibilities for organizations of all types, so next time you have a story to tell, consider the best way to go about it—it just might be a 3-minute video.

It's not just idle chit chat or a waste of time. Millions of people access social networks every day to get real information.

Some construction companies are making full use of social media's marketing benefits. If you're one of them, this blog post isn't for you. For the rest of you (and you know who you are), here are seven reasons your company-whether a large, national general contractor or a small, local specialty contractor-should use social media to market yourself.

1. Make Your Voice Heard. Engage in communities, blogs and forums where people are already discussing the industry's hottest topics such as green building and BIM.
2. Showcase Your Quality Work. We all know a picture is worth a thousand words, and photo galleries and video channels like Flickr and YouTube make it easier than ever to show your company portfolio to a larger audience.
3. Maintain Sales Leads. Using LinkedIn to manage connections you meet and to profile your brand makes it easier for someone to remember you and then find you when they need your services.
4. Become the Expert. Maybe you do something not many others do. In the old days, you wouldn't write an encyclopedia entry on it, but today that's exactly what you should do-explain it on Wikipedia and become the go-to expert.
5. Take Your Expertise to the Next Level. Give more in-depth information in the form of audio podcasts and distribute them through iTunes. People can download them and listen to them while commuting or exercising.  
6. Communicate With Your Employees. Employees of construction firms are often spread out on different job sites. Posting company news in a central location such as your website or Facebook and then Tweeting it can make it easier to spread a uniform message throughout your staff.
7. Draw All that Effort Back to Your Website. The most important purpose of any social media effort is to bring the traffic back to your company's hub-its website. Now there are more places to put that message than ever before.

Social media possibilities can seem overwhelming and at times risky, but thinking strategically about where to start and beginning slowly can help you grow your business. But please, also consider putting a social media policy in place before unleashing the entire company on it. See you on Twitter @frostmiller or Facebook www.facebook.com/frostmillergroup!

Now that FMG has been maintaining its corporate blog for over a year, I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on a few things we've observed about blogging as a company. If you feel like your corporate blog is dragging, refresh your approach with these ideas.

• Spread the Wealth. Don't take the burden of maintaining the corporate blog all on yourself. The more bloggers you have, the less stress you have to produce (and produce, and produce) content and the more points of view you can share.
• It Takes a Cheerleader. It's hard to keep those bloggers blogging. We're all busy. We all have tons of other projects to work on so writing a blog post can become just another thing on the To Do list. To avoid this brings me to my next point...
• Write About Topics You Care About. It'll be easier to make time to write the posts, and they'll be easier to write and more interesting. Parcel out the topics to people based on their interests. For example, I love writing, PR and social media so those are my topics, while Kevin is all about strategy and focuses his attention there.
• Make an Editorial Calendar. Plan it out a little bit, so you're not always trying come up with your next brilliant topic and can just be brilliant instead.
• Consider Guest Bloggers. Bring in outside contributors to add expertise that complements your own.

We want to know how you keep your blog going. Please share your tips and suggestions with our readers!

We know social media is a great marketing tool for tradeshows. Once you start an account regular maintenance is the key to success. As you're planning the event, the Twitter account moves to last on your to-do list. The hardest part of regular tweeting is coming up with ideas for tweets. I've seen some great examples of tradeshow tweeting so I've compiled a list of topics you can use to promote your event on a regular, even daily, basis.

1. Deadlines and Dates: People have a lot to do and reminders don't hurt. Early registration deadlines, hotel deadlines, even exhibitor deadlines like priority periods, or speaker deadlines like call for papers.
2. Breaking News about the Event Program: Announce Keynote Speakers and sessions you've just added.
3. What Other People Say: ReTweet and reply to your followers' tweets about your show.
4. Ask questions: Poll your followers on the types of sessions they'd like to see at your show or technology they'd like to learn about.
5. Answer questions: If one person asks it, someone else probably wants to know too.
6. Specific Event Hashtag: Create and use a hashtag on your tweets and make sure your followers know what it is so that they can use it in their tweets!
7. Tweet-Up Details: You've all already formed a community before the show so set aside a space and time where tweeters can meet and network during the event.

Don't stop tweeting when the event starts. Keep attendees and non-attendees informed about the day's activities. I know your crazy busy, but nothing bothers me more than tweets that just stop cold turkey as soon as the show starts. Ok, maybe some things bother me more, but still, if you don't have the time to tweet, designate someone who does-just make sure your followers know someone else is handling the tweets in your absence.

1. Current Hot Sessions: Announce when and where hot topic sessions are taking place.
2. Updates: What happened during the annual business meeting or opening Keynote? Let everyone know!
3. Personal Notes: Comment about your chat with a big name in the industry.
4. Post Photos: Send out links to photos from last night's networking session or opening ceremony.

Get creative! Social media allows us freedom to invent new ways of marketing. Take advantage of the possibilities, and while you're at it, follow me on Twitter @frostmiller to tell me what you think.

• Use of All Online Media.
  We defined acceptable social media usage during work hours.
• Company Content.
  We retained the right to approve all content created on behalf of the company and set limits on what that content can contain.
• Personal Content.
  Personal means it's your own business right? Right. Except when you involve the company, so here we addressed issues that would relate to Frost Miller, such as user IDs, confidential company information, etc.
• Comments.
  In addition to covering our social media accounts, we addressed comments on other people's blogs and forums as they relate to Frost Miller.

We also got a tip from one of our Twitter friends who suggests considering points from your hiring policy for inclusion in your social media policy.
So now we can check that off our To Do List, right? Wrong. Change is constant in social media, so we'll review this policy regularly to ensure we're still covering all of our bases and make updates accordingly.
Have another suggestion or need more social media policy advice? Leave a comment or follow us on Twitter @frostmiller and we'll talk!

You know that one lesson from high school that made such an impression on you that you'll never forget it? For me, it happened in 11^th grade English. For every paper we wrote we could not use more than 4 (yes, 4) "to be" verbs per 500 words. Now I think about it every time I write advertising copy. It forces me to use verbs that convey energy and emotion and put the emphasis back on the doer.

Check out this very basic example to see what I mean:

Passive: Frost Miller Group's blog posts about copywriting are written by Liz Johnson.

Active: Liz Johnson writes Frost Miller Group's copywriting blog posts.

When I rewrote the sentence to remove the "are" it focused on me rather than the blog posts, making it more dynamic.

Sometimes "to be" verbs are necessary, but 90% of the time in our business, we just don't need them. So, take the challenge and try it. Eliminate those boring "to be" verbs and write in the active voice. Readers will find your writing more interesting.

Need a refresher list of the "to be" verbs?

Is

Am

Are

Was

Were

Be

Been

Being

Become

Became 

We put the cart before the horse on this one - launching our blog and interacting on Twitter and LinkedIn before writing an agency-wide social media policy! You know, a Code of Conduct for the Internet that will become part of our employee handbook.

Truth be told, we're a fairly tight knit bunch, so we all pretty much know where our comfort zone is for this sort of thing. Still, what if, down the road someone new comes in and thinks differently? That's why - large or small - it's critical for every organization to have a social media policy in place (and, AHEM!, preferably before engaging in social media).

So, as Frost Miller's social media policy is a work in progress with lots of ideas swirling around, I'm taking a one-question poll to gather even more input.

1. What do you think is the most important point to be included in a social media policy?

Leave a comment to let me know what you think or send me a tweet @frostmiller. And stay tuned. I'll be posting the "Top 10" points we included in our policy.

It's over! At Frost Miller Group we're looking forward to an exciting New Year--new decade, really--filled with ventures into new areas with our clients, opportunities to show off our talent and expertise to new audiences and robust conversations about anything marketing here on our blog.

Post a comment to let us know what you're looking forward to in 2010. And, check out our New Year's e-card! http://www.frostmiller.com/newyears_email/fmg_newyears_web.html

Happy New Year!

We added Edward Segal's How to Prepare Your Crisis Communications Plan guide to our Resources page. It provides a starting point for the seemingly monster task of creating a crisis communication plan as well as do's and don't's. We've asked Edward to add some blog posts here so check back soon for more from Edward.

While Tiger Woods' mystery accident saga continues, there are two big Public Relations lessons businesses large and small can learn. 

1. Crises occur out of nowhere. And they can happen to anyone. That's why it's important to prepare a crisis communications plan when times are good. The plan should identify potential crises your organization could face; the crisis team for each situation; the spokeperson; the possible statement; and information that would need to be gathered during the crises.
2. "No Comment" doesn't make the media go away. Organizations that try to avoid the situation will find that the speculation surrounding it just makes it last longer. Most of the time, it's better to address the situation head on, providing basic information, than say nothing at all.

Crisis communication plans along with media training for executive spokespeople are essential parts of every organization's public relations strategy. Take time to think through yours...before you have to use it.