Here are our Top 10 PR Pro Tips for this week, selected from Twitter. Remember to submit your own PR pro tip using the hashtag #PRTip or #PRTips. Your tweet could be featured here next week!

Social media has been around for quite some time now, but that certainly doesn’t mean everyone is fully comfortable using it. Check out today’s #FilmFriday and learn some helpful tips from EDPR founder, Cory Stewart, on how to up your social game!

Vine, a popular app and social media network where you film 6-second clips, has created many mini-celebrities, such as Jerome Jarre. The French Vine star is known for awkwardly and hilariously incorporating strangers and passers-by in his videos. Before he was becoming a Vine sensation with his videos, Jarre also co-founded the web based, event management software company, Atendy.  Jarre is a perfect example of how you can use your Vine stardom to build your brand.

Launched just this past January, Vine challenges its users to create meaningful and memorable content in just 6-seconds. With attention spans seemingly becoming shorter, it’s no wonder that Vine has become so popular in such a short period of time. You might be wondering how Vine or Instagram videos are different from YouTube, and the biggest difference is that the two apps are strictly designed for use on a mobile device. Since Instagram released its video feature in June, the life of Vine was in jeopardy. However, with pages devoted to sharing funny vines, such as the Best Vines page on Facebook, we can see that the lifeline of Vine continues to be healthy and stable.

Instagram videos offer users a much longer shooting time (15 seconds vs. Vine’s 6 seconds) along with 13 filters and the ability to delete the previously shot scene. Vine is much simpler in that you simply tap to record and post. There is no option to add filters, although they recently updated the app so you can go back to delete and move around scenes before you publish it. While there has been much debate over which app is, for lack of another term, ‘better’, we find that Vine caters to a tighter community but demands creativity because of its short time-frame and simplified editing tools.

If you’re not yet a Vine sensation, you can still make your voice heard and vine-ify your brand. Here are some helpful tips on how to master the popular app:

1. Use stop-motion for effects: The reason why stop-motion videos are so popular (the good ones, at least) is due to the amount of work and thought put into them.  One mistake could ruin the whole clip, meaning users have to go back and record the Vine all over again. Here’s a quick tutorial. Take a look at Target’s use of stop-motion filming for their most recent Halloween-themed Vine:

For more amazing examples, be sure to visit BrandsOnVine.com to get inspired by some of the world’s leading brands and their Vines.

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This week we’re explaining the importance of using FourSquare as a lucrative marketing tactic for your shop, pub or restaurant and how to get the most out of it. As with the other social media networks we’ve covered in the previous posts, each platform must be suitable for your business. Since FourSquare allows users to check-into physical locations, it’s obviously necessary to have a customer-service oriented business. FourSquare has had most success in the realm of retailers, bars, restaurants and the like. If you’re not using FourSquare for your business yet, here are a few reasons why you should start and how it will benefit your business.

Statistics:

Over 1.5 millions businesses are on FourSquare
Over 40 millions users worldwide
Over 4.5 billion check-ins a day

• FourSquare makes it easier for your business to be found: If a user is looking for nearby places to eat or shop or get their dry cleaning done, your business will pop on the map if they are in the vicinity. By listing your business on FourSquare, the app has done the work of promoting your business. Offering discounts on your FourSquare account can also greatly increase the chances of your business getting more customers (we will go more into detail about FourSquare campaigns below).
• Promote your FourSquare account onsite: When a potential customer walks by your business and sees that you are on FourSquare, you have already increased the chances that your business will be visited by that customer. Since using FourSquare as a marketing tactic for business is still relatively new, users can look forward to being a valued customer to your business, especially if they will be rewarded. If they check in enough times, they can become the mayor of your business. When someone becomes the mayor of a business on FourSquare it means they have the most check-ins out of anyone else at that particular business.
• Reward system: This idea ties in closely with the previous one. A lot of the times businesses will promote a discount on their storefront if you check in using FourSquare.  Create a contest or some sort of reward every time a user checks in to your place of business. You can also gain new customers by having a “newbie” reward. When a person checks into your business for the first time ever, they can get a free cup of coffee, for example. Or you can offer your customers with frequent check-ins a 15% discount on any item, depending of the nature of your business. This generates revenue for your business while engaging your customer – and every customer loves to be rewarded with free gifts or discounts. When you combine this campaign with promoting it on your storefront, you increase your chances of having your business succeed that much more. The beauty is that the customer puts in minimal effort by simply tapping “check in” on their app, and they are being rewarded for it. However, in order to offer specials and discounts you must become a verified business on FourSquare, see below.
• Become a verified business: In order to become a verified business, you must create a business account with FourSquare. If your business is already listed on FourSquare (a customer may have added it in order to check-in) you can claim it as your own business. You simply search for the business name, enter your phone number, and FourSquare will call you with an automated machine asking a few questions regarding the business. On that same page, you will also be provided with a verification code that you will then enter into your phone. After that, you can access your business’ FourSquare account, review statistics and check-ins, demographics, and manage campaigns.
• Users can connect their Foursquare account to Facebook and Twitter: Depending on whether their social media profiles are linked to their FourSquare, every time a customer checks into your business, it will show up on all of their social media accounts. Not only do their FourSquare friends see their check-ins, but now all their followers on Twitter and friends on Facebook also see them checking into your business. The promotional work is being done for you by your customers. But, once again, rewarding them with specials will only make your business that much more successful. If a users follower notices that the person who checked in to your business received a 15% off coupon just by checking in, others are much more likely to visit your business in order to get the discount too.
• Know your customers: One of the best parts about using FourSquare for your business is that you get to know your customers on a more personal level. You can view their profile photo, their latest check-ins, reviews that they’ve written, their badges that they’ve earned, etc. With FourSquare’s analytics tool, you can also track who’s linking their check-ins with their Facebook or Twitter pages.

To learn more about how to claim, create or manage your business on FourSquare, visit their how-to page.

Sources

http://www.htmlgraphic.com/the-importance-of-foursquare-for-a-business/

http://beeliked.com/resources/how-to-use-foursquare-for-business/

http://scorephoenix.org/2013/09/importance-foursquare-local-businesses/

https://foursquare.com/about