Twitter: Just #DoIt

I have a new post of the Social Media Workbench: Twitter: Just #DoIt

By Jack Campisi:
As a person immersed in social media, one thing I encounter on a regular basis are people who are unfamiliar with Twitter. There are usually two kinds... (Click the link above to jump to the post.)

Social Media Workbench - www.jackmonson.com

Amtrak Selects Engage121 Social CRM Portal for Pilot Program in the Northeast Corridor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Contact:
Jack Serpa
Executive Vice President
Engage121
Phone: 203-849-7246
E-Mail: jserpa@engage121.com

"America's Railroad" to reach riders via Twitter during major service disruptions

Norwalk, CT – Engage121, Inc., a software firm specializing in customer relationship management through social media, announces Amtrak is conducting a pilot program in their Northeast Corridor rail system using the Engage121 Corporate Edition social CRM portal to simultaneously reach their Twitter followers and the news media with alerts about major service disruptions affecting Amtrak train operations.

Engage121 will allow Amtrak to streamline the process of getting this time-critical and important information into the hands of customers and the media, provide Amtrak with customized capability to track the activity of service center employees and to gauge the effectiveness of the alert program. “Northeast Corridor customers who want to receive service alerts through Twitter should go to @AmtrakNEC and 'follow' us," said Danelle Hunter, the Amtrak Media Relations Manager based at the railroad’s national operations center in Wilmington, Del. For purposes of the pilot program, the Northeast Corridor consists of the main line between Washington, D.C. and Boston, the Keystone service from New York City to Harrisburg, Pa. and the line from New Haven, Conn., to Springfield, Mass.

The Engage121 family of products is focused on delivering social media business solutions to both large and small organizations. The Corporate Edition selected by Amtrak, and customized to their specific needs by Engage121, combines innovative multi-platform messaging capability with customized permissioning and reporting options. An SMB Edition delivers straightforward social CRM to small and medium-sized business owners. The Enterprise Edition provides all of the standard permissioning, communications and reporting capabilities of the Corporate Edition, but is designed specifically to serve companies with a distributed sales model by enhancing customer relationships across the organization.We are excited that Amtrak selected Engage121 to customize a solution to allow them to distribute alerts regarding major service disruptions simultaneously and efficiently through both social and traditional electronic communications channels," said Jon Victor, Engage121 CEO. "This initiative will allow us to showcase the versatility and adaptability of the Engage121 social CRM solution in a real-world scenario, and we look forward to expanding this initiative to the Amtrak system nationwide after the successful conclusion of this pilot program."

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About Amtrak®:
Amtrak is America’s Railroad^sm, the nation’s intercity passenger rail provider and its only high-speed rail operator. A record 28.7 million passengers traveled on Amtrak in FY 2010 on more than 300 daily trains – at speeds up to 150 mph (241 kph) – that connect 46 states, the District of Columbia and three Canadian Provinces. Amtrak operates trains in partnership with 15 states and four commuter rail agencies. Amtrak also is a strong financial performer achieving an 85 percent cost-recovery ratio in FY 2010. Enjoy the journey^sm at Amtrak.com or call 800-USA-RAIL for schedules, fares and more information. Join us on Facebook at facebook.com/Amtrak and follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/Amtrak.

About Engage 121, Inc.
For more than 10 years, Engage121, Inc. has provided communication services to over one thousand national franchisors, dealerships, direct sellers, and other communications professionals. The Engage121 application is the clear leader in delivering customer relationship management through the social media to national brands with local sales locations. The company continues to provide communications professionals its other, highly regarded communications tools, including Grassroots PR, MediaQ, MatchPoint and AP Planner. The MediaQ media monitoring application was the primary source of analysis to the primary participants in the recent Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, and its GrassrootsPR application provides local news distribution services to over one hundred thousand local businesses. For more information, please visit www.engage121.com.

Amtrak - Engage121 Press Release


Social Media: Get In, Get Out, Get On With Your Day

Recently I had the pleasure of attending a real estate convention for ERA Real Estate. I gave a presentation on social media called "Social Media: Get In, Get Out, Get On With Your Day".

There are two realities that real estate professionals face:
1. Social Media is here and you can't ignore it.
2. It's hard enough to learn all of the various tools, platforms and intricacies of social media without the added pressure of getting out there and selling houses.

First we covered the basic tasks of social media... what are the four basic things you want to do?

1. Listen: What are your friends, followers and contacts up to?
2. Explore: What's being said about your brand? Who is out there looking for what you sell?
3. Speak: Delivering relevant, compelling content, joining the conversation and engaging with people one on one.
4. Measure: Track your efforts, measure your results and determine your ROI.

Once we knew what we wanted to do, we then talked about how to do it quickly, consistently and effectively... and fit it into an already busy schedule.

In the coming weeks I will touch on some of the concepts we discussed and some of the real life challenges the people I met with face as well as some of the ideas we came up with to develop a solid and realistic strategy for your social media day and week.

MRA Hot Seat Ep. 4

Here is the latest MRA Hot Seat video, produced by yours truly.