Here Are A Few Reasons You Might Want to Think Again!

I remember when the Internet first gained prominence and it became apparent that having a Web site was essential for any commercial enterprise.

Back then, Web designers were not plentiful and few people thought to hire a professional to create a Web site. They felt that ANY Web presence was better than none at all, and they found people they knew to help them who were "into the whole Internet thing."

As a PR professional, when I would see a Web site that didn't represent people well or looked amateurish, I'd ask who created it. Invariably, I'd get answers like, "My nephew did it," or "I bought Web Design for Dummies and did it myself," or "My son has a friend who just graduated with a degree in computer science."  While those days have passed for Web sites, I'm afraid I am seeing the same thing happen with regard to social media.

As social media has become a serious part of the foundation of the media in general, some people regard it the same way as they used to regard Web sites - as something that's a good addition to their marketing tactics, but not so essential that they need to approach it with a professional sensibility. As with any marketing outreach, social media done badly will actually set you back instead of move you forward. Here are some ways to know if you are taking the right approach or heading down the wrong path:

• My Daughter Does That For Me - If your daughter is a college graduate with a broad-based education that includes a degree in mass communications, I'd say you may be on the right track. However, if she's 18 and her primary qualification is that she has Twitter and Facebook accounts, I'd say you need to reevaluate your choice of marketing personnel here. Just because she's your daughter and can use Facebook and Twitter, doesn't mean she has the skills necessary to market a business using social media.

• I Hired a College Intern - While college students may be part of the social media generation, it doesn't automatically qualify them to do social media for you. Unlike traditional media, which is a communication to a broad audience, social media is one-to-one marketing outreach. You are communicating directly to individuals and anyone who has ever posted an opinion in an Internet forum knows the online audience is not to be trifled with. Understand that your reputation is on the line. With the variety of questions and comments you will receive, it is critical that they're handled with care and professionalism to avoid any repercussions to your name and brand. A social media marketing professional is an astute communicator who ensures each time the right tone, caring and message is delivered for maximum return and keeps your audience engaged. This dynamic is crucial for the success of the program.

• I Got 11 New Followers on Twitter This Week - Of course, building followers is important, but you'll never make a social media campaign work with the onesy-twosy approach. For myself, my company and our social media clients, we have a monthly benchmark for building followers. Now, this benchmark is not a gross number, but a net figure after we have weeded out spammers, chronic friend adders, and marriage proposals from men in foreign countries, and yes, I've gotten a few of those.

At the end of the day, social media is serious business.  Do it right and you can create a base of thousands of followers.  Do it wrong and you'll have spent a lot of time and energy, spinning your wheels and getting nowhere fast.  More importantly, you'll end up thinking that social media marketing is a complete waste of time, when in fact in today's world it is one of the most critical and fundamental components for any marketing strategy, which every company needs to put in place.

Here's to your successful social media journey.

About Marsha Friedman

Marsha Friedman is a 22-year veteran of the public relations industry. She is the CEO of EMSI Public Relations (www.emsincorporated.com), a national firm that provides PR strategy and publicity services to corporations, entertainers, authors and professional firms. She also co-hosts "The News and Experts Radio Show with Alex and Marsha" on Sirius/XM Channel 131 on Saturdays at 5:00 PM EST.

Votes to stop tax increase on Canton's Cook Medical, other device manufacturers

Washington, DC - June 7, 2012 - Congressman Bobby Schilling (IL-17) today joined 269 of his colleagues from both sides of the aisle in passing H.R. 436, the Health Care Cost Reduction Act.  This legislation repeals the health care reform law's 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices and its prohibition on using flexible health spending accounts to pay for over-the-counter drugs, and also allows individuals to recoup unused contributions made to flexible health spending accounts.  The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service has found that the excise tax on medical devices would be passed on to consumers, raising health care costs, and could discourage investment in developing new innovative devices.   "Last Friday, the American people received more bad news when the unemployment report said that unemployment rose to 8.2 percent and our economy added only 69,000 jobs in May," Schilling said. "Good, high-paying jobs at companies like Canton's Cook Medical will be impacted if Congress and the President don't work together to repeal this tax.  While efforts continue to repeal the health care law in its entirety and replace it with policies that actually address the rising cost of health care, it is important that we keep focused on repealing some of the most damaging pieces of the massive law - job-killing provisions like the 1099 tax reporting requirement and the medical device tax." "We are pleased that the U.S. House of Representatives has acted with a bipartisan vote to repeal the onerous device tax and hope that the U.S. Senate will quickly follow in a bipartisan manner.  This tax will lead to U.S. technology and jobs being relocated outside the U.S., the loss of future jobs that come with innovations being located outside the U.S., and delays in the latest medical innovations being available to American patients.  Americans want their critical devices manufactured in the U.S. and to have access to the latest medical technologies,"  said Steve Ferguson, Chairman of Cook Group, Inc. Beginning in 2013, the health care reform law institutes a 2.3 percent excise tax on the manufacture or import of medical devices  - devices like those produced by Cook Medical in Canton, Illinois.  Canton is a community in Illinois' 17th Congressional District that would be harmed by the medical device tax.  Cook Medical has 70 employees, and has aspirations to expand and increase its number of employees by 300 percent in its two Canton facilities by this time next year.  The health care reform law's medical device tax will not only raise health care costs and stifle research and development on innovative new medical devices at companies like Cook Medical, but will also destroy jobs in an industry that employs more than 400,000 Americans throughout the country - 70 in Canton alone.  Kevin Meade, the Mayor of Canton, last month wrote Speaker of the House John Boehner in opposition to the medical device tax and the impact it would have on his community.  That letter can be seen by clicking here. Cook Medical joined a number of organizations, companies, and manufacturers in writing Congress to urge for the repeal of the medical device tax.  That letter can be found by clicking here.

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Report language in Defense Authorization bill directs Defense Secretary to create a strategic workload plan for arsenals including Rock Island

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Mark Kirk (R-IL)  announced that major portions of their bill to help increase the workload and help ensure the long-term health of Rock Island Arsenal were included in report language that is part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013.

Similar to the Army Arsenal Strategic Workload Enhancement Act of 2012 introduced by the four Senators last month, the Senate Armed Services Committee's report builds on last year's bipartisan effort to authorize arsenal Centers of Industrial and Technical Excellence by directing the Secretary of Defense to create a strategic workload plan for arsenals - including Rock Island Arsenal - and report back to Congress no later than February 28, 2013.

"As U.S. military operations overseas wind down, it is imperative that the military maintain its capability to manufacture equipment at facilities like Rock Island Arsenal," said Harkin. "These facilities are essential to our national security and with the number of Americans they employ, important to our national economy as well. With this report language, we will ensure that the Rock Island Arsenal continues to do what it does best: manufacture the best equipment possible for our military."

"The Rock Island Arsenal has proven effective in meeting urgent wartime needs," Grassley said. "Our effort here is to get a plan put in place to make sure this sort of capability is maintained during peacetime so that it can be tapped when needed."

"The provisions included in today's report language ensure that the Rock Island Arsenal's dedicated and highly-skilled workforce is able to continue to serve this country's economic and national security interests by developing and manufacturing critical weapons, parts and materiel." Durbin said. "Not only is the Rock Island Arsenal a major employer for the Quad Cities region, it is a recognized source of some of the most sophisticated engineering and manufacturing in the entire country. I am committed to seeing that this measure is fully implemented, and I commend my colleagues for their work in this bipartisan effort to help secure the Arsenal's future."

"This measure compliments the efforts of Representatives Bobby Schilling and David Loebsack to protect the Arsenal in Rock Island," said a spokesperson for Senator Kirk. "It is essential that the Arsenal remains both a local asset to Quad Cities and a strategic defense asset to the nation. The language reflects the importance of maintaining Rock Island's critical manufacturing capability while at the same time ensures critical public-private partnerships move forward to keep the Arsenal healthy long-term."

On May 9, the Senators introduced the Army Arsenal Strategic Workload Enhancement Act of 2012 which would require the Army to create a strategic plan to ensure arsenals, including Rock Island, receive the workload they need to keep workers' skills sharp. The Army does this type of systematic planning for some of its components but not for arsenals. The bipartisan bill would also promote the use of arsenals defense-wide.

The bill builds upon a bipartisan effort last year by the Illinois and Iowa Congressional Delegations to expand the Arsenal's ability to enter into public-private partnerships which are necessary for Rock Island to maintain and improve its workload. Specifically, they secured - as part of the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2012 - an unlimited number of public-private partnerships for the Arsenal and the opportunity for the Arsenal to be designated as a Center of Industrial and Technical Excellence, which will permit the Army to automatically assign work to Rock Island based on its expertise.

The Army Arsenal Strategic Workload Enhancement Act of 2012 is cosponsored by Senators John Boozman (R-AR), Kirsten E. Gillibrand (D-NY), Senator Mark L. Pryor (D-AR) and Senator Charles E. Schumer.

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Jason Smith, Vice President of Midland Communications, to Share His Vision on the Future of Unified Communications

DAVENPORT, IA - June 5, 2012 - Midland Communications, a leading provider of unified communications, announced today that Vice President, Jason Smith, has been invited by Technology Assurance Group (TAG), an international organization representing nearly $350 million in products and services in the industry, to share his vision on the future of unified communications with some of the industry's top manufacturers, vendors, suppliers and resellers at TAG's national convention. The 12th Annual TAG Convention will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana on September 9th-12th.
With more and more businesses headed to the cloud, networking and IT infrastructure has grown substantially more complex in the past year. Today's unified communications providers require unprecedented levels of technical expertise, industry foresight and customer service in order to remain competitive. Midland Communications has been invited to attend this year's convention due to its superiority in each of these areas.
"Midland Communications has dominated their marketplace for quite some time," states Brian Suerth, Executive Vice President & Partner of TAG. "They are continually striving to stay on the leading edge of technology, and that's why no one can compete with them. Midland Communications knows what's coming down the pipeline and how it's going to ultimately affect their customers. That's why they are able to proactively support their customers and implement powerful technologies before their competitors even realize that they're behind the curve."
Several industry topics will be covered at the convention and best business practices will be revealed in areas ranging from cloud technologies, virtualization, hosted solutions, managed IT services to customer service. "The only constant in life is that it never stops changing. It's no different in our industry," commented Jason Smith, Vice President of Midland Communications. "That's why we continue to remain active in the industry and share our views at these kinds of events. We always come back to the office with something new and valuable that we can pass on to our customers. We're passionate about what we do and we feel that it's our duty to our customers to find out what's on the horizon. We're often able to leverage new developments and find ways to boost our customers' productivity, and more importantly, their bottom line profitability."
Midland Communications is among the top unified communications providers in the nation and its success is due largely to its innovative approach to business.

ABOUT MIDLAND COMMUNICATIONS

Midland Communications began more than 60 years ago in 1946 as the Worldwide Marketing Arm of Victor-Animagraph Projectors. In 1977 a communications division was formed due to a partnership with NEC America. Today, As a distributor of NEC America, for 33 years, Midland Communications has a customer base of more than 3,000 satisfied customers that include general businesses, government agencies, Universities, colleges, hospitals, and hotels.
Midland provides a wide range of communication services including VOIP, PBX and key systems, Wide Area and Local Area networking, computers, Computer integration, voice mail, CCIS, and video conferencing and paging systems. Our philosophy is simple, provide quality products at a fair price, backed by an average emergency response time of twenty minutes, and the best service in the industry. For more information on Midland Communications, call (563) 326-1237 or visit www.midlandcom.com.


ABOUT TECHNOLOGY ASSURANCE GROUP (TAG)

Technology Assurance Group, LLC (TAG) is an international organization of leading independently owned unified communications companies. TAG provides its members with the competitive advantages necessary to achieve a dominant position in their marketplace. Members benefit from programs including strategic partnerships with communication solution providers, best business and management practices, and advanced sales training programs.  TAG's mission is to increase its Members' sales and profits through education and to ease their introduction of new technology to the marketplace by leveraging their combined intellect and purchasing power. For more information on TAG, please call 858-673-5800 or visit www.tagnational.com.



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