SOCIAL MEDIA TRAINING PROGRAM GETS PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATORSSOCIAL-MEDIA FIT IN 10 DAYS.

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TORONTO, Mar 1, 2010 (Collegiate Presswire via COMTEX) -- Busy communications professionals can increase their social media awareness and empower themselves with improved online networking and engagement skills. This week, Marketwire launches its Social Media Fitness Program -- a free, online training series dubbed SM 10X30 (two tracks, 10 workouts, 30 minutes each) that targets public relations, investor relations and marketing communication practitioners, from the social-media neophyte to the practitioner with intermediate social networking skills.

SM 10X30 participants will follow one of two tracks: "Basic Training" is for those brand-new to social media while "Core Conditioning" supports those who may have hit a roadblock with their social media activities. Each track focuses on building confidence in online engagement and strengthening the social media skills necessary to succeed in today's new media landscape.

SM 10X30 Program Overview Marketwire's Social Media Fitness Program -- or SM 10X30 -- is a free, online program to help improve the social media skills of public relations, investor relations and marketing communications professionals across all industries and organization types.Participants sign up online and choose between two fitness tracks: "Basic Training Track": For those who need social media basics, this track instructs participants on how to set up profiles, build networks, learn to listen and take part in social media conversations."Core Conditioning Track": For the intermediate social media user, this track helps participants strengthen and better manage their social media networks, promote their company and/or clients, generate metrics and engage in best practices.Each track includes 10 consecutive workouts that are distributed, one per day, via email.Workouts take no more than 30 minutes each to complete and include the following elements:A "pain point," or result of a lack of social-media fitness in the topic being covered, sets the tone for each workout, followed by the "gain" to quickly convey the workout's importance.Step-by-step instructions give precise details on completing the workout."Go-the-extra-mile" challenges participants with additional ways to capitalize on what they learned.Tips and best practices support all workout instructions. Workouts include essential ways to boost social media skills, such as: Pumping up your social network Finding people onlineConnecting with media in the social space Scoping out the competitionManaging the time you spend participating in social mediaKnowing your goals and measuring your successSM 10X30 HighlightsPractical: SM 10X30 is designed for the individual who wants to quickly get up to speed in the world of social media and set his or her own pace. It focuses on those areas where the professional communicator needs to boost confidence and become social-media effective. It is not directly geared to the strategic social media needs of an organization.Flexible: Each workout arrives daily by email, but participants can complete them at their own pace. Although the program is designed so workouts build upon each other, they are not interdependent. Participants can complete as few or as many workouts as they want -- in any order -- and still gain valuable skills.Supportive: An email link to a "personal trainer" (Marketwire's social media expert Nick Shin) is available throughout the program, as is access to assistant trainers via a "Contact Marketwire" link. A video on the program's microsite gives an overview of the program, and an FAQ address the most commonly asked questions.Communicators Today Need to Engage in Social Media

Social media is changing the way people interact with one another and with organizations, and the way they get their news:

Last year, 77 percent of people said they considered blogs a good way to get information about a company, according to search engine marketing firm Redboots. A survey by Brodeur Worldwide showed that more than three out of four journalists look to blogs for story ideas and insight. Forty-six percent of online American adults, 18 and older, use a social networking site like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn, up from 8 percent in February 2005, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project.People no longer want to only read news. They want to interact with it and influence opinions. Perhaps that's why one in five internet users are on Twitter -- up from one in 10 just a few months ago (according to Pew Internet). ResourcesUse the Twitter hashtag #sm10x30 to follow participants in the Social Media Fitness Program.Interact with other Social Media Fitness Program workout participants by joining the sm10X30 Facebook group.Follow Marketwire on Twitter @marketwire.Read helpful PR and marketing tips on Marketwire's blog.Learn about the future of public relations at Marketwire's PR 2.0 microsite.Check out the latest in social media news releases at Marketwire's Social Media 2.0 newsroom.

Register here for Marketwire's Social Media Fitness Program.

About Marketwire The only fully integrated North America-based global newswire, Marketwire is a full-service partner to IR, PR and MarCom professionals seeking top-tier press release distribution, media management, multimedia and monitoring solutions. Marketwire's customer-centric corporate philosophy focuses on being the best by infusing every aspect of its business with the following core attributes: precision, adaptability, innovation and simplicity.

Marketwire delivers its clients' news to the world's media and financial communities, fulfilling disclosure requirements in North America in compliance with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), and serving as Primary Information Provider (PIP) with the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA). With a reputation for technology leadership, Marketwire offers innovative products and services -- including Social Media, Search Engine Optimization, News Dashboard coverage reports, exclusive access to networks such as The Canadian Press Wire Network, Easy IR and Easy PR workflow solutions, and more -- that help communication professionals maximize their effectiveness while ensuring accuracy and best practices. Having merged companies (Market Wire and CCNMatthews) in April 2006, and enjoying a combined history of 25 years of service, Marketwire is now majority-owned by OMERS Private Equity, which manages the private equity activities of OMERS Administration Corporation and today has $4 billion of investments under management. The group's investment strategy includes the active ownership of businesses in North America and Europe. For further information visit: www.omerspe.com.

Source Citation
"SOCIAL MEDIA TRAINING PROGRAM GETS PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATORS SOCIAL-MEDIA FIT IN 10 DAYS." Collegiate Presswire 1 Mar. 2010. General OneFile. Web. 5 Nov. 2010.
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