Hello!

Welcome to GMT's monthly e-newsletter for April, 2010. We send this e-newsletter on the first Monday of every month to share feature announcements, membership tips, links to recent articles from environmental reporters, new members, and other helpful resources.

You are receiving this as your organization is a member of Green Media Toolshed and you are currently a registered GMT user. Should you wish to opt out of this monthly communication, please see the instructions in section 8 below.

Word Count: 2,023
Read Time: 8 minutes

In this issue you will find:
1. Member Connections
2. Be in the Know – How GMT Tools Can Help Your Group
2.5 Special Insert: GMT Celebrates 10 Years of Operation
3. Buzz from the Beat
4. Link(s) of the Month
5. Community Coverage
6. GMT Welcomes 2 New Members
7. Support: Database Do’s and Don’ts
8. Opt out instructions

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1. Member Connections: Nonprofit Technology Conference, Twitter Resources, @theGMT, and more.

Attending NTEN’s NTC (Nonprofit Technology Conference)? So are we!

Nina Schwartz from GMT’s staff will be attending NTEN’s Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC) in Atlanta, Georgia, from Thursday, April 8th through Saturday, April 10th. She looks forward to meeting many members, so please write her at nina@greenmediatoolshed.org if you are going. She’ll keep you in the loop about any GMT member events to attend.

If you are not going, we will miss you, but would welcome hearing more about your questions and interests in technology so that we can connect you with resources from the conference.

For example, if you are interested in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and how you can use SEO to enhance your existing press room, please post a comment in the NTC Discussion at http://members.greenmediatoolshed.org/node/24402. Nina will collect information for you, and will also use your ideas to expand upon the current material in our Training Center.

Thanks! We look forward to meeting you and hearing about your technology interests.

Our March 25th webinar, Putting Twitter to Work, was a success and we had over 45 members participate. Marty Kearns, our Executive Director, presented on how to best use Twitter.

We've heard many great comments about the training, so thank you all for your feedback. A few members told us that they could use a more basic visual overview.

We have three recommendations for you:

1. Read our Step by Step Twitter Guide (available in member center)
2. We've made available a YouTube video that provides a good visual introduction to Twitter. The video is embedded in our training center for easy access. (available in member center)
3. Get involved in the Discussion at http://members.greenmediatoolshed.org/community/discussion

We also have the recording posted in the training center so you can review Marty’s instruction at your own pace. The recording is available in the member center.

Join the 94 member that follow us with handle @theGMT.

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2.5. Happy Birthday GMT: Celebrating 10 Years of Serving the Nonprofit Environmental Movement

As GMT turns 10 years old in May, we’d like to recognize a few members who have been with us since the beginning.

American Rivers is a nonprofit conservation organization dedicated to protecting and restoring rivers nationwide. Founded over 25 years ago in a dusty Denver office, today they have offices in Washington, DC and across the country.

Dogwood Alliance is holds corporations accountable for the impact of their industrial forestry practices on our forests and our communities. Through a combination of persistent grassroots pressure and skillful negotiation, they achieve the results necessary to create real and lasting protection for Southern forests.

Colorado Environmental Coalition unites Coloradans to protect the state’s natural heritage and quality of life.

EARTHWORKS is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting communities and the environment from the destructive impacts of mineral development, in the U.S. and worldwide.

The Minnesota Environmental Partnership is a coalition of 70 Minnesota environmental and conservation organizations working together to protect and preserve Minnesota's precious natural environment.

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2. Be in the Know - How GMT Tools Can Help Your Group: Are you spending a lot of time in the database, but still don’t feel your list is ready to go?

Creating a media list will take some time but it does not have to be frustrating. If you feel that your “sure fire” list is taking too much time to create, the best solution is to learn more advanced search techniques so you can more efficiently generate a list of targeted results. Mastering the search abilities in Vocus will help you be as efficient and accurate as possible.

Here are some search tips from your GMT support team:

1. Utilize all pages of the advanced search criteria. Remember to select the “show all search options” link on the top right hand side of the advanced search pages to enable more search criteria.
2. Include search term symbols for greater accuracy with keywords. View a list of the commonly used symbols for inclusion and exclusion at http://members.greenmediatoolshed.org/node/23691
3. Use the Coverage Wizard to identify the best reporter at your selection of outlets. A great use of the Coverage Wizard is to create a good list of Media Outlets, and then use the Wizard to identify the best reporters at those outlets. Instruction on the Wizard is at http://members.greenmediatoolshed.org/node/23927
4. Be creative with the beat codes/Subjects. You can reference the “master list” of beat codes and beat code groups for a nice visual outline and a good explanation of each code: http://members.greenmediatoolshed.org/node/24098
5. Make your lists living lists. The easiest way to keep your list updated in Vocus is to save it as a Living List. A Living List receives automatic updates when a contact has moved outlets or has been removed from the database. This list mode is an excellent feature to help you keep your lists up to date. Written and visual instructions for creating living lists are available in our Discussion forum at http://members.greenmediatoolshed.org/node/24327

As a side note, we know it can be difficult to keep pace with reporter changes at various outlets so we hope you’re making good use of Google News Alerts to track coverage of your issues. This will also help in your list-building strategy since you’ll know which reporters have been covering your issues.

And finally, to double check your “surefire” list, reference our “Check List for a Targeted Media List” to make sure you’ve done the “do’s” and skipped the “don’ts.” The check list is available at http://members.greenmediatoolshed.org/node/23975

For further questions, reach the GMT support staff at (202)-659-7710.

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4. Buzz from the Beat: A few New Resources for Reporting on Nuclear Materials

The winter issue of Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) journal profiled two resources for members who work to receive coverage on nuclear waste and energy issues.

Note: SEJ’s journal is a quarterly publication that gives information on new resources and issues for environmental journalists. It includes great articles and information for you to learn about that beat. Towards the end of the magazine, they always include new books and resources written by great environmental beat writers. Some feature stories of past issues are available online on the SEJ website at http://www.sej.org/publications/sejournal/overview

1. Poison in the Well: Radioactive Waste in the Oceans at the Dawn of the Nuclear Age, By Jacob Darwin Hamblin, looks at the politics and impacts of nuclear waste dumping in our oceans from the beginning of the nuclear age to the present. The full review by Valerie Brown, an environmental health based in Oregon, at http://www.sej.org/publications/journalismmedia/bo...

2. The Reporter’s Handbook on Nuclear Materials, Energy, and Waste Management, by Michael R Greenberg, Bernadette M West, Karen W. Lowrie, and Henry J. Mayer. This handbook presents scientifically accurate reviews on 24 critical issues of the nuclear era. SEJ does not have an online overview of this handbook, but a sneak peak can be found on Google Books.

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4. Link of the month: Social Media Strategy Worksheet

We Are Media has a helpful worksheet on their website that will help guide you through the 5 most important steps to creating a social media strategy. It helps you lay out your program decisions (goals and measurements of success), define and reach your targeted audience, engage the conversation with participants, and pick your social media tactics and tools.

Create your own plan through the worksheet at:
http://www.wearemedia.org/Modlue+2+worksheet

View of an example of a successful strategy worksheet by Illinois Arts Alliance http://www.wearemedia.org/Module+2+worksheet+examp...

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4. Newsroom Notes section: Get in a reporter’s good graces by pitching beyond their beat code

We can’t emphasize enough the importance of learning how a reporter prefers to be pitched before you send that press release. This can vary from preferences with e-mail and fax, e-mail formatting, attachments, deadlines, and even the frequency of the publication where they work.

This can seem like an overwhelming amount of information to sort out as you prepare for your urgent news release.

How can you do this?

1. Use the pitching profiles, made available for each reporter by the Vocus Research Team. These profiles also include Notes and other Proprietary Pitching information that other GMT members have added.
2. View the Preferred Delivery Method listed in each profile. Most reporters prefer e-mail, and some, like Phil Brown, also prefer no attachments.
3. Search the reporter on Vocus’ “In their Own Words” resource at http://www.vocus.com/invocus/podcastarchives_invoc.... This resource profiles reporters and often lists their preferred way of receiving a pitch.
4. Frequently update your media list. Waiting until the last minute will cause you to lack time to refine your pitch in these ways.

Vocus’ “In Their own Words” entry on Phil Brown can provide a nice example of the availability of this information:

Phil Brown
Editor, Adirondack Explorer
(518) 891-9352
phil(at)adirondackexplorer.org
www.adirondackexplorer.org
Pitch: e-mail, at least one month before desired publication date
Attachments? Not accepted.

Phil covers outdoor recreation and environment issues for the Adirondack Park area in northern New York, and maintains his own outdoor adventure blog, “Outtakes,” on the newspaper’s Web site.

Adirondack Explorer is published every other month and reaches a circulation of approximately 10,000.

Get more media updates on Vocus' Daily Media Moves blog at http://www.vocus.com/invocus/movesarchives_invocus...

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6. Let’s Welcome 2 New Members to our GMT Community

The Clean Air Task Force (CATF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring clean air and healthy environments through scientific research, public education, and legal advocacy.

Texas Conservation Alliance builds grassroots coalitions of conservationists, sportsmen, landowners, advocates for nature tourism and outdoor recreation, business people, timber industry leaders and elected officials to influence public policies that affect the environment and to solve natural resource problems.

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7. Media Database Q & A: Search University Radio Stations

There are many ways to search national and local news radio, but how do you search university radio stations? Depending on who your target audience is, college radio can be an effective way to send your message to your supporters and to earn new interest from students looking to take action.

The steps are as follows:

1) Go to the Media Outlets section.
2.) Access the Advanced Search.
2) Under the "Type" dropdown menu on the Advanced Search criteria page, select "Radio Station."
3) Under the Station Format dropdown menu, select "College."

You can also select United States or a specific state to limit your search geographically.

For questions on enabling this feature, please contact Nina at (202) 659- 7710 x10, or Michelle at (202) 659- 7710 x13.

Q: What is the least-used support option on GMT?

A: Skype.

We send a kind reminder to all of you that Michelle and Nina are available on Skype for a quick or urgent need. Skype them at nina.m.schwartz or kohn.michelle.

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View past e-newsletters in our monthly e-newsletter archive section of the GMT Training Center.
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