I live online. Most people live in houses or apartments. I live in this alternate media driven universe. When the information is flowing, particularly information on media, journalism, public relations, storytelling-nothing matters. After observing that I hadn’t eaten a meal all day and was glued to one screen or the other, my husband once asked me if I simply drank coffee and ate Internet .

In my daily life, I often talk in terms of hashtags and DMs and it’s easy to forget that not everyone exists or works in this digital world, or uses the online tools everyday in their work.

I recently sat on a panel of journalists who were talking to the community non-profit and small businesses owners of Philadelphia. The topic was digital journalism and social media. I was in a room where the majority of people in the audience were NOT on Twitter. Whoa.

But after I stopped to think about it, maybe I’m the weirdo. Because everyone doesn’t live online. Everyone doesn’t eat Internet. So it’s understandable that some people are still wondering why Twitter is valuable. ( However I think the way journalists are covering events in Egypt should answer how critical these tools are ).

Saturday’s panel inspired me to  put together this guide for social media beginners. Media Access: Essential Online Tools for Small Businesses and Non-Profits is a free reference tool: a curated list of the most essential social media tools non-profits and small businesses should be using. For many of you this information is second nature. But remember that there are a lot of people out there who are  just getting to know the tools we depend on and take delight in every day. Hence the name (and theme of the workshop that inspired this document) Media Access. Please share this information with the community non-profit leaders and small business owners in your network.

Need help managing it all? Try Social Media Management Tool – Sprout Social

Want more valuable tips like these? Order your copy of the Mopwater Manual.

Amanda Miller Littlejohn is a writer, public relations consultant and media strategist in Washington, DC. Follow her on Twitter or offer her new workshop ideas on Facebook.

Name: Marc Silverstein
Current City: Washington, DC and environs
Job Title: President and CEO
Company: On The Marc Media
Length of Time in this Role: 5 Years
Twitter: @onthemarcmedia
Mopwater: Describe your path to PR. How did you wind up in this field?
MS: I was a crusty but lovable TV news reporter for close to 20 years, so skepticism of all spokespeople, PR folks and spinmeisters was in my DNA. Over time, I came to appreciate the few who “got it.” They knew how to successfully spar with reporters, leak stories, get out their message—and when they had to—take one for the team (usually a critical story) without too much whining.

Then I left news and hosted a long-running show about restaurants on Food Network called The Best Of. Many of the places we profiled had publicists, some of whom were incredibly helpful, and succeeded in making good stories better. But far too often, we had to deal with what I nicknamed Philadelphia-type PR, based on a company in Philly whose reps were so inept that we stopped covering their clients. They got in the way, raised tension levels with the crew and consistently made the process so difficult that even eating the free food offered by the chefs became a chore. That takes some doing.

From both the news and entertainment experiences, I saw there was an opportunity—to offer the kind of PR that provides a more effective bridge between clients and the media.  Clients need public relations people who know how to:
•    Understand reporters, their pressures and their personalities—and make their lives easier. (Like providing “one –stop-shopping,” and not calling to pitch stories when reporters are under deadline).
•    Speak the language of news reporters (Forget the elevator speech; you’re lucky if you get to ride one floor while you’re pitching them).
•    Identify what their client does that’s newsworthy, and figure out every way we can to get it in front of an audience.
•    Write short, dynamic news releases that don’t waste anyone’s time.
•    Use a lot of bullet points.

After Food Network, I hosted a show on Discovery Channel. After shooting the episodes, I was under contract and couldn’t work elsewhere in TV for several months. Much to my disdain, my wife wouldn’t let me sit home in semi-retirement. That’s when On The Marc Media actively started going after PR clients—and since then, we’ve been successfully getting them on TV, in print and on the Internet, in addition to providing a vast array of other marketing services. Read the full story