Archive for the ‘PR’ Category
My good friend Aliza Sherman has a great post over on Web Worker Daily about the evolution of the blogger relations model.
The model of “blogger relations” is one that is constantly evolving. I think that both sides are learning what works best for them.
Ideally, the relationship is symbiotic. We pitch, they write. Our clients are happy, their audience is happy.
I think that by bringing up alternative ways to engage bloggers shows a couple of issues at work. First is the blogger vs. journalist argument. Sponsored posts and such don’t work for the bloggers that are considered journalists. Being mindful of that, there are still creative ways to engage. Take the “media tour” of old. Instead of setting up in a metro daily’s conference room, we are bringing clients to coffee shops, neighborhood haunts and home offices to chat with this new era of influencer.
But there’s still room for the “traditional” model. Working with people who blog as part of a news reporting organization (news paper, online media etc…) The goal is to drive coverage for our clients while providing elements that are genuinely “newsworthy.” (what passes for newsworthy is another discussion) We can do so by engaging in a genuine conversation with our pub targets. My advice? I think a solid model looks something like this if you’re able to do it:
- Obviously knowing your target is job one. Make sure they’re appropriate. If you have doubts, imagine what they’ll feel.
- The difference between “please write about this” and “I would love to hear more about what you’re working on and how this can fit in” is huge.
- Keep the relationship professional. This is hard. We know when our reporters get married, get fired or get scooped. But I think it’s important to keep the focus on the client and what your outreach brings to the table.
- Be brief. Be right. Be gone. Keep your outreach focused and to the point.
So, what do you think? How is this model changing and how are we changing with it?
Tags: blogger, ethics, friends, Pitching, PR Tips
A word of advice: I am not a lawyer. Nor am I a registered financial adviser. This is my opinion only and should be treated as such. For guidance, consult your legal counsel.Originally posted at PRBreakfastclub.
If you are in PR, IR, corporate communications or social media, chances are you’ll run into fun rules such as Sarbanes-Oxley, Regulation FD and FINRA guidelines. One of these things these rules have in common is that they are behind the times.
But the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has taken a pretty large step in modernizing the rules that financial services companies must follow while engaging in social media and PR. You can download the FINRA social media guidelines as a PDF.
The big takeaways
The important pieces of this update are the changes to the definitions of static and interactive content. Under the new rules, “Examples of static content typically available through social networking sites include profile, background or wall information.” This information is treated like an advertisement and is subject to regulator approval processes.
Interactive content is a bit more flexible. Tweets, blog comments etc… are interactive content and do not require the approval of an approved regulator. One of the interesting challenges, however are the monitoring and archival requirements.”firms may adopt procedures that require principal review of some or all interactive electronic communications prior to use or may adopt various
methods of post-use review, including sampling and lexicon-based search methodologies as discussed in Regulatory Notice 07-59.”
Others are discussing these social media regulation changes and giving advice on how to proceed as well.
The big impact
I know this is a bit more heady than what we normally discuss, but it’s important. Our society is changing. The way brands interact with us is changing. And the need for the government to monitor those interactions is changing.
As communications professionals, we need to be able to provide sound guidance for our client. But at the same time we need to be innovative in our approach to engaging with our target audiences. To that end, the best advice I can give is know the rules and come as close to breaking them as possible.
Having a policy in place is also essential for firms looking to engage in social media. Having a set of rules that outlines approved interactions will help avoid confusion and potential violations. But in doing so, make sure you’re consulting your legal counsel.
The times, they are a-changin’…
Tags: federally regulated, financial services, FINRA
Twitter has fundamentally changed our lives, whether we like it or not.
And people have written miles of books, blog posts and even tweets about best practices and what matters on Twitter. One of the biggest things that is almost universally agreed upon is to be genuine. So how do we as public relations professionals remain genuine when we’re asked to tweet about a client?
The precedent
Fundamentally you are free to talk about whatever the hell you want with your Twitter stream. It’s your content. It’s your copyright. It’s your reputation.
Your reputation? Yeah, your reputation. You put it on the line each and every time you post something to the public domain. When I hit publish on this post, I was subjecting myself to the judgment of past, present and future employers. It’s the same thing with Twitter.
If your precedent is to include links to client announcements or blog posts, then that’s fine. You’ve willingly shared that information. After all, without clients we wouldn’t be able to pay the electric bill so we could tweet, right? There is a conception that all posts in a social network should be neutral and objective. If you have a relationship, some feel it should be disclosed either up front or by using hash tags or other microsyntax. For example, James Governor from the analyst firm Redmonk uses “$client” to denote posts to his Twitter stream about his paying clients.
And that’s a judgement call you will have to make.
But what about when your employer says you must tweet on a client’s behalf?
Mandated tweeting
I see a potential for conflict when an employer mandates that an employee tweet on its behalf. Making a choice to share the announcement of a project you’ve worked on or a blog post from a co-worker is one thing.
Being told what to tweet and when to tweet it is another beast. The argument is that it’s not genuine. If you don’t want to post it, then why should you be obligated to? I’m all for being a team player. But sometimes you need to protect the community and precedent you have created. I don’t know what the right answer is. So, I’m asking you.
How would you respond to being given a pre-written tweet and being asked to post it? Would you? Why or why not?
Tags: best practices, failure, friends, genuine, Sincere, social media
What is the future of public relations? Is there one secret or are there multiple best practices that are being developed and refined? I’d like to think the latter. And I’d like to think that I’m contributing to the advancement of the practice of public relations.
As I sit here writing these words, I realize I have a lot of learning, a lot of growing and a lot of room to improve. In my former life, I was a reporter. I covered the gamut from high school sports, county government, education and cops & crime. A far cry from high-tech PR.
But that’s the path I’ve chosen. It’s brought me to some great companies and I have learned a lot.
And now it’s time to continue that education.
I am happy to announce that I am joining the global PR firm Waggener Edstrom as a member of its SWAT Team.
A new opportunity
Now a new era of opportunity begins. I am joining a renowned firm and will be working with Microsoft on a variety of projects. I get to further my education while working alongside some of the brightest minds in the public relations space. Leaders such as Tac Anderson, innovators such as Micheal Foley and a myriad of bloggers on the official Waggener Edstrom blogs (maybe they’ll let me post there occasionally) will be my coworkers and that has me pretty jazzed.
I know that agency life can be different and the company is quite a bit larger than others I’ve worked for. But that’s all part of the adventure. I’m hoping to add some value to WE and its clients. I’ve met a few of my future teammates and I think that there’s a lot of room for ass kicking.
So, this has been an exciting few weeks for me. First the announcement of Baby Berto and now this. On to rock 2010…
Tags: agency, job, new opportunity, professional
I recently had the pleasure of sitting on a panel that discussed how to effectively use social media in a federally regulated setting, such as a financial services company, public company or one of the “sin industries.”
A variety of federal agencies exist to monitor the practices of these industries from FINRA, the SEC and even the ATF. But none of them seem to have kept up with the rapid evolution of public relations and corporate communications practices. In fact, the FINRA document regulating online marketing practices for financial services companies is nearly a decade old.
But some government agencies are making strides to enter the modern information age. The SEC recently hired Mark Story to help connect to the new media scene. And its recent launch of investor.gov, a microsite dedicated to protecting and engaging with investors, shows just how far its come.
But there’s still a huge gap between accepted best practices for the use of social media technologies and what the federal government says you can and can’t do. The confrontationalist side of me says, if there are no rules, how can you break them?
But that is a dangerous precedent to set. Instead, we must develop suond practices that help interact with the community, but protect the interests of a company’s investors.
My advice
My simple advice is to know the rules. Then, come as close to breaking them as you can.
For example, about two years ago, the SEC revised its rules regarding the release of material information to include the use of a corporate blog as a means to do releases. So, time to set up that blog network for your audience. I have yet to see a company completely turn off its use of a wire service, however.
Also, FINRA has proposed an update to its rules, which strike me as a bit much. What do you think?
My value add is this presentation. Some of the elements didn’t quite make it into the Slideshare, but they were hilarious. Thanks again to Mark and Shannon Paul for taking the time to do this panel with me.
Tags: bwe09, Enterprise, ethics, REGFD, social media, Tips
As I prep for my presentation at this year’s Blog World Expo, I wanted to visit the topic I’m actually speaking on.
“Social Media and Blogging in Federally Regulated Industries” isn’t a really sexy title for a conference session, but it’s one that is absolutely necessary. Industries such as pharmaceuticals, firearms and liquor are trying to figure out how to not only participate on the conversations that are happening, but also how they can capitalize on them.
The challenge
For some companies, the challenge is the disclosure of certain material information, or Regulation Fair Disclosure. Any publicly traded company is subject to scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission and if a company were to publish a blog post committing to a new product and then not meet that commitment, it could be subjected to not only a costly shareholder law suit, but a costly SEC investigation.
Recently, the SEC relaxed its rules (or modernized them depending on your spin) to allow companies to disclose information through their blogs. This is a major step, but seems to be one companies are afraid of taking. I can not find any questionable uses so far, so it seems not many people are taking the risk. Companies such as Google regularly announce new products and Betas through blogs, but when was the last time a pharmaceutical company announced a new drug through it’s corporate blog?
The challenges aren’t specific to big business. Liquor companies need to check the age of their followers on Twitter, tobacco companies have to reign in their marketing practices. I’ve even had the Investor Relations person at a firearms company say they haven’t begun to use social media because they don’t know what’s allowed.
The solution
The solution is simply to take a risk and do something. I know this is a scary proposition for marketers and public relations companies, but by taking informed risks, you’ll find success.
I have advised companies to issue announcements through the blog only. An average distribution for one company I worked with would be nearly $1,000 based on the inclusion of a safe harbor statement and all the other knowledge. Customer wins, product updates and smaller announcements simply don’t need an expensive press release. A blog post with embedded multimedia provides the same value.
Molson-Coors is able to use Twitter to post stories about alcohol awareness and other positive stories, but the bio explicitly asks followers to be of legal drinking age. Ruger, Smith & Wesson and other firearms companies do not maintain corporate blogs. It looks like Ruger might have control of http://twitter.com/ruger, but it’s protected so it’s hard to tell.
Creative marketing and communications practices are important to the success of any campaign. In federally regulated industries, creativity is even more important. Do you work for a federally regulated company? Share some of your best practices in the comments!
Tags: best practices, BlogWorld, Enterprise, Participate, Tips
As public relations continues its amoeba-like shift around social media, one of the things I’m starting to see is the practice of Twitter relations.
Twitter relations is similar to blogger relations, but eliminates the threshold of authority that comes with a blog. Brands, PR companies and marketing teams are beginning to provide limited access to everyday tweeters. Now, these aren’t your ordinary tweeters, these are people with at least 1,000 followers and who are generally quite vocal.
As you’ll see, I apparently fit this profile… But what I’m seeing is PR and marketing toeing the line between sponsored posts and actual brand evangelism.
Will tweet for food
Recently in the Seattle area, I saw Pemco flying across Tweetdeck. A group of local people had been invited to the top of the Space Needle and had a catered affair where Pemco debuted a new part of its “Northwest Profiles” ad campaign.
The people present had tweeted about being there and watching the commercial and hanging out with the Pemco CMO (who had “invited” his followers to attend).
Another example is an event that Alaska Airlines is sponsoring, called the Aviation Geek Night. A scant 12 people won tickets to take a ride in the airline’s flight simulator and have some further access to the company. This is not invite only and there was no expectation of tweeting on behalf of Alaska Airlines. Disclosure: I won a pass and will be attending.
Also, another invite I’ve received is to head to a location of a high-end dining chain called El Gaucho. It is opening a new location locally and is featuring a lunch menu. They hired a company to host a Taste and Tweet and local media and a few “average Joe” twitterers got to attend (again, disclaimer: I was one of them).
Are these sponsored posts? What about the media people in attendance at these events? I think those count as sponsored tweets and the media present must either disclose their receiving of free goods or food in their tweets. As a non-member of the media (anymore), I think that what I voluntarily posted to my Twitter stream also counts. But am I under a moral or legal obligation to disclose?
How to relate to Tweeters
So, is there a right way to engage with prolific tweeters? What is more important, having one person with 100,000 followers at an event or 20 people with 1,000 followers? I think the answer is pretty clear as the 20 people are more likely to be more vocal with their posts and opinions, resulting in additional mentions.
For small brands looking to boost the mentions in the Twitter stream, having a small, semi-exclusive event is a great way to do that. The problem is the discolsure dilemma. If the “average” person on Twitter is going to act as media at an event, then they should discolse the freebies. Would it have been acceptable for me to go to the El Gaucho event and not posted anything about it?
If PR and marketing companies are OK with people coming to the event and not tweeting at all, then they should not take credit for those that do. Mentions on Twitter as part of these events should not count as media mentions.
Measuring the impact
What value do these mentions have then? The word-of-mouth marketing that occurs from these is quite valuable. The mentions the above companies received helped boost their visibility and their reach. Did the events lead to more sales? Did they lead to actual press coverage? Those are some of the key metrics to consider.
What are your thoughts on this? Should PR take credit for bringing in assorted tweeters to an invite-only event? What are your best practices for tweeter relations? How do you see this trend evolving?
Tags: best practices, El Gaucho, marketing, soc, Twitter
ROI.
How do you measure the ROI for a Tweet? How do you measure ROI for a video posted to YouTube? How do you measure ROI for a blog post?
The concept of ROI in modern public relations and corporate communications has evolved from the old standby of column inches earned * ad rate. The common belief now days is that retweets, blog comments, saves to Technorati etc… are all forms of currency.
ROI = $$$
Yes. A return on investment can only be measured in actual dollars. An increase in reach and “authority” are great. But how does the use of social media affect your or your clients’ bottom line?
Using social currency or “whuffie” or any other social metric is icing on the cake. But the cake needs to be a financial impact of the marketing or communications program. This applies to consumer goods just as much as it applies to enterprise software or discreet manufacturing. The units may change, but the affect to the bottom line is still what matters.
The concept of attributing a sale to the use of social media has become relatively easy. Marketing automation companies such as Marketo or even URL trackers such as bit.ly have made it much easier to follow a lead through the process of becoming a contact to becoming a customer.
The bottom line
As Olivier Blanchard over at The BrandBuilder reminds us “ROI is always financial.” Lots of people are beginning to pontificate on that stance. That it’s time to make some money on social media. There’s no reason for the consultants and gurus to be the onws making all the money. But nobody’s offering a solution.
Now it’s time for me to offer a solution. Instead, I am going to try and offer a mathematical problem, so bear with me.
The first item I’ll tackle is twittering a link to a product purchase form. First, let’s define some variables. X= my hourly rate, y = the amount of time in hours it took me to get to the point I can publish that tweet, z = the final cost of publishing a form. So:
(x * y) = z
Now, let’s continue. Lets try to determine the ROI of you publishing that tweet. More variables 
If you have a = number of people that fill out the form and b = the cost of each unit sold and c = the number of new customers we can use the answer from above to find the ROI of that tweet campaign.
(b * c) – z = ROI
I know this is beyond over simplifying. How do RTs or word of mouth affect this calculation? I’m hoping you all can help me out with that. Can somebody check my math?
Tags: business, consultant, formula, ROI, social media
Are you finding yourself wondering about the future? Or, even the present?
As we sit, peering over the edge of our recession into the pits of a depression, many PR, marketing and communications folks are scratching their heads (or asses I suppose) and wondering “now what?”
Changing the face of PR
If you’re on Twitter, subscribed to multiple RSS feeds and have Google alerts set up for more than five searches, you’re pretty far ahead of the game. That is the future of PR. We are in the process of redefining and also refocusing on the relations side of PR.
I sit in the tech sector of PR. And it’s very different than the rest of the world. I deal with bloggers, which are a very different species than a local business writer, which is a very different species than a food writer. But, the goal is the same. Establish quality relationships in order to connect with writers to see what piques their interests and provide them with quality stories that fit into that mold.
Nose down, ears up
The best thing a PR person can do right now is listen. Read your targets daily. Learn their habits and their likes. The great thing about bloggers is that they tell you what they like and don’t like. Use that.
By listening and paying attention, you show the people that you are pitching or working with that you get it. And, any leg up on the competition is imperative to your success.
Show your worth
The companies paying PR people’s salaries want more results for less money. And we must smile, bear down and deliver. This is a great time to be in PR. We get to show the rest of the world what we’re made of and what value we add. Deliver different media contacts. Deliver a new video interview. Or deliver a new idea for a series of blog posts.
In a time of economic slowdown, one must be resourceful. Original and effective ideas will get you paid.
Be genuine
I think I am going to say this in every blog post I ever write. If you try to be more than you are, you’re going to fail. Offer genuine value and recognize your strengths and people will recognize that. Not just clients, but the media professionals you work with.
If you are genuine, you don’t need to live in fear of not delivering what you have promised. Instead, you can deliver quality results and have happy customers.
Although times are tough out there, there is room for growth, success and happiness. Work on delivering quality and value and you’ll get a piece of that. But I’m curious to know how you plan on weathering this storm. Let me know in the comments.
Tags: genuine, Recession, Tips, value proposition
Originally posted on the Etelos blog, but I’ve added some extra commentary here.
Do your customers and prospects trust your blogs? New research from Forrester says they don’t.
Forrester analyst Josh Bernoff recently released a report that had this interesting tidbit, amongst others:
Consumers trust company blogs less than any other channel.
This result comes from a survey wedid in Q2 of 2008. Have a look at the data yourself. Not only do blogs rank below newspapers and portals, they rank below wikis, direct mail, company
email, and message board posts. Only 16% of online consumers who read corporate blogs say they trust them. If you’re a corporate blogger or somebody who advises companies, you need to take this into account.
I’d like to know if you trust what we say here on these pages. we strive to create an open discussion on cloud computing, enterprise software and Web app distribution, amongst other topics.
Last year, Etelos was named as one of Inside CRM’s top 20 corporate blogs because we have made an effort to make sure every post is not a promotional spin piece for Etelos.
More to the story
There’s more to this story, though. In the original post, Bernoff lists other sources that people trust more than corporate blogs.
This graph is from Forrester and explains the break down in what sources people trust.
“Email from people you know” at the top is no surprise, but to see items such as wikis and yellow pages ranked higher is interesting. Most yellow pages services are sponsored listings — ads.
Quite frankly, I’m more willing to put faith in a quality, open and honest blog post than in an ad.
What I see in the general trend of trusted sources is that newer sources of energy are decidedly at the bottom of the list, while established or older relationships trend toward the top.
Earning trust
In his summary blog post, Bernoff advises that an open discourse is essential to establishing trust. Basically, what that means is that trust is earned. For a smaller company in a specialized industry such as we are, this trust is earned first in a small circle of companies.
So, how can companies earn trust? Here’s a couple of ways:
- Don’t just blog about the positives. Perfect software doesn’t exist, especially if yours is wearing a Beta tag.
- Link out, link early and link often. I feel that referring to others enhances your credibility.
- Let your content speak to your expertise. If you are truly innovative, your content will say so.
- Convers with your readers. Invite comments, respond to comments and post comments on others blogs.
So, my challenge to you is to earn some trust. Let me know what steps you’re doing to earn that trust.
Tags: conversation, marketing, Participate, PR Tips