July 2nd, 2009 02:30pm
Sarah Roberts
Apparently you can never have too many reminders about the precautions to take when using social media for promotion and marketing, even when something seems like common sense.
The latest victim of bad judgment: British furniture company Habitat, which used the hash tag — applied by Twitter users to denote that a message is part of a larger discussion — #mousavi for a message promoting a gift card giveaway. Which means that Twitter users trying to follow breaking news about the deadly protests and disputed presidential election in Iran instead found a furniture company looking for business.
Backlash from disgruntled social media users on various issues has been well-documented, and this case was no exception. Despite the company’s brief apology via Twitter and a lengthier mea culpa on a social media blog, many Twitter users still can’t resist mocking the company — the gaffe lives on online, where Twitter users continue to post the gift-card offer, tagging it with #michaeljackson.
So no matter how excited you may be about your gift card offer, office opening, whatever — please resist the urge to hijack a critical international news topic to get your message out. There are countless other options to engage online customers and communities that won’t leave you looking greedy and foolish.
June 25th, 2009 02:43pm
Sarah Roberts
Sometimes a picture really is worth more than a thousand words … or, in this case, 140 characters.
Manolith has created a pretty great graphic of Twitter’s ascent for anyone who’s wondered exactly how the microblog got its start and where it’s heading. Start at the bottom and work your way up.
June 24th, 2009 09:39pm
Kylie Crull
If you don’t already have one, consider creating an online newsroom on your Web site. These useful tools can help journalists find all the relevant information and news about your organization without having to search all over your site, or worse, give up and move on to a different source. To make sure your newsroom serves as a valuable resource, make sure it contains some of the following basic items:
Searchable archives with a keyword function that allows viewers to narrow down results by date and topic.
PR contacts’ direct phone numbers and email addresses.
News releases organized by type of news.
Background information that includes organizational facts, history and timeline.
High-res photographs and downloadable logos. Also, post sound bites or video clips.
List of frequently asked questions about your organization.
These are just a few items that are recommended for an online newsroom. If your organization is involved with social media, provide feeds from your blog or Twitter account. Probably the most important component of your newsroom—keep it constantly updated.
June 19th, 2009 11:31am
Carrie Skogsberg
Most of us have been glued to the TV and internet news sites this week to follow the protests and outrage occurring in Iran after the allegedly fraudulent election of its President. And we have heard how the Iran government has banned all foreign media from reporting on the demonstrations.
So when you are forbidden to spread the word about real news happening, what do you do? The people are taking it to the streets with their own video and digital cameras, using YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and other social sites to inform people of what is going on. People who normally are not permitted to have free speech have found their international outlet through social media!
So what does this teach us? As PR professionals, we can look at this from both angles - when you fail to report the truth about your company, not only will people see through it, but they will report the truth through their own channels. From the other side, if we see a misrepresentation of an issue that no one seems to get, we have outlets to use to have our opinions heard.
Who would have thought social media could be a cure for censorship?
June 18th, 2009 02:04pm
Sarah Roberts
I can’t turn on my TV lately without seeing one of several ads in Microsoft’s “Search Overload” series — you know, the ones with people twitchily rambling off weird, irrelevant phrases in the middle of a conversation.
The gist of the commercials is that search engines that produce off-topic results get you nowhere. The problem with the Microsoft series, at least in my opinion, is that I was getting nowhere with the commercials.
I would briefly pay attention when they came on, usually because a completely off-the-wall phrase caught my attention, and then I would move on and forget about it. I tuned out about halfway through the commercials, too annoyed with the bursts of loud unintelligible nonsense and not interested enough to stick around to see what was actually being shilled. I couldn’t tell you the name of the service or the company behind it until I saw a brief blog entry on the spots.
(The spots, by the way, are for Bing, a new Microsoft search engine that either has Google execs shaking in their boots or nonplussed, according to varying reports.)
Now that I know what the ads are for, I still haven’t been motivated to check out Bing. I’m curious what others think of this marketing campaign. Did it take you a long time as well to pay attention to the spots? Love or hate them? Have you been prompted to check out the site? Is this a case of a company trying to be too catchy for its own good?
Here’s one of the ads, with the rest readily available on YouTube.
June 17th, 2009 09:39pm
Kylie Crull
To specifically target women, Dell launched a microsite called Della, which included fashion tips and other clichéd tips and ideas. Some tips had absolutely nothing to do with computers. The site showed women how they can use their netbooks to do so many useful things like look for online recipes, count calories and set reminders to take meditation breaks throughout the day. Unfortunately for Dell, they failed to realize that women are not a niche, but are a diverse audience who are not all interested in online shopping, diets and coordinating their outfits with their laptops.
Despite their ill-advised initial marketing campaign for Della, the company did listen to the comments and understandable outrage from its consumers. The site now posts an editor’s note that notifies visitors that they may have noticed a few modifications on Della. “You spoke; we listened. Thank you for the ongoing feedback,” it reads.
For a technology company that is supposed to be modern and cutting edge, Dell’s marketing strategies for Della do not reflect that at all. If you are marketing to a specific demographic, take a lesson from Dell and make sure you stay far away from overused, outdated and stereotypical clichés.
June 15th, 2009 01:57pm
Rebecca Kopf
A recent Examiner.com article by business-humorist/columnist Dudley Dawson holds some real truths about the “The seven habits of highly defective conference call leaders”. As Dawson mentions, with busy schedules and/or tightened (or non-existent) travel budgets, more of us are taking to conference calls to at least have some personal interaction with people that doesn’t entail a keyboard or texting capabilities. However, without proper focus on ensuring a conference call is appropriately set up and engaging, the meeting may actually cost you more in time and confusion than it’s worth.
According to Dawson, because only 25 percent of the participants are actually listening (face it, how many times do YOU go through mail/papers, play solitare or check email while on a conference call?), these ‘convenient meetings’ already are fighting an uphill battle. Check Dawson’s list of highly defective conference call leader distinctions and see how many you are guilty of:
* Sending out the wrong conference call code
* Calling into the conference call late which enables hold music for everyone on time
* Omitting a simple introduction to inform participants of who is on the call
* Allowing silence to continue for over over ten seconds
* Inability to stop nonsensical ramblings
* Tolerating callers talking over one another
* Ending calls abruptly with no conclusion
Read more about this column and/or find out more of Dawson’s “seven habits” columns at www.examiner.com.
June 12th, 2009 11:36am
Carrie Skogsberg
How many of us receive emails and RSS feeds through our cell phones? When you are reaching out to customers that may be receiving your message through a mobile device, the thought process is slightly different than normal.
In PR, we are always looking for images to help us tell the story. In this case, we really have to tell it only with our words. Using simple phrases helps to get the point across in an effective way. Keep in mind that people reading their emails and news on their mobile devices are usually multi-tasking and are quickly reviewing your information. How can you grab their attention when they are on the go? Keep the flowery copy to a minimum and get to your point quickly. Provide links to your website for more information.
Remembering this rule too for your PR pitches is important. Not everyone who receives your message is sitting at a laptop where they can get your in-depth attachments. Keep pitches short and sweet, and if you have a news release, always put it in the body of the email for easy viewing.
If we remember that our work areas are not always a desk, but sometimes a car, a park bench or a coffee shop, we can communicate effectively with our contacts that are constantly on the go.
June 11th, 2009 03:03pm
Sarah Roberts
Brian Solis, who writes the definitive blog on social media, recently posted a lengthy entry on the current state of PR, media and communications and what’s in store for the future.
One of the best sections focused on “becoming the people you want to reach,” which largely boils down to avoiding speaking in “marketing tongues” and cutting through the fluff that pleases clients but has little effect on the people who might give you media coverage or buy your product. Rather, whether it’s in conversation or press release, try communicating as you would with friends and family — “real people.”
Solis makes a couple of good suggestions to that end:
Try playing around with #TwitPitch — first introduced by Stowe Boyd, a well-known authority on real-time communication and social media. Boyd used #TwitPitch as a very streamlined way of using Twitter to simplify the process of booking briefings with companies. It forced PR folks to distill their message in 140 characters, which, in the process tightened and streamlined the typical elevator pitch and helped coin the term “escalator pitch.”
Another method, which probably can be implemented more easily and quickly — particularly in press releases — is adopting the inverted pyramid format that is a staple of journalism. The gist of the inverted pyramid is simple: assume that your audience can stop reading at any time, so put the most crucial information at the top, followed by information that is helpful but not essential and conclude with information that’s “nice to have.”
There are numerous other methods you can utilize, but your end goal is to say more with less. As Solis notes, brevity is powerful and helps you focus on persuasion through sincerity and relevance rather than fluff and filler.
June 5th, 2009 03:56pm
Carrie Skogsberg
In a recent study done by Mintel, it was found that word of mouth still trumps all other forms of referrals - even more than social media. We still want to hear from our friends and family which products and services work best for them.
So how do you work this strategy into your PR plan? Find out what your customers think of your business by sending online surveys (try using a free web survey service like Survey Monkey), following up with personal phone calls after a sale and focus on relationship building. Once you know how your customers feel about the service you’re giving them, you can get a better understanding of what they will tell their family and friends about your business. If you get a few really happy customers, ask them to do video testimonials on your website or if you can quote them in a company brochure.
This proves that personal contact is still our most important form of communication, and no matter how much technology pushes us away from that, we all still need it.
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