PR Squared

About

Blogroll

PR 2.0 Tactics

PR Squared

One of the original precepts of the Social Media News Release (SMNR), as envisioned both by SiliconValleyWatcher's Tom Foremski and in SHIFT's subsequent template, was to weed out the market-speak: to use bullet-points and/or simplified narrative, devoid of "spin," to get the reporter or blogger to the heart of the news.

I think one of the ways we can eliminate some of that spin in the Social Media News Release is to discipline ourselves to limit our "news facts" to just 10 bullets. If you can't say it in 10 bullets, you haven't made your audience's job any easier: you are still asking them to wade through too much jargon and too many factoids to get to the "real" news.

This occurred to me after we made a mistake in this regard on our own, with the first Novell SMNR. It was well-received but I recall having the passing thought, at the time, "This is too much info!" Then I saw more recent efforts like Softalk and Belkin's SMNRs. Belkin's is near-perfect, but --- although I am an official cheerleader for any SMNR effort --- I couldn't help but think that Softalk's release was "too-much-of-a-good-thing."

This is still a new area. We're still learning. One thing I am learning re: SMNRs is to keep-it-simple.

Thus, this clarion call for "The Ten-Bullet Objective."

Let's all promise ourselves to try to keep our SMNRs to 10 bullet-points. Let's agree to push-back on clients who insist that every point is mission-critical. Let's be sure to point out that the SMNR is amply qualified to point to additional sources of information --- it need not be the single-source for all data points.

Our audiences will thank us. I daresay that our coverage will get better, too, as we commit ourselves to clarity.

UPDATE!! Two great posts also showed up this week that are worth your attention, if the SMNR is on your radar. Check out this post from Lee Odden: "Why Use Social Media With Your Press Release?" and this one from Brian Solis: "How to Write a Social Media Press Release, Why, and What It All Means."

Tags: social+media+news+release, ten+bullet+objective, hrelease, tom+foremski, social+media+club, social+media, public+relations, pr+2.0

Posted by Todd Defren at 04:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

This weekend I did not crack open the laptop a single time. It was nice. I spent the (rainy, windy) Saturday hangin' around with the family --- errands, Mall, etc. On Sunday I howled from the sidelines as my son rowed his guts out at the State Finals --- the last regatta of the season played out in 40+ mph winds. He returned to shore only to find out that his coach had scratched our team from the rolls, due to safety concerns about the wind: even if my son's boat won, it wouldn't count. This news didn't wipe the smile off his face. He'd come to compete and he'd roared through the coarse at full speed: he'd found his joy in the doing, not the winning. It's a father's rare pleasure to be inspired by his son.

I returned to the office today to find myself inspired, yet again, by the hard work of my colleagues in the Social Media sphere. Apparently I was the only fella to keep the computer turned off: everyone else was workin' at innovatin'.

The indefatigable Chris Heuer, prepping for some Social Media News Release-related announcements at SNCR, still found time this weekend to ramp-up a new blog. Please check it out, add it to your feedreader, and participate!

The incorrigible Scott Baradell of Media Orchard was also a busy boy. Check out Spin Thicket. Add a link. I asked Scott how Spin Thicket compares to the NewPR site and he sagely suggested that Spin Thicket is the Fark to NewPR's Digg. And if that makes sense to you, welcome back, ya 2.0 geek! ;)

Tags: chris+heuer, brian+solis, scott+baradell, spin+thicket, social+media, social+media+club, social+media+news+release, hrelease

Posted by Todd Defren at 11:04 AM | Permalink

A random thought occurred to me as I reflected on events of the past few weeks. It's been a wild ride lately. Two speaking gigs. Many newbiz meetings. The Edelman imbroglio. The launch of crayon. The launch of PRX Builder. The laborious-but-fascinating process of judging award entries for the upcoming SNCR event in Boston (sign up!). A social media extravaganza.

But in the course of these activities, even as I found myself energized by the next-gen stuff, I also met plenty of people who a) didn't have a clue, b) didn't want to be clued-in, and/or c) wanted to be clued in, but honestly were far more concerned with traditional "PR-101" concepts.

Are we "2.0 types" (and you can be a 2.0 type without approving of the 2.0 label) in danger of lapping our PR industry peers, our clients?

"Lapping --- to overtake and thereby lead or increase the lead over (another contestant) by a full circuit of a racecourse."

This is one of my bigger fears as I walk the road of Social Media advocacy. If 95% of our colleagues and client stakeholders are still slooooowly coming to grips with "the blogging thing" or "that MySpace stuff," do we threaten to blow their minds by suggesting a "Second Life presence?" Does the Social Media proposition become so B-I-G that it becomes insurmountably daunting to would-be advocates? Could we be moving a little too fast? If we are breathless with excitement now, at the start of the race, will we lose the stamina required to make lasting inroads in PR practices?

I look forward to the day when all PR 2.0 adherents are happily yammering about our "success stories" instead of about our "opportunities."

Tags: marketing, social+media, pr+2.0, public+relations

Posted by Todd Defren at 09:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Earlier this year I riffed on "How Long Should a Conversation Last?" in which I asked, "[How can] PR practitioners... possibly find the time & energy to create, monitor (and) nurture ... the hundreds of relationships that might (or might not) aid their clients?" --- This is worth further exploration for agency types.

The premise: Conversations require on-going cultivation; in the blogosphere, that entails at-least a bi-weekly check-in (a comment, an e-mail, etc., as appropriate) with the bloggers of-interest to each client. Contrast this to "traditional" reporters, who really only want to hear from PR pros when they have a good story idea.

• Challenge #1: If an account exec (let's call her "Mary") has 3 accounts, she is tasked with tracking at least 25+ top reporters per client. Each of those 75 reporters only want to hear from Mary on an as-needed basis: this could be as little as once a month. But for those same 3 clients, Mary needs to have an on-going dialogue with their top 25 bloggers: each of these 75 relationships require on-going "love." That is a SCALABILITY challenge. It is also a FINANCIAL challenge: will clients be willing to pay for the exponential amount of work (including "listening") implied by a robust "blogger relations" effort?

• Challenge #2: Let's say that Mary has a client for 2+ years. In that 2-year period, Mary could be promoted from Account Executive to Account Manager, i.e., she has more management responsibility, and fewer "outreach"-related duties. Can she afford to let those hard-won relationships with the client's top blogger contacts lapse? Some of these bloggers get a little tetchy; they might not look kindly on any attempts to "transfer" Mary's relationship amongst different agency representatives. That is a TRUST challenge.

• Challenge #3: Let's say that Mary has developed a good rapport with a blogger in the telephony space. She loses her telephony client. Mary has thus lost the financial motivation to "continue the conversation" with the telephony blogger. Can she let it lapse, knowing that she might win a new telephony account in the next 12 - 18 months? If Mary decides she cannot let the relationship lapse, again you are faced with a SCALABILITY issue: how can Mary possibly maintain relationships with the outlandish number of bloggers who might impact her past, present and future clients?

The challenges listed above tend to be less troublesome in the traditional media relations arena: professional journalists (on deadline) tend to be more interested in good ideas for good ideas' sake --- from any reputable source. Journalists also tend to hop around, career-wise: today's "networking" reporter might soon become the new guy on the "semiconductor" beat at a different publication, and this careerism makes it more acceptable on both sides to form "relationships of convenience" with PR pros.

By contrast, bloggers are typically impassioned and entrenched. They are subject-matter experts and they ain't goin' anywhere. PR pros who forget this distinction do so at their peril.

Which brings us back to Challenges #1 - 3.

Hat-tip to Mike Driehorst, who got me thinking about this all over again.

Tags: pr+2.0, public+relations, blogger+relations, blogs, marketing

Posted by Todd Defren at 02:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Agencies expend so much time and effort considering how to improve their service.  That is fitting: we are in a service industry.  From the gentility of our demeanor, to the creativity and effectiveness of our services, to "flowers in the lobby" --- the details count.  These characteristics are especially critical during a new-business pitch, during which we are on our best behavior.

But what are the attributes of a good prospective client?  What is their role during the proposal process?  This is rarely discussed.  As the economy improves, it's a worthwhile question.  During those rare moments in history when agencies have their pick of good assignments, the prospect might want to consider how they can relay the impression that "this could be a great partnership."  Here are a few tips...

• Be considerate of the Agency's effort. Even if the agency is flush with business, only a very sloppy firm would approach a new prospect with a half-assed presentation.  Since it is fair for the prospect to expect the agency's best work, it is fair for the agency reps to expect the prospective client to listen carefully --- to wait patiently for the story to unfold, vs. flip ahead in the slide-deck.  When someone has put untold hours into a PowerPoint deck, it is discouraging to watch someone idly rifle through it.  It is similarly soul-crushing for the prospect to stride into the room declaring blithely that the hour-long appointment has been unapologetically cut to 30 minutes. 

• Be respectful of the Agency's business. Don't ask an agency to the table until and unless you have predetermined that they are respected and credentialed enough to win your business on the merits of their presentation.  Challenge their ideas, sure, but not their business model, integrity or industry.  

• Be mindful of the Agency's pecking order.  Most agency principals don't care to negotiate a deal in front of an extended account team.  It's de-motivating for the hard-charging account reps to come off the high of a well-executed presentation, only to be rewarded by listening to their boss and prospective client contacts fuss over the nickels-and-dimes.  If you loved the Agency's presentation, feel free to ask basic questions about fee structure, but, leave the deal-making to a follow-up phone call.

• Smile.  It won't kill ya.  Maybe you were burned before, but that's no reason to be antagonistic or unduly wary with a new firm.  You're hiring a PR agency to be your company's standard-bearer.  It is an important job.  You want your account team to like you.  Trust me, it helps.  You'll get better results.

Proud papa Morgan McLintic at LEWIS had a fantastic top-10 list about common mistakes companies make when selecting a PR firm.  If you found this post helpful or interesting, Morgan's post from April is worth a second look.

Posted by Todd Defren at 09:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The frenzy of business creation that's been burbling in the tech space has trickled down to the marketing arena. A 2.0 marketing company for the 2.0 era, "crayon" will launch in Second Life this week, manned by social media stars like Joe Jaffe, Shel Holtz, Neville Hobson and podcaster C.C. Chapman, among others.

crayon's motto, according to Jaffe, is: "Conversation and Transformation above Communication." My assumption about this mantra is that the new agency's principals mean to put The Truth above all else, when advising clients' approaches to consumers... If a product is in-development, start a dialogue with presumptive end-users and let them guide the design process; let them inform the marketing; turn them into advocates by treating them like adults; arm them with knowledge; listen hard. Market WITH consumers, not AT them.

This ought to be interesting.

Good luck, crayon. Whatever you do, gang, do NOT color inside the lines!

Tags: crayon, shel+holtz, joe+jaffe, neville+hobson, cc+chapman, social+media, pr+2.0, marketing, second+life

Posted by Todd Defren at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I guess the Edelman/Wal-Mart flap still has legs. More fake blogs ("flogs") revealed.

I am in 100% disagreement with those PR pros and other bloggers who are inclined to forgive Edelman this breach using the logic that "mistakes will be made" in this "new era." I object to the suggestion that we are all "learning some valuable lessons" at Edelman's expense.

Any and all lessons that arise from this brouhaha should have been learned at our mothers' knee. Like this one:

"Don't lie."

Sound familiar? Maybe you heard that one from your parents at some point? Just a guess.

This is the definition of the word "flout" --- "to treat with contemptuous disregard." Edelman's Wal-Mart team flouted the rules of engagement. They knew all along that the "right thing" would be to operate transparently, yet they cynically disregarded this central rule of Social Media. They purposely misled consumers, the blogosphere, the media, et al., for as long as they could get away with it. The fact that some "junior staffers" are being blamed is pathetic.

Many people view this episode as a wake-up call about blogging. It's not. It's a wake-up call about ethics in general. It's just one more dark stain on the reputation of an industry that ostensibly prides itself on Reputation Management. The fact that the PRSA remains silent, and WOMMA feebly panders (don't bother leaving a comment for WOMMA here: it's a moderated forum and if you are fuming mad, as I was this morning, it seems your comments are deemed invalid) just makes this ethical problem all the more odious.

Susan Getgood does a better job of maintaining a rational perspective, without giving Edelman a pass.

Update: The WOMMA page devoted to "blog disclosure" now seems to be current with its comments, and, blessedly more controversial.

Tags: edelman, wal-mart, edelman+wal-mart, flog, womma, prsa

Posted by Todd Defren at 05:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Belkin is one of those companies making a small fortune (to the tune of $1B+) making accessories for computing gear and MP3 players like the iPod. You see their gadgets all over the place at consumer electronics stores like BestBuy. Last week we received an excited note from Belkin's PR execs:

"We're now using SHIFT Communication's Social Media News Release template as our standard press release format. We just implemented it last week, and we're quite proud of the final product. We really love your new take on the press release -- evolving it from the antiquated all-text style to something more useful to both editors and end-users and more reflective of the current social media landscape. So, thanks! Keep up the good Web 2.0 work!"

This was pretty exciting news. Yet another billion-dollar corporation jumps into the Social Media waters!

We asked the Belkin reps if they'd experienced any feedback (positive or negative) from the media and/or bloggers. It was also important for us to get a sense for Belkin's distribution method. And, perhaps most importantly, we wanted to know about the internal reaction to the new press release format: after all, in most big companies it only takes one old-school VP to put the kibosh on anything newfangled!

"We put the release out over BusinessWire. We used a new service they're offering called XHTML, so, although it doesn't translate exactly, the final press release looks pretty close to our version (no RSS, digg, or del.icio.us links though).

"[Re: press response]: Our PR person had approached her contacts for their feedback, and ... it's largely positive. Internally, our folks have loved it too-- namely, the multimedia elements, the RSS, digg, and del.icio.us links."

Here (and here) are some examples of Belkin's new Social Media News Releases. They look pretty sweet to me. After you take a gander at those new releases, be sure to check out the last of Belkin's "traditional" releases. See a difference?

Whether you are a blogger, a journalist or just an interested consumer, which version of a news release would you rather read??

Tags: belkin, social+media, social+media+news+release, hrelease, public+relations, pr2.0, marketing

Posted by Todd Defren at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Back in August, Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales of Wikipedia fame was interviewed at bitePR's bitemarks blog. In the discussion, Wales said:

"I think that PR-firms editing in a community space is deeply unethical, and that clients should put very firm pressure on their PR firms to not embarrass them in this way...

"It is a bad idea because of the conflict-of-interest. It is perfectly fine to talk to the community, to show them more information, to give them things that show your client in the best light. But it is wrong to try to directly participate in the process when you have an agenda."

Who doesn't have an agenda? Sometimes one's agenda is "to be helpful." Sometimes one's agenda is to clarify, to add to the discussion in an authentic way, to add the value of one's own experience. PR professionals are people, too.

If I had dedicated my life to the study of aardvarkology, should I be allowed to use my expertise to add value to the aardvark entry in Wikipedia? I think so. So, would Wales object if a PR person wanted to add some facts to the Wikipedia entry on Public Relations? Given PR's troubling reputation among the Wales's of the world, it would seem to be a conflict of interest. Yet is this not a subject with which we PR pros are intimately familiar and passionate about? Who better to submit? What if a college PR professor like the well-regarded, highly ethical Robert French wanted to edit that "PR" entry in Wikipedia? Would that be okay?

By the same token, if a PR agency's client wanted to add value to Wikipedia by submitting content related to their industry --- i.e., the industry in which they have a demonstrated expertise --- I don't see why the PR firm could not be used to edit the content for neutrality and to post it on the client's behalf, in the name of efficiency and on-going tracking of follow-up edit cycles.

(Please note the phrase, "edit the content for neutrality" --- it could well be that the expert Agency reps could be used to muzzle the Client's outsized ambitions for Wikifame. The client is often more willing than the agency to violate the spirit of Wikipedia.)

I am not unsympathetic to the potential challenges wrought by PR firms' participation in the Wikipedia community. I understand that paid-for commentary (a la the MyWikiBiz flap) violates the spirit of Wales's creation. But I am also heartened by articles like this one, on "Conflicts of Interest," and especially this one, which is substantially more helpful re: PR's potential role... These articles suggest that Wikipedia is still actively wrestling with the issue vs. shutting PR out completely (which seems to be Wales's preference); these articles do a good job of clarifying the terms of engagement for PR pros.

And that should be the compromise! I would urge Wales and the rest of the Wikipedians to give PR a chance. Educate PR pros on the rules of engagement; give them the benefit of the doubt; trust the community to out the scalliwags; and ban violators when necessary.

FOR FURTHER INFO: The folks at Edelman held a decent podcast about this issue (created before they were on my sh** list), and, the inimitable Constantin Basturea also blogged about this issue in late August. I met Constantin in-person at the Communications 2.0 conference last week, and he was still fuming about this issue. Rightfully so.

Tags: wikipedia, ethics, public+relations, pr, social+media, jimbo+wales, constantin+basturea

Posted by Todd Defren at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

At the Communications 2.0 conference last week, the keynoter was Andrew Baron of RocketBoom. Seems like a good guy --- unassuming, mellow, smart. One of his points felt so simple and brilliant; would-be vloggers should take heed.

According to Andrew, developers of video content must keep DISTANCE in mind when considering the video's LENGTH.

For the mobile phone, with its small screen held at arm's length, think, 10 seconds.

For the computer, which people are accustomed to sitting 2-feet away from (but which also begs for multitasking), think, 3 minutes. (The average YouTube video is 2 minutes.)

For the tv, in front of which we veg-out and often watch communally, from 6 feet away, think 30-60 minutes.

For the movie screen, where we expect an immersive experience, think 2 hours.

Somehow I think that this must be a well-known concept, but, it sounded so logical and right at the time.

Andrew acknowledged that his biggest advantage had been being among the first out-of-the-gate with the RocketBoom vlog. The next big opportunity to be "first" will be in mobile vlogs, he predicted.

Who will be the first break-out star of the 10-second set?

Tags: rocketboom, andrew+baron, vlogs

Posted by Todd Defren at 10:39 AM | Permalink

Okay, this is my last post on the latest Edleman/Wal-Mart flap. I hope.

As this meme progressed, one of the things I noticed --- in my own blog; in my readers' comments; and across the score of other blogs that weighed in (Constantin Basturea has a great recap) --- was the tone of "righteous indignation."

This led some others to suggest that the echo-chamber-like nature of the blogosphere turned a "minor" event, unnecessarily, into a cause célèbre. We were accused of navel-gazing.

It is absolutely true that the blogosphere tends to blow minor things out of all proportion. But I also believe that the blogosphere is market-oriented. One or two bloggers may rant about a minor issue, but, unless the "marketplace of ideas" pays heed to these rants, the meme is stillborn. The political blogs are ranting non-stop on the Right and Left, every day, but only when their ideas have genuine merit do rants become memes, which can subsequently become game-changers. Ask Trent Lott. Ask Dan Rather.

The blogosphere is a force-multiplier for under-represented but legitimate ideas; just as pack journalism can be faulted for its homogeneity --- but rarely for the legitimacy of the concepts under such intense scrutiny.

In other words: Edelman shoulda' known better --- the fake Wal-Mart blog that Edelman set-up was an egregious breach of ethics (from a self-described paragon of Social Media virtue). It was not an honest mistake in the new era, it was a cynical manipulation of Social Media's bedrock tenets. Edelman deserved to be called out. And, because the Agency's top dogs were originally silent in the face of the resulting storm, the blogosphere whipped itself into a fury. It would not be denied.

And that's the way it should be. That's the beauty of the blogosphere.

Tags: edelman, wal-mart, flog, public+relations, social+media, blogs

Posted by Todd Defren at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today Richard Edelman and Steve Rubel posted (finally!) about the Wal-Mart flog.

Richard said: "I want to acknowledge our error in failing to be transparent...This is 100% our responsibility and our error; not the client's...Let me reiterate our support for the WOMMA guidelines on transparency, which we helped to write. Our commitment is to openness and engagement because trust is not negotiable..."

Steve said: "[O]ur firm failed to be completely transparent. I am sorry I could not speak about this sooner. I had no personal role in this project. There is a process in place that I had to let proceed through its course. This is why it took some time."

Reaction to these terse, matter-of-fact, apologies-without-explanation has been mixed. My own reaction is mixed.

On the PLUS side: I am glad that they finally said something. As noted earlier, their silence became more acidic than the original faux-pas. They probably should have said something sooner --- even a place-holder post ("watch this space") would have staved off some of the negativity --- but, honestly, it's only been a couple of business days, and, Edelman and Wal-Mart are large, bureaucratic organizations. I am also heartened that Edelman simply apologized. The brevity of the posts is a li'l troubling (they were "gathering facts" but shared none!), but, this is the counsel I'd have given Edelman if they were my own client. "Keep it simple --- embrace the error, make it quick, move on."

BUT: Should we "accept the apology"? A lot of PR bloggers did; they are willing to wave buh-bye to the meme. It's easy to sympathize, too: Social Media is new; we're all likely to screw up a some point and when that happens we'll fervently hope to escape this kind of harsh scrutiny.

But there's no getting around it. The original flog flouted all the rules of Social Media. Edelman has held itself to a higher standard; positioned itself as a leader; made enormous investments in this realm ... and yet the Agency has irresponsibly bungled its leadership role, repeatedly. The flog and ensuing silence are just the most recent examples. There are great bloggers on staff --- but in less than 12 months Edelman itself has been knocked for just-plain-lame examples of blogger relations, flogs, etc.

With great power comes great responsibility. When Edelman squanders its credentials with lame-brained strategies, the entire PR industry loses the esteem it was so carefully crafting in this New World Order.

I acknowledge the apology and am glad for it. I hope we all learn from this debacle. But what are the repercussions? The pattern of behavior is still unacceptable. Despite my respect for Edelman's many individual stars, and for Richard Edelman himself, I find that I cannot accept the Agency's simplistic apology.

Tags: edelman, wal-mart, micropersuasion, richard+edelman, flog, public+relations, wal-mart, wal-marting+across+america

Posted by Todd Defren at 08:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

If you've stopped by the PRX Builder site but were daunted by the $6 fee to create a release, please go check it out again.

For a limited time, the new service is offering up some free credits, so ya'll can try it out. You can go from "looky-loo" to "tire-kicker!"

Try to create a new release: use it to show your client "what's possible" when it comes to this newfangled format.

Try to re-purpose an older news release: I think you'll be surprised by how similar a Social Media version can be to your original draft, in terms of how much of the content can be "transferred" without losing its impact or intent. In fact, we can hope that the Social Media format might make it stronger, and/or more relevant to a wider audience (i.e., not just journalists but to the blogosphere as well)!

Remember that the service is in beta, so please do provide your feedback to the site's creators. Some of the early feedback has already resulted in some ease-of-use changes.

Anyone who uses the PRX Builder service from soup-to-nuts --- all the way through a distribution via PRNewswire --- is welcome to submit comments on their experience for publication (interview-style) in PR Squared.

Tags: prxbuilder, social+media+news+release, public+relations, pr+2.0

Posted by Todd Defren at 01:00 PM | Permalink

In the "comments" section of my post about Edelman's work on the Wal-Mart account, Owen Lystrup and Ed Lee among others seemed to groove to these core concepts below. It seems that these are the issues under the most scrutiny...

Question #1 - Assume that Wal-Mart not only dreamt up the campaign but also insisted on "opacity" for the Wal-Mart'ing Across America flog --- should Edelman have resigned the Big Account to protect their own reputation? After all, Rick Murray --- Edelman's president of the me2Revolution group --- is on the Board of Directors of WOMMA, which calls for "honesty and transparency at all times."

Question #2 - Did Edelman have the original idea to pull-off this fraudulent campaign? If so are their own credentials now seriously undermined?

Question #3 - Now that this is out in the open... days later, still we hear NOTHING from Edelman or its bloggers? Have they been ordered to stay silent? Whether they have been ordered to stay silent or not, doesn't their silence feel hollow and show a lack of respect for the blogosphere's people and practices?

Again --- I respect these people. The flog was a disappointment. The silence is worse.

Tags: edelman, walmarting+across+america, flog, public+relations, social+media, blogging

Posted by Todd Defren at 06:21 PM | Permalink

First, let me say that I am a big fan of Steve Rubel, Phil Gomes, and many other Edelman folk. But, for a PR team that claims such impressive stars in its line-up, it's been striking out big-time with the Wal-Mart account.

The inimitable John Wagner points us to this incredibly lame experiment by Edelman's Wal-Mart team: they set-up a fake blog, "Wal-Marting Across America" featuring a professional writer and WaPo photog (incognito), RV'ing throughout America's Wal-Mart parking lots. The fact that this was a PR stunt, with paid bloggers on-board, was not disclosed. According to MediaPost:

"The blog, launched Sept. 27, was profiled in this week's issue of BusinessWeek, which exposed the site as a promotional tactic engineered by Working Families for Wal-Mart (WFWM), an organization launched by Wal-Mart's public relations firm Edelman. WFWM paid for the RV and all travel expenses, rerouted the trip's original plan, and plastered a logo on the RV's side. Although the blog featured a link to WFWM, it did not identify the organization as a paid sponsor."

This is wrong on so many levels. And it is Stike 3 for Edelman (not Strike 2, as Joseph Jaffe suggests). Edelman, the self-described leader in me2, in transparency, in Social Media PR strategies. (Or, maybe not.)

Strike 2 was Edelman VP Mike Krempasky's (debatable) handling of the Consumerist flap.

Strike 1 was the bungled blogger relations campaign in March 2006.

Note to the good guys at Edelman: it is not just your agency but your own credibility that is on the line when a.) your agency TALKS about transparency but does not PRACTICE it, and, b.) you don't blog about these fiascos (pro or con).

Silence is not golden. Silence gives consent.

Tags: edelman, wal-mart, john+wagner, joseph+jaffe, businessweek, public+relations, social+media, blogging

Posted by Todd Defren at 10:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

"The engagement myth is built on an insatiable desire to get consumers obsessed with our brands... Often 'engagement' is achieved through digital technology. Problem is, consumers don't want to be 'digitally engaged' with us. They're only into each other... As marketers, we shouldn't care about brand engagement. Instead we should focus on how we get people connected with each other and measure the number of times we helped them do so."

I totally agree with Mr. Rubel on this point. Social media "channels" like MySpace are merely a means to an end. I have watched my 14-year-old practically abandon MySpace for Facebook, without a second thought about how he might be abandoning his heretofore favored brand. He went to where his friends were hangin'. There was no rallying cry for MySpace among that juvenile crowd. If his friends had decided that Wal-Mart's ill-starred social media experiment was cool, he'd have gone there in a flash, regardless of Wal-Mart's reputation.

I think about "Engagement" in terms of simple analogies. My favorite is the idea from fishing, "Catch & Release." It is up to a brand to "catch" the attention of prospective users, with whatever lures they can dream up. For example, Disney Channel does a good job of keeping my 11-year-old engaged by publishing her IMs on TV; by creating lame video-games populated by her favorite Disney characters, etc. She compares her scores to her friends' scores. She emails her online Disney-inspired creations to friends. She's "caught." Just as my son is "caught" by Facebook today.

The brand managers at these sites ought to be thinking about how-to measure and maximize that short-term loyalty, perhaps moreso than focusing on the fruitless quest to keep it going forever.

Both of my kids will move on. It is inevitable. They will "release" themselves from these brand hooks when their school of friends move on to new online waters. Brand managers need to get comfortable with that concept. Some questions they might ponder...

• "Can we catch users? Can we catch their friends?"
• "And while they are loyal (which will not last forever), how can we maximize that loyalty?"
• "How can we make it easy for friends and like-minded consumers to connect and interact with varying degrees of meaning and immediacy?"
• "How can we monetize a short-term infatuation? What would it take to turn a 'young love' into a long-running affair?"
• "How can we empower our consumers with tools that they can use to 're-mix' our brand? If they can 'customize' our brand, make it their own creation, how much longer will they stay with us?"
• "If we don't like how our consumers 're-mix' our brand, can we swallow hard and just let it happen? (Remember the Chevy Tahoe consumer-generated ads?!)"

That last "question" points to the ultimate "catch and release" --- catch the consumer, empower them with multimedia toolsets and ideas, and then release them to re-architect your brand in their own image. What a wild fishing expedition.

Tags: micropersuasion, steve+rubel, marketing, public+relations, social+media, engagement, pr+2.0

Posted by Todd Defren at 05:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

"Is there an easy way to do this? A way to 'fill in the blanks' to create a Social Media release?"

That was one of the biggest questions I faced from PR pros who were intrigued (but confused) by our Social Media News Release template (pdf). Luckily, a talented programmer named Shannon Whitley took it on himself to build an application that automates the process of creating a Social Media News Release based on the SHIFT template.

Introducing... PRX Builder. The Social Media News Release Builder (beta).

PRX Builder allows you to literally fill-in-the-blanks within its WYSIWYG wizard, and voila, you get a Social Media release, formatted and ready for distribution!

"But what about distribution?" you might ask. "Will this newfangled PRX Builder service work with the traditional newswire services?"

Great question. A Social Media News Release is only as good as its distribution platform. I introduced Shannon to the good people at PRNewswire, with whom he subsequently struck a distribution deal.

So, you can create a Social Media News Release via PRX Builder (for a few bucks), and "push a button" that will transfer the newly-minted masterpiece to the PRNewswire system.

PRNewswire has even created a new pricing package for PRX releases: a "Web-only" distribution (suitable for most users) will start at just $395.

DISCLAIMER: Since my ugly mug is splashed on the front-page of PRX Builder (temporarily, one hopes!), you will rightly wonder, "Does SHIFT get any financial compensation from PRX Builder or PRNewswire?" --- The answer is an emphatic NO.

As was the case with the template and our PR 2.0 Guide (pdf), at SHIFT we are big believers in karma. Helping out Shannon through the alpha build; making those introductions; and evangelizing Social Media (in general) and Shannon's PRX Builder (in particular) to PRNewswire were reward enough. If ya'll enjoy the PRX Builder; if it earns a few bucks for an earnest, hard-working guy like Shannon, that will be icing on the cake.

Please go check it out, next time it comes time to create a new press release. Your feedback welcome!

Tags: prx, public+relations, businesswire, prnewswire, prweb, marketing, pr, social+media, social+media+news+release, foremski, hrelease, social+media+club, shift+communications

Posted by Todd Defren at 09:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Brian Solis (pictured) at the PR 2.0 blog had a great post this week about the practical applications --- and challenges --- of Social Media News Releases.

As noted here, one of the core principles of the Social Media News Release is to "Be Findable." In an online world it is incumbent on the PR pro to do their utmost to ensure that their news is displayed and retrievable in as many relevant spots as possible. You'd think it would be easy to do so, with Technorati tags, trackbacks and such.

But Brian did the hard work of testing the process and results. He put out the same release over multiple wire services, to test their ease-of-use, results, and most importantly their efficacy with Social Media technologies.

"[C]ontrary to current marketing, not all 'social' elements of social media press release distribution services are truly integrated or functional …While they offer embedded links to services such as del.icio.us … digg … trackbacks, [etc.] they're still not necessarily providing much in the form of automated 'social media' value ... [Most wire services] simply direct you to a place where you can manually complete the social process…"

This will be of one the many challenges to Social Media's adoption in PR: it's easy for the wire services to pay lip-service to these technology enhancements, but we all know that there is a big difference between http://del.icio.us/post and http://del.icio.us/post?url=http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/multivu/25419/.

Try this experiment:

• Make sure that you are NOT logged in to del.icio.us.
• Visit this release.
• Click on the "Add to del.icio.us" button at the bottom of the page.

Clicking the link should take you to the generic del.icio.us homepage.

• Now, try that "Add to del.icio.us" button again, after logging in to del.icio.us.

Not much better, right? In this case you're asked to manually paste the URL into the "post" field; and there's nothing to suggest that del.icio.us has a clue what bookmark you're trying to save.

• Now, while you are still logged into del.icio.us, click this link: http://del.icio.us/post?url=http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/multivu/25419/

BIG difference! Easy-peasy. The URL is automatically pasted into the correct field, along with a host of suggested tags. All the user needs to do now is title and annotate the new bookmark. Wouldn't it have made more sense to add a hyperlink to this URL to the original release? Granted, a del.icio.us user who's not logged-in would still be directed to do so, but, the current set-up simply refuses to consider that the user just might be logged-in.

Now, I am a PRNewswire/MultiVu fan, so this is not meant as a slam against any particular service. According to Brian Solis's research, all the vendors have similar issues. I know many fantastic, well-meaning people at PRN, BusinessWire, PRWeb, etc., and I know that they are all working hard to improve their offerings in this area (despite the fact that doing so requires catering to a tiny minority of bleeding-edge zealots)! This post, riffing off Brian's, is intended to merely point out some simple stuff that the wire vendors could score points on.

The message we need to send to all of the wire services is: make it easy, do it right, or don't bother. Half-measures are no help.

Tags: brian+solis, pr+2.0, social+media+news+release, social+media, prnewswire, businesswire, prweb, marketwire, hrelease, public+relations, social+media+club

Posted by Todd Defren at 05:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

An interesting confluence of events this week highlight the complexities of melding blogging with journalism.

First we learn, via Rohit Bhargava, that Business 2.0 editor Josh Quittner intends to mandate blogging by each reporter. Some of the suggested benefits include "continually updated content" ... "giving journalists a personal stake [in building site traffic]" ... and, Quittner suggests that "releasing some editorial control offers faster turnaround and more cutting edge work."

According to Rohit,

"[Someone asked Quittner] what this opening of control and influx of opinion might do to the credibility of the Business 2.0 brand. To answer, [Josh described] the necessity of integrating blogs into a mainstream publication's culture ... 'blogs can create the essence of your brand, instead of detracting from it.'"

Ironically, in the same week, NetworkWorld dismissed journo-blogger Mike Rothman. Why? Because Rothman was candid about his minor gripes with a recent issue of the magazine. He bit the hand that fed him.

I wonder what Quittner will do, when & if a similar situation occurs with a Business 2.0 blogger?

This dilemma is bound to crop up with increasing frequency. Whether or not bloggers consciously attack their employers, by "releasing some editorial control" in order to gain "faster, cutting-edge work," publishers need to acknowledge and accept that that "edge" is sometimes going to cut the wrong way.

You can't tell a blogger --- even a salaried journo-blogger --- that you are only interested in opinions that don't impact your brand: by encouraging their blogging, you are tacitly relinquishing control of your brand.

In blogging, the dual requirements of Honesty & Speed trump the comforts of Safety. Let the Brand Police beware.

Tags: blogs, rohit+bhargava, business+2.0, network+world, mike+rothman

Posted by Todd Defren at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Tom Foremski of SiliconValleyWatcher disavows traditional press releases as "delete-on-receipt" --- they are deleted from his in-box without being read. Talk to most media and they'll very likely agree. In fact, most PR people hate press releases, too.

Yet, did you know that an average of 3,000 press releases are distributed every business day? Talk about a disconnect!

Yesterday, at the REUTERS headquarters in NYC's Times Square, I was one of the lucky panelists at BusinessWire's inaugural event commemorating the 100th anniversary of the press release. "Commemorating" is probably the wrong word, though, because each of the panelists spent a fair bit of time complaining about the poorly-written, spam-style press releases that make up the bulk of those 3,000 daily notices.

I cannot foresee the actual day when those 3,000 press releases trickle down to a more rational number (like, 300!), but, I do think that Social Media approaches will play an important role in bringing sanity to the process.

• More companies will announce minor news via their official blogs ...
• More news releases will be written as-if they could be standalone stories; they'll be search engine-optimized, and perhaps submitted more aggressively to sites like Digg ...
• Except for SEC-regulated news, more press releases will be sent directly (and only) to the 10 people --- reporters or bloggers --- who might actually care about the news, as PR pros & marketers (finally) zero-in on high-value relationships...

In most all other aspects of business, metrics are used to determine ROI. What if a marketer figured out that sales inquiries spiked by an average of 22% whenever their news was covered by Suzy Knowzitall of WidgetWeek ... and that all other PR efforts fell flat by comparison? Wouldn't it make sense to develop a deep rapport with Ms. Knowzitall, such that --- sometimes --- she was the ONLY person to get the company's news? This simple, smart targeting alone would likely cut down on the number of spammy releases that the marketer would have otherwise unleashed on an uninterested marketplace.

The traditional press release. Its days are numbered.

UPDATE: Here's a webcast of the event.

Tags: businesswire, social+media, social+media+news+release, hrelease, foremski, ivy+lee, public+relations, pr, pr+2.0, marketing

Posted by Todd Defren at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

According to Thomas Pliel, SAP plans to put out a Social Media News Release in the coming weeks.

As noted in the past, we can all feel good about the progress and traction of Social Media when FORTUNE 1000 companies adopt some of its core principles.

I am a big believer in the "bird on a wire" theory. Novell was the first big company to embrace this format --- the first bird to jump off the wire and take flight.

Chevrolet and soon SAP are also winging their way into Social Media. I predict a flock of like-minded marketers will likely follow suit. That's the way things work: a few brave souls make the leap, and if it flies (so to speak), other marketers follow suit.

Before ya know it, we'll have a full-blown trend on our hands.

(Fingers crossed, knocking wood.)

Tags: public+relations, pr+2.0, social+media+news+release, social+media, chevrolet, novell, sap+ag, thomas+pliel

Posted by Todd Defren at 10:09 AM | Permalink

I do some of my best thinking while walking Charlie, our magnificent English Mastiff puppy.  Each morning after the kids are hustled onto the bus, my wife and I hoist our 180-lb. dog into the car for the 2-minute drive to a nearby conservation area. It's heavily wooded, with a big mucky pond that's home to beaver, heron, ducks and monstrous bullfrogs.

Lately it's been glorious each morning.  Has anyone else noticed that September is the best month on both coasts?  Crisp and sunny, low humidity, fewer bugs, and, here in the East, the beginnings of fall foliage.  The new sun streams through the forest walls. 

The dog trots alongside, off-leash.  There's something about walking a dog off-leash that is so much more satisfying than a traditional "heel - sit - stay" type of walk --- especially when you are walking though the woods with a loyal pup that is literally the size of a mountain lion.  Very primordial.

My wife and I hold hands, basking in the dewy breeze, and wait for Charlie to sap his batteries.  It doesn't take more than a half mile or so, which will be good news come wintertime.

This blog post features a quick shot of Charlie, taken with my lackluster camera phone.  Sheesh.  Look at that tongue!

Anyway --- Autumn is no time for blogging.

Not that I'll stop all together, but still, I've been slowing down to regain some perspective.

Posted by Todd Defren at 08:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)