PR Squared

About

Blogroll

PR 2.0 Tactics

PR Squared

I am obsessed with playing in the busy intersection where Social Media (community), Public Relations (influence), & the News (content) come crashing together.  

The latest application of this obsession is, literally, an actual application. 

It’s called “Newshound,” and it’s built on the Facebook Platform.  If you are a Facebook user, I hope you will give it a try, and invite your friends to do the same.  

By dropping the Newshound bookmarklet to your browser toolbar, you’re empowered to:

• Save any webpage and add your personal comments (just as you would with del.icio.us);
• Publish up-to 3 of these news items or webpages to your own Facebook profile.  (Similar to the “Cool Reading/Links of the Day” posts that many bloggers use when they’re too busy to craft a long post.) 
• You can also publish the Saved News (and Commentary) of up-to 3 of your fellow Newshounders.
• Plus, your friends can subscribe, via RSS, to either your Saved News singly, or, to the Saved News of You + Your Friends. 
• Your friends can also share individual links via a “Share This” badge, which allows people to post individual News Items from your profile to their own profiles, even if they don’t use Newshound themselves. 
• Lastly, your friends can also respond to your Saved News (and Comments) by commenting on your Wall or sending you a message, from within the Newshound app.

Here’s a screen capture of the application, from my own Facebook page:

There are similarities to the Google Reader Shared Items app, but Newshound allows for user commentary and “collaboration,” in that you can also display and comment and subscribe to your friends’ news.  (It also is not dependent on using Google Reader!)

I hope you new-media types all enjoy this new Facebook application…  Please let me know!?

It would be waaay cool if some of the 2.0-style influencers like Scoble, Calacanis, Rubel, Arrington, Malik, et al., were to adopt this app to supplement their blogging/microblogging efforts, eh?  Yet another way to reach their readers and to drive traffic toward interesting news and companies.

At this point I must more formally bow in thanks, deeply and respectfully, to Mr. Shannon Whitley of PRX Builder. 

It’s pretty daunting for a PR guy to dream-up an application, since I have no programming skills whatsoever.  So imagine my delight when I approached Shannon with this idea a couple of weeks ago, and heard him say, “Sure, I can do that!” 

He subsequently whipped-up this elegant application in his spare time, exactly as I’d envisioned it.  He’s a genius programmer and a true friend.  If you are interested in the future of the Social Media News Release, and/or in trying one out for your own client or company, I urge you to check out Shannon’s PRX Builder service.  Shannon’s up to some cutting-edge stuff over there, which I’ll cover in the near future (though some have beat me to it).

Now, Facebookers, go check out Newshound!

Posted by Todd Defren at 08:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Hi gang – Got something pretty cool cooked up for tomorrow.  Hope you’ll check back sometime after 9am EST. 

This is probably my shortest blog post, ever.  Not even a graphic!?

Cryptically,

Todd

Posted by Todd Defren at 05:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

There’s been a lot of chatter lately about Facebook and its potential role and impact on PR. 

Those same conversations have been occuring in the halls and conference rooms of SHIFT.  I blogged about it recently, too. 

In my earlier post I talked about the prospect of “Pitching in Public” and how that’s to be embraced.  But in talking to die-hard Facebookers here at the agency, I sensed a wariness to the idea that surprised me.

It’s true that “kids today” are accustomed to living their lives online, and largely in-public, via MySpace and Facebook.  But, they’re largely under the assumption that only a small circle of friends can (or would) access their profiles.  When I suggested that the professional/personal aspects of social networking were beginning to collide, they became visibly uneasy.

• They wanted assurances that it would be okay with me if a reporter saw their Facebook profile, even if that profile contained some “dubious” material. 
• And yes, within reason I am a-okay with that prospect.  We can’t suggest that our Facebook users leverage their existing presence on the site for professional reasons, without bowing to the fact that their primary use for Facebook was – and will remain – personal.
• They wanted to know if it would be okay if their media contacts on Facebook only had “Limited Profile” access (i.e., would limiting access suggest that they were “dissing” the media)? 
• I think it is appropriate that they only allow limited profile access to their media contacts.
• They wanted to know if they should set up a “professional” Facebook profile that was separate from their “personal” account. 
• I frowned on this but acknowledged that this might be a way to circumvent any, umm, “weirdness.”

The net of these conversations?  Once our Facebookers on staff understood that we’re not trying to exploit their passion or their existing networks, a lot of the wariness faded away, and they got pretty excited.  So, we’re currently building-out a “SHIFT Communications Network” for employee use, and, a “SHIFTers” group that anyone can join. 

We just set this up – in fact, readers of this blog may learn about it before all of our employees do!  Eventually we’ll invite any media contacts who are on Facebook (and with whom we have a pre-existing relationship!) to join the SHIFTers group, if they care to use this channel to reach out to our agency all-at-once. 

For example, a reporter who joined the SHIFTers Group could post, “I’m on deadline for a story about XYZ – you guys got any XYZ experts over there?” either via a post on the SHIFTers Group wall or via an email to the entire group.

It’s all about experimentation at this point, my fellow PR pros.  Slow, steady, respectful experimentation. 

More on these efforts will be posted in the not-too-distant future…

Posted by Todd Defren at 09:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

A good friend from my youth stopped by the house last night.  He’s a Naval officer in the D.C. area.  In the course of a long night of conversation, he shared this tale (probably apocryphal, but interesting nonetheless)…

The story goes that there were two bright British Navy officers, who became good friends in the British Naval Academy.  On the eve of their graduation from school, they made a pact:

“Whenever possible and appropriate, when in the presence of a senior officer I will find a way to mention your name, and to call you out as the most able and brilliant officer I’ve ever met.”

Each man trusted the other implicitly to hold to their bargain.  And indeed, according to the story, they were as good as their word.  Throughout their respective careers, each man became known in the British Royal Navy for being quick to hand-out credit; for avoiding self-aggrandizement.

… And each man retired as a 3–star admiral. 

It was only after their respective retirements that they told the tale of their Word-Of-Mouth Marketing success.  Although each officer had many talents and may well have been high achievers without the boosterism, nonetheless, both were adamant that their mutually-beneficial efforts were a key part of their rise through the ranks.

Marketing.  It’s not just for brands!

Posted by Todd Defren at 09:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

We can add BEA (NASDAQ: BEAS) to the list of big companies (Coca-Cola, H-P, Novell, Belkin, etc.) that are taking the Social Media News Release for a spin.

Here’s a look at BEA’s release.  The primary PR contact, Marissa Lee, worked for us many years ago, and she was kind enough to let me know that they based this news release on our humble template.

I was particularly impressed by this announcement because it is seemingly an important one to the Company.  It sounds like a major launch: “BEA Systems Delivers Industry’s First Enterprise Social Computing Suite.”  One of the subsequent news bullets notes: “(This) heralds the emergence of Web 2.0 technologies in the enterprise and signals the increased importance of collaboration and social software to improve knowledge worker productivity and user-driven innovation.”

Sounds important!  No disrespect intended to other large companies’ dabblings in SMNRs, but to me, many have smacked of “experimentation,” e.g., “This SMNR stuff sounds kinda cool, but let’s try it out with some low-level news.”

(Belkin would be the exception; they’ve embraced the SMNR big time.  Pretty much all of their releases now look like this one.)

The challenge with BEA’s release (and most all others to-date) is the inability to converse about the news release, anywhere.  You can’t do so on PRNewswire’s site (would you want to?).  And, you’ll note that the version of this news published at BEA.com is not Social Media-savvy.

I’ve noted before that a “true” Social Media News Release needs to empower conversation via moderated comments and trackbacks.  Each news release would ideally become very “blog-like.”  Press release = blog post, with links, multimedia, comments, trackbacks, etc.

This is still all too rare. 

BEA’s release, like most other SMNRs to-date, has many of the trappings of Social Media, but without hewing to the spirit of community, conversation, and engagement. 

It’s not about the Social Media “badges” (“add to del.icio.us,” et al.), it’s about being social.

Still, experimentation for its own sake is encouraging!  We’ll get there, True Believers.

Posted by Todd Defren at 09:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One of the oft-cited complaints about the Social Media News Release is that “many journalists are not ready for it.” 

After explaining that SMNRs mean that announcements are “not just for reporters anymore,” I often follow-on to suggest that any journalist who uses the web for research, etc., is primed for the SMNR.

Clare O’Connor of PRWeek U.K. recently wrote this piece (below), which seems to bolster the claims of SMNR advocates that “media-rich” releases are becoming a preferred method for the hoary ol’ press release…

Press releases with ‘a song and dance’

Clare O’Connor 18 Jul 2007, PRWeek UK

(Subscription reqd.)

 

Newly published research indicates that 75 per cent of journalists would prefer to receive media-rich press releases than a standard email or Word file attachment.

 

However, the bulk of the 128 journalists surveyed for the report by software designers Glide Technologies said they hardly ­ever receive such releases.

 

A media-rich press release is delivered via email, but differs from a standard release by linking directly back to a website where journalists can access additional information, high resolution images, video or sound clips, graphs and statistics. This means an end to large email attachments – or the need for journalists to chase photos.

 

‘For a press release to stand out, it really has to make a song and dance,’ said Will Ham-Bevan, deputy ­editor of Telegraph Create (The Telegraph’s advertorial unit).‘If I can click to a pack-shot at 300dpi, I am far more likely to use it.’

 

While still a minority, some PR agencies have started to tailor their press releases for an increasingly web-savvy crop of journalists and bloggers. Stephen Davies, social media manager at webitpr, has led the charge in the UK, recently using a media-rich release for Converseon, a New York-based client. Davies credits the easily accessible format, which included a YouTube video, with 25 pieces of coverage generated over two days.

 

Hat-tip to my friend Constantin Basturea of Converseon, who sent me this article.

Posted by Todd Defren at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

We recently fired a client.  The relationship was a long-running one, but some new contacts on the client’s side were having a tough time understanding our approach. 

Per yesterday’s post, there was a lot of “What have you done for me lately?” in the new folks’ attitude.  We can certainly deal with that for a while, but, here was the dealbreaker …

We were tasked with Blogger Relations for a new product launch.  It was the first time that the company was showing a willingness to engage with the community.  We explained, at the time that the assignment was given, that Blogger Relations entailed a different approach – it needed to be more engaging, quick, relevant, and, it could well require more active participation on the part of our client spokespeople. (If you read this blog with any regularity, I doubt a how-to on Blogger Relations is required.) 

The client agreed with the approach.  No hesitation.

We wound up pretty successful with the campaign, but, at the end of it all, we were taken off all media relations, save for some 2^nd tier stuff.  (Keep in mind that this was an account for which we’d handled PR, soup-to-nuts, for years.) 

Baffling!  Wha’ hoppen?

Some bloggers were so enthusiastic about being contacted that they replied directly to our client contacts, and the bloggers sometimes included our original pitch in their notes.  Thus, our client had a chance to read our “engaging, quick, relevant” approach, and it was deemed …

(drumroll… wait for it…)

“Too casual.  Your blogger pitch was too casual.  It led me to wonder if you talked to all the media like that.”

Which made us wonder if this was a relationship that was ever going to be fruitful again. 

This is not a sanctimonious bloggier-than-thou rant, though surely that’s how it reads.  Y’see, I can understand when clients don’t “get” Blogger Relations – it’s a new area, after all.  As Mike Driehorst of Mike’s Points noted yesterday, education about the blogosphere is an ongoing issue.

For me, the far bigger problem was that the client had “punished” the Agency without regard for the fact that a) we’d all agreed on the approach, and worse, b) they’d penalized the Agency without discussing their concerns about the pitches.  They simply started taking away assignments without explanation.  That’s not cool. 

I’d rather work with a client who understands how-to manage an agency than a client who understands the nuances of the blogosphere.

…Hmm.  I just realized that this marks two cranky posts in a row.  FWIW, 99% of our clients are totally awesome. 

Posted by Todd Defren at 09:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

When it comes to “managing the agency relationship,” a PR firm’s client contacts tend to fall into one of two categories.

There are clients who treat the agency team as an extension of their own team.  These clients share in the glory.  They applaud PR victories regardless of where the “credit is due” (in fact, they don’t bring it up much).  They know that PR can be a tough slog; they know that most every win is hard-won and they revel in the successes of today.

Then there are clients who applaud today’s successes, but can’t get off the phone without saying something to the effect of, “This was great, guys, but – what’s next?”

In my experience, the latter approach leads to fatigue and anxiety.  The client who’s always asking “What’s Next?” is the least likely to ever be satisfied with their agency (regardless of the volume & positive tone of the coverage).

If you have picked a good PR firm and have grown to trust their work ethic; if you’ve all agreed on the long-term approach – you can bet that the account personnel are already worried about “what’s next.”  They don’t need the reminder.  But they always appreciate a simple pat on the back.  That’s all the shove they need to move on to the next goalpost.

Posted by Todd Defren at 09:45 AM | Permalink

For decades, the world of media was fairly static.  There were 3 television networks.  A few major newspapers like the NYTimes, the WSJ, the Washington Post and LA Times, etc.  Scores of mid-tier newspapers like the Detroit Free Press.  A few major radio outlets.  Simple stuff.

Then the web wave hit.  And then the blogosphere was born.  And now the web 2.0 world is dawning.  Moreso than ever before, every single news outlet is scrambling to figure out its strategy.  Change is happening fast.

In the past few weeks alone:

News Corp. set to buy the Wall Street Journal.  Can “fair & balanced” coverage, a la FOX News, be far behind?  One could argue that the WSJ is every bit as conservative as Rupert Murdoch, but as for me, I worry as much about the quality and tone (with good reason) as I do about the overt political leanings.

The Washington Post is experimenting with “hyperlocal” news.  The experimental site, LoudonExtra (Loudon is a Virginia suburb), will include:

“‘…stories about things that normally would not make it into the pages of The Washington Post, like mailboxes being knocked down,’ said Rob Curley, vice president of product development for Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive. ‘It has every Rotary meeting, every Bible study group. It is very local.’ …

“Readers will be able to download restaurant guides and other content from the site onto their iPods, phones and even video-game consoles. In late August, a new feature will let readers click on a street address and see all the closest events and news nearby.”

Can a site like LoudonExtra survive, where the forerunner of hyperlocal news, Backfence.com, failed?  Perhaps WaPo’s resources will help, but, will the paper’s management have the patience to see it through?

Business 2.0, one of the survivors of the first dot-com bust, is likely about to go bust itself.  Interestingly, the reason is probably because TIME, Inc., mishandled ad sales.  From today’s NYTimes coverage of Business 2.0’s demise:

“Consolidated under a single banner, Time Inc.’s … sales representatives stopped pitching the distinct appeal and audience of Business 2.0 to focus on the larger titles like Fortune.”

Pick up a copy of Fast Company and compare its heft to Business 2.0.  I’d argue that Business 2.0 is every bit as good as Fast Company, and that its audiences are similar.  The disparity in ad sales is clearly an advertising strategy bungle, not a fault of the editors or a lack of reader interest (paid subscriptions are holding steady).  What a shame.

Lastly, and most telling of the mishmash of media matters, I’ll recommend you all to add “rahodeb” to your list of Twitter friends.  “Rahodeb” was the pseudonym taken by Whole Foods CEO John Mackey as he posted as a tireless defender of the company on various online financial message boards.  Now you can find a delicious mockery of “Rahodeb” on Twitter (as Jeff Jaffe also noted).  Some representative posts:

“The 365 Organic label has great packaging & great products in my personal experience. Have you had the Miso dressing? It's my personal fave.”

“My positions are very well thought out. They are based on years of life experience, encyclopedic reading, and clear, honest thinking.”

“If you don't believe I'm Mackey (admittedly the idea seems pretty far fetched) then you should still pay attention to what I have to say.”

Forget about the cheeky monkey who came up with the idea to do this … My point is that within days of the Mackey episode, we’re being treated to a full-on parody that I am consuming as eagerly as any news article.  I wouldn’t go so far as to predict that this “Rahodeb” poseur is the Silence Dogood of our new media age, but, we now live in an era in which a “Silence Dogood” can materialize and make an impact within minutes.

Wild, woolly, whacky.

Posted by Todd Defren at 09:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today a press release was issued that announced the formation of a new “Association for Downloadable Media” (ADM). 

Comprised of influential podcaster companies (Podshow, Podtech, etc.), one tech giant (Apple), a PR firm (Porter-Novelli), and, a smattering traditional media (NPR) and measurement companies (Nielsen/NetRatings), the ADM’s mission is:

“to develop standardization of audience measurement and advertising for downloadable media.”

This is a worthy goal.  There are tons of iPods out there, millions of iTunes users, and, technologies like the new RealPlayer that allow users to rip and burn video content on-the-fly.  I suppose you could even count Video On Demand in this category.  (Disclosure: Real is a SHIFT client.)

In other words, there’s a whole lotta downloads goin’ on.  To be able to standardize some metrics around how to “count” the media value of this activity could lead cautious marketers to view “downloadable media” as a legitimate outlet for advertising.

But ADM – which says it will work in concert with established players like the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) – faces some challenges… 

First off, from IAB and AAAA themselves: one could surmise that the formation of the ADM came about via frustration with a lack of leadership on downloadable media measurement from these august standards bodies.  Will IAB and AAAA play nice?

Next, from the measurement vendors: if Nielsen/Netratings (an ADM founder) helps form policy on how-to measure the media value of downloads, will it necessarily be open to ideas from competitors such as Cymfony/TNS, et al.?

Lastly, one could ask if “downloadable media” (a clunky term) will not ultimately fade into the wider world of media? 

“Downloadable” is a method of distribution, with no bearing on media type.  As broadband connections proliferate (along with our overall options for media consumption), streaming media may become a bigger part of the equation, and could dampen enthusiasm for ADM’s niche efforts.  (Disclosure: Akamai is a SHIFT client.)  

For now, though, I applaud what ADM is trying to accomplish, and wish ‘em well.

Posted by Todd Defren at 05:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Earlier this week, Robert Scoble suggested that the best way for PR pros to pitch him is via his Facebook Wall.  This no doubt sent two shudders through the ranks of the PR world. 

Shudder #1 – “Crud, guess I really have to set up a Facebook profile now… to join my profiles on MySpace, LinkedIn, etc.”

Shudder #2 – “Waitaminnit!  This means that EVERYONE who visits Scoble’s Facebook profile will see my pitch?!  I’ll be exposed for all to see?”

Yes.  Check out Melinda Roberts’ pitch for Renkoo, in the screenshot above.  Relevant, funny, quick. 

Now let me quote an earlier post to explain why this sort of approach is a GOOD thing for the PR industry:

“…PR pros (will soon) lose the luxury of working behind the scenes.  More and more often, in these early days of the blogosphere, a bone-headed pitch will be instantly revealed/reviled.  The crappy PR firms, the dialers-for-dollars, will get smart or get out.  Those that remain will likely have faced up to the fact that more and more of their agency’s work will be disinfected by the sunlight. 

“PR has always been about finding the right words and concepts to influence those who could influence the fortunes of our clients … The fact that much of that work happened ‘in the shadows’ did not make that work dishonorable or disingenuous; it was just the way it was done …

“But this back-alley way of doing things allowed too many lackluster PR firms to survive (and thus darken the reputation of the industry as a whole).”

The more exposed we PR pros are, the better job we’ll do.  (And if you are curious as to HOW-TO do a good job, out in the open air, check out my friend Brian Solis’s recent post, on this same topic.)

Whether or not Facebook will become the be-all, end-all for PR’s intersection with social networks remains to be seen. 

I certainly do not think that “Facebooking” is a requirement for PR people to prove to the outside world that they have “relationships” with journalists or bloggers.  A good pitch by email (or better yet via the good ol’ telephone) is still a relevant way to pitch a story idea to a writer, whether you “know” them or not.  Relationships have to start somewhere/sometime.  Sometimes it’ll be through Facebook.  Sometimes not. 

As Brian’s post notes (as quoted below), the point is to understand that social networking – whether on Facebook or some other service – is often done in the open, and thus it is PR’s responsibility to get it right.

“The price of admission is respect, listening, and transparency.  This is about relationships.  And remember, this isn’t the one and only time you may need to reach certain people.  So take the time to do this the right way.”

Posted by Todd Defren at 03:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

No time for an extended post today, but meanwhile I did want to point ya’ll to this article in AdWeek about the Social Media News Release.  The writer, Wendy Melillo, does a good job summing up the major points.

From the article:

“With access to blogs, message boards and other media tools, consumers have ushered in the age of citizen journalism. They can report, critique and disseminate news and information, becoming an important part of the conversation.”

I managed to put in a plug for crayon’s Virtual Coke campaign during my chat with Wendy, and I was glad to see that she included a nice mention in the article.

Posted by Todd Defren at 03:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I’ve been out-of-pocket all week, getting re-acquainted with my gorgeous wife while the kids are at camp.  In the office for a couple of hours today, I decided to do a quick Twitter scan to see what I’d missed while the periscope was down.  Here’s a recap of some of my favorites…

Inspirational:

aweckerle People who rock? Those who take a stand and say it like it is, 'cause someone's got to. I'll hang with 'em & back 'em up any day.

Angst alerts that hit alarmingly close to home:

msmrmyr Thinking work must slow down soon so I can return to blogging and experimenting with some new social media ideas, otherwise, I'm out of it.

paullyoung Contemplating going to see Transformers by myself. Could anything be geekier?

Micro-chats between colleagues that simultaneously inform, cause angst, and soothe:

davidparmet @Kami 'do you have a XXX strategy' is the nightmare for PR agencies... much fear over nothing 

And my personal favorite:

tombiro Wherever we go we bring the monkey with us.

Hope ya’ll had a great 4^th.

Posted by Todd Defren at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)