Social Media Implications for PR

At a recent PRSA Digital Impact Conference, New York Times columnist David Carr spoke about the implications that social media tools hold for journalism and public relations. In his conclusion, Carr offered PR professionals a few helpful tips to use when working with journalists.

1. Don’t ask “Did you get my e-mail?” “Don’t have your junior deputy call and ask if I got your e-mail as another way to make contact,” Carr said. “Yes — these are all very reliable technologies — I did.” If he didn’t respond, he simply isn’t interested in the story.

2. Don’t send blast e-mails. A single personalized e-mail will be far more effective than hundreds of generic messages, Carr said, especially since it takes minimal effort to rework an individualized release for print. “We’re not lazy so much as incredibly busy,” he said. “If someone gift wraps something and hands it to you — ‘This is only for you’ — chances are you’re going to take it.”

3. Only pitch legitimate news. When telling your boss that the information they want you to pitch is not newsworthy, they may reason that making the phone call can’t hurt. “Yes, it can,” Carr said. “I’m going to think you’re a twit.” PR professionals need to educate those they work for about what should be pitched to reporters. “Don’t try to manage me,” he said. “Manage them.”

For the past 25 years, Carr has been writing about media as it intersects with business, culture and government. We found this information priceless and thought we should share it.

There is no denying social media has altered the rules and tactics of marketing and communication strategies worldwide. Katy Thorbahn, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Philadelphia office of Avenue A Razorfish, believes that a “major shift is occurring - the rise of social media is creating a new form of marketing altogether, called Social Influence Marketing (SIM).”

In the May/June issue of AD NEWS, Thorbahn explains in her Think Social Influence Marketing article that it is about employing social media as part of the entire lifecycle of a marketing campaign, even beyond the campaign.

Here are some of Thorbahn’s “must know” details on social media development:

• Social Influence Marketing is the third dimension of marketing: SIM requires new strategies, rules and tactics; and in the long run will harbor a stronger affect on purchasing behavior than direct response and brand marketing.
• Advertising on your consumer’s terms: SIM is also about engaging with consumers on their terms – where they want to and in a language and format of their choosing. By doing so, it will allow companies to participate in the online conversations.
• Social networks matter more than websites: Consumers are continuing to spend most of their time on social networks. Companies need to crate a strategic development plan to integrate a new website, product or marketing campaign with key social networks.
• Engagement metrics come to the forefront: Much of the web’s success as a marketing platform is driven by its ability to capture strong metrics. New measurement models and corresponding tools will be needed to track whether Social Influence Marketing is having a stronger effect on the purchasing cycle than brand marketing or direct response.
• SIM can broaden consumer influence: SIM is going to affect how organizations innovate, develop ideas, recruit, measure performance and interact with all their constituents (customers, employees, partners, shareholders, etc.) because only by changing the organizations from the inside out, will companies be authentic when talking to the outside world.

For more of Thorbahn’s “must know” details on social media development, go to her article, Think Social Influence Marketing.

Comcast to Buy Plaxo Social Network

This just in from the Philadelphia Business Journal - Comcast is set to purchase Plaxo which currently provides a free service that updates and maintains the information in your address book. Plaxo has also become a social networking tool (Pulse) much like LinkedIn. So, as a Comcast user and subscriber, I'm wondering how long the platform will remain free.

Thomas Claburn of Information Week reported an hour ago on the story.

Claburn says:

"For Comcast, the deal provides an opportunity to make use of data about the 50 million people now under its umbrella. This may prove useful not only for marketing, but also for promoting content creation and communication. With a few more Internet-oriented acquisitions or partnerships, the cable service provider could develop a loyal Internet community, making it more competitive in the social arena with the likes of Facebook, Fox Interactive, Google (NSDQ: GOOG), and Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO)."

Here are some links to more of the news coverage:

REFILE-UPDATE 2-Comcast buys social network pioneer PlaxoReuters - 5 hours agoBy Yinka Adegoke and Eric Auchard NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO, May 14 (Reuters) - Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O: Quote, Profile, Research) has agreed to acquire ...

Comcast buys Plaxo websiteguardian.co.uk, UK - 5 hours agoThis article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Thursday May 15 2008. It was last updated at 12:06 on May 15 2008. US cable company Comcast has bought ...


Comcast Buys Social-Networking Site PlaxoTheStreet.com - 6 hours agoComcast CMCSA will acquire social networking site Plaxo in a move aimed at unifying social media across the Internet and television. ...

Comcast Acquiring Social Networker PlaxoWashington Post, United States - 14 hours agoComcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) has acquired social networker Plaxo. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed in a Plaxo blog post announcing the news, but both TechCrunch ...

Comcast And Plaxo Invite You To The Marriage Of Set-top Box ...Washington Post, United States - 14 hours agoJust got off the phone from a tandem interview with Plaxo CEO Ben Golub and Comcast Interactive Media's Sam Schwartz. They weren't willing to talk money but ...

Comcast buys Plaxo: Will social networking and TV fly?ZDNet - 19 hours agoComcast has acquired Plaxo in a move that aims to make the cable giant’s interactive portfolio more social and potentially bring a little Web 2.0 to your ...

Comcast to Buy Plaxo for Social NetworkingPC World - 19 hours agoComcast will acquire social-networking company Plaxo to power upcoming community features on its TV, broadband data and phone services. ...

Confirmed: Comcast Bought Plaxo, Deal Closed TodayWashington Post, United States - 19 hours agoThe rumors were accurate: Comcast will announce their acquisition of social contact list Plaxo today. Financial terms are not being disclosed, ...

Comcast to acquire contact manager PlaxoThe Associated Press - 20 hours agoPHILADELPHIA (AP) — Comcast Corp. is buying contact management company Plaxo Inc. and plans to incorporate into all its offerings features intended to help ...

Comcast to acquire networking Web site Plaxo: reportForbes, NY - 21 hours agoSAN FRANCISCO (Thomson Financial) - Comcast Corp. is acquiring privately held social networking Web site Plaxo, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web ...

Comcast acquires social network pioneer PlaxoReuters - 21 hours agoNEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Comcast has agreed to acquire pioneering Web start-up Plaxo, which first sought to turn address books into social ...

Comcast to Buy Networking Site PlaxoWall Street Journal - 21 hours agoBy VISHESH KUMAR Comcast Corp. said Wednesday that it will acquire high-profile networking Web site Plaxo, in an effort by the cable operator to broaden the ...

Don't Start Digging Graves for Yellow Pages Just Yet

Fast Money declared Yellow Pages dead last week. In the interview, the Fast Money Traders appear to argue a good case without seeing the upside of what’s happening in the industry. Yes, stock prices are down – but that doesn’t mean we should pick up our shovels and start digging graves just yet.

David Swanson, CEO of R.H. Donnelley Corp had something to say on CNBC in response to the Yellow Page attack. Swanson focused on the misperception of usage and the diversity of offerings by the Yellow Page companies. He said, “This year 13.4 billion people referenced the print Yellow Pages. Last year it was the same. Now add to that the fact we’re diversified online. Internet yellow pages received up to 17.2 billion references.”

It can’t be that bad if companies like Yellow Book continue to expand amidst a volatile market. As recent as March 16, 2008, Yellow Book announced an expansion into South Carolina and Yellowpages.com entered into a large deal with Microsoft.

- CNN Money: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200803171309DOWJONESDJONLINE000658_FORTUNE5.htm

- Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN1757648920080317

As long as the leading Yellow Page companies continue to expand and enhance their online offerings, they aren’t going anywhere. I do presume, however, that we will continue to see changes during the coming months.

Advantages of New Age Journalism

In an age where people can have current news at a click-of-a-button, it becomes increasingly difficult for journalists to satisfy the cravings of consumers for minute-to-minute updates on local, national and world news. Luckily for journalists, technology has provided mediums which can deliver their opinions, facts or breaking news within seconds to people all over the world.

Frank Washkuch wrote a Definition of “Journalist” is Changing Fast for the March 10 edition of PR Week. In Washkuch’s analysis, he provides key examples of why incorporating new technology such as Web reporting, blogging and the use of multimedia applications is more important than ever stating that, “The speed of publishing today creates additional pressures for reporters or editors to get the story out quickly…”

Washkuch notes that there are several advantages of utilizing on-line tools such as:

• The ability to control the news you receive
• The ability to write your own original content when / how you want
• The ability to update your news or writing when / how you want

For more information on the growing trend of new age journalism, click here to read Frank Washkuck’s Definition of “Journalist” is Changing Fast.

Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn

We have posted several articles on the benefits of utilizing on-line networks such as LinkedIn. You may have checked it out, or even signed up for an account, but have you capitalized on any of the opportunities of networking on social media sites?

If not, here is an informational article to jump-start your on-line networking capabilities, Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn. The author, Guy Kawasaki, is a managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm and a columnist for Forbes.com.

In this article, Kawasaki provides the following “how to” tips on on-line networking:

• Improve your connectability
• Increase your visibility
• Perform blind, “reverse,” and company reference checks
• Gauge the health of an industry

For more information, check out this article on-line.

Put this New Promotional Web Tool to Good Use

In a recent PR Week article, Web tools enhance promotions for in-person campaign, Marc Longpre highlights a fabulous promotional web tool, Zvents. The new web tool helps corporations and organizations promote and market their events by:

- Organizing and localizing an event’s information
- Improving links on search engines like Google
- Increasing an organization’s ability to find niche audiences

Zvents increases a business’ ability to target specific audiences by featuring a database and search tool for events around the country. Ultimately, the site gives promoters more control over how the event is promoted which is always a challenge for PR professionals.

Social Media Data Mining: YouTube Viewership Ratings

Here is an interesting article with new research on data mining which analyzes viewership for YouTube videos in the first month. The following are some key findings:

In the first month on YouTube:

• 70% of videos get at least 20 views
• 50% of videos get at least 100 views
• Fewer than 20% of videos get more than 500 views
• Fewer than 10% of videos get more than 1, 500 views
• 3% of videos get more than 25, 000 views
• Around 1% of videos get more than 500, 000 views

For more information, click here.

The Gratitude Campaign - Thank a Soldier Today

The Gratitude Campaign... have you heard about it yet? If not, check out this amazing public relations awareness video. It's about saying thank you to all the men and women who serve our country.



Can you only imagine if we were able to thank all the parents, spouses, children, other family members and friends of those who have fallen? It is to them I say, "we remember."

Planning Your Communications Before Choosing Your Tacticians

Earlier this week, Kevin O'Keefe notes in a post that Law firm Internet marketing to grow in 2008 : Warning to large law marketing & PR heads. He says:

"In 2008, it'll be up to you employed in large firms and PR agencies advising large law to assess whether you really know what you are doing when marketing via social networking. If not, it's time to get some help rather than dismissing marketing mediums you don't understand. Dismissing innovation only hurts the law firm and is ultimately going to cost you your job."

Kevin makes a good point. It is so important to work with experts who know what they're doing in every area of marketing whether it's direct marketing, social media, public relations or trade advertising. But first, law firms need to assess their communications plans and make sure their plans have solid and measurable goals and objectives. Once they know what they want to accomplish, then, and only then, should they determine which tactics will be best to reach their target audiences effectively and efficiently.

Cole Silver Launches Legal Expert Audio Series on FindCareerSuccess.com

Cole Silver, the Legal Marketing Secrets blogger, announced today that they will be launching an expert audio series through http://www.findcareersuccess.com/. He says the audio series will feature

interviews from world renowned experts and advisors that will provide you profitable and incisive information, secrets, and tactics that will help you create the legal career you desire.

The line up includes:

• Dan Janel, member of the public relations team that launched America Online.

• Harry Beckwith, one of the world's most respected marketers and author of What Clients Love.

• Gerry Riskin, world renowned expert in law firm management and rainmaking.

• Jim Hassett, founder of LegalBizDev and author of seven books and more than 70 articles on legal marketing.

• Margaret Grisdela, the author of "Courting Your Clients: The Essential Guide to Legal Marketing”.

• Trey Rider, one of the country’s premier legal marketing experts.

• Hindi Greenberg, author of the best selling, The Lawyer's Career Change Handbook.

• YOURS TRULY . . . Gina Furia Rubel, Esquire, a communications expert, attorney and publicist, is the owner of Furia Rubel Communications (We'll be talking about the advice in my book, Everyday Public Relations for Lawyers, due out mid-December)

• Mike Schultz, Principal of the Wellesley Hill Group and Publisher of RainToday.com.

I'll keep you posted about my audio interview. Be sure to check out Cole's blog too!

Glossary of Web 2.0 and Social Media Terms by Digital Influence Group

For those of you still trying to figure out all of the new vocabulary used to identify all of the cool tools and features of Web 2.0 and social media, there is a great glossary of terms provided by Digital Influence Group - a company started by Larry Weber. Larry is the author of "Marketing to the Social Web" which is a must read!

Keeping Up With the Blog Conversation

Here are some tools to help you keep up with the conversation on blogs. These are tools you can use now to track what’s being said about you, your industry, your company and your competitors:

Ice Rocket (www.icerocket.com)
Blog digger (www.blogdigger.com)
Blog Hop (www.bloghop.com)
Plazoo (www.plazoo.com)
Feedster (www.feedster.com)
Google Alerts (www.google.com/alerts)

Online Investment – Survival Guide

Take a look at tips from Julia Hood’s “Survival Online Will Require Investment in Measurement,” article published in the September 24, 2007 edition of PR Week. This article succinctly outlines how to make your business survive in the world of online media.

Some of Hood’s tips for online survival include:

• Invest in internal measurement programs – hiring an external partner will cost you money and enable you to know your audience first hand
• Provide a clear message – like any branded campaign, messages need to be clear to capture audiences – so invest time in what you want your audience to know
• Track your audience – by consistently interacting and meeting the needs on your online audience, you will create loyalty among them
• Analyze feedback – generate new business leads or potential opportunities from data collected
  

If you take away one concept from this article, let it be the word INVESTMENT. The more time and energy you invest into tracking, measuring and analyzing feedback, the more benefits your company will see in return.

For more information on this topic, click here.

Ad Age Reports Growth for Yellow Book USA

So many plaintiffs’ attorneys ask me if they should invest in Yellow Page advertising. My answer always depends on what the firm is trying to accomplish and what books are available in their market.

Ad Age recently reported on 2006 net U.S. revenue and growth for the top four Yellow Page companies. Check out the growth of Yellow Book USA. 11.1% growth in net revenue as compared to a loss for the other three. Nice work in a market where naysayers believe it’s the end of the printed directory. Just like the Internet didn’t do away with print newspapers (not yet anyway), printed directories aren’t going away any time soon.

The bottom line: Yellow Pages need to continue to diversify into the digital markets, capitalize on Web 2.0, and keep the medium affordable for advertisers.

Law Firms Get Video Online With Yellow Page Ads

Dionne Searcey of The Wall Street Journal reported in her article Bulky Yellow Phone Books Turn the Page to Online Video that yellow page companies across the country are offering video advertisement as editions to Web listings.

My colleague, Kevin O’Keefe, commented that he believes this is a “gimmick meant to serve outmoded yellow pages business models” and that yellow page sales reps “don’t give a darn” how their customers’ ads look.

I disagree.

Studies indicate that consumers still turn to yellow pages ads first for their local buying needs.


My husband was a sales rep with Yellow Book USA and although he’s since moved into a management role, I’ve witnessed the depth and breadth of his commitment along with that of the countless other sales reps I’ve worked with and become acquainted with over the years. It’s their job to care – if an ad doesn’t produce a solid ROI and the advertiser cancels, it’s money out of their pockets.

According to eMarketer, August 2007, “Video's high engagement factor combined with the Internet's tracking and targeting capabilities, potentially offers (advertisers) a highly accountable method to sway the hearts and minds of their target audience.”

I love the idea of Plaintiffs’ firms adding video ads to their yellow page listings online. For firms that already produce commercials, this is a no-brainer. The cost of the Internet ad is going to be exponentially less than reaching their target audiences on television.

I’m not crazy about the idea of having any ads produced by directory-owned production. It’s not that the sales reps or their production assistants “don’t care.” Rather, I believe law firms would be better served by spending the money it takes to produce top-notch branded video ads that fit within their brand strategy, are targeted to the most important audiences, set them apart from their competition, and comply with the rules of ethics that are mandatory for all law firms in the U.S.

Bottom line: these ads are valuable tools to increase a firms business if done right.

Mobile Monday Comes to Philly

I received an email today from my brother-in-law, Brad Blumberg, who owns and operates http://www.smarteragent.com/. He said that they're starting a Mobile Monday in the Philly region.
It’s a global grass roots organization for people involved with mobile technologies. He blogged why he thinks we need one in Philly at http://www.momo-ma.com/. You can read about the organization, which started in Helsinki, in the “About” section of the site. Their inaugural event is Monday, September 24 at the Union League in Philadelphia.

Do you Twitter?

Twitter appears to be an excellent social media tool for public relations. The idea is simple, based on one question we ask our friends all the time “What are you doing?”

Friends and strangers alike are responding to that question on Twitter either posting on the Website or via SMS (text message). Members can invite friends to join and Twitter privately with them, or they can Twitter with the masses, posting their response to every Twitter member. The site has even launched a Facebook application so Facebook users can add it to their Facebook page.

At first I thought the idea was silly, but after reading Cohn and Wolfe’s Boomerang Blog on Twitter, it seems Twitter has the potential to generate PR for businesses.

If you’re a blogger, you might Twitter- “I just posted a blog on x, y and z, check it out!” (using 140 words or less). Or if your company is launching a PR campaign you might provide a sentence pitch or link to the website.

It’s worth checking out, for no other reason than to see what people are talking about-from the outrageous to the mundane, there’s a million and one ways to answer the question, “What are you doing?” As for me, I’m finishing up this blog and grabbing another cup of coffee!

Newspaper Ad Sales Continue Decline

Newspaper Ad Sales Continue Decline

According to Emily Steel of the Wall Street Journal,

“Last fall, newspaper executives and analysts were caught by surprise by the severity of a slump that took hold last summer. Since the beginning of this year, the rate of decline in advertising revenue has accelerated. Total print and online ad revenue was down 4.8% to $10.6 billion in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to the Newspaper Association of America, compared with its full-year decline in 2006 of 0.3%.”

. . .

“Gannett, which publishes 85 daily newspapers, including USA Today, said its newspaper ad revenue dropped 6.8% in May. Ad revenue at New York Times Co.'s News Media unit -- which includes advertising generated at its media properties, but not About.com -- dropped 9.9% in May. At McClatchy, which publishes 31 dailies, ad revenue in May dropped 11.5% to $153 million. Ad spending at The Wall Street Journal was down 3.4% in May."

Steel focuses on the stock tailspin that the decline has caused in the newspaper industry, leading to restructuring and consolidations. The decline in ads sales also affects the public relations industry and in particular, our clients. Fewer ads mean less printed pages which equates to fewer and fewer editorial opportunities. I believe this is a big reason for the public relations industry’s push to harness the opportunities afforded by the Internet, especially social media. I’ll be interested to see how this plays out over the next decade or so as the Baby Booming print readers make way for Gen X and Gen Y, both of which are migrating more and more to digital media for their news delivery.

Can you be sued for opinions in your blog?

In this week's Business Insurance magazine, Judy Greenwald writes that a New York blogger ruling from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals may have a wider impact. She says a federal appellate court's dismissal of a defamation lawsuit brought by Brooklyn moving company Best Van Lines Inc. against Iowa blogger Tim Walker "will have influence outside New York State."

On June 26th, the court reaffirmed other courts' rulings that the Iowa blogger who "runs a nonprofit Web site that provides information and opinions on household movers" is not liable for what the plaintiff claims to be "defamatory statements" under the state's long-arm statute. Walker published two blog entries stating that according to court documents, the moving company was "performing household moves without legal authorization and without the required insurance."

Greenwald quotes Mass.-based attorney, Robert J. Ambrogi as saying, "I think this is going to be one of those seminal cases that becomes kind of a turning point in defining the law on this issue."

Beth Bar of The New York Law Journal spells out the facts of the decision very well.

It appears that our freedom of Internet speech - even if "defamatory" - is still protected. So, blog on my friends, but remember if you publish it online and someone doesn't like what you have to say, there is always the chance for a lawsuit no matter what sayeth the courts.