Strategic Public Relations

The New York Times on Facebook-Based Media Relations

My post on Facebook’s impact on media relations generated an interesting comment from The New York Times’ Saul Hansell at The Bad Pitch Blog.

To my mind, any pitch on Facebook is automatically a Bad Pitch. Why aren't you using e-mail? If you are really telling me something useful, your e-mail is the most handy way to get it to me and I'll find it.

Using Facebook is an immediate giveaway that you don't really believe in what you are pitching and you need to find some sort of unfair or cute way to attract attention.

While my post and video on Facebook are effusive to say the least, I made it a point to recommend folks DO NOT PITCH VIA FACEBOOK. I want to restate it here if it is unclear in my last post.

However you can learn about journalists and their work via Facebook than the basic details served up by services like Media Map. The same common sense rules about media relations apply on Facebook. It’s not a silver bullet.

Journalists can benefit from giving PR people this access. Some journalists already use Facebook to help them find sources. Now it can help better-informed sources find journalists.

Social Networks and “the F-Word”
Social networks are innocently turning friend into a four-letter word. It’s natural as social networks like Facebook merge from a University-based network to include the general public.

All of my "contacts" on Facebook are professional relationships and I handle them as such. Twitter has already stopped calling contacts friends and now calls them followers. I think the term friend on social networks will fall by the wayside. Whether it does or not, Facebook and other social networks should give users the option of casting themselves in a professional or personal light or limiting access to contacts.

RELATED:
Facebook: What's In It For Journalists? Poynter
He Didn’t Want To Be That Kind of Friend NY Times’ Bits Blog
Facebook Can Improve Your Media Relations The Bad Pitch Blog (includes Hansell’s comment)

tags | public relations | PR | media relations | media | social networks | Facebook | Saul Hansell

Facebook Can Improve Your Media Relations

While I poke fun at social networks, Facebook has been a lot of fun and taught me a few things.

The experience has inspired me to create a poorly-produced video series called Facebook Confessional. You can see the latest episode above* and I post all of them on my Facebook profile and archive them on YouTube.

The latest episode shows reasons why you should consider joining Facebook. Tons of media are on this network, similarly finding their way and figuring out how it might benefit them.

DISCLAIMER ONE: Don't sign in and start pitching. You can't anyway. But as you learn Facebook, you'll learn more about your editorial contacts (and their work) than the basic information provided by media databases.

DISCLAIMER TWO: The above enthusiasm and flurry of activity is leveled at social networks -- not just Facebook. Some theorize that social networks are like bars. First Friendster was hot, then MySpace and now Facebook. I think this theory applies to all things new and shiny.

“So why not just wait until the next flavor of the month hits stores?”

You can always reapply the skills you learn on Facebook elsewhere as needed. The things you learn on Facebook can impact your work today. And the connections you build are transferable.

The next episode of Facebook Confessional is in the early stages. If you have a topic you’d like covered, let me know.

*Special Thanks: The video was filmed (subtly) on location at Jack’s Pets. Soundtrack provided by DJ Le Clown via the mashup Gypsy Claire.

cross-posted to The Bad Pitch Blog
tags | public relations | PR | media relations | social media | Facebook

Brands Are Built Early in the Minds of Babes

As the family got some ice cream at our favorite creamy whip on Saturday night, I realized how early brands establish a beachfront in our minds.

The creamy whip is located on a busy road and a semi passed by while we hung out. It pulled a trailer from our local grocery store.

My two-year-old son, a truck aficionado, pointed to it as it sped by and exclaimed…"grocery truck!"

As you can see, there are no graphic cues of food, a grocery store or a related theme that might lead him to make that statement – just the logo. Now while I’m personally inclined to believe it’s further proof of his genius, the bottom-line is that brand recognition starts at a very early age.

This should be viewed as a responsibility by marketers and not an untapped opportunity.

UPDATE: Stanford University further reinforces my theory with another example of kids and branding using McDonald's.

UPDATE 2: The Stanford U update was added last Tuesday. One week later, The NY Times covers it. And people wonder why blogs should be in everyone's media diet?

tags | marketing | branding | brand

This Blog is Five Years Old

In a class play during the first grade, I played the tortoise in his infamous race against the hare. My approach to blogging over the last five years has been a lot like the turtle’s – slow and steady.

And while blogging can seem like a race sometimes, mostly it’s been a blast learning (a lot) and connecting with some wicked-smart people scattered around the world – people I never would have crossed paths with otherwise. Hopefully I’ll meet more of you in person at some point.

I’m cooking up a more self-indulgent post around this milestone. But in the meantime, I simply want to say THANK YOU to every reader, subscriber, linker, linkee, blogger, colleague and friend. In a single, (hella-linked) word…

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Well, it’s been five years; let’s double-up on that Supercal.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

To get a point across in an interview, you have to mention it three times, right? So let’s do this once more with feeling.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Tortoise & Hare, Copley Square uploaded by trent_maynard
tags | public relations | PR | marketing | blog | Kevin Dugan

Brilliant New Business Analogy

We hired a new project manager who uses this analogy to describe one approach to new business.

"Just showing your latest/best/most relevant work in a new business meeting is like showing up at a doctor's office with a broken arm and the doctor starts showing you x-rays of other patients he's helped."

Make the new business meetings, pitches and introductions more about your prospect and less about you.

You'll be amazed at the impact an informed opinion has.

171 Starbucks in One Day: You Can't Buy This Buzz

During general Sunday morning activity, I noticed what looked like a paid product placement on NBC's Today Show.

Lester Holt sat across from a man in the studio and between them was a TV screen "filled to the brim" with a Starbucks logo.

That man was comedian Mark Malkoff who recently learned there are 171 Starbucks in Manhattan. He then proceeded to visit these 171 Starbucks -- in one day.

It took Malkoff a bicycle and $369.14 ($80 of which was spent on bribing a barista for one piece of pound cake at the 171st location that closed minutes before Malkoff arrived).

Is this positive PR for Starbucks? One could argue he's making light of their Manhattan ubiquity.

I'll argue that, while Malkoff's stunt is creative, he's doing little more than hitching his wagon to Starbuck's brand. But the end result is priceless -- some serious air time on a national network (during a slow news day). It's one more example of the power of a passionate customer and a brand with some serious gravitas.

You can’t buy that kind of buzz.

'9ami howa uploaded by FUNKYAH
tags | public relations | PR | media relations | Starbucks

Friday Flickr Fix – 07.20.07 – Facebook Factoids

Two thoughts on Facebook and LinkedIn. Many people are tired of hearing about them. Or people wonder which social network will flourish and which will fade.

Shut yer Facebook
Compare my contacts on each network to the time I've been a member of each.

This is one example of why Facebook has everyone buzzing since it opened membership beyond college students.

LinkedIn vs. Facebook: Who’ll “Win?”
It doesn’t matter. The important thing is to simply participate in a social network. This way you can at least create an informed opinion.

That said Facebook is the best thing to happen to LinkedIn. Prior to Facebook, LinkedIn was a web site where I stored contacts. LinkedIn is stepping up its game now.

And these two are the tip of the social network iceberg. As more people see the potential and benefits of social networking, we’ll see even more players emerge.

Post-it uploaded by carodani
tags | LinkedIn | social media | Facebook

Best News Release Quote Ever?

Maybe not. But it made me laugh and it's from Ronn Torrossian no less.

Via Bulldog Reporter:

----
5W Public Relations Selected By LifeStyles Condoms
5W Public Relations announced that they have been chosen as the public relations agency of record by condom maker Lifestyles, owned and distributed by Ansell Healthcare Products.

"We are extremely honored that Ansell has chosen 5W as the agency of record for such a seminal brand as LifeStyles," said Ronn Torossian, president & CEO, 5W Public Relations.
----

Seminal? Are you working the Catskills during the off season Ronn? I’m impressed. Just remember, when you get the account is when the rubber hits the road.

I’ll stop there. But don’t be surprised if you see a cross-promotion with the Girls Gone Wild videos.

tags | news release | media relations | Ronn Torrossian

Four Links – 07.15.07 – Your Boss on Facebook, PowerPoint Turns 20, InviteShare and Wagstaff on Twitter

1) OMG -- My Boss Wants to 'Friend' Me On My Online Profile   The Wall Street Journal
While several younger coworkers are on Facebook, this article makes me reticent to reach out to them or to create a network connecting all of us. Don’t wanna come off as that skeevy guy in marketing.

2) PowerPoint Turns 20   Influx Insights
Remember life before .ppt? I once schlepped a wheel of slides to a big presentation at Procter & Gamble for my boss and our CEO. And when the wheel was overturned, slides spilling everywhere, I remember being thankful I didn’t spill them and even more thankful I got to watch my CEO's reaction. Good times.

3) Get Beta Invites at InviteShare   Advertising Lab
Are you a joiner? Still pissed no one invited you to join Orkut? You’ll love InviteShare where you can share invites to closed beta tests.

4) The Rise and Fall of Blogging, Twitter and Facebook   Loose Wire Blog
WSJ’s Wagstaff makes an interesting case on where this is all going.

Twitter…push(ed) blogging away from writing and more into connecting. Most people read blogs because they wanted to feel connected to other people by reading what they were thinking. But it's time consuming, and as blogs proliferated, and as blog posts tended to get longer, readers had less and less time to read these things.

tags | Powerpoint | Facebook | InviteShare | Twitter

When Social Networking’s Second Nature

My daughter and her cousin are playing Webkinz. They each own two of the unassuming, stuffed animals. Another cousin owns four of them and a friend owns 13 Webkinz (her mother is quick to note most of them were gifts).

My six-year old daughter didn't need me to show her the ins and outs of this online world – her cousins, all under the age of 10, taught her.

So when Ad Age reported that "96 percent of online tweens and teens have used social networking technologies, and 71 percent of them connect to a social network at least once a week," it wasn't surprising.

Sites like Webkinz and Club Penguin are skewed for the online tweens and teens little brothers and sisters. When they get older, social networking will be second nature.

As a result, I’m assuming that the Ad Age numbers will grow...and the Dugan family will need a second computer.

RELATED: Sites let preteens network online

tags | social networks | Webkinz | Club Penguin