Your PR Guy

I'm on someone's media list

It's unfortunate I'm on a few media lists because those sending me news releases haven't read my blog. This isn't the time or the place to name names. I left that practice with my last gig as an investigative reporter.

Until today, I was annoyed by the unwanted mail. If someone is going to send me a news release, it should be about a new social media tool that helps PR professionals do their job better. Or a tool that cuts cost and improves communication. Those are things that interest me. Oh, and if you've had a partucularly stellar PR campaign where social media was used effectively, I like those stories as well. 

Geoff Livingston is annoyed too. "Having your name added to PR lists from vendors like Vocus and Cision is one of the unfortunate outcomes of having a successful blog," he wrote. "The resulting amount of spam and bad pitches can be quite astounding."

Livingston writes for The Buzz Bin and owns Washington DC-based Livingston Communications, has resigned to the fact that blogging successfully will inevitably earn you a spot on someone's media list. Which is fine, but only if that list is used correctly and relationships with bloggers -- like journalists -- are nurtured and developed. "Instead, I’ve resigned to the situation, accepting it as the nature of the business," he wrote. "Nothing typifies PR’s ill health more than the appearance of a familiar spammer."

I'd like to think my colleagues get blogger relations. It's really not much different than good media relations. Louis Gray writes the Silicon Valley Blog for early adopters, technology geeks, RSS addicts and Mac freaks. His take is apropos:

Not every public relations firm is an expert in dealing with bloggers. Some are waking up to the blogging phenomenon and, guessing at the influencers, are simply adding blogger e-mail addresses to their distribution lists, without taking the time needed to see what it is each blogger covers, learning their focus areas, or personalizing an angle. Others are aggressively hustling the top two to five names and ignoring the second layer – which creates stress for those pursued, and resentment for those who are ignored.

I'm not of the before generation like my professors and mentors in the industry. And I can't speak to how journalists circa 1999 outed bad pitching and flogged those for doing such. I was still writing for the Indiana Daily Student and stumbling my way back from the bars on Friday night. However, from the earliest days of my proseefional reporting career (post IU), I was annoyed by those news releases that popped into my inbox, which had little to do with my beat, the people in my town and readers of my paper. Almost always I'd delete them, unless one had a snazy subject line. Only then, and if I had a minute or two, would I read it. 

 Where I'm working now, we are organizing a blogger summit. We are bringing in top bloggers from the United States, and I think Canada too. Our goal is to get to know them better. To begin building relationships with them. Understand their needs and what they like to write about. In the spirit of two-way communication, we are also asking them what they'd like to see from us. That's important. 

Bad pitching, I think will always presist. There's just too many of my colleagues that don't give a damn, or they haven't trained their junior staff in proper relationship building with bloggers and mainstream journalists. And that's why we'll always that The Bad Pitch Blog and my favorite, Chris Anderson's blog -- The Long Tail. About two years ago, Anderson outed several for their bad pitching. See "Sorry PR people: you're blocked." 

Blogger relations isn't hard, folks. As a former journalist, turned PR professional with nack for social media, it just a little TLC.

It's Not Just My Friends: Most People Don't Get Twitter

There's a treatment of a recent Harvard study on Twitter in Slate today. Writing for Slate, Swansburg and Singer-Vine report, "After examining some 300,000 Twitter accounts, a Harvard Business School professor reported last week that 10 percent of the service's users account for more than 90 percent of tweets."

Not the whole story, of course. Neilsen did their digging around and found "60 percent of Twitter users do not return from one month to the next. Both findings suggest that, thus far, Twitter has been considerably better at signing up users than keeping them."

The numbers remind of Kallie Bonnell's post at Your PR Guy a few months ago. The Marketing Coordinator for Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, and a member of the Hoosier Chapter of PRSA, Bonnell explains,  "If advertising is what you say about yourself and PR is what others’ say about you – Twitter is the bed where this hot, experimental romance is taking place." Which is the best definition I've seen of Twitter anywhere. Talk of Twitter being so new that rules are ripe for anyone to write their own, is exactly right. But let's try to understand this Twitter think better.

Advertising Yourself in 140 Characters.

"Basically my tweet is what I am advertising about myself." Bonnell puts it this way, "but, if it gets picked up as a RT or even a response – now we’re onto some more PR = here’s what other people are saying about me."

Yes, Twitter is a union of advertising, PR and branding -- doesn't matter if it's personal or product specific. Tweeting and building your followers and those who you choose to follow is important. Still confused?

Twitter in Plain English

Lee LeFever of the Common Craft Show gives us a bare-bones, no-non-sense treatment on what Twitter should mean to us. Also, listen to the benefits of Tweeting he offers -- PR, advertising and branding. Bonnell isn't off point.

Your Twitter Following

Last week I bought Twitter Power. It's a good book written by a Twitter masters. But the premise of growing ones following into the tens of thousands seemed counter-intuitive to me. Recently, I got on the growth bandwagon to push my followers into the the stratosphere. Before long, I understood that's an entirely stupid strategy.  I'm not being flip when I say this, but it's not how big your Twitter is, it's how you use it.

Let me explain. I began tweeting to build a network of public relations professionals across the planets. I also used it to attract more readers to my blog. For that, I wanted to connect with top PR professionals and other creatives using Twitter. That's all. I don't care about what a music teacher in Spokane Tweets. Which brings me to some tips you might find helpful when your decide to grow your followers and choose those who you follow.

1. It's not how big your Twitter is, it's how you use it.
2. Follow only those who will bring you value.
3. Define what's valuable to you.
4. Block obvious SPAM twitters.
5. Actually connect with your followers.
6. Start, continue and facilitate a conversation
7. Automate your presence. You can't always be around. You have a life to live.

Okay, there you have it. Some Twitter food for thought, and a better treatment of what the heck this thing is. But if you disagree, fine. Go write your own rules. They might be better.

Tweet Like A Rockstar: Seven Resources Not To Ignore

Twitter is just a beast. If you're reading this blog, then you probably know what I mean. It's growth is phenomenal. Its reach is outstanding. And its branding power for companies small and large is unmatched. But there's a lot to learn about tweeting effectively. After all, you don't want to waste your time on something that not going to pull down some revenue, right?

Well, I've been using Twitter since it launched. My following is meager to those who have thousands, my argument is that one's following is secondary to the message. What matters is the tweet -- that 140 characters has to pack the best message to activate your followers. Again, content is king.

As a communications professional, I've spent most of my career investigating message develop/ When it comes to Twitter and Tweeting with a purpose, these are the finest online resources in my opinion.

1. Everything I Need to Know About Twitter I Learned in J-School
2. Twitter is Not Your Average Social Network
3. Nine Twitter Tips for Business
4. 8 Ways Twitter Can Grown Your Freelance Business
5. Nine Twitter Tips for Business -- a CIO Magazine treatment
6. 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business
7. 10 Twitter Tips for the Workplace

I'm gonna add one more for the road. Kyle Lacy, one of my colleagues and fellow Hoosier, writes some good stuff. And I learn much from his handle on social media. He's a powerhouse. He writes, 25 Small Business Twitter Tips.

Yammer is Twitter for Your Business

Comes today my thoughts on Yammer.  In Brooke DeRam's previous post on social media Sarah asked, "What do you think about Yammer?"

Well, Sarah the short answer is that Yammer looks good. TechCrunch reports, "Yammer is a tool for making companies and organizations more productive through the exchange of short frequent answers to one simple question: 'What are you working on?'"

Embedded in that, there's the larger point about social media tools: Does it make communication easier, faster, and more efficient? I haven't personally used Yammer, but from all accounts, if  David Sacks is right, then we might be witnessing the decline of inner-company email.

Writing for The New York Times, Claire Cain Miller puts it this way:

E-mail no longer serves its proper purpose, which is to request an active response, Mr. Sacks said. All the rest of the stuff that clogs in-boxes — mass e-mails sharing a link to an article, for example, or notifications of company events — makes e-mail less efficient. He wants to move all that to Yammer.

I can identify with this on many levels as the global social media coordinator for an international medical diagnostics company. We share enormous amount of back-and-forth email, and we use an IM client for "quick-hit" messages. Seems Yammer combines these into one streamlined communication tool.

Will it capitalize on the market? Yes, I think it has a niche. Would I use it? Sure.

Ten Successful Tweeting Guidelines

1. Provide a link to your blog, website, or extended profile.
2. Reply to genuine direct messages.
3. Follow people back if they interest you.
4. Write concisely.
5. Ask questions.
6. Give answers.
7. Find people to follow.
8. Offer free stuff to attract followers.
9. Link to third-party information relevant to your followers.
10. Be yourself.