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Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.

From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.

Customer Reviews – Friend or Foe? A Useful Infographic

Warren Buffett once said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” In today’s world, a reputation could probably be ruined in far less time than that. As the popularity and usage of social media and review websites grow, it is likely that users will post their experiences with a brand, whether positive or negative. Not only does this give the consumer more power than ever before—this phenomenon gives word of mouth a completely new meaning.

Rather than telling a small group of friends about their experience with a product or service, consumers can share their stories with the world. According to a recent infographic released by Reputation Advocate, 83 percent of consumers believe that it is important to read a user-generated review. In addition to this staggering statistic, 79 percent of consumers say that they trust online reviews, proving their potential to influence a brand’s reputation, sales and overall success.

These statistics emphasize the importance of engaging with customers online in a positive way – your brand’s or product’s online reputation might make or break your business.

Reputation Advocate’s infographic, which was recently featured on PRDaily, provides additional statistics that may help inform your online reviews strategy. A few that I found most interesting include:

  • Only 11 percent of consumers say they take no notice of reviews. The majority of consumers take the time to find and read reviews to influence their decision.
  • 87 percent of consumers say that a positive review has reinforced their decision to purchase a product. Positive reviews carry a lot of weight and could be a useful tool in selling your brand or product.
  • 5 percent of negative reviews are written by people who have never used the product, meaning managing your online reputation is crucial because there is a chance that false reviews could influence your consumers.

View the full infographic below, and learn more about how to manage an online reputation in our post, “Best Practices for Managing an Online Reputation.”

Infographic Courtesy of Reputation Advocate
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Traditional Seafair Embraces Modern Social Media

The annual Seafair festival is synonymous with summer in Seattle. From the end of June through the first weekend in August, the city is abuzz with sporting events, parades and festivals which celebrate the diverse neighborhoods and ethnic communities across greater Seattle.

Seafair is in my blood. I grew up going to the neighborhood parades and events and I still get a rush when I hear the jets fly through the sky during the annual airshow. Later, after a college internship with Seafair, I was hired on as a full-time employee and enjoyed five fun-filled years as part of the small group of year-round staff. Now, after living a number of years away from Seattle, I’m honored to serve on the board of the Seafair Foundation which oversees the festival’s scholarship programs and community events.

As a 64-year-old civic institution, Seafair is steeped in tradition, but it is also a great example of a seemingly “old school” organization that has embraced social media.  I recall being one of the first hundred or so people to like Seafair on Facebook and now they’ve grown to a community of 30,000-plus friends. In addition to their main Facebook page, Seafair also maintains a Facebook page for its sports events, as well as individual pages for the Seafair Torchlight Run and the Seafair Triathlon. Seafair also has an active presence on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, Tagboard and YouTube.

Seafair did not grow to more than 30,000 Facebook friends overnight; they got there by maintaining their commitment to social media. Here are a few social media best practices that I’ve observed that Seafair does well:

  • Share engaging content. A picture is worth a thousand words and almost every Seafair update includes a photo, video or other visual. Who doesn’t love a picture of smiling children?
  • Provide timely and relevant information. The dynamic and instantaneous nature of social media often makes it the first place people turn to for the most up-to-date information. Seafair leverages this well to communicate everything from event updates and promotions to information about road and bridge closures.
  • Be consistent. In the weeks preceding the festival and at its height, you can count on Seafair to post multiple updates each day. But, even during the off-season, Seafair is good about posting once or twice a week. The cadence at which they share updates is also such that it doesn’t overwhelm your newsfeed.
  • Share the love. While the majority of updates are Seafair-related, the organization is also good about sharing relevant content from others.

Social media has also been a great vehicle for recognizing the involvement of the corporate sponsors who support the festival. That’s a great sponsor benefit.

Seafair culminates this weekend with the unlimited hydroplane races and Boeing Air Show on Lake Washington. Will you be there?

 

 

 

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Unexpected Tips for Crafting Superb Social Media Posts

In a perfect world, we’d press a button and automatically generate a show-stopping, viral social media post. Unfortunately, that technology doesn’t exist (yet), so PR professionals have to rely on tried and true guidelines and tips for creating awesome, engaging posts for clients.

A recent article on PR Daily titled, “How to create perfect social media posts,” featured a compelling infographic that offered a slew of tactics to make your posts engaging on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+. Glancing over the graphic, many of the tips caught my eye as unusual, so I thought I’d share a selection of them here to help set you on your way to crafting those perfect posts. For a complete overview, I highly recommend you visit the full article.

Facebook

Offer a link. Many of us do this in Twitter posts, but think less to do so on Facebook. Be sure to offer a link to the brand’s website or relevant content in your post. Shorten them as you would on Twitter (using bit.ly, for instance) to increase brevity and maximize effectiveness.

Be mobile friendly. When posting to Facebook, keep in mind that many viewers access the site from a mobile device. With that in mind, go for simple formatting and imagery that will be easily viewable across device types—and, on that note, DO use images in your posts, another tip for increased engagement.

Twitter

Call to action. Everyone likes a sense of purpose. To boost interaction, let viewers know in your Tweet exactly you’d like them to do next (check out the awesome giveaway you linked to, for instance).

Punctuation. A simple reminder, but don’t overlook it for the sake of being sloppy trendy. Capital letters, apostrophes and commas matter. Remember that you’re a PR professional first, creative-Tweet extraordinaire second.

Pinterest

Avoid human faces. No, really. Interestingly, images without human faces are repinned more frequently than those with them—23 percent more often, no less.

Red alert. Images that are mainly red or orange get twice the repins. Go figure. And, on the color note—images with multiple dominant colors get more than three times the repins. Take it easy on the saturation though—50 percent saturation will get you four times as many repins as opposed to going all out at 100 percent.

Google+

Use full-size photos. To up the appeal, don’t just use the small photo that comes with dropping the link. Opt for a bright, large photo in the post to catch viewers’ attention.

Go for “what’s hot.” Use this feature, located above the post, to pick a funny or fascinating topic that will make the post stand out. You can also use the feature to find other people on Google+ with whom to start up a convo.

Finally, in case you’re wondering about timing, the infographic included a bit about when to post, too. For outlets like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, the afternoon hours are prime posting time—between about 1 and 4 p.m. Google+, in contrast, catches early birds at work between 9 and 11 a.m. Lastly, LinkedIn’s traffic is highest just before and after work hours—from 7 to 9 a.m. and from 5 to 6 p.m.—which makes sense, given its professional audience.

We’ve all faced the challenge of generating eye-catching social media content to increase clients’ engagement with consumers. Next time you’re feeling uninspired, consider trying out some of these lesser-known tips to produce a stellar post that will win repins, likes and retweets.

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Kymeta Announces $50 Million in Venture Capital Funding

Kymeta, one of our clients at Communiqué PR, recently closed a $50 Million Series C financing round in order to accelerate the growth of its business. This is not a surprising event if you have been following the company’s path. A beneficiary of Bill Gates and other key backers, Kymeta has been around for less than one year, expects to nearly double its number of employees in the next year and is already receiving high accolades from industry influencers. For example, both CNBC and the MIT Tech Review named Kymeta one of the top 50 Disruptive Companies of 2013, while Gartner lists Kymeta as a Cool Vendor for Automotive for 2013.

Kymeta’s list of successes is already long, but when Communiqué PR began working with the company, it was their leadership that initially got our attention. CEO Vern Fotheringham is known in the telecom and satellite/broadband space in the Northwest, and is someone we worked with years ago when he held the CEO position at Adaptix. We have great respect for Vern and appreciated and enjoyed our experience with him back in 2006. So when he approached Communiqué PR about Kymeta, we were thrilled about the opportunity to work with him again.

Kymeta is an exciting company to watch because it’s disruptive to the communications industry on so many levels. Kymeta Founder and CTO Dr. Nathan Kundtz led the development of new technology and applied it to satellite communications – a sector that had long suffered from stagnant innovation – resulting in a revolutionary change in how satellite communications will work in the future. By using “metamaterials” to develop antennae technology small enough to fit in a backpack, users can access a broadband Internet connection anywhere in the world. The technology essentially eliminates the need for a traditional satellite dish, long known for its unwieldy size, significant expense and sensitivity to weather.

Kymeta’s funding announcement received significant media interest resulting in more than 45 original articles, including some key foreign language coverage in China and Russia. Below we have included links to some of the articles highlighting details about the significance of Kymeta securing its Series C funding and, more broadly, the significance of its technology.

 

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Why Who is Key in Pitching

As public relations professionals, we are constantly cultivating story ideas from our clients, developing pitches, identifying targets and distributing them where we hope they do the most good.

Though having a compelling story is important, it is only half the battle; finding the right audience for your story is also key. Ask yourself: Who will care about this news? For whom is it relevant? Who should I target? Identifying the right journalists is essential to securing coverage. You may have a great story, but if you’re pitching the wrong media contacts, it is unlikely your story will get placed. There are tools available, like Cision, that can help you build the right media list for your pitch.

We recently started working with Trupanion, a Seattle-based pet insurance company. Trupanion is passionate about pet safety and pet friendly workplaces. In support of Pet Fire Safety Day on July 15, Trupanion shared its own best practices about pet safety, including a fire drill video they produced starring their own office pets. Pet Fire Safety Day has traditionally not generated a great deal of coverage and we knew it may not generate main stream media coverage. So, we selected targets in the pet community, such as pet bloggers, who would likely care about our pet fire safety story. Because of that careful selection and attention to the right audience, we were able to secure coverage in two pet blogs:

We were also able to secure an interview with Herb Weisbaum for KOMO News radio. He’s planning on using Trupanion’s pet fire safety tips as his weekend pet tip. Overall, our client was happy with the results and considered it win. Through our outreach we spread the word and continued to position Trupanion as a thought leader for pet safety.

In addition to helping you be successful in pitching, taking the time to identify the right targets will help build and keep relationships with journalists. Journalists are very busy and appreciate when you take the time to understand what they cover and send relevant story ideas. For more tips on pitching media, see our past blog posts:

What questions do you ask yourself to ensure you are reaching the right target audience?

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Considering PR as a Career? A Cheat Sheet to Get Started

A few weeks ago, my fellow Assistant Account Executive, Sheridan, and I presented to University of Washington Department of Communications students. Our aim was to give them a basic idea of what a career in PR is like.

Afterward, we got to thinking that it might be helpful to summarize some aspects of our presentation for anyone pondering a career in PR. If you’re a prospective PR professional, consider the below at a glance information. There’s a lot to consider when you’re deciding what career is right for you – hopefully this can help you determine if PR is a fit.

What is PR?

If you’re interested in PR, you still not might be sure exactly what the terms covers. PRSA defines public relations as “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.” Sounds about right. Head to PRSA for a comprehensive definition of public relations.

Different sectors of PR

Before starting your career, you’ll want to consider what industry you want to work within. Below, we’ve listed several major industries that PR folks often work within. As you might guess, working in government PR is quite different than consumer or technology; think about your interests, and pay attention to what prospective agencies’ clients do when you’re looking for a job.

  • Technology
  • Consumer
  • Public affairs
  • Non-profit
  • Health care
  • Government

Different types of PR organizations

As you’ve probably noticed if you’ve started looking for internships or jobs, PR roles come in all different types of organizations. Agencies come in all sizes, and in-house environments are different still. To learn more about how PR roles can differ, check out our posts Five Key Differences Between Working at Large PR Agencies and Boutique PR Firms and Internal vs. External PR Roles.

Skills for starting out

You might also be curious what types of skills PR requires. Sheridan and I came up with the following list of essential skills and traits for a successful launch into PR; if you’re still in school, now could be a time to sharpen some of these. Internships also provide you a chance to cut your teeth and build these types of skills.

  • Hard-working
  • Able to take calculated risks
  • Action-oriented
  • Possess strong personal initiative
  • Critical-thinking, problem-solving
  • Confident
  • Ability to write effectively with AP Style competency

Getting an internship

Speaking of internships, gaining work experience is always helpful when embarking on a new career path. No better way to do this than with an internship. In order to get your first, look into doing the following:

  • Network, network, network!
  • Research potential employers
  • Set up informational interviews
  • Build portfolio of published work and/or writing samples
  • Perfect your resume, personalize cover letters to each employer

Communiqué’s internship program

So what will you do as an intern? Well, intern programs vary from place to place, but our intern program at Communiqué consists of:

  • Administrative work
  • Research (clients, competitors, public relations)
  • Social media
  • Blogging
  • Editing and proofreading
  • Building media lists
  • Tactical support on projects

What are entry-level responsibilities?

Even armed with the above information, you’re probably still wondering what you do day-to-day as an entry level employee in PR. At Communiqué, entry-level employees generally engage in the following:

  • Account management
    • Updates to clients, status reports, client research
  • Media relations
    • Craft pitches, distribute press releases, conduct call downs with media, identifying/securing editorial opportunities, media outreach & buddy emails, schedule briefings
  • Edit and manage projects
    • Review materials, develop briefing documents, monitor for client coverage
  • New Business
    • Develop new business plans, conduct research, assist with presentation and documents

This list is pretty standard, but responsibilities will vary depending on the company you’re working for.

Pros of a career in PR

Like any career path, PR presents both pros and cons, which vary depending on your personality and interests. Starting out in PR, Sheridan and I have noticed the following traits that make us love our jobs:

  • We deal firsthand with clients and media representatives
  • We’re constantly learning as clients and media evolve
  • It’s an exciting, fast-paced environment
  • Our responsibilities are business-oriented yet require creative thinking
  • We have the opportunity to learn about different businesses/industries

We hope the above is helpful as you think about whether a career in PR is right for you. As you continue to consider public relations, we also recommend you look to the following resources to learn more about life in the industry:

 

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