Insights for Leaders Navigating
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.
There are many uses for social media sites such as Twitter, and regardless of your objectives, gaining influence, followers and social connections will help you get there. Rarely does an organization create a Twitter account with no hope of being found or followed. One of the key ways to have your Twitter handle found and followed is to improve the SEO value of your Twitter account. However, increasing your SEO is not just about the number of followers or tweets you have, there are other items to consider in maintaining a successful Twitter account.
I read an interesting article on this topic from MarketingProfs, “How to Improve the SEO Value of Your Twitter Account,” written by Daniel Rosenhaus. It offers seven suggestions, and I was surprised by some of the things that can actually hurt your SEO value. Consider this:
- Find your target demographic. Focusing in on a target demographic will help your social connections appear relevant. Randomizing your tweet topic can actually hurt your influence because it makes it difficult for people to find you and determine if they want to follow you. For example, if you are a fitness enthusiast and often Tweet about the latest workout or diet, you will likely rank high for people interested in fitness. Also, according to MarketingProfs, you should be sure to follow people that are also relevant to your interests, “by following and being followed by relevant Twitter accounts, you increase your account’s influence, ranking, and SEO power.”
- Write a bio to attract the right followers. So now that you know who you want to attract, how do you do it? You do this by writing a bio that appeals to your target audience. This will increase your chance of being followed by the people that have similar interests. It can also be helpful to include keywords in your bio that people interested in a particular topic might search for. For example, if you are passionate about fitness and that is your focus, include that in your bio. This will be helpful when people search Twitter for “fitness” and encourage them to follow you for more info on the topic.
- Use Twitter lists. Twitter lists help you organize people you are interested in following and monitoring based on categories. You can also set these lists to public view, which will allow others to see themselves on your lists as well as see the lists you’ve created. By creating lists, you are helping your own SEO and that of the people you find most influential, which can in turn increase your followers. MarketingProfs recommends naming your lists using simple key words that are easy to search for. For example, you could have a list for fitness trainers, fitness gear and events.
- Do an audit of the people you follow. Just like spring cleaning, updating your phone contacts and deleting Facebook friends that are no longer current, be sure to take care of your Twitter account. Following people is not always a good thing in terms of SEO. If you follow more people than are following you, that is a ding against your SEO potential. Lopsided numbers can hurt you, “because to the search engines it looks like you benefit from others more than they benefit from you.” Make sure you are following relevant people that are likely to reciprocate the follow.
- Follow accounts that everyone in your industry follows. Twitter makes suggestions to people about who to follow partially based on whom the person follows and who they in turn follow. If you want the suggestions to really work for you, follow big names for a particular industry. Using the fitness example, following Nike or a well-known trainer can be helpful. It will likely be difficult to get a reciprocal follow, but it will be a good source of content and help lend credibility to your Twitter account.
- Eliminate the Twitter spam following you. Twitter spam is not only an annoyance, but can be detrimental to building the influence of your Twitter account. On the surface it looks nice to have those extra followers, but it can damage your social network and hurt your SEO. Search engines will often penalize accounts with spam links. If a large number of your followers are spam, your true followers will likely unfollow you and you can lose credibility. MarketingProfs recommends watching for Twitter accounts with no picture, bio, or tweets and those accounts that are only tweeting about their company’s products and services (i.e. broadcasting but not engaging with others). Typically from our Communiqué PR handle we don’t block followers that match this description, we only block those that tweet spam, so this was an interesting perspective.
- Shorten your links. There are several free services that shorten links and allow you to see how many clicks your links get, such as http://bitly.com. By using free services like this, you can accumulate statistics on who clicks through your links and this information is helpful when you are trying to determine what content your followers find relevant.
By following these helpful suggestions, your organization can be positioned as an influential part of the Twitter community. However, it is also important to keep current. Some of these tips require attention on a regular basis. A well run Twitter account can help your organization be seen as an industry influencer. For PR purposes, this can help position you and your organization as a potential resource for stories.
For more information about the power of social media and if your company should invest, read our previous post on “Should Every Business Invest in Social Media?”
Several weeks ago I was perusing the Puget Sound Business Journal and came across an article by Lynn Parker titled, “How to lead effectively and not just manage.” The headline immediately caught my attention, and as I read the article, which was orientated toward people running small businesses, I could not help but think how applicable the points are for leaders of PR or marketing departments.
Lynn asserts that good management is, “the act of keeping your head down and making sure things run smoothly. Leading, on the other head, is looking out…and doing something about what you see.”
She goes on to share five tips and explains that leaders anticipate what might happen and plan for it. Leaders engage team members and solicit ideas from them. Leaders innovate looking for new ways to solve problems, they ask their customers questions and they talk with their peers.
Clearly, strong account managers or PR department leads need to exhibit these leadership skills and abilities as they can anticipate changes in their industry, understand the competitive landscape, internalize customers’ needs and wants, develop plans and motivate and mobilize their teams.
If you have a few minutes and are in a marketing or public relations leadership role, I’d encourage you to read this article. It can be found here on the Puget Sound Business Journal’s website.
A couple months ago I came across a really interesting read in The New York Times that posed a thought provoking question: should every business invest in social media? My initial reaction was, of course! While the level of investment should definitely vary depending on an organization’s size, goals, and about a million other variables, social media has been a proven, powerful platform to engage with your target audiences, increase brand recognition and convey key messages. Based on those benefits, why wouldn’t you want to hop on the social media bandwagon? However, after reflecting on the question further, I started to think, does it really make sense for everyone.
The New York Times used a great example of an off-site airport parking lot that took great care to make their social media presence known. Really? Is social media necessary to boost the success of an airport parking lot? Before you automatically dive in to social media, The New York Times shares some common myths to help you better evaluate whether it’s worth the investment.
Myth 1: It’s Free Advertising -There’s a widely held perception that social media is free. But doing it right requires good strategy and an investment of staff time, giveaways and/or advertising to build and keep a following. Most small companies have limited budgets and should evaluate social media with the same rigor they would other marketing tools. Tending the social media garden takes lots of time. And, time is money, whether you do it yourself or pay someone to do it. It’s like saying it’s free to install your own kitchen cabinets. It’s not.
Myth 2: Every Business Should Invest in Social Media – All businesses can use more awareness, and social media can certainly help shore up customer loyalty. If your target audience is on Facebook and Twitter, you should be too. But, if you’re selling services people rarely need, is this a good investment? It sometimes surprises me when I see funeral homes on social media. Is this the kind of organization I really want to engage with? Do people have the time and energy to follow a company that’s not relevant to their daily lives?
Myth 3: Everyone Will Really Like Us – There are several organizational Facebook pages where companies really beseech others to “like” them. This can make consumers question the company and why they should consider a relationship with them. Most people have only a few moments to engage with a brand each day on the social web. Reward them by making it a positive part of their day to help drive people to your page and keep them engaged. It’s essential to offer something of value. This could be coupons, freebies, contests, specials or articles of interest. Also remember that consumers also have a personal brand to maintain and every company someone “likes” on Facebook or “follows” on Twitter is out there for their universe to see. For example, at Communiqué PR, we often “like” our clients or new business prospects to show our support. However, ever since a colleague “liked” a potential client that happens to be in the fertility business, she’s been fielding all sorts of questions from friends and family on whether she’s trying for a baby.
Even though it seems as though everyone’s hopped on the social media train (and primarily for good reason), don’t climb aboard solely because everyone else is doing it. Make sure to thoroughly consider whether the investment can truly help your business and whether you have the time and resources to invest in a truly effective way.
What do Rovio’s Angry Birds, one of the world’s hottest and most popular entertainment and media brands, have in common with SwaddleDesigns®, an award-winning, Seattle-based baby product company? Beyond the common characteristics of loving and protecting their offspring, SwaddleDesigns and Rovio recently announced their definitive agreement granting SwaddleDesigns licensing and merchandising rights to produce Angry Birds Baby products.
To delight the millions of Angry Birds fans around the world, SwaddleDesigns recently introduced multiple best-selling and award-winning products featuring the fun, playful and loveable Angry Birds characters. Communiqué PR had the opportunity to help SwaddleDesigns and Rovio raise awareness around the new retail partnership, generate visibility into how the partnership fits into Rovio’s overall merchandising strategy, and drive pre-sales of Angry Birds Baby products (which, by the way, fans who place a pre-order in the value of $50 or more, will receive a free, adorable Angry Birds Plush toy.)
In the weeks leading up to the Angry Birds Baby product launch, we collaborated closely with SwaddleDesigns and Rovio to build out a PR strategy, identify key messages and develop corresponding story angles and media materials.
As a result of our efforts and partnership, SwaddleDesigns and Rovio garnered more than 20 media placements across top-tier tech trades, business publications, gaming outlets and parenting sites. Of note, Communiqué PR was able to secure an exclusive story with Reuters, which successfully shaped and helped to ignite the incoming news cycle. In-line with our strategy, the majority of coverage highlighted Rovio’s success in the retail space and its partnership with SwaddleDesigns, and showcased images of the Angry Bird Baby products with a link for readers to place pre-sale orders.
Below are a few additional coverage highlights:
- Mashable: Angry Birds Now Appearing on a Baby Near You
- Babble.com: The Angry Birds Are Coming… to Your Layette Set!
- Kotaku: Babies are Already Angry, Might As Well Put Birds on Them
- CNET: Angry Birds cute baby products
- MomFinds: Angry Birds Baby Line
- CBS News: Angry Birds cute baby products
- Geekwire.com: Snuggle up with an Angry Birds blankie
It was so much fun working with SwaddleDesigns and Rovio to support their PR activities. Who doesn’t love Angry Birds and babies? So, it just makes sense to combine the two! I think we can all expect great things in the future from both of these innovative companies.
Late last year, Communiqué PR started working with The Shops at The Bravern, an open-air retail shopping center in Bellevue, Wash. Since that time, we have focused on building awareness of The Bravern both with consumers and the broader shopping industry.
We have had the opportunity to promote a variety of events and work with a number of lifestyle, retail and business media outlets and bloggers, whose articles and posts mentioning The Bravern have generated more than 120 articles, totaling 83 million impressions thus far in 2011.
Some of those recent articles include:
- A cover story featuring The Bravern in the August issue of Shopping Centers Today.
- Alaska Airlines Magazine included The Bravern in a May article, “Seattle Itinerary: Spectacular Shopping.”
- Inclusion in “Destination Washington: Bellevue,” which appeared in the June issue of Alaska Airlines Magazine.
- The July/August issue of AAA’s Journey magazine highlighted The Bravern in “Next Stop: Bellevue.”
Most recently, we helped promote “Be Bold. Be Bald.” – an event hosted by John Howie Steak and The Bravern in conjunction with Sips & Sounds, The Bravern’s weekly summer happy hour. The event raised money to support a local woman and employee of Chef John Howie, Tomoko Bryant, and her participation in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure. In advance of the event, local media such as 425 Magazine, Bellevue Patch, KOMONews.com, Seattle PI and Seattleite shared details of the event with their readers. KOMONews.com also posted a fun slideshow of photos from the gathering – including images of Chef John Howie getting his head shaved!
We are excited to partner with The Bravern to build awareness for its second annual Fashion’s Night Out celebration taking place Thursday, Sept. 8. The free event is open to the public and will include a variety of activities including fall runway shows hosted by Neiman Marcus and Anthropologie. Additionally, during Fashion’s Night Out, shoppers can take advantage of special in-store activities, offers and gifts with purchases such as a free Fashion’s Night Out tote to customers that spend more than $100 at Tory Burch.
We hope you will join us at this fun event in September! For more information on Fashion’s Night Out at The Bravern, visit www.thebravern.com/fno.
In a world where your work force might be spread around the globe, being an effective communicator via email and phone is imperative. Though we use the phone to communicate daily with co-workers, clients and friends or family, we use a different set of principles and guidelines than are needed for a phone interview.
Chances are that someone in your organization will be called on at one time or another to give a phone interview with a journalist. Like any interview opportunity it is essential to deliver a clear and compelling message that positions your organization for success.
The difference between a face-to-face interview and a phone interview is that the only tool that you have to communicate your message is your voice. Ragan’s PR Daily posted an article titled, “7 tips for giving a better phone interview,” that offers some helpful guidance. Consider the following:
- Get out of your office. If possible, don’t do a phone interview at your desk where you can be distracted by incoming emails, phone calls and visitors. Try to find an empty conference room with no distractions and tape a “Do Not Disturb-Interview in Progress” sign on the door. This will ensure that you are focused on the interview and are being respectful of the journalist’s time. Nobody likes to be interrupted.
- Bring your notes. Notes are a helpful tool for phone interviews. Since the interviewer cannot see you, you are free to glance at your notes. However, do not read directly from the notes. Use them as a tool to trigger your memory or from which to recite statistics and facts. Reading from your notes will make the conversation seem scripted and less authentic and that is not the image you want to convey during an interview, even on the phone.
- Get a headset. Telephone headsets are ideal for phone interviews. This allows you to use your hands to gesture, not only making you feel more comfortable, but helping to emphasize your voice to make a point. This also frees up your hands to write notes or search for information in necessary.
- Stand. This tip is often forgotten during a phone interview, but is an easy way to give yourself an advantage. In addition to helping you “think faster on your feet,” your delivery will come across as more powerful because you are projecting from your diaphragm.
- Smile. Just because the interviewer can’t see you doesn’t mean he or she can’t hear you smile. When used appropriately, the reporter can hear the warmth through your voice when you smile.
- Use a landline. As more and more people ditch the landline in lieu of mobile access, this can be challenging. However, using a landline helps avoid dropped calls and the speakers usually provide better sound quality.
As a former TV journalist, I can tell you that most people prefer to give phone interviews because they feel safer. However, it can be more difficult to deliver a clear message effectively. These tips are a great start to giving a better phone interview. When accompanied by preparation and knowing your key messages, you will be prepared for success.