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.
As print newspapers around the world are merging or moving to online-only versions, eBay founder and Hawaii resident, Pierre Omidyar is looking to develop the next generation of online news.
According to a story we heard on April 22 on NPR, Omidyar is creating a subscription-only online news website for residents of Honolulu, called the Civil Beat.
The Civil Beat, which is expected to officially launch tomorrow, May 4, will be significantly different than traditional newspapers because it will rely heavily on social networking.
The goal of the Civil Beat is to engage the community in reading and commenting on the news. In addition, the journalists will leverage social media as they’re working on their stories. They’ll tweet and blog as they’re gathering information as well as share their perspectives around the experience of reporting.
Finally, how the news is aggregated will be different. The site will have topic pages, which are devoted to a particular subject such as Honolulu’s passenger rail project. The benefit to the reader will be that content around this topic will be continually updated and they’ll be able to refer back to the page for the living story.
It sounds interesting to me, but clearly the monthly subscription fee is not cheap. At $19.99 a month, people are going to need to derive significant value from the site. Otherwise, I just don’t see this being a sustainable model.
Nonetheless, it will be fascinating to see what happens with this site as newspapers continue to adapt and social media continues to grow in popularity. Clearly, people value NPR’s member stations enough to donate money during the semiannual pledge so maybe this will work.
Please let us know what you think. Would you be willing to pay a monthly fee to engage in this marketplace of news with reporters, neighbors and others in your community?
We all know about the benefits that social media provides both consumer and business-to-business (B2B) companies. It can help raise visibility of a company, provide a powerful channel to engage with target audiences and can help create brand loyalty. But what if you’re a new company or an organization just starting to build a presence via social networks? How do you quickly build awareness and increase your following to make the investment in social media worthwhile?
While there are a variety of ways to grow your fan base and increase engagement, social media contests are a fantastic option to consider to accomplish this goal. Contests can be cost-effective and easily executed with limited resources and can lead to some amazing results.
We recently completed a project in which we executed two Facebook contests to help a company increase its Facebook fans, drive viral buzz surrounding its website and encourage target audiences to try its service.
Our first Facebook campaign began in mid-March. We partnered with the client to encourage target audiences to become fans by offering to send each person a complimentary iTunes song while simultaneously entering them into a random drawing to win an iPod Touch. The monetary investment for the prizes was manageable and the response was incredible. Through this campaign, we made excellent traction and more than doubled the company’s Facebook fan base.
After the success of this initial campaign we executed a second Facebook campaign in which we leveraged friend referrals to continue to increase the company’s fan base. Fans and current customers were asked to refer their friends to become Facebook fans. The person with the most referrals received a grand prize. In addition, a daily winner was selected via a random drawing. The company gave out prizes to the daily winners including an Amazon gift card, iTunes gift card, flat screen TV and a flip camera.
Consider these results:
- Over the course of one week, the company saw a 300 percent growth in its Facebook fan base.
- The company garnered positive comments via its Facebook fan page from consumers about how they benefitted from the company’s service and how much they enjoyed participating in the contest. In fact, 123 people posted comments on the company’s page about the two contests.
- Since these two contests, new fans have been engaging regularly on the Facebook fan page driving viral buzz around the client’s products. These contests also provided an open channel for the company to secure feedback from consumers.
One final example, Communiqué PR launched a Twitter contest back in February to help celebrate the firm’s sixth anniversary. The objective was to see if we could leverage social media contests to increase brand awareness and facilitate deeper engagement with our followers. The contest ultimately helped drive traffic to our website traffic as well as drove sales for Colleen and Jennifer’s book, “Strategic Public Relations.”
For more tips for executing a successful social media campaign, please contact us.
Offering a reporter an exclusive story is a time-honored agreement in which a company or PR firm offers a piece of noteworthy news or interview exclusively to one publication or media outlet to publish. But with the current shift in the media landscape coupled with the rise of social media significantly increasing the demand for real-time information, are exclusives still relevant?
In my 10 plus years in PR, I’ve offered many exclusives to select reporters with whom I’ve had long-term trusted relationships. However, today’s media climate is vastly different and reporters are under enormous pressure to keep up with the insatiable need for on-demand news and information. It makes me wonder if an exclusive story is an attractive commodity as it once was. If so, have the rules surrounding securing exclusive stories with media changed?
The verdict? Exclusives are alive and well as are the best practices in securing these gems.
Eric Fischgrund, a senior account executive with Beckerman says offering an exclusive to a reporter requires a great deal of trust with that individual. “Technically, no phone call or e-mail exchange is ‘off the record.’ PR professionals should do their due diligence with the reporters that they are considering, and work hard to identify a reporter with a proven track record of honoring such a commitment.”
Fischgrund has successfully pitched and secured exclusive stories in variety of publications including Reuters, GreenTech and The New York Daily News.
Exclusives not only have the potential to benefit an organization, a truly newsworthy exclusive can also benefit a reporter or news organization.
“Exclusives are very much still relevant, at least in my ultra-competitive financial services news world,” said Lori Pizzani, an independent financial reporter. “A news organization could potentially win recognition and praise if I can run with an exclusive piece of news or an interview. That can then translate into additional subscriptions, revenue and ad sales for the publisher and/or recognition of the quality reporting.”
So what are the keys to successfully securing an exclusive story?
- Build a trusted network of reporters – It’s important to know who you’re working with (both on the PR side as well as media). Do they have a track record for honoring embargos and exclusives? Are they transparent about information they will or will not disclose? Are they respectful of deadlines and embargo dates?
- Make sure you have a newsworthy story – Make sure the story you are pitching is compelling enough and has the necessary elements to help the reporter bring the story to life. What may be newsworthy for one company isn’t particularly newsworthy within the broader spectrum of news.
- Be transparent with the terms of the agreement – Honoring an exclusive or an embargo is an important commitment for both PR professionals and reporters. Failure to respect such an agreement usually results in a negative way for both parties. Be transparent and outline the terms of the exclusive including what information you will and will not be able to offer, embargo dates and times, etc. In today’s world, it is essential you agree on the specific time (e.g. 9 p.m. Eastern Time) that the story will be published.
I’m glad to know that exclusives are still relevant in today’s media climate as I think they can be a fantastic way to drive meaningful coverage for a company or service. In addition, exclusives can be a great way to build long-term relationships with media.
Back in February we told you about a new cookbook we helped launch called “Discover Cooking with Lavender” by Seattle-based author Kathy Gehrt. The book takes readers on a culinary adventure into the world of lavender and features 75 unique recipes spanning seasonings, drinks, savory dishes and sweets.
To help create buzz and drive sales of the book, we developed a three-pronged strategy. The first was to drive reviews of the book with influential foodie bloggers. Second, was to develop and distribute a press release to traditional media (both local and national) covering food and gardening to seed feature stories about how to incorporate lavender into everyday cooking. Lastly, we set out to secure speaking engagements and in-store appearances at local culinary stores, book shops and nurseries.
Since the launch, we’re proud to report that “Discover Cooking with Lavender” has been well-received by media, food bloggers and retailers. Some of the results we’ve secured to date include:
- Reviews in EricRiveraCooks, SeattlePI.com, EatWild.com and FoodConnections.com
- Feature in 425 Magazine (May/June issue)
- Inclusion in feature story on lavender in Central Coast Magazine (May/June issue)
- Recipes to be featured in Northwest Woman (May/June issue)
- Inclusion in feature story on lavender in The Oregonian (early May)
- Cooking segment on lavender for NW Fusion (Portland’s top rated lifestyle TV show)
In addition, we’ve also sparked interest with 10 prominent food bloggers who have agreed to try a recipe from the book and review it for their blogs.
Lastly, we coordinated speaking engagements and cooking demos at local stores for Kathy at cook shops, book stores, nurseries and wineries such as Mrs. Cook’s, Swanson’s Nursery, Sky Nursery, Ravenna Gardens, Dish it Up!, Fremont Place Books, Poggi Bonsi, Columbia Winery and the Sequim Lavender Festival just to name a few. These events are open to the public and we encourage you to click here to get the latest on where you can find Kathy.
Establishing thought leadership in vertical markets can help a company raise its profile, distinguish it from competitors, drive new customer leads, and ultimately, increase revenue. In fact, according to a press release from leading research firm Gartner, thought leadership can be a “powerful tool for improved marketing success in IT services.”
As we have written in an earlier post, there are several ways a company can establish thought leadership in a given category including:
- Using trends to create proactive stories that raise awareness of industry pain points and solutions
- Developing byline articles or guest blog posts
- Leveraging social media platforms to drive relevant discussions
- Securing speaking opportunities
- Winning the right industry awards
We’ve leveraged some of these tactics to extend Attachmate’s thought leadership in the healthcare and insurance IT verticals. Specifically, over the past several months we secured editorial coverage as well as placed case studies and guest articles to drive awareness of Attachmate’s solutions and its benefits in these markets. Here are some examples of our activity and results.
- On March 10, we placed a case study titled, “Providence Hospital Modernizes Access to Patient Information,” in ADVANCE for Health Information Executives. This piece illustrates how Attachmate’s Verastream solution enabled Providence Hospital to leverage its existing technology investments and provide its medical staff with timely access to patient data on its computer systems.
- Next, we worked to secure coverage in insurance industry publications by offering journalists insight on how insurance companies are leveraging legacy integration technology to make the most of existing IT investments and modernize systems. Attachmate provided valuable perspective on how these organizations are saving time and money on the deployment of technology solutions – which is especially important during tough economic times. The result from this activity included an article in Insurance Networking News about Century-National Insurance’s use of Attachmate Verastream Host Integrator to update its technology system.
- Finally, we helped Attachmate create a thought leadership position in the managed file transfer market (MFT). MFT is a relatively new market within the file transfer space and many traditional players in the industry have been working to expand their offerings in the market, It was important to establish Attachmate as a solid leader in this space to gain early market and mindshare. To achieve this objective, we placed a guest article in IT Business Edge surrounding MFT technology and what organizations should consider when evaluating different advanced file transfer solutions.
Establishing thought leadership in vertical markets requires commitment and dedication – it doesn’t happen over night and it is often achieved through an ongoing, integrated campaign. There are several key elements to successfully implementing a thought leadership program; these include building credibility, expressing a clear point of view and fostering key relationships. To learn more, read our past blog titled, “Thought Leadership – What is it and Why is it so Important?”
A client recently approached Communiqué PR for a recommendation on the best social media conferences. His goal is to learn more about techniques and best practices for leveraging social media to better engage customers with blogs, social networks and video. He recognized he has a lot to learn as he continues to migrate from traditional marketing activities to online social marketing, and feels that participation at the right conference or event could have a significant impact on his success.
Over the past couple of years, Colleen Moffitt and Jennifer Gehrt have spoken or participated in several social media conferences in Puget Sound, which they found extremely valuable. Jennifer even travelled to Amsterdam to chair a panel on crisis management at Enterprise Social 2.0. She was really impressed with the caliber of individuals at the event.
Given this, we decided to come with a list of top-notch conferences drawing a national audience, as well as mix of global brand name companies and early stage companies. After considering a number of conferences, here are the ones that rose to the top of our list:
- South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive: This conference has been held in March annually since 1994 in Austin, Texas attracting people globally. Twitter got its start at this conference in 2007. According to Patrick O’Keefe, owner of iFroggy Network, “The best aspect of this conference is its networking opportunities to connect with peers and learn how others are using new media.” Some of the past speakers include Evan Williams, CEO of Twitter; Ossama Alami, developer advocate at Google; and Glenn Brown, head of music partnerships at YouTube.
- Blog World & New Media Expo: This conference, held annually in Las Vegas, is largely focused on social media for both newbie’s and the experienced alike. It is a three-day event consisting of a trade show, conferences, networking opportunities and instruction for learning the latest trends in social media. The next Blog World & New Media Expo will be held October 14-16, 2010. To learn more about past presenters click here.
- F5 Expo: Held in Vancouver, Canada in early April, this conference is focused on fast-changing technology and upcoming trends. Its aim is to educate attendees about social media, mobile and online marketing while helping managers with business planning and development. Past speakers include; Malcolm Gladwell, author of “Tipping Point,” “Blink,” “Outliers” and “What the Dog Saw”; Martin Stoddart, senior product manager from Bing; Alfredo Tan, senior director of sales for Facebook; and Wesley Chan, entrepreneur and general partner of Google Ventures.
- Social Media Plus: This one-day event will take place in Philadelphia on May 25, 2010. At this conference, each seminar caters to a specific line-of-business manager at the executive level, human resources, information technology or sales and marketing. The mission of the event is to teach attendees how to implement social media strategies to build their brands, interact with customers and generate revenue. Scheduled speakers include Rohit Bhargavs, founding member of 360 Digital Influence group at Ogilvy; Mary Henige from General Motors; and Kathy O’Reilly, director of social media relations for Monster.com.
- PR + Social Media Summit: This one-day summit is focused on the convergence of strategic communication and social media. Held at Marquette University in Milwaukee in April, this conference provides attendees with insight on how and why to stand out in the cyber world. Speakers include Tim Blaire, vice president marketing communications for IBM; Mo Moorman, public relations director for Jockey International; Casey Kohner, social media manager for Trek Bicycle; and George Wright, vice president of marketing and sales for BlendTec.
If you have experience attending any of the conferences above or have attended others you enjoyed, we would love to hear about them.