PR

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    Brian Solis

  • Nissan Embraces Social Media to Improve Customer Experiences and Foster Advocacy

    Brian Solis
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:25 pm
    In this episode of (R)evolution, Nissan’s David Mingle, Director of Customer Management and Erich Marx, Director of Marketing join me for a refreshing conversation about social media’s impact on business transformation, customer experiences, and building an adaptive business model to learn and evolve based on new opportunities. We explore Nissan’s approach to new media for not only marketing, but also how the company uses social media to invest in and shape the customer experience over time. Having both David and Erich on the show offered a 360 view of the customer and also…

  • The Mobile Marketing Value Exchange

    Brian Solis
    26 Jan 2012 | 8:21 am
    Guest post by Scott Forshay, creator and editor of mobi.luxe. Following him on Twitter @mobiluxe Establishing consumer relationships through mobile marketing, as with any successful, productive relationship, inherently requires a mutual exchange of value. Whether consumers are opting-in for brand communications via SMS or engaging with the brand in a single instance through scanning a QR code, the onus is on the brand to deliver value in return for customers’ valuable time and information. Without the perception that value has been exchanged for value, the relationship becomes essentially…

  • Likes, Genre, Action – Facebook Introduces Clicks to Action

    Brian Solis
    25 Jan 2012 | 10:51 am
    Following the official roll out of its new Timeline, Facebook is introducing Actions, a series of new applications that change how people interact with apps, content, brands, and each other. The new apps will extend Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of frictionless experiences based on Facebook’s Open Graph platform, where apps introduce new ways to share your actions with your friends either implicitly or explicitly. With the new Open Graph platform, developers will introduce new Actions and Action buttons that extend the functionality of sharing beyond Likes to now include a dictionary…

  • Looking Beyond 2012: Trends for Leading Transformation

    Brian Solis
    23 Jan 2012 | 9:11 am
    Part 16 in an ongoing series that serves as the prequel to my new book, The End of Business as Usual… It’s a new year and a new set of predictions to set goals and expectations for 2012.  I won’t bother you with the top 10 emerging social networks or apps to focus time and resources. Nor will I gaze in the crystal ball to reveal the five secrets to viral marketing and user/customer acquisition. Instead of adding my forecasts to the endless sea of debatable prophesies, I chose a more aspirational path. 2012 is the year of transformation as digital Darwinism threatens rigid and…

  • How Suntrust Uses Social Media to Engage Customers and Comply with Regulation

    Brian Solis
    20 Jan 2012 | 12:37 pm
    Financial institutions are bound to rules and regulation than other companies experimenting in customer engagement, specifically in social media, can ignore. Over the years, SunTrust has stood out as one of several examples that understand how to use regulatory boundaries to inspire a new generation of customer engagement. The result is finding balance between risk and reward to meet customer expectations and improve customer experiences now and over time. As I’ve always believed…constraint forces creativity. Bianca Buckridee, AVP of Social Media Engagement at SunTrust shares her…
 
 
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    Ogilvy PR 360 Digital Influence Blog

  • Brand Personality Goes A Long Way

    Jacques Oury
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:58 pm
    Consider the famous exchange from Pulp Fiction in which Jules and Vincent debate the rationality of abstaining from pork. Jules just doesn’t dig on swine, that’s all, because they’re basically dirty, like dogs. VINCENT:     Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal? JULES:          I wouldn’t go so far as to call a dog filthy, but they’re definitely dirty. But, a dog’s got personality. Personality goes a long way. VINCENT:     Ah, so by that rationale, if a pig had a better personality, he would cease to be a filthy animal. Is that true?

  • Sh*t We Say: Lessons from a Long-Tailed Meme – Part 1

    Blake Bowyer
    26 Jan 2012 | 4:21 pm
    “It’s an English basement.” That might not mean much to you, but it probably made you chuckle if you fall into one of the two groups: Current or former D.C. residents Viewers of Sh*t People In D.C. Say Of course, this video is one of many variations of the Sh*t Girls Say series - which has a cumulative YouTube viewership of 20+ million and growing. You know the premise: Stereotypical expressions from people of a certain ilk, organized by gender, hobby, lifestyle, or geography. There are takes on skiers, hipsters, suburban moms, and even sh*t nobody says (a personal favorite)…

  • Breaking Down Polarization

    John Stauffer
    23 Jan 2012 | 7:38 pm
    In a recent Washington Post article, Polarized News Market has Altered the Political Process in South Carolina Primary, we peak into the news consumption habits of a South Carolina voter. Two election cycles ago the South Carolina native would read newspaper for political news, now she “settles in at her desktop to fire up Facebook.” “Selective Exposure”, described by researchers from UCLA and Stanford suggests to that consumers are “tucking themselves inside information silos” and that this is compounded by the speed and like-mindedness of social…

  • The Great Web Blackout

    Aimee Rose
    20 Jan 2012 | 9:43 am
    We all survived the blackout, but how effective was it? The question may take some time to answer, but support for SOPA/PIPA appears to have weakened in its wake. The biggest light shed this week may have been that on the rift between Hollywood and Silicon Valley. And why not? I mean, we have content creators and content access providers – and they both have their interests. But when Bills are drafted that seemingly only protect the rights of one, surely the other will see a few ruffled feathers. We ‘Creatives’ are lucky. We get compensated for our ideas and the intellectual property…

  • SOPA, PIPA, & Digital Activism

    Emily Achler
    19 Jan 2012 | 12:34 pm
    Yesterday’s battle royale over the future of the Internet has been characterized in many ways - technology companies vs. media conglomerates, content vs. distribution, and perhaps most convincingly by the Harvard Business Review as the Young Startups vs. the Old Guard. And indeed, change was in the air (and over the servers) yesterday. In protest of a pair of laws now before Congress that address online piracy, some of the most highly-trafficked websites in the U.S. made their sites inactive, dark, or otherwise blocked access in some way. Sites like Wikipedia, Reddit, Boing Boing, and…
 
 
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    The Flack

  • Those Five-Star Reviews

    27 Jan 2012 | 3:04 pm
    How important are consumer-generated reviews in your purchase-making decisions? If you're like me, the answer is VERY. When assessing hotels, the write-ups on Virtual Tourist and Trip Advisor invariably make or break my booking. The reviews on Yelp play the deciding role in tipping the restaurant scales. Same with Fandango for movie reviews.Then there's the granddaddy of them all, Amazon, which recognized the intrinsic value of its customers' reviews early on in the game. It even applied for and was granted a patent.As I think about it, nearly all of the big-branded retail websites today…

  • Pando's 'Cuda

    24 Jan 2012 | 4:23 pm
    In case you hadn't noticed, a very refreshing bi-product has risen from the ashes of the rather acrimonious breakup between TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington and his wealth-creating nemesis, AOL. The tech/social news-savvy site PandoDaily, led by former TechCrunch ed-at-large Sarah Lacy (aka @sarahcuda on Twitter), burst onto the scene only a week or so ago and already is a must-follow in my stream.PandoDaily's Sarah LacySome initially dubbed it TechCrunch II, but I'm finding PandoDaily to be less of a mix of frenetic, short breaking news stories about the latest start-ups to land notable…

  • My Big Messy Social Life

    23 Jan 2012 | 9:49 am
    My social life is a mess. And I know I'm not the only one mired in the digital muck. Here's the lowdown, which stands  in contrast to just two years ago: I'm feeling pressure to bolster my presence on the red hot Pinterest even though the app (on Chrome) couldn't find the image of Danny Meyer's new downtown dining spot on the home page of Eater.com, which I had hoped to add to my hot NYC restaurant board.I still get daily emails from Empire Avenue even though it's been months since I've traded in anyone's personal stock.Someone just started following me on Google Schemer.

  • PR for Startups: Deconstructed

    17 Jan 2012 | 8:34 am
    Blog MaverickIt turns out that my post last week about item #11 on Mark Cuban's list of 12 Rules for Startups -- "Never Hire a PR Firm" -- set off a firestorm that prompted a more nuanced response from Mr. Cuban.In his expanded view, Mr. Cuban did not disavow his disdain for the PR industry. In fact, he even attempted to school the PR community by drafting a sample pitch letter. More on that in a moment.My first post mentioning Mark Cuban came in August 2005 during the nascent days of this blog. A then-ascendent New York Times business reporter named Andrew Ross Sorkin had just…

  • Don't Be Evil

    13 Jan 2012 | 5:44 pm
    Scott McNealyIn March of 1998, the straight-talking CEO of Sun Microsystems travelled to Washington to testify before Congress on the then-monopolistic ways of one famous tech company out of Redmond, WA. Scott McNealy, with whom I sat the following morning in the green room of NBC "Today," had this to say: "The only technology I'd rather own than Windows would be English," McNealy said. "All of those who use English would have to pay me a couple hundred dollars a year just for the right to speak English. And then I can charge you upgrades when I add new alphabet characters like 'n' and 't.'…
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    A PR Guy's Musings - Stuart Bruce

  • FIR Interview: Stuart Bruce and Phil Gomes on PR and Wikipedia

    Stuart Bruce
    14 Jan 2012 | 7:35 am
    Global PR podcast FIR co-hosts Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz used Google+ Hangout to record a special FIR Interview show with Phil Gomes (Senior VP, Edelman Digital) and myself discussing current initiatives to improve how public relations professionals can work with Wikipedia. Related articles CIPR to work with Wikipedia on how PR professionals should interact with the Wikipedia community (stuartbruce.biz) Wikipedia and PR have got to work it out (stuartbruce.biz) Wikipedia & the PR Pro: Friend or Foe? (forbes.com)

  • CIPR to work with Wikipedia on how PR professionals should interact with the Wikipedia community

    Stuart Bruce
    6 Jan 2012 | 11:12 am
    In my post calling on Wikipedia and PR to work it out I said I’d raise the issue at the next meeting of the CIPR social media panel. Well since then things have moved a bit faster than that and today the CIPR issued a statement about its intention to work with Wikipedia to provide guidance to members on how to interact with the Wikipedia community. I’ve pasted a copy of the statement below. Another development this week is that Tom Watson MP tweeted Phil Gomes (who published an open letter to Jimmy Wales and Wikipedia) and myself  offering to broker a meeting at the House of Commons…

  • Social media managements system analysis and comparison

    Stuart Bruce
    6 Jan 2012 | 3:52 am
    Social media research company Altimeter has released a new report authored by Jeremiah Owyang that provides a good overview of social media management systems. As the use of social media grows within companies and large organisations there is a need to be able to coordinate the management of a wide range of accounts with potentially multiple identities across several different social media and social network platforms. This helps companies to deal with issues such as governance and social media policies, as well as manage workflow across the multiple people within the organisation that might…

  • Wikipedia and PR have got to work it out

    Stuart Bruce
    4 Jan 2012 | 10:46 am
    Still in the midst of his highly successful campaign against News International UK MP Tom Watson has embarked on a second campaign – this time to sort out the relationship between the PR business and Wikipedia. On a Wikipedia talk page Tom says: “The general point that I think is more important for the site. I suspect a number of PR firms have edited entries for their clients potentially breaching conflict of interest rules. I am going to write to the trade bodies to ask that they work with Wikipedia to issue guidelines.” The UK Chartered Institute of Public Relations already has…

  • Looking forward to 2012

    Stuart Bruce
    3 Jan 2012 | 7:50 am
    In my personal reflections on 2011 blog post I promised/threatened to write a post about my professional plans and hopes for 2012. If 2011 was the year that I decided to pursue a portfolio career, then 2012 will have to be the year that brings it all together. Client / PR agency online PR and social media doctor One consistent message that I’m hearing from in-house corporate communications and public relations professionals is that they recognise the importance of online PR and social media, but are reluctant to add yet more consultancies and agencies to their existing roster. What they’d…
 
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    Media Bullseye

  • Radio Roundtable: Social46 “Super Mess”, McD’s Tweets, and bias in PR

    Jen Zingsheim
    27 Jan 2012 | 2:20 pm
    This week, I was joined by co-host Doug Haslam of Voce Communications, a Porter Novelli company. We talked about the social media issues brought up by the Social46 program in Indianapolis, McDonald’s sponsored Tweet problem (and how they recovered), and whether neutrality and objectivity are even possible in PR. This week’s show is 26 minutes long. First, Doug and I discuss Jay Baer’s post about Klout and the bruised egos that surfaced after individuals were selected to participate in a social media program designed to build “buzz” on Indianapolis, site of the…

  • How the Internet is proving Tip O’Neill wrong

    Jen Zingsheim
    26 Jan 2012 | 10:00 am
    The late House Speaker Tip O’Neill said “all politics is local.” It’s a mantra in politics, and is frequently at the core of Public Affairs programs. It makes sense: if you are appealing to a population that is defined by a geographical area (a voting district) you must keep the issues that are of importance to that specific area at top of mind when speaking to them. But I think we’ve reached a point, because of the Internet, that candidates can no longer rely on this adage as gospel. We are so connected and it is so easy to share news items that while the need…

  • PR and the Choppy Waters of Celebrity Endorsement

    Jen Zingsheim
    25 Jan 2012 | 2:34 pm
    We don’t talk much about the celebrity endorsement/marketing side of PR here on Media Bullseye–mostly because I tend to think that celebrity endorsement, while presumably effective considering its widespread use, tends to play into a stereotype of PR that I generally don’t care to reinforce. (That PR=publicist.) It is also an area that I think may be overrated, when examining the benefits versus the possible risks–celebrity endorsers have on occasion made rather large splashes in the water during their falls from grace. The use of the celebrity promoter persists, so I…

  • A Sweet Approach to Keyword Monitoring

    Mackenzie Bradley
    25 Jan 2012 | 10:28 am
    Do you remember the feeling of being a kid on the way to the nickel-and-dime store? Your pockets were heavy and rattling with all the change you could shake free from your bank, or find rolling around under the couch. You schemed about all of the various combinations of gummies, chocolates, and other sweets to get the biggest brown paper bag of penny candy you could afford with your treasure. That upbeat feeling is how you can approach changes to your search criteria. In a media monitoring account, there are so many different ways you can approach tweaking your search terms to yield the…

  • Windrum, a tireless advocate, seeks to SMAC cancer

    Jen Zingsheim
    23 Jan 2012 | 12:25 pm
    Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking with Jennifer Windrum, the driving force behind the WTF (Where’s The Funding) for lung cancer awareness. Windrum, whose mother has been battling lung cancer for several years (and no, she’s never smoked), continues her advocacy efforts with a seemingly bottomless supply of energy. In addition to continuing her work there, she’s taking the entrepreneurial plunge and will be launching a sock monkey line, called “SMAC”–Sock Monkeys Against Cancer–to raise funds and awareness for a range of different cancers. As…
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    Online Public Relations Thoughts

  • The Price Of Certainty

    Jim Horton
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:27 am
    This is the price of certainty.  AT&T was so sure that it could complete its merger with T-Mobile that it put itself at substantial risk.  The loss it suffered last quarter was the result.  AT&T is an example of arrogance.  It would be easy to blame the CEO for the error, but almost certainly the CEO was told by his subordinates and investment bankers that the merger would be accomplished with enough lobbying and working with regulators.  The merger never had a chance.  It went from bad on Day 1 to worse then finally to a miserable end.  AT&T is…

  • Japan

    Jim Horton
    26 Jan 2012 | 6:28 am
    For those of a certain age, the memory of Japan as a manufacturing colossus is fresh.  That was then.  This is now.  How the country has fallen.  It is a lesson in the dynamics of global business.  No one is safe for long, and those on top today have to work hard to stay there. Fears focus now on China with its millions of low-wage workers and enormous production capacity.  This century may well belong to that country, but then again, it might not.  China's political structure could ossify, and its growing middle class become restless.  The United…

  • Shush

    Jim Horton
    25 Jan 2012 | 7:31 am
    This is useful communications advice but impractical when noise overpowers everything.  Look around and watch people talking on cell phones, listening to music on headphones, watching movies or playing games on their iPhones, tapping messages into their laptops or iPads and occasionally chatting with someone else.  One has to work hard now to achieve silence, to get time to think.  Modern life thrives on noise and seeks to get louder.  While this provides more avenues for communicators to send messages, it also means the chance of messages getting through has…

  • Baffle 'Em With Bulls**t

    Jim Horton
    24 Jan 2012 | 6:32 am
    Newt Gingrich has used his considerable debating skills to cover up weaknesses in his life story and campaign strategy.  He is like the salesmen in Glengarry Glen Ross who push worthless swamp land on unsuspecting homeowners.  He relies on the brio of words, words, words to give a shine to his personality that doesn't belong there.  As such, he is an example of anti-PR and lack of transparency, but it worked for him in South Carolina and it might work for him in Florida as well.   That is not surprising.  Richard Nixon convinced Americans that he was the right…

  • Long Time Coming

    Jim Horton
    23 Jan 2012 | 6:23 am
    Research in Motion (RIM) has been teetering on the edge of irrelevance since the debut of the Smart Phone.  A Blackberry is no longer the leading edge of business communications.  That is why this action is occurring too late in the company's life.  As co-CEOs, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, stayed too long with their approach to telecommunications and e-mail.  They thought, as CEOs of forgotten companies before them, that they could fight off the marketplace and enforce their views.  They forgot about the implacable obsolescence of electronics.
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    PR Blog News

  • Occupy PR 2012

    Mark Rose
    1 Jan 2012 | 4:26 pm
    The Occupy Movement is barely 3 1/2 months old but its impact and on politics and culture, and communication, is deep and far-reaching. The “Twitter Revolution” and the Arab Spring begat the youth confrontations in NYC, around the U.S. and the world. The Digital Revolution is evolving through surprising permutations. Whatever their goals, whether this Movement  peters out or builds and adapts, the Occupy people know how to use the tools of technology, and the power of street theatre, to shape and drive  messages. The Occupy Movement is the communication story of 2011 and it…

  • #occupywallst PR Genius

    Mark Rose
    10 Oct 2011 | 3:07 pm
    We spend millions of dollars and corral global teams based on extensive market research backed by world class resources and we can’t produce the great media and visuals and media grabbing messages coming out of the Occupy Wall Street movement. http://occupywallst.org/- they have an agenda generated on Google calendar | They have a full line up of entertainment. See NY Daily News story: Brooklyn rapper Talib Kweli knew it was hip to hop fence and join Occupy Wall Street activists | Check out the Occupy Wall Street Journal funded on Kick Starter: issue #2 and the Spanish language edition…

  • Lost Cat Spells PR Nightmare for AA

    Mark Rose
    30 Aug 2011 | 8:51 am
    Jack the Cat is Lost in AA Baggage at JFK Facebook page has nearly 1,400 fans, with comments piling up by the minute. The page is mentioned in news stories around the country, via print and broadcast. Jack the Cat was lost by American Airlines during the Irene hurricane craziness and the owners weren’t satisfied with the airlines response. So they took to social media and this heartbreaking pet story has gone viral. The comments are interesting. No matter what atrocities are happening in the world – mass murder, genocide, disease, famine – a sad pet story will bring people…

  • USDebtClock.org

    Mark Rose
    26 Aug 2011 | 8:27 am
    Watch us get deeper into debt, tick by tick by tick … http://usdebtclock.org

  • Mercenary PR & The Photo Op

    Mark Rose
    23 Aug 2011 | 12:02 pm
    Never underestimate the power of the photo-op. Seif al-Islam, Gadhafi’s son, looks like somebody you might run into around Tompkins Square Park (the scene of epic battles in its own right). He’s much better dressed than the rebels. He looks like he shops at Banana Republic. He is intoxicated by the attention, one last taunt before he retreats to the compound for the ‘Scarface’ finale (say hello to my little friend) when you go out guns ‘ablazin’. He is also deluded and crazed, like his father. What is unfolding now reminds me of the Branch Davidians,…
 
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    Wired PR Works

  • How to Pitch a Blogger on Writing a Guest Post

    Barbara Rozgonyi
    24 Jan 2012 | 9:47 am
    Thanks to Brad Shorr for contributing today’s guest post. Last November, Barbara wrote a valuable post on how to be a great guest blogger. She offered some great advice about both how to... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Social Media And PR – Grab More Face Time With Audiences Via Skype

    Barbara Rozgonyi
    19 Jan 2012 | 7:22 am
    Today’s guest post is by Stacey Acevero, Social Media Community Manager at PR Web. Looking for a way to boost your social media and PR?  We have the perfect tool to deepen your engagement with... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • 6 Ways to Market Your Site as a Customer Information Center

    Barbara Rozgonyi
    16 Jan 2012 | 7:19 am
    Companies who rely on social media as a customer service information outpost will be interested in a report that says, “The number of questions asked via social media channels account for less than... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • CES 2012 UltraLight Coverage

    Barbara Rozgonyi
    12 Jan 2012 | 10:22 pm
    This week I had one minute to cover CES 2012 on Chicagonista Live!, a live Internet TV show, based in Chicago. A year ago, I covered CES live in Las Vegas, as a member of the Sears Blue Blogger Crew,... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • B2B Social Media Marketing Methods and Obstacles

    Barbara Rozgonyi
    10 Jan 2012 | 8:25 am
    In 2011, BtoB  surveyed more than 550 executives for Emerging Trends in B-to-B Social Media Marketing: Insights From the Field.  Three charts about methods and obstacles are yours for the viewing. If... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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    Holtz Communications + Technology | Blog

  • Rejoice! Employee use of social networks has tripled!

    shel@holtz.com
    23 Jan 2012 | 3:20 pm
    Palo Alto Networks is out with its annual numbers on employee work time spent on social networks. The company’s conclusions are based on analyzing raw data from 1,600-plus companies for a seven-month period last year. Their press release on the study confirms something we already suspected: “explosive growth in global social networking and browser-based file sharing on corporate networks, with a 300 percent increase in active social networking. (e.g., posting, applications) compared with activity during the same period in the latter half of 2010.” The press release quotes…

  • The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #635: January 23, 2012

    shel@holtz.com
    23 Jan 2012 | 1:37 pm
    Content summary: FIR Book Review of ‘YouTube for Business’ is up; reminders: inaugural FIR Book Club on Jan 27 with Christopher Barger, GaggleAmp webinar on Jan 31; new FIR Interviews posted: Bob Fine, Social Media Monthly magazine, and Adam Kmiec, Walgreens; CREWE project to audit Fortune 100 on Wikipedia; News That Fits: of course employees are three times more active on social networks; Ragan promo; Dan York reports on the first battle against SOPA won, and more; could a ‘Secret Facebook of Power’ work for your organization?; the Media Monitoring Minute with…

  • FIR Interview: Walgreens Social Media Director Adam Kmiec

    shel@holtz.com
    21 Jan 2012 | 2:19 pm
    FIR co-hosts Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz interview Adam Kmiec, director of social media for Walgreens, the largest drug store chain in the U.S. and a Fortune 50 company. Walgreens has engaged in the last 10 days or so in a social media-focused effort to build awareness among customers of alternatives to Express Scripts, the prescription benefit manager through which hundreds of thousands of people pay for the prescription medications. Unable to reach an agreement to renew their contract, Walgreens no longer accepts Express Scripts but using mechanisms like Prescription Savings Club…

  • FIR Interview: Social Media Monthly Publisher and Editor Bob Fine

    shel@holtz.com
    20 Jan 2012 | 7:16 pm
    In this FIR Interview, FIR co-hosts Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz chat with Bob Fine, publisher and editor of The Social Media Monthly, a new print publication that is also a current Kickstarter project. The Social Media Monthly was conceived at the 2011 South by Southwest Interactive conference and launched a mere 53 days later, on May 20th, 2011 at BlogWorld in New York. Three weeks later Fine secured national distribution for the magazine with Barnes and Noble. The magazine was honored as one of the top magazine launches of 2011 by MIN, an organization that reports on the publishing…

  • FIR Book Review: YouTube for Business, by Michael Miller

    shel@holtz.com
    20 Jan 2012 | 10:09 am
    YouTube for Business: Online Video Marketing for Any Business, by Michael Miller, is the latest book to be reviewed by FIR Book Review editor Bob LeDrew. From the book description: “YouTube’s 120 million viewers are a tempting target for any business, large or small. How can you tap into the potential of YouTube to promote your business and sell your products or services? YouTube marketing is easy enough that any business can do it. All you need is some low-cost video equipment—and a winning strategy. After you figure out the right type of videos to produce, you can use YouTube to…
 
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    Bad Pitch Blog

  • Gawker Follows Our Lead

    Kevin Dugan
    16 Jan 2012 | 12:05 pm
    We've worked with Gawker in the past to help further our cause. Trying to change the industry from the inside out has been an ongoing task (psst, our sixth birthday is this Friday!).And, while we're proud of the progress we've helped create, we've learned over the years that we need all the help we can get.Our friend Hamilton Nolan knows of our valiant quest and he's "reaching across the aisle" on behalf of the fourth estate to help us out with his new blog item: PR Dummies. Hat tip to Judy Gombita for alerting us to the homage.It's great to see someone follow our lead. This is a case…

  • 3 Ways National Media Use Social Media to Find Sources

    Kevin Dugan
    16 Jan 2012 | 11:44 am
    We've seen some interesting examples of how journalists are sourcing stories via social media. Here are three national journalists using three different social media platforms to get things done. And in this MLK edition, we've also got some tips for being a better source via social media.The New York Times: social media editor Liz Heron on FacebookLiz sourced several quotes via Facebook and even followed up with her sources after the fact. It's a reminder to PR people that everyone's quotable -- regardless of what platform they might be on.CNN/MTV: author Brenna Ehrlich on…

  • New Year, New Content

    Kevin Dugan
    3 Jan 2012 | 8:15 am
    Help The Bad Pitch Blog suck less in 2012.If you want more trending, less trailing and no tired* content in 2012, we need your help.Leave us a comment on this post, drop us an email or send us a tweet if there's a specific topic you'd like to see us discuss in the future. Richard and I try and give you what you want to read vs. what we think you want...or what we want to write about.It's All About YouWe're knocking the dust off this blog in 2012. The best way to give you what you want is to simply ask. So thanks in advance for your comments and feedback.And yes it really is all about you.

  • 5 Reminders of Word Choice's Importance

    Kevin Dugan
    2 Jan 2012 | 11:00 am
    What's in a Word? A lot. A chain of links this morning reminds us of the importance of word choice.A Tale of Two ClichesYou're thinking, "But we also say, 'don't sweat the small stuff.'" There's some substance in this trite phrase as well. Word choice shouldn't paralyze us or slow us down. But there's a happy medium between clear, concise Hemingway-style writing and writing that helps differentiate us that also makes sense.So here are a few reminders of how important word choice is, starting with this video from Good magazine on URLs.2) The best invoice terms to get you paid faster:…

  • Ocean Marketing's Emails Are NOT a PR Fail

    Kevin Dugan
    28 Dec 2011 | 2:49 pm
    Yes, the author of Ocean Marketing's email exchange turned meme is an idiot -- at best. But is this a public relations mistake or is this a customer service mistake?I'm dead serious. Paul has zero credibility and I'm not trying to give him any. But I also refuse to become a part of the pile on. It's too easy and Paul's already being fossilized by the weight of the online pile on alone.At the same time, I also refuse to let our industry accept this failure as one of our own.Just Do It (Your Job)According to Know Your Meme, Ocean Marketing "was contracted to handle customer…
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    Trevor Cook

  • Albanese at the movies

    Trevor Cook
    28 Jan 2012 | 2:52 am

  • Four albums I loved in 2011

    Trevor Cook
    20 Dec 2011 | 4:25 am
    1. Hazmat Modine - BAHAMUT 2. Gillian Welch - The Harrow & the Harvest 3. United Steelworkers of Montreal - Broken trucks and bottles 4. Greg Allman - Low Country Blues

  • Tony Abbott Looking at Things

    Trevor Cook
    20 Dec 2011 | 4:09 am
    via tonyabbottlookingatthings.tumblr.com Priceless - I love this stuff

  • Our Universities: Why Are They Failing?

    Trevor Cook
    10 Nov 2011 | 2:36 am
    And at universities that boast of their commitment to undergraduate teaching, too many professors gabble through PowerPoint slides twice a week and entrust the face-to-face teaching of actual students to underpaid graduate students and Ph.D.s on short-term contracts, who do their best to impart basic skills in writing and quantitative analysis while earning only a few thousand dollars a course. via www.nybooks.com Hmm

  • Is Abbott sinking? (from @sspencer_63)

    Trevor Cook
    8 Nov 2011 | 2:43 am
 
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    Denver PR Blog

  • Denver PR Jobs

    denverprblog
    25 Jan 2012 | 9:58 am
    Among those hiring this week are Allied-THA, ABMP, Baptie & Company, Charles Schwab & Co., Gevo, Grand Junction Convention and Visitors Bureau, St. Anthony Hospital (part of Centura Health), Summit Business Media, Trimble Navigation, Trust America, VOCA Public Relations (part-time), Western Union, United States Olympic Committee (Colorado Springs), Cortez (Colo.) Journal, Montrose (Colo.) Daily Press and Nebraska Life (presumably somewhere in Nebraska).

  • Sage Hires One, Promotes One

    denverprblog
    25 Jan 2012 | 9:56 am
    Denver-based Sage Hospitality has named Jennifer Long as Director of Interactive Marketing and promoted Kate Davis to Public Relations & Social Media Manager. Long previously was with Millennium Hotels and Resorts.

  • Linhart Names Womer Equity Partner

    denverprblog
    24 Jan 2012 | 10:43 am
    Congratulations to Linhart VP Kelly Womer, who was named the firm’s sixth equity partner (joining Sharon Linhart, Paul Raab, Dawn Doty, Carri Clemens and Kelly Janhunen). Womer joined Linhart in 2009 and manages many of the firm’s corporate accounts, including Colorado Technical University, MWH, Polsinelli Shughart, and WhiteWave Foods.

  • State of the Union Bingo

    denverprblog
    24 Jan 2012 | 10:36 am
    President Obama’s State of the Union speech is tonight, and Sarah Moss is out with the 2012 edition of her annual SOTU Bingo Card.

  • ESPIOC Seeks Social Media, PR Measurement Speakers

    denverprblog
    22 Jan 2012 | 11:43 am
    The Emergency Services Public Information Officers of Colorado (ESPIOC) is seeking speakers for its upcoming training conference (May 17-18, Estes Park) on the following topics: Social Media and Beyond: Digital Communications for Emergency Services PIOs Using social media, e-newsletters, text alerts, mobile sites, video, blogs, RSS, etc. to communicate consistently in good times and bad. This presentation should include how to choose from among the many digital tools out there, how to use them effectively, and how to maintain a professional brand across all platforms. Includes actionable tips…
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    Drew B's take on tech PR

  • 7 social media New Year's resolutions

    Drew B
    6 Jan 2012 | 4:33 am
    Happy new year to all you list makers and resolution setters. Here are 7 New Year's resolutions that I'm going to be following and which may help you get more out of social media in January and beyond.  Try something new: Pinterest is one of the new social networks to try out. Hitwise says it has now broken into the top 10 social networks. I'm liking it aready. Batch it up to avoid information overload: tweets, emails, alerts... I find all the information pouring in can create a constant feeling of information overload. Be brave and batch your time on each social network by, gulp, REMOVING…

  • Three Wikipedia instruction manuals all PR people should look at

    Drew B
    9 Dec 2011 | 5:19 am
    With the news agenda for the PR industry this week being dominated by The Independent's 'sting' on Bell Pottinger, it might be of use to some comms practitioners to brush up on the user manuals - in particular for Wikipedia.  Whilst a great deal of best practice in social media is common sense to those that live and breathe it, the following essential reading I'm sure will come in useful to many. Here are the best practice guidelines developed for social media and Wikipedia from the CIPR, ASA and Wikipedia itself. 1. CIPR Social Media Best Practice Guide 2. ASA's CAP Code document on…

  • How to activate the new Twitter and key changes for brands

    Drew B
    8 Dec 2011 | 1:31 pm
    Twitter this evening rolled out a new look, which you can access and activate for yourself by going to this URL: fly.twitter.com. Whilst all serious users of Twitter, people and brands alike, will quickly try out the new service, it's more than just a facelift. The new Twitter is a big step towards making the service more intuitive and modern, whilst allowing brand pages to present a more enticing attractive shop window. What's new? The new Twitter puts navigation on the left, and the stream on the right - just like email and like Facebook. Twitter has always been the other way around. The…

  • Social media trends for 2012

    Drew B
    6 Dec 2011 | 4:01 pm
    The time of year has come around again to look ahead and plan for the coming 12 months. Plan for our clients, for our own business and - the most exciting bit as a consultant - for how we think the media landscape will change.  This is the third year that we at 33 Digital, and this year more broadly across Hotwire, have written down our thoughts on the major trends of social media and dgital marketing for PR and comms (here is last year's report).  The report is based on our team's experiences and based on social media as a day job, where we see things going and how we think the trends…

  • Public sector social media continues to turn some heads at #SoMeComms

    Drew B
    21 Oct 2011 | 5:00 am
    In the middle of busy season, this week appears to be busy week. I travelled to Manchester to present at the SomeComms awards, just one of the digital industry awards taking place. A full house, plenty of consumer brands and hot agencies were there, but the most striking observation was that the innovation came from a different place in the comms field – almost entirely it came from the public sector. Monmouthshire Council won awards for best use of YouTube and most innovative campaign (which I had the pleasure of presenting). Manchester Police won best in-house social media team and best…
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    Minnesota Public Relations Blog

  • MNPR Top 20: The Most Influential Minnesota PR Professionals on Twitter - 2012

    Ryan May
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:35 am
    A little more than a year ago, the MNPR Blog published the Top 20: Twin Cities Most Influential PR Professionals on Twitter. We have reassessed our methodology, incorporated additional tools, to update this list and also broadened the scope to include all of Minnesota since, after all, this is the Minnesota Public Relations Blog. This list was compiled using a variety of ranking services including Twitter Grader, Edelman Tweet Level. I am sure there are many other influencers, but this is my best effort to use these tools and to give credit where credit is due. (If you'd like…

  • Job - University of Minnesota - Social Media Specialist

    Ryan May
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:33 am
    University of Minnesota - Social Media Specialist

  • Padilla Speer Beardsley Names Matt Kucharski as Executive Vice President, Agency Services

    Ryan May
    25 Jan 2012 | 2:29 pm
    Matt Kucharski, a member of the integrated communications firm Padilla Speer Beardsley since 1989, has been named to the newly created role of executive vice president - agency services. Kucharski’s responsibilities include overseeing the continued development of Padilla’s strategic planning, social media, research, crisis/critical issues and media relations offerings; spearheading new partnerships and opportunities to help Padilla continue to grow; and leveraging the firm’s global reach through its membership in the Worldcom Public Relations Group, the world’s largest network of…

  • February BMA meeting - What's new in Search Marketing?

    Ryan May
    25 Jan 2012 | 7:36 am
    A panel of experts will discuss how business-to-business marketers need to stay educated in search and social marketing The Minnesota chapter of the Business Marketing Association (BMA-Minnesota) will host a panel discussion on the latest trends in search marketing. The session will be held on Feb. 14, 2012, at the MetropolitanBallroom & Clubroom in St. Louis Park, Minn. from 8 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. Featuring two local experts, the session will provide a case study with performance data, tactical insights from a marketing perspective including channel conflict, lead generation, social for…

  • Job - StoryTeller Media & Communications - Account Director

    Ryan May
    24 Jan 2012 | 8:54 am
    StoryTeller Media & Communications - Account Director
 
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    Waxing UnLyrical

  • Toon Time: Twitter Introductions

    Erin Feldman
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:00 am
    Erin Feldman is the marketing communications manager at TouchSystems, a touch screen company based in Hutto, Texas. Her background is in marketing and creative writing, and she riffs about writing right at her blog, Write Right (so write right, don’t make her use her red pen). She spends the rest of her time writing poetry, drawing, reading, and running. Toon Time: Twitter Introductions

  • On Creativity and Content

    Shonali Burke
    26 Jan 2012 | 6:00 am
    Before I go any further, today is India’s Republic Day. To all our Indian/of Indian origin friends and readers, happy Republic Day! As you think about blogging, whether for personal or business reasons, how much do you mix up your content? Seriously, please tell me in the comments section, I really want to know. I’m guilty of thinking about it a lot, but not doing it enough. I love different types of content, and like many people, am attracted to visuals almost as much as – perhaps more so than – written content. Not necessarily infographics, though there are some…

  • 6 iPhone Accessories for Almost-Professional Photos/Videos

    Shonali Burke
    25 Jan 2012 | 6:00 am
    I saw a post from Chris Brogan a while back, talking about how it’s ok to not be an expert and, in fact, we shouldn’t wait until we’re experts at something to do it. Sounds about right to me. After all, I never trained in public relations (fuhgeddabout social media), and my background is in Economics (probably why I like numbers so much) and drama, but I think I’m doing ok. To me, non-experts doing things very well is one of the beauties not just of our profession, but a gift that the social Web has given to us. After all, you don’t have to be an…

  • PR vs. Journalism: Why Rivalry Hurts Both

    Matt LaCasse
    24 Jan 2012 | 7:00 am
    While perusing my Facebook stream the other day, I came across this article on Business Insider. Its title alone (What PR People Really Think Of Journalists) told me the article was link bait. What it didn’t tell me was that in attempting to “end” a decades, if not centuries, old rivalry, is that it would make every public relations pro look like an immature jerk. For a very long time, public relations has used the media to tell the story of its clients. That’s changed a bit in recent years, thanks to the Internet, but that fact still holds true. What a segment of…

  • Pedal-powered Storytelling

    Jamie Garantziotis
    23 Jan 2012 | 5:00 am
    I was catching up on emails recently when a message caught my eye from one of my favorite brands: Rapha. As a bike geek and cycling lover, I love Rapha’s comfortable and beautifully designed cycling wear, and admire its use of content (particularly video) to tell its story. Over the holiday season, Rapha challenged its community to complete the Festive 500 – burning off those Christmas calories by getting outside and cycling 500km across one week. You can see some of the great efforts and content shared by the community here. What struck me about this was the reversal of the storytelling…
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    O'Dwyer's Blog: Covering PR, public affairs, marketing and the world of communications.

  • CBS Fires Blogger Who Got Paterno Death Wrong

    27 Jan 2012 | 2:17 pm
    CBS Interactive has fired college football blogger Adam Jacobi, who erroneously reported former Penn State coach Joe Paterno’s death before it occurred. Read the full story (sub req'd) | Subscribe to O'Dwyer's

  • Greenpeace Raps TransCanada's Keystone Pipeline PR

    27 Jan 2012 | 12:14 pm
    Greenpeace is complaining to the Securities and Exchange Commission that TransCanada is inflating the number of U.S. jobs that will be created with construction of its Keystone XL pipeline, which may be a violation of U.S. securities disclosure laws. Executive director Phil Radford penned a Jan. 26 letter to SEC chairman Mary Shapiro saying TransCanada’s claim of “20,000 high-wage manufacturing and construction jobs” resulting from Keystone is a false and misleading number. That figure comes from a TransCanada-commissioned report from economist Ray Perryman. Radford, who sent a copy of…
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    Pierce Mattie Public Relations New York

  • Pierce Mattie Green Organic Beauty PR Client Featured in Whole Living Magazine

    Josh_B
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:25 am
    Pierce Mattie PR Client John Masters Organics was featured in Whole Living Magazine. If you’re working on a beauty story be sure to give our Pierce Mattie beauty PR team a call at 212-243-1431 or follow us on Twitter @PierceMattiePR and FaceBook.

  • Meredith Completes Acquistion of FamilyFun Magazine from Disney Publishing Worldwide

    Josh_B
    26 Jan 2012 | 3:27 pm
    Meredith Corporation has completed its acquisition of FamilyFun from Disney Publishing Worldwide. The acquisition includes the highly popular magazine – with an audience of 6 million and rate base of 2.1 million – and its related assets, including its special interest publications, as well as the Toy Hopper and other digital magazine applications."We are delighted to bring the FamilyFun brand to market as part of our expanding media portfolio," says Meredith National Media Group President Tom Harty. "This acquisition significantly enhances our leadership and…

  • Beauty Social Media: NEW Hair Care App

    Sarah Hamblen
    25 Jan 2012 | 9:35 pm
    “So what were you thinking about doing today?” These are the dreaded words you hear every time we sit down in the chair at the salon. You scoured images of hair colors, hair trends, and hairstyles for hours online only to sit down in the chair without the faintest idea of what you want to do. You often walk in with the intention of leaving with a new look, but because you have no idea what that new look looks like you end up leaving with your roots touched up, a trim, and a nice treatment to give you that soft and shiny look. Sounding familiar?Well Aveda has come out with a new…

  • Year of the Dragon: Lunar New Year Celebrated on Commemorative Forever Stamp

    Josh_B
    24 Jan 2012 | 3:23 pm
    Commemorating the Lunar New Year, the United States Postal Service issued a new Forever Stamp featuring a dragon, the fifth of 12 animals associated with the Chinese lunar calendar.This colorful stamp is the latest collectible in the Postal Service's Celebrating Lunar New Year series, which began in 2008 with the Year of the Rat. The Year of the Dragon begins today and ends Feb. 9, 2013. The stamp goes on sale today at Post Offices nationwide, online at usps.com and by phone at 800-782-6724."The Postal Service is proud to celebrate the Lunar New Year with the issuance of this…

  • Pierce Mattie PR Now Hiring: Senior Account Executive

    Josh_B
    23 Jan 2012 | 3:44 pm
     Job Description Plan and execute client activities in a timely, efficient and high quality manner under the direction of an Account Director Keep client programs on track and ensure all deadlines are met Develop and edit written materials including press releases, online materials and general client correspondence Execute media relations efforts including media list development, pitching and developing strong ongoing relationships with the mediaDesired Skills & Experience Minimum four years of professional experience required, agency experience preferred. Strong written and verbal…
 
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    Quest PR Blog

  • High ambition: why Sheffield’s steely resolve will win through

    Sharon Cain
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:22 am
    As champions of Yorkshire and passionate about profiling the region’s vibrant business community, we’re launching a series of blogs which ‘celebrate all things Yorkshire’.  The first one focuses on the dynamic developments in the pipeline in the city of Sheffield which boasts a rich and colourful history – and which has been boosted by a £1 million government funding programme. Sheffield’s optimism shone through in the Star Business Survey 2012 supported by Lambert Smith Hampton.It was great to hear James Newman, chairman of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise…

  • Is it time to stop spreading yourself too thin?

    Sharon Cain
    20 Jan 2012 | 7:03 am
    Phew – what a relief to be see and hear that more business are looking to consolidate their social media activities in 2012 as opposed to running themselves ragged trying to keep up with every development – and beating themselves up if they don’t.     Social Media Examiner founder Michael Stelzner says ‘the old mantra of “Be everywhere” will quickly be replaced with “be where it matters to our business” makes for good old-fashioned business sense. This is particularly relevant in our tough climate where all organisations are expected to achieve more for less  while trying…

  • PR’s Role In The 2012 Business World

    Sharon Cain
    9 Jan 2012 | 7:01 am
    This week, freelance PR consultant Duncan Greenwood offers his views on the PR sector’s prospects for 2012.  Effective PR in 2012 will be increasingly vital to the UK’s hopes of recovery. Social and broadcast media exposure will continue to expand, to the cost of traditional printed titles, additionally and grievously hampered by phone-hacking and other less than noble enterprises. The PR winners will be the consultancies and in-house managers doing less of the fluffy stuff and concentrating on nuts and bolts business support that helps enhance reputations and shifts products. The…

  • 10 inspirational tips for 2012

    Sharon Cain
    3 Jan 2012 | 3:34 am
    Happy New Year to all! Very aptly for our first blog of the year, business coach and inspirational speaker Lisa Clifford offers her expert insights on how to kick start 2012 into being your most successful year yet. Think of something you’d love to achieve that when you achieve it – it will blow your mind. Now take a moment and become aware of all the reasons this dream is great for you and your life. Take a moment to imagine you are celebrating the success of your dream. Visualise it as though it is happening right now. Make it real. Really connect into what you are feeling, thinking,…

  • Will 2012 be the Silver Surfers year?

    Sharon Cain
    22 Dec 2011 | 6:26 am
    How many silver surfers do you know who can Tweet the proverbial hind leg off a donkey or clock up over 50,000 followers on Facebook? Our Christmas blog has been inspired by a member of our Quest team and blogger Ashley Ridsdale who wrote about the late Ivy Bean the oldest known social networker whose celebrity followers included Peter Andre, Chris Evans and Sarah Brown, wife of the former prime minister Gordon. Ivy, who lived to the ripe old age of 104, first dipped her toes in Facebook, moving to Twitter after reaching the 5,000 friends limit – where she notched up over 50,000 followers.
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    RushPRnews - Newswire & Global Press Release Distribution

  • Marketing Consultancy - Outsource To Save Money

    27 Jan 2012 | 3:11 pm
    The marketing resource website 'Marketing Quotes' reflects on the state of the UK economy and how UK businesses can improve their marketing campaigns by using industry specialist marketing consultants in order to improve their marketing campaigns. The Need To Market The UK...

  • Newborn Coalition Announces Policy Priorities

    27 Jan 2012 | 2:49 pm
    Initiatives Aimed at Improving Health Outcomes and Reducing Disparities for the Youngest Patients  The Newborn Coalition today announced its 2012 policy priorities addressing immediate advocacy objectives for leveraging technologies in support of newborn health at the local, state and federal level. In...

  • Brands need to be prepared for the influence of 'people power' says Punch Communications

    27 Jan 2012 | 2:37 pm
    This week gym-chain LA Fitness bore the full brunt of ‘people power’ as the public took to Twitter to express their distaste with the company’s lack of empathy in refusing to release a couple from their contract. Despite the pregnancy...

  • 1098 Print and E-File: 1098 Software for 2011 Available for Download from W2Mate.Com

    27 Jan 2012 | 1:24 am
    Real Business Solutions (www.W2Mate.com), the IRS  compliance software provider, invites US lending institutions and tax professionals to try the 1098 filing module available in its W2 Mate software. W2 Mate, W2 1099 processing solution, is loaded with features that make...

  • The "Bridesmaids" to Present at 84th Academy Awards®

    26 Jan 2012 | 7:42 pm
    The "Bridesmaids" Cast – Rose Byrne, Ellie Kemper, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig – to Present at 84th Academy Awards® – Six actresses – Rose Byrne, Ellie Kemper, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig...
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    Strategic Public Relations

  • Links for 2012-01-27 [del.icio.us]

    28 Jan 2012 | 2:00 am
    Tips for Better Listening based on 7 Types of Listeners | Lead Change Group There's a great stat about how much of communication involves listening. And it's a higher percentage than you think. Yet we're never taught about it in professional development of even college.

  • Links for 2012-01-26 [del.icio.us]

    27 Jan 2012 | 2:00 am
    GE Study Proves Consumers Respond More to Shared Content | Digital - Advertising Age Word of Mouth Marketers will simply note this is an online extension of offline word of mouth. Which is just to say that it's not surprising to see this prove out. But keep in mind, earned may deliver response while paid may be required to deliver eyeballs to help respond.

  • Links for 2012-01-25 [del.icio.us]

    26 Jan 2012 | 2:00 am
    Put Your Taproot Into the Independent Web | John Battelle's Search Blog Zynga and Causes realize what many others know, Facebook's part of a much larger picture when it comes to social media and the web.

  • Links for 2012-01-24 [del.icio.us]

    25 Jan 2012 | 2:00 am
    McDonald's Twitter Campaign Goes Horribly Wrong #McDStories When activists use hashtags, it can be very effective. When brands use them, they need to be prepared to have consumers take them in a different direction -- even an offbrand, negative and NSFW direction. Marketers Tease Super Bowl Commercials The days of 1984 commercials are long behind us and campaigns around the Super Bowl ads have gotten more extensive as media continues to converge. Volkswagen's BarkSide was an ad teasing an ad. So it's not a shock to see others follow suit this year.

  • 5 Tips for Free, Easy Photo Edits

    Kevin Dugan
    22 Jan 2012 | 10:17 pm
    The news of Google's latest service shutdowns means picture editing is no longer a Picnik for many bloggers, Flickr users and others.Google is shutting down Picnik and wrapping the technology into services like Google+. And while many die hard Picnik users are understandably miffed, the odds are good that several alternatives have come about to handily replace their de facto image editor.Whether or not you use Picnik, here are five tips for free and easy photo edits.1) Your Computer: Most laptops come preloaded with image editing software. It may only cover the basics, but it'll do in a…
 
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    Peter Shankman

  • All You Need to Know About Today’s Advertising, Marketing and Social Media News in Two Minutes

    Peter Shankman
    25 Jan 2012 | 9:36 pm
    The Two-Minute Rundown for Thursday, January 26th, 2012, with myself and Bob Knorpp! Also, here’s the iTunes link so you can subscribe and automatically get these daily!

  • Yet Again, the Simplest Things Win in Customer Service

    Peter Shankman
    25 Jan 2012 | 7:54 am
    I’ve said it before – We don’t currently live in a world that regularly expects excellent customer service. In fact, with each passing generation, the customer service bar is actually lowered a bit more. Example: In the 50s, you’d drive into a gas station, and four uniformed attendants would rush over, each handling a different chore, from checking your oil, to pumping your gas, to cleaning your windows, and other basic automobile tasks. It was simply what was done. Can you imagine that? Four guys, waiting for you to drive in, and actually running to service you? I was…

  • How To Avoid Being A Victim, Anywhere, Any time.

    Peter Shankman
    19 Jan 2012 | 6:02 pm
    I was born and raised in Manhattan. As such, I have a built-in situational awareness barometer that helps keep me safe. It’s a sixth sense that city-kids have. We just “know” when things aren’t right. If we listen to our gut, we can stay out of trouble almost 100% of the time. However, I grew up in the 80s, when New York City didn’t have the same “Sex and the City” siren’s call that it has now. In the past ten years, I’ve seen more people come to NYC without a clue in their heads – Doing the most irresponsible stuff known to man (or…

  • The Two Minute Rundown for Thursday, January 19th, 2012

    Peter Shankman
    19 Jan 2012 | 3:15 am
    All you need to know about today’s Advertising, Marketing, and Social Media news in two minutes, with Bob Knorpp and myself! Enjoy, and comments welcome!

  • The Two Minute Rundown for January 17th, 2012

    Peter Shankman
    17 Jan 2012 | 6:51 am
    All you need to know about Advertising, Marketing, and Social Media, in two minutes, with Bob Knorpp and myself! Enjoy, and comments welcome!
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    EndGame Public Relations News

  • FightSMA Names New Executive Director; Relocates Headquarters to Nation’s Capital

    Steve Mullen
    19 Jan 2012 | 2:51 pm
    FightSMA Names New Executive Director; Relocates Headquarters to Nation’s Capital (WASHINGTON, DC) – FightSMA, an international nonprofit organization created to strategically accelerate the search for a treatment and cure for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), has named Ron Imbach as its new Executive Director, effective Dec. 1, 2011. Ron Imbach is replacing the current CEO and founder of FightSMA, Martha Slay, who guided the organization from its inception in 1991 until the present.  Under Martha’s leadership, FightSMA has grown from an initial crusade to bring higher levels of awareness…

  • SleepBetter.org’s “Sleep M.D.” Provides Her Top Holiday Sleep Tip: Avoid the Alcohol

    Steve Mullen
    16 Dec 2011 | 2:27 pm
    SleepBetter.org’s “Sleep M.D.” Gives Her Top Holiday Sleep Tip: Avoid the Alcohol (Richmond, Virginia) – In the hectic world in which we live, sleep during the holiday season can often be difficult.  There are a ton of tips to help individuals sleep better this time of year. There are so many, in fact, that sleep news and advice website SleepBetter.org is listing a dozen of them for 2011 in a series of articles titled “12 Holiday Sleep Tips”.  However, SleepBetter’s medical sleep expert says the one that is most important to remember is to avoid or at least moderate…

  • Sleep Expert Provides Advice to “Fall Back” Gently & Survive the Winter Months

    Steve Mullen
    3 Nov 2011 | 12:29 pm
    Sleep Expert Provides Advice to “Fall Back” Gently and Survive the Winter Months (Richmond, Virginia) – Daylight Savings Time ends in most of the United States and Canada, as well as portions of Mexico, at 2 a.m. on November 6, 2011.  A medical sleep doctor and contributor to sleep advice website SleepBetter.org says the yearly “fall back” is easier than the time change in the spring, but cautions that it signals the beginning of darker months that can lead to issues for some. “If you go to bed at your normal time on Sunday night, then you are staying up one hour later than your…

  • SleepBetter.org Warns Seasonal Changes Can Bring Sleep Problems

    Steve Mullen
    19 Oct 2011 | 10:32 am
    SleepBetter.org Warns Seasonal Changes Can Bring Sleep Problems (Richmond, VA) – Golden autumn afternoons, fall foliage and cooler temperatures are a welcome change for most people after a long hot summer, but sleep tips website Sleepbetter.org says families should be watchful that the change in seasons could lead to sleep problems and other behavioral troubles for adults, teens and children. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that affects an estimated six percent of the population. A person with SAD can experience unexplained fatigue as daylight hours grow shorter…

  • SleepBetter.org Sleep Expert Calls for Sleep Testing During ADHD Diagnosis

    Steve Mullen
    26 Sep 2011 | 8:26 am
    SleepBetter.org Sleep Expert Calls for Sleep Testing During ADHD Diagnosis (Richmond, VA) – In light of new research, a sleep expert working with one of the Internet’s premier sites for news and information on how to sleep better is calling for sleep testing for all children suspected of having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).  Dr. Lisa Shives, a medical doctor who specializes in sleep issues and contributes to SleepBetter.org, says the symptoms of ADHD and sleep deprivation are too similar to ignore, and the sleep testing would guard against misdiagnosis. New…
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    Voce Communications

  • Uncage Your Inner Superb Owl: Nominative Fair Use On Social Media

    Dave Coustan
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:00 am
    As the Super Bowl approaches, the NFL’s historically aggressive enforcement of its trademark on the term “Super Bowl” comes into focus as we start to hear broadcast ads from non-sponsoring entities use terms like “the big game” and “superb owl.” For this reason, around this time of year, brands tend to grow particularly sheepish about how they can or can’t use trademarked terms. Because brand social media accounts on Twitter and pages on Facebook are about both conversation and commerce, but are also free, unpaid platforms, it’s difficult…

  • 2011 Web Browser Winners and Losers

    Pete Schiebel
    19 Jan 2012 | 12:00 pm
    A lot of the pain fun of my job is providing consistent user experiences between the major browsers. The major browsers can be different for each client so we take user analytics and client preference as our guiding beacon. For this article we are not taking into account mobile browsing so the Big Three are Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome with Safari and Opera maintaining a presence. Biggest Winner Chrome (+10.8% -> 34.6%) – Chrome started the year at 23.8% and in just 12 months has jumped to 34.6%, only 3.1% short of overtaking Firefox. It was another solid year for Chrome, who…

  • “The Social Media Strategist” by Voce Nation’s own Christopher Barger

    Josh Hallett
    18 Jan 2012 | 10:00 am
    The Voce Nation is proud today. We’re celebrating the release of Christopher Barger’s book, “The Social Media Strategist: Build a Successful Program from the Inside Out.“ Christopher recounts the “in the trenches” experiences he had while building social media programs for IBM and General Motors and provides insights for others in similar situations. The book is consistent with Voce’s hands-on approach to social media, less talking, more doing. You can listen to a review of “The Social Media Strategiest” from Bob LeDrew on the For…

  • You Can’t Play Angry Birds on A Bound Briefing Book, And Other Reasons You Should Digitize Your Media Prep Material

    Doug Madey
    17 Jan 2012 | 2:51 pm
    When was the last time you pulled a volume from an encyclopedia off the shelf to look up a piece of information? 15 years ago? Maybe never for some of the recent grads? So why, in an age where all information is saved and obtained digitally, do PR people give printed and bound briefing material to clients? The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) reported that a record setting 153,000+ people attended CES 2012. With numbers like that it’s anyone’s guess as to how many briefing books were circulating the show floor over the past week. I’m not a betting man, but since CES takes place in…

  • Photos from the Voce Media Dinner at CES 2012

    Chris Thilk
    13 Jan 2012 | 4:48 pm
    Every year Voce hosts a very nice dinner for media and others during CES 2012. This year’s event was a fun, interesting night and so we thought we’d share some photos from the night here. About the AuthorChris Thilk works on the Client Services team, part of Voce Connect, developing and executing social media strategy. In addition to the Voce Communications blog Chris runs his own personal site at Movie Marketing Madness and you can follow him at @christhilk on Twitter.
 
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    Bite Communications

  • Bite Communications reels in Silicon Valley marketing heavyweight Andy Cunningham to lead North American business

    Ben White
    26 Jan 2012 | 4:01 pm
    San Francisco – January 26, 2012 – Andrea “Andy” Cunningham has joined Bite Communications as president of North America, a newly created position to spearhead the consultancy’s growth strategy and diversify its client service offerings. A serial-entrepreneur and tech marketing communications pioneer, Andy has been at the forefront of strategic positioning and brand marketing for Fortune 500 technology corporations such as AMD, Cisco, HP, IBM, Motorola, Oracle and Xerox for over 25 years. She has been credited with shaping and establishing game-changing market categories including…

  • A small town full of big people: the rise and rise of the WEF

    Martin Veitch
    25 Jan 2012 | 10:36 am
    “You should definitely go. If I were a journalist, I would definitely go. You’d get a lot of stories and everybody is there. Everybody.” So said Marc Benioff to me back in, I dunno, maybe 2006, at the door of his Soho Hotel, London suite after showing me, a journalist back then, the pitch for the company he had started, Salesforce.com. Name-dropping, I know, but what impressed me was the enthusiasm — beyond even the thunderous sense of wonder he could conjure for his own product — with which Benioff was promoting the World Economic Forum. And he is a very good pitchman indeed. That…

  • Here in Asia, we are welcoming in the year of the Dragon.  What does the Dragon have to offer in the way of digital trends?  Here are five trends to watch for the future.

    David Ketchum
    24 Jan 2012 | 4:47 am
    Video will be increasing important as bandwidth grows and video is increasingly available on mobile devices.  The trend will encompass both short clips and longer feature content on YouTube, Chinese video-sharing site Youku and others, as well as interactive video communications via Skype, Facetime and other applications.  And video will remain a valuable search strategy, since video content is 53 times more likely to get a page one Google ranking than text. S-commerce and M-commerce will become significant sources of online sales, as people become both more comfortable with being offered…

  • Smart TVs at CES confront a long cycle of failures

    Martin Veitch
    13 Jan 2012 | 10:56 am
    The arrival of interesting internet-connected TVs at CES had me thinking that, for what’s supposed to be a very fast-moving sector, the technology industry can shift very slowly indeed. Consider this: the PC, TV and internet are often cited as the three most important modern developments in the way we consume information and are entertained. And yet, in two decades of trying, nobody has come up with a good way to combine all three phenomena. CES: The time for the smart TV must be nigh The internet on the PC works great if you have broadband, but TV on the PC is a kludge that works out as…

  • Google: This time, it’s personal

    Matt Simms
    13 Jan 2012 | 4:04 am
    Google’s mission is to “organise the world’s information” and it has done a fine job over the past decade or so by bringing order to the web’s trillion+ pages. But the web has changed since Google was incorporated in 1998. The web is no longer static and the content that makes up the internet has been democratised. Instead of a minority updating the internet, now everyone in the world can potentially impact the make-up of the web. The web is now social. Google's social search could give more prominence to its social network, Google+ So Google has launched Search plus…
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    PRNewser

  • The Most Popular PRNewser Stories This Week

    Tonya Garcia
    27 Jan 2012 | 9:37 am
    Haha! Priceline Kills Off Shatner Spokesperson SOPA, PIPA Bills Postpones Because Everyone Hates Them Is Marketing For Men Moving In Another Direction? Journos Report on Their Relationship With Fox News PR Weber Shandwick, H+K Strategies Headed to Court New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

  • Megaupload Mega Shutdown Proves We Need Neither SOPA or PIPA

    Celeste Altus
    27 Jan 2012 | 9:09 am
    While two Megaupload executives have been bailed out of jail in New Zealand on Internet piracy charges filed in the U.S., Sandvine has released figures on how the shutdown of Megaupload affected other networks worldwide. Sandvine says with all the attention on Internet regulation, a number of competing sites have either decided to shut themselves down, or dramatically alter the way files are uploaded or downloaded from their servers. For example, FileSonic has halted any new uploads and is only allowing users to download their personal files. continued… New Career Opportunities Daily:…

  • Three Ways to Make Your Grand Opening a News Event

    Celeste Altus
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:30 am
    Disney grand opening, 1955 During a recent expedition to Disneyland, it came to my attention that the grand opening of the park in 1955 was televised live. What?!? Yes, with Art Linkletter as a host, ABC and more than 1,000 journalists covered the story of the theme park’s opening. What an incredible feat of pure PR. Was Disneyland news? I suppose if there were not many theme parks, it might be news. So when is a grand opening newsworthy? Why is another Apple store, the latest in New York’s Grand Central Station worth covering? It reminds me of a most upsetting event when I…

  • The Ticker: Bloomberg Pursuits; PR in India; Pepsi vs. Coke; Facebook comment overload; More on GIngrich vs. media

    Jason Chupick
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:16 am
    WWD / Memo Pad:  Bloomberg to Launch Luxury Lifestyle Magazine Press release:  MSL Studies Challenges Facing Indian PR Bloomberg:  PepsiCo May Boost Marketing Budget to Take On Coca-Cola: Retail Mashable:  How Brands Can Manage Facebook Comment Overload Associated Press:  Gingrich attacks media to fire GOP base; now conservative media are his biggest critics New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

  • Sotheby’s Seeks Skilled Integrated Marketing Manager

    Nadine Cheung
    26 Jan 2012 | 1:02 pm
    If you have an affinity for art and auctions, we have just the job for you. Sotheby’s is on the hunt for a new integrated marketing manager to join its New York team. In this role, you’ll oversee all marketing activities, including Sotheby’s catalogs, brochures, client letters, internal and external promotional materials, in-house sale enhancements, digital media projects and sale view signage. You’ll strategize on marketing initiatives for current and upcoming projects, while teaming up with advertising agencies and the design department on various goals. And…
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    down the avenue

  • Life Can Come From the Negative Side of a Story

    Renee Blodgett
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:16 pm
    From a well know screen writer's view related to the most important and least understood precept in story design: "A protagonist and his story can only be as intellectually fascinating and emotionally compelling as the forces of antagonism make them". What will cause a protagonist to become a fully realized, multidimensional, and deeply empathetic character? What will bring his story to Life? The answer to both questions lies on the negative side of the story...." -Robert McKee

  • Statf.ly Simplifies Social Monitoring, Engagement, Reporting & Storage

    Renee Blodgett
    17 Jan 2012 | 6:25 pm
    Statf.ly, a social media management and analytics company just added new quick-switch multi-profile management and unlimited reporting. Targeted to brands and agencies managing brands, new features include team collaboration, unlimited report generation with data point annotation, real time search for both Twitter and Facebook and social data storage for up to one year. Statf.ly enables users to store Twitter and Facebook history, keywords, and report annotations for up to one year, which is valuable for generating more compelling long term analysis, in depth quarterly reports and annual…

  • UBER Car Service: A Dream App When Flow & Timing Are Critical

    Renee Blodgett
    17 Jan 2012 | 3:50 pm
    For those of you who haven't heard of UBER, and because of the name, think it's some funky, hip device, think again. UBER is a car service that is as simple to use as calling a taxi. Many higher end car services require you to call them well in advance and they're often fairly pricey. While UBER is definitely more expensive than a taxi (roughly about double in my experience), it's incredibly useful when you need a more formal sedan for business purposes, when it's late and taxis might take too long to get to you or you're in a location where taxis are tough to find. I ran into the CEO Travis…

  • Leonard Nimoy & Steve Wozniak Steal the Stage at DEMO Enterprise Disruption

    Renee Blodgett
    8 Jan 2012 | 5:50 pm
    I'm a long time fan of the DEMO Conferences and events and have been attending for well over a decade (since the start of their events really, but let's not date myself that much shall we?). This past week, they held an evening event called DEMO Enterprise Disruption at San Francisco's Temple Bay & Nightclub at was so well organized that it felt like a shorter version of their twice-a-year launch events. (in the states that is as they're now doing events around the world). Not only was the event well organized with an agenda, but they had incredible food (soups, burgers, sauteeds and…

  • A Bear's Way of Bringing in 2012!

    Renee Blodgett
    2 Jan 2012 | 8:01 pm
 
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    PR Fire

  • Reduce your heating costs in 2012 with renewable energy

    Gordon Atkinson
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:30 am
    With energy prices always on the rise, consumers are always looking for ways to cut their costs and reduce their spending and one of the best ways to do this is to start to generate your own energy using renewable sources. Thanks to the range of government grants and payment schemes available such as the Feed-in-Tariffs, installing renewable energy sources can cost less than you may expect and could even provide you with a modest income. There are various different types of renewable energy equipment available, so there will be a source to suit your requirements no matter what type of…

  • Polish the jewel in our crown says Chamber

    PR Fire
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:00 am
    West Midland business leaders are calling on the Government to invest more in regional airports rather than trying to revive London’s declining flight connections and full capacity. Commenting on British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) latest aviation survey, which says that businesses see direct air links as vital to maintaining the UK’s prospects in global markets, Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group (BCCG) says Birmingham Airport is a viable solution to the South East’s aviation capacity constraints. The BCC survey found that 92 per cent of business leaders in high growth economies say…

  • Britain’s first farm animal sanctuary faces closure

    Rachael Chew
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:30 am
    OVER 600 rescued animals are facing the slaughterhouse after Britain’s first farm animal sanctuary was served with an eviction notice from the land it has occupied for the last 15 years. Animal lover Janet Taylor set up The Farm Animal Sanctuary in Evesham, Worcestershire, 25 years ago when she saved her first animal by spending just GBP1 to buy a frail lamb at a livestock market. The sanctuary, whose patron is the famous actress and active animal rights campaigner Joanna Lumley, eventually found a permanent home after Janet secured a benefactor, retired businesswoman Patricia Bernie.

  • THIMBLEMILL LIBRARY CELEBRATES 75TH BIRTHDAY

    PR Fire
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:00 am
    A Sandwell library is celebrating its 75th birthday next month. Staff at Thimblemill Library in Smethwick are planning a series of events to commemorate the event on February 10. Between 10am and 11.30am there will be a birthday party for under 2s where they can come in fancy dress. Then, between 11.30am and 12.30pm, there will be a coffee morning for adults with a local history talk by historian David Yates about Thimblemill Library and the surrounding area. Between 4pm and 5pm there will be a children’s birthday party where entertainment will be provided by Will E Dropit. Cabinet…

  • Liverpool FC Agree New Kit Deal with Warrior Sports

    Ian Maloney
    27 Jan 2012 | 9:30 am
    Liverpool has ended their association with Adidas after announcing that they have agreed a deal for an American company to manufacture and produce their kits and these will be in the official club LFC Shop UK. Adidas have been manufacturing and designing Liverpool’s home, away, and third kits since 2006 however the club announced on Thursday that they have agreed a deal with Warrior Sports Inc. to take over from Adidas. Warrior Sports will be in charge of designing and producing the club’s kits for the next 6 years. The deal comes into action on the 1st of June this year when the current…
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    davefleet.com

  • Seven Social Media Insights on CES

    Dave Fleet
    18 Jan 2012 | 6:00 am
    By now you’ve probably had more than your fill of analysis from the many, many products and announcements revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Now that I’ve had a few days to decompress, I thought I’d do something slightly different and provide a few insights from a social perspective. CES is not a social media conference (duh) CES is, first and foremost, an electronics show. It attracts a very different audience compared to conferences like SXSW or BlogWorld. While those social-focused conferences are fertile ground when it comes to social media programs, CES is…

  • My 2012 Reading Challenge: 36 Books

    Dave Fleet
    9 Jan 2012 | 6:00 am
    For the last two years I’ve set myself a challenge – one I adopted from Julien Smith - to read at least 26 books per year. That’s one every two weeks. In 2010 I managed 26 books; last year I managed 32. Stand-out books for me last year included: Fiction: The Hound of the Baskervilles A Game of Thrones Series (4-Book Set) The Book of Lost Things The Last Ringbearer Non-Fiction: Workarounds That Work (here’s my review) Game-Based Marketing Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management (review coming soon) Brand Turnaround: How Brands Gone Bad Returned to Glory and the 7…

  • Six important shifts for social media in 2012

    Dave Fleet
    31 Dec 2011 | 6:00 am
    It’s hard to believe we’re about to tick over to another calendar year. So, as usual, I got to thinking about the shifts I think companies need to make in their social media activities in the next year. These aren’t necessarily trends that are already happening (although I’d like to say they are), but they’re certainly where my head is at and hopefully where others are, too. Here are six shifts I hope to see in social media use by business in 2012. Better objective-setting Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen a slow maturation in the way companies…

  • Search Engines Are A Conduit, Not A Source

    Dave Fleet
    21 Dec 2011 | 6:00 am
    Let’s get this out of the way: Search engines are a key part of communications nowadays. Take a look at your website analytics and it’ll be clear – there’s no avoiding it. Search engines usually drive a significant proportion – if not the majority – of traffic to companies’ websites. However, I’m tired of seeing “studies” showing that “search engines” are a source of information for consumers. Search engines are a conduit – a step along the path – not a source. Think about it – when you look for…

  • Should you let social media conversations direct your business?

    Dave Fleet
    22 Nov 2011 | 6:00 am
    Here’s a question for you: Should you let conversations in social media direct your business? If you’ve worked in the social media space, that seems like a pretty straightforward “yes”, right? I mean, we’re always talking about how listening and responding is critical. What if we ask the question a couple of other ways: Should you always let conversations in social media direct your business? Should you let individual conversations in social media direct your business? The answer isn’t quite as simple now, is it? All of a sudden, we’re facing…
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    PerkettPRsuasion - The PerkettPR Blog

  • Influencers Who Inspire Series: Ramon Ray of SmallBizTechnology.com

    Heather Mosley
    24 Jan 2012 | 9:19 am
    We begin our PerkettPR “Influencers Who Inspire” series with a chat with Ramon Ray, Editor & Technology Evangelist, Smallbiztechnology.com. Ramon is a journalist, technology evangelist & editor of Smallbiztechnology.com, author of “Technology Solutions for Growing Businesses” & “Technology Resources for Growing Businesses” and a national, in-demand speaker. What made you choose journalism as a profession?  I didn’t choose it,  it chose me and it was quite accidental. I just really loved to write and so I started writing, then one day…

  • Keeping up with the Kardashian Brand

    Johanna Lucia
    20 Jan 2012 | 11:03 am
    Kardashian. Even if you don’t want to, you know the name. You may watch the slew of reality television shows associated with the name (Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Kourtney & Kim Kardashian Take New York, Khloe & Lamar). Or perhaps you shop at Dash (the Kardashian boutique) or Sears (the Kardashian Kollection clothing line). Or maybe you’ve read and weighed in about Kim Kardashian’s scandalous divorce with basketball pro Kris Humphries. Was it real? Was it fake? Was it all for money? Regardless, the name is everywhere (perfumes, weight loss supplements, jewelry, fitness…

  • PR Definition

    Jennifer Hellickson
    18 Jan 2012 | 4:02 pm
    We work in PR – and soon we’ll be able to tell you exactly what that means A while back I jokingly joined a Facebook group called, “I Work in PR and My family and Friends Have No Idea What I Do,” partly out of curiosity, but mostly because it’s true. Chances are the description will strike a chord if you work in the industry: “They know we spend all day at an office and that we are very busy, but no one we know understands what it is we do all day. We are equally unable to explain it to them.” But that’s all about to change, hopefully. It’s no secret that public relations…

  • Persuasive Picks for week of 1/9/12

    Vic Miller
    16 Jan 2012 | 8:21 am
    For many marketers, resolutions include a stronger social media presence. Cynthia Clark at 1to1Media reports Marketers Want to Strengthen Their Social Media Strategy in 2012. Lisa Barone of Small Business Trends writes that not every company is suited to engage in social media and even those that are, may not necessarily be ready to do so. In her latest posts she provides readers 6 Ways To Tell If Your Social Media-Ready. The telephone provoked many of the same worries that more recently have been expressed about online social media explains Perri Klass, M.D. in the New York Times article…

  • UNSUBSCRIBE ME….Yes….really…please…

    Lisa Dilg
    12 Jan 2012 | 3:12 pm
    As part of my New Year’s resolution, I have embarked on a new project – unsubscribing from all newsletters, offers and company emails. I started out with the intent of unsubscribing only from the ones I haven’t read in months, but I decided to wipe them all out and start over fresh, only subscribing to relevant and interesting newsletters. It’s not that I hate email marketing, in fact I still find it effective, but over the last 12 years in PR, apparently I’ve not been very judicious about subscribing, nor good about unsubscribing once I am not getting value from them, and my guess…
 
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    PerkettPRsuasion - The PerkettPR Blog

  • Influencers Who Inspire Series: Ramon Ray of SmallBizTechnology.com

    Heather Mosley
    24 Jan 2012 | 9:19 am
    We begin our PerkettPR “Influencers Who Inspire” series with a chat with Ramon Ray, Editor & Technology Evangelist, Smallbiztechnology.com. Ramon is a journalist, technology evangelist & editor of Smallbiztechnology.com, author of “Technology Solutions for Growing Businesses” & “Technology Resources for Growing Businesses” and a national, in-demand speaker. What made you choose journalism as a profession?  I didn’t choose it,  it chose me and it was quite accidental. I just really loved to write and so I started writing, then one day…

  • Keeping up with the Kardashian Brand

    Johanna Lucia
    20 Jan 2012 | 11:03 am
    Kardashian. Even if you don’t want to, you know the name. You may watch the slew of reality television shows associated with the name (Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Kourtney & Kim Kardashian Take New York, Khloe & Lamar). Or perhaps you shop at Dash (the Kardashian boutique) or Sears (the Kardashian Kollection clothing line). Or maybe you’ve read and weighed in about Kim Kardashian’s scandalous divorce with basketball pro Kris Humphries. Was it real? Was it fake? Was it all for money? Regardless, the name is everywhere (perfumes, weight loss supplements, jewelry, fitness…

  • PR Definition

    Jennifer Hellickson
    18 Jan 2012 | 4:02 pm
    We work in PR – and soon we’ll be able to tell you exactly what that means A while back I jokingly joined a Facebook group called, “I Work in PR and My family and Friends Have No Idea What I Do,” partly out of curiosity, but mostly because it’s true. Chances are the description will strike a chord if you work in the industry: “They know we spend all day at an office and that we are very busy, but no one we know understands what it is we do all day. We are equally unable to explain it to them.” But that’s all about to change, hopefully. It’s no secret that public relations…

  • Persuasive Picks for week of 1/9/12

    Vic Miller
    16 Jan 2012 | 8:21 am
    For many marketers, resolutions include a stronger social media presence. Cynthia Clark at 1to1Media reports Marketers Want to Strengthen Their Social Media Strategy in 2012. Lisa Barone of Small Business Trends writes that not every company is suited to engage in social media and even those that are, may not necessarily be ready to do so. In her latest posts she provides readers 6 Ways To Tell If Your Social Media-Ready. The telephone provoked many of the same worries that more recently have been expressed about online social media explains Perri Klass, M.D. in the New York Times article…

  • UNSUBSCRIBE ME….Yes….really…please…

    Lisa Dilg
    12 Jan 2012 | 3:12 pm
    As part of my New Year’s resolution, I have embarked on a new project – unsubscribing from all newsletters, offers and company emails. I started out with the intent of unsubscribing only from the ones I haven’t read in months, but I decided to wipe them all out and start over fresh, only subscribing to relevant and interesting newsletters. It’s not that I hate email marketing, in fact I still find it effective, but over the last 12 years in PR, apparently I’ve not been very judicious about subscribing, nor good about unsubscribing once I am not getting value from them, and my guess…
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    Ryan Anderson - Web Strategist

  • On Mediocrity

    Ryan Anderson
    11 Jan 2012 | 7:24 pm
    I was reading Julien’s post, The Complete Guide to Snapping the @#$% Out of It, and agreeing, as I often do, with much of what he had to say. Then, I came to the last sentence, which crystallized a central idea that had been stampeding through my brain for months, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Why would you work on anything else but what actually matters? This idea here, this obvious little notion is exactly what has been bothering me for a while now. For some reason that I can’t quite understand, I’ve started noticing an epidemic of people doing exactly this…

  • A very geeky Christmas greeting

    Ryan Anderson
    16 Dec 2011 | 3:19 pm
                              When you’re a geek, there’s nothing quite like knowing that there are other people out there that “get” you. This project we worked on with Nick Iannitti at Ottawa Tourism is the kind of funny that will only appeal to you if you’re an internet nerd, but let’s face it. If you’re reading this, you probably are. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to one and all, and see you in the new year!

  • The social media campaign manager

    Ryan Anderson
    17 May 2011 | 7:45 am
    I don’t talk about social media tools very much anymore. Before I started my own agency, I had a lot more time to read about shiny new objects, but it was one of the things that I cut out very quickly when my time suddenly became much more valuable than it once was. I don’t think I’m alone there. It’s not that I totally ignore the space now. I’m just much more judicious about what tools I try, use, review or even talk about. The litmus test is that they have to make my life easier. Otherwise, they’re just more noise. A few months back, a guy named Mike…

  • Every kiss begins with a condescending douchebag

    Ryan Anderson
    1 Feb 2011 | 8:42 pm
    I have a love/hate relationship with commercials, and having a PVR has made that all the more clear. I rarely (if ever) watch live TV, so commercials for me fall into three separate categories: commercials I’ll go out of my way to watch, commercials I’ll usually skip, and commercials that send me grasping for my remote control so that I can spare my eyes the horror and stupidity that I know is about to be inflicted upon them. One commercial that falls into the last category – is for Kay Jewellers.  If you haven’t seen it, please allow me a moment to set the scene for…

  • A new year, a new look, and maybe some posts

    Ryan Anderson
    23 Jan 2011 | 6:03 pm
    I’ve been blogging since 2005, and while I’ve never considered myself a prolific blogger, this past year I haven’t even been a periodic blogger. In fact, I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that it’s been almost a year since my last post. The reasons? Well, a few things, but mainly it’s that my return on blogging was getting lower, and as a result I decided to cut back the time I spent on it. So, to say that I wasn’t blogging because I was too busy isn’t particularly accurate, but because I was busy, I didn’t make time for it. The thing is,…
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    Brian Solis

  • Nissan Embraces Social Media to Improve Customer Experiences and Foster Advocacy

    Brian Solis
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:25 pm
    In this episode of (R)evolution, Nissan’s David Mingle, Director of Customer Management and Erich Marx, Director of Marketing join me for a refreshing conversation about social media’s impact on business transformation, customer experiences, and building an adaptive business model to learn and evolve based on new opportunities. We explore Nissan’s approach to new media for not only marketing, but also how the company uses social media to invest in and shape the customer experience over time. Having both David and Erich on the show offered a 360 view of the customer and also…

  • The Mobile Marketing Value Exchange

    Brian Solis
    26 Jan 2012 | 8:21 am
    Guest post by Scott Forshay, creator and editor of mobi.luxe. Following him on Twitter @mobiluxe Establishing consumer relationships through mobile marketing, as with any successful, productive relationship, inherently requires a mutual exchange of value. Whether consumers are opting-in for brand communications via SMS or engaging with the brand in a single instance through scanning a QR code, the onus is on the brand to deliver value in return for customers’ valuable time and information. Without the perception that value has been exchanged for value, the relationship becomes essentially…

  • Likes, Genre, Action – Facebook Introduces Clicks to Action

    Brian Solis
    25 Jan 2012 | 10:51 am
    Following the official roll out of its new Timeline, Facebook is introducing Actions, a series of new applications that change how people interact with apps, content, brands, and each other. The new apps will extend Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of frictionless experiences based on Facebook’s Open Graph platform, where apps introduce new ways to share your actions with your friends either implicitly or explicitly. With the new Open Graph platform, developers will introduce new Actions and Action buttons that extend the functionality of sharing beyond Likes to now include a dictionary…

  • Looking Beyond 2012: Trends for Leading Transformation

    Brian Solis
    23 Jan 2012 | 9:11 am
    Part 16 in an ongoing series that serves as the prequel to my new book, The End of Business as Usual… It’s a new year and a new set of predictions to set goals and expectations for 2012.  I won’t bother you with the top 10 emerging social networks or apps to focus time and resources. Nor will I gaze in the crystal ball to reveal the five secrets to viral marketing and user/customer acquisition. Instead of adding my forecasts to the endless sea of debatable prophesies, I chose a more aspirational path. 2012 is the year of transformation as digital Darwinism threatens rigid and…

  • How Suntrust Uses Social Media to Engage Customers and Comply with Regulation

    Brian Solis
    20 Jan 2012 | 12:37 pm
    Financial institutions are bound to rules and regulation than other companies experimenting in customer engagement, specifically in social media, can ignore. Over the years, SunTrust has stood out as one of several examples that understand how to use regulatory boundaries to inspire a new generation of customer engagement. The result is finding balance between risk and reward to meet customer expectations and improve customer experiences now and over time. As I’ve always believed…constraint forces creativity. Bianca Buckridee, AVP of Social Media Engagement at SunTrust shares her…
 
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    Scatterbox at StevenSilvers.com

  • Anarchy with formatting: Another big brand gets its buns Twittered

    StevenSilvers.com
    25 Jan 2012 | 4:55 pm
    It’s amazing, really.  Another hugely successful brand launches a “social media campaign” only to be pummeled by activists, ex-employees and consumers who plain loath everything about the company. That’s what happened to McDonald’s, which after only on hour pulled the plug on a Twitter promotion the company thought would “highlight the hard-working people who help to produce its meals and promote the chain’s use of fresh produce.” McDonald’s paid-for Tweeter service posted just two items, the last one being from someone supposed to be a fry supplier who said, "When u make…

  • I'm back.

    StevenSilvers.com
    25 Jan 2012 | 4:48 pm
    Almost eight of my 12 readers noticed that Scatterbox at StevenSilvers.com has been on hiatus for the last three months.  While I never did clean the garage, I got some ideas.  I'm back and postin'. As always, send good stuff to me at scatterbox@stevensilvers.com.

  • Hype, hoopla and the marketing of breaking news that delivers nothing

    StevenSilvers.com
    16 Nov 2011 | 2:15 pm
    At some point, media companies are going to get it that teasing breaking news is bad for business. In the meantime we’ll still have local stations across the country peppering the evening’s sitcoms with promos like these: “Will the most dangerous blizzard in recorded history hit the city tomorrow morning? We’ll tell you on ActionNews5 at ten!” It’s pathetic really. Does the plastic-looking anchorman not realize that we already know the weather from a million Internet sites?  Or that we’ve already received a dozen alerts from our iPhone weather ap?  Or that we can turn to the…

  • Best blogs for college PR students

    StevenSilvers.com
    11 Nov 2011 | 12:19 pm
    Education resource site Bachelors Degree Online included StevenSilvers.com as one of the 50 Best Blogs for the Public Relations Major.  

  • Penn State’s response to scandal underscores the uselessness of many crisis communications plans

    StevenSilvers.com
    9 Nov 2011 | 12:49 pm
    For days the sexual abuse scandal broke, Penn State University did not put forward a single human being – leadership or spokesperson -- to answer questions from media and the public. This breaks every rule of modern crisis communications. As an institution, Penn State knows this. The university is home to the prestigious Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communications. It has a College of Communications. It puts on conferences on crisis communications, like the one in 2009 where an expert told agriculture people that speed of response is critical to maintaining credibility and…
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    the world according to Carrie

  • Is the Floofy Wedding Dress Back in Style?

    CLPR
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:50 am
    If you’re old enough, you might remember the floofy wedding dresses from the 80′s – just take a gander at this gallery from google and you’ll get the idea if you’re a youngin’.  Most of them were obviously inspired by Rose Parade floats with their intricate beadwork, raucous lace detail, puffed sleeves, high necks, and flouncy skirts – everything onto one dress.  I know, I actually sewed one – and it wasn’t pretty.  Enter Vera Wang.  Wang immediately smoothed down the wildness, making wedding gowns less embarrassing and more awe…

  • Pop Up Shops are soooo 2011

    CLPR
    20 Jan 2012 | 9:55 am
    I’m always thinking about clever promotions or ideas for getting my clients out in front of the public (that being my job and all).  Pop up shops, luxury celebrity suites, and press events are always in the mix.  So I was really intrigued when I saw this story about the Styleliner on FashionIndie this week. Styleliner founder Joey Wolffer took a retired potato chip delivery truck and tricked it out, making it a very cute boutique on wheels.  If the Marshall’s commercial springs to mind, I would say the concept is pretty similar, yet the Styleliner was designed to feel like an…

  • Whoops I did It Again

    CLPR
    17 Jan 2012 | 11:07 am
    It may seem like I’m gorging on chandeliers lately, but this is the last one, I swear – I don’t have any spots left (except in my office, which now has me thinking….).  I saw this vintage rose chandelier (in the same shop where I grabbed the dining room piece) over the long weekend.  We’ve had a ceiling fan in the master bedroom for several years – it’s great in the Summer months but otherwise collects dust from September through May.   We have standard ceilings in the Connecticut house, so trying to get it to push down heat in the Winter just…

  • Please Admire the Pretty Blue Bubbles

    CLPR
    13 Jan 2012 | 11:05 am
    I’m taking the time to give props to this fabulous aqua blue bubble necklace that I found at a vintage store this week – yes it’s the J Crew.  I’m a sucker for this color (as you must have guessed by our website design) and can wear it a bib style or long with sweaters.  Love it!!

  • A Chandelier NOT To Die For

    CLPR
    9 Jan 2012 | 10:36 am
    Have you ever seen something in a store that just grabbed you?  If you’re reading this blog you probably have.  Last week, on New Year’s Day to be exact, I saw this scrumptious vintage chandelier in a shop near our house in Connecticut, that was/is well priced and really pretty.  Whenever I see pieces like this, they’re easy to resist because they’re usually a big investment piece – priced in the thousands and not on my list of needs right now. To be clear, I’ve been renovating my house out in the woods for some time now – bit by bit.  Most…
 
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    PR Couture: Fashion PR, Marketing & Social Media

  • [Sponsored by Meinto: Saving Local Fashion] Fashion PR Fridays: Fashion, PR & Marketing Links 1.27.12

    Kalinda
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:00 am
    This post is brought to you by Meinto, an online marketplace that unites a network of more than 795 independently owned boutiques! Established in Denmark in 2008, Meinto recently opened shop in the United States in 2011 after a successful run in Denmark, Sweden and Norway.  Meinto offers specialty mom-and-pop fashion businesses an instant global platform through an integrated presence on its website and social media for a small fee. Snap a picture and send it to the Meinto Facebook fan page and qualify to win a $100 Meinto gift card. For more information visit www.meinto.com Forget the…

  • IFB Founder Jennine Jacob on Brand/ Fashion Bloggers Relationships, Learning from PR (and how DO you pronounce Aliza Licht’s Last Name?)

    Crosby
    25 Jan 2012 | 1:38 pm
    This morning I had the unusual pleasure of sitting down across coasts, coffee in hand, to check in with Jennine Jacob, aka The Coveted, aka founder of Independent Fashion Bloggers (IFB) aka the beauty and the brains behind the most impactful community ever created to support, advise and nurture fashion bloggers who are serious about blogging for business. On February 8, IFB will host the second of their bi-annual fashion blogger conference during fashion week. The conference lineup includes social media and PR maven Aliza Licht (DKNY PR GIRL), Glamour Magazine’s Suze Schwartz,…

  • Sh*t Fashion PR Girls Say

    Crosby
    24 Jan 2012 | 6:12 pm
    …well at least one of them! OscarPRGirl aka Erika Bearman, Oscar de la Renta’s director of communications, goes there. And we can’t stop watching! What’s your favorite line? Image Source
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    Sub:stantial

  • Getting in to photography

    Stephen
    17 Jan 2012 | 11:18 am
    Any tips and/or advice welcome…  

  • New York PR Pros on Twitter

    Stephen
    19 Oct 2011 | 10:22 am
    I’ve been researching the New York PR market and I figured the best way to get a deeper understanding of it is through social media. Listed below you’ll see Twitter handles for NY PR professionals from a number of agencies and a sprinkle of in-house departments. It is by no means exhaustive and if you would like adding to the list you can send me an @reply on Twitter, let me know in the comments of this post or send me an email here. Likewise if you want removing from the list please do the same. I’ve also added the handles to a PeerIndex group (which you can find embedded…

  • How to be a successful independent consultant

    Stephen
    8 Sep 2011 | 4:21 am
    Earlier this month was a milestone in my career as on 1st September I celebrated my third year working as an independent consultant. It’s been quite a ride so far and a massive learning experience from both a professional and personal point-of-view. You learn a lot about yourself when the onus is on you and only you to win business, retain the business and, ultimately, make money. You might even say the rewards are sweeter when every penny of the money you invoice comes directly back to you, excluding HMRC‘s share, of course. Working for yourself is not for everyone. Some people…

  • Social media is still a specialism

    Stephen
    5 Jun 2011 | 6:14 pm
    Steve Rubel says it’s the “end of the road for social media gurus” and I disagree. I think there’s a long way to go before people stop earning a wage from specialising in social media. It reminds me of the whole “PR is dead and blogging killed it” meme from 2006. These are the reasons I wrote in the comment section: As someone has already alluded to, in early adopter sectors (e.g. tech) this may be the case but in numerous other sectors it is not. In the last two weeks I’ve spoke with people from different sectors (charity, housing and retail to name…

  • Social media channels – China vs. the West

    Stephen
    26 May 2011 | 4:36 am
    China is not usually known as an innovative country. It does innovate, of course, but usually in the form of improving upon (read: simplifying and making cheaper) Western inventions. Take for example the Slideshare presentation I put together on stats around China last month. In that I included a stat which, according to the Economist, said it costs ten times as less to make a CT Scanner in China compared to the US. The Chinese CT scanner is of no less quality but is a more bare-boned version of its US counterpart. Likewise you could say this reflects what’s happening with Western…
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    Don't Eat the Shrimp - Josh Morgan's Take on PR, Social Media & Marketing

  • Sacto Celebrities – Billy Mills

    Josh Morgan
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:49 pm
      I was reading the March issue of Runner’s World and got sucked in to a long and fascinating article about Billy Mills.  I’d never heard of him. He was raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, and according to the article is 7/16 Oglala Lakota Sioux. He ran what is considered one of the greatest races ever on his way to winning the gold medal in the 10,000 meters at the 1964 Olympics. Halfway through the article, I read, “Later they settled in Fair Oaks, a quiet, modest town northeast of Sacramento.” That makes Billy Mills, the latest of our…

  • Mad Men Returns March 25, 2012!

    Josh Morgan
    13 Jan 2012 | 1:16 am
    Image from www.amctv.com/madmen Some of my favorite posts over the last few years have been about how episodes of Mad Men compare to real agency life. Now according to several sources, Mad Men is coming back on March 25th, and hopefully along with it some great agency scenarios to write about.  Pour yourself a highball of pity, and mis-directed angst and get ready.   Tagged: madmen

  • Local Company Riskalyze Profiled on NPR’s Marketplace

    Josh Morgan
    11 Jan 2012 | 12:04 am
    When I was running Morgan/Dorado I worked with an interesting local startup, Riskalyze, run by a friend Aaron Klein.  We helped Aaron with some basic PR while they were getting started. They have a great product that helps people evaluate and identify their tolerance for risk related to investing. About three months ago Aaron received an email from a producer from NPR who was working on a segment.  After several back and forths, an interview at a studio in New York and then a month of waiting, it ran on my favorite radio show last week. Congratulations to the team at Riskalyze and everyone,…

  • 1) Have a great PR idea 2) Execute on it for 55 Years 3) Keep an Eagle Scout nearby

    Josh Morgan
    29 Dec 2011 | 10:52 am
    The Beef Bowl – 55 years going strong of reminding everyone that Lawry’s is there – and that a good PR idea can go a long, long way. Also, if you’re going to choke in a restaurant, do it near a 6’7, 325 tackle who is a former Eagle Scout. From the LA Times: The real Rose Bowl excitement may have happened well before kickoff on Monday. At the annual Beef Bowl at Lawry’s in Beverly Hills –- a pregame tradition –- Oregon tackle Mark Asper put his size and strength to the test by performing the Heimlich maneuver on a man choking during dinner. Asper…

  • Talking social media trends for 2012

    Josh Morgan
    29 Dec 2011 | 1:27 am
    I was on the local Fox 40 morning show talking about social media trends for 2012.  The focus was on consumer trends and we covered: Smaller social networks for sharing such as Path; Social bulletin boards such as Pinterest; and Crowdsourcing funding from Kickstarter. Check out the clip below or on their site. Social Media Trends for 2012
 
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    Mark Borkowski - Mark my words - Borkowski Blogs

  • The Bayern Munich Transfer Stunt: When Clever Becomes Smartarse

    Mark Borkowski
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:35 am
    Yesterday’s failed Bayern Munich stunt was an ideal example of what happens when creative energy fails to connect with the reality of the media narrative. For those who didn’t hear, the German football team wrangled a piece of PR trickery which fuelled an horrific backlash. An announcement on their website that “a spectacular name” was to sign for the club invited fans to watch the name’s unveiling on the team’s Facebook page. Needless to say, an incredible amount of furore was generated and fans eagerly tuned in at the proposed time in their thousands. However, following a short…

  • The 33 1/3 Factor: Growing Without Goals, Pitching Without Passion

    Mark Borkowski
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:14 am
    Whilst flitting between a flurry of meetings lately, the issues of growing a company have been playing on my mind. Whether you’re selecting which new business pitch to opt for, attempting to prioritise a hectic diary or thinking about enlisting new staff, defining and sustaining a true corporate culture is as essential as it is difficult. Arthur Schopenhauer, that eminently quotable German, once said ‘We forfeit two thirds of ourselves in order to be like other people.’  In the past, I’ve occasionally prioritised the need to get the job over the passion for it. I’ve let…

  • Tweet Me Like You Do: Blue Monday, Jimmy Wales, and the Drive for Cultural Traction

    Mark Borkowski
    18 Jan 2012 | 4:01 am
    Each year I am amazed by Blue Monday’s formidable penetration of the public conversation. Of course, it is total PR bollocks- Everyone who knows that all bathroom products are made of the same elixir, M&S food is food like any other regardless of the dulcet tones of Matthew Mcfadden and Jim Morrison isn’t really dead knows that.  Yet at the same time, year on year, it trends on twitter (0.06% at its peak yesterday) and is splashed all over online and traditional outlets. Even Blue Monday’s creator, pseudoscience wizard Cliff Arnall (who concocted the theory on behalf of Sky…

  • Death of a Journalist- and a New Era for Her Profession

    Mark Borkowski
    13 Jan 2012 | 5:05 am
    In an inquiry Room at the Royal Courts of justice, a tortuous inquisition plays out the last moves of a decades long confrontation. Sagacious commentators suggest we’re watching the inexorable death throes of a once proud profession. Journalism puts up a brave fight, but the lustreless altercations at the feet of Lord Leveson project an inevitable futility. As editors faced the muzak, a genuine tabloid legend’s coffin was making its way past a sea of solemn faces inside a dimly lit church in SW15. Mournful voices drowned out by the perpetual clang of a tolling bell…

  • Santa, Stories, and ‘Elf and Bloody Safety

    Mark Borkowski
    21 Dec 2011 | 11:51 am
    Here at Borkowski towers, we’ve just finished wrangling a media call to out a wonderful story. Once upon a time, Jeremy Paxton, owner of our client the Lower Mill Estate, received an earnest letter from the son of a prospective buyer. The letter, sent by six year old Leo Park, enquired politely as to whether the new house being designed for he and his mother, Jade, would have a chimney large enough to accommodate the weighty personage of a certain Santa Claus come holiday season. We persuaded Lower Mill that, as a self build service, it was their duty to fulfil his request. What’s more,…
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    Deirdre Breakenridge

  • January #PRStudChat Recap: Guest Post By Jim Joseph, President of Lippe Taylor

    Deirdre Breakenridge
    23 Jan 2012 | 8:09 am
    A Guest Post By Jim Joseph Last week I had the distinct privilege of being a guest host on #prstudchat.  At first I was excited to be invited, thinking that someone out there thought I was a stud.  But when I realized it was going to be full of students … well as a professor at NYU I jumped at the chance! I am a big believer in the overall brand experience as a way to think about marketing a product.  But the truth is there are lots of people who have theories about marketing.  For me, it’s less about theory and more about practicing and observing and learning and reapplying. …

  • The Social Conference 2012 – Eight New Strategic Practices for the PR Champion

    Deirdre Breakenridge
    16 Jan 2012 | 7:56 am
    On February 9, 2012, I’ll be joining my colleagues in Amsterdam to deliver a keynote on Eight New Strategic Practices for the PR Champion.  As a part of the preparation for the event, The Social Conference 2012, I was asked to discuss a few topics.  My video focuses on several of the “hot” topics in PR and how professionals today are taking on new roles and responsibilities. These topics include: the differences between the old and the new PR mindset, the impact of social media on the relationship between journalists and PR pros, how social media requires a unique and powerful new…

  • Special Announcement: The #PRStudChat Community Kicks Off the New Year on January 18th

    Deirdre Breakenridge
    9 Jan 2012 | 8:28 am
    Happy New Year #PRStudChat friends!  We’re ready to kick off 2012 by focusing on the customer experience.  On Wednesday, January 18th 2012 at 8:30 p.m. ET, the #PRStudChat community will discuss how using public relations creates a better brand experience. Joining us on the 18th is our special guest Jim Joseph (@JimJosephExp), President of Lippe Taylor, and the author of The Experience Effect: Engage Your Customers with a Consistent and Memorable Brand Experience.   Jim is an expert in building brands that offer consumers unforgettable experiences. He will share his expertise on how to…

  • Enhance the Executive’s Experience: Share Information Relevant to Their World

    Deirdre Breakenridge
    6 Jan 2012 | 11:50 am
    One of the first things I learned in marketing was to “mirror” my audience’s behavior.  For example, working at an agency for years, we learned to watch the body language of the executives in the room. Lean forward at the boardroom table if they lean forward, be more relaxed if they are more relaxed. If the client was visiting and he or she was a “corporate” type and wore a suit, the entire marketing/PR team would suit up for the meeting. Mirroring your audience goes further today to understand their experience. It’s all about the experience.  Listening, making connections,…

  • Book Review: The End of Business As Usual by @BrianSolis

    Deirdre Breakenridge
    2 Jan 2012 | 12:47 pm
    Happy New Year! I wanted to kick off the year with my book review of the End of Business as Usual by Brian Solis.  The video review is almost 10 minutes long so grab a drink and a snack   If you’re looking for a book to read in 2012 that challenges your thinking and makes you want to learn more about the consumer and information revolution, then watch this review.  Hope the information presented is helpful. Enjoy!      
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    Cindy Ronzoni

  • A Direct PR Tip

    Cindy Ronzoni
    26 Jan 2012 | 2:00 pm
    Direct answers go the farthest when dealing with touchy "PR" situation, so says Cindy Ronzoni, a PR vet who observed this lesson while watching MONEYBALL. Continue reading →

  • Social Media Home Runs for Press Conferences

    Cindy Ronzoni
    6 Jan 2012 | 2:38 pm
    Have you thought about using Flickr as your official photo press room? PBS did and it worked like a charm! Continue reading →

  • How To Plan A Successful TCA Session – Press Conference Tips

    Cindy Ronzoni
    6 Jan 2012 | 12:39 pm
    There are certainly a few things that TV PR professionals can do to produce a successful TCA session. Cindy Ronzoni shares a few of those tips. Continue reading →

  • A New You In 2012

    Cindy Ronzoni
    30 Dec 2011 | 3:14 pm
    Cindy Ronzoni wishes everyone a Happy New Year and wonders what "new" things you will be bringing into the New Year. She lists five areas she's changing, what are your's? Continue reading →

  • Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

    Cindy Ronzoni
    23 Dec 2011 | 2:03 pm
    Cindy Ronzoni sends her best to you for Christmas with this special music video featuring her Mom, Carol. Continue reading →
 
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    Tech, Healthcare, Clean Tech PR Blog | Beyond the Hype | LPP

  • The Sounds of Silence from John Henry's Office

    Lois Paul
    27 Jan 2012 | 2:31 pm
    One of the most interesting moments in the painful September saga of the Boston Red Sox's collapse was owner John Henry's surprise visit to the 98.5 The Sports Hub radio sports show.  Without entourage, he just showed up and accepted an interview, in effect indicating he was tired of hearing all of the criticisms their on-air hosts were hurling his way regarding his role, and wanting to give his side of the story.  It wasn't a great interview, but it was oddly fascinating, and I remember at the time having grudging respect for the Red Sox owner for making this bold move and breaking (pun…

  • May the People's Pledge against Attack Ads Spread and Prevail

    Lois Paul
    26 Jan 2012 | 10:46 am
    Major kudos are in order to U.S. Senator from Massachusetts Scott Brown and his Democratic rival in the upcoming election, Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren.  They recently made an agreement that Brown has dubbed a "People's Pledge" to work to limit attack ads by outside groups during their Massachusetts Senate race.  As reported by the AP, "Under the terms of the deal, each campaign would agree to donate half the cost of any third-party ad to charity if that ad either supports their candidacy or attacks their opponent by name."  The big question now, raised in a NY Times blog post, is…

  • Here’s One Save Thomas Can’t Make

    Mike Parker
    24 Jan 2012 | 4:03 pm
    “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.” ~ Warren Buffett In a city consumed by sports excellence over the past decade we have become accustomed to fending off criticisms and low blows from fans and media in other markets.  Yet we were ill-prepared yesterday when one of our hometown sports heroes, Bruins net minder Tim Thomas, delivered a cheap shot of his own.  By now you may have heard that Thomas declined to attend the ceremony at the White House hosted by President Obama to recognize the Bruins…

  • Six Rules for Announcing "Solutions" in Today's Communications

    Bill McLaughlin
    23 Jan 2012 | 12:40 pm
    "In the world we live in, somewhere between 80 percent and 95 percent of new product introductions fail. It’s not that hard to postulate that you must do virtually everything right to successfully launch new products." Jack Gordon, CEO of AcuPOLL Research Inc   One of the greatest challenges solution providers face is how to package and present their new offerings in a way that will generate interest from the media.  Historically, the media has tended to focus on products rather than services or solutions.  In fact, many reporters react negatively to the term “solutions.”  But that…

  • Zappos Explaining How They Got Zapped

    Lois Paul
    19 Jan 2012 | 10:41 am
    It's one of those emails you really hate to receive, so I'm sharing parts of it with you, along with my reactions: "First, the bad news:" [Don't you hate it when an email starts like that?] "We are writing to let you know that there may have been illegal and unauthorized access to some of your customer account information on Zappos.com, including one or more of the following: your name, e-mail address, billing and shipping addresses, phone number, the last four digits of your credit card number (the standard information you find on receipts), and/or your cryptographically scrambled password…
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    Julio Romo | twofourseven: PR, Communications and Social Media News, Insight and Consultancy » Blog

  • Mobile Company O2 Breaches Privacy of Data Roaming Users

    Julio Romo
    25 Jan 2012 | 5:50 am
    Telefonica owned UK mobile operator O2 was this morning caught in a storm when a user discovered that his phone number was being sent to websites he visited when roaming through O2′s network. System Administrator Lewis Peckover discovered the data and privacy breach when building a site and wanting to know the information that was being sent and possibly collected while browsing on a mobile network. After alerting O2 yesterday 24 January at 15.12 through Twitter it took the mobile operator nearly four hours to ask @lewispeckover for a screenshot.  This request followed a previous…

  • LOCOG Restricts Volunteer Social Media Use

    Julio Romo
    9 Jan 2012 | 10:46 am
    The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) last week released their social media guidelines for their 70,000 volunteers, in which they ban individuals from posting pictures or release details of athletes, VIPs and dignitaries in backstage areas at this summer’s 2012 Olympic games. In the hope of keeping a tight-lid on the London 2012 brand and messaging organisers have made the outrageous statement that social media will be managed by its communication team.  Such level of control is going to be nearly impossible given the number of individuals that will be operating…

  • PR and Wikipedia: Working Towards a Transparent Relationship

    Julio Romo
    7 Jan 2012 | 7:17 am
    Storm clouds have been gathering over the UK public relations industry after a couple of its top agencies were caught editing Wikipedia pages on behalf of their clients.  Last month Bell Pottinger was outted in a sting by The Independent and the Bureau for Investigative Journalism, whose journalists posed as businessmen from Uzbekistan.  This month PR agency Portland Communications tried to edit out Stella Artois from the Wikipedia page for Wife-beater – the UK urban description of this beer brand. The issue at hand was not that they tried to edit Wikipedia pages for clients, more…

  • PR Agency Portland Communications Other Wikipedia Edits

    Julio Romo
    4 Jan 2012 | 5:25 pm
    Less that a month after the Bell Pottinger gets caught boasting about using ‘dark arts’ and ‘having a team that could sort Wikipedia,’ it appears that another agency has been outed. Rival public relations agency Portland Communications has been caught by West Brom MP Tom Watson for trying to edit out the name of Stella Artois, a brand owned by Portland client inBev, from the Wikipedia description page for Wife-beater. Watson rightly suggests in Portland Communications Wikipedia discussion page that agencies list their clients in their own Wikipedia entries so to…

  • Social Media in 2011 – A Review

    Julio Romo
    30 Dec 2011 | 7:22 am
    This time last year I made a series of predictions about social media and public relations.  I suggested that while 2010 was a year of discovery, the past 2011 was going to be about sharing and engaging.  About communities being empowered by the knowledge they will have pooled together.  I highlighted from my perspective the challenges and opportunities that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube will pose for companies and individuals.  The impact that social networking has had on events during the past year has truly been beyond what anybody could have expected. While 2010 was about Wikileaks,…
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    Solo PR Pro | Successful Freelance PR Consulting

  • Discussing Ethics, Politics, and more

    Kellye Crane
    26 Jan 2012 | 9:07 am
    During the January 25 #solopr Twitter chat, independent PR pros discussed alternatives to the large media databases, the Paula Deen scandal and associated PR ethics, and the political climate. In addition to the downloadable transcript in PDF, the following highlights some of the most popular tweets from the chat: [View the story "#SoloPR Chat Highlights - 1/25/2012" on Storify] Be sure to check out the transcript in PDF for the full discussion. Note that the transcript is in reverse chronological order. If you weren’t able to join us this week, weigh in on the chat questions below! The…

  • How To Build A Conversation Calendar For Social Media

    Heather Rast
    24 Jan 2012 | 7:15 am
    Contributed by Content & Community Specialist Heather Rast. As social media becomes more integrated with PR services, the need for mapping activity to strategic objectives, efficient tactical workflow, controls to ensure on-brand messages will continue to grow. In a recent #SoloPR Twitter chat, we talked a bit about approaches and tools used by some community members.  While a few participants voiced their experiences, a lack of comment by many (plus a few questions by others) suggest there’s room on the table to lay some pieces out. Birthed from the editorial calendar, the…

  • PR and Sales, Finding Subcontractors, and more

    Kellye Crane
    19 Jan 2012 | 10:05 am
    During the January 18 #solopr Twitter chat, independent PR pros discussed the relationship between PR and sales, finding subcontractors, the Italian cruise ship disaster, and much more. In addition to the downloadable transcript in PDF, the following highlights some of the most popular tweets from the chat: [View the story "#SoloPR Chat Highlights - 1/18/2012" on Storify] Be sure to check out the transcript in PDF for the full discussion. Note that the transcript is in reverse chronological order. If you weren’t able to join us this week, weigh in on the chat questions below! The #solopr…

  • Why are consultants’ fees so high?

    Kellye Crane
    18 Jan 2012 | 7:23 am
    Independent consultants typically don’t have the overhead of a larger firm, and while they are usually an excellent value by comparison, why do their rates still sound so high? Not only is this a question some clients may ponder, but those new to consulting often struggle with it, as well. The truth is that big-money consultant may not be pocketing as much as you think. When setting rates, consultants must take the following into account: 1. Taxes Virtually all countries have increased tax requirements for businesses. If based in the U.S., a self-employed business owner pays both the…

  • Managing Social Networks, Moonlighting & More

    Kellye Crane
    12 Jan 2012 | 6:58 am
    During the January 11 #solopr Twitter chat, independent PR pros discussed keeping abreast of new social networks, balancing 9-5 along with consulting work, and the best conferences/events to attend in 2012. In addition to continuing to provide a downloadable transcript in PDF each week, we’re pleased this week to begin providing a Storify summary to highlight some of the most popular tweets from each chat. [View the story "#SoloPR Chat 1/11/2012" on Storify] Be sure to check out the transcript in PDF for the full discussion. Note that the transcript is in reverse chronological order. If…
 
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    Manage your Message Media Training

  • RIM's new CEO: A man without a message

    Warren Weeks
    24 Jan 2012 | 1:19 pm
    Research in Motion missed out on an important opportunity this week to define the next chapter in their corporate history. As RIM's co-founders Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie stepped aside and COO Thorsten Heins took the reins, the company had a chance to set the stage for the future by putting these changes in context and charting the course for the next 12-18 months.

  • Rob Ford: Media relations bully and soon-to-be one-term mayor

    Warren Weeks
    27 Oct 2011 | 12:55 pm
    Rob Ford is on his way to becoming a one-term Mayor. And one of the biggest reasons he'll lose any future election bid is his staggeringly awful handing of the media. Mayor Ford has shown on numerous occasions that he has little time or respect for the media (outside of a few boosterish, right-wing outlets). His infamous radio interview with CBC the morning after his election win (yelling to his football players and cutting the interview short) was just one example of his rough media relations skills. But this latest CBC 911 call debacle brings his media relations ineptitude to a whole new…

  • How media interviews are like American Idol

    Warren Weeks
    13 Sep 2011 | 10:09 am
    Love it or hate it, American Idol has introduced the music-buying public to some very talented performers that, but for the show, might have remained in obscurity forever. At the same time, however, the popular show has served as a venue for some of the most hideous, offensive musical disasters ever to be seen on television. Those cringe-inducing songs being howled by talentless teens whose parents didn't have the courage to tell them that they suck. As a viewer, you sit there watching this acoustic transgression unfold and wonder to yourself: "How could this person possibly think they're…

  • The most important media relations tool money can buy...

    Warren Weeks
    1 Sep 2011 | 7:30 am
    What's your 'must-have' tool when preparing yourself or a client for an important media interview? A laptop? iPad? BlackBerry? Skype? Video camera? As much as I love gadgets (and I do love my gadgets), I would gladly forsake all of these for the lowly index card.

  • Why you should never go to lunch with a reporter

    Warren Weeks
    30 Aug 2011 | 8:30 am
    You've finally lined up a media interview with that influential reporter you've been after for months. Rather than doing the interview over the phone, however, one of you suggests meeting for lunch (I've seen both clients and journalists initiate this idea). Great idea, right? Wrong. A media interview isn't a networking opportunity. It isn't a get-together with one of your buddies. And it certainly isn't a conversation.
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    PR In Your Pajamas

  • How to Do PR — Visually

    admin
    24 Jan 2012 | 12:00 pm
    Now that PR is increasingly becoming “social,” it’s more important than ever to deliver your PR message with the help of images. Visuals play an essential role in PR storytelling. They can bring your product or brand to life in a way that words, even when crafted by the most talented writer, can never accomplish. Visuals are immediately comprehensible. You can impart a message with an image much faster than with words. Images can also transcend language. Think of how the image of a mother cradling her baby evokes similar feelings in different cultures. With social media as…

  • Unlocking Social Media for PR: Part 4

    admin
    27 Dec 2011 | 8:27 am
    In this post, you’ll find an excerpt of the fourth and final installment of PR Newswire’s ebook, “Unlocking Social Media for PR.” In case you missed them, you’ll find the earlier parts below: Part 1: Wetting Your Feet in the Pool of Social Media Part 2: The Evolved Practice of Journalism and Earned Media Landscape Part 3: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Quora & ProfNet Connect: A Deeper Dive In this part of the book, you will read about Maria Perez’s experience in tweeting as a brand. Author Sarah Skerik then summarizes her top tips for using key social…

  • Unlocking Social Media for PR: Part 3

    admin
    22 Dec 2011 | 8:38 am
    It’s time for Part 3 of PR Newswire’s ebook, “Unlocking Social Media for PR.” Here are the links to the previous parts of this series: Part 1:  Wetting Your Feet in the Pool of Social Media Part 2:  The Evolved Practice of Journalism and Earned Media Landscape In Part 3, author Sarah Skerik dives into strategies for using specific social networks for PR: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Quora, and discussion groups and forums. These chapters contain the nuts-and-bolts of the ebook. Here’s the table of contents from Part 3 of “Unlocking Social Media for…

  • Unlocking Social Media for PR: Part 2

    admin
    20 Dec 2011 | 8:27 am
    Today we continue our series on “Unlocking Social Media for PR,” an ebook by PR Newswire. If you missed the first part of the series, click here to read an excerpt from the ebook: the Introduction and table of contents of the ebook’s first part, “Wetting Your Feet in the Pool of Social Media.” The second part of the ebook is entitled, “The Evolved Practice of Journalism and Earned Media Landscape.” In this installment, you’ll gain insight on how journalists use social media. You’ll also learn about “evolved media,” and why all…

  • Unlocking Social Media for PR

    admin
    13 Dec 2011 | 8:31 am
    PR Newswire recently released an ebook, “Unlocking Social Media for PR,” which I highly recommend you download, read, study, and implement. Written for PR professionals who want to better understand and make the most of social media and how social media has impacted PR, it’s also useful for DIY business owners. Below, you’ll find an excerpt from Part 1 of the ebook. To access the entire document, click here and register. Introduction by Jason Keller, Senior Vice President, Products, PR Newswire So social media is changing the art and science of public relations so fast…
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    David Henderson - author, journalist, communications strategist

  • Hey, ya know what?! … junk words are a lazy way of speaking

    DH
    24 Jan 2012 | 11:00 am
    [A column I wrote originally for Ragan.com, published January 24, 2012]“Hey, ya know what?” our president often says at news conferences and speeches when he begins a thought or answer to a question.President ObamaNo, Mr. President, I don’t “know what”—that’s what I expect you to tell me. Furthermore, it’s not a very “presidential” or top executive style of speaking, no matter how hard you are trying to reach the common person out there. It’s a casualness more suited for talking with guys on the golf course.Nonetheless, “Hey, ya know what …” and the shorter…

  • Restrictions on photography in public in name of fighting terrorism

    DH
    19 Jan 2012 | 4:48 pm
    Mount your digital camera on a tripod, start taking photos of the U.S. Capitol building, the White House or even Union Station, the train station, and there is a good chance police will show up, asking questions. Handhold your camera and take some photos of a power plant from outside, on a public sidewalk, and the cops may arrive.Photographers - professional and amateur - face censorship, despite the U.S. Constitution.At first, I thought what I was experiencing while taking photos was my own paranoia. But, then, friends in the news media have been sharing countless stories of being stopped,…

  • Jay Hunter Morris: Watching a Star Rise Through Talent, Hard Work and Being Real

    DH
    15 Jan 2012 | 12:35 pm
    Jay Hunter Morris knows that talent alone does not necessarily lead to success. And, it certainly will not land you in a starring role at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. That takes a lot more work.“I’ve been surrounded by phenomenally talented people for years … people I admire, people who have mentored me,” he says.He knows the competition. So, he works harder, pushing his natural talent farther and farther. Long, exhausting hours of rehearsal.He has labored in the fields of operatic song for decades, but has only in the past year risen to the starring role for…

  • Amtrak to Public: Trains are Dangerous; Terrorists may Strike

    DH
    14 Jan 2012 | 3:35 pm
    Amtrak, America’s passenger train service, is working hard to scare the crap out of people who ride trains. Widescreen TVs in Amtrak stations are running a lengthy video produced seemingly to convince us that terrorists may strike your train at any moment.And then, the video – complete with music score, of course – dances into a perfunctory and predictable interview with the head of Amtrak’s police force, John O’Connor (who really needed coaching to be on-camera), and a completely irrelevant segment on the care and feeding of police K-9 dogs.Why? What’s the…

  • The Enduring Demand for Great Video, Even from a Remote Island

    DH
    8 Jan 2012 | 4:01 am
    Let me digress a little from the normal communications-oriented theme of my site to share a story about an old friend and colleague who has found his life’s passion as one of the world’s most unique photojournalists.If you are ever visiting Hawaii’s Big Island when one of its volcanos is erupting, there’s a chance you may see Mick Kalber in action with his incredible Sony HDW-F900R HDCAM CineAlta High Definition Camera.That's Mick in the white t-shirt, perched precariously on the side of a volcano as molten lava flows by.In a conscious life-change, Mick moved to Hawaii 30…
 
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    Tech Affect

  • 3 Things the Movie “Page One: Inside the New York Times” Taught Me About Reporters

    Kate Ryan
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:20 am
    I’m a pretty big nerd when it comes to media – I’ve been known to follow reporters on Twitter like they’re celebrities, or sign up for tours of media organizations. So it probably comes as no surprise that when I saw last week that the documentary by Andrew Rossi, “Page One: Inside the New York Times” was available on on-demand, I immediately purchased it. Page One, which premiered in 2011, takes us behind the scenes with reporters from the Times’ Media Desk (home to reporters like David Carr and Brian Stelter), revealing the following truths: Reporters are expected to do more,…

  • Top PR Stories: What You Need to Know This Week

    Nick Stackhouse
    20 Jan 2012 | 8:14 pm
    In public relations we are constantly monitoring news relating to our clients that we sometimes forget to keep up on our own industry. In order to help you with your weekly dose of industry news, I’ve included this week’s top PR articles below. 1. What SOPA Means for PR Professionals (Ragan’s PR Daily) SOPA was a major industry topic this week, with a large amount of websites, including Wikipedia, protesting the act. It’s interesting to see how this act influences public relations. For example, did you know that if you represent a client with a non-U.S. website that hosts offensive…

  • Greatest Holiday Hits

    Brittany Bevacqua
    18 Jan 2012 | 5:17 pm
    We’ve been busy bees here at Affect. In between holidays, as well as the tradeshow prep and execution you’ve read so much about, we’ve still been able to deliver great coverage for our clients. In an effort to honor our team’s fantastic work, I wanted to share a few of our recent hits with our TechAffect readers:                 Survey results from Caron Treatment Centers highlight troubling behaviors associated with drinking and workplace parties in USA Today CNET explores the features and benefits of LoJack for Laptops by Absolute Software…

  • CES and Press: Getting Coverage for Your Company

    Pat Gotham
    13 Jan 2012 | 4:58 pm
    Another CES has come and gone. From what I’ve seen, 2012 will be the year of Ultrabooks and thin televisions with great resolution. This was my first year working on CES, and I wanted to share what I learned about maximizing press coverage for a company. Have a strong bench. When you attend a show like CES, you never know when an opportunity to speak with the press may arrive. Train several members of your team on handling the media and make sure they know the messaging you are trying to convey. The key is to not rely on one person to do all of your company’s interviews. Give journalists…

  • Heading to a Tradeshow in 2012? 5 Tips For Getting the Most ROI Out of Your Event

    Kate Ryan
    16 Dec 2011 | 1:32 pm
    For some, Vegas brings memories of buffets, cocktails and the Cirque du Soleil show. For others, it brings back memories of shuttle schedules, sore feet and stacks of business cards – yes, I’m talking about tradeshow season. While tradeshows aren’t anything new, in the past few years I’ve seen companies who more closely evaluate which tradeshows they go to – making sure they get the most ROI for any event. I’ve been privileged to have the opportunity to help out on the ground or from the office for a wide variety of shows in the past few years (from the nation’s biggest…
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    Everything PR

  • RPR Public Relations Expands Social Media Team

    Cristina Drafta
    28 Jan 2012 | 4:23 am
    Romano Public Relations, an agency serving clients throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia, has recently expanded its social media team within its consumer PR division, adding two new Account Managers: Alexis Lauren and Isabella Sophia Varese. Launched in 2004, the social media division of RPR has developed outstanding personal relationships with online media outlets and bloggers, serving a broad range of customers, from startups through FORTUNE 100 firms. “Our social media team provides affordable yet high quality brand exposure quickly, while stimulating web traffic and sales for…

  • PalDrop Helps Publishers Sell Cloud Hosted Files

    Delia Gavrilescu
    28 Jan 2012 | 3:58 am
    PalDrop allows Dropbox users to sell their files over the internet within seconds.Dropbox users have the opportunity to sell their files with ease using PalDrop, a cloud sales tool recently launched by Tradebit. PalDrop adds a publishing mechanism and payment gateway to files and folders hosted on Dropbox – basically, the platform creates PayPal buttons for files hosted on Dropbox. In seconds, and with a few clicks, Dropbox users can build an online store and immediately sell digital files. Users can choose to sell individual files, or whole folders. Payments are made straight to…

  • Job of the Day: Social Media Interns for Skirt PR

    Cristina Drafta
    28 Jan 2012 | 3:10 am
    Skirt PR is a full-service agency with focus on the fashion and lifestyle industries.Skirt PR, a public relations agency specializing in fashion, beauty and lifestyle, is looking for social media interns for its 2012 internship programme. Candidates must be an undergraduate student, graduate student, or a recent college graduate. Interns may receive academic credit if an agreement is made between Skirt PR and the intern’s college or university. Interns are expected to work 3 days a week from the hours of 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. during the 4 month internship program. In addition, interns are…

  • UK Consumers Reject Big Brands’ Marketing

    EPR Contributor
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:30 am
    Practically two-thirds of the United Kingdom does not want to be bothered by big-name brands on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks, according to a survey. The survey of more than 72,000 internet users demonstrates that the UK is less inclined to online marketing messages and corporate blog posts than internet customers in other countries. As stated by the survey, 61% of internet users in the UK do not want to participate with brands on social networks, compared with 57% in other urban countries and 45% in Latin America. However, the research highlighted a digital divide in…

  • Small Town Boredom Killer: Super Wi-Fi Goes Live

    Sheepy
    27 Jan 2012 | 2:08 am
    For those of you living on the periphery of net connectivity, small town USA or elsewhere, your download pleas may soon be answered. News from SlashGear tells of the very first so called “Super Wi.Fi” network having been deployed. Now even Mayberry and Dogpatch could soon have blazing Internet. The first ever long range Wi-Fi network in the nation has finally been deployed in Wilmington, North Carolina. The idea of a Super Wi-Fi network has been around for some time. For those who do not know, the term was created by the FCC to distinguish a new long distance Internet connectivity…
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    Everyone's Blog Posts - Pay-on-Performance

  • Who's to blame for the Paula Dean PR gaffe last week? (Hint - it may not be Ms. Dean herself)

    David Oates
    22 Jan 2012 | 10:30 pm
    Let me start off by saying that I LOVE Paula Dean on the Food Network. I think she's genuine, funny and a terrific cook. She is also one that carries herself well in almost any circumstance. So I was a bit surprised last week when she confirmed her Type II Diabetes diagnosis and simultaneously endorsed a prescription drug made by the pharmaceutical company, Novo Nordisk, to combat the disease. Yet unlike other PR practitioners who were quick to take pot shots at Paula, I'm not sure I'm ready to call her a hypocrite. I believe there's a more probable reason - Paula's agent and her publicist…

  • PR Move by Denver Broncos?

    Alyson Rybar
    19 Jan 2012 | 4:30 pm
    Earlier this week, I heard something interesting on ESPN First Take and it had to do with - wait for it - Tim Tebow. First, it’s no surprise that there’s A LOT of hype when it comes to the Mile High Messiah. He’s clearly a fan favorite in Denver. John Elway, Executive VP of football operations for the Broncos, announced that Tebow will be the teams starting quarterback going in to training camp. At first, I didn’t think much of it.  However, then I started wondering why they were making these statements so early. I mean, we’re still in the middle of the playoffs. Then, Skip…

  • The Stanley effect: How to work with a curmudgeon

    Elizabeth Ireland
    18 Jan 2012 | 4:00 pm
    Rarely do we escape the matrix of the business world without a "person who will remain nameless." This person acts like they get paid to spew negativity. They've perfected a death stare over a smile and make Debbie Downer seem like a relatively engaging person. While you wax poetic, they wane problems. He or she is really not pleasant and for the purpose of this blog we'll call shim "Stanley" like the curmudgeon on the hit NBC show "The Office." Stanley is a grumpy journalist that I met just a short time ago. Getting our relationship off to a frosty start, he made it clear from the get-go…

  • Why PR pros must like and believe in their clients

    David Oates
    15 Jan 2012 | 11:00 pm
    Source: Cartoon Stock Over the years, I've known certain PR professionals who represent clients they neither personally believe in their mission or value proposition nor do they even respect the management team running the company. When question, they respond with a lawyer-esque answer; "Everyone's entitled to get their side of the story heard." Well, we're not defense attorneys, but rather promoters and, on our best days, strategic business partners to our clients. Often times, we also act as their mouthpiece, and do so effectively when we convey genuine sincerity. If a public relations…

  • Youtube vs.Vimeo – Which one should you use?

    Anna Keeve
    13 Jan 2012 | 9:22 am
    VS. Recently the question came up about Youtube and Vimeo – which one is better?  Well, the answer is really dependent upon what type of video you are making and the purpose of that video. Both sites are leading video sharing platforms that allow users to sign-up, upload video (for free), and share and comment.  These are the two most widely known and used among the general public and are superior in speed and available content. Below is a short comparison between Vimeo and Youtube to help you gain a better understanding of each.  The deal with Vimeo: -          Superior quality…
 
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    Newsvetter

  • Unwise SOPA Blackouts

    Andrew
    18 Jan 2012 | 12:27 pm
    Don’t be like Frank and don’t forget to contact your Senator and let them know your thoughts on SOPA.

  • Ghost in the (Klout) Machine

    Andrew
    5 Jan 2012 | 7:48 pm
    Sharing this cartoon may cause your Klout score to go up, down or stay the same.

  • X-Mas in the Internet Age

    Andrew
    24 Dec 2011 | 1:03 pm
    2011 was the year everybody went crazy about privacy. This is a good thing but perhaps we can try and be a bit more measured in our reaction in 2012.

  • Too much privacy can kill

    Andrew
    25 Jan 2011 | 11:54 pm
    Did this toon to poke fun at my bro, the new privacy lead at Mozilla. In case you missed it, Mozilla (and now Google) is introducing a “Do Not Track” option for the Firefox browser. You can read all about it at my brother’s blog, First Person Cookie. Great stuff, unless you get lost in the woods.

  • Are your New Year’s resolutions really new?

    Andrew
    2 Jan 2011 | 2:56 pm
    Here’s a New Year’s resolution for 2011: Make sure your resolutions are different from the previous year.
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    WaltCast

  • New Year’s Resolutions for social media and tech PR

    admin
    19 Jan 2012 | 2:28 pm
    Even though January is almost gone, the dust is still settling from a holiday break filled with newsfeeds, tweets, family gatherings, and a little thing called CES.  Following are a few resolutions that all of us in social media and tech PR should live by: - Keep listening!  The twitterverse is more active than ever, and customers aren’t afraid to tweet about your company if they’re happy, sad, angry, hungry, or feeling nearly any other emotion.  Are you listening? - Focus on content.  As the media landscape continues to evolve, the “most sharable” stories are saying something…

  • Social Media & Tradeshows: Facebooking from the Floor

    admin
    16 Dec 2011 | 11:33 am
    There aren’t many aspects of high-tech PR where Facebook isn’t playing an increasingly active role, and how we think about tradeshows and conferences are a great example of this shift. Two weeks ago at the Autodesk University User Conference and Exhibition in Las Vegas, we launched our client 3Dconnexion’s newest 3D mouse – the SpaceMouse Pro.  At the registration booth (before we even got into the conference), we were given an AutoCAD Facebook Fan blue ribbon – Autodesk’s way of thanking us for liking them, which is another facet of social media currency. Our AU launch strategy…

  • When You Say Social Media, What Exactly Do You Mean?

    admin
    2 Dec 2011 | 12:47 pm
    Seven Social Media Segments We’ve recently had conversations with several clients about terms to best describe what (at least for the moment) we’re referring to when we say “social media.”  Five or six years ago social media and the blogosphere were pretty much synonymous.  Today, depending on who you ask, social media might mean a social network like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or LinkedIn; or a consumer reviews site or forum like Amazon, Yelp or Trip Advisor; or a technical social community; or a reporter’s blog included in the online version of a newspaper like The New York…

  • Tradeshows and Tweeting: #NewFrontier

    admin
    4 Nov 2011 | 11:12 am
    The traditional tradeshow has undergone a radical transformation as the epitome of face-to-face interaction with customers and dealers, to now having a conversation in 140 characters.  Exhibitors have had to make their displays “tweetable” or risk becoming forgettable.  At a recent show, we noticed journalists and attendees spending equal time looking at their phones and the displays.  Why? - You Win! Exhibitors offered special prizes and promotions through Twitter and Facebook posts.  Often, winners were announced through those channels too, so staying connected paid off! - The…

  • Smokin’ Hot Tech PR

    admin
    10 Oct 2011 | 6:22 pm
    So if you were an Epson LabelWorks label printer, which headline would you consider most flattering? Label Me Sexy Love2Label New Epson Label Vixen Getting Close and Personal With My LabelWorks Looks like the winner is the headline writer at today’s New York Times:
 
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    prTini

  • 5 Questions with Outback’s Social Media Team

    Heather Whaling
    27 Jan 2012 | 9:20 am
    Outback's social media team, Becky and Dan Our seats in the press box. For this week’s “Follow Friday,” I’d like to introduce you to Outback’s social media team. As you might know, Outback invited me to attend the Outback Bowl and spend New Year’s in Tampa. (Pictures here.) Because they were willing to share the behind-the-scenes activity, I gained a new appreciation not only for their social team, but also the restaurant as a whole. And, as a bonus, Outback offered some gift certificates for me to giveaway to the prTini readers who asked the best…

  • B2B Case Study: Sparking Results Through Social Media

    Heather Whaling
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:01 am
    Ever been in a meeting where someone tries to convince you that social media won’t work for B2B? They’re wrong. And this case study from Madison Electric Products (a Geben Communication client) is proof. More than just a tagline, “Innovation that Works” is the driving force behind Madison Electric Products’ approach to business. In fact, it’s this commitment to innovation that led Madison to launch the Sparks Innovation Center, the industry’s first crowdsourced, collaborative approach to product development. (Madison’s industry isn’t part of the…

  • DJ Lessons: Remixing and Sampling in PR and Social Media

    Heather Whaling
    23 Jan 2012 | 2:00 am
    Random fact that you may not know: My husband was a DJ in college. Seriously. He owned a DJ business that paid his college tuition. Perhaps that’s why, even today, we both have a great appreciation for remixes, mashups and interesting sampling. My appreciation for this mix of skill and creativity isn’t limited to just music though. What am I talking about? Let me explain … Did you catch Nike’s FuelBand launch last week? How about the Marty McFly “Back to the Future” shoe announcement? Both events displayed a masterful grasp of showmanship, suspense ……

  • HOW TO: Create a Brand Blueprint in 4 Steps

    Heather Whaling
    20 Jan 2012 | 2:10 am
    This week’s Follow Friday post is a guest post from Nick Westergaard, a smart branding guy who calls Iowa home. I met Nick at a conference last year and we immediately hit it off. Here’s what I like about Nick: He’s super smart and savvy, but isn’t one of those people who feels the need to constantly let everyone know how smart he is. I appreciate people who are confident enough in their skills that they let their work speak for itself. So, without further adieu, follow Nick on his blog and Twitter. And read on to as he offers some insights about brand building ……

  • Picture worth a thousand words? Now, a thousand words fit into 140 characters.

    Heather Whaling
    13 Jan 2012 | 10:06 am
    Continuing the Follow Friday series, today’s post is from Harrison Kratz. Why should you connect with Harrison? I appreciate that he’s a real go-getter and someone who just makes things happen. But, there are lots of young, ambitious people. Harrison stands out to me because he’s not only trying to further his personal career. He’s also trying to help other people grow and improve, whether he’s actively participating in #prstudchat (a Twitter chat and Facebook group connecting students and pros), or taking Tweetdrive national. Connect with Harrison on Twitter and…
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    thebluedoor

  • 30% of consumers recommend a brand via social networks after great customer service

    Toni
    26 Jan 2012 | 8:48 am
    The link between customer service and lead generation has featured highly in my digital PR life this week. Having read some excerpts from the American Express 2011 Global Customer Service Barometer, the power of effective customer service and the importance of social media within that was evident. According to the report, 91% of consumers recommend a brand or retailer to friends after great customer service. A third of those did so via a social network. It is therefore amazing that so many brands and companies miss this wonderful opportunity. Whilst they have a presence on Facebook, Twitter…

  • Surrey – Starting Up A Business

    Abigail
    25 Jan 2012 | 11:07 am
    What makes Surrey a great place to do business? With a population of over 1.1 million people, Surrey is second only to London in its contribution of a whopping £5 billion to the UK economy. Reporting the highest GDP per capita of any county in the UK and greatest proportion of millionaires, Surrey is a mainly service based economy. It’s hardly surprising then that if you have chosen to base your business in Surrey that you will be brushing shoulders with the likes of Canon, Samsung, Procter & Gamble, Pfizer, Sony, Toyota and a whole host of others who have opted to have their company…

  • The gift of online branding

    Grace
    24 Jan 2012 | 7:57 am
    Working at a PR agency, I’m well aware that developing online campaigns for clients requires a certain amount of careful navigation. This was reiterated last week when I attended an event on Domains and Branding Online, hosted by Bootlaw. James Sweeting, IP Dispute Specialist at Pinsent Masons LLP delivered an accessible and interesting presentation on the often tricky subject of trade marking, online branding and Google AdWord bidding. The topics raised proved to be equally relevant for both start-up companies, taking their first steps to trade mark a company name as well as more…

  • A life without Wikipedia, Google, Mozilla and WordPress

    Toni
    18 Jan 2012 | 5:53 am
    Ok, so it’s not quite that bad, but a large percentage of the online population is having to survive today without access to their information ‘Oracle’ of Wikipedia. This forms part of a number of US websites deciding to go ‘dark’ today in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). Visitors to Wikipedia are today confronted by a rather stylish black holding page with the words ‘Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge’ with a link to find out more and social media share buttons to spread the word. Don’t panic just…

  • ‘Dot brand’ Internet addresses open for business

    Toni
    12 Jan 2012 | 11:26 am
    I couldn’t let today go by without referencing the web address shake up that starts today. This follows six years of development overseen by ICANN, the international Quango. Companies can now bid to create suffixes that reflect their company, brand or activity at the end of their web address. This is obviously a big opportunity for brands to generate even greater awareness for themselves as they can now apply for the rights to use their brand name, e.g. Pepsi could try to buy the address, ‘.pepsi’. Simple! Well, there are a few steps to walk through first. 1/ Register the…
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    Sword and the Script

  • Smart things: buzz and snappy science (1.26.12)

    26 Jan 2012 | 7:14 am
    Smart things – bookmark them, write them down and turn them into a blog post.  In hopes of sharing some content I’ve found interesting and noteworthy, here are five smart things I’ve heard lately. 1.   Negative buzz vs. crisis on social media.  “Brands with social media experience know they don’t need to respond to every ounce of negative buzz in the social sphere; often, letting consumer brand advocates do it for them can address the problem while also showing how loyal some customers are to the company.”  eMarketer: Do Social Media Postings Always…

  • 7 Creative PR and Marketing Ideas

    21 Jan 2012 | 12:53 pm
    Not everyone gets feedback from David Pouge or Robert Scoble for their PR pitches, but creative PR and marketing ideas do have a way of earning the right attention all on their own – and hopefully from customers.  I like to keep an eye out for those really creative ideas, but the reality is they don’t come along every day:   The list of seven below was nearly a year in the making. 1. Earning more blog comments.  “Commenting seems to have decreased over the past six years,” wrote Geoff Livingston on his blog recently.  You wouldn’t know it by the number of…

  • Prediction #3: Marketers regain sense of control

    11 Jan 2012 | 3:30 pm
    Note:  this is the third and final prediction in a series of predictions I’m making for 2012.  The first two can be read here:  Prediction #2: Favor tips towards credible media and Prediction #1: Social media slides down the pedestal. Marketers are no longer in control of their brands.  Do you believe it?  I did.  But as in my first prediction, my thinking is changing.  As I’ve spent nearly a year away from my day job in PR, I’ve found the distance has given me a new perspective.  Sometimes we need to step back to see things in perspective.

  • Prediction #2: Favor tips towards credible media

    4 Jan 2012 | 2:11 pm
    Note: this is the second of three predications I’m making for 2012.  The first one is out and can be read here:  Prediction #1: Social media slides down the pedestal. There’s a growing backlash against infographics.  The backlash scale ranges from the inevitable call for the death of infographics to mere issues with aesthetics, but I think The Atlantic was the most scathing.  It classified infographics as a plague.   “95% of infographics from unknown sites are full of distortions and lies inserted by internet marketers to get you to link to their websites,”…

  • Prediction #1: Social media slides down the pedestal

    1 Jan 2012 | 7:31 am
    Blog posts on predictions are predictable and common.  Forecasts range from what sort of content will flourish, what networks will thrive and how the behavior of consumers – and by extension marketers – will change are plentiful.  Many of these predictions are well-grounded, but even as a social media enthusiast, I’m beginning to get a sense that the allure of social media is waning.  In making predictions I offer a caveat:   social media will continue to be an important part of content consumption and marketing.  However, I tend to think of social media…
 
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    It's All Very PR

  • Awards Season is Upon Us!

    Alyson Campbell
    15 Jan 2012 | 11:09 am
    Tonight officially kicks off the flurry of award shows that happen every January and February with the television broadcast of The 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards. There is nothing I love better than a good awards show; the dresses, the PR stunts, the heartwarming moments, the political agendas.  It’s a PR dream! So mark the following dates on your calendar and get ready for some exciting Sunday evenings on the couch! 2012 Awards Show Calendar: January 15 – Golden Globes January 21 – The Producers Guild of America Awards January 24 – Oscar Nominations announced…

  • Gourmet “Food Hall” set to open on Wall Street: June 23

    Alyson Campbell
    9 Jun 2011 | 1:28 pm
    On June 23rd, Boston-based restaurant and catering company, Milk Street Cafe, will open its first New York City location in the Trump Building at 40 Wall Street.  Unlike their Boston outpost, the Manhattan space will introduce a brand new concept for the company: a 23,000 square foot ‘food hall’ featuring a high-end selection of gourmet cuisine.  Think “Eataly,” but instead of Italian specialty counters, the food will be international in scope. All food will be freshly prepared on-site daily to outfit the various food stations, which will include: a barista station,…

  • A Tribute To Oprah ~ Lessons Learned and the End of Season 25

    Alyson Campbell
    1 Jun 2011 | 8:16 pm
    I started this post, deleted it, started over and then saved it as a draft more times than I can count. The truth is, the sheer magnitude of what I’ve learned from watching Oprah over the years is too big to sum up in a mere blog post. Since I was a little girl, watching Oprah when I got home each day became a ritual. It was a tradition I shared with my mom and my sister, and whether we were together or apart, it was always a topic of conversation.  Oprah’s shows were about more than just entertainment–her shows taught me about compassion, forgiveness, validation,…

  • Savvy Auntie’s Book Launch Party @ Pranna

    Alyson Campbell
    2 May 2011 | 3:50 pm
    Last week, I attended Savvy Auntie’s Book Launch Partyat PrannaSome may know her as Melanie Notkin: founder of SavvyAuntie.com and creator of the popular Savvy Auntie lifestyle brand.  Now, she also adds ‘Author’ to her list of titles, with the release of her first book, entitled “Savvy Auntie:The ultimate guide for cool aunts, great-aunts, godmothers, and all women who love kids,” which is clearly a precursor to many books to come. The Savvy Auntie brand is all about a movement, a phenomenon heralded by fabulous kid-friendly women everywhere as a celebration of…

  • AMP3 hosts Official Grand Opening of La Vie Lounge

    Alyson Campbell
    29 Apr 2011 | 3:20 pm
    Last night, La Vie Lounge celebrated their Official Grand Opening with a private party and tasting event. La Vie is an exotic space nestled in the East Village that offers a French-Moroccan aesthetic with a full dinner menu created by Executive Chef, Momo Terien.  With its beautifully intricate hanging lanterns and intoxicating ambience, La Vie offers an escape for the après work and late night crowds alike.  Live entertainment including international music nights and belly dancers are featured throughout the week and the new dinner menu is now available for late dining, offered until 3am,…
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    Next Communications

  • Pondering Three Candidate Definitions for PR

    Richie Escovedo
    18 Jan 2012 | 9:36 pm
    One week ago, PRSA released three candidate definitions for PR on their 'Public Relations Defined' blog. They are now in a public comment period that will last through January 23. Next is to "Analyze [the] feedback in preparation for a second “Definition of PR” summit meeting with [PRSA's] international partners, from which three final definitions will arise for voting by the profession." Fair enough. So let's look at their three candidate definitions:   Definition No. 1: Public relations is the management function of researching, engaging, communicating, and collaborating with…

  • The Best Communication Tool: Your Brain

    Richie Escovedo
    8 Jan 2012 | 10:53 pm
    While flipping through my Pulse newsfeed I ran across a headline that required a double-take and click-thru: Coffee Cup Alerts Mount Rainier Campers. I was familiar with the bizarre and tragic story that unfolded last week in Mt. Rainier so I had to see what a coffee cup had to do with things. On Monday, January 2, four Seattle hikers were enjoying a weekend of winter camping at Mount Rainier National Park when a helicopter buzzed overhead with a mostly incoherent message through a loudspeaker. The campers were unclear as to the pilot's spoken words, so he went to Plan B. He dropped a coffee…

  • New Year's Hat Tip For PR Triumphs

    Richie Escovedo
    1 Jan 2012 | 4:31 pm
    There's no escaping the glare of ever-present shine of media, masses, and individuals waiting to pounce on the failures of others. As 2011 came to a close, another round-up of listings of public relations blunders made their yearly trek around the interwebs. (Some examples here, here, here, and here.) This brief Twitter exchange between Shel Holz and Richard Becker got me thinking about the topic: I keep seeing posts on PR blunders of 2011. Has anybody written about PR triumphs of 2011? Surely there have been some. — Shel Holtz (@shelholtz) December 30, 2011 @shelholtz Many public…

  • Keep your job; update your résumé

    Richie Escovedo
    12 Dec 2011 | 1:39 pm
    résumé - n. 1. A brief account of one's professional or work experience and qualifications, often submitted with an employment application. --- When was the last time you updated your résumé and why did you do it? Most likely it was while you were searching for a new job and/or because you were ready to leave your current position. Do you regularly update your résumé when you have no plans on leaving? Assuming you are in good standing with your employer and there is minimal cause for concern of being a downsizing casualty, you probably ignore your résumé. Your short summary of work…

  • Lesson from pub owner's Facebook rant

    Richie Escovedo
    10 Dec 2011 | 8:35 am
    Image by Diorama Sky via Flickr Ft. Worth pub owner, Carlo Galotto, isn't making running his new business easy on himself. Galotto operates Zio Carlo Magnolia Brew Pub which opened earlier this fall after some apparent setbacks. Unfortunately for Galotto, the setbacks continue this time at his own hands. Apparently, the owner had imbibed heavily when he took to his pub's business Facebook page for a single-line rant: (via DFW.com) On Monday afternoon, a controversy exploded online, when the recently opened Zio Carlo Magnolia Brew Pub posted what seemed like a bitter indictment of President…
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    Crenshaw Communications

  • TGIF: Who Doesn’t Enjoy a Good Laugh?

    Liz
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:58 am
    The answer is, almost no one.  Humor is an invaluable tool for getting through the day, whether you’re pounding out a proposal, prepping for a big meeting, or just buried under a mountain of work at the office.  (Make that, especially if you’re buried under a mountain of work at the office.) Humor can be an excellent kick-start to creativity.  Once I worked at an agency where brainstorm conference tables were littered with Legos, Slinkies, rubber balls, Play-Doh and other toys.  The fun stuff got everyone laughing in a hurry and helped speed up the brain’s journey from the previous…

  • Why Gringrich Is Winning the PR War (For Now)

    Dorothy Crenshaw
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:52 am
    Who would have thought it? Newt Gingrich, the temperamental former House Speaker with a checkered personal history, has made a comeback. Again. Of course, political advantage is notoriously short-lived during primary season, particularly the debate-larded GOP one we’ve seen so far. And the Gingrich rise may say as much about the shallowness of Romney’s support, and his campaign’s missteps, than it does about the former Speaker. But there are some lessons here. The Gingrich campaign has shown real PR smarts in recent weeks, including mastery of the following communications…

  • Tuesday Tips – What Your Font Choice Says About You

    Marijane
    24 Jan 2012 | 8:00 am
      Every year the graphic design world is treated to a variety of new fonts – the good, the bad and the ugly. Because we PR types are always looking for ways to make correspondence stand out, we checked out some of this year’s contenders. They include some pretty out-there fonts, with names like Bleeding Cowboys, Ransom Note and Aristotle Maple Hero. These may not be up to par for business correspondence but your choice of typeface does say something about your character, your personality and your attitude, according to researchers at Wichita State University. Here is a primer on a…

  • Paula Deen’s Diabetes Disclosure: A Recipe for Poor PR?

    Dorothy Crenshaw
    20 Jan 2012 | 2:43 pm
    As the queen of “comfort cuisine,” Paula Deen has been a favorite among many members of my family, all of whom live in Georgia or the Carolinas. I’ve admired Paula for her unapologetic taste for indulgence, and for her Southern fried authenticity and down home charm. I’ve never even watched her show, yet I feel I’ve known her for years. I even took her side in her food fight with Anthony Bourdain, though Bourdain was largely in the right. But Paula’s recent revelation that she was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes has left a bad taste. And from a PR perspective, I’m not convinced…

  • TGIF: Is it Time for a Mid-Season Replacement?

    david
    20 Jan 2012 | 10:11 am
    It’s that time of year again, the cold doldrums of January and a ton of mid-season TV replacements. It’s the television industry’s annual do-over, where TV execs get to press reboot and give it another try.  Much like a PR campaign that isn’t working, new strategies occasionally need to be implemented mid-way through the year. Any good PR pro knows when to learn from your initial miscalculations, adapt, and make those necessary changes.  For every The Playboy Club and Free Agents, there could be a classic (or great client campaign) in the waiting.  The Simpsons was a midseason…
 
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    PRBreakfastClub

  • Why Journalists Need PR People

    Manny Otiko
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:01 pm
    In these days of shrinking newsrooms, there is an increasing overlap between the worlds of PR and journalism. And old PR joke is reporters always hate PR professionals, until they need a job. I have noticed that as journalism jobs are eroding, many reporters are turning to PR and public affairs positions with mixed results. There are so many unemployed PR practioners on the market, that there is fierce competition for these jobs. PR agencies are now looking for applicants who can do more than write well. They also have to be able to pitch, take pictures, do social media, and shoot and edit…

  • The New King of Late Night Television

    CT Michaels
    25 Jan 2012 | 11:01 pm
    The battle of late night television has been going on for years.  Whether it’s David Letterman or Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien or Jimmy Fallon.  Nevertheless, if I do flip on the television to fall asleep, I always turn Cartoon Network for a great Family Guy session. (Don’t judge, if you go to sleep smiling you wake up smiling – try it out) I am now hooked on one late night television show, and it’s all because of one man – Andy Cohen.  Andy is the host of Watch What Happens LIVE! (WWHL) a live, late night talk show that airs on Bravo at 11 PM EST. WWHL started out once or…

  • Professional Development is a MUST

    Linzy Roussel Cotaya
    24 Jan 2012 | 11:01 pm
    Public Relations practitioners are busy. We all know this and we all live this every day. With all the juggling that PR pros do it is easy for professional development to fall off of the radar. But to advance in your career you must have the personal drive to squeeze that luncheon on to the calendar, read industry blogs during breakfast and seek out the counsel of PR peers. “Public Relations activities and protocols are not what they were even three years ago,” says Margaret Barchine, APR, Communications Manager at National Alcohol Beverage Control Association. “ The pace at which…

  • The Battle Over SOPA won? Hardly.

    Jason Mollica
    23 Jan 2012 | 11:01 pm
    Last week, Wikipedia shuttered, Google used its homepage to protest, and countless bloggers’ sites went dark all because of a little controversy over the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). It was nice to see the solidarity of the online community.  Many came together to take a stand against something they believed was and is wrong. Twitter was a virtual protest ground for SOPA and PIPA, with folks going as far as to show their avatars with “censored” or “Stop SOPA.” Shortly after the protest, it was announced that both SOPA and PIPA were being…

  • The Paula Deen Case – A Lesson in PR Transparency

    John Trader
    22 Jan 2012 | 11:01 pm
    Last week, Paula Deen – the Southern Belle cook with the penchant for deep fried delights – announced that she has Type 2 diabetes. Although a tragic medical condition for anyone, what’s unusual about this case is that she waited three years after her initial diagnosis to reveal that she was inflicted with the disease, which is often associated with a diet high in fat, very similar to the recipes and decadent culinary delights that she is known for. What’s even more curious about this situation is the synchronized announcement following Deen’s diabetes revelation that she has also…
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    Jessica Randazza

  • Welcome to your blog.

    community
    2 Jan 2012 | 7:00 pm
    Be sure to make new posts at least twice per week. Search engine spiders are less likely to frequent your site if they know you never have fresh content. Give the search engines a reason to check your site and they will have a reason to show your site in search results.

  • Upcycling: Recycling Crafts

    moxieTODAY
    29 Jun 2011 | 4:39 pm
    We’ve all heard the term recycling, which is reusing an item either in a transformed state or as-is, but with each hand that passes down a recycled good, the item usually shows a lot of wear and tear by the end. A remedy for this is upcycling, the art of transforming something that is considered...

  • Terrariums: The Low Maintenance Garden

    moxieTODAY
    28 Jun 2011 | 4:21 pm
    Every once in a while I’ll buy a small plant for a dollar at Target or Home Depot to take care of because I enjoy the idea of growing my own flowers or herbs. However, the reality is that I don’t have a green thumb. Part of the problem is simply that I’m forgetful at...

  • Lavender Flower Nail Design

    moxieTODAY
    27 Jun 2011 | 4:06 pm
    It’s a new week and to me that means a fresh coat of nail polish. One thing that I really love is florals so I thought I would base my nail design this week off of one of my dresses at home that has lavender flowers on them. I used five different varnishes for this...

  • Ikea’s Rules for Its Facebook Home

    moxieTODAY
    23 Jun 2011 | 1:40 pm
    Facebook communities are becoming more and more popular as groups of people, businesses, and even large organizations are beginning to use them. These communities are great for a number of reasons: There are a lot more people who spend their time online nowadays (especially on Facebook) so it’s another way for companies to promote their...
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    Richard Edelman - 6 A.M.

  • 2012 Trust Barometer: Business Can Earn the License to Lead

    25 Jan 2012 | 10:18 am
    In 2008-2009, in the wake of a recession that saw large, global companies such as Lehman Brothers and AIG collapse, trust in business imploded. Government stepped in with bailouts and new regulations. But in 2011, government became paralyzed by the politics of extremism and endless haggling – and the public lost confidence. The 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer sees an unprec¬edented nine-point global decline in trust in government. In twelve countries, it trails business, media, and non-governmental organizations as the least trusted institution. This has pushed more countries into the…

  • Media Cloverleaf Comes to Life

    20 Jan 2012 | 12:14 pm
    I met with senior management of two of the best emerging media companies this week. I come away even more impressed with their ambition and willingness to experiment within the boundaries of quality and integrity. Mike Allen of Politico addressed our global public affairs team in Washington on Wednesday. He said that there are 225 people working at the company. They have gone beyond their digital roots to offer a print product. He joked that Politico is now available in vending machines along Park Avenue in New York City (4,000 print copies are distributed every day in NYC). He noted that the…

  • Implementation Science

    13 Jan 2012 | 11:50 am
    I went to a breakfast Wednesday hosted by Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health at the World Economic Forum offices in NYC. It was a terrific panel, with five professors and senior members of the corporate healthcare community from important companies such as Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi and BD. The Dean of Mailman School, Linda Fried, started the conversation by challenging the group to come up with new healthcare modalities to offer better quality and broader access within the present level of spending. The first big idea was Implementation Science, based on customer…

  • Government and New Media

    6 Jan 2012 | 12:51 pm
    I had a chat this morning with my friend Steve Goldsmith, professor at the JFK School of Government at Harvard. He was mayor of Indianapolis and deputy mayor of New York City. We commiserated about the low opinion of government. He believes its reputation problem worsens the farther away its get from a close connection to the people. Local government is still liked by more than 50 percent of voters, state government is in the middle, while Congress has only a nine percent approval rating. Goldsmith had a wonderful anecdote likening government’s reputation woes to a quip he heard growing up…

  • Highlights of My Year

    22 Dec 2011 | 8:45 am
    January—The World Economic Forum in Davos saw investment bankers pushing back on government leaders. A particularly heated exchange between French President Sarkozy and Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase comes to mind—also early commentary by Bob Diamond at Barclay’s Bank on how the period of remorse for banks must be over. February—Howard Schultz addressed our US leadership team about the turnaround at Starbucks, giving us a preview of his book, Onward. Then I drove from Seattle to Vancouver, over the Peace Arch crossing into Canada. In Vancouver, I met a doctor who works with heroin…
 
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    Bernard Dahl > Thinking Out Loud

  • La leçon qu’ils oublient de mettre dans nos cours de leadership

    Bernard
    4 Jan 2012 | 12:14 pm
    La pression de devenir un leader, tu connais? Spécifiquement, cette pression qui te demande de faire preuve d’initiative, d’assumer ton leadership? On nous parle de changer le monde, de mener, d’inspirer… Je parie que oui, tu la connais, cette pression. Moi, en tout cas, je la sens. Soyons clairs; ce n’est pas une mauvaise chose en soi. Nous avons besoin de leadership et nous avons besoin de gens qui veulent faire avancer les choses et oui, changer le monde. Mais, alors que ça fait des années que je me force à mener, j’ai allumé récemment; une réalisation; une…

  • The 1 Lesson They Forget to Include In Your Leadership Training

    Bernard
    4 Jan 2012 | 11:56 am
    Ever felt it, that pressure to become a leader? You know, to be the type to take initiative, and to assume leadership? This pressure to lead, and to change the world? I bet you know exactly what I’m talking about. I assure you, I feel it too. This, in essence, is a good thing. We need leadership and we need people to step forward, and change the world. But, after years pushing myself to lead, I came to a realisation; While I was learning how to lead; I never learned how to be led. Truth is, I am not a great follower. I wish I was, I wish I could take direction better, and accept a second…

  • Fake it til you make it. But not really.

    Bernard
    12 May 2011 | 7:06 am
    The whole fake it ‘til you make it approach is bullshit. It’s a great way to load up credit cards, with the hopes of somehow magically making it big, at which point you’ll laugh at your money problems of yesteryear, hang out with Diddy in St. Maarten and light cigars with 1000$ bills dipped in Beluga oil. Hey – it might happen. Then again, it might not. I saw two guys on skateboards, rolling onto the Place des Arts in Downtown Montreal. One looked cool and indifferent. His friend, on the other hand, seemed a little more apprehensive, less confident on his board. Nervous, even.

  • The taunt

    Bernard
    25 Apr 2011 | 8:32 am
    Sometime after 3 AM, between Thursday and Friday, 2010-ish Those few extra beers I had now prevent me from sleeping I felt it; this sudden urge, this need, this calling I wanted to start, to stop To begin and to end Like I knew I was moving, yet not really going anywhere I was adrift in the river of my life I have since had many more nights to think about it, Many more beers to drink about it As I slowly begin to spite the things that own me. And the sentiment prevails. At this point it is practically taunting; It is asking me to become me To hold the promises I made to myself  Tempus…

  • Who taught you how to vote, anyway?

    Bernard
    19 Apr 2011 | 9:02 am
    It’s election time in Canada, which makes me ask: where did you learn how to vote? I mean really. I’m guessing most of us never really learned how to vote, we just added up the sum of details thrown at us by our surroundings, no?  Here is what seems required to be a good politician:  Pays his taxes on time Wears a dark suit all the time Never uses bad words. Ever. Has never been unsuccessful in business Has never been TOO successful in business either Never  been near bankruptcy at any point, because only fools go bankrupt. Certainly shouldn’t be poor …should seem wealthy,…
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    Storytelling Techniques For Effective Business Communications

  • New York Times Delivers Crisis to Apple CEO

    Lou Hoffman
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:48 am
    It will be fascinating to see how Tim Cook responds to this first crisis since taking the CEO reins at Apple. I don’t think today’s expose in the New York Times, “In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad,” will go gently in the night. Unlike the spike of hoopla around Foxconn (supporting role in this story) the U.S. media will keep the scent of a trail that leads to the iconic Apple. The bigger question involves the American public. Will they care enough to make noise? I don’t think bad press will spook Cook. But if we start seeing demonstrators adding a new design…

  • How Social Are The Global PR Agencies?

    Lou Hoffman
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:28 am
    That’s the question that The Holmes Report set out to answer. To put science behind the quest, Holmes engaged Sociagility which measured each global agency’s social media footprint.  Sociagility uses what it calls the PRINT social media performance measurement methodology.  The PRINT Index measures five attributes of social media performance - popularity, receptiveness, interaction, network reach and trust - across various social channels.  Here’s how the data played out.   “We’re No. 9″ has a nice ring to it, particularly taking into account…

  • Revisiting The Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have A Dream” Speech

    Lou Hoffman
    23 Jan 2012 | 8:10 am
    The holiday celebrating the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. prompted me to dust off the “I Have Dream” speech.  It’s a revealing exercise to read the text of the speech rather than watch and listen to the speech.  King was such a gifted orator, you get the feeling he could recite the owner’s manual for a Prius and the audience would be out of their seats with emotion.  Yet, when you strip the speech down to just the words, the storytelling still offers unmatched verve.  While the section framed by repeating the words “I Have a Dream” forms the guts of…

  • Wing Wah Egg Roll Cookies Get No Love From South China Morning Post

    Lou Hoffman
    19 Jan 2012 | 12:40 am
    When it comes to reviewing egg roll cookies, Janice Leung at the South China Morning Post plays rough. Here’s a breakdown of her narrative on the Wing Wah product: Don’t get too excited about the retro red and violet tin. Always good to set expectations from the outset. Known for its classic Chinese pastries such as mooncakes and the flaky wife’s cake, Wing Wah egg rolls are a disappointment. I don’t know. Your son or daughter getting a C in math a disappointment. A cookie, not so much. With a colour reminiscent of cardboard, the layers are hard and rolled much too…

  • Creator Of Sony Wedding At CES Shares Back-story

    Lou Hoffman
    17 Jan 2012 | 10:09 am
    Weddings take place in Vegas every day. Yet, I think I can safely say the Sony wedding at CES between the TV and Internet was a first. I promised last week to investigate the wedding and report back to you. Conversations with sources led me to Ray Hartjen, senior PR manager at Sony Electronics who teamed with Rob Manfredo to create the wedding. Ray was gracious enough to share what took place behind the curtain. Lou: Tell us how the idea behind the wedding came about? Were you trying to come up with an idea that supported Sony’s strength in television and the Internet? Or was it more…
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    AdamVincenzini.com

  • How easy / hard are you making it for bloggers to talk about you?

    28 Jan 2012 | 2:26 am
    I have been asking myself and my clients this question a lot lately: How easy (or hard) are you making it for bloggers (and general social media participants) to talk about you? It's a really important question, and one that I think is often ignored (and perhaps not even on the radar enough to be ignored / noticed). What EXACTLY do I mean? Let me show you... Access issues: Bringing the challenge to life The simplest way for me to put this issue in context is as follows: I'm a hobbyist blogger When I have an idea for a post I'll use as many free research tools as possible to populate that post…

  • Cool Campaigns: Nike's #KobeSystem Campaign 'Attacks' YouTube

    26 Jan 2012 | 11:41 am
    Have you seen the latest Nike Basketball YouTube campaign? The star of the show is Kobe Bryant of the L.A Lakers, playing the role of life coach to 'clients' including clients Kanye West, Sir Richard Branson and Serena Williams. How do you teach success to the successful? Kobe (and Nike) give it a good crack here... YouTube Clip #1: Welcome to the #KobeSystem YouTube Clip #2: #KobeSystem Level 1 Success  YouTube Clip #3: #KobeSystem Level 2 Adaptation YouTube Clip #4: #KobeSystem Level 3 Perception YouTube Clip #5: #KobeSystem Level 4 Explosion Attack fast. Attack strong. Whaddya…

  • The 20 best new social media tools of 2011 (recap edition)

    10 Jan 2012 | 10:59 pm
    In late November 2011, my nominations for the top 50 new social media tools of 2011 were published. From this list, the top 20 new tools of 2011 were selected and unveiled over a four week period over on the Paratus Communications blog. I thought it was worth re-publishing this list on this blog for people who may have missed it the first time around. The 20 best new social media tools of 2011 20. SiteTrail.com – an easy (and free) way to track the performance of competitor websites. 19. Panabee.com – a domain name checker with a twist, helping you brainstorm new ideas based on URL…

  • Social Media Track Changes (28 December 2011)

    28 Dec 2011 | 1:17 am
    Do you find it hard to stay across all the changes that are constantly being made to the key social media platforms? I know I do. So, I'm introducing a new feature to my blog in 2012 which should help. The weekly post is called 'Social Media Track Changes' and it will do what it says on the tin - track all the changes made to the most popular social media channels over the previous seven days. Here is the first edition... Social Media Track Changes (28 December 2011) YouTube Slam - a new 'viral' video sensation discovery game where you vote for new content against similar videos. Full…

  • Three slides that can make or break an online community

    27 Dec 2011 | 5:16 pm
    The art of community management and building has often been regarded as a very difficult one to master (predominantly due to the fact that each community has its own DNA). However, there are three key pillars which can make or break online communities driven by brands and businesses. The three areas of focus are: Content balance – what should you be talking about Community building – getting the right people to interact with you / your page Brand output – the types of activity that should characterise your presence Over the course of the last 12 months, I've regularly referred to the…
 
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    RushPRnews - Newswire & Global Press Release Distribution

  • Marketing Consultancy - Outsource To Save Money

    27 Jan 2012 | 3:11 pm
    The marketing resource website 'Marketing Quotes' reflects on the state of the UK economy and how UK businesses can improve their marketing campaigns by using industry specialist marketing consultants in order to improve their marketing campaigns. The Need To Market The UK...

  • Newborn Coalition Announces Policy Priorities

    27 Jan 2012 | 2:49 pm
    Initiatives Aimed at Improving Health Outcomes and Reducing Disparities for the Youngest Patients  The Newborn Coalition today announced its 2012 policy priorities addressing immediate advocacy objectives for leveraging technologies in support of newborn health at the local, state and federal level. In...

  • Brands need to be prepared for the influence of 'people power' says Punch Communications

    27 Jan 2012 | 2:37 pm
    This week gym-chain LA Fitness bore the full brunt of ‘people power’ as the public took to Twitter to express their distaste with the company’s lack of empathy in refusing to release a couple from their contract. Despite the pregnancy...

  • 1098 Print and E-File: 1098 Software for 2011 Available for Download from W2Mate.Com

    27 Jan 2012 | 1:24 am
    Real Business Solutions (www.W2Mate.com), the IRS  compliance software provider, invites US lending institutions and tax professionals to try the 1098 filing module available in its W2 Mate software. W2 Mate, W2 1099 processing solution, is loaded with features that make...

  • The "Bridesmaids" to Present at 84th Academy Awards®

    26 Jan 2012 | 7:42 pm
    The "Bridesmaids" Cast – Rose Byrne, Ellie Kemper, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig – to Present at 84th Academy Awards® – Six actresses – Rose Byrne, Ellie Kemper, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig...
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    B2B Bliss

  • Beyond the Crisis

    Taryn Berman
    20 Jan 2012 | 8:19 am
    I’ll never forget where I was on May 21, 2007. What’s the significance, you might ask? Well, I was just about seven months into my first healthcare public relations job when the news broke. The New England Journal of Medicine published results of an analysis of data from over 40 clinical trials that found a 43% increased risk of heart attack among type 2 diabetes patients. These were not just any patients though. These were patients treated with a blockbuster diabetes medication – the very medication that I and a team of 10 strong had been working to support. A marquee client, if you…

  • What Pharma and Finance Marketers Can Teach One Another

    Meg Wildrick
    19 Jan 2012 | 8:17 am
    Last week, the Wall Street Journal ran an article entitled “Drug Reps Soften Their Sales Pitches.”  In it, Jonathan D. Rockoff reports that several drug companies (including GlaxoSmithKline, Merck& Co and Eli Lily & Co) told sales reps to stop “detailing” doctors with aggressive, tightly-scripted sales pitches and instead provide information that doctors really want – i.e., patient education materials, caregiver resources and reimbursement guidelines.  In the process, physician satisfaction has improved and drug sales are rising. With this shift, big pharma has discovered…

  • Why CEO Passion Matters for B2B Public Relations Programs

    Kellie Sheehan
    18 Jan 2012 | 12:04 pm
    The idea for this post struck me as I was reading the back of a frozen fish sticks bag. I’m sure it sounds odd, but so was the fact that the messaging stuck with me. I was first drawn in by the description – that they add only 35% breading vs. 50% of most national brands. But what really caught my attention, surprisingly, was the picture of the founder and chairman of the company (Trident Seafoods) on the bag, followed by a message describing the fish they catch, the preparation process and his commitment and confidence in their products. The note ends with an email address and invitation…

  • The Client Project that Made Me Smile the Most This Year

    Elizabeth Sosnow
    12 Jan 2012 | 8:42 am
    Fun, for me, is: Holding my 6 year old upside down until he giggles Watching the Golden Globes instead of the Giants this weekend Sneaking a good piece of fiction into my business travel Sometimes work is not fun. There are lots of good reasons for that.  Budgets grow smaller, project scopes change and turnover happens. Once in awhile, you have a project that puts a smile on your face.  This one made my year a little brighter. Our client, Life University, is the world’s largest chiropractic school. They have a mission that goes way beyond Chiropractic, though. Simply put, they want you to…

  • SlideShare: B2B Marketing’s Dark Horse

    Nathan Burgess
    9 Jan 2012 | 2:33 pm
    SlideShare is the flickr of PowerPoint presentations (or as we sometimes dread to call them – decks).  Similar to the popular photo sharing site, SlideShare allows users to publish presentations they’ve created, while viewers can download the presentations, embed them in blog posts or web sites, or share them with social networks. In case you haven’t figured it out yet – this makes SlideShare an ideal platform for B2B companies.  B2B businesses tend to be chock full of presentations. For the most part, these are presentations that can easily be repurposed for marketing…
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    Your-Story.org

  • Cyprus President Took Tough Stance In Cyprus Greentree Talks

    Cyprus Expat
    28 Jan 2012 | 3:12 am
    The President has defended vehemently the positions of the Greek Cypriot community with regard to the Cyprus issue during this week’s UN-led talks in New York, Deputy Government Spokesman Christos Christofides has said. The President’s efforts, he pointed out, were in line with decisions taken by the National Council, the top advisory body to the ...

  • G Mark a Must For Toys And Games Sold in The UAE

    bizcom1
    28 Jan 2012 | 3:12 am
    Conformity to health and safety standards to be enforced in GCC countries   With the Middle East market for toys and games becoming increasingly mature and better regulated, manufacturers and suppliers of children’s products increasingly have to make the necessary changes in order to meet stringent safety standards set by local authorities. Already a key ...

  • Second Annual Taste of Kyrene Fundraising VIP Party Benefiting Arizona’s Kyrene School District to be held at Fired Up Bar & Grill on February 10th

    straightlinepr
    28 Jan 2012 | 3:08 am
    The Kyrene Schools Community Foundation will host two Taste of Kyrene fundraising events in support of the Kyrene School District. Chandler, AZ, January 28, 2012 – The Kyrene Schools Community Foundation will host two Taste of Kyrene fundraising events in support of the Kyrene School District. The first, a VIP kick-off party, will be held ...

  • Cyprus Signs Agreements For It’s Exclusive Economic Zone

    Cyprus Expat
    28 Jan 2012 | 3:04 am
    Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Markoullis informed on Friday the House Foreign and European Affairs Committee regarding the process for the ratification of agreements for the delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zones signed by Cyprus with its neighboring countries. She also informed the members of the House Committee about the course of negotiations as regards the signing ...

  • Best Selling Author Grateful for Blogger Award after 26 Days of Blogging

    ElleFebbo
    28 Jan 2012 | 3:02 am
    Elle Febbo, author of the best-selling children’s book “What Love is A-Z”, wins a Word Press Bloggers Award for her online gratitude journal, “The Gratitude Garden”. Los Angeles, CA, January 27, 2012–Elle Febbo, best-selling children’s book author, wins a Word Press Bloggers Award just 26 days after launching her online gratitude journal, “The Gratitude Garden”, ...
 
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    Exploring Conversational Media

  • Cartoon of the day

    Espo
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:36 am

  • Crazy Canadian Cats Ground Plane, Don’t Be Evil and Universe in my Pocket

    Espo
    27 Jan 2012 | 2:38 am
    This week’s edition of Five for Friday was written at Red Rock in Vegas. For some reason, my internal clock wanted to kick it on East coast time despite being three hours early local time. Hey at least the AM view was pretty nice. This week was pretty much a pair of travel days and a conference where I spoke on measuring social media. How was your week? Hopefully I did not miss anything important and if I did, please let me know. Want More Stickiness? Users Logging In Through Social Networks Spend 50% More Time On Site – this data is very interesting from Gigya. I am not going to lie, but…

  • Cartoon of the day

    Espo
    26 Jan 2012 | 9:54 am

  • Measuring your social media output

    Espo
    25 Jan 2012 | 9:44 am
    Today I will be presenting at the Social Commerce Strategies Conference in Las Vegas on measuring social media. Four key takeaways are: Traditional and non-traditional measurements Measurement is not one-size fits all Social customer personas How Vistaprint got started in the space and what we measure Measuring your social output View more presentations from Jeff Esposito

  • Cartoon of the day

    Espo
    25 Jan 2012 | 9:33 am
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    Online PR and social media agency - Liberate Media » Blog

  • When social media bites back

    Lloyd Gofton
    25 Jan 2012 | 10:39 am
    It’s been an interesting week for a couple of major brands that have found themselves in a rather sticky social media situation. Late last week, McDonalds felt the full force of a misfiring campaign when its idea to use a promoted tweet campaign, supported by hashtags, to highlight real life stories from farmers that grow its [...]

  • First impressions of streaming Lovefilm

    Andy Merchant
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:30 am
    I have been a Lovefilm subscriber for years now and have been happily receiving DVDs through my post box. It’s fair to say i have always found the service to be quick and reliable. Over the last few weeks I have been following the Netflix Vs Lovefilm story with interest. It recently dawned on me that [...]

  • iPad flips pages just like a book

    Andy Merchant
    24 Jan 2012 | 8:50 am
    The feeling of turning the page of a book is a great sensation for all avid book readers. To date the iPad has found it hard to replicate this bond. Until now that is, if the team at the KAIST Institute of Information Technology Convergence can get their patented Smart E-Book Interface Prototype out of the lab and [...]

  • A Google a day puzzle

    Andy Merchant
    17 Jan 2012 | 8:54 am
    If you haven’t seen this before a Google a day is a great way to stimulate your brain first thing in the morning! It is basically a puzzle you have to solve via Google search, and there is a new puzzle every day to answer. To make sure you cannot cheat, Google uses Deja [...]

  • Wikipedia 24 hour black out – a protest against SOPA and PIPA

    Lloyd Gofton
    17 Jan 2012 | 5:39 am
    Wikipedia has announced that it will be holding a 24 hour blackout for its English language site from 05.00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18. You can read the statement from the Wikimedia foundation here and press release here. The statement confirms: “In an unprecedented decision, the Wikipedia community has chosen to blackout the English version of [...]
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    Jon's PR 1.5

  • Quick hits: Pinterest, Twitter and what is Carnival thinking???

    Jon Newman
    24 Jan 2012 | 10:26 am
    Some quick hitters for a Tuesday: We (Britt Farrah @saidlikefarrah) and I started our second semester teaching social media at VCU yesterday some interesting observations from questions we asked our predominantly PR majors… Most of them preferred Twitter over Facebook and other social media platforms.  In the couple of years that I’ve been asking college students this question, this is the first time ever that they selected Twitter.  In fact, this is the first time that most of the class even was “on” Twitter.  Maybe this is because the class is made up of PR majors…

  • Facebook’s Timeline Cover is valuable brand space

    Jon Newman
    20 Jan 2012 | 12:48 pm
    Time to get on my PR/social media soup box and proclaim from on high: IF YOU ARE A BRAND, COMPANY OR ORGANIZATION AND NOT MAKING IT EASY FOR FOLKS TO SHOW YOUR “COLORS” THROUGH THEIR TIMELINE COVER THEN SHAME ON YOU! So what do I mean when I say “show your colors?”  My current example (below) comes from my own timeline which is now sporting art work supplied by my fellow Springsteen fans promoting his new album coming out in March. Think of the “cover” as the new expanded billboard version of your profile picture (interesting article on it here).  Now…

  • Is Facebook getting way to complicated?

    Jon Newman
    19 Jan 2012 | 10:22 am
    Great time yesterday presenting for our client, Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, at two marketing/communications seminars about the current state of social media.  These sessions, which the FCEDA provides to anyone, are a great way for businesses and organizations large and small to learn the latest about advertising, PR, social media, etc. Because of the wide range of businesses and groups represented it’s hard to cover all the bases on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogging, etc. but our main focus for this group was Facebook.  Mainly because of the sheer numbers of…

  • Paula Deen’s diabetes PR disaster, ya’ll

    Jon Newman
    18 Jan 2012 | 4:09 pm
    Editor’s note:  This post is a guest post from THP’s “Employee Number One” Stacey Brucia, who mans New York PR and social media outpost. I’ve been watching CNN today and now have NY local news on in the background. And a top story of the day is Anthony Bourdain’s tweet that’s a hit against Paula Deen. It’s follow-up story to Deen’s announcement yesterday that she is a spokesperson for a diabetes drug company. I’d name then, but then I’m giving them more PR. And that’s what I’m arguing against/feeling some disgust about.  As someone in PR, of course…

  • The Year of “E”

    Jon Newman
    20 Dec 2011 | 12:40 pm
    I’ve been looking for a reason to fire up the blog and for a way to wrap up the self-proclaimed “Year of Me.” Yes, I did catch a lot of crap for announcing that the year in which I’d be celebrating my 50th birthday would have a selfish theme. Yes, I did have a great year personally thanks to my wife, my kids, my business partner and fellow Hodgers. Yes, the year was challenging in other ways that I won’t bore you with but I think I’ve learned a great deal from those challenges and they have made me a better person. But if you look back to my January blog…
 
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    Flackrabbit: Public Relations Flack | Digital Strategist | Writer| Geek

  • Five ways to get, stay organized in 2012

    Margie
    1 Jan 2012 | 10:26 am
    I adore the first few weeks of January. That magical time when my blog traffic spikes with Googling visitors newly resolved to “get organized” in the new year. That makes me so happy. You know how I love talking to-do lists, productivity and Moleskine.  So, without further ado, here are my top tips to help you get and stay organized in 2012: Keep one to-do list: you only have one brain, which frets over everything from that memo you need to write, to the dentist appointment you keep forgetting to make and the day care check you that OMG-YOU-MUST-MAIL-TODAY. Your brain…

  • Guinea Pig’n: better late than never

    Margie
    22 Dec 2011 | 2:05 pm
    Pinterest Sometimes, I’m a little late to the party. Exhibit A: I just discovered Pinterest. Even my relatively non-techish friends are obsessed with the site, yet I could not have told you what it was until this week. Anyway, I’ve set up my “boards,” have installed a “Pin It” button in my browser toolbar and am giving it a go. But lest my self-esteem suffer from the endless pictorial perfection, I will heed the good warning to peruse Pinterest in moderation. You can “follow me” here. Tumblr The good geek news is that I’m really enjoying…

  • Tin roof, rusted: a FlackRabbit pregnancy guide (Months 1-5)

    Margie
    1 Nov 2011 | 2:54 pm
    Oh, the times I’ve preached to bloggers-to-be about the importance of regularly scheduled posting. Yet, weeks have gone by since my last FlackRabbit musing. I’m sorry. I have a fabulous excuse though: I am making a tiny human. Squeal! I know, I know! And it’s a girl! Squeeeeee! Indeed, the newest addition to Team Newman will arrive March 10-ish—which is like, tomorrow. Yikes. Yes, we are acutely aware this due date means we cannot attend SXSW Interactive. There’s always 2013… Despite this awesome baby news that has taken over every fiber of my being, loyal FlackRabbiters need not…

  • Guest Post: Droid Bionic: Fast, Smart, Power-Hungry

    Margie
    15 Sep 2011 | 9:51 am
    {Today’s guest post is a fabulous product review by Dough-man, a friend of mine who loves geek speak and gadgetry as much as I do. As you may recall, for three years I wrote for Her Nashville magazine as the “Chic Geek.” On my Chic Geek blog, I wrote many a product review on everything from the original line of Droids, to netbooks, and even the ridiculous Blackberry Storm; a product I refuse to link to. Since I no longer write for that publication, you’re reading this review–and any future reviews–here!} by Dough-man I was a Droid early adopter back in…

  • Four tips for journalists crossing-over into PR

    Margie
    9 Sep 2011 | 2:12 pm
    Hello there, talented journalist! I’m often approached by print and broadcast reporters and editors like you for tips on transitioning into a career in public relations. After years—even decades—of researching, reporting, investigating and doing your best to file balanced, accurate and timely stories, you’re contemplating making the move to the dark side. Congrats! You’re really going to love it over here. That is, unless you take a job you have enough years, but not the experience for; assume you are still going to see your name in the paper; or negotiate a salary that does not…
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    Public Relations Sydney

  • Top 5 PR tips for PRing your business

    Catriona Pollard
    23 Jan 2012 | 9:41 pm
    Don’t you just hate it when you open a magazine and one of your competitors is featured and you just know that they will get customers from the publicity? You ask why were they featured and not me? The answer is a public relations program. Public relations (PR) is an extremely efficient method of communicating with a target audience – and it doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive. Business owners can choose from a variety of simple and cost effective activities that will help achieve their business objectives. The reason that PR works is that it provides third-person…

  • Twitter: a crisis communication tool

    Catriona Pollard
    18 Jan 2012 | 9:54 pm
    When a crisis breaks more and more people are beginning to turn to Twitter for answers than ever before. This means that Twitter is fast becoming a critical component in any company’s crisis communication strategy. Twitter is the perfect tool to use in a crisis because it enables you to communicate quickly to the public and to your target audience. Companies can prepare for a crisis by creating a crisis communication plan. This plan will detail the steps that you should take to prepare for a crisis and how to respond and resolve a crisis effectively. All About Public Relations has provided…

  • How to be ethical in social media

    Catriona Pollard
    16 Jan 2012 | 11:41 pm
    Most people live by their own morals and ethics and we all have our own beliefs as to what is right and wrong in life. However, it seems that when it comes to social media and having an online presence, some individuals or companies believe that ethical behaviour is moot. The dynamics of personal relationships and interactions have changed and some may feel that becuase they are hiding behind a computer screen and typing the words instead of speaking them, it really doesn’t count as unethical behaviour. However, social media is now becoming more and more legitimate in business as well…

  • Factors that determine whether a journalist will cover your story

    Catriona Pollard
    11 Jan 2012 | 10:35 pm
    Journalists are constantly inundated with information on potential stories. So how do they decide which story to report on? PR Daily has provided the answer by revealing the top five factors that drive news decisions in newsrooms all over the world. They are time, speed, space, profit and bias. Time: Journalists have never before faced such short deadlines. Many newsrooms are understaffed and journalists feel pressured to produce constant news stories for a variety of news outlets. Therefore if a reporter is required to conduct an extensive amount of research to cover your story, they…

  • Using Twitter for Business: Engaging your customers online

    Catriona Pollard
    9 Jan 2012 | 7:46 pm
    People are often sceptical when we explain engaging in Twitter can really benefit their business. Creating a Twitter account for your business opens up opportunities for communication and attracts new customers for businesses – when managed correctly.   Twitter is an effective method of reaching your target audience in real time, however having a presence on Twitter and getting your desired audience to follow you are very different things. To get people to want to follow your business’ Twitter account it needs to present a personality and, like all business communications, a strategy…
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    PR Agency One

  • Bad Media Interviews – Part Seven

    jamescrawford
    22 Jan 2012 | 1:22 pm
    Sometimes playing a straight bat to questions from the media just doesn’t work… Don’t believe me? Check out this example of pugnacious journalism from Irish broadcaster Vincent Browne vs an ECB spokesperson. This video has been added to my ‘Worst Media Interviews of All Time‘ blog post, which is worth a look for a seven equally cringe-worthy efforts. Of course, these are bad interviews from the point of view of the spokesperson. One could argue the journalist does rather well.

  • We Have Launched the Playground of the Future

    jamescrawford
    10 Jan 2012 | 11:20 am
    Your favourite Manchester PR agency has been appointed by outdoor playground equipment company Proludic to undertake an integrated PR and social media campaign. We are first focusing our attention on launching Proludic’s Sports Legacy Zone concept and Olympians Steve Backley and Roger Black have been recruited as Proludic’s ‘Virtual Coaches’. The pair will deliver an online virtual coaching programme which provides users with exercise routines, challenges and group games to be carried out on a range of play equipment.   Each session can be accessed at a Sports Legacy Zone by…

  • Manage Your Reputation Online

    James Crawford
    22 Nov 2011 | 7:03 am
    Managing your reputation online is a key skill as businesses become more social and personal privacy declines. When faced with a reputational issue, public relations professionals are of course a good place to turn. I originally set up my first blog because I couldn’t be found online (my name is too common), but after creating the blog I was front page of Google. With this increased visibility comes a responsibility to clean up after yourself and protect your reputation, and since then I have helped countless brands clean up their search results or project the right type of image. As…

  • Google+ Messenger versus Google + Hangouts

    jamescrawford
    22 Nov 2011 | 4:22 am
    Google+ is reportedly struggling but amidst chatter of a failing platform is there anything interesting here for PR and Marketing professionals? The answer is, of course, yes. This week’s CommsChat  focused on Google+ and during the debate @jonclements and I got chatting and asked ourselves why Google+ wasn’t used for the online event. I suggested Google+ Messenger would have been a good choice, while John thought a Hangout might be fun. In reality, both have their own technical problems.  Messenger is a mobile only service, while Hangouts limit the amount of people who can participate.

  • 20 Common Misconceptions About PR

    jamescrawford
    18 Nov 2011 | 7:46 am
    Working for a Manchester PR agency made me understand that not many people understand public relations. I always remember trying to explain what I did for a living to my mum and dad.  I failed each time. This lack of understanding didn’t stop with my parents.  Here are a few common misconceptions about public relations that I have encountered over the last 13 years while working in the industry. PR is full of beautiful women, fast cars and long lunches PR is a soft career option PRs work short hours are drink champagne all day PR is absolutely fabulous darling A PR degree is a…
 
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    PR Fuel - Public Relations News & PR Tips

  • 5 Writing Tips for Adding Life to Your Press Release

    PR Fuel
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:13 am
    Let’s be honest: people often don’t consider press releases to be the most interesting pieces to read. They’re all about giving the facts of a story in a quick and concise manner. Most press releases stick to the same old template and are loaded with buzzwords and corporate speak. Zzzzzz … However, that’s not to say you can’t do some things to jazz up your news releases – because you can. Use these 5 tips and you’ll find your releases going from boring to brilliant in no time. Write in the active voice – Quick lesson on passive versus active. An example of passive…

  • Are You Making These Mistakes When Pitching a Reporter on the Phone?

    PR Fuel
    26 Jan 2012 | 4:06 am
    Recently, I commented that it might be a good idea to pick up the phone and pitch a journalist. In short, I said you should do so because it’s more personal and gets you noticed. And while it doesn’t work all of the time, if it allows you to make a good connection one out of twenty times, you certainly aren’t wasting your time. However, simply calling isn’t enough. You have to make sure you handle the call correctly or else you’ll find your pitch swirling down the toilet. The following are a few mistakes you need to avoid when you pick up the phone: Taking too long to get to the…

  • Don’t Get “Snowed In”

    PR Fuel
    25 Jan 2012 | 3:43 am
    This time last year almost the entire country was blanketed by snow, and many people were simply stuck inside their homes or trapped in hotels and airports. While the weather is way more mellow this year, you could still get “snowed in.” That is, your business could! What do I mean by that? Getting snowed in is much more than just being trapped inside your house. Eventually, you get cabin fever, and the walls start closing in. Soon you’re seeing visions and playing Monopoly with yourself…and losing! Your business can go crazy, too, just like you did when surrounded by four feet of…

  • Benefits of Outsourcing Press Release Writing

    PR Fuel
    24 Jan 2012 | 3:37 am
    Thinking about starting to use press releases as a way to get media coverage? Or perhaps you want to use them for search engine optimization purposes? Either way, we all know how useful they can be. But the thing about them is this: someone has to write them. Now, that someone could be you, but you also have the option of outsourcing the duty to a professional. And in many situations, it’s a smart decision. Here are just a few of the benefits of hiring a freelancer to create your press releases for you: You’ll increase the odds of your story being picked up – How does outsourcing…

  • Pick Up the Phone to Make Your Pitch

    PR Fuel
    23 Jan 2012 | 3:30 am
    Press releases. We write them in an attempt to capture the interest of overworked journalists. If we do a good enough job (and with a little luck), they’ll pick up the story and run with it. But is a written press release the only way to go about it? Is there anything we can do to supplement our PR efforts? You bet. Pick up the phone. That’s right. Even in this day and age where email and other forms of cyber communication have practically taken over “real life,” the fact is that your telephone may just be the best means available for you to get that press coverage you desire.
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    72 Point Blog

  • Where Are All The Boozy Lunches?

    Admin
    6 Jan 2012 | 9:00 am
    I’d heard the old rumour. The one that says PR is all about the long boozy lunches. I have to say that just doesn’t tell the whole story… because there are the brunches, the dinners and the glitzy award ceremonies too of course. Eight weeks into my career in PR, I’ve learned the old cliché doesn’t really ring [...]

  • Top 13 Most Annoying Client Comments

    Admin
    19 May 2011 | 6:46 am
    Ah clients…. They pay us the lovely money so we can't be too mean about them...but sometimes they make us want to saw our heads off. Here is our list of the most common, idiotic and maddening client comments we hear on a regular basis – and what we would LOVE to answer them with - [...]

  • Are you a “Power Player” of Social Media?

    Admin
    7 Apr 2011 | 11:05 am
    Back in February, PRWeek ran an article entitled “Power Players of Social Media”. Essentially it was a feature outlining a handful of PR folk who’d done some groovy social media stuff. Then this chap called Andrew Bruce Smith decided to create another list (using Peer Index) of EVEN MORE “Power Players of Social Media” There followed a few [...]

  • Churnalism?

    Admin
    9 Mar 2011 | 8:01 am
    I have noticed 72Point's sister company OnePoll on the Churnalism.com website a few times recently. Here's one example: My concern is that the Churnalism website implies newspaper journalists are ripping off press releases and using them word for word – without checking facts or doing any actual reporting. This is no doubt the case in some instances – [...]

  • PRs: When to call a national news desk

    Admin
    9 Feb 2011 | 11:38 am
    When conducting a PR sell-in to national newspapers – timing is everything. I am always surprised by the number of PRs who call news desks and send press releases through late in the day. If you are a PR with what you believe to be a newsworthy story – you need to let news desks know about [...]
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    PR at Sunrise

  • How to Find and Secure a Part-Time Teaching Position in Public Relations

    Worob
    24 Jan 2012 | 7:55 am
    Opportunities abound for public relations professionals willing to share their expertise and passion through teaching. Here’s an overview of how to find these part-time teaching jobs at higher education institutions, based on techniques I’ve employed during fourteen years of teaching such classes. - Check out regional listings under Yahoo by visiting here to identify universities where you’d like to teach. Next, visit a university’s website, identify academic programs that offer relevant classes, then move on to other university departments that may offer degree and non-degree…

  • 3 Ways to Get the Brand Awareness Your Company Deserves

    Worob
    18 Jan 2012 | 6:56 am
    You want people to know you and your company. But that’s not enough. You have to keep people excited, informed and hungry for more of what you offer. And that starts with omnipresent – or as close to it as you can get! So how do you get your brand the attention it deserves? Find out what your audience cares about by leveraging social media platforms There are powerful tools that can help you understand what your audience wants. So what can you do with them? -Ask followers what they’d like to see more of -Conduct polls about your products or services -Take note of which posts people…

  • To Stick with your Social Media Program or to Abandon It, That is the Question

    Worob
    12 Jan 2012 | 7:00 am
    Getting yourself into social media is a breeze. Membership is free and setting up shop on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn takes all of about an hour. Getting yourself out of social media is another question altogether. How do you judge program performance? How do you know if the ends justify the means? How can you tell whether you’re one Tweet away from roaring success or only throwing good money after bad? Here are factors to consider when determining whether it’s time to make a strategic withdrawal from social media. Decide with Metrics One of the silliest ideas floating around…

  • 5 Simple Ways to Stand Out with Your Clients

    Worob
    6 Jan 2012 | 5:52 am
    “Stop trying to fit in when you were born to stand out” – What a Girl Wants Have you ever met someone who stood out so much that their presence was not only apparent, but remains your paradigm for remarkable? The first time I met such a person, he walked into the room and said a genuine “hello” to everyone – even the people he didn’t know. He asked, “how was your weekend?,” and stayed to listen to the response. He was warm, kind, and honest when answering questions. He tried to relate to others. Best first impression I ever had. My encounter with this person…

  • What Should Brands Do With Google+ in 2012?

    Worob
    4 Jan 2012 | 6:00 am
    The hot topic for most people in social media and technology these days is Google+. With roughly 60 million users (still unclear how many are active) in just a few months existence, it has certainly caught the attention of marketers and the mainstream media. But along with it comes many questions from agencies and brands alike: Will it succeed? Is it worth creating a business page right away? Aside from SEO, what are the benefits of it? The answers to these questions are still being debated and likely won’t be answered anytime soon. However, I’m curious to hear just how PR/social…
 
 
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    Translucid Communications

  • Talking FIR Books and Book Club

    Bob LeDrew
    22 Jan 2012 | 9:57 pm
    A reminder that on January 27, I’ll be hosting the first edition of the FIR Book Club. This is an outgrowth of my position of Book Reviews Editor for the wonderful podcast For Immediate  Release, created by Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson. In a quick 30 minutes, we’ll have a chat with an author and a call-in so that you can ask the author questions. Our first guest on the FIR Book Club will be Christopher Barger, author of the new book “The Social Media Strategist.” Join us on Blog Talk Radio on the 27th. And two other book-related notes: If you have a book you would…

  • The sad tale of Aubrey’s Meats and “daily deals.” UPDATED

    Bob LeDrew
    20 Jan 2012 | 9:12 am
    I was watching my local newscast the other night when I watched a story about a local — and legendary — butcher shop. Aubrey’s Meats is over 100 years old, and located in the Byward Market, one of Ottawa’s oldest areas. This may be one of its problems, actually. The Market, as it’s known to us Ottawans, is usually packed with a combination of tourists in search of the right tchotchke to take home to a coworker or maiden aunt and young revelers heading to The Heart and Crown or the Chateau Lafayette to get their drink on. If I’m gonna buy some steaks or a…

  • What I would have said to Michael Harris about Twitter

    Bob LeDrew
    6 Jan 2012 | 1:49 pm
    “Our next caller is Bob from Ottawa. He has something to say about Twitter.” “Hi Michael: longtime listener, first-time caller. First off, I pay Senator Mike Duffy’s opinions on Twitter all the attention that someone who had a wonderful career as a journalist and then became a tiresome (dare I say banal) partisan patronage hack full of sound and fury, and signifying nothing, exactly the attention they deserve. That being said, let’s take a look at what the banal drivel-purveying medium of Twitter has done. I’ll try to pick out Canadian examples. The famous…

  • FIR book club with Christopher Barger set for January 27

    Bob LeDrew
    4 Jan 2012 | 6:38 pm
    Christopher Barger has found himself in some pretty hot seats — including leading the social media team at General Motors during its bankruptcy. In addition to being a senior vice-president at Voce Communications, Christopher is also a blogger for Forbes. But will all that have prepared him for 30 minutes in an entirely new sort of hot seat as the inaugural guest author on the FIR Book Club? This is a new idea that I’ve been working on with Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson, the hosts of For Immediate Release (if I may say, the pre-eminent PR and social media podcast out there.) Since…

  • CBC Radio takes a dramatic run at PR with “Trust Inc”

    Bob LeDrew
    3 Jan 2012 | 7:40 pm
    Earlier this year, I started hearing promos for a new radio drama on CBC Radio One called “Trust Inc.” I was curious, but couldn’t find very much information at all on the CBC site. In fact, here’s everything they’ve got about it at this point: A new satirical drama that takes listeners within the walls of a public relations firm. The show follows the schemers and spinners who develop the messages and plot the ideal news narrative for their clients, and their counterparts in the news media who ultimately determine whether they succeed or fail in the quest for…
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    Paul Roberts on PR

  • 2012 PR33 – Top PR / Communications Blogs

    paulrobertspar
    16 Jan 2012 | 11:33 am
    Before unveiling the 2012 PR33 list, here are a couple of semi-personalized notes. - To the bloggers listed below – many thanks for the quality content over the last 12 months. Also, please don’t feel like you need to send me a public thank you. That’s not why this list was created. - To visitors looking [...]

  • Now the Rest of the Story….PR33

    paulrobertspar
    16 Jan 2012 | 11:30 am
    While the true highly-proprietary and closely-guarded research, evaluation and selection process will never be revealed as long as this blogger is still alive, here is some insight into the background behind the 2012 PR33 list. First, a few links as background; the 2012 PR33, Last year’s list, this year’s call for nomination and finally the 2012 PR33 Twitter [...]

  • PR33 – Nominations Wanted for Best PR Bloggers

    paulrobertspar
    10 Nov 2011 | 9:03 am
    Earlier this year this blog published a list of the top (in my opinion) 33 communications blogs – 2011 PR33 - and it is time for an update. Please take a moment and tell me who is your favorite PR / communications blogger. Lessons learned: After publishing the original list, it became clear that some people are critical [...]

  • Social Media Saves Us from Jersey Shore

    paulrobertspar
    28 Oct 2011 | 8:33 am
    As mentioned in the previous post, the idea behind this two-part series is to look at a couple of personalities from recent history and see how social media may have changed their path. Part one asked what if Leon Spinks had social media in 1978. This installment will go back another decade to see how [...]

  • Don’t Miss Out on Social Media

    paulrobertspar
    26 Oct 2011 | 11:40 am
    With the recent 10 year anniversary came lots of articles and blogs asking what would 9/11 had been like if social media was available at that time. Some of the pieces were good and thoughtful others were, well, not. Either way, it got me thinking of other events or careers that could have been radically [...]
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    MatthewGain.com

  • Stuff PR people say

    Matthew Gain
    12 Jan 2012 | 7:23 pm
    Building on the ‘Stuff/Shit XX say meme’, Hunter PR in the US has created Stuff PR people say… There are new examples of this meme growing by the minute. The one that kicked it off (at least I think): Shit Girls say: Hat tip – Mumbrella for alerting me to this. If you enjoyed this post why not subscribe to my blog via RSS or email by following this link. Also whilst you're at it why not follow me on Twitter.

  • Big waves at Teahupoo. Would you want to ride a wave like this? – Video by Chris Bryan

    Matthew Gain
    12 Jan 2012 | 6:10 am
    I love riding waves. I really, really do. Having said that I have absolutely no desire to ride waves like the ones in the video below. I am however very happy to watch them on vimeo. The waves in this video are the most intense I think I have ever seen. Imagine the rush you would get riding one of these bad boys. Enjoy and please share, even people that don’t surf will appreciate this video. More Surfing Videos If you enjoyed this post why not subscribe to my blog via RSS or email by following this link. Also whilst you're at it why not follow me on Twitter.

  • Gotye covered by 5 people playing the one guitar

    Matthew Gain
    6 Jan 2012 | 5:35 pm
    Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know is undoubtedly one of the stand-out Australian releases of 2011. However it seems that it is getting attention overseas as well if the cover below by Canadian band Walk Off the Earth is anything to go by. The video features the band covering Gotye’s song  whilst all five of them play the one guitar. It is pretty impressive! And just because it is a brilliant music clip, I’ve included the original Gotye video, which has been watched a whopping 33 million times!: If you enjoyed this post why not subscribe to my blog via RSS or email by…

  • A cheeky Victorian getaway

    Matthew Gain
    11 Dec 2011 | 4:26 am
    The last week has involved no tweets, few Facebook updates, absolutely no work emails and most importantly no stress. I have been on holidays you see. Holidays that involved a road trip to Victoria, to visit old friends;  surf uncrowded waves; drink beer in the sun; and most importantly spend time together as a family. Some of the highlights: Seeing people we get to see far too rarely. Thank you for putting us up Nicole on the Mornington Peninsula. Colleen and Ken thank you for lunch it was lovely to see you again and for you to spend some time with Sylvie Seeing the country from the…

  • Go the Wallabies!

    Matthew Gain
    14 Oct 2011 | 1:40 am
    If you enjoyed this post why not subscribe to my blog via RSS or email by following this link. Also whilst you're at it why not follow me on Twitter.
 
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    Communications Conversations

  • 7 tips for working out of coffee shops

    arikhanson
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:16 am
    I realize I don’t have a normal work schedule. My “typical” day consists of working out of a combination of my car, coffee shops, co-working spaces (I’m a member at CoCo in Minneapolis), my home and client offices. But, since I spend a decent amount of time (by choice–more on that in a different post) in coffee shops, I’ve noticed that more and more corporate and agency people are spending time there lately, too–working, not socializing. As the workplace continues to “shift” (follow the #workshifting hash tag for more), we’ll most…

  • Will Path be the breakout social app of 2012?

    arikhanson
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:20 am
    A few weeks ago, local PR colleague Tara Cegla turned me on to a new social media app/network named Path. Some of you may have heard of Path–it launched in Nov. 2010 and now has more than 300,000 members. In fact, Path has been on fire recently, picking 270,000 new users from Nov. 2011 to Dec. 2011. Path is combination of Instagram, Facebook and Twitter (in a way). Founder David Morin claims it’s a “high quality social network.” High quality because it limits you to 150 friends–an interesting ripple. It’s also been called a “digital journal.”…

  • The future of HAPPO–and what you can do to help

    arikhanson
    24 Jan 2012 | 9:31 am
    Every month, as I plan out my schedule and calendar, I block out 10 or so hours for professional development. That usually takes many different forms: * Live, monthly PRSA, MIMA or other sessions around the Twin Cities (been sorely lacking here lately) * Coffee meet-ups with students or other folks looking for advice/job leads (seem to do one of these at least once a week) * Reading specific blogs/sites online and staying on top of the latest and greatest in our industry. * HAPPO That last bullet’s usually the biggest for me. Partly because I lump those coffee meet-ups in with my HAPPO…

  • PR Rock Stars: Melissa Berggren

    arikhanson
    18 Jan 2012 | 9:30 am
    Confession: If you’ve followed this series for any length of time, you probably realize I tend to highlight a lot of people I either work with, or have worked with in the past (or, worked for, in some cases). That’s not an accident. You see, throughout my career my approach has always been this: Work with and for people who are MUCH smarter than me. I always figured, if I was the smartest person in the room, I was in a whole lot of trouble And, that most certainly holds true with today’s rock star, Melissa Berggren. I’ve been working with Melissa for two years now on…

  • 17 must-have apps for the Instagram power user

    arikhanson
    16 Jan 2012 | 9:36 am
    Over the last few months, I’ve written a number of posts about Instagram. A guest blogger and friend, Jessica Malnik, has also written a couple posts on my blog about the tool. In fact, the entire Web is crazy about Instagram. Apple named it “App of the Year” in 2011. As Dickie V (Dick Vitale, for you non-college basketball fans) would say, it’s got “big mo baby!” And along with that momentum has come a plethora of apps and add-ons to enhance your IG experience. Posts and tips lauding these apps and add-ons have been as prevalent as the IG posts themselves.
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    Flack Me RSS News Feed

  • 12 'Everyday' Press Release Ideas

    Doug Bedell
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:25 am
    Summary: Not having as much to say to the news media as you would like? Here, from everythingpr, are "12 Powerful Press Release Ideas for Any Business." They're "routine" topics that often go overlooked but are of legitimate interest to people following your business or a client's. The list was contributed by Bird and Co Creative, a British online marketing and SEO company. It includes such evergreen topics as making a prediction, reporting on survey results, and announcing a new staff member, website, contract, or client.

  • Paula Deen and PR Rep Break Up Over Butter

    Shawn Paul Wood
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:40 am
    Summary: Hey y'all. It's no secret Americans love fattening food. If that weren't the case, "The Biggest Loser" wouldn't be so popular and buffets at Cici's Pizza wouldn't make such a killing. One such person who has endeared herself to the gluttony of this country is Paula Deen. The woman cooks everything with five sticks of butter and a side of fat.

  • News Releases for Our Digital Times

    Doug Bedell
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:40 am
    Summary: Dave Hogan, who teaches PR at Abilene Christian University, writes in his hometown paper on essential, or at least very helpful elements, of 21st century news releases. Their ingredients - factual, newsworthy information - are the same but the format is changing for maximum effectiveness in a digital world. Which presents opportunities for PR people to develop new forms of content. "Far from dying," Dave writes, "news releases have taken on new life and are likely to be a staple of PR work for a long time to come."

  • 2011's Crises Recapped for Learning

    Doug Bedell
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:23 am
    Summary: We trust this will be our last "Top 10 for 2011" list, but it's a good one -- the Holmes report recaps for us the Top 10 Crises of 2011, in knowledgeable summaries. They are Tepco (the Japanese earthquake), News Corp., Penn State, Blackberry, Dow Chemical, Netflix, Sony, HP, Qantas, and the European Central Bank. Put this aside for crisis communication recollection and learning.

  • Email Newsletters Still Connect

    Doug Bedell
    25 Jan 2012 | 9:13 am
    Summary: With all the digital jousting going on for the attention of web visitors these days, there's still a lead role for effective email newsletters. But what makes for effective ones? David Wilson makes that a community question by quoting other experts in a small business blog post from Australia. Start with your newsletter's subject line, they urge, and, overall, keep it short and sweet.
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    fresh as.... A Mynt Public Relations Blog

  • Data Privacy Day and Thoughts from a Security CEO

    27 Jan 2012 | 5:32 pm
    January 28th is the annual Data Privacy Day.  Data Privacy Day is an international celebration designed to promote awareness about privacy and education about best privacy practices. Stina Ehrensvard, CEO for Yubico shares her thoughts on the importance of this day. “The Internet was designed for sharing, not security. As we have moved our business, e-governments and social lives online, and as these digital services become more and more sophisticated, so do fraudsters. Online identity theft is today the fastest going crime, with trillions of dollars in yearly losses. However, just as…

  • Mynt in Print @PRDaily - 23 Smartphone Apps Perfect for PR Pros

    26 Jan 2012 | 12:26 pm
    Honored to be published in PR Daily today for 23 smartphone apps perfect for PR pros… to view the article in its entirety, please visit http://bit.ly/ztTih7  There are more than 1 million applications available for smartphones and tablets. Among the first applications that everyone probably downloaded was Facebook, Angry Birds, or Pandora.  With more business-oriented applications become available, I was curious to know which apps my fellow PR professionals use on a daily basis and can’t live without. So, I reached to colleagues and sent a query through Help A Reporter Out…

  • San Diego's NextLevel Internet Delivers 2011 Year in Review

    23 Jan 2012 | 1:10 pm
    NextLevel Internet, Inc., a leader in mission-critical Internet access and hosted voice services, is pleased to deliver a 2011 year in review and 2012 technology forecast. “2011 was our most profitable and successful year to date. Not only did we see double digit growth in revenue and client base, but we also increased our number of employees by 26 percent,” said Jerry Morris, founder of NextLevel Internet, Inc. “We are continuously adapting and evolving our service offerings to make sure we are providing our B2B clients with the best privately managed voice, Internet, and cloud based…

  • Statement from Yubico CEO on Zappos.com Security Breach

    16 Jan 2012 | 12:17 pm
    “A security breach of the magnitude experienced by Zappos.com is a serious concern for any business that relies exclusively on Internet orders for sales,” said Stina Ehrensvard, CEO, Yubico, Palo Alto, California and Stockholm, Sweden, commenting on how hackers exposed 24 million client records in a security breach over the weekend.  “While it appears Zappos’ securely protected the database that housed credit card information, hardware security modules (HSMs) could have prevented the exposure of Zappos’ customer password data that were compromised from the organization’s servers…

  • 2012 PR New Year's Resolutions

    6 Dec 2011 | 2:25 pm
    PR Daily recently posted a great article sharing Public Relations’ professionals New Year’s resolutions for 2012.  Ranging from switching up pitching styles, to improving social media use, to having the ability to unplug more regularly, Mynt Public Relations is excited to have been included in the article as we look to keep our inbox tidy.    Taming the inbox“This year, my New Year’s resolution will be to keep my email inbox tame and highly organized throughout the entire year. Right now it’s like an angry pit bull, but I would rather have it be a happy puppy.” - Ronnie…
 
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    SF Chronicle

  • The Absolute Wealth Newsletter Explains How The OVI Indicator Shows The Way To 2 Profitable Tech Trades

    28 Jan 2012 | 9:25 am
    The Absolute Wealth newsletter says the sector as a whole has responded positively as market sentiment has turned from negative to merely glum for some. The Absolute Wealth newsletter explains this signals that U.S. economic data statistics are trending in the right direction, and has supported decisions to buy stocks after the market discount sale. Austin, TX. (PRWEB) January 28, 2012 The current Absolute Wealth newsletter explains how to use the OVI indicator to find potential stock trades. The current Absolute Wealth newsletter reports that the equity market recovery has seen three solid…

  • Build Solutions on the Oracle Service Bus Using Packt's latest OSB 11g Development Cookbook

    28 Jan 2012 | 9:00 am
    Packt Publishing is pleased to announce the publication of its Oracle Service Bus 11g Development Cookbook - a comprehensive guide that allows SOA developers to gain in-depth knowledge for dealing with service and message-oriented solutions on the Oracle Service Bus. The book is available now from Packt and other leading retailers in print, ebook, Kindle and select library formats. Birmingham, UK (PRWEB) January 28, 2012 Packt Publishing is pleased to announce the publication of its Oracle Service Bus 11g Development Cookbook - a comprehensive guide that allows SOA developers to gain in-depth…

  • Peter Thomas Senese Increases Child Abduction Prevention Campaign: Releases Critically Acclaimed Novel CHASING THE CYCLONE & Documentary Film CHASING PARENT

    28 Jan 2012 | 8:30 am
    CHASING PARENTS educational documentary film producer and narrator Peter Thomas Senese is pleased to announce the upcoming installation of 3 new film segments that will be released during the month of February as part of the ongoing international child abduction prevention film initiative he has produced and created. Coupling Senese's upcoming segment additions, the best-selling writer has released the critically acclaimed CHASING THE CYCLONE novel on E-book to the rave review of readers everywhere. (PRWEB) January 28, 2012 Filmmaker, Author, and Child Advocate Peter Thomas Senese is…

  • San Diego Bankruptcy Lawyers Offering Free Initial Consultation to People in San Diego County Facing Foreclosure

    28 Jan 2012 | 8:00 am
    The San Diego bankruptcy lawyers at the law firm known as the Golden State Law Group, whose firm Web site URL can be found at http://www.goldenstatelawgroup.com, hereby announces that the firm is offering free initial consultations for homeowners in San Diego County who may be facing foreclosure. A report was recently released by DataQuick that reveals that more than 4,800 homeowners were sent mortgage default notices during the fourth quarter of 2011. San Diego, California (PRWEB) January 28, 2012 The San Diego bankruptcy lawyers at the Golden State Law Group, a law firm that provides…

  • Explore Talent Announces Results of the Poll, "What Genre of Music Will Never Go Out of Style? Hip-Hop, Pop, Techno, Country, Rock or Something Else?"

    28 Jan 2012 | 8:00 am
    Explore Talent (http://www.exploretalent.com) Announces Results of the Poll, 'What Genre of Music Will Never Go Out of Style? Hip-Hop, Pop, Techno, Country, Rock or Something Else?" on the Facebook® Platform Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) January 28, 2012 Explore Talent, a premier online social-network for industry insiders, announced results of a new poll today on the Facebook platform, "What Genre of Music Will Never Go Out of Style? Hip-Hop, Pop, Techno, Country, Rock or Something Else?" ExploreTalent is a professional site that connects actors, models, musicians and dancers in the…
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    Strategic Objectives

  • Kruger Products AMAZING Year with Five Prestigious CASSIES Awards 2012

    SO_pr
    24 Jan 2012 | 9:34 am
    For Immediate Release January 24, 2012 Kruger Products AMAZING Year with Five Prestigious CASSIES Awards 2012   Award-Winning Marketing and Communications Campaigns for Cashmere Bathroom Tissue and SpongeTowels Assert Category Leadership Kruger Products LP, one of Canada’s most successful companies and a brand powerhouse with operations in Canada and the U.S., capped an amazing year of marketing innovation with the win of five coveted national awards at the CASSIES Gala 2012 on Monday, January 23, 2012 in Toronto.  Canada’s leading manufacturer and distributor of paper products won…

  • The Year’s Most Lifesaving Resolution: Update Your MedicAlert

    SO_pr
    20 Jan 2012 | 9:37 am
    For Immediate Release January 20, 2011   The Year’s Most Lifesaving Resolution: Update Your MedicAlert A lot can change in a year, including important information about your health, which is why MedicAlert is urging its members to review their medical profiles and make necessary changes. A resolution that could save their life! According to advanced care paramedic Blair Bigham ACP, MSc, two important factors when responding to an emergency are time and accurate information.  While the MedicAlert 24-hour emergency hotline delivers on time (providing paramedics with access to a…

  • Le cabinet de relations publiques Strategic Objectives figure dans la liste 2012 de PR News des 10 meilleures agences en matière de RSE

    SO_pr
    17 Jan 2012 | 3:37 pm
    Pour diffusion immédiate Le 17 janvier 2012   Le cabinet de relations publiques Strategic Objectives figure dans la liste 2012 de PR News des 10 meilleures agences en matière de RSE Le seul cabinet au pays à figurer parmi les 10 meilleurs en matière de responsabilité sociale d’entreprise   Strategic Objectives, le dynamique cabinet de relations publiques maintes fois primé, a atteint un nouveau et impressionnant sommet. Reconnue pour ses programmes révolutionnaires en matière de responsabilité sociale d’entreprise (RSE), Strategic Objectives est la seule…

  • Toronto PR Agency Strategic Objectives Named to PR News Top Ten CSR A-List 2012

    SO_pr
    16 Jan 2012 | 11:04 am
    For Immediate Release January 16, 2012   Toronto PR Agency Strategic Objectives Named to PR News Top Ten CSR A-List 2012 Only all-Canadian firm to make the Corporate Social Responsibility Top Ten Team @SO_pr celebrates with the Hudson's Bay Company Olympic fundraising mittens Strategic Objectives, Canada’s international, award-winning PR powerhouse, has racked up a new and impressive honour.  A global leader in creating breakthrough corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs that do meaningful social good, Strategic Objectives is the only all-Canadian PR firm named to the…

  • Build-A-Bear Workshop Seeks Service-Minded Kids to Join Ranks of Hundreds of Huggable Heroes…and Counting!

    SO_pr
    16 Jan 2012 | 8:51 am
      For Immediate Release January 16, 2012   Build-A-Bear Workshop Seeks Service-Minded Kids to Join Ranks of Hundreds of Huggable Heroes…and Counting!   Today, more than ever, young leaders are making positive contributions in their communities and around the world.  To recognize, honour and reward these young people, Build-A-Bear Workshop launches its ninth annual search for Huggable Heroes. This group will be made up of inspiring young leaders who have a commitment to serve, help others, and make a difference in their community. Kids, ages eight to 18, can be nominated…
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    the red rocket

  • Making an impression at the Late Late Breakfast Show

    Phil Szomszor
    17 Jan 2012 | 5:43 pm
    So, this afternoon Bernie Mitchell, the man behind the Late Late Breakfast Show monthly meetup in London emails me and asks me to do a minute’s presentation that evening about what we’re doing at Social Media Week. Sure, no problem, I say. Despite one of the cardinal sins of presenting being not preparing properly, I write [...]

  • Empire Avenue: the path to social media stardom or a digital deadend?

    Phil Szomszor
    13 Jan 2012 | 8:09 am
    About this time last year I wrote a post about Quora, suggesting that it could be 2011′s success story. It turned out I was wrong. So, I’m going to be a bit more careful when bigging up Empire Avenue, a social network that mimics a stock market to bring together and gamify your whole social [...]

  • Who owns a Twitter username? How to avoid a Twitter account lawsuit

    Phil Szomszor
    28 Dec 2011 | 10:12 am
    {EAV:e159ba1c96f0e8b9} How much is a Twitter follower worth? $2.50 per month, apparently – well, depending on the outcome of a lawsuit in the States where a company called PhoneDog is suing one of its ex-workers for taking his 17,000 followers with him when he left the company. According to the Guardian, Noah Kravitz was tweeting under the [...]

  • Is it ever a good idea to update your own Wikipedia page?

    Phil Szomszor
    8 Dec 2011 | 11:57 am
    When I think of ‘dark arts’, I’m reminded more of Voldemort than PR agencies, but that hasn’t stopped a lot of people criticising Bell Pottinger for allegedly manipulating Wikipedia pages for its clients.  The full story can be read on the Independent’s website and other outlets. Although criticised by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, it’s unclear at [...]

  • Tancredi, a book from the Ministry of Surreal

    Phil Szomszor
    29 Nov 2011 | 4:30 am
    A little while ago I signed up to a Peer Index perk to receive a book entitled Tancredi by a chap called James Palumbo, better known as the founder of Ministry of Sound. It also came with a set of Ministry of Sound headphones, which can’t be sniffed at. Peer Index’s competitor, Klout, has been providing perks for its [...]
 
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    InkHouse

  • Hit the Books: Why Reading is Essential to PR Success

    Ericka Stachura
    25 Jan 2012 | 3:31 pm
    Working in PR is an exercise in discipline. We assume responsibility for everything from strategy to execution details, all of which can change on a moment’s notice. As Beth points out in her 33 Signs You Work in PR piece, #22 is “You are perfectly capable of writing a press release while tweeting, updating Facebook and watching Mad Men at the same time.” A successful PR practitioner needs discipline to carve out time for tasks essential to our job function, particularly the non-tangible elements like reading. It sounds simple enough, but with a daunting to-do list full of deliverables,…

  • Messaging and Class Warfare: The PR of Politics

    Beth Monaghan
    23 Jan 2012 | 12:51 pm
      Given the choice between helping a client compose messages about reports of his private equity work or his infidelity, I would choose private equity every time. Occupy Wall Street and tepid improvements in the unemployment figures ushered in this very strange Republican Primary season. In this kind of tumultuous environment, swings of passion and loyalty are more than possible given the right message delivered to the right audience. Enter South Carolina. In the days leading up to the Republican Primary this past Saturday, two things happened: Mitt Romney refused to disclose his tax…

  • Reuters TV and the Evolution of YouTube

    Beth Monaghan
    17 Jan 2012 | 12:00 pm
    Reuters TV debuted today with 10 programs that will reside on Reuters.com, which draws an audience of 40 million (the fourth most trafficked business news site) and through its YouTube channel. Of note, Anthony De Rosa, Reuters Digital’s social media editor, will host “Tech Tonic.” De Rosa has been posting updates today on Twitter (@AntDeRosa) and you can read the Reuters announcement and view the “Reuters TV Tease” for more information. While there is no question that online video and niche programming are changing the lives of consumers, they are also changing the nature of PR,…

  • Sarah Lacy Launches PandoDaily: PR Takeaways

    Beth Monaghan
    16 Jan 2012 | 12:50 pm
    I was thrilled to see Sarah Lacy (@sarahcuda) launch PandoDaily (@PandoDaily) today. We, at InkHouse, have been following Sarah from the business journals of the Valley to BusinessWeek to TechCrunch (as well as her book writing along the way) and are thrilled to see her launching her own venture. Since I read the rumors last month, I’ve been eager to see the official launch. Read Lacy’s post about why she started PandoDaily for the full story, but here are the important takeaways for PR people: The focus is startups. Lacy’s goal is “To be the site-of-record for that startup…

  • How social media networking is like attending a cocktail party

    Laura Paine
    13 Jan 2012 | 10:52 am
    This morning over coffee I was talking with my husband and our friend about the value of social networking. They’re both self-employed and generally don’t understand how to use it to foster new relationships and business prospects. I hear this a lot, even from friends who do publicity for the music industry. Here’s what I say: Approach social media the way you would a cocktail party or networking event. Survey the space. When you walk into a networking event, you might look at the nametags at the entry table or see in advance who registered. Then, when you get there, you know the people…
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    The Good, The Bad, The Spin

  • A 7-point checklist for crisis preparedness and management

    Bob
    16 Jan 2012 | 4:28 am
    Crises, by definition, cannot always be predicted. Nevertheless, businesses and organizations can be prepared for unfortunate events, including attacks from consumers, product defects, and other crises that can damage a bottom line and personal reputations. Crisis planning is one way to mitigate damage during controversy and heavy media scrutiny. Embedded practices, however, are also crucial. This means regular behaviors within organizations that can help mitigate damage and aid the flow of information during a controversy or crisis. Absent regular communications practices, crisis damage may…

  • Spin! How the news media misinform, 8 of 8

    Bob
    12 Jan 2012 | 3:32 am
    CHAPTER 2, PART 8 of 8 From Spin! How the News Media Misinform and Why Consumers Misunderstand, by Bob Conrad, Ph.D. Now available at Amazon in paperback, Smashwords and for the Kindle. Get a free review copy by emailing me. Read Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 Oversight, or not Given the significant potential for misinformation by unknowledgeable gatekeepers, and the increasing inability to check facts, it would seem that, as with most other types of organizations, an external level of accountability over newsrooms would be beneficial. Those of us who…

  • Spin: How the media misinform, 7 of 8

    Bob
    9 Jan 2012 | 3:25 am
    From Spin! How the News Media Misinform and Why Consumers Misunderstand, by Bob Conrad, Ph.D. Now available at Amazon in paperback, Smashwords and for the Kindle. Get a free review copy by emailing me. Read Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6  Chapter 2, part 7 of 8 Increased inaccuracies and mistrust Despite the increasing influence of citizen journalists, mistrust of news continues to grow rapidly. The Pew Research Center (www.people-press.org) released in 2009 its annual report examining public evaluations of the news media. The subtitle of the Pew’s…

  • Spin! How the news media misinform, 6 of 8

    Bob
    2 Jan 2012 | 12:14 pm
    CHAPTER 2, PART 6 of 8 From Spin! How the News Media Misinform and Why Consumers Misunderstand, by Bob Conrad, Ph.D. Now available at Amazon in paperback, Smashwords and for the Kindle. Get a free review copy by emailing me. Read Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 The historical influence of citizen journalists was maintained in the vibrant independent press. Ben Franklin is one example, as was the long-standing publication I.F. Stones’ Weekly, called a “journalistic triumph of the 20th century.” According to a Stone biographer, Myrsa MacPherson, “Stone went…

  • Spin! How the news media misinform, 5 of 8

    Bob
    31 Dec 2011 | 4:44 am
    I am posting the introduction and first two chapters of my new book over the next few weeks. The book is available for pre-order at Amazon. I am also giving away a limited number of advance, review copies to those willing to review it on Amazon, or on news sites or blogs, prior to the release date of Jan. 3, 2012. Email me for details. CHAPTER 2, PART 5 of 8 Now available at Amazon in paperback, Smashwords and for the Kindle. Get a free review copy by emailing me. Read Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 Part of the problem with the press is that as…
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    PMG Public Relations

  • Send Me Your Resume.

    Nicole Ravlin
    19 Jan 2012 | 11:51 am
    Um. I don’t have one. This was my recent response to a colleague yesterday when I was asked to send my resume for a teaching position I hope to have this fall at Champlain College. When I started PMG with Ken, I thought two things: I would never have to manage anyone again. After all, [...]

  • What Mentoring Means to Us

    Alicia DeMartini
    18 Jan 2012 | 7:13 pm
    First of all – Happy Mentoring Month! I’ve always thought that January is the perfect time to celebrate mentoring, since it’s the beginning of a new year – and often a time when many resolve to try and give back to the community a little more. What better way to give back than to mentor [...]

  • CSR, Sustainability and the Illusion of “Work/Life Balance” – Are we practicing what we preach?

    PMGpr
    2 Jan 2012 | 3:57 pm
    Today, we have our first ever guest blogger, Laura Crandall. Laura is the owner of Slate Communication, a consultancy specializing in workplace communication. She is our organizational and human resources consultant at PMG. A version of this post initially appeared on her blog.   We all struggle with how to make our lives what we [...]

  • When “Local” Means “National”

    Nicole Ravlin
    30 Dec 2011 | 12:12 pm
    I have been thinking about what “buying local” means for the past few months. Years, actually. But a lot of the time in the past few months. A few events over the past few weeks have had me thinking about my consumerism. One is the Community Supported Enterprise project that I am working on with [...]

  • Dear Pinterest: I find YOU interesting

    Nicole Ravlin
    27 Dec 2011 | 9:32 pm
    You may have read about or heard of a new site called Pinterest. And by “new”, I mean just getting buzzed about now. The site has been around since 2009 – and out of the beta stage since March of 2010.  Their mission is simple: “to connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they [...]
 
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    Beyond the Wire

  • Favourite photos of 2011

    daniellegignac
    17 Jan 2012 | 1:23 am
    Working at CNW, we see a lot of news releases come across the wire. When someone adds multimedia, the release stands out in the crowd; even more so when the multimedia is really sharp. As my bio (below) would suggest, I’m no photojournalist, but I know what I like. Just because someone’s not an expert doesn’t mean he or she won’t have opinions on, well, everything. So with that caveat, let’s get to it! I scoured our library and, out of nearly 4,000 photos, I chose my top 25 – these comprise my list for the favourite photos of 2011. I had six criteria (I try to be organized when I…

  • Make it pop — colour correction makes the difference

    darrinsuzuki
    21 Dec 2011 | 4:03 am
    When it comes to video production, colour correction raises a lot of questions. I’ve been asked everything from, “Isn’t the video already shot in colour?” to, “What is there to correct?”. To answer these questions, I decided to put together a short video to SHOW people how colour correction can make the difference and how it takes a talented specialist to make those visuals really pop on screen. Enjoy!

  • CNW Photo of the Month – October 2011

    Chamsi Dib
    4 Nov 2011 | 5:43 am
    On October 5th, the Harris Institute distributed a press release announcing it would honor Jack Richardson, a famous Canadian recording producer who passed away in May 2011. http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/854235/harris-institute-honours-jack-richardson With that, they provided a captivating photo that illustrates the man and his passion for music. The photo is highly artistic, presenting powerful contrasts of color, while it succeeds to remain informative. It depicts a man working, with one revealing accessory in hand. The creativity at work in the photo reflects that of the man himself –…

  • The shape of things to come …

    Carolyn McGill
    23 Sep 2011 | 2:50 am
    There’s rarely a dull moment around communication circles these days. In case you missed them, here’s a roundup of a number of thought-provoking events last week, many of which set the stage for things to come. Howard Wetston, Chair of the OSC, spoke to CBC’s Amanda Lang at a Toronto Board of Trade luncheon. Among the topics they discussed:  the merits of a single securities regulator; the OSC’s stance on the enforcement front; and Mr. Wetston’s views on how the role of the OSC might change in light of foreign ownership. (In his view it simply wouldn’t.) I serve on the OSC Small…

  • Back to School Resolutions

    Fiona Cunningham
    8 Sep 2011 | 4:31 am
    Every year in early September, I begin to remember and feel the same excitement that came   with gearing up to go back to school. Late summer is a great time to reflect on what’s been accomplished thus far, and inevitably has a way of distinguishing the truly important areas of focus for the remainder of the year. It’s a time for concentrating efforts, embracing best practices and approaching the tasks at hand with a renewed sense of urgency. Here’s a summary of best practices around communications gathered from seminars and events CNW has hosted, presentations we’ve delivered, and…
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    Susan Marie Public Relations

  • Free Henry! "Ethereal Gust" : How to Get the New Studio Release

    26 Jan 2012 | 8:52 am
    I will be reviewing this soon, please grab a copy, it is amazing. 

  • The Buffalo Infringement Festival: 2012 Applications

    24 Jan 2012 | 12:06 pm
    The Buffalo Infringement Festival is now accepting applications for 2012.   This year's festival runs from July 26 to August 5. Submissions are accepted February 1st - May 1st, 2012 The Buffalo Infringement Festival is 11 days of under the radar art. During the festival, the city comes alive with a range of eclectic, independent, experimental, and controversial art of all forms.  Originating

  • What Are Your Top Ten Sitcom Themes and Why?

    20 Jan 2012 | 8:23 pm
    George @BuffaloCentric asked the public on January 20, 2012, what they thought the most memorable or best sitcom television themes were of all time.  I joined the conversation on twitter and in minutes, people were adding sitcom themes that most of us have forgotten that have indeed stood the test of time. This post is to allow you, the world, to have fun and take part in this idea:  Think

  • “When I’m President” : The 2012 U.S. Elections

    9 Jan 2012 | 10:21 am
    First Published: CNNWe Speak News: India WGRZ CH. 2 News  “When I’m president, meetings where laws are written will be more open to the public. No more secrecy.” - Senator Barack Obama [ABC 2007] “God did not create this country to be a nation of followers.” - Mitt Romney  [The Raw Story 2011] “I would send troops back into Iraq.” - Rick Perry [LA Times 2012] “Palestinians are an

  • Thoughts While Sleepwalking: On 2012

    31 Dec 2011 | 3:30 pm
    A new year. What of the one passing? I cannot help but reflect on our tumultuous 2011. Through the utilization of technology, the world provided the world, quite simply, a view of itself. In my experience, I were able to meet and speak to utterly brave people who endured grave sacrifice in order to make this world a better place. I am humbled by such things. From Tunisia to America, and every
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    Schwartz PRx

  • Med Tech Marketers - Don't Be Left On the Social Media Sidelines!

    Risa Goldman Burgess
    24 Jan 2012 | 2:33 pm
    If you are a med tech marketer trying to make sense of how and when to engage in social media as part of your overall marketing mix then you don’t want to miss our next healthcare social media event. Schwartz MSL and MassMEDIC are co-hosting a free social media best practices working group for MassMEDIC members at our new conference center on Friday, February 3 at 8:00 a.m. in Waltham.Representatives from Philips, Palomar, Smith & Nephew and Vention Medical will participate in a roundtable discussion on social media practices to discuss how marketing, legal, regulatory and HR can…

  • Pay Attention to Mobile Health at HIMSS '12

    Davida Dinerman
    13 Jan 2012 | 11:29 am
    By Brenna Hagy  HIMSS 2012 is right around the corner, and healthcare IT (HIT) companies are revving their engines to make the most of their time at the show. The Schwartz MSL Healthcare IT Practice Group spoke with Eric Wicklund, one of the industry’s top trade reporters. Eric is the editor at the newly launched mHIMSS website. He shared with us what he is looking forward to at the show and what topics and trends he’ll cover.1.         What are you most looking forward to at HIMSS 2012?HIT X.0, a sub-conference that will showcase…

  • What Journalists Want at HIMSS '12

    Davida Dinerman
    10 Jan 2012 | 9:12 am
    by Shweta AgarwalJournalists attending HIMSS 2012 are filling out their calendars, planning their schedules and starting to look at which vendor meetings will be worth their time. If you are looking to get your company or product on the docket of the influencers who can elevate you above the noise, now is the time to put the wheels into motion. Instead of inundating the inbox of every single media attendee on the HIMSS media list, plan ahead and craft a meaningful public relations strategy that can help put your company in front of the right audience. Joe Goedert, a prominent and respected…

  • Tech companies ask: "HIMSS - What's in it for us?"

    Mercedes Carrasco
    4 Jan 2012 | 10:39 am
    Schwartz MSL’s tech clients often ask us if attending HIMSS is worth their time and investment. These technology vendors might have a significant play in the healthcare vertical, but aren’t delivering pure-play HCIT products like EMRs, clinical decision support tools or healthcare billing platforms. Although HIMSS is the largest and most well-attended show dedicated to HCIT, the answer for general tech companies isn’t so clear cut. When discussing with clients the decision to attend or plan a larger presence through exhibiting or sponsorship at HIMSS, we pose the…

  • Road to HIMSS - ACOs are Gaining Ground

    Davida Dinerman
    22 Dec 2011 | 10:28 am
    Recently, Health Data Management and other outlets reported that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has selected 32 delivery systems to participate in the Pioneer Accountable Care Organization program authorized under the Affordable Care Act. The Pioneer ACO is one of eight programs under the Affordable Care Act aimed at incenting providers to improve the coordination and quality of care while lowering costs by reducing unnecessary tests and focusing on preventive care vs. reactive care. Five of the 32 hospitals, including Partners HealthCare and Steward Health Care System, are in…
 
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    Crawford

  • Curses! Foiled by Smart Devices and Fiendishly Clever Search Engines — Again!

    James Crawford
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:10 pm
    My moment of triumph over the phone monopoly had arrived. I’d show them. Stodgy old feature phone in hand, I burst through the doors of the Verizon Wireless store and slammed the device on the counter. “The damned thing has been broken all day and I can’t call out — what can you do about it?” The youthful service rep studied my phone from a safe distance, as one would any dinosaur, then bravely picked it up and placed a test call. “Works fine,” he said, “Let me see you try.” I did. Same problem as before. “Aha! What did I tell…

  • Tech PR: Be Your Own Wire Service

    James Crawford
    25 Jan 2012 | 12:41 pm
    One of my longstanding principles is to be nice to almost everybody. I do this even if they work for me and I’m in a position to lord it over them and make their lives miserable. It’s not that I’m a kindly soul imbued with bonhomie or involuntarily go around spreading good cheer. Far from it. I’m nice because it’s practical, and often the safest thing to do. Through a twist of fate you can end up working for some nincompoop who was once your employee. Ask anyone who’s worked at Crawford. Most are former clients. The other day I got a call from Peggy, an old…

  • “What Do YOU Think?” — The Most Important Question Companies Never Ask

    James Crawford
    23 Jan 2012 | 1:31 pm
    In the tech PR arena we deal with companies that tend to differentiate themselves based on new product or service features: voice synthesis, business intelligence, and so on. There’s a continual game of one-up-manship to develop some clever new googaw or gimcrack that will give an edge, however slight or short-lived, over the competition. Frankly, if I were a customer I’d be more impressed if a company got in touch and said, “What is your  biggest business problem, and how can we help?” or even “What do you think about this product idea?” If that happened,…

  • Social Engagement: Twitter – Useful PR Tool or Total Waste of Time?

    Kate Schackai
    20 Jan 2012 | 11:11 am
    It’s fair to wonder about a communications tool that seems designed to refer to its users as “twits.” “Tweeple” (not “twerps”?) may be a kinder sobriquet, but how useful is the “twitterverse?” And at what point (if ever) does Twitter rise above thumb-twiddling? You’ve likely already seen the most touted story lines — Twitter boasts more than 100 million active users, is growing at an alarming rate, and is almost absurdly well-suited to smartphones and mobile devices… So okay, we know that there’s an audience there.

  • Congratulations on Your Success! (You Egotistical Ass)

    James Crawford
    18 Jan 2012 | 2:14 pm
    French essayist Michel de Montaigne wrote “modesty is the worst form of conceit.” In an election year where all candidates, including multi-millionaires, do their best to out-humble another in order to impress, I’d generally agree with Mssr. Montaigne. But today, following the arrival of two incredibly arrogant promotions that crossed my inbox, I’m taking exception. The first comes from the founder and leader of a local tech meetup group. What exactly he’s promoting other than his own vain self, who knows? The colorful note opens with a friendly “Hi…
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    The Wakeman Agency Blog

  • Media Attention – Quick Tips to Help You Get More

    Jessica Epperly
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:57 am
    By Jessica Epperly   There are many ways to get media attention for your story. One of the best ways is to hire a public relations specialist with strong connections to the media. Journalists are notoriously hard to reach, but there are a few tricks of the trade that can help get their attention.   read more

  • Twitter for Good - a Book Review Vlog

    Monica Clarke
    25 Jan 2012 | 2:30 am
    By Monica Clarke Watch the Vlog that reviews Twitter for Good!  

  • Marketing for Nonprofits – Why Events are Essential

    Katherine Turiano
    24 Jan 2012 | 11:47 am
    By Katherine Turiano   I believe the reason events are essential to non-profits is because they are able to raise awareness and funding for a non-profit's cause within one glittering gala night or mud-covered triathlon day. The Wakeman Agency is able to perfectly partner with your team to take on the production and publication of your events to allow your staff to manage the development and outreach you are best at, creating memorable events that make an impact. read more

  • What I Didn't Learn in Journalism School

    Katie Cray
    20 Jan 2012 | 8:26 am
    By Katie Cray    As a proud Northeastern University alumnus (one of the best journalist schools, in my opinion), I can honestly say that I learned a lot in the classroom and through the co-op program. However, I didn’t learn everything. As beneficial as the co-op program was, nothing compares to jumping into the workforce without the safety net of returning to class the next semester. Everything is very idealistic and hypothetical when you’re sitting in a lecture, but sitting at your desk pitching your client to a reporter, in real life, is a bit different. read more

  • Direct Marketing Tips in 2012 to Improve Marketing ROI

    Soo Dawson
    17 Jan 2012 | 9:25 am
    By Soo Dawson   You know and I know that direct marketing tactics can really backfire at times. I recently heard of a bakery owner in a small suburb who offered a deal on her Facebook page – order a cake by such and such date and you will get a second cake for free!   She ended up having to fulfill over 2,500 orders and lost $20,000 in labor costs and baking supplies.   What she probably didn’t anticipate was the overwhelming response to her promotion, and it ended up becoming a costly mistake for her. But many marketers fall prey to this type of poor planning from…
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    casseracommunications.com

  • 3 Ways to Become Irresistible to National Media Outlets

    melissa
    25 Jan 2012 | 11:04 am
    Let’s face it, most of us have “appear in a national media outlet” on our bucket list. So, what’s the magic ingredient to make that happen? Well, there are three ingredients actually – and they are completely attainable by each and every one of you. 1. Be an exceptional media brand This is the time to get honest with yourself and your business. Is your product really up to par with the other products that get regular coverage in national magazines or on TV? As an expert, do you have the necessary credibility indicators to compete with the other experts that…

  • 3 Ways to Kick Start your PR Campaign

    melissa
    16 Jan 2012 | 6:50 pm
    I know…your head is spinning. There is so much advice out there about how to run a fabulous PR campaign. You soak every little bit of it in like a sponge. And then….you freeze. All of this advice is great, but where the heck do you even start? First, determine whether you will do your own PR campaign, hire a publicist, or hire a coach to teach you the tricks of the trade (this is covered in-depth in last week’s post). Now what? Follow these three tips to kick start your PR campaign the right way. What do you want from your campaign? Most business owners will answer that…

  • Do you really need to hire a publicist?

    melissa
    10 Jan 2012 | 6:16 pm
    As a publicity coach, I hear a lot of feedback from entrepreneurs on their experiences with PR. Some of the most common questions/gripes include:   I hired an expensive publicist/PR firm and I was disappointed I hired an expensive publicist/PR firm and then I ran out of money. I hired an expensive publicist/PR firm and I got some coverage but now I want to take it to the next level I can’t afford a publicist/PR firm but have no time to do my own PR I want to do my own PR, but I have no idea where to start If you fit within any of these categories – this post is for you. As…

  • Are you ‘big enough’ for publicity?

    melissa
    3 Jan 2012 | 4:54 pm
    Happy New Year my lovely blog reader! We’re blasting off this week with a topic that I’m asked about quite frequently – do you need to have a huge following before going after publicity? The answer is yes….and no. It really depends on the opportunity. When Oprah had her network TV show, it was common for many entrepreneurs to want to go from “zero to Oprah.” This means, if you have never appeared on television or in a national, high visibility media outlet – your chances were slim to none to score that elusive Oprah appearance. And even if you were a…

  • Handy Dandy Guide to PR Etiquette

    melissa
    15 Dec 2011 | 1:15 pm
    Tis the season for sugar and spice and everything nice. So nothing is more fitting than a post on how to navigate the complicated world of working with the media. I took the liberty of polling a variety of media sources to learn what they like and what they don’t. Here is a rulebook of manners to successfully manage your media relationships. Thou shall not stalk the media Following up with the media after sending a pitch is ok. Stalking them until they answer your emails or phone calls is not. I had numerous responses from the media that they would see the same number pop up on the…
 
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    Mopwater PR + Media Notes

  • On a Quest for PR Success :: Test Drive My Job Sakita Holley

    Amanda Miller Littlejohn
    6 Jan 2012 | 8:51 am
    Sakita Holley, Founder-House of Success PR Twitter   @MissSuccess Web   House of Success Blog   SakitaHolley.Com  LinkedIn  @SakitaHolley Mopwater: Describe your path to PR: How did you wind up in this field? SH: In retrospect, I would describe my path to PR as a natural progression, because growing up I always participated in activities and [...]

  • Plan Your Content in 2012 (A Free Brand Planning Tool)

    Amanda Miller Littlejohn
    1 Jan 2012 | 12:38 pm
    Happy New Year! It’s been a busy few weeks around here with the holidays and two small children in the house. I managed to stay awake last night to see the ball drop at midnight. After a couple of glasses of champagne, I will admit that I was asleep shortly there after.  But before eventually [...]

  • Houston’s PR Gem: Test Drive My Job Ashley Small

    Amanda Miller Littlejohn
    21 Dec 2011 | 3:08 pm
    By Amanda Miller Littlejohn | @amandamogul I find the most fabulous people on Twitter. I can’t quite remember how or when I began following Ms. Ashley Small, but I’m so glad I did. She is a fierce indie PR firm owner out of Houston and she’s always tweeting about some fabulous project or another. Earlier [...]

  • 40+ Media, Marketing and PR Jobs

    Amanda Miller Littlejohn
    30 Aug 2011 | 1:06 pm
    Follow Amanda on Twitter @amandamogul Enjoy! Marketing Coordinator – Billboard New York, NY We are seeking a Marketing Coordinator. This position will report directly to Billboards Senior Marketing Manager, and will support the efforts of the entire marketing team. Skills/Experience: A minimum of 1 2 years of experience at a media/publishing company, an agency or [...]

  • A Focus on Diversity in Higher Education :: Test Drive My Job Tia Gordon

    Amanda Miller Littlejohn
    29 Aug 2011 | 9:35 am
    Tia T. Gordon, 34 Washington, D.C. Founder and CEO TTG+Partners | @ttgpartners Mopwater: Describe your path to PR: How did you wind up in this field? TG: After failing statistics twice as an electrical engineering major, I decided it was time for a change.  I became a communications/PR major during my junior year and quickly embraced [...]
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    SocialSelf.Ca

  • Happy New Year!

    socialselfca
    31 Dec 2011 | 6:51 am
    Here’s to you you and a great year for us both! And here’s a link to a good hangover cure Much love from me to you. Afs

  • The Computer Revolution as seen through a 1970′s creepy children’s cartoons

    socialselfca
    21 Dec 2011 | 7:42 am
    An explanatory video in a style from before my time – works well! Charles and Ray Eames Explain the Computer Revolution

  • If you search “useful” you might find this:

    socialselfca
    28 Nov 2011 | 7:13 pm
    I remember learning a few of these tricks back in my first year of PR school at Humber. I use them daily. Student take note, this is a treasured tool set to have.

  • November / Movember Update

    socialselfca
    5 Nov 2011 | 7:03 am
    How time flies! The winter season is coming (and fast), batten down the hatches and prepare the nation for some cozy and comforting hibernation! About a month ago next week I will have been at my new job at Edelman for a month. I’m settling in very nicely and making some awesome new friends. Ill keep it brief – I’m really enjoying my clients and the new work atmosphere, It’s dramatically different than my last job in many ways – all of them positive. I will update you with a grand tour and and some interesting co-worker cameos shortly but for now on to more…

  • Where do AWESOME ideas come from?

    socialselfca
    19 Oct 2011 | 8:47 am
    I think I might be in love with Steven Johnson 
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    BeckermanVoices

  • Antenna Group Announces Top 10 Cleantech Trends to Watch in 2012

    Stefanie Matteson
    17 Jan 2012 | 10:53 am
    Antenna Group Inc., a Beckerman subsidiary, has announced its top 10 cleantech trends to watch in 2012. Antenna Group is the nation’s largest clean technology public relations firm and a dedicated advocate for innovative technology businesses whose products or services contribute to a cleaner, more energy-efficient world, representing companies in sectors including renewable energy, energy efficiency, alternative fuels, energy storage, finance, waste management and water. As a leader in cleantech, Antenna Group is able to spot the trends that will have the greatest influence in the year…

  • 5 Social Media Rules We All Learned in Kindergarten

    Laura Finlayson
    3 Jan 2012 | 1:11 pm
    I often hear people say their company is not ready to use social media, does not have a large following, is locally-based or is simply too small. My response: “That’s why you need to start now.” After all, social media can be a cost-effective way to increase your business’s following, generate buzz about your products and services and help your company grow. I remember hearing of a pizza place (as we call them here in New Jersey) that was based in a college town. They launched a Twitter handle and promoted it with signs alerting patrons to follow them for exclusive…

  • Obligatory End of Year Blog Post

    Laura Franzese
    8 Dec 2011 | 10:09 am
    We have officially entered December: cue the holiday pepper spray and retrospective-slash-year ahead blog posts. 2011 has been a valuable and interesting year for communications professionals. More and more we are seeing pure-play media relations and brand management transition and grow into creating and owning the digital fingerprint of a brand. As social media becomes a vital element of journalism, communications needs to embrace it as well. With this growing pain, 2011 has seen some interesting digital communication SNAFUs from the more recent Bank of America Google+ brand page hijacking…

  • New Jersey’s Garbage: An Underutilized Resource

    Stefanie Matteson
    1 Dec 2011 | 9:53 am
    We always knew New Jersey had a lot of garbage, but now it’s been officially confirmed. New Jersey is the garbage capital of the nation, maybe even of the world. Which only makes sense: if we are the nation’s most densely populated state — and one of the most densely populated places on the planet — then it only follows that we produce more garbage per square mile than any other state. While some might view New Jersey’s outsized production of garbage, a.k.a. solid waste, as a liability, the N.J. Board of Public Utilities (BPU) views it as a potential resource. In a recent…

  • The Intern Chronicles: 5 tips to always remember

    AshleyManz
    29 Nov 2011 | 1:40 pm
    From trying to learn the trade to meeting all of your deadlines, so much goes on in an intern’s world that the small, sometimes clichéd pieces of advice we get from those around us really do help. Internships are a learning experience. At the end of the semester, you want to be able to walk away with a list of things you have learned about your major and about the professional environment. These are the top five tips and tricks that have stuck with me during my internship: “There is (almost) always an answer on the Internet.” When you don’t know something, finding the answer often is…
 
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    The PR Coach

  • One Million iReporters: Is PR Ready?

    PR Coach
    24 Jan 2012 | 11:06 pm
    CNN reaches 1 million iReporters Recently, CNN reported it now has one million registered iReporters in its citizen journalism community. Imagine. Is PR ready to respond? What other newsroom can possibly compete and what are the PR implications of these citizen journalists crowdsourcing news from around the globe? The news channel’s CNN iReport site was completely redesigned, revamped and reinvigorated in November 2011. It launched Open Story, a storytelling tool that allows its citizens journalists and community to participate in the news in real-time. And it released a custom-built…

  • Media Savvy: Are You Fully Socially Engaged?

    PR Coach
    16 Jan 2012 | 8:44 pm
    73% of journalists using social media channels to interact with PR A new research report may finally convince you to dump email in favor of social media channels when it comes to media relations. The Cision/Newhouse School 2011 Digital Influencer survey found that more than 70% of digital influencers now engage with PR pros through social media. These influencers included both traditional journalists as well as new “digital influencers” such as bloggers, writers, online publishers and news aggregators, academics and consultants. 73% of journalists interacted mostly through…

  • Never Hire a Bad Billionaire PR Client

    PR Coach
    11 Jan 2012 | 11:09 pm
    Is PR having a Mark Cuban crisis? You could see this public relations vs billionaire Mark Cuban crisis coming for miles. It all started with Cuban’s advice in Entrepreneur.com to startup companies including: “Never hire a PR firm.” His actual advice, number 11 in his 12-point list, was: “11. Never hire a PR firm. A public relations firm will call or email people in the publications you already read, on the shows you already watch and at the websites you already surf. Those people publish their emails. Whenever you consume any information related to your field, get the…

  • Murdoch Tweets: Credible PR 2.0 Strategy?

    PR Coach
    4 Jan 2012 | 5:43 pm
    Does Rupert Murdoch have a new PR & social media strategy? So, Rupert Murdoch started tweeting on New Year’s eve? Now that’s news of the world! You could have hit me on the head with a two by four and I’d be less surprised. Dude, I mean Sir. That’s awesome! The octagenarian Chairman of News Corp and his PR handlers (Edelman?) have launched a brand-new 2012 public relations/social media strategy for the embattled publisher and free enterprise icon. For someone who once described the internet as “predatory” writing, that’s quite a reversal. In…

  • PR Storytelling: Why’s This So Good?

    PR Coach
    3 Jan 2012 | 11:05 pm
    Can you find PR storytelling inspiration? Whether you’re in PR, a journalist, blogger or just a writer with a pulse, you’re always searching for writer’s craft and inspiration. Right? You’ve come to the right place. There’s no better way to start 2012 than with inspiration for your writing. That’s why the Nieman Storyboard series from the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard is essential reading. It’s my secret weapon when it comes to inspiration. The storytelling will simply make you weak in the knees or damn envious of some incredible…
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    Hypertext

  • What’s New in the Tumblr’hood?

    Gayle G
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:40 am
    Awhile back, we rounded up how microblogging platform Tumblr is a quickly emerging force for brands looking to up and/or solidify their digital profiles. But beyond that, it’s grown to become an invaluable tool for connecting with audiences beyond a brand name, and showcasing some personality. I myself can attest just how influential it can be in showcasing said brand personality – one stumble upon the NYC office’s Tumblr during my New York City job search last October, and I basically knew that I must work here (I even mentioned a few posts during my interview, which ultimately led to…

  • The Rise of Content in Communications

    Melissa Chanslor
    26 Jan 2012 | 10:00 am
    There’s been a lot of debate over the future of PR.  From PRSA’s #PRDefined initiative focused on revitalizing the definition of PR, to the evolving role of communications professionals and agencies. Historically, “traditional PR” has been heavily defined by media relations. And while media relations remains important, the industry is increasingly seeing our function becoming something much bigger. PR’s success focuses on building companies’ brands and growing their businesses – using storytelling and compelling messages to communicate to the people your company wants to…

  • Does your smartphone stress you out?

    lorena
    25 Jan 2012 | 11:13 am
    A work colleague shared an interesting article last week on the use of smartphones and their impact on stress levels. The article was based on a study by the British Psychological Society that found a link between stress levels and the number of times a person picks up their smartphone to check messages and mail. The result of the study can be read in their site.Mobile use statistics for 2011 show us how the use of smartphones has increased over the years:1.08 billion of people in the world have smartphonesBy 2014, mobile internet should take over desktop internet usageOn average Americans…

  • Celebrating #CMAD – A Video with our Community Manager

    Text 100
    23 Jan 2012 | 9:26 am
    Today marks the third annual Community Manager Appreciation Day since Jeremiah Owyang first coined it as the fourth Monday of January back in 2010.In celebration, we wanted to share the video below. We sat down with our community manager, Amber Rinehard, just before the new year to get her thoughts on how the community manager role evolved in 2011, what she sees for the future and what she considers the three most important qualities in a successful community manager.Are you celebrating #CMAD today? Want to learn more about community management and how it can help your business? Reach out to…

  • Big Social Media & Digital Trends for 2012 – Part II

    Jeremy Woolf
    19 Jan 2012 | 4:00 pm
    Social media is struggling through its adolescence. Growing pains are very real for many businesses, torn between the social business nirvana and the pragmatic realities of the day-to-day. To help those keen to get a jump on the year ahead I offer five more trends that are likely to shape PR, social media and digital communications in 2012. 1.       From Bolt-on to Business as Usual The advent of social media saw marketers attach themselves to channels such as Twitter, Weibo and Facebook with palpable glee. Many felt they were low-cost ways of pushing more marketing messages at a…
 
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    The Access Point

  • What We’re Reading: Facebook Timeline Coming Soon, The Validation Society and more

    SMWG
    27 Jan 2012 | 2:05 am
    Whether you’re in rain, shine or snow, we’ve braved the social storms to bring you the news that has Twitter all abuzz this week. Like it or not (pun intended), all Facebook users will get Timeline in the ‘next few weeks’ Facebook: Everyone Gets Timeline In ‘Next Few Weeks’: allfacebook.com/facebook-every… #timeline #facebook — AllFacebook (@allfacebook) January 24, 2012   Could the days of iOS dominating the tablet market be coming to a close? Android Reaches 39% Tablet OS Market Share (Standing On Amazon’s Shoulders) tcrn.ch/ySn4Me by @robinwauters…

  • Since Moses Came Down from the Mountain

    Access
    24 Jan 2012 | 10:42 am
    Anyone paying attention on their morning train, bus, or subway commutes - at least anyone not staring into a tablet screen or lost in aural euphoria on their iPod – will notice that the aforementioned tablets are growing – scratch that - exploding in popularity. This clever infographic captures perfectly the tablet’s remarkable rise and what’s propelling it. We at Access have also been analyzing the tablet, examining it through the eyes of the journalist and how this device is changing the way news is delivered. Hard to believe that its only been around since…

  • What We’re Reading: Infographics, Facebook Passwords and more!

    SMWG
    20 Jan 2012 | 12:07 pm
    As the glitz and glam of the holiday season is long behind us and product launches and media tours launch into full gear, take a break from your busy day and dive into this week’s top stories! Priceline is dropping William Shatner, “The Priceline Negotiator,” after a 14 year run of advertisements. The company said its changing its strategy, hence their decision to let Shatner go. Mmm, mmm, good. Foursquare has added the ability to view restaurant menus to its list of features. The company will use technology from startup SinglePlatform to help customers view 13 million food items from…

  • Remember the Pinto! Launching Global Campaigns

    Access
    13 Jan 2012 | 9:10 am
    Here’s the full text of a sidebar I just penned for PR News editor-in-chief Scott Van Camp on tips for successful global media outreach, for his upcoming article on LinkedIn and its Global Professional Buzzwords campaign—the most overused buzzwords on people’s LinkedIn profiles. Global PR launches are fraught with logistical, cultural, creative and communications challenges. Budget deliberations, local market language and culture considerations, PR messaging and creative frameworks, and campaign scope and reach all take on complex dimensions in the planning process. Here are just…

  • VIDEO: Pam O’Brien of FITNESS discusses social media, the tablet and more

    SMWG
    12 Jan 2012 | 4:49 pm
    With the new year comes a renewed focus on fitness for many. So, it’s only fitting that Access recently sat down with FITNESS Magazine’s Executive Editor, Pam O’Brien, to discuss the ways FITNESS is growing by embracing social media and new media formats to reach and engage their readers. Check out the video below to see Pam’s perspective on communicating directly with readers, using the social web to be innovative and creating content for new media. Follow @AccessPR
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    ThinkFast!

  • Taptu for your Social news reading

    27 Jan 2012 | 11:41 am
    Call me a Taptu fanboy. Never heard of it? It's a great mobile app for newshounds like me. Taptu is a social news feed reader that lets you add, remix, search and share streams from your favorite web sites, blogs and social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. You can add your favorite sources and topics directly from our StreamStore (including importing from Google Reader), DJ them on StreamStudio and finally share the ones you like the most. It's available for Android and iPhone users.The company recently announced its launch for the Samsung Bada platform, helping Taptu in its…

  • Google Search, plus Your World

    11 Jan 2012 | 11:10 am
    Google is moving more and more into the social search space, apparently to Twitter's chagrin. The company announced yesterday a new search paradigm called Search, Plus Your World, which aims to include A LOT more of your social interactions into your search results. Google wrote at its blog:"We’re transforming Google into a search engine that understands not only content, but also people and relationships. We began this transformation with Social Search, and today we’re taking another big step in this direction by introducing three new features:- Personal Results, which enable you to find…

  • Gary Vaynerchuk Says "Please, Get it Right - It's 2012!"

    3 Jan 2012 | 3:42 pm
    Happy New Year! It's been awhile since I blogged here (I suppose it's worth it to mention that I've been doing a fair share of blogging for companies and clients, just not here).So today, I want to change that. With a simple piece of advice from the always straight-up and sensible Gary Vaynerchuk. Gary shares a video (embed below) with his viewers that he can't believe he even had to make in 2012! In it, he implores those of you (us?) working in social media and more for companies and brands to GET IT RIGHT!Gary himself writes:"I hate to call out OWN, I mean no one has done it better than…

  • Where are you spending your social media time?

    20 Dec 2011 | 7:22 pm
    SAI's chart of the day shows that most of online users are spending time on Facebook. Is that true in your world?Business Insider writes:"Facebook accounts for 95% of social networking time on the web in the U.S., according to an analysis of comScore data provided to us by web publisher Ben Elowitz of Wetpaint."News and tips around communications, social media, PR and other personal branding adventures, from PR social strategist Dave Murrow. Email me your ideas, tips and turns to damurrow (at) gmail (dot) com.

  • Facebook proposed settlement with FTC over privacy breaches

    5 Dec 2011 | 4:02 pm
    This news skipped my notice last week, but I saw it today (thanks to the timely blog post by @Jason). The Federal Trade Commission offered a proposed settlement with Facebook Inc. over its many breaches of personal privacy for its users. The announcement from the Feds read:"The social networking service Facebook has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it deceived consumers by telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private, and then repeatedly allowing it to be shared and made public. The proposed settlement requires Facebook to take several steps to make…
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    O'Donnell Online

  • Tropicana Harness the Sun for Marketing Stunt

    Julie
    25 Jan 2012 | 2:30 am
    As part of their ‘Brighter Morning with Tropicana‘ campaign, the juice brand came up with a clever stunt which took place Monday in London’s Trafalgar Square. To the surprise of Londoners making their way about on a typically grey Winter’s morning in the city, a huge sun which took six months to construct and was 30,000 times bigger than a football rose up to brighten up the square. Apparently the artificial ‘sun’ could be seen from space as the light was the equivalent of 60,000 light bulbs! The brand is also running complimentary Facebook activity with…

  • A Decade of Video a Day Uploaded to YouTube

    Julie
    24 Jan 2012 | 2:30 am
    Today YouTube announced that one hour of video is uploaded to the site every second. A decade of footage a day! Struggling to wrap your brain around that? Well YouTube have launched this really nice site, onehourpersecond.com, which is full of interesting stats and figures which serve to put the volume of video and length of time spent on the site in context. For example, who knew that ‘In 4 minutes 48 seconds of uploads to YouTube, the ostrich continues running at full speed, traveling 12,384 miles’? Definitely worth checking out over your morning coffee. Of course, YouTube being…

  • Find Your Nearest ATM with a QR Code

    Julie
    23 Jan 2012 | 4:40 pm
    QR codes are a bit of a bugbear of mine. When they’re printed too small to scan, displayed too high or in areas without WiFi, linking to websites/pages that aren’t mobile optimised…the list goes on. That said I spotted this in my local shop today.The ATM was out of service but a QR code allowed you to visit a branch and ATM locator. Handy – particular if you’re in an area you’re not familiar with. Of course the QR code brought you to a site that wasn’t a mobile optimised but sure you can’t have everything (not at the moment anyway!). Like it?

  • Pharmaceutical Marketing News Bits

    Julie
    21 Jan 2012 | 6:20 pm
    As most of you know, I also blog on the Publicis D Healthcare site. Check out some of the topics discussed on the blog this week: Changes to the Pharma Code of Marketing Practice in Ireland: The Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA) has announced strict updates to its industry Code of Marketing Practice for the Pharmaceutical Industry. Video Consultations with Specialists Aid Treatment: The Archives of Dermatology this month published an interesting study on ‘teledermatology’ – the use of video conferencing to allow a primary care physician to ‘remote consult’ with a…

  • Introducing the Pop-up Video Studio

    Julie
    13 Dec 2011 | 2:10 am
    Dylan Owens of video production company, Creative Prophet, has launched a new initiative this Christmas – the pop-up video studio. Taking a Groupon approach to production, the company will have a pop-up green screen studio available for hire with prices starting at under €1000. The idea being that alot of companies avail of 2/3 hour time slots. One to look at if you’ve got some video production on your radar at the moment. Here’s Dylan explain the idea… SLASHING PRO VIDEO COSTS: PRE XMAS POP-UP STUDIO! from Dylan A Owens on Vimeo. Like it? Share it!:
 
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    who. what. where. when. why. how.

  • social media PR tools to watch in 2012

    Deanna White
    2 Jan 2012 | 11:21 pm
    Technology and social media continue to evolve and we admit it…  it can be incredibly hard to keep up sometimes. In 2012, brand presence on variety of social platforms will be absolutely essential for business … but which ones do you choose? We identified the top 3 key platforms that we believe will be most popular for business in the coming year, offering a well-rounded approach to social media PR in 2012. After you take a read, don’t forget to take our poll at the end of this post! 1. Google SEO will continue be vital to content marketing – and as google adjusts…

  • 12 PR prizes for the next 12 days – will it be you?

    Deanna White
    24 Dec 2011 | 9:58 am
    Now that Santa is about to reveal what he’s been working hard on all year, it’s our turn to do the same with our twelve days of Christmas giveaway promotion. In late October, we announced to  our social media communities that all Facebook fans would be entered into a draw to have an opportunity to win one of 12 fabulous PR prizes. Starting December 25th, we’ll be announcing the 12 lucky Facebook fans by random draw.  Will it be you? Stay tuned to this blog post! UPDATE – January 5, 2012 Day 12 Free $100 Google Adwords credit for the Google Adwords ninja who wants to…

  • happy holidays

    Deanna White
    17 Dec 2011 | 6:11 am
    We are officially turning off computers and cell phones and turning on the answering service, our Christmas lights & Christmas spirit. We’ll turn it all back on, (and off), January 2nd, 2012 when we re-open shop after the holidays. We want to take this opportunity to extend our warmest wishes to our clients for the valued business and colleagues for the continued support. May your most cherished moments with friends & family this holiday become your favourite memories. Deanna

  • Challenge your PR in 2012

    Deanna White
    15 Dec 2011 | 3:35 am
    It was interesting to watch how businesses integrated social media into their communications strategy in 2011.  There was an influx of new hires for social media managers whose sole job was to monitor what is being said online and engage audiences.  Although human analysis is certainly an important part of monitoring, it’s just not humanly possible to do it all. Organizations who are serious about reputation management and building brand/consumer loyalty in 2012 are increasingly turning to social tools that plug into business processes to measure online conversations.  What is the…

  • the past, present and future of PR

    Deanna White
    12 Nov 2011 | 11:27 am
    Further to my earlier post about infographics, I asked readers if they thought they were a fad or the future. They seem to be growing daily and will only increase with advent of PR3.0.  (And just when you were just getting the hang of PR2.0 .  I was pleasingly surprised when I stumbled across this infographic that gives a brief history of the top PR campaigns over time.  (originally provided by PRWeb).  Here are some of my favourites. Ivy Lee wrote the first press release in 1906 which was printed verbatim in the New York Times  – and thus – crisis PR was born. US egg production…
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    Communiqué PR Blog

  • Five Common Email Mistakes

    Holly Zuluaga
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:00 am
    Email is a primary form of communication for many professionals. What once was a casual correspondence now serves as the primary means for many people to share information.  At Communiqué PR, we ensure we are developing clear messages when communicating over email. To do this, we recommend having someone else review your note. Having another set of eyes look over what you’re communicating will help ensure that you are clearly delivering the best message possible. I recently came across an article in Ragan.com written by Josh Gordesky that highlights email mistakes you should never make.

  • Our Client-Service Ethic

    Jennifer Gehrt
    25 Jan 2012 | 11:14 am
    Recently I have been reflecting on Communiqué PR’s standard of practice and our philosophy around client service. Colleen Moffitt and I feel passionately about the topic and how we apply these standards. Here is how we describe our client-service ethic: 1. First and foremost, it means having a client-centered perspective, acknowledging the clients’ needs and putting service ahead of self-interest. It’s about partnership and making the client’s life as easy as possible while helping the individual and her company meet key business and communication objectives.  2. It means delivering…

  • Learning from the Best: Top Brands Engage Fans with Google+ Hangouts

    Katherine Turney
    23 Jan 2012 | 6:18 pm
    Not many social media tools enable a Syrian native living in America with his newborn baby to virtually see his family for the first time in 18 years. It’s now possible using Google+ and its new app “Hangouts,” a powerful way to connect people around the world using live multi-way video chats among up to 10 simultaneous users. This was the opening story at a Puget Sound American Marketing Association event I recently attended. The presenter, Amit Fulay, product manager for Google+ Hangouts, used his Syrian friend as an example to showcase the powerful impact Hangouts can have. Hangouts…

  • SOPA, PIPA and PR

    Karalee Sargent
    20 Jan 2012 | 11:00 am
    Image Credit: WikipediaOn Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012, the online world rose up against legislation being reviewed by Congress: the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). While everyone agrees preventing piracy and protecting IP are noble goals, Internet powerhouses like Wikipedia, Wired, Google and 60,000 other websites censored their homepages in what is now known as the largest protest in the Internet’s history. As PR practitioners, the Internet is a powerful tool for storytelling, via blogs, newswires, social media sites and more. SOPA and PIPA have…

  • Tips for Developing a Customer Survey

    Molly McWhinnie
    18 Jan 2012 | 10:55 am
    Today’s marketing communication professionals have a plethora of tools they can use to connect with current and prospective customers. Whether it is engaging in a strategic social media or PR campaign, hosting webinars or speaking engagements, or pursuing traditional marketing tactics, companies are often evaluating what the right marketing mix is to effectively reach their target audiences. Thanks to sophisticated technologies and platforms, it has become easier for marketing teams and PR professionals to track the success of their efforts and how these efforts have contributed to the…
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    Words of a Broken Mirror

  • New Year’s Resolution: Refurbish Your Online Brand

    Alina Popescu
    24 Jan 2012 | 2:39 am
    TweetAs we usher in the new year, you might have made a wide variety of resolutions related to losing weight, spending less money, or drinking less, but if you own a small business or work as a freelancer, a resolution you might have neglected to make is to build up your online brand. So many times our resolutions are geared toward reducing the negative effects of something, and not increasing the positive effects of something else. Building a brand online requires a multitude of incremental steps that start with your acknowledgment of the importance of having a clean bill of health. There…

  • A Bad Digital Rep Equals Disaster (Infographic)

    Alina Popescu
    16 Jan 2012 | 3:24 am
    TweetGuest post by Mihaela Lica Butler One of the most important components of your PR strategy has to be reputation management. Your business and personal success depend by and large on public perception. Reputation is the essence of who or what a business or person is. Unfortunately for the SME or even some corporate decision makers, not much information exists in simplistic form, there are no real “simple guides to reputation management.” But, the infographic below, provided by KBDS Digital Marketing , does a nice job outlining some do and don’t practices and possible…

  • Web Marketing Trends to Watch Out for in 2012

    Alina Popescu
    10 Jan 2012 | 4:04 am
    TweetAs web marketers enter into the new year, it’s important we take time to consider what’s right around the corner. Whether you’re a part-time blogger or a salaried employee of an internet marketing agency, so long as your income is connected to technology you’re always going to need to be staying one step ahead. 2012 is set to become a memorable year for online marketers and entrepreneurs, so don’t allow yourself to get behind on the next big things in web marketing. In summary, expect the following to unfold sometime later this year: Personal App Revolution…

  • What’s wrong with new year resolutions?

    Alina Popescu
    2 Jan 2012 | 3:36 am
    TweetFirst of all, Happy New Year to you all Hope 2012 is just as you have imagined it to be and then some! Now it’s back to business.. A while back I told a good friend of mine selling career and business related products and services that December will be an awesome month for him. He’d sell more, a lot more than in the previous months. He did not believe me, not entirely. He then told me December had been an amazingly pleasant surprise. The truth is I drew a very obvious conclusion. Whenever a year ends and a new one starts, we start reviewing our lives and somehow see the…

  • How to Win (Facebook) Friends and Influence (Twitter) People

    Alina Popescu
    27 Dec 2011 | 3:20 am
    TweetDale Carnege’s influential 1936 self-help book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, proudly sits on many PR professional’s bookshelves and in the Kindle queue’s of the digital library of many SEO services. The copy is usually in pristine and proper condition – because it has never been opened or touched since purchase. While playing a great prop in the professional business arsenal, it gets read as often as The Prince by politicians or The Art of War by generals. If you are curious as to how the book applies to the current social media landscape, there are six…
 
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    PRSAY – What Do You Have to Say?

  • Friday Five: Google+ Alters the Social Media Value Equation

    Nicole Castro
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:29 am
    Not unlike the past 200 or so weeks, social media was a big news story this week, both within the PR profession and beyond. The question on many pundits’ minds was how can the same sites that build brands, and strengthen business-to-consumer relationships, also dismantle the level of consumers’ online privacy? Social networks like Twitter [...]

  • Build Corporate Trust by Trusting the Internet

    Henry Lieberman
    25 Jan 2012 | 11:01 pm
    The great thing about the Internet is that the voice of a single person can carry as much weight as even the largest companies. The scary thing about the Internet, for many companies, is that the voice of a single person could potentially damage the reputation of even the largest companies. Wherever there is a [...]

  • #PRin2012: Talent Acquisition Goes Social

    Valerie Simon
    24 Jan 2012 | 11:01 pm
    The latest monthly survey by the National Federation of Independent Business indicated a brighter employment picture and significant increase in future hiring plans. Similarly, the Manpower survey of hiring intentions, represents the most promising hiring outlook since 2008. Monster.com has reported an uptick in online advertising in recent months, and a recent study from WantedAnalytics [...]

  • #PRin2012: Solo PR Pros — The Profession’s Secret Weapon

    Kellye Crane
    23 Jan 2012 | 10:30 am
    Editor’s note: This is the 11th in a series of 12 guest posts from industry executives predicting key trends that will impact the public relations industry in 2012. Hosted under the hashtag #PRin2012, the series began Dec. 19, 2011, with a compilation post previewing all 12 predictions. A confluence of events will make 2012 the [...]

  • Friday Five: #SOPA and The New Tech PR Paradigm

    Nicole Castro
    20 Jan 2012 | 10:36 am
    PR professionals were inundated this week with news about the movement to thwart the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). On Wednesday, social forums like Wikipedia and Reddit blacked out their sites in protest of the bills. Even Google acquired 45 million signatures for its anti-SOPA petition. For many PR [...]
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    ComPRehension

  • Chatting About Digital News Releases

    mwilliams
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:00 am
    Join Malayna Williams for her online training session, “Digital Media and Today’s Digital News Release,” now available on-demand. This media relations training sesssion is free to PRSA members.   Recently, PRSA rolled out new webinar offerings along with a shiny new system.  I was lucky to be invited to present their first webinar on the topic maximizing digital news releases. In true PRSA style, everything was buttoned up and well managed. But the most exciting change was a chat feature than enabled hundreds of PRSA members across the country to communicate with each other…

  • Why APR?

    AmyEverett
    25 Jan 2012 | 11:00 am
    Participate in PRSA’s online training session, “Getting Ready for the Readiness Review,” on Feb. 14, 2012, 3–4 p.m. EST.  This public relations accreditation training sesssion is free to PRSA members. The process to achieve Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) is an important experience for anyone practicing in the public relations field. From filling out the application, to participating in the Readiness Review, to taking the computer-based Examination for Accreditation in Public Relations, each step brings new challenges and learning experiences for even seasoned public…

  • PRSA Resolutions 2012

    ryanmcshane
    23 Jan 2012 | 9:00 am
    It is quite mystifying to think what life would be like if I hadn’t signed on that dotted line back in May of 2005. I could have easily skipped my university’s first PRSSA meeting to do a number of things — intramurals with friends, hit the books to better understand the differences between minocyclines and tetracyclines or maybe update my profile on this new site called thefacebook.com. Luckily for me, I went to that meeting and established my membership, which is now approaching seven years as a PRSA/PRSSA member. PRSSA provided me with ample opportunities to establish my confidence…

  • PRSA Chapters: Updated Initiatives and Improved Membership Benefits for 2012

    Rachel
    18 Jan 2012 | 1:49 pm
    As the role of the public relations professional continues to evolve and the profession continues to grow, PRSA is dedicated to providing Chapters with the resources they need to flourish in 2012. Updated initiatives and improved benefits for 2012 include: ♦ Free Online Training Webinars: Webinars are now free with PRSA membership. This represents nearly $2,000 in annual savings for members who participate in just one PRSA webinar per month. Upcoming webinars include: Digital Media and Today’s Digital News Release: Making It Easy for Journalists to Pick Up Your Story — 3–4 p.m. EST,…

  • A New Look for the New Year: The PRSA Events Calendar

    jvoss
    10 Jan 2012 | 4:07 pm
    A new key Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) membership benefit grants members free access to the 50 live and on-demand online public relations training webinars that are planned for this year, and now, there is a more user-friendly way for you to find them. We have been working behind the scenes on the PRSA Calendar of Events to make virtual programming and in-person training easier and faster for you to locate. You can browse training sessions by date, or fine-tune your search by selecting a category to find a session by category. Click Narrow By Category to see the categories…
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    PR Back Talk

  • 2011 Trends Report Card, Part III

    Norman
    16 Jan 2012 | 7:53 am
    Here's the final part of our report card: The rules for social media will continue to evolve -- rapidly. Our point: Companies are still learning how to navigate social media, which gives newbies the opportunity to jump in, and to learn from what others are doing well as well as from mistakes others have made. One challenge remains: staying ahead of the range of sites, which can rise and fall in popularity...like the once dominant Friendster. Google-Plus launched in 2011 after some... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • 2011 Trends Report Card, Part II

    Norman
    13 Jan 2012 | 7:51 am
    Here are more grades on some of the trends we predicted for 2011.   2011: The year of the app-based media subscriptionsPricing for app-based subscriptions were a big issue for publishers, but many now produce free apps that enable either per-issue (for a fee) access or free access for print subscribers. Some publishers have not figured things out, charging more on a per-electronic copy than for a per-print copy. Slowly more subscriptions are available on the iPad's Newsstand, ... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • 2011 Trends Report Card, Part I

    Norman
    12 Jan 2012 | 5:51 pm
    Before we issue our annual list of trends and predictions of media and social media issues next week, we think will be relevant in 2012, here's our annual report card of how we did with our 2011 predictions. The Battle between the iPad & the iPad Killers The battle we predicted between the iPad and the "iPad Killers" did not turn out to be much of a battle, as most of the wannabe iPad Killers were quickly considered misfires. HP's TouchPad was launched and taken off the market... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Johnson & Johnson Misdiagnosis of its Crisis

    Norman
    11 Nov 2011 | 7:49 am
    Perhaps it depends on how you define "crisis," but there are more than 200 articles by the third day of the month about the concerns about Johnson & Johnson's baby shampoo as well as a movement to boycott J&J. (Not every call for a boycott is a crisis -- on Facebook, there's a list to boycott those who boycott Arizona, so you can have counter-boycott boycotts.)  In fact, this is a big crisis for a brand that last month ranked by Forbes as the most trusted brand in America. This is... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Some Good YouTube Tips

    Norman
    7 Oct 2011 | 7:31 am
    Just a quick post for those interested in YouTube tips.  Check out Katherine Boehret's article, "Hidden Tools Find What You Want on YouTube." Among the tools she mentions is the Quick Key, which allows you to generate a URL that enables you to share the video from exactly where you want to share it...meaning you can spare friends the long, pointless introductions before they get to the LOL cats. Also check out "Tips on Taking Advantage of The YouTube Juggernaut." [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
 
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    March Communications

  • March Yoga Nights

    Cheryl Gale
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:13 am
    As we approach the end of January, it’s a good time to check in and see how you’re doing with your New Years’ resolutions. Are you on target with your goals? Do you need to re-evaluate the expectations you set? My personal goal was to start practicing yoga in 2012. As my colleague Liz states in a previous blog post, yoga is clinically proven to enhance well-being and increase productivity at work as you learn how to stay calm, focused and balanced. Sounds like something you need, right? To help me achieve this goal, we started March Yoga Nights on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Health Yoga…

  • The NFL’s Questionable Twitter Policy

    Stephanie Jackman
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:00 am
    I’ll be the first to admit that I am no sports guru. I can maybe name four players on the Patriots (embarrassing, I know) and I’m one of those people that likes the Superbowl for the funny commercials everyone talks about the next day. However, when I read a Mashable article about football and Twitter, I was intrigued. Despite having banned tweeting during games in July of 2009, the NFL has decided to break their own rule and allow players to tweet during the Pro Bowl. The caveat is that players are not allowed to tweet from their own devices. Instead, they must tweet from…

  • Infrastructure PR | CloudSigma

    admin
    26 Jan 2012 | 3:44 pm
    Client: Infrastructure PR | CloudSigma  Campaign: US Launch  Overview Enterprise Software PR Campaign With a strong European presence, CloudSigma was ready to expand its public cloud offering to the U.S. market through increased awareness and exposure CloudSigma needed to be seen as a viable competitor to its big-time competitors such as Amazon and Rackspace, with a superior approach as the only pure-cloud IaaS provider with a flexible and user-centric strategy Approach Pitch select, top-tier targets 1-2 weeks prior to the official launch to drum up interest and secure pre-briefings to…

  • That Good Old Liberal Arts Degree

    Doug Flora
    26 Jan 2012 | 9:42 am
    My colleague Meredith wrote an excellent post last week highlighting the importance of the alumni network for soon-to-be college grads. Leveraging this network can help you land an externship, an internship and other opportunities to see the inside of a potential career path. If you are majoring in Communications or a similar field, it can seem pretty straightforward to pursue an internship or entry level position in PR. But if you’re looking at PR (or a similar field) and your major was more a product of passion than practicality, the task might seem more daunting. The good news is,…

  • Overcoming To-Do List Angst

    Meredith L. Eaton
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:45 am
    Recently, I came across Daniel Markovitz’s article, To-Do Lists Don’t Work, and was immediately floored by the title. To-do lists don’t work? How could this be?! As someone who has been making lists since I was 10 years old (surprise, surprise), I was obviously shocked to learn that to-do lists could actually be a recipe for failure. Markovitz outlines five problems with to-do lists, some of which I agree may be detrimental to overall productivity – namely the paradox of choice and having varied priorities. But, I believe that with each disadvantage comes a solution that will keep…
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    Doug Haslam

  • TEST POST I’m the Mayor of Voce’s Winter Haven Office

    Doug Haslam
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:55 pm
    Checking me in? I don’t think so. I commit my own checkins. Word.  Share Screen shot 2011-12-02 at 9.40.45 AM doughaslam Fri, Dec 02 2011 09:52:53 This is more like it Share “ I just ousted @whitneygonzalez as the mayor of Voce Communications on @foursquare! 4sq.com/mRQuG1 Doug Haslam Fri, Dec 02 2011 09:36:59 ReplyRetweet And the people agree Share “ @DougH an important step in the corporate ladder ;-) John Cass Fri, Dec 02 2011 09:39:11 ReplyRetweet Share “ @DougH congrats! You clearly are here more than I am. :) Whitney Gonzalez Fri, Dec 02 2011 09:38:05…

  • Don’t subscribe to my Posterous

    Doug Haslam
    17 Jan 2012 | 3:44 pm
    I used it as a way to post easily via mobile, and a way-station for photos and other mobile content. It’s too easy to put stuff where I really want it now, so while I’m not cloosing this account I find it uch less useful, for now. So whatever you do, don’t subscribe. I mean, you can, really. If you want. Posted via email from doughaslam’s posterous

  • Social Media: From Status to Stories, We’re Entering a Whole New World of Shiny

    Doug Haslam
    14 Jan 2012 | 2:11 pm
    I am newly tempted to rename this blog “The Long View” because I find it painful to see people get whiplash as they turn to see the new shiny objects of social media whip by. I wonder if I get tagged as an angry nerd (ok, I have) for not being too quick to embrace the latest and greatest. The truth is, I am aways suspicious of new platforms being declared “The Next XXX ” before it has had a chance to mature a little and give users enough chance to figure out how the platform is going to work for them. Google Plus has been a prime example, making some folks giddy before…

  • Finding Influencers and Collecting Data? Tools Help, But It’s Nothing Without Hard Work

    Doug Haslam
    10 Jan 2012 | 4:25 pm
    Cross-posted from Voce Nation Recently, I had a discussion with a local (Boston) technology professional about finding influencers via social media. Additionally, I constantly have discussions with clients, colleagues and peers about measurement. Why mention these two facts together? These two topics have a lot more in common than they might seem to on the surface, at least when it comes to the practical applications in social media programs. Photo by Martijn vdS on Flickr First, both “influence” and measurement come with a variety of tools designed to help us find and analyze.

  • Pan-Mass Challenge: 2011 Fundraising Overview

    Doug Haslam
    28 Dec 2011 | 2:46 pm
    UPDATE: I am officially signed up for the 2012 Pan-Mass Challenge: to sponsor my ride (and make these graphs prettier next year), please go to http://bit.ly/pmcdoug to donate. Thanks! Last year, after riding in my third Pan-Mass Challenge (an annual two-day bicycle ride/cancer fundraiser), I thought I had enough of a track record to look at fundraising trends. In that post, I saw the rise in overall fundraising, number of sponsors and average donation amount as the progression of an improving fundraising effort and the expanding reach of my social networks. This year, the numbers were…
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    Brand Channeler

  • Is network news resurging, or is it just a faade?

    23 Jan 2012 | 11:00 pm
    We all know the stats over the past decade, network news audience numbers and ratings have continued to dwindle. The three major networks ABC, CBS and NBC have tried a variety of approaches in order to keep what audience they have and attempt to attract new viewers. The morning shows have shown more staying power, with The Today Show continuing to hold the number one ranking; however, hard news in the morning has dwindled, while the length of the shows grows. (Both NBC and ABC have added the third hour to their shows, which is mostly dedicated to celebrity news, pop culture and…

  • Hold the Butter

    19 Jan 2012 | 11:00 pm
    This week, Paula Deen revealed a not-so-surprising secret: she has type 2 diabetes. Not surprising because this not-so-fit chef and TV personality has been preaching her love of all things butter since she first graced us with her presence on the Food Network some years ago. And boy, did she grace us. She epitomized southern hospitality she called us all her friends, she sent us love and best dishes and she welcomed us into her home.Admittedly, I too fell in love with Paula. It was refreshing not to see her scrutinize every morsel of food she put into her mouth. It was refreshing to see that…

  • Turning a Crisis into an Opportunity

    6 Dec 2011 | 11:00 pm
    The Penn State child sex abuse scandal has dominated everything from mainstream news headlines, to sports talk shows, to even everyday conversation. The focus of this dialogue has largely been on how much the university has and may continue to suffer as a result of the scandal. But is it possible this crisis could be a potential opportunity for the Penn State brand to emerge better and stronger because of it?   To answer that question, check out "The Business of College Sports" blog for my thoughts on three reputation-management strategies for Penn State to successfully emerge…

  • Themes and thoughts from the 2011 PRWeek NEXT Conference

    17 Nov 2011 | 11:00 pm
    As communicators, there is obvious fascination with the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement so much so, that it became the focus of several discussion, among many other topics, during last weeks annual PRWeek NEXT Conference. Below are some themes and thoughts that emerged.Overstock.com CEO and founder Patrick Byrne observed that the OWS movement is leaderless and suffers from a message vacuum. It needs to get back on message. Right now it is just becoming a pool of discontent. Janet Rolle, EVP & CMO at CNN, and Terrence Samuel, deputy national political editor from The Washington Post,…

  • 2012 Observations, Challenges and Predictions

    31 Oct 2011 | 11:00 pm
    I had the pleasure of attending last weeks Council of PR Firms Critical Issues Forum. The focus of the forum was on the world of social media. The event featured an excellent keynote speech by Obamas former press secretary, Robert Gibbs, followed by a panel discussion with some leading practitioners and thinkers in this space, all cap-stoned by a moderated interview with Mashable founder Pete Cashmore. Below are the most interesting insights from the day: ObservationsThe power of the Internet is not in its infinite nature, but rather in its ability to connect…
 
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    Sherrilynne Starkie

  • Email marketing goes social

    sherrilynne
    26 Jan 2012 | 9:15 am
    Adding social sharing buttons to marketing emails significantly increases click-through rates according to a survey just released by GetResponse, an email marketing software company. In addition, recipients are more likely to share content on Facebook than on other social networks. The survey showed that fewer that one in five email marketers actually include social sharing buttons within their content.  Considering the exceptionally high performance results for newsletters that include social sharing buttons ( an average click-through-rate (CTR) 115% higher), you’d wonder why more…

  • SOPA explained

    sherrilynne
    24 Jan 2012 | 9:34 am
    On Wednesday of last week it went dark in many corners of the Internet. Thousands of websites went black in protest of a bill currently being considered by Congress in the USA: the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA).  Here’s Clay Shirkey’s explanation of why SOPA affects us all…including folks outside of America. Related posts: No social media policy for half of businesses Social media policies Blocking competitors on Twitter: total folly Click here to start to receive my newsletter. VISIT MY FACEBOOK PAGE Related articles SOPA, PIPA and Online Piracy…

  • Will the CoTweet gamble pay off?

    sherrilynne
    22 Jan 2012 | 3:19 pm
    CoTweet, the easy-to-use and fantastically handy social media tool that lets many individuals to collaborate on publishing content on Twitter, is going the way of the Dodo in a few weeks. Image via CrunchBase ExactTarget, the company behind the tool, announced on its blog this week that CoTweet is being rolled into a new enterprise package called SocialEngage.   CoTweet will cease to be and SocialEngage will not offer a free service. The company had not published any pricing information for SocialEngage; it invites users to contact ExactTarget for more information. The company says:…

  • Search plus your world

    sherrilynne
    16 Jan 2012 | 9:00 am
    Google is personalizing  search results by including more Google+ profiles, business pages, posts, and Google+ and Picasa photos in a significant new initiative called Search plus Your World. Image via CrunchBase It will allow each user to surface content that has been shared with him or her on Google+ along with information that has been shared publicly integrated into typical Web search results. Three types of Google+ content will be included in  Search plus Your World results: personal results, profiles in search and profiles and pages. Results may include non-public Google+ photos and…

  • Path: the sequel

    sherrilynne
    14 Jan 2012 | 11:44 am
    Well over a year ago a new social network, Path, was launched. It was positioned as ‘personal network’ and friends were limited to just 50, a number based on the psychology theories that 150 is the maximum number of social relationships any human can handle. The launch had received a lot of positive coverage, but following the initial buzz things went quiet and Path seemed to be forgotten.  That was until last week’s relaunch which repositions the platform as a ‘smart journal’ for use on smart phones. Overall, its mission has not changed…to allow users to share…
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    Flames On Fifth Avenue

  • Gears Of The Machine: What, specifically, does Klout know about us?

    Eric Wittke
    15 Jan 2012 | 10:00 am
    Something that was once of interest only to digital analytics geeks is now bordering on something of a cultural phenomenon. With its addictive business model in hand, Klout has become the supreme authority in measuring and ranking online influence. Each day it seems that more and more people are checking their Klout scores to see how influential they are among their online circles. Yet the service has also left some people scratching their heads. Anyone who has peered into their Klout profile to see the “People You Influence” and the “Topics” may be taken aback by the…

  • An Unlikely Authority

    Eric Wittke
    8 Jan 2012 | 10:00 am
    Anyone who has ever boarded a crowded public transportation bus has witnessed this phenomenon: a line of people stand outside waiting to board. But the people already on board — standing in the aisle — refuse to scoot back so that the passengers outside can get on. Even when the back of the bus is nearly empty. The infamous look of stress comes across the bus driver’s face, as they resort to shouting the same request over and over and over. “Please move towards the back of the bus, people,” the drivers say. Only by the third or fourth repeat of the phrase do…

  • Influencers, Ideas & Resolutions For 2012

    Eric Wittke
    28 Dec 2011 | 2:13 am
    I don’t believe I’ve told anyone, but this blog is the product of one of my 2011 New Year’s resolutions. I had been fiddling with the idea of creating a space to engage with others about PR’s larger role in the world, and had been itching to make it happen. Thus, on June 11 and after weeks of planning and preparation, this blog was born. So here we are, a year after that resolution. Things are looking good. What better way to end the year than to look at what’s been accomplished and what lies ahead? Influencers 0f 2011 I believe that ideas are borne solely…

  • Telling A Complete Brand Story [Image]

    Eric Wittke
    27 Nov 2011 | 1:00 pm
    Telling a good brand story means ensuring that a brand’s media content has resonance, fullness and depth, much like a character in a well-written novel. In my previous Your Brand As Literature series, I wrote about how nonlinear brand stories can be conceptualized in three acts, much like traditional stories: Act I: Foundation & Goals Act II: Action taken towards the goals Act III: Proof of successes This chart ties together those three ideas, giving visual shape to the idea of a “brand story.” By using this chart, you can see which parts of your own brand’s story…

  • Broadcast, Meet Your New Friend: Conversation

    Eric Wittke
    18 Nov 2011 | 4:30 pm
    For bloggers, brands, curators and publishers who promote content on social media, it’s time set aside traditional methods of broadcast-style promotion. In a space that’s reserved primarily for social conversations, promotional broadcasts must adapt to the social environment if they’re to be accepted. The Times Are A-Changin’ Communication has traditionally been split evenly between two very different methods: broadcasting and conversation. As broadcasters promoted the same static, one-directional content repetitively via radio and television, audiences engaged in…
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    Gregarious

  • Why I'm not worried about Google Search Plus Your World ... and why you shouldn't be, either

    26 Jan 2012 | 2:52 pm
    So Google is on the hot seat today over changes to its privacy policy, terms of service, and user data mining.  Users, privacy watchdogs, and politicians alike are screaming because Google revealed it is going to intensify its aggregation of your personal data in its databases, and you can't opt-out of the process. Never mind that Google's been collecting your data for years and using it to personalize your search and advertising results. Never mind that Google reads every email message you send or receive in Gmail. Never mind it scans every document you put in Google Docs. Never mind it…

  • The roles of skepticism and persuasion in PR

    24 Jan 2012 | 12:21 pm
    Years ago, before the era of all things digital, an entrepreneur came to me with an enchanting idea. At the time, CD drives were rare and exotic extravagances. As is often the case with new technologies, few of us realized how omnipotent, and eventually antiquated the CD-ROM would become. But his dream was to make CD-ROM gaming available to the masses by opening walk-in gaming centers where consumers would buy time to play on massive CD-ROM servers. Oh, how naïve were we, now that gaming is streamed in real time to your iPad and available on cable TV. But back then, CD-ROMs cost thousands of…

  • New employees answer, "What did you learn during your first year at Gregory FCA?"

    23 Jan 2012 | 11:57 am
    One of our 2011 goals was to formalize our commitment to ongoing training of our employees. To that end, we've grown our culture of knowledge sharing among our teams and ramped up our focus on mentoring and hands-on training, especially with our new employees. We've also developed and instituted a training workshop program we call Gregory FCA University. Leaders in the firm present an interactive session every month about a given topic in public relations, social media, or investor relations. The sessions are followed by quizzes to test employees' absorption of the information. We also…

  • 5 key PR takeaways from the 2012 CES

    17 Jan 2012 | 10:03 am
    The real news from last week's 2012 CES in Las Vegas had less to do with the gadgets, devices, and shiny new things being introduced by the world's leading technology companies and more to do with the way those companies told their stories during the four-day extravaganza of all things technology. The convergence of social media and hand-held devices has created an entirely new way of gaining notice, interfacing with the media, building traffic, and leveraging the costs of attending any show, let alone the world's largest consumer technology show. This year, four of us made the trip, some to…

  • 2012 public relations trends you need to be ready for

    16 Jan 2012 | 2:36 pm
    In continuing with our predictions for the 2012 public relations trends that need to be on your radar, we turn to Kwan Morrow, our Social Networking Manager. Here are his four predictions for what will be hot on the social networking, content marketing, and content syndication fronts next year. (In my last post, I promised we'd share two predictions from Kwan. But what can I say -- the wheels kept turning after we published that statement, so here are two more.) Gregory FCA's Kwan Morrow 1. Content kings will forge empires. In 2011, content was king. In 2012, the kings with the…
 
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    BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas

  • Pretty soon you won’t be able to tell the difference between Fox and Hulu, HBO and Netflix, or CNN and YouTube.

    Harry Grapenthin
    23 Jan 2012 | 10:08 am
    The recent jockeying for position and struggle to find an identity within the crowded and competitive world of network, cable, streaming video, and online television reminds me of one of my favorite Dr. Seuss stories, The Sneetches. The Sneetches were a group of yellow creatures, some with green stars on their bellies (a sign of distinction) and some without, until a character named Sylvester McMonkey McBean offers those without stars a chance to add them by going through his Star-On machine. In order to stay special the Sneetches formerly with stars happily pay the money to have them removed…

  • Pinterest: The newest ‘pin thing’ in social media?

    Tressa Robbins
    20 Jan 2012 | 10:34 am
    Flickr Image: Nate Hofer Just in case you have been out of commission and haven’t heard of Pinterest, according to its About Page, “Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web […] Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.”  The site was (soft) launched less than two years ago and is still by-invitation-only, but has exploded in popularity in the past few months. According to ZDNet, Pinterest received nearly 11 million total visits in the week ending December 1, 2011.

  • Disappearing Act – Brands That May Not Be Around in 2012 – Part 2

    BurrellesLuce Insider
    16 Jan 2012 | 10:49 am
    by Deborah Gilbert-Rogers* At this time of year, perhaps more than any other, we PR and marketing professionals can all breathe a sigh of relief knowing that there are no shortages of bloggers and writers flexing their “intuitive” muscles to predict the trends and topics in store for the coming year. Not too long ago I posted on Fresh Ideas about the 10 Brands That May Not Be Around in 2012 as revealed by 24/7 Wall Street, a firm offering insight analysis and commentary for U.S. and global equity investors. Now CoreBrand, a branding and marketing research firm, is making some predictions…

  • A New Type of New Year’s Resolution

    BurrellesLuce Insider
    12 Jan 2012 | 9:06 am
    by Andrea Corbo* New Year’s Resolutions can get tiring. A lot of people don’t even bother making a resolution (I’m included in that list of people).  And usually by the second week of January, resolutions have become false promises, half-hearted attempts at self improvement, and empty words. If you run a basic Google search for Resolutions 2012, you’ll find a ton of material, mostly talking about resolutions already lost and weight-oriented ideas. There’s even an app dedicated to success through habits – New Year’s Resolutions. What about something different for a change?

  • What Does Your Profile Picture Say About You?

    Debbie Friez
    9 Jan 2012 | 10:26 am
    What does your profile picture say about you? Do you have different pictures for different social media platforms? Some people like to look very professional. Some try to show they are fun. Others like to show an aspect of their personality or their interests. I find it fun to look at a profile picture and wonder what the person looks like or how they act in real life (IRL). When I met Brian Solis, I wondered if he would really have the monocle or if it was just a prop. (It was just a prop and a borrowed one.) Also, I often wonder why some people use their children as their profile pictures,…
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    Communication Overtones

  • The New .Thing Rolls Out Today, Bringing Massive Change for Brands and Nonprofits!

    Kami Huyse
    12 Jan 2012 | 10:04 am
      Today ICANN, which is the nonprofit, non-governmental organization that coordinates the Internet naming system, is opening up an application process for established companies, organizations or institutions can apply to manage a .ANYTHING.   They aren’t opening up the opportunity to own a Top Level Domain (TLD) to just anyone. Excluded are individuals, sole proprietors or yet-to-be-formed entities. And the bar is set reasonably high, with a $185K fee and a 300-page application.   The managers of a TLD are not necessarily the people with whom you have registered your web…

  • Inspiring Your Kids (and Coworkers) to Be Generous with Examples, Empathy and Action

    Kami Huyse
    22 Dec 2011 | 10:04 am
        When the folks at Razoo contacted me to ask if I would write a post about how to instill generosity in kids, it was easy to do. I have been agonizing over how to do it for about a year now with my own three children, who are just now getting to an age where I think they can understand.   As a business owner and parent, I realize that we have been very blessed.   My husband and I have made a pretty good living, and we have three active, healthy and privileged kids. As a kid growing up in a very lower middle class neighborhood with a single mom, this was my dream.  …

  • Social Media Powered Christmas Tree is Cool, But Where is the Call to Action?

    Kami Huyse
    13 Dec 2011 | 7:01 am
    One of the more innovative “stunts” this Christmas Season is by Canadian Tire. They have a Christmas tree installed at Union Station, Toronto, that is powered by the “Christmas Spirit.”(See “How the Tree Works” below if you are interested).   They have designed a microsite that features a LiveStream of the Christmas tree with its 3,000 LED lights, and has social media bells and whistles like Facebook and Twitter share buttons and a nice map of Canada that shows popup messages from the social channels they are using to “power” the tree.   However, as cool as this site…

  • Part 5: What Is Your Measurement Personality Style?

    Kami Huyse
    1 Dec 2011 | 2:03 pm
      Take the Quiz to Find Out What is Your Social Media Measurement Personality Style? » Quiz Maker   The Freewheelers   The Naysayers eschew measurement, calling it antithetical to the ethos of social media. This camp says that each individual voice is important and that all input should be seen as valuable. It feels that by measuring, an organization sets up a transactional relationship instead of building a more desirable, egalitarian one.   The Bean Counters   On the opposite side of the divide are the Bean Counters, those who say that business results should drive…

  • The Double Edged Sword of Social Media and Privacy: What is the Responsibility of Communicators?

    Kami Huyse
    22 Nov 2011 | 2:13 pm
        Social media is by definition, public information.   As a marketer and public relations professional, I have really enjoyed the fact that I can easily share, find and communicate with people.   As a power user, I love that everything and everyone is at my fingertips and that I can so easily share amazing stories and experiences with people I would have never met otherwise.   But….as a mother, friend and human being that cares, I have some concerns.   Our Eroding Privacy   My first concerns came as Facebook started to continually shift its privacy…
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    AbbyMalikPR

  • Viral video FYI: people love babies, people are mean

    abbymalikpr
    20 Jan 2012 | 11:18 am
    People love looking at babies doing funny or silly or weird things. That’s why my friend Adam’s video, “Fatherhood is confounding the baby with new sounds.,” has gone viral in two days. Among others: 350,000+ hits on YouTube, Inside Edition last night, Good Morning America today, and he’s signed release forms for Jimmy Kimmel and … Continue reading »

  • How to date a PR professional

    abbymalikpr
    18 Jan 2012 | 3:18 pm
    Ragan.com posted this great article yesterday: How to Date a PR Professional by Laetitia Redbond, an account executive at Flagship Consulting in London. (Just in case the link dies, here’s a link to her original post.) In a nutshell, she gives four points of advice for dating one of us PR creatures: 1) our relationships are our … Continue reading »

  • Fond memories: PR oopsies of 2011

    abbymalikpr
    19 Dec 2011 | 3:37 pm
    I love year-end “best of” and “worst of” lists. Here are a few cringe worthy PR situations from 2011. In the spirit of the holidays, this list doesn’t include anything that has to do with lurid sexual allegations, a la Penn State and Anthony Weiner. Netflix raises fees and changes name (ragan.com, #1): Netflix has certainly seen … Continue reading »

  • Using a wireless iPad keyboard to comment on Facebook

    abbymalikpr
    15 Dec 2011 | 1:43 pm
    A week ago I blogged about how to comment on Facebook using the new iPad app. It seemed that a lot of people who found my blog were searching for a solution to this, which I thought was odd because it’s a pretty easy thing to do. Well, thank you to reader Leyla, for clarifying … Continue reading »

  • How to comment with the new Facebook iPad app

    abbymalikpr
    8 Dec 2011 | 2:23 pm
    A lot of the search phrases people have used recently that have led them to my blog include “how to comment using facebook on ipad?,” “can’t comment facebook ipad” and “facebook ipad won’t comment,” among other variations. (They’re all above.) I haven’t had this problem, but clearly others have! In case it’s just a matter … Continue reading »
 
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    Jennings & Associates Communications, Inc.

  • Green Energy: Simply Ponderous

    PJ Jennings
    25 Jan 2012 | 7:08 pm
    In one of the LinkedIn Energy Forums I’m a member of (Linked:Energy http://linkedenergy.net/  – great forum by the way), a question was posed: “Will green energy ever become the primary energy source?” This elicited a lot of commentary (Over 280 posts including one from yours truly) and even more discussions about defining green energy. The commenters all had great points, insights and passion about various technologies and political and business influence. As I reflect on the lively discussion, it makes me think how far we’ve come in just a decade. While some of the renewable…

  • Like Kermit the Frog Said: It’s Not Easy Being Green

    Jessica Beattie
    3 Jan 2012 | 11:05 am
    For the past decade, environmental issues have crept into corporate-speak. Eco-friendliness has gone from being a differentiator to a must-have for consumer companies. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Are corporations engaging in sustainable behavior because it’s the right thing to do or because they are forced to by public opinion? It’s important to care about motives because the tides change. If a company has made a “green” decision mostly or solely based on import prices and fuel surcharges then what happens when those prices come down? In the Six Laws of Green Marketing,…

  • Old Fashioned Marketing – Not So Old Fashioned After All

    PJ Jennings
    13 Dec 2011 | 1:49 pm
    In the marketing land of email, QR codes, online ads and the like, it’s refreshing to see some old fashioned, heartwarming advertising.  Advertising that stirs the senses and reminds you – ever so nicely – why you’d want to do business with the advertiser. Case in point is the 2011 holiday gift guide brochure from Crate & Barrel. The picture of the little boy enjoying his cup of hot cocoa just makes you stop what you’re doing and think about the special times of the Holidays not to mention the need to open up the gift guide! The picture says it all. Kudos to Crate &…

  • Our Clients are Leading the Way to a More Sustainable Energy Nation

    PJ Jennings
    10 Nov 2011 | 5:34 pm
    This is a very exciting time for companies with sustainable green solutions as we have never in our nation’s history had the conversation nor desire to increase energy efficiencies as much as we do today. Regardless of political affiliation, you have to give credit to the current administration for getting renewable energy and Smart Grid technologies out of R&D and into the field.  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 has allocated $40 billion for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs with an additional $11 billion to make the electrical grid “smart.”…

  • Apple’s PR Campaign Seduces Consumers

    Kevin Manley
    5 Oct 2011 | 10:54 am
    For months the internet has been a playground for gossip and rumors surrounding the impending announcement of the new iPhone.   While skimming through blog sites such as the Wall Street Journal, Engadget, Today’s iPhone, and Phonedog, it was remarkable how much buzz surrounded the new device.  Many reports suggested that the new iPhone would boast a larger screen size, a new unibody aluminum design and a touch sensitive home screen.  Even the devices name was in question: is it going to be the “iPhone 5” or the “iPhone 4S”?  In August, CNET even posted an exclusive report…
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    PR CONVERSATIONS

  • Social media engagement: The PR2.0 shift for politics

    Judy Gombita
    25 Jan 2012 | 1:09 pm
    Guest post by Tyler Orchard Social media engagement: The PR2.0 shift for politics Whether you work in the private or public sector, social media and PR2.0 have evolved into something more than just another set of communications vehicles. Perhaps several years ago taking the plunge into Twitter or Facebook would be a choice one could make based on simple calculations of return on investment. However, in today’s closely connected world, being involved in social media is more of an expectation, especially for younger PR practitioners. Much like consumer-based companies, people involved in…

  • Nurturing Knowledge – a job for PR

    Heather Yaxley
    18 Jan 2012 | 3:16 pm
    ‘Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge’ – Wikipedia’s blackout protest statement is a reminder of the value and reliance placed on repositories of online information.  How many of us turn to Google, Wikipedia, digital dictionaries, social media or online news sources routinely when we want to know something?  The English-speaking student population is apparently distraught that its primary place for ‘cut and paste’ assignments is offline for a day.  The Digital Natives haven’t been so upset since BBM crashed last October.  This might seem…

  • Public diplomacy: a higher calling for public relations

    Judy Gombita
    9 Jan 2012 | 9:42 am
    John Paluszek, “From The ‘Harmonious Society’ to the Harmonious Global Society” July 2011, China International Public Relations Society, Beijing Public diplomacy: a higher calling for public relations Guest post by John Paluszek, APR, Fellow PRSA It is not hyperbolic to say it: Public relations professionals now have an epic opportunity to serve the global society and thereby win new appreciation of our profession. In fact, some are already well into that mission. Let’s quickly examine the case for this admittedly bold assertion. The “case” is a continuum, ranging from Harold…

  • PRoust Questionnaire: Estelle de Beer

    Judy Gombita
    30 Dec 2011 | 9:09 am
    The PRoust Questionnaire provides a quick insight into a public relations practitioner’s interests and point of view, as well as his or her professional beliefs and values. If you are not familiar with the original 19th-century Proust Questionnaire, please see details at the end of this post. PRoust Questionnaire answers from Estelle de Beer: 1. What is your most striking characteristic as a PR practitioner? Being a good listener. It is important for me to capture all the information that somebody is sharing, in order to form an opinion or make a knowledgeable decision. 2. What is your…

  • One world, many voices in PR

    Judy Gombita
    21 Dec 2011 | 1:13 pm
    Toni Muzi Falconi shares his impressions of the first Global Congress for Muslim PR Practitioners Toni Muzi Falconi (third from right) receives an award for "excellent contributions in the field of public relations serving world communities" at the first Global Congress for Muslim PR In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from December 5 to 7, 20011, 197 Muslim colleagues from 33 countries, plus two non-Muslim Canadians (Jean Valin and Dan Tisch) and one non-Muslim Italian—the author of this guest post—gathered together for the inaugural Global Congress for Muslim Public Relations…
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    Public Relations Sydney

  • Top 5 PR tips for PRing your business

    Catriona Pollard
    23 Jan 2012 | 9:41 pm
    Don’t you just hate it when you open a magazine and one of your competitors is featured and you just know that they will get customers from the publicity? You ask why were they featured and not me? The answer is a public relations program. Public relations (PR) is an extremely efficient method of communicating with a target audience – and it doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive. Business owners can choose from a variety of simple and cost effective activities that will help achieve their business objectives. The reason that PR works is that it provides third-person…

  • Twitter: a crisis communication tool

    Catriona Pollard
    18 Jan 2012 | 9:54 pm
    When a crisis breaks more and more people are beginning to turn to Twitter for answers than ever before. This means that Twitter is fast becoming a critical component in any company’s crisis communication strategy. Twitter is the perfect tool to use in a crisis because it enables you to communicate quickly to the public and to your target audience. Companies can prepare for a crisis by creating a crisis communication plan. This plan will detail the steps that you should take to prepare for a crisis and how to respond and resolve a crisis effectively. All About Public Relations has provided…

  • How to be ethical in social media

    Catriona Pollard
    16 Jan 2012 | 11:41 pm
    Most people live by their own morals and ethics and we all have our own beliefs as to what is right and wrong in life. However, it seems that when it comes to social media and having an online presence, some individuals or companies believe that ethical behaviour is moot. The dynamics of personal relationships and interactions have changed and some may feel that becuase they are hiding behind a computer screen and typing the words instead of speaking them, it really doesn’t count as unethical behaviour. However, social media is now becoming more and more legitimate in business as well…

  • Factors that determine whether a journalist will cover your story

    Catriona Pollard
    11 Jan 2012 | 10:35 pm
    Journalists are constantly inundated with information on potential stories. So how do they decide which story to report on? PR Daily has provided the answer by revealing the top five factors that drive news decisions in newsrooms all over the world. They are time, speed, space, profit and bias. Time: Journalists have never before faced such short deadlines. Many newsrooms are understaffed and journalists feel pressured to produce constant news stories for a variety of news outlets. Therefore if a reporter is required to conduct an extensive amount of research to cover your story, they…

  • Using Twitter for Business: Engaging your customers online

    Catriona Pollard
    9 Jan 2012 | 7:46 pm
    People are often sceptical when we explain engaging in Twitter can really benefit their business. Creating a Twitter account for your business opens up opportunities for communication and attracts new customers for businesses – when managed correctly.   Twitter is an effective method of reaching your target audience in real time, however having a presence on Twitter and getting your desired audience to follow you are very different things. To get people to want to follow your business’ Twitter account it needs to present a personality and, like all business communications, a strategy…
 
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    Digital Park

  • PRWeek guest blog: Internal communications boosts marketing ROI

    Christine Barney
    20 Jan 2012 | 8:41 am
    In my third and final blog for PRWeek, I talk about the value of thinking of internal communications as a marketing function. Employees are an asset everyone is trying to maximize. As jobs have evaporated over the last several years, employees find themselves wearing more than one hat. Why shouldn’t one of those hats be marketing? I believe this concept not only makes business sense, it has a host of additional benefits, including more engaged employees that deliver higher productivity and better customer service. In summary, HR and marketing directors working together on employee…

  • PRWeek guest blog: Love the one you’re with

    Christine Barney
    18 Jan 2012 | 11:27 am
    Today’s post in PRWeek discusses a subject that should resonate with everyone, no matter your line of business: Why you should love your clients more than your prospects. When it comes to growth, new business seems to be king. Getting a new client is perceived as sexier and sometimes more rewarding than ensuring you keep or grow a client. That’s just bad business. Many talk about putting customers first, but few really walk the walk. Look at your culture and see if your organization really rewards good customer service and organic growth with the same enthusiasm as bringing in a new…

  • PRWeek guest blog: Winning awards is more than just an ego trip

    Christine Barney
    16 Jan 2012 | 8:31 am
    My first PRWeek blog on the extra benefits of winning awards appears today. rbb Public Relations uses awards as a benchmark to measure our ability to deliver creative, results-driven programs for our clients and serve as educational tool to motivate our staff to explore and achieve. We think it’s working great for us, and we certainly don’t mind having to add another shelf to the trophy wall in the conference room. I’d love to see your comments on what you think going after awards has done for your organization.

  • Guest blogging for PRWeek about love, winning and ROI

    Christine Barney
    13 Jan 2012 | 1:27 pm
    I was fortunate to be asked to be the guest blogger for the week of January 16 for PRWeek, a dominant industry publication. That meant coming up with three topics that would be somewhat evergreen since they had to be done in advance. But when you can talk about anything, sometimes nothing comes to mind. So I started to think about topics that inspire and settled upon three words: love, winning (no Charlie Sheen references anymore, please) and ROI. At least one of these words will resonate with almost everyone. Once I had the subjects down, the blogs just wrote themselves. The result was:…

  • The power of belief: Lessons from Tebow on inspiring your brand

    Sandra Fine
    10 Jan 2012 | 8:50 am
    I’ll start with a disclaimer: Our office has a lot of Gators. There’s no hiding that. But the legend of quarterback Tim Tebow transcends NCAA affiliations and religion. It’s a story of inspiration and the human desire to believe in something greater – whatever that may be. Here’s a good primer on Tebow and his lore in case you haven’t been following. Walt Disney was a great example of how fantasy and inspired thinking can translate into major brand dollars. Year after year, people endure unbearable heat in never-ending lines to ride the Disney World attractions we’ve been on…
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    Communication Studies

  • Powerful People Are Shorter Than They Think [Study]

    chase
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:17 pm
    You often hear about “the little people,” even when actual height is not discussed. Often times, it is people who converse with upcoming celebrities, telling them not to forget “the little people.” A research study from the authors of a new paper published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, found that there is some psychological truth to these kinds of statements. Though non-celebrities are often normal heights, they may actually feel smaller then what they are when compared to a celebrity. The study suggests that people…

  • Child Raised ‘Gender Neutral’ to Avoid Stereotyping

    chase
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:47 pm
    A British couple who kept their child’s gender a secret for five years have revealed that the child is male. Beck Laxton and Kieran Cooper say that they kept their son’s sex under wraps because they wanted him to grow up free from society’s preconceived ideas about what constitutes gender-appropriate behavior. The couple, who asked their midwives to withhold information even from them about the child’s gender for a half-hour after his birth, named their child Sasha and referred to him as “the infant,” rather than using gender-specific pronouns. Until recently, even most of…

  • Job Dissatisfaction Stems From Unmet Employee Needs [Study]

    chase
    26 Jan 2012 | 3:02 pm
    A new study has linked employee satisfaction to both management style and corporate attitudes towards employees. In an article published in Springer’s Journal of Business and Psychology, researchers from the Universite Francois Rabelais in Tours, France, revealed new evidence that meeting employees’ basic needs for competence, autonomy and relatedness leads to improved job satisfaction. According to Dr. Nicolas Gillet, when employers use the threat of punishment as motivation and give employees the impression that their contributions are not valued, employee well-being goes down. Past…

  • Stereotype Busted! Women Are Not Worse At Math Than Men [Study]

    chase
    25 Jan 2012 | 1:53 pm
    “Math is hard!” cries Teen Talk Barbie. Those words made Matel revamp the doll so that she did not say she found math hard after protesters insisted that it was degrading to women. It turns out that they were right according to a study researched at the University of Missouri. According to the study titled, “Can stereotype threat explain the sex gap in mathematics performance and achievement?” there is no gender difference when it comes to math skills. Many people believe that women are worse at quantitative reasoning then men. In fact, it has become a theory so widely…

  • The Technology of Storytelling

    chase
    23 Jan 2012 | 2:26 pm
    “The art of storytelling has remained unchanged and for the most part stories are recycled, but the way that humans tell the stories has always evolved with pure consistent novelty,” says iPad storyteller Joe Sabia. From cave walls to books, opera to vaudeville, radio to radio theater, silent films and now 3D movies, we are constantly embracing new technologies that help enhance our stories. Through a story of his own filled with music, video, and pictures all delivered over his iPad, Sabia gives us some insight into the history how stories have evolved over the years. And while…
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    The PR Coach

  • One Million iReporters: Is PR Ready?

    PR Coach
    24 Jan 2012 | 11:06 pm
    CNN reaches 1 million iReporters Recently, CNN reported it now has one million registered iReporters in its citizen journalism community. Imagine. Is PR ready to respond? What other newsroom can possibly compete and what are the PR implications of these citizen journalists crowdsourcing news from around the globe? The news channel’s CNN iReport site was completely redesigned, revamped and reinvigorated in November 2011. It launched Open Story, a storytelling tool that allows its citizens journalists and community to participate in the news in real-time. And it released a custom-built…

  • Media Savvy: Are You Fully Socially Engaged?

    PR Coach
    16 Jan 2012 | 8:44 pm
    73% of journalists using social media channels to interact with PR A new research report may finally convince you to dump email in favor of social media channels when it comes to media relations. The Cision/Newhouse School 2011 Digital Influencer survey found that more than 70% of digital influencers now engage with PR pros through social media. These influencers included both traditional journalists as well as new “digital influencers” such as bloggers, writers, online publishers and news aggregators, academics and consultants. 73% of journalists interacted mostly through…

  • Never Hire a Bad Billionaire PR Client

    PR Coach
    11 Jan 2012 | 11:09 pm
    Is PR having a Mark Cuban crisis? You could see this public relations vs billionaire Mark Cuban crisis coming for miles. It all started with Cuban’s advice in Entrepreneur.com to startup companies including: “Never hire a PR firm.” His actual advice, number 11 in his 12-point list, was: “11. Never hire a PR firm. A public relations firm will call or email people in the publications you already read, on the shows you already watch and at the websites you already surf. Those people publish their emails. Whenever you consume any information related to your field, get the…

  • Murdoch Tweets: Credible PR 2.0 Strategy?

    PR Coach
    4 Jan 2012 | 5:43 pm
    Does Rupert Murdoch have a new PR & social media strategy? So, Rupert Murdoch started tweeting on New Year’s eve? Now that’s news of the world! You could have hit me on the head with a two by four and I’d be less surprised. Dude, I mean Sir. That’s awesome! The octagenarian Chairman of News Corp and his PR handlers (Edelman?) have launched a brand-new 2012 public relations/social media strategy for the embattled publisher and free enterprise icon. For someone who once described the internet as “predatory” writing, that’s quite a reversal. In…

  • PR Storytelling: Why’s This So Good?

    PR Coach
    3 Jan 2012 | 11:05 pm
    Can you find PR storytelling inspiration? Whether you’re in PR, a journalist, blogger or just a writer with a pulse, you’re always searching for writer’s craft and inspiration. Right? You’ve come to the right place. There’s no better way to start 2012 than with inspiration for your writing. That’s why the Nieman Storyboard series from the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard is essential reading. It’s my secret weapon when it comes to inspiration. The storytelling will simply make you weak in the knees or damn envious of some incredible…
 
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    Doktor Spinn

  • A Very Small Big Village

    Jerry Silfwer
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:09 am
    Charming case study and a very good PR idea. Thanks to Sofia Sunnerlöf for sharing it with me. This isn’t exactly a new case film, but i had missed it. The only thing is this: Is this really a case for advertising? I mean, traditional advertisers can’t really expect the same kind of splash from running televised ads. Well, I good idea is it anyhow.

  • Declaring The Hippie Web Dead

    Jerry Silfwer
    22 Jan 2012 | 7:25 am
    Some years ago, I described the social web as the “Hippie Web”. Some people thought that was funny, especially those who also thought that some of the evangelist reactions was a little bit too… enthusiastic. To give you an idea, here’s a list of a couple of not too uncommon mindsets we’ve gotten used to: 1. “Wow, we can connect with each other on a digital level, that’s radical, man!” 2. “Everything is open to everyone at anytime—welcome to Nirvana, dude!” 3. “You must open up your power chakras… sorry, I meant activate…

  • Sh*t Project Managers Say

    Jerry Silfwer
    21 Jan 2012 | 5:31 pm
    Ouch. I just felt like moving to some place warm and get a job where a corporate skill set wouldn’t be a necessity to stay afloat. My COO privileges should protect me from this, right? No way, José. Thanks to my colleagues Linda Harleman and Martin Prescott for bringing this clip to my attention. Seriously.

  • Amateur Hour In Swedish Politics

    Jerry Silfwer
    7 Jan 2012 | 5:47 am
    Yesterday, Jonas Sjöstedt was elected the new leader of the Swedish Left Party. From a PR perspective, he is a good choice. Sjöstedt is charismatic and intelligent and he can do very well in media for his party. But he must whip the people around him into shape first. “Doing well in media” isn’t a small thing in today’s politics. Swedish authorities have a tendency to view media as an authoritive power with a mind and an agenda of its own, but for politicians, the media is the stage. In this day and age, you can’t say about a person that they are a good…

  • New On The Blog: Tumblr Webinotes

    Jerry Silfwer
    2 Jan 2012 | 4:32 am
    Inspired by Joakim Jardenberg, I decided to add a Tumblr section to the blog. I used to love sharing from google Reader directly into the blog, but since Google removed the sharing and community functionality, it simply wasn’t as fun anymore. I like Tumblr and I tried to get comfortable with the alternatives posting to WordPress, but it wasn’t the same. Plus, it really kills your PageRank somehow. So I kind of like the idea of separating it, but still keeping the curated links enclosed as a subsection at webinotes.doktorspinn.com. Hope you like it, too. Added item to blog menu…
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    Cision Blog

  • PR News Roundup 1/27/12: 5 PR Blog posts You May Have Missed

    Yvette Pistorio
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:46 am
    Photo courtesy of hoangnam_nguyen via Flickr It’s time for my weekly round-up of the best blog posts I have seen around the web this past week! Here’s the top five in no particular order… Optimize Your Social Media Schedule: 4 Tips for Avoiding the Social Media Time Suck via Online Marketing Blog Making the time to execute on a social media strategy can rattle even the most experienced marketers.  Unlike traditional marketing, social media marketing can present many different challenges and distractions.  According to a study by eMarketer 73% of marketers say finding the time to…

  • Getting the Most Out of Seek or Shout

    Guest Author
    25 Jan 2012 | 9:10 am
    This is a guest post from Teresa Dankowski, Community Manager of Seek Or Shout and Opportunities Supervisor at Cision.  The old saying goes: A carpenter is only as good as his or her tools, and users are only as effective as the effort put into maintaining a community presence. We launched an incredible site in public beta last week, and as the Community Manager of Seek or Shout, I would be remiss if didn’t help users maximize the experience. Here are five tips for perfecting and publicizing profiles and posts that give back. Add a photo. We want to see you! The site isn’t called…

  • PR experts sound off: “How would YOU define public relations?”

    Heidi Sullivan
    23 Jan 2012 | 8:59 am
    Late last year, PRSA announced a new initiative to redefine public relations with a more modern definition through their Public Relations Defined campaign. The definition hasn’t been revised since the 1980s, and with the rapidly changing media landscape, it may just be time to think about how our profession has changed. Using crowdsourcing techniques, PRSA has announced three candidate definitions and is asking for feedback in the comments section of this hyperlinked post – final responses due today. Beyond responding in the comments, I’ve reached out to some of the PR…

  • PR News Roundup 1/20/12: 5 PR Blog posts You May Have Missed

    Yvette Pistorio
    20 Jan 2012 | 8:49 am
    Photo courtesy of sofiabracho02 via Flickr It’s time for my weekly round-up of the best blog posts I have seen around the web this past week! Here’s the top five in no particular order… 4 Things Lady Gaga Can Teach Us About Social Media PR & Online Influence via Online Marketing Blog “Lady Gaga is the definition of an influencer offline and online; her music, fashion sense, and passion for social causes have spread around the world in only a few short years.  Love her, like her or hate her, you know who she is and you’ve probably heard more than one of her songs. When…

  • Seek or Shout, our content collaboration community, launches in public beta

    Jay Krall
    19 Jan 2012 | 1:10 pm
    I’m very excited to announce the public beta launch today of a new community site presented by Cision: Seek or Shout. We’ve built this site to help journalists, bloggers and professional communicators research and promote their content while connecting with each other in a productive, relevant way. Here’s what you can do inside of Seek or Shout: Seek products for review, experts to interview, and research materials for an upcoming news article or blog post. Choose to make your requests anonymously, or syndicate them to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for maximum response.
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    Paratus Communications

  • Platform Five – This Week’s Most Useful New Social Media Tools and Platforms

    Adam
    26 Jan 2012 | 8:48 pm
    It’s been another huge week in the world of new web apps and social media tools. The award for the ‘buzziest’ launch of the week has to go to Wunderkit.com – the collaboration tool from Berlin-based start-up 6Wunderkinder. But, there were some others generating some noise too, and here they are (complete with easy-to-categorise ‘tags’ [...]

  • Platform Five: This week’s most useful new social media tools and upgrades

    Adam
    19 Jan 2012 | 5:58 pm
    Welcome to Platform Five – our weekly look at the newest social media tools making waves around the web. This week’s edition includes your own video content aggregator service, an alias mobile number creator and a serious QR Code service provider. Ready to ride? OK, hop on… 1. Create video channel feeds based on your [...]

  • Platform Five – This week’s most useful new social media tools and updates

    Adam
    12 Jan 2012 | 5:35 pm
    Welcome to our weekly look at the new social media tools that are causing a stir around the web. This year, we’re also including a section called ‘track changes’ which focuses on the major updates and upgrades to existing social media platforms to keep you in the know on that front too. Sound like something [...]

  • Here is why you should be ‘pinterested’

    Antonia
    11 Jan 2012 | 9:52 am
    Pinterest, the new picture/video sharing platform, has been kicking up quite a fuss within the social media community. Discussions of its usefulness are a daily occurrence and while opinions differ from social media strategist to social media strategist, we at Paratus believe that there’s in fact room for a platform such as Pinterest and this [...]

  • Platform Five: This week’s most useful new social media tools

    Adam
    6 Jan 2012 | 4:02 pm
    Happy new year! We’re back with our regular feature called ‘Platform Five’ – a weekly look at the latest social media tools and platforms that a causing a stir around the web. You’ll notice some changes in the format this year, most significantly, a new section called ‘Track Changes’ which aims to highlight the countless [...]
 
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    The Fosbury Flop

  • Reputation Communications Cheers and Jeers

    Jim Barbagallo
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:47 pm
    As usual, politicians, athletes and business leaders have given us a week full of opportunities to cheer or jeer their actions.  As a result, reputations have either advanced or have been damaged.  For some, the damage can be managed.  For others, well, not so much. My favs for the week: Cheers to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick for standing up for “basic courtesy and grace” in the wake of Tim Thomas’ decision to avoid a photo opp earlier this week with the President of the U.S.  Thomas, superstar goalie for the Boston Bruins, snubbed the President and his own…

  • Irrefutible Rules of Executive Media Training

    Jim Barbagallo
    20 Jan 2012 | 11:03 am
    If business and political leaders committed to listening to their media specialists before talking to the press, their interview success rate would be through the roof.  The journalist would be on the receiving end of a better interview delivered by an informed and articulate content provider (aka, the spokesperson); the spokesperson will have delivered key messages in a concise, coherent and clear manner; and, the media specialist would have one less fire to extinguish. Yet, we see time-after-time leaders putting a foot in their mouth because they did not properly prepare for a planned…

  • Stories Are the Single Most Powerful Weapon in a Brand’s Arsenal (video link)

    Jim Barbagallo
    18 Jan 2012 | 4:25 pm
    Content-centered public relations turns ideas into stories and then into experiences that lead people to respond through action.  In public relations, we talk about stories as being the single most powerful weapon in a brand’s arsenal. A successful public relations campaign serves to define a brand in ways that educate and inform markets so that the target audience(s) is motivated to act after experiencing great content.  For the target audience to act, the story must be compelling and be brought to life in content best-suited for that particular audience — eBooks, events, blog…

  • Why Pay-for-Performance PR Agencies Can Hurt PR

    Jim Barbagallo
    13 Jan 2012 | 12:57 pm
    Recently a marketing executive from Israel posted the following update on the “Technology PR, AR and Social Media” group on LinkedIn.  Question: Looking to hire a PR firm in the U.S. but not able to go crazy with retainers. Does anyone have good experience with working on a pay-per-performance model with a PR firm? The request garnered only three public responses from the group’s membership of more than 800 public relations professionals.  You can interpret whatever you’d like from the dearth of responses.  Whatever the reasons may be, there are still hundreds…

  • The Simple Life: 5 New Year Resolutions to Make

    aimeecharest
    5 Jan 2012 | 4:09 pm
    Umi/Aki Java Calendar 1997 digital media | CD-ROM by John Maeda. Source: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Recently I came across a TED talk by John Maeda, president of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and formerly of MIT’s Media Lab.  The subject was finding simplicity – the simple life – in a complicated digital age.   As a communications professional, the idea of simplicity is both timely and applicable, and it adds needed perspective to all of our professional lives. Here are 5 ways to get back to basics in 2012. Get quiet.  This recent NY Times opinion piece “The Joy…
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    Council of Public Relations Firms

  • Maintaining Momentum: Five Tips for Managing the Challenges of Growth

    Kathy Cripps
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:04 am
    As we reported last week, headcounts are up at our member firms, revenues are higher, new business pipeline are stronger, and firms are innovating new practice offerings. All that growth is exciting, but it can also pose challenges. As one business author has noted, medium-sized businesses that catch fire enter a kind of “no man’s land” that can, if not handled properly, lead a business to flame out and die.  Growth isn’t easy for larger firms, either. What should growing public relations firms do to manage their success most effectively? We queried three executives who have…

  • It’s Hot in Here—Results from the Council’s Latest Industry Survey

    Kathy Cripps
    18 Jan 2012 | 7:13 am
    The Council just completed its Q4 survey of public relations firms, and the results are hot enough to warm even the chilliest January board meeting. First thing’s first: A full 70% of firms report that final 2011 revenues will be higher than in 2010. Only 13% anticipate lower revenues. In the context of a still-uncertain overall economy, the council is projecting about 10% year-over-year industry growth. About half of our members experienced double-digit growth, figures consistent across all revenue categories. Of course, some practice areas did see more growth over others. As has been the…

  • When It’s Not So Lonely At the Top: Selling the Weak Front-Runner

    Matt Shaw
    11 Jan 2012 | 7:43 am
    Political communications often carries intriguing lessons for the corporate sphere, and this season’s Republican presidential contest is no exception. In recent months, we’ve watched as a front-runner, Mitt Romney, has faced challenge after challenge from upstart contenders. Although Romney remains on top heading into South Carolina, he has so far failed to gain more than lukewarm support from a majority of possible GOP voters. This raises an interesting question: What’s the best way to market weak front-runners so they remain viable over the long haul? What strategies should…

  • Can Time Away from Work Make Us More Creative? Seven Tips for Getting the Most from Your Next Vacation

    Seth Schulman
    4 Jan 2012 | 7:36 am
    Now that we’re back from the holidays and possibly planning time off for the year to come, it’s worth asking: Were your recent days away a true creative vacation? Common sense tells us that vacations provide a chance to clear our heads and refresh so that we can become more productive upon our return. Yet the latest psychological research is confirming that vacations can enhance performance in one especially important respect: Creativity. That’s good news, because creativity is more important on the job than ever. As we reported in an earlier posting, a 2011 IBM global survey of CEOs…

  • Of White Knights and Trite Rhetoric: Resurrecting What Innovation Means

    Melissa Waggener Zorkin
    21 Dec 2011 | 8:09 am
    Innovation is under attack – no, not the actual practice of innovating. Government leaders, titans of industry and all manner of stakeholders in the public and private sector have been doubling down on the urgent need for innovation to deliver solutions that deliver lasting and meaningful impact. But the term innovation has steadily been under assault with claims of overuse and falling victim to hyperbolic reference – and in some cases there is merit to the criticism. Just last week LinkedIn cited innovation as one of its most overused buzzwords in 2011. The LinkedIn remarks offer a key…
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    Smoking Gun PR

  • The Blagger’s Blog 27th January 2012

    Martin
    27 Jan 2012 | 2:29 am
    A weekly roundup of talking ponts, sans effort Worth the paper it’s printed on? Last week’s light news success stories included… … Celebrity Big Brother again, with 92 articles reporting on the series dominating UK audiences, just a few more than the 88 that reported on Wikipedia temporarily closing down amid piracy fears… …and Amanda Holden wearing heels whilst pregnant, the crux of eight stories, the same number that covered the fall of Tom Harris, an ex-Scottish Labour MP (see below). (Source: Journalisted) Weekly high Scandinavian Airlines have a been…

  • Google and Bing accused in piracy war

    Martin
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:02 am
    In many legal cases to stand by and knowingly allow someone to commit a crime is, in itself, a crime. Similarly, to aid in the transportation or storage of stolen goods is tantamount to theft. Online though the same rules don’t apply. Because there’s no emotion, or morality, at work in an inanimate search engine, and so it’s difficult to accuse these service providers of a criminal offence. Google, et al, are designed to do what we ask, with the only prejudices involved coming from our own history and pre-set preferences. Until now, maybe. As Media Guardian reported today…

  • Infographic: How to Manage your Digital Reputation

    Ben
    25 Jan 2012 | 4:46 am
    As a PR agency we are adept at reputation management for clients, whether through traditional or digital media. As such this weeks infographic examines how to manage your e-reputation: A hat tip to KBSD Digital Marketing for creating the infographic.

  • 2011 in retrospect (through Google)

    Martin
    18 Jan 2012 | 9:41 pm
    With the memories of last year already beginning to fade now we’re all back in the swing of things at work it’s no wonder a video that summarises the whole 12 months is currently topping the viral charts, getting bloggers blogging, and lighting up social media hotlines everywhere. After all, without it how would we be able to figure out what just happened? Even if you do still recall everything though the clip is well worth checking out. Zeitgeist 2011: Year In Review has had an impressive 7.5million views (give or take) since it was uploaded mid-last month, and is Google’s…

  • Recommended viewing: The Future of Advertising

    Martin
    16 Jan 2012 | 9:24 pm
    As a public relations agency we spend an awful lot of time online, and a major benefit of this- outside effectively managing social media, PR and press office affairs for a plethora of clients- is that we stumble across interesting content on a daily basis. Just like this video. The Future of Advertising quite clearly visualises something we practice on a regular basis here at Smoking Gun PR, the art of storytelling with brands. Take a look for yourself and things should become a lot clearer, thanks to Story Worldwide for putting it together
 
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