Archive for August, 2011


In PR and the Media: August 31, 2011

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

MoviePass Makes Second Stab at Unlimited Filmgoing (WSJ)
“MoviePass Inc. said Tuesday it will soon begin testing a service that lets participants see an unlimited number of films in participating theaters for a flat monthly fee, a proposition that some theater owners fear could erode the value of a trip to the multiplex.”

Ad Giant Nurtures Startups (WSJ)
“Advertising companies keep finding new ways to cozy up to technology businesses—even tiny ones. Omnicom Group’s OMD and its client General Electric just completed a summer-long tech incubator to get an early in on new tech trends relevant to marketing. They awarded the $10,000 prize to a website called …”

7 Parts of a Facebook Post (SocialMediaToday)
“Content creation is one the biggest challenges for brands. Many of the folks I work with have a hard time trying to find the right thing to say to their listeners. There are two approaches I like to guide brands to take…”

Twitter Limits: Maximum Tweets Per Day? (SocialMediaToday)
“There are over two hundred million registered users of Twitter. This number grows by hundreds of thousands each day as new users sign-up. There are over one hundred and fifty million Tweets per day. So many, in fact, that many people find it hard to monitor ongoing conversations without using special platforms.”

Google Explores Re-Ranking Search Results Using +1 Button Data (Wired)
“Google is making plans to turn its +1 button into a crowdsourcing tool that helps it re-order search results and fight web spam. While not surprising, the move would bring Google’s search engine into the social networking era, while simultaneously creating a new avenue for blackhats to manipulate search results and potentially incurring the wrath of trust-busting authorities. Google confirmed its plans in an e-mail to Wired.com.”

News International confirms internal review of ‘journalistic standards’ (YahooNews/TheCutline)
“As the saga of the British phone-hacking scandal continues slowly to unfold, News International, the British arm of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, has confirmed it is conducting a thorough internal investigation of its properties.”

 Golden Globes Trial: Inside One of TV’s Messiest, Nastiest Battles (HollywoodReporter)
“THR’s in-depth look at why the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is accusing Dick Clark Productions of secretly squeezing it out of its own awards show.”

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Practical Tips for PR Professionals: Marketing Via Twitter

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

iStock_000016225009Small

August 2011

As the media landscape becomes increasing competitive, PR and communications professionals must up their social game. These five tips will help you leverage Twitter for your marketing and communications efforts:

1. Identify casual followers vs. power users. Tools, such as Twitalyzer, are designed to help you learn who to follow and who has the most community influence based on who you’ve identified as being relevant and aligned with your target audiences.

2. Understand trending topics. Consider implementing timed tweets or paying to promote your account. Twitter offers advertisers the ability to promote their products, tweets, trends, and accounts via paid engagement. Promoted accounts see more visibility and come up at the top of Twitter searches and follower timelines.

Learn more tips for Marketing Via Twitter in this month’s BurrellesLuce newsletter.

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Posted in Advertising/Marketing, BurrellesLuce, Media Measurement, Media Monitoring, Media Outreach, Public Relations, Social Media | No Comments »

In PR and the Media: August 30, 2011

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

Condé Nast Launches New Social Tool (FishbowlNY)
“Condé Nast is getting more social with the launch of Social Sidekick, a web tool that will aggregate the most shared pieces from some of its many brands. The tool launches Wednesday, and will showcase popular articles from W, Style.com, Glamour, Self, Teen Vogue and Lucky.”

Here’s Why Fox News Claims Gawker’s Traffic Fell 75 Percent (Forbes.com)
“Fox News and Gawker are going at it again. The Rupert Murdoch-owned cable channel says Gawker is irrelevant, so much so that its irrelevancy needs to be discussed both on Fox’s No. 1-rated air and on its website. The Nick Denton-owned gossip site says Fox’s logic-challenged attack is preemptive payback — pretaliation? — for a juicy story on a major Fox personality it’s getting set to publish.”

Steve Jobs’ Greatest Legacy: Persuading The World To Pay For Content (PaidContent.org)
“Jobs pried open many content companies’ thinking, because his focus was always on getting something great to the customer with as few obstacles as possible.”

Study Reveals Facebook Age Gap: Older Users Don’t ‘Like’ It, But Are More Likely To Click Through (MediaPost)
“Don’t expect Facebook users age 50+ to ‘Like’ a product or service in an ad, but do expect them to click through to the landing page or Web site, according to a new study.”

G.E. to Produce Short Films About Innovation (NYTimes/MediaCoder)
“General Electric just can’t stay away from the movies. Barely eight months after ceding control of NBC Universal and its Universal Studios to Comcast, G.E. is diving into the documentary world as the financial backer of 30 three-minute films by directors including Morgan Spurlock (“POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold”), Joe Berlinger (“Crude”), Barbara Kopple (“Shut Up and Sing”) and Alex Gibney (“Magic Trip: Ken Kesey’s Search for a Kool Place”).”

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In PR and the Media: August 29, 2011

Monday, August 29th, 2011

Legislator Calls for Clarifying Copyright Law (NYT)
“When copyright law was revised in 1976, recording artists and songwriters were granted “termination rights,” which enable them to regain control of their work after 35 years. But with musicians and songwriters now moving to assert that control, the provision threatens to leave the four major record companies, which have made billions of dollars from such recordings and songs, out in the cold.”
New Economics Rewrite Book Business (WSJ)
“At least 80% of all books purchased are still physical copies, however, which means that publishers must still pay legacy costs at the same time as building their e-book business.”
Bloomberg to Snap Up BNA (WSJ)
“Bloomberg LP agreed to acquire legal-research firm BNA in a deal valued at about $990 million, a bold move in the financial information company’s evolving efforts to diversify its business.”
Stephen King Offers Early Access to ‘Mile 81’ for Power Klout Users (SocialTimes.com)
“Publishers Weekly notes that users of the “digital influence” tracking site Klout, with the requisite social media power, have a chance to download the story for free from any of the major ebook merchants. The free download started today according to King’s website.”

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Using Social Media to Communicate and Market Around Natural Events

Friday, August 26th, 2011

EarthquakeThe ground moved on Tuesday, here in D.C. and along the East Coast. I happened to be the only one in the small BurrellesLuce Washington, D.C office at that time. Needing to figure-out what was happening, I turned to Twitter. MyFoxBoston.com posted an interesting visual of how the over 40,000 tweets spread across the US. 

I know all the Californians reading this, are still laughing about our reaction to a 5.9 earthquake, but this is a terrorism-scared town and coast (on the cusp of the 10 year anniversary of 9/11) and we don’t usually have earthquakes. There were a lot of funny and useless tweets, which had Howard Kurtz commenting on the media’s feeding frenzy of the event in “Washington’s Earthquake Farce” in The Daily Beast.

However, there were some organizations using new media to help communicate to the public. Concerned about my limited service, I tweeted Verizon Wireless, who answered my question quite quickly. Because many phone lines from various companies were jammed or down, people were encouraged to use social media or texting to communicate.   

Several other organizations used social media to push-out the most current service information.

Crisis Information
The earthquake caused several spires to fall from the National Cathedral, which is home to many national events and presidential funerals. The cathedral quickly created an impressive website page with a Twitter stream, information on the damage and a donation form for help paying for the repairs.

Round-up the Customers
Many stranded workers gave retailers an opportunity to offer earthquake specials or let customers know they were open via their Facebook pages and Twitter. I thought the $5.80 specials were a nice tie-in to the 5.8-magnitude earthquake.

What other creative social media marketing have you seen centered on a natural event? Are you prepared to communicate through social media in a crisis situation?

The East Coast is now waiting for Hurricane Irene to hit this weekend. I wonder what the Twitter-sphere will be saying about it and which bar will be the first to offer a special on hurricanes.

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