Name: Debbie Friez
Email:
Bio: Here at BurrellesLuce I manage the company’s relationships with many of its largest clients. I currently co-chair the professional development committee for the National Capital Chapter of PRSA and vice president for Washington Women in Public Relations. I am also a member of the International Association of Business Communicators and the Washington, DC, chapter of The Association for Women in Communication. If there is one thing that most people should know about me, it is that I am a diehard hockey fan and enjoy the show, Lost. Twitter: @dfriez; Facebook: BurrellesLuce; LinkedIn: dfriez
Posts by Debbie Friez:
- Dan Horowitz, executive vice president and senior partner for Fleishman-Hillard Digital
- Daria Steigman, founder of Steigman Communications and the author of the Independent Thinking Blog
- Steve Radick, lead associate, digital strategy and social media practice, Booz Allen Hamilton
- Rick Dunham, Washington bureau chief of the Houston Chronicle and Hearst newspapers, and chief author of the Texas on the Potomac blog.
- Government Use: Radick dispelled the myth that the government is behind the curve, but he did see them stalling in advances for 2012 because it is an election year.
- Internal Communications: Radick also thinks there will be more enterprise 2.0 or social media behind the firewall to internal audiences.
- Integrated Efforts: Both Radick and Horowitz confirmed they see more integration into all lines of communications.
- Influencers: They felt the days of the “social media guru” are dying fast. Horowitz said it’s time to look for persuaders or influencers who can help persuade others to your thinking or agenda.
- Small Business: Steigman sees social media platforms as a reliable ecosystem and wonders how they can be used to make it easier to reach customers. She suggested reading Phil Simon’s The Age of the Platform: How Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google Have Redefined Business. She also feels it will be key for business to understand search and the data around it.
- Digital Skills: Dunham is amazed by the use of tablets for tweeting, video, etc. Because many of his colleagues are not digitally inclined, he relies on interns to provide new ideas for using social media to drive more readers to their media properties.
- Clear messaging: Why is a new page needed? What new benefits will it offer?
- A transition timeline: Allow enough time to communicate the change. This can be as little as eight weeks, for a small fan base, up to six months or more for a large following. It is very important to give an end date for when the old page will no longer be updated, and stick to it.
- Integrated marketing: Communicate regularly, and often, through multiple channels (email, newsletters, website, etc.) about the transition. You want to reach as much of your fan base as possible to let them know about the page change.
- A content strategy: Drive people to your new page. For example, post identical content to both pages until the end date is reached, but gradually phase out content on the old page. Eventually, your new page should offer unique information not available elsewhere. Expanded content, like HD video, pictures and polls, will give the new page more value.
- A “like” campaign. Consider offering incentives. For example, you can donate $1 for every “like” to charity. Branded swag can help rebuild the emotional connection. Be sure to promote all campaigns across all channels of communication.
- @Peter_Max: Remembering Steve Jobs 4 more than computers & iPhones. His concern for the environment & the idea to Think Different were his true gifts!
- @libbykober: “Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple” #RIPSteveJobs
- @wobiwan: Three apples changed human life; Adam’s apple, Newton’s apple and the Steve Job’s apple. #RIPSteveJobs #iSad
- @ladygaga: From his own invention I open my browser to it’s homepage. Today it took my breath away. #ThankYouSteve. Going to eat Apples all day.
- @claiirebearclaiirebear: My life has been changed and impacted by a man i’ve never met. Such dedication and brilliance. RIP. #ThankYouSteve
- @rene: #ThankYouSteve for all the products you’ve made for Apple. I can’t live without my iPhone 4, iPad 2, & Other products. RIP Steve Jobs! #iSad
- @Vegas__Paul: Steve Jobs: born out of wedlock, put up for adoption, dropped out of college, then changed the world. What’s your excuse #thankyousteve
- @debhalasz: All I know is 10 years ago we still had Steve Jobs, Bob Hope, and Johnny Cash and now we have no Jobs, no Hope, and no Cash. #isad
- The Next Web blog – Beautiful: Public #thankyousteve Tweets visualised into a giant Steve Jobs poster. http://ca.engage121.com/articles/1094388190/
- Apple World – Slideshow: Steve Jobs through the years. http://ca.engage121.com/articles/1093980712/
2012 Social Media Trends from IABC DC Metro
January 30th, 2012
Even though we know digital and online media continues to change, IABC/DC Metro started 2012 with a chapter meeting tackling the latest Social Media Trends.
The panelists included:
Emerging Social Media Trends
Each panelist brought different industry point-of-view to the discussion. Radick took government. Horowitz gave the agency perspective, Steigman reviewed the small business view and Dunham brought insight from publishing and the media.
Social Media Best Practices for 2012
As with all social media discussions, some great best practices come out. Radick reminded us, “Don’t concentrate on social media tools, but concentrate on the principles behind them.
“When asked how to best measure social media, Horwoitz said, “You need to measure based on business goals, don’t measure on tactics.”
For more helpful social media best practices, you can read Steigman’s highlights of the session on her blog.
What social media trends do you see for 2012? Please share them with the BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas readers.
What Does Your Profile Picture Say About You?
January 9th, 2012What 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, because it doesn’t give me any reference as to what they look like or insight into their personality. Some people using a cartoon drawing or Avatar for their profiles can make me wonder if the drawing is better than real life or if they are using one because they think it’s more fun or humorous
Recently a few women have mentioned they do not use their own picture because of security reasons. Raegan Weber, a PR consultant, mentioned, “I had people using my picture for their own blogs or online news stories. So, I chose a picture of my beautiful German shepherd instead of my own headshot.” 
Other people like to show support for a cause, school or sports team with Twibbons. They are small icons you can put on your picture. When it’s October, I feel compelled to add a pink ribbon to my profile picture and I still have to have my college mascot Twibbon. Sports fans tend to include their favorite team in their pictures. My BurrellesLuce colleague Denise Giacin makes a point of wearing her favorite baseball team’s hat in her picture.
For me, I just want a nice picture. When I lived in Hawaii, I had a fabulous driver’s license picture. I was skinny, tan and my hair was bleached from the sun. I was so sad when I had to give it up. I know a lot of people who will do anything to keep a good driver’s license picture for as long as humanly possible. I might be that way about my current profile picture. A few years ago, several BurrellesLuce colleagues and I had our head shots taken. Fellow bloggers Johna Burke and Tressa Robbins kept me laughing and smiling, so the picture turned-out great. I use it for all my social media profile pictures, presentations. Well, pretty much anywhere I can use it, I will. Over dinner with friends recently, my husband said I will probably use it for my obituary. Yes, I’ll probably have one of those obituaries where it says I died at 95, but I don’t look a day over 30 in the picture!
What are some of your favorite profile pictures? What does your picture say about you? Do you use the same picture for all mediums or do you have different one based on the platform?
Rebranding Your Facebook Page
December 28th, 2011
What would you do if you had to start a new Facebook page for your organization and convince all your fans to like a new page? This is the reality for the athletics department of my alma mater, the University of North Dakota (UND). The university is going to stop using the “Fighting Sioux” as its nickname, and so they need to convince the 48,285 fans (and counting) of University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux to “like” UND Sports instead. To date only 2,296 fans have “liked” the new UND Sports page.
This brings up an important, but often forgotten, point about Facebook pages… You need to choose your Facebook page name carefully, because, as I discussed in my BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas post, Facebook Tips for PR Pros, you cannot change the page name once your page has 101+ fans. If UND had used “University of North Dakota (UND) Sports (or Athletics)” or some variation originally, this situation might not be happening. Remember, you can change the “About” and “Company Overview” at any time, so consider using these for more creative names and information.
Diane Thieke, founder, Simply Talk Media and Mike Schaffer, director of social media, iostudio have both recently helped clients make a Facebook page change. Both advocate a well-developed communications strategy, which should include:
Thieke says, “Remember that social media is a conversation. Respond to the comments on the old page and acknowledge how your fans feel, but avoid engaging in arguments. Often, people just want to know they’re being heard.”
Rebranding is never easy. Schaffer confirms, “The key to remember is that the loyalty isn’t to the name, but to the institution.” If the new Facebook page is going to allow fans, students and alumni to gain information and insight to the teams, then they will make the transition. Eventually, the old name will become less important.
Have you had to change Facebook pages for your organization or a client? Can you share some lessons learned and best practices with the BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas readers?
PRSA-NCC: The Changing Landscape of Social Media
November 22nd, 2011“I don’t know what Facebook is going to look like a week from now because, you know, we move pretty fast,“ said Andrew Noyes, public policy communications, Facebook, at the National Capital Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA-NCC) event on the Changing Landscape of Social Media. The tools we use now are ever changing and new tools and platforms are always emerging.
Panelist Ricky Choi, social media strategist for LivingSocial, reminded the audience, “Social media should be visual, personal and conversational.” He noted that social media will be a better marketing tool than email in three to five years and that social media engagement is the sum of interaction and content. Communicators should try to include context without being salesy.
The evolution of the media is happening, but questions remain regarding the best way to translate personal use to the big picture, Noyes reiterated. Choi suggested more education as one possible solution. Facebook is trying to educate younger users on how to be good digital citizens and understand that reputation is important. The social media giant is working with outside thought leaders to encourage people to use their privacy settings effectively. Read the rest of this entry “
Remembering What Social Media Said About Steve Jobs
October 14th, 2011We were all saddened about the passing of visionary Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, last week. (Apple, Inc. is a BurrellesLuce client.) His creative innovation will continue to affect us for generations to come. I once saw him “in real life” (IRL) at the Apple headquarters in Cupertino, CA. Of course, it was in passing, but my husband still thinks it was the coolest celebrity sighting I have ever had. It may have been.
The social media buzz was unavoidable. A posting by Arik Hanson prompted an idea. BurrellesLuce currently posts transcripts of several industry Twitter chats, so why not see what the social media world is saying about Jobs?
Many of the posts were posted via Apple products, and the re-tweeting of this fact, probably helped to stall Twitter. There were several trending words and hashtags, but the most poignant was #iSad.
Some of my favorite posts were:
You can view the entire #iSad and other Steve Jobs related transcripts here.
What are your favorite Steve Job tributes?
