Name: Johna Burke
Email:
Bio: I’ve been in the media monitoring and measurement business for nine years, joining BurrellesLuce in 2000. How did I get here? I was a client. I was the PR and IR director at U-Haul International for nearly 11 years. Then I chose to help make my former peers more efficient and effective. I enjoy my role as a trusted advisor and am enthused to speak about best practices in public relations. My commentaries on the subject have appeared in PR print and web outlets. Currently, I chair the Southern Region of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). So what am I passionate about, aside from measurement? My family which includes my three “boys” (Boston terriers). By the way, did I mention that I am also a master at Seinfeld trivia? Twitter: @gojohnab; LinkedIn: Johna Burke; Friendfeed: gojohnab; Facebook: BurrellesLuce
Posts by Johna Burke:
2010 Bulldog Reporter Media Relations Summit: Jennifer Ha, NY Public Radio, Interviewed by Johna Burke, BurrellesLuce
August 26th, 2010Transcript -
JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and I’m here at the Bulldog Media Relations Summit. I’m here with Jennifer.
Jennifer, will you please introduce yourself?
JENNIFER HA: Hi. I’m Jennifer Ha, executive director of digital media at New York Public Radio. And I’m here at the conference and I’d love to tell you how you can get in touch with us at New York Public Radio. So the best way is through email, and we do read our emails.
And also know who you’re trying to reach and what they cover because it’s really important to target your pitches and understand what’s important to the person that you’re pitching to. Also, please do not use red exclamation points, please, please, please. That means emergency to me. Because if you do use one, I’ll put you in our spam filter. Sorry.
BURKE: Excellent tip. And especially if, you know, you’re trying to represent your client or your organization, you know, it’s just as important to know what not to do as to know what to do. Jennifer, thanks so much. Where can people find you in social media?
HA: We’re on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube. You name it, we’re on it.
BURKE: Great. Thank you so much.
HA: Thank you.
2010 Bulldog Reporter Media Relations Summit: Sally Falkow, Press Feed, Interviewed By Johna Burke, BurrellesLuce
August 23rd, 2010Transcript -
JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and I’m here at the Bulldog Media Relations Summit. I’m joined by Sally.
Sally, will you please introduce yourself?
SALLY FALKOW: Hi, I’m Sally Falkow from Press Feed, the social media newsroom.
BURKE: And, Sally, you’re doing a session tomorrow about social media strategy. Can you please share the two big things that whenever anybody is trying to develop their social media strategy for their communications and their public relations – what are the two core things that they absolutely have to keep in consideration?
FALKOW: Only two? We’re only allowed two?
BURKE: Only two for the purpose of this quick video.
FALKOW: OK. Well, first and foremost, I think you have to listen. Before you even start doing anything else, you have to listen to the conversations. We heard a lot this morning in the first session from people saying how much conversation and discussion there is out there, and that the role of PR people is changing from managing news and getting our news out and working just with mainstream media to actually participating in and shaping and directing what was discussion or conversation. So you need to know what is being said, you need to listen.
And the second thing, I think, is you need to really understand how you fit into the business and what the business goals are. And you can’t measure if you haven’t set a measurable goal. So you need to know what it is you’re aiming for, and then you can figure out how to get there.
BURKE: Sally, always great insights from you. Where can people find you in social media?
FALKOW: On Twitter, sallyfalkow. I’m pretty much just sallyfalkow, all together, one word, lower case. If you search that, you’ll find me pretty much all over.
BURKE: Great. Thank you so much.
FALKOW: OK.
2010 Bulldog Reporter Media Relations Summit: Maggie Fox, Social Media Group, Interviewed by Johna Burke, BurrellesLuce
August 20th, 2010Transcript -
JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and we’re here at the Bulldog Media Relations Conference. I’m joined by Maggie.
Maggie, will you please introduce yourself?
MAGGIE FOX: Sure. My name is Maggie Fox. I’m the founder and CEO of a company called Social Media Group, and we are one of the world’s biggest independent social media agencies.
BURKE: Now, Maggie, you just did a panel, and I was just wondering, you know, so many people are talking about social media. For those people, perhaps, that haven’t quite started or don’t have a lot of traction yet, can you please share your couple of tips on how PR professionals and communicators can get going in social media?
FOX: Sure. Well, I think we have to recognize that social PR, that reaching out to people of influence and connecting with them in the hopes of getting them to tell your story for you is no different than traditional media relations. It is not brain surgery, the approach is very similar. The only thing that is different is the language. It is, you know, what they’re going to want from you, the way they’re going to want you to approach them, and kind of that human relationship piece, I think, is a lot stronger. The other part of it is, you know, that the reality is if you want people to tell your story, you want people to talk about you, you want them to share your content, it has to be good. So the notion that you are becoming a broadcaster, you’re starting to produce content of entertainment quality or asking other people to experience something that is really special is what’s always going to break through to us.
BURKE: Great. And where can people find you in social media, Maggie?
FOX: They can find me on Twitter @maggiefox, all one word, or on the Web at socialmediagroup.com.
BURKE: Great. Thank you so much.
FOX: Thank you.
2010 Bulldog Media Relations Summit: Aedhmar Hynes, Text 100, Interviewed by Johna Burke, BurrellesLuce
August 11th, 2010Transcripts -
JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and we’re here at the Bulldog Media Relations Summit, and we’re here with Aedhmar.
Aedhmar, please introduce yourself.
AEDHMAR HYNES: Hi, I’m Aedhmar Hynes and I’m the CEO of Text 100.
BURKE: Aedhmar, you were just on the panel talking about the future of public relations, and I loved how you incorporated and said, you know, we really have to step away as PR practitioners from those tactics that give us that feel good that we’ve done a good thing and align our goals with the business objectives. How do you counsel your team on how to be a bold–be a good consultant and align their PR objectives with the business objectives? What you’re trying to serve?
HYNES: Well, I think to a large extent, much of what we’re doing and have always done is really move a story based on the position of a brand or based on the positioning of a corporation. And for me, I’ve always felt that it’s critically important to understand the context of what you’re doing in relationship to the overall corporation. So really understanding what influences the success of that brand, which is much broader than simply the success of its product or the success of its people. And looking at the context of that and making sure that as a communications professional you understand the influence of government, you understand the influence of Wall Street or finance. Really, all of those things at a global level, even the understanding of cultures across multiple markets is critically important.
And a depth of appreciation and understanding of that as a context setter for what you’re trying to communicate, I think, is critically important. And in knowing and understanding the context within which you’re working, I think, gives you the opportunity to be much more effective not only in communications, but in being able to counsel your executives in their own effectiveness in communicating their brand.
BURKE: Great. Thank you so much. I think those are amazing insights that we all need to keep abreast of and take our ego out of the equation. Where can people find you in social media?
HYNES: Well, I’m pretty easy because I’ve got a very complicated name. And the spelling of my name is A-E-D-H-M-A-R. And so if you use that as your search, then actually all of the places that I am in the social media pop up straight away.
BURKE: Great. Thank you so much.
HYNES: You’re welcome.
2010 Bulldog Reporter Media Relations Summit: Michael Smart Interviewed by Johna Burke, BurrellesLuce
August 10th, 2010Transcript -
JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and we’re here at 2010 Bulldog Media Relations Summit. I’m here with Michael.
Michael, will you please introduce yourself?
MICHAEL SMART: Thanks, Johna. I’m Michael Smart with Michael Smart PR, and I teach people how to pitch to the media.
BURKE: Michael, can you please share, for our PR practitioners and communications professionals, some of your top pitching tips?
SMART: Sure. One of them is to begin a pitch by referencing your target journalist’s earlier work. And this principle that I’ve been sharing in my pitching workshops was echoed for me today when I sat next to Carl Lavin, managing editor of Forbes, at one of these great roundtables, where he said he likes it when PR people actually point out that we’ve posted his story or his reporter’s story to Twitter or on our Facebook feed so he can see that we’re helping drive traffic. And then we can get into our pitch.
BURKE: Excellent. I love it that social media continues to play a growing role there. Where can people find you in social media or learn more about your pitching tips, Michael?
SMART: The best way would be to go to michaelsmartpr.com and sign up for my weekly pitching tips emails.
BURKE: Great. Thank you so much.
SMART: Thank you.
