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. That’s 4,000 percent growth on visits during a single week in just six months, points out CNET, bumping it into the top 10 social sites among the more than 6,000 properties that Hitwise tracks.

In fact, for the first time Pinterest made the new BurrellesLuce 2012 Top Media Outlets: Newspapers, Blogs, Consumer Magazines, Websites and Social Networks. The site comes in at number 9 on the top social networks (with 0.41 percent market share) according to Hitwise rankings for the week ending December 17, 2011 – beating out newcomer Google+ which rounds out the number 10 spot with 0.36 percent market share.

We all see cool stuff online that we’d like to share or save (aka “pin”) – I have some Facebook friends that I wish would use Pinterest instead of filling my stream with kitten images and quotation graphics, but that’s for another post. Snark aside, it is no surprise that people are finding use for this online pinboard. Friends and colleagues that are engaged are pinning wedding themed items, foodie friends are pinning recipes, fashion junkies are pinning wish-list items, etc.

So, I get the individual use, but what, if anything, can this do for companies or organizations?

Pinterest for Cause Marketing
Joe Waters answers this question for causes/non-profits in a HuffPo article. He points out that if you have an interesting or compelling story that can be told with images (and believes every cause does), and if you’re active on other social media platforms (because he doesn’t believe Pinterest is a good stand-alone platform yet), then you may very well benefit from the site. However, he warns, you must act socially – be useful. One example is Amnesty International’s boards.

Small Businesses on Pinterest
Kathleen Scarrow addresses Pinterest from the small business point of view in a Globe and Mail article. She points out that currently the majority of the user base is women 25-44 so if this is your target market, and again, if your story can be told via images, then this may be a great tool to use. She also warns about self-promoting and to think creatively instead. A good example is Etsy’s boards.

Journalist and Media Outreach
Mashable posted an article from the International Journalists’ Network that talks about how journalists could use Pinterest. For example, you could use the site to showcase your work, use mobile pinning of pics for breaking news, find trends or ideas, or simply curate the news into a make-shift online magazine. Check out TIME Magazine’s boards where they’re using it for staff bios and to promote behind-the-scenes blog posts and more.

Corporate Branding
Other articles, including this one on Mashable and  this one on AmEx Open Forum, discuss how bigger brands can or are using Pinterest. First and foremost they warn against blatant broadcasting and suggest using a more holistic approach. Some of the suggestions are using it as a focus group, promoting a lifestyle, showcasing brand personality, crowdsourcing, general inspiration for your team(s), fostering creative communications between the brand and its customers, and running contests – such as Land’s End’s Pin It to Win It contest.  If you want specific brand examples, try checking out Real Simple’s boards, which according to a Business Insider post, now gets more referral traffic from Pinterest than from Facebook. Or check out the Whole Foods Market’s boards – be forewarned you WILL be hungry after seeing this one!

I thought I’d share my research here, with you – the BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas readers – but truly want to know if you’re using Pinterest, for what, and why.

November 2011

Broadcast media traditionally refers to television. It may seem people are spending less time in front of the TV these days. But with the media everywhere mentality, broadcast television still remains a viable part of media relations outreach.

In fact, broadcast is becoming even more important today because of its availability online – increasing shelf life and exposure of key content segments. “Today, broadcast is about much more than just television and radio. There is mobile TV, podcasting, web streaming, branded content, and ad funded programming,” confirms Weber Shandwick, a full service public relations agency who specializes in Broadcast PR. “In short, it is all about convergence between traditional broadcast outlets and the new digital kids on the block. A well thought out convergent campaign using the best of the old in conjunction with the best of the new will amplify your messages and give you an important voice […]”

With that spirit in mind, BurrellesLuce put together 5 tips to help you get the most out of working with television journalists and enhance your broadcast efforts.

Read more to discover 5 tips for working with TV journalists in this month’s BurrellesLuce Newsletter.

Recently I wrote a post, here on BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas, outlining key tips for integrating online video into your PR campaign from a recent PRSA-NY panel. For this post, I thought I would re-cap some of what I thought were the most compelling best practices for creating, marketing, and measuring online video content – as discussed at the event.

The event featured presentations from Joe D’Amico, PopTent; Jake Finkelstein, Method Savvy; Jonah Minton, Ustream; Mark Rotblat, TubeMogul; Eric Wright, DS Simon; Jim Sulley, newscast US; and Larry Thomas, Latergy.

It was followed by a roundtable Q&A moderated by Jason Winocour, social and digital media practice leader at Hunter Public Relations.

How to Create Online Video Content
Nearly 89 percent of journalist report that they regularly include online video content in their stories. But how can marketing and communications professionals create compelling video content?

Jim Sulley, president of Newscast U.S., had these best practices to offer:

• Understand who you are trying to reach. Who are your target demographics?
• Get the attention of the people watching. You only have 10 seconds to hook their interest.
• Shoot to script, don’t script to shoot. In other words, take the time to plan your videos and write a script.
• Create biscuits, little surprises along the way, and don’t give away the ending upfront.
• Be truthful. And remember, production values count.
• Entertain or DIE.
• Too much text is annoying for online video.

When creating video content, you will also want to get your online community, stakeholders, and agencies involved, as this with provide you with feedback and help you market your initiatives.

Joe D’Amico, vice president of sales, Poptent had this advice to share:

• Initially, your objective should be to create 30-60 seconds of video.
• Work closely with the PR agency and provide the agency with a variety of creative approaches.
• Consumer insight is vital. Direct consumer engagement and take advantage of strong social media outlets.
• Showcase performance – such as votes and comments received from consumer engagement.

How to Market Online Video and Measure Results
It isn’t enough just to create compelling digital video and push it out to your constituents. PR and marketing professionals need to understand how video fits in to their larger communications and branding strategy and report on those results.

Mark Rotblat, vice president of Sales, TubeMogul, provided these tips for marketing online video and measuring results:

• Brands must determine what are they looking to accomplish through their budget.
• Paid Media drives Earned Media.
• Paid video drives consumers to your site.
• Owned Media (e.g., a company website) – Video improves conversions for web retailers by 64 percent.
• Broadcast your video on popular public websites such as, YouTube, Google video, Yahoo video, and dozens of other user-generated sites.
• When social sharing always include clickable overlaps to Facebook Fan page and social media games.
• Use click-through rates to measures the value of the video.
• When reporting ROI, know who’s watching, where they’re watching, and what sites they are watching.

In my next post, I will examine how live streaming of video can enhance engagement and community participations, as well as ways to effectively optimize video content for online search, as discussed at PRSA-NY.

How do you use digital video to connect with your stakeholders and constituents? What tips can you provide for marketing and measuring the success of online video campaigns? Please share your thoughts with me here on Fresh Ideas.

***

Bio: Alfred Cox is a rare commodity of a performer who combines a relentless drive to succeed with the ability to provide “first-person” touch to his clients, creating loyalty and repeat business. He has a hard-nosed work ethic in a results- driven environment and he is often called the “Network King.” Alfred has been in the PR industry for the past 18+ years and joined the BurrellesLuce team in 2011. Connect with him on Twitter: @shantikcox Facebook:  BurrellesLuce LinkedIn: Alfred Cox

Last week, on October 27, 2011, I had the opportunity to connect with industry professionals at the PRSA-NY panel, Successfully Integrating Online Video Into Your PR Campaigns.

The event featured presentations from Joe D’Amico, PopTent; Jake Finkelstein, Method Savvy; Jonah Minton, Ustream; Mark Rotblat, TubeMogul; Eric Wright, DS Simon; Jim Sulley, newscast US; and Larry Thomas, Latergy.

It was followed by a roundtable Q&A moderated by Jason Winocour, social and digital media practice leader at Hunter Public Relations.

Why Digital Video
Fifty-nine percent of Americans get their news every day from online and a mix of broadcast, radio and print sources. In fact, it is predicted that “by 2015, the demand for online video is expected to grow by 81 percent.”

Eric Wright, senior VP of marketing and business development, DS Simon Productions, Inc., offered additional insight on why digital video matters to the media.

• AOL Newsroom is now bigger than the New York Times.
• Journalist are using online video on their website.
• 79 percent will use more online video in their messages.

Interestingly enough, over 50 percent of journalists say that video is vital to their jobs and that HD is the most important format.

For these reasons, among others, it is imperative that public relations professionals use video to engage and build relationships with stakeholders, the media, and the community. However, PR folks have lots of homework before integrating online video in their campaigns.

Best Practices in Mobile Video
So what are some of the general best practices in mobile video?

Larry Thomas, president of Latergy, LLC, says that communications professionals need to understand that “mobile video is here to STAY.” From there, we need to

• Focus on the story and know our audience(s).
• Tell the story “simple.” In other words, be sincere, be brief, and be seated.
• Distribute to all platforms and screens – and have the stories play on multiple types of mobile devices.
• Make sure your story is visual.
• Leverage your web video assets to reach the rapidly expanding mobile media market.

In a follow-up post, I will be exploring best practices for creating, marketing, and measuring online video as suggested at the PRSA-NY panel.

In the meantime, what other general online and mobile video tips can you add? Please share your thoughts with me, here, on BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas in the comments below.

***

Bio: Alfred Cox is a rare commodity of a performer who combines a relentless drive to succeed with the ability to provide “first-person” touch to his clients, creating loyalty and repeat business. He has a hard-nosed work ethic in a results- driven environment and he is often called the “Network King.” Alfred has been in the PR industry for the past 18+ years and joined the BurrellesLuce team in 2011. Connect with him on Twitter: @shantikcox Facebook:  BurrellesLuce LinkedIn: Alfred Cox

Even though the PRSA International Conference was my 12th in the past 13 years, I was excited about this year’s theme of Envisioning the Future of Public Relations. As I’m a PRSSA mentor and adviser, and vice president of BurrellesLuce Media Contacts, the future of the profession is close to my heart.

One of the sessions I attended was led by my colleague Johna Burke, on the topic of storytelling and its importance in this digital age. I came away with two pages of typewritten notes, but here are what I believe to be the key takeaways.

Burke began by stressing that storytelling is the core competency in the public relations profession, next to great writing. She talked about this being the “Web 2.0” of storytelling. No more is it just local library readings, storytelling festivals and other analog channels. We now have multimedia, hypertext, social media, user-generated broadcast, etc. Public relations professionals must leverage the art form — make your story compelling, make it stand out.

Blasting your message out to the masses is not the way to reach everyone. The most important considerations:

• Where is your audience? Target your story through the proper channels.
• What matters? Understand who your community is and what they want. 
• What is sustainable? Understand how your organization makes and spends money. Channel your resources in the proper way so that you aren’t wasting time and money talking where no one is listening.

In the spirit of being in Orlando, Burke referenced Walt Disney as one of the best storytellers of all time; he knew who his audience was. He knew that kids were his primary market, yet he recognized his secondary market was the parents (using allusions above the kids’ heads to amuse the adults). He also didn’t forget there’s always a tertiary market — audiences we may not have originally anticipated but who still matter and who take an interest in our stories. These audiences should be identified as they emerge. 

The key is to understand what your brand means. Being generic dilutes the message.

Public relations professionals must empower their audience by digging deeper, driving the story. She warns to beware of the desire to be the newest, coolest — using the “all sizzle, no steak” analogy. People see through this, and will not support long-time relationships, which is what you need. You do want to be relevant — visuals, videos, info-graphics are powerful, but don’t miss the opportunity to tell your story.

Tressa Robbins is vice president of Media Contacts for BurrellesLuce. Tressa is a regular contributor to BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas blog, a member of the St. Louis PRSA chapter, Champions for PRSSA section member, PRSSA mentor and Professional Adviser. She recently served as a panelist for the PRSSA National Conference and speaks at the local and regional level. Connect with Tressa on LinkedIn and follow Tressa on Twitter @tressalynne.

Transcript -
JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce and I’m here at the PRSA Connecticut event on social media. I’m joined by Lane.

Lane, will you please introduce yourself?

LANE SUTTON: Sure. I’m a 14-year-old social media coach and entrepreneur for diverse types of businesses.

BURKE: Lane, you just did a presentation about social media. Can you tell us a couple of the key takeaways in working with the youth today via the channels of social media?

SUTTON: Definitely. So no broadcasting, OK? So we’re in the era where PR releases do not work on social networks. And now we need to engage and listen and have bigger ears out there. And then also customer service is a huge differentiator for PR in that what–that’s what sets companies apart from each other. And lastly, PR has been used so much. You know, it’s all about analysis and things. So some great tools to do that would be Hootsuite, Social Mention and journalist tweets.

BURKE: And to show that Lane is very well rounded, he has a pretty exciting announcement. What’s your new position at school when you’re not out public speaking, Lane?

SUTTON: I’m treasurer for student government for my freshman class at Framingham High School.

BURKE: Excellent. Congratulations, Lane.

SUTTON: Thank you.

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to attend the PRSA-NJ panel discussion on Tools of the Trade:  Effective Online News sponsored by BurrellesLuce.  The event was held at the beautiful Monmouth University campus and had a great turnout of emerging journalists and up-and-coming publicists. 

The panel had one consistent message across the board for students and professionals in attendance: 

• Know who you are pitching.
• Know your news hook.
• Be relevant, specific and succinct.

Judith Feeney —  digital editor for NJ Press Media,  Asbury Park Press (app.com), Daily Record (dailyrecord.com), the Home News Tribune, and the Courier News — started the discussion by reminding us there are a vast number of new tools and a lot less time to get the job done.  She suggested that PR and media relations professionals need to become familiar with all of the tools out there.  Know who you are pitching and don’t blanket your pitch to multiple people.  Look at the type of material the publication and journalist produces and tailor your pitch accordingly.

Christopher Sheldon, the Long Branch editor of Patch.com, a hyperlocal publication, said to make sure to include the who, what, where, when and why in the first paragraph.  If it’s not local to his area, he cannot write about it.  His audience is looking for community news.

Christy Potter Kass, assistant editor of The Alternative Press, agreed with Chris and said her publication is also hyperlocal and stories must tie into the values and interests of local readers.  She emphasized not to confuse hyperlocal publications with national publications.  When asked the definition of “hyperlocal,” Christy said the more local the story the better.  News must be about something going on in town or have a connection to the community.

Joan Bosisio, group vice president of Stern & Associates said that (with all the recent layoffs) PR people have an opportunity to help journalists, who are working on stories, do their jobs.  Journalists are now doing more than one job and by presenting them with not only the story, but the materials to help them write the story (e.g., video, spokespeople and social media) you make their job easier.

Kristine Brown oversees PR for St. Barnabas Health, the state’s largest hospital system.  She gave us some real life examples of crisis communications and advised that essential PR skills have not changed with all the new online tools available.  Kristine said you still need to know your audience, know your story, cultivate relationships with the media (this has helped her in time of crisis) and move at the same pace the news is moving.

As for journalists and PR professionals alike, essential skills include: spelling, grammar, and attention to detail. The ability to take your own photos, as a journalist, will also help prospective media professionals stand out.

How are you using online tools to help you connect with journalists and the media? As a member of the media, what other ways can PR and communications professionals work with you to get their stories out? Please leave your comments below on BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.

***

How to Craft a Proper Résumé
The predominant question of the day was about the length of their résumés. I responded that if a student is active in PRSSA, works for a student-run firm, and is actively interning, then the résumé could justifiably go beyond one page. However, from what I gather, most large PR agencies, as well as communications professors, advise all students to restrict their résumés to one page without exception – going so far as saying students/candidates will not make the grade and/or the résumé would not get reviewed! 

Subsequently, I advised that they stick to the one-pager, but to note there are samples available, and to be sure to have a portfolio of their work ready to take on an interview. However, I still believe that outside of class and the top tier agencies it is okay to go to a second page if the experience warrants doing so.

Timing Your Job Search
Another question I heard frequently was how soon to begin the job search, to which I snarkily responded, “You haven’t begun yet?” 

Seriously, I advised that they should already be thinking about where they want to go (geographically), whether they want to work for an agency, a corporation or a non-profit, and to begin researching and networking accordingly. For example, in St. Louis (where I’m a PRSA member), there is PRSA, IABC (International Association of Business Communicators) and CSPRC (Community Service Public Relations Council).

Depending on where the student has decided their path will be, they should be networking with the appropriate organization by attending mixers and/or luncheons and getting involved. Or, if they’re not staying in the same geographic market, find those people on Twitter and begin connecting and building relationships.  And, if they are already seniors—especially those that graduate in December—if they haven’t already started this process, then they are behind the eight ball!

There were lots more questions, but these seemed to be the most prevalent. What advice would you give for new and existing PR professionals on the job hunt? Or what questions do you have if you’re looking to start or continue your career in communications?

Above: Patrice Tanaka, CRT/tanaka and Johna Burke, BurellesLuce

Above: PR Week US

Above: Deirdre Breakenridge, PR 2.0 Strategies

 
Above: Crystal deGoede, BurrellesLuce, Bugs Bunny

Want to see more photos? Check out the our 2011 PRSA International Conference photo album on the BurrellesLuce Facebook Page… And while you’re there, be sure to tag you and your friends!

Facebook re-designs and the advent of Google+ are creating super-charged environments in which to disseminate and consume content online.

PR and communications professionals can ramp-up their storytelling to produce content that gains and keeps the attention of their audiences in a noisy online space.

Discover these 5 storytelling tips in this month’s BurrellesLuce Newsletter.

If you mistook the clattering of keyboards for cicadas in heat and saw your Twitter feed explode with the hashtag #prndigital, yesterday, then you were probably with me at the PR News Digital PR Next Practices Summit at the Grand Hyatt in New York City. The all-day event was a smorgasbord of useful topics and speakers flinging words such as SEO (search engine optimization), influencers, engagement, and fangate pages.

However, if you have ever spoken to your boss about using social media it probably went like this:

justincaseyouwerewondering.com

If your digital campaign does not translate to the C-Suite language (increased sales, decreased costs, or high ROI) then it wouldn’t matter if you grow their Twitter page to 100,000 followers. They will pull the plug. 

Here are eight steps I took from the panel on Prove the Value of Your Digital Efforts to the C-Suite featuring Margot Sinclair Savell, vice president of Measurement and Analytics at Weber Shandwick, Angela Jeffery, APR and member of IPR Commission and Nick Panayi, director of Global Brand and Digital Marketing at CSC.

1.      Define organizational goals. Make sure your goals are strictly C-suite speak. (e.g., Our goal is to increase sales by 30 percent.) That way they see that you are on the same level.

2.      Research stakeholders and prioritize. This should be done regardless if you are presenting a digital campaign or not; you should always know your audience.  

3.      Ask yourself: What do they care about? I want to add in a perfect line from Margot Sinclair Savell, “Don’t just measure communications; measure the impact on your bottom line.” 

4.      Set social media objectives that correlate with their goals. Now this is where you link your social media efforts to their C-suite objectives. (e.g., With the Twitter campaign, we are launching, our goal is to increase our followers by 50 percent and positive sentiment by 40 percent which in turn will increase our sales by 30 percent.)  

5.      Choose (the right) tools and establish benchmarks. Once your campaign has launched, use tools and benchmarks to monitor how your campaign is playing out in The Media. Remember to monitor both the social media goal and the main goal (C-suite objective).

6.      Analyze, Analyze, Analyze! Be sure to use both qualitative and quantitative metrics and have these also tie back to your communications and C-suite objectives.

7.      Present to management. Remember to add charts of correlation between the campaign and the C-suite objectives. Translate metrics into the language.  

8.      Continue to build on that foundation: monitor, analyze, and improve. Review and revamp your strategy and tactics, making sure to revise as departmental and C-suite objectives evolve. 

So, how are you proving your value of your digital efforts to the C-suite? Please share your thoughts with me, here, on BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.

 ***

Before joining the BurrellesLuce team in 2011, as social media specialist, Ruth worked as a marketing assistant in a kitchen design firm and, later interned with Turner Public Relations. She holds a BA in Economics with a minor degree in International Relations from Rowan University. In addition to economics, education, and finance – Ruth is passionate about understanding the business implications of social media, including how it can be used to increase ROI, find and maintain a career, and create a business. Connect with her on Twitter: @RuthMesfun LinkedIn: Ruth Mesfun Facebook: BurrellesLuce

Flickr Image: o5com

Privacy laws remain the same, even in electronic mediums. Many organizations think the rules might be different, but actually the same rules apply. This was a key point from the National Capital Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA-NCC) September 13 professional development panel.  

The expert panel included:

• Brigitte Johnson, PRSA-NCC president and director of communications and executive editor at American Forest Foundation
• Randy Barrett, communications director, Center for Public Integrity
• Justin Brookman, director, Consumer Privacy Project, Center for Democracy & Technology
• Christian Olsen, vice president for the Digital and Social Media team at Levick Strategic Communications

All the panelists reminded the audience about the importance of being transparent regarding who you are representing when pitching online media.

Barrett commented on the concerns of media and journalists. Media outlets try to avoid the appearance of any kind of bias and ask their journalists to be careful of whom they “like” on Facebook. Journalists should also always identify themselves when on social media, verify all social media leads and remember social media posts are discoverable in court.

Always disclose who is behind a post, because transparency is key says Brookman. He recommended looking at why and how much secondary data you might be collecting and be sure to disclose how it will be used. You should try to avoid unnecessary collection. He used the example of mobile apps, which can often have access to all the data on the phone. Olsen agreed and commented on how he removed the Facebook app from his smartphone, because he thought Facebook went too far when his entire address book of phone numbers imported to his Facebook account.  

Public relations professionals have an obligation to counsel clients on how to be transparent in social media. Olsen encouraged the audience to understand the rules of the various platforms and said everyone needs to be monitoring what is being said through various tools, whether that be a free or paid tool(s).  But as good as tools might be, it’s important to have someone, who has an understanding of the industry as well as social media, reviewing the information.

PRSA-NCC president Johnson reviewed the code of ethics for several professional organizations and found they all had truth, honesty, and fairness as the basis for the codes. She commented that we are all guided by our ethics, first, so don’t ignore them. She encouraged all to work to stop the idea of being spin pros.

How do you counsel clients on privacy and transparency? Are their examples you can share with the BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas readers?

Among many of the lessons I learned at this year’s Annual Florida Public Relations Association (FPRA) Conference, the value of storytelling and balancing brand with business was emphasized by Danya Proud, director of U.S. media relations, McDonald’s.

Danya asked the conference attendees to consider two questions that would make their own storytelling valuable: Why should the people you are telling care? What about the story will make them want to share it?

I agree with Danya’s statement that “people believe people, not corporations.” In fact, the stories you trust from your friends may truly shape your perception of the brand, as these stories are often viewed as authentic. Danya continued that, “Stories provide experience; they are the emotional glue that hold things together.”

For professionals who help shape a brand’s image…

• Know your business and your audience.
• Talk to your customers. Danya suggests that we do less talking at (commercials, press releases, marketing) and do more talking with.
• Stay involved! People are creating their own dialogue and these stories are told no matter what and can even weigh more heavily on the brand than your own PR efforts. So, listen to what people are saying and participate in two-way dialogue through social media and active media engagements.
• Tell your story often and well. People need to hear a message three to five times before they believe it.
• Become a resource. People follow 75 percent of what they hear through stories and only 5 – 10 percent through facts. While you cannot change the perception of everyone, it’s your responsibility to help share information.

Brand trust doesn’t just result from a brand showing support. “Doing good” is not enough anymore. For example, McDonald’s is now expected to be involved in community and now makes huge efforts to be involved in communities on a local level while promoting healthy eating habits. This involvement will add to their story. These efforts can be viewed by their target audience of 18-34 year olds (a generation that is often stereotyped as not trusting corporate American, but who also reads and listens to everything in The Media) as genuine, positive, and ultimately result in storytelling based on experience, rather than ads.

Need help tailoring your storytelling for the digital age?  Attend Johna Burke’s, senior vice president marketing and sales, BurrellesLuce, workshop at this year’s PRSA 2011 International Conference in Orlando on October 15 – 18. Saver Rate Deadline is August 26, 2011.

***

After receiving a B.A. in communications, and briefly working at a TV production studio, Andrea began volunteering abroad. This lead her to work in the non-profit world, where she was fortunate enough to learn about international education, women’s empowerment and social issues for the elderly, while traveling to over a dozen countries.  Since joining BurrellesLuce in 2011, Andrea is excited to share her thoughts and views on branding, social media, and communications with the growing Fresh Ideas audience, as well as her passion for cultural awareness, volunteerism, and sustainable efforts. Twitter: @AndreaCorbo; Facebook: BurrellesLuce

• There was a newspaper boon in the 1890s, when the number exceeded 13,000 — about the same number as now – according to a recent Stanford University presentation.
• Concluding a year-long study, U.S. newspapers are transforming, not going out of business, says Paul Steinle, a just-retired journalism professor and academic provost who ran United Press International from 1988-1990.
• Some of the best newspapers in America – of all sizes – are now reporting profit margins averaging 10 percent to 15 percent a year despite devastating drops in advertising revenue over the last five years, according to Paul Steinle and his co-researcher, wife Dr. Sara Brown.
• The Newton Daily News reported last month that their content “reaches more people today than at any point in its entire history.”
• Recently retired Lexington Herald-Leader publisher Tim Kelly wrote that“there are 122 non-daily newspapers in Kentucky right now, only one fewer than 15 years ago. Not exactly a rush to extinction.”
• Last month, Jason Schaumburg, editor of the Daily Chronicle reported, as reported to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the papers overall circulation grew about 8 percent over last year –and online page views have increased 35 percent since 2008.
• Released just last week, a comScore study for the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) showed newspaper websites posted the second consecutive quarterly traffic increase. NAA President and CEO John Sturm explains, “The credibility associated with newspapers and strong newspaper brands clearly carries over to the online environment — distinguishing newspaper sites from other sources.”

Although she’s actually at a TV station, not a newspaper, Emily Neilson best described the shift of 8 News NOW as no longer being a TV station but rather a local news organization that is platform agnostic.

Kevin Slimp, director of the Institute of Newspaper Technology, reported that this has been the busiest summer he’s ever had with newspapers all over the U.S. and Canada calling for advice and training as they prep for major tech upgrades.  He, admittedly, hasn’t done any serious research on the subject but shared one theory as to why, “We finally realized we (newspapers) aren’t dying, so we’d better start preparing for our future.”

So, are newspapers (and other ‘big media’) really dying? NO! (yes I’m shouting). Are media outlets evolving? Yes.  Do we know exactly what media will look like in five years?  I think that may be a good topic for a future blog post. What do you think?

Transcript –

JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and we’re here at the PR News Measurement conference. I’m joined by Angie.

Angie, will you please introduce yourself?

ANGIE JEFFREY: Angie–I’m Angie Jeffrey, vice president of integrated media for VMS.

BURKE: Angie, you spoke earlier about the Barcelona principles. Can you talk a little bit about the validated metrics for those that weren’t here to experience those, about what those mean to PR and to PR campaigns?

JEFFREY: Yes. The validated metrics guidelines were put together by a group of people from AMEC and PRSA who wanted to make public relations measurement much more–much more valid, and to give an alternative to ad value equivalency.  And they take into account three phases of public relations on the left-hand part of the matrix, and on the top they go through the five stages of the communications funnel so that you go from a very simplistic type of measure down to outcomes, business outcomes, much more complex. But the goal of the program would be to work a client down through that grid to that business outcome.

BURKE: Excellent. And I know that part of the benefit of being an AMEC member is having that international influence, and we look forward to seeing how those Barcelona principles continue to develop and influence measurement. Angie, can you tell people where they can connect with you online and in social media?

JEFFREY: Sure, Johna. I’m @ajeffrey1, which is A-J-E-F-F-R-E-Y-1, or my regular e-mail address is ajeffrey@vmsinfo.com.

BURKE: Thanks so much, Angie.

Flickr Image: Sebastian Fritzon

Valerie Simon

Listening, as I define it, is not a passive exercise. Listening is not a matter of simply hearing words. Listening requires a concentrated method of digesting the information, and using that information to take action. So like any exercise program, I’ll recommend you do a quick check up before starting to strengthen your listening efforts.

Check Up
Take a quick pulse: Review your business objectives and marketing plan. Keep in mind that social media participation should be integrated with your overall communications plan.

Set Goals:  What business objectives will your social media participation help you to achieve?

• Sales
• Donations
• Event attendance
• Customer Service (response/retention/loyalty)
• Brand Awareness
• Crowd sourcing/ product development
• Membership/Admissions
• Communications amongst different stakeholders
• Recruitment
• Thought leadership

Warm Ups
Who are you trying to reach? Consider what social media channels will be most beneficial for your organization. Stretch. Extend beyond Facebook and Twitter. Consider Flickr, YouYube, Tumblr, LinkedIn and seek out forums and blogs with strong communities.  BurrellesLuce offers several tools to help get you warmed up quickly, including ContactsPlus™, which helps you to identify new blogs by matching up a current release with those bloggers who are writing on similar topics, and Social Media Monitoring and Engagement solution, Engage121, which enables you to explore what is being said across social media channels and effectively build and manage your online communities.

Speed
Are you planning/prepared to provide immediate responses? The W Hotels “Whatever/Whenever” promise may well be on its way to becoming the standard, rather than the exception, in customer service. Social media allows stories to break and quickly spread at any time of day. I encourage those using BurrellesLuce’s Social Media Monitoring and Engagement solution, to experiment with setting up alerts using filters such as Klout rank or sentiment to sift through the noise and make sure that they are advised of critical information whenever it breaks. Of course a quick, well thought out and efficient response across all channels is critical.

Strength
Do some heavy lifting, err, searching. Investigate the current conversations being said about you, your competitors and the industry. Identify recurring themes and study trends. Review sentiment and compare how the conversations vary across different platforms. Identify key influencers and pay attention to the language and tone. What topics evoke passionate responses?

Flexibility
Don’t get stuck monitoring the same keywords you have always deemed important. As you study industry trends and influencers, adjust your searches accordingly. Begin listening to your communities even when they are not actively speaking about “relevant” topics. What do they care about? Consider what new topics or audiences may be interested in your organization.

Endurance
Set yourself up to succeed over the long term. Put in place a structure to collect the data that will allow you to learn from both your communities and your own social behaviors. There are a myriad of ways to measure social media buzz, sentiment, link tracking, share of voice, fans and followers, geo-location check-ins… slow down and take another pulse check. Review business objectives and consider what metrics can best indicate whether your activity is supporting those business objectives. As you embark upon this listening exercise, look at the data in a number of different ways.

Cool Down
Evaluate all of the data you have collected and all your new knowledge regarding trends and influencers. Go back to your business goals and consider how you will align your social media activity to meet those goals. What channels are best suited for your organization? Where should your voice be heard? Where can you build a strong community that will offer business results? Participating in social media will require an investment of time, so consider the time and resources you can devote. 

Prepare to Play
Listening exercise complete, you are ready for the big game… engagement. But that, my friends, is another post!

What would you add to your listening exercise? What activities are included in your daily listening routine? Share your thoughts with me and the readers of BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.

Interestingly, 69 percent of reporters said they use Twitter as a reporting/sourcing tool (this is a 21 percent increase from 2010) with 49 percent saying they have their own Twitter account. But only one percent indicated they’d like to be contacted via Twitter. The disconnect here is interesting to me and I have to wonder why, if they are using Twitter for research, they wouldn’t want to be contacted via the platform. Perhaps they want to listen (aka lurk) and not actually engage – despite the 37 percent who said they use social networking sites to participate in conversations (27 percent specified Twitter). Hmm… that’s a head-scratcher.

Other notable findings: 

• 92 percent believe journalists’ reliance on social media is increasing.
• 78 percent say they use company websites as a tool in reporting.
• 75 percent indicated they use Facebook, with only 10 percent using MySpace. (No surprise there.)
• 48 percent say they use citizen-generated video; 68 percent say they use citizen-generated photos.
• 77 percent believe new media and communications tools/technologies are enhancing journalism; 14 percent think social media and citizen journalism will ultimately lead to the demise of the profession. (My guess is these will be the ones looking for a new job soon.)

 Key takeaways for public relations / media relations professionals is that 53 percent of journalists surveyed indicated they prefer to be contacted via email, and 34 percent prefer phone. 

Even as social media continues to change the media landscape, PR Daily surmised journalists still prefer more traditional methods of communication. 

Jen McClure, president of the Society for New Communications Research, stated: “Social media tools and technologies are being used by journalists to monitor issues, stories and content even after a story has been published. The publication of the story is no longer the end result. Today, media organizations and journalists also must serve as curators of content, are looked to to drive conversations and expected to provide information to keep the conversation going even after the story has been published.”

Do you agree with these findings?  Look forward to your thoughts and comments on the BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas blog.

On May 13, 2011, Jay Silverberg, senior vice president of Xenophon Strategies, lead a breakout session – Crisis Proofing Your Agency and Client Support – at the annual PRSA Counselors Academy.

As a journalist you have to be prepared to cover any story. After all, bad things happen!

Silverberg explained his experience of a major crisis situation firsthand. He was at Candlestick Park for the third game of the World Series when an earthquake hit.  He said a few media organizations had emergency plans and emergency generators, but many media organizations in the area were not prepared for the crisis and did not have an adequate plan in place. Media coverage that day in San Francisco ranged from the unexpected to atrocious.

PR and communications professionals, along with the businesses they represent, must also be prepared for times of crisis. This will not only help with business continuity – the ability for your business to continue operation in times of crisis – but also keep The Media on its toes!

So how can PR practitioners start crisis proofing their agencies?

1. Brainstorm. Come up with several crisis scenarios relevant to your agency and its clients. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box. Some examples might include: IT emergencies; prolonged office closures because of fire, power outage, flooding, etc; senior staff or management unavailable because of prolonged illness, missing persons, death, etc.; client crisis, or some other internal issue that might affect the operation of business. 
2. Responsibilities. Create a check list and prepare an internal guide for your employee handbook that outlines duties and responsibilities and what is expected of employees.
3. Business Continuity: Set the expectation for your clients. How are you going to keep the office open and operations running smoothly to minimize impact and return to normal as quickly as possible?
4. Process: Outline procedures. If it is an IT emergency what measures could you put in place before, during, and after the crisis? For example, employees may be required to have two backup email addresses. All employees may be required to have access to a VPN and Internet at home.

Examples of Additional Backup Procedures:

• 24 -36 hour backup of emails in Outlook
• Cell phone with a separate area code from where you do business normally
• Access to landline in case of emergency, including emergency contacts
• Private Facebook pages for companies
• Know what backup systems your monitoring service has in place
• Purchase additional domains
• Scripts or changing voicemail
• Coordinate conference calls

Of course you will want to set the expectation during the hiring process, as well as write down your plan and revise it as needed. The key is getting staff involved from start to finish so that they understand the process.

Got any other great tips for handling a crisis? Be sure to share your thoughts with me and the readers of Fresh Ideas. 

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*Bio: Colleen Flood has been a sales consultant with BurrellesLuce for over 12 years and is eager to become a more integrated part of the social-public relations community. She primarily handles agency relations in the New York and New Jersey metro-area. She is not only passionate about work, but also about family, friends, and the Jersey Shore. Twitter: @cgflood LinkedIn: Colleen Flood Facebook: BurrellesLuce