new media new approach

New Media, New Approach:Public Relations for the 21st Century

Globecomm/Cachendo

June 30, 2009

Rock Creek Strategic Marketing

Contents

• Traditional vs. New Media

o Similarities and Differences

• Executing Traditional Media and Blog Campaigns

o 10 Steps to Developing a Successful Media/Blog Relations Campaign

o 6 Tips for Talking to Bloggers/Reporters

• Social Media Specifics

o 3 Universal Truths About Social Media

o Social Media Options

o So Many Options…How to Decide?

o Tips for Using Social Media Outlets to Your Advantage

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Traditional vs. New Media

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Traditional vs. New Media: Similarities and Differences

Similarities: Traditional and new media are governed by the same principles:• Have a game plan for proactive and reactive media activities.

o Know what your objectives are. Traditional and new media tactics are simply tools in your marketing toolkit to help you reach your larger objectives.

o Don’t develop your crisis PR plan when the crisis hits.

o Show up consistently. Media relations is like having a bird feeder—maintain it or the birds will stop coming.

• Know who you need to know—that is, who’s covering your space and what interests them.

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Similarities, cont.

o Build relationships before you need them.

o Tell a newsworthy story.

o Be authentic, transparent, honest, and believable.

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Differences

• Training and background

o Journalists at traditional publications are usually trained in reporting; new media/social media authors may not have any formal training.

• Separation of editorial/advertising

o Journalists must abide “separation of church and state”; new media and social media authors may choose to keep advertising and editorial separate. They may also accept payment to write about businesses/products.

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Traditional Media and Blog Campaigns: 10 Steps to Developing a Successful Media/Blog Relations Campaign

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Step 1: Determine the Message

• What are you really trying to publicize?

• All of your communications should relate back to your set of core messages.

• Remember, your messages must be:

o Believable—Poorly written corporate gobbledygook can make you look incredibly unbelievable.

o Credible—Be authentic, honest, and transparent.

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Step 2: Differentiate

• Your announcements must pass the “so what?” test.

• Prove value. How is your offering different and better vs. competitors’? Tell the story through real examples.

• Avoid hype at all costs. Lofty language and claims of “best of breed” are likely to turn off traditional and new media journalists alike.

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Step 3: Define Your Audience

• Your audience may not be the same for every announcement. You may want to focus on a specific region, job title, or technology.

• Coverage is more likely to result from a few highly targeted pitches than a high-volume shotgun approach.

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Step 4: Get the Timing Right

• Take advantage of naturally newsworthy events like conferences or trade shows.

• Prepare happy customers to talk to the press on your behalf.

• Take logical steps—launching a wide-scale Facebook campaign the day after you post your company profile is unlikely to earn meaningful results.

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Step 5: Identify Traditional & New Media Outlets

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• Don’t assume—survey and research.

• Realize that your audience may not read what you think they read.

• They’re more likely to read industry-focused publications than general ones.

Step 6: Choose the Most Appropriate Media

• Consider your message, audience, and credibility within each of the media outlets.

• Target your campaigns to the media that will give you the most mileage.

• Not every announcement needs to be sent to every contact.

• Avoid brand/news exhaustion—e.g. your Twitter feed shouldn’t be a constant stream of company press releases.

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Step 7: Reuse and Repost Content

Some ideas:

• Post releases on PR Web and your company blog that feeds news items onto your home page.

• Add a blurb for the announcement in your company e-newsletter.

• Link to the announcement in a company direct email or on your company’s Facebook page.

• Republish print magazine coverage as a PDF on your website.

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Step 8: Optimize Your Content for SEM

• Seed your announcements with keywords and phrases that are likely to be used when searching for your products and services.

• Take advantage of inline links and tags.

• Maximize opportunities to receive external links.

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Step 9: Build Credibility with Outside Endorsements and Accolades

• Journalists and bloggers are more likely to cover companies they’ve heard of.

• One way for a lesser-known company to get a foot in the door is through third-party quotes, testimonials, and case studies.

• Awards are also an excellent way to gain attention.

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Step 10: Develop Genuine Relationships Before you Pitch

• Read the publications and blogs that cover your industry.

• Build profiles of journalists/bloggers. This will help you avoid sending tips that are clearly outside the writer’s lane.

• It’s pointless to sell a story to someone who’ll never write about it—and it could be embarrassing for you and your brand.

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Step 10: Develop Genuine Relationships (cont.)

• Try to become a regular source. Send tips that the writer may not know about.

• Writers like to know they’re being read. Get to know and interact with bloggers by commenting using your real name and email address.

• Pitch trend stories. Even if your company is not the main topic, it can still be valuable to be mentioned in the story.

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6 Tips for Talking to Journalists/Bloggers

• DO frame answers to tough questions positively.

• DON’T wing it. Prepare.

• DO speak in terms everyone can understand. Avoid jargon.

• DON’T speculate.

• DO communicate your key messages.

• DON’T ask to approve the story.

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Social Media Specifics

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3 Universal Truths About Social Media

• Every social networking site has different rules, and you must know the rules and play by them.

• You must build relationships based on trust and authenticity. Remember, your company is playing on their playground.

• Two things that will help lead you to success:

o Being personal, e.g., answering questions and private messages.

o Showing up, i.e., making sure that if someone initiates interaction, you’re there to respond.

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Social Media Options

• Company blog

• Forums & message boards

• Industry listservs

• SlideShare

• LinkedIn profiles & groups

• YouTube

• Facebook

• Twitter

• Reddit

• Digg

• StumbleUpon

• Wikipedia

• Yahoo! Answers

• Squidoo

• Ning

• Flickr

• And many more!

So Many Options—How to Decide?

• Understand the intent and limitations of the each option.

• Choose a few to get started with, then expand.

• Don’t spread yourself too thin—better to have fewer social media profiles that are well-developed than many poorly-developed profiles.

• No profile is better than a bad profile.

Tips for Using Social Media Outlets to Your Advantage: Facebook

• Facebook is only worthwhile if you intend to:

o Stay active.

o Use it for two-way conversations with followers.

• Create a Facebook company page.

o Creating a profile page takes 5 minutes.

o Creating a meaningful profile page and using it effectively is a much bigger investment!

o Variety of applications available to promote your blog, link to your SlideShare offerings, communicate and more.

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• Create a Facebook company page. (con’t)

o Facebook pages are searchable in search engines, so make sure it’s seeded with content.

o Use your fan page to send out a message to your fans.

• The response rate will give you a sense of how frequently to send out messages.

• Makes sure your page messages have a call to action (preferably a link, so you can track click-throughs).

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• The more active you are on Facebook, the more you are in front of people.

• The “News Feed” is “home” on Facebook. If you share an article, update your status, or post elsewhere, your “friends” will know.

o Update your status at least every 5 days, otherwise you appear inactive.

o Make sure you post on other people’s walls and comment on other people’s links, statuses, and videos.

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• Facebook is the most popular platform for sharing photos. People expect you to have them.

o Add your company logo.

o Add photos of events your company threw/attended.

o Use captions to your advantage when promoting your pictures.

o Tag people in your photos even if they aren’t on Facebook.

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Tips for Using Social Media Outlets to Your Advantage: Twitter

• Twitter is more “open” than Facebook. But, to use it effectively, you must be active.

• Twitter can be about you or your company. It is very effective for promoting companies—as long as you’re not promoting 24/7.

• Twitter is about followers and following.

o The more followers you have, the greater the chance someone will click a link when you post it.

o You should follow (and be followed by) people who are relevant to your Twitter strategy.

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• Choose a Twitter username that is short and relevant.

• Use a short URL to conserve space when sharing links (tinyurl.com, bit.ly, etc.).

• Make sure you thank people for following you.

• Make sure to reply to people.

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• Tweet often: Aim for daily goals, e.g., 20 times/day.

• Share information that others may find interesting, like articles, links to industry news, etc. Don’t tweet about company information all the time.

• Optimize your Facebook/Twitter by adding a Twitter app on Facebook. This allows your tweets to double as Facebook activity.

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Questions & Answers

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Thank you for your participation!

Kristen M. NewtonDirector of Strategy301/657-0800 x116

Amy HookerDirector of New Media301/657-0800 x138

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