Social media has become the norm on the campaign trail, and is quickly becoming entrenched on Capitol Hill. Members of Congress and their staffers alike have taken to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and any number of other social media sites to interact with constituents, sway public opinion and counter political opponents.
Social media is even pushing traditional media aside as the venue for politicians and political parties alike to attack their opponents – often harshly. In recent months, both sides of the aisle have been engaged in an ongoing battle for women’s votes. Speaker John Boehner took this fight to Twitter, disputing Vice President Joe Biden’s recent claims of a Republican “war on women.” This month’s disappointing jobs numbers opened the window for yet more attacks by Republicans with Speaker Boehner tweeting to his 300,000 followers that “today’s #jobs report is more evidence President Obama’s policies aren’t working for families & small businesses.”
With new political battles being waged daily on social media, and political parties fighting to gain the upper hand, new opportunities are being created for citizens, companies and non-profits alike to engage legislators and their staffs through these same platforms. Because of security screening and volume, most mail and emails are not opened on Capitol Hill until well after a critical vote is taken. The immediacy of social media gives it an edge, and with so many Members and their staff taking part, this has become one of the best ways for getting your voice heard. It’s also increasingly effective because members of the media are now following Twitter discussions on Capitol Hill and watching discussions taking place.
For local citizens who need immediate assistance with an issue in their community, there has never been a better way to directly interact with their Senator and Member of Congress – and the same is also true for companies and non-profits who are looking for new ways to amplify their voice, or in the case of some small businesses, join the conversation. By interacting with elected representatives and their staffs in social media circles were they walk, companies are influencing media coverage, opinions and votes on legislation, and in some cases – election results.
In person meetings, mail and email will always play an important role in political offices. They remain an important way for constituents to get the services they need and deserve. However, those who adapt to these changing times effectively and adopt social media as a new tool will find new successes – while those who do not may pay the costly price of being left behind.
This article originally appeared in Racepoint Group’s Capital Ideas Newsletter. If you would like to receive subsequent issues, please use the following sign-up form.
Last night I had the pleasure of attending the Publicity Club of New England’s first panel event of the 2011-2012 season, “Blogger Relations for PR Pros,” or, as many referred to it, “Meet the Bloggers.” Panelists Rachel Leah Blumenthal (food and arts blogger for CBS Boston), Greg Gomer (managing editor for BostInnovation), Jason Keith (SMB blogger for Boston.com) and Dianna Huff (B2B Web Marketing Expert for DH Communications, Inc.) were kind enough to discuss best tips when pitching bloggers, the importance of forming relationships, how to recognize a blog versus an online publication, and, perhaps most popularly, some general “pet peeves” bloggers tend to have based on their experience working with PR pros. Moderator Kristin Allaben wasted no time with fluff questions; following introductions, she unleashed the audience inquiries. Some highlights, below.
Biggest PR pet peeve for bloggers
If I had to sum it up in two words, I definitely would has said “untargeted pitches.” Everyone on the panel agreed on this issue, pointing out that if offenders actually read their blogs, they would realize just how unrelated their pitches were. Huff went so far as to print out several bad pitches she received in the last week (it made for an enlightening visual), adding, “Know my name, read my blog and keep it short.” She was met with no dissent from her fellow panelists.
Keith also advised against sending only a press release, warning that 99 percent of those Emails do not get read. From that point, the conversation about Don’ts shifted to the topic of Dos. Blumenthal and Gomer chatted about how much more interesting pitches are when they were accompanied by multimedia content – especially videos – considering that it takes less time to watch a quick video than it does to sift through a lengthy press release. In addition, our panelists asked us to read our pitches before we send them (earth-shattering concept, I know): did we find them interesting? If not, then how could we possibly expect our target bloggers to find it coverage-worthy?
Pitching and follow-up methodology
“Be persistent.” Seventy-five percent of the panelists have day jobs, and they noted that sometimes they just don’t get to all their Emails at the end of the day. Even Gomer, who has no excuse to not respond to every pitch immediately (kidding…), encouraged attendees to keep following up if they truly believed in their pitch (see the above on reading your own story idea). Gomer also encouraged personality in a pitch to connect with the blogger. Answer the questions “Who are you?” “How did you find me?” “Why would my readers care about what you have to say?”
When asked about the phone, the panelists all but rained fire upon the audience. Keith went so far as to say that the phone has since passed its prime. The other two panelists with day-jobs reminded us that they can’t take personal calls at work, anyway. Gomer then quipped “But if I’m calling you, you had better pick up.” Rather than track down a phone number, the bloggers said they’d be more keen to reading comments on their posts. “It’s a good way to get in front of us and be relevant at the same time,” he added.
Embargoes? “Bloggers don’t even know what they are,” warned Blumenthal. Keith had a different approach.
“Only use embargos as a Trojan to get coverage — then tell your client you’re brilliant.”
When it comes to thank-yous, they were generally discouraged unless they served to highlight some positive outcome from the story.
Connecting
LinkedIn and Twitter: “Yes.” Facebook: “No.” Google+: crickets, followed by “Mildly creepy.” I think the reasons here are self-explanatory, so I won’t waste your time further on that one.
My takeaway from the panel was that in principle, bloggers should be treated similarly to traditional media reporters. In real life, bloggers are “superhuman” (suggested Keith) people with day jobs and even less time for redundancy or untargeted Email blasts. At the same time, when you aren’t targeting the TechCrunches and the Mashables, you actually have more leeway with bloggers who actually have time to read your comments and to connect with you that way.
What are some of your blog-pitching tips and lessons learned?
This is a guest post from Lauren Ginsberg, an Account Coordinator at Racepoint Group. Follow her on Twitter @LaurenGinsberg.
Ah, the old adage, think before you speak… or shall I say tweet. The Redner Group made a huge faux pas when they angrily tweeted at reviewers for publishing not so rave reviews about 2k’s ‘Duke Nukem Forever’. The tweet, “too many went too far with their reviews. We r reviewing who gets games next time and who doesn’t based on today’s venom” left a sour taste that ultimately caused 2k to sack the agency.
Now more than ever, tweeted content is easy to find and just as easy to share. Users must take into account that even if they act on their own accord, like agency founder James Redner did, foul tweets in relation to your client’s product reviews are a direct representation of them as well as the agency.
PR is about getting credible placements for clients, and while we would all love reviews of their products to be positive, we cannot control what someone is going to write. That is the major difference between PR and advertising.
Unfortunately for Redner whose reputation is now tarnished, the lesson was learned the hard way. Moving forward, I bet they will think before they tweet.
Every PR/Marketing person dreams of being the genius mind behind a successful viral video. In 2011 content creation is king and producing an entertaining and informative video to raise brand awareness is a high priority for any PR/Marketing team.
Enter this superb infographic posted by Mashable. Seriously, superb. There are several valuable statistics illustrated here covering everything from the length of the video to the best sites to promote it on. Check it out:
- Videos that clock in at 15 seconds get circulated 37% more than longer clips
- People share video on Facebook 218% more than via email and Twitter combined
- Women account for 57% of social video views
Back in April I wrote about Jeff Pulver’s 140 Character Conference that was taking place in New York City. I praised the conference and its attendees for providing advice on social media best practices live from the event. The live tweeting was so impressive I felt like I was there in the auditorium.
Yesterday, I actually was in the auditorium as Pulver brought his traveling conference to Boston for the first time. The conference began at 9:00 am and went until 6:00 pm with over 61 speakers on the roster. Each group that took the stage had 10 minutes to share how Twitter and/or the real-time web have impacted their goals professionally and personally. Below, a few highlights from the day:
Jeff Pulver, @jeffpulver – Check out Pulver’s opening remarks to kick off the day:
John Daley, @Boston_Police – Daley, deputy superintendent for the Boston Police, shared that the department is using Twitter to broadcast vital, public safety information to the city of Boston and their broader Twitter followers. The police see Twitter as an effective way to disseminate critical information in real-time. Daley also noted that citizens have begun reporting crimes to the police via Twitter. They tweet updates and photos, typically of crimes they consider “too small” to dial 911. Who knew!
C.C. Chapman, @cc_chapman – C.C. is on a mission. A mission to give dads who blog as much power and recognition as the infamous “mommy bloggers.” During what was by far the most animated speech of the day, C.C. shared his personal quest to force consumer brands to recognize fathers as a key sales demographic. Marketers, pay attention. The dads have wallets too.
Patrick Larkin, @bhsprincipal – Larkin is the principal of Burlington High School where he is trying to bring the school into the digital revolution. In addition to teaching a Web 2.0 class to his students, Larkin is working to educate families on the importance of digital education for students. During his panel, Larkin said, “We need to teach our children to use social media. Without that, the diploma doesn’t mean much.”
Amanda Palmer, @amandapalmer – Palmer, best known as part of the musical group the Dresden Dolls, shared with the audience that, “I was able to ditch my management and my record label to launch an album all via the internet.” She went on to say how her Twitter followers have been incredibly supportive and a resource she didn’t realize would be so critical. She said, “Life is becoming easier, faster and cheaper as we harness the power of social media.” Rock on, Amanda!
Georgy Cohen, @radiofreegeorgy – Cohen is the managing editor of web communications for Tufts University and has one of the best understandings of the power of social media that I have encountered. Not only does she see the value in active social media platforms for the university, but she is consistently engaging with students, staff and alumni to build meaningful relationships. Cohen hit the nail on the head when she said, “We have to be in the ‘now’ because our brands already are, whether we are or not.” I was also impressed by Cohen’s decision to harness the strength of content creation and launch a Tufts website called Jumble (their mascot is the Jumbo) to aggregate all of the best content created by students, staff and alumni. For colleges and university seeking social media best practices, look no further than Tufts.
Chris Brogan, @chrisbrogan – Brogan, a high profile social media player, author and the president of New Marketing Labs, spoke to the group about Twitter and other web applications simply serving as a platform for larger goals. In one of the best quotes of the day he quipped, “No one ever asked Hemmingway what kind of pencil he wrote with. Don’t ask me what blog platform I use! That’s not the point.” View Brogan’s entire talk here:
For more information on the speakers at the Boston 140 Characters Conference, check out my live updates @MollyGaller on Twitter or the #140conf hashtag.
At the close of the event, Pulver said, “This conference is not a tech event, it’s a life event.” Thank you, Jeff Pulver, for a superb day that reminds us all that the next big thing could be just a tweet away.
Even though the NBA hasn’t had a basketball game since June 17th, the league is attracting more attention then any other sport right now, thanks to the 2010 free agent class, which is lead by LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
While Bosh and Wade have been publicizing their free agent experience over Twitter and YouTube, no one has taken advantage of the media quite like James, who often refers to himself as King James.
Yesterday James launched a Twitter account which has quickly attracted approximately 250,000 followers, despite only have three tweets (none of which reveal anything interesting). James also launched his own website, which appears to be strictly for announcing his free agent decision.
However, in the most ego-stroking move of all, James’ camp has contacted ESPN to arrange for an hour-long special from 9:00pm – 10:00pm ET tomorrow during which he will make his announcement (which is being called “The Decision”). While ESPN will strike ratings gold with this special, it’s also an example of why the network is unable to cover James’ and his buddies without bias. Simply put, ESPN uses this young group of attention-seeking players as much as they use ESPN. This results in large staged events like tomorrow’s news conference, and constant attention to non-stories like James’ elbow “injury” during the playoffs which miraculously disappeared following the Cavs’ loss to the Celtics.
When people across the country sit down at 9:00pm tomorrow to learn where James will sign his next contract, many will do so with a sick feeling in their stomach, knowing that James has been able to use mainstream and social media to manipulate them, and that ESPN is willing to do anything for “The King.” However, the viewers will be there, which is enough to make James happy (as he lives for the attention) and the NBA happy (as it has never received this much attention during the off-season). However following the announcement, there will be one city of people that love James, while the rest of the country criticizes him for his large ego and inability to win just one game in the NBA finals during his first 7 seasons in the league.
Infographics are quickly becoming a media and public relations industry buzz word / topic. Why you ask? Two major reasons. As corporations continue to shift into their role as media companies and content curators, they’re realizing the opportunity to package interesting data to the media and consumers in new ways. More importantly, media organizations and editors are now focusing on finding new ways to engage their readership. Infographics happen to solve both of these problems by packaging data in a way that makes it both engaging and easy to read.
A few weeks ago I sat down with Sam Whitmore of Sam Whitmore’s Media Survey for Racepoint Group’s video newsletter to discuss how brands and agencies can leverage infographics and why they’re becoming the “new slide shows” for media outlets desperate for engaging content. While Sam cautioned that infographics aren’t B-roll (most media outlets like to play a role in building them), he did pass along some interesting insight into how PR practitioners and marketers can leverage the media’s interest in this new category of content.
For more insight on infographics, along with the latest news and trends in marketing, PR and communications in the technology space subscribe to Racepoint’s “The Point: Tech Edition.
Last night Racepoint Group hosted an event about social media and its return on investment (ROI). As social media continues to become a larger focal point in public relations and marketing campaigns, it’s critical to understand how to articulate it’s value to clients.
Last night’s event centered around a panel discussion with three social media experts: Larry Weber, Chairman of Racepoint Group, Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics and Mike Volpe, VP of Inbound Marketing for HubSpot.
After Larry Weber’s opening remarks, Qualman shared how he first dipped his toe into the digital space by sending a company-wide email instead of the standard hard copy memo. View his story here:
Volpe was up next and shared with the group the origins of his marketing career and the way tracking and reporting on ROI is evolving. Watch him provide tips here:
The evening was full of tremendous ideas and recommendations. The five big takeaways from the panel were:
1) Social media is not about technology. It’s about human interaction. It’s about sharing information and making connections. People who are intimidated by the technology aspect of engaging in social media should not view the applications as a hurdle. It’s simply the current mechanism to maintain relationships and reach out to new people.
2) When it comes to tracking social media, its important to focus not only on the quantitative (number of followers, number of re-postings) but also the qualitative. We need to take into account engagement and tone. Qualman said, “If social media is so trackable, we should just have robots running things. The human element is necessary here.”
3) Everyone and anyone can be a content creator, a publisher, a media property. As we shift away from traditional print and broadcast media, both we and our clients have the opportunity to get innovative and create and distribute our own content. Additionally, content creation should not be isolated to the PR and marketing staff. Volpe shared that, “50% of HubSpot employees have written posts for the HubSpot blog.”
4) Although much of PR and marketing is based in the written word, we need to start thinking more visually. We need to tell stories through pictures and videos. We need to make our content more authentic and dynamic.
5) On a personal level, Volpe stated, “The new resume is what comes up in Google when I type in your name.” As digital and social media continue to play an increasingly vital role in our PR and marketing efforts, we too have a digital and social persona, and that is now what employers are most interested in.
Thank you to Erik Qualman and Mike Volpe for joining us at Racepoint Group last night and providing such pragmatic, realistic, useful and inspiring guidance on the social media ROI frontier. Be sure to follow @equalman and @mvolpe on Twitter for real time updates on their social media adventures. You can also view all the live commentary during the event with the #smroi hashtag here.
And 20 minutes later another: “Think about it this way, the ocean is like rootbeer and oil is like ice cream. We just made America a giant rootbeer float!”
Even though the Twitter account handle account is labeled BPGlobalPR the content being posted during the past 6-7 days has been a nightmare for BP’s actual PR team. Someone (who is clearly having fun) decided to mock BP’s poor handling of the oil spill with witty one-liners such as, “Jesus walked on water and soon you can too! (Please pray for BP, we’re losing a lot of oil).”
The account has become quite popular – attracting over 25,000 followers in this short time, more than double the number of followers for BP’s official corporate Twitter account and Twitter account covering the oil spillcombine. Even more scary for BP is the amount of re-tweets this fake account is getting, which is what’s driving it’s visibility.
This situation provides other companies with an idea of how social media can be used against them during an ugly situation. Quick, honest responses can do a lot in image control and management, which BP is now learning about first hand.
For years now, start-ups and technology disruptors have been trying to change the television viewing experience. Mark Cuban was hypothesizing about the death of channels, with the introduction of Internet TV in the United States in 2005. However, other than a lot of visions and aspirations the market hasn’t really caught on. Change you see, doesn’t really apply to the television industry. After the “Golden Days” of television that saw a man walk on the moon the industry has been set in decades of stodginess with little or no change — innovation shifting to bigger and better things, with all eyes eventually falling on the Internet.
However, with the introduction of Google TV today, which joins the likes of Apple, AT&T and Microsoft in trying to champion Internet Protocol Television(IPTV), there may finally be enough momentum to trigger the Internet to TV avalanche. An avalanche that some analysts believe will lead to million global IPTV subscribers by 2013.
The innovation desperately needed in the television industry is replication of the Internet innovation in search and discovery that has occurred over the last decade. And, there’s probably no better company to replicate that than Google. With more video content and channels available than ever before before, watching and searching for video content between siloed channels, cable and satellite operators just doesn’t make sense. It’s a closed structure that would be like searching and enjoying the Internet without, well, Google.
Of course the introduction of this type of technology on pre-boxed televisions from Sony and others could also mean the holy grail of television advertising, which Google is really interested in. Advertisers have been seeking and gaining access to millions of consumers shifting to the Web to enjoy video content and technologies including personalization and speech-to-text solutions have enabled them to target these consumers with targeted advertorial better than they ever could through televisions. If “Googling” goes to the tube, these technologies and Google’s own AdWords’ system will be right behind it.
