SOCIAL

• Chris Brogan recommended “cultivating visibility” by utilizing your blog or website as your hub; post frequently there and leverage the “spokes” (Twitter, Facebook, Google+) to get the word out.
• Be more conversational than promotional in both your personal and corporate profiles. For example, Brogan compared the tweets of two different restaurants side by side. FiRE+iCE’s tweets were typically promotional, such as “Gifts ideas just got easier…buy your gift certificate now” while AJ Bombers entire stream included retweets and personal replies such as “@mvfnladies just glad you tried both. Yay burgers!” Chris then asked “Where would you rather eat?”
• Focus on relationship building. Simple sales techniques modified for social media can allow you to reduce ad spend while still increasing revenues. Shonali Burke explained the case study of Dan, the Oklahoma jeweler who reduced his ad spend by 90% after engaging with customers and targets through Twitter and Facebook. By building relationships online and engaging with customers, he was also able to increase revenues by 30% over the same time period.

SEARCH

• According to Lee Odden you should optimize not only your content (blog or PR website), but also your Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter profiles. With the hub and spoke model, it is as important that the spokes (individual author LinkedIn profiles, company Twitter accounts) are optimized for search, as they lead back to your hub.
• Did you know YouTube is the #2 ranked search engine in the world? (It surpassed Yahoo! for total search traffic in 2009). In the discussion of search optimization, Google+ came up as many PR practitioners wonder whether it should be considered for new campaigns. When polled in Odden’s session, most attendees indicated they had a Google+ account, but only a handful actually uses the platform. Whether we like it or not, Google+ will be a force to be reckoned with, as it will be the only social network fully indexed by the top search engines in the world.

STATS

• “Define the R you need in ROI” up front, instructed Katie Paine. Depending on the type of campaign, allocate time (at least 2-4 weeks) to research and define success metrics. Is your goal to increase Twitter followers by 50%, convert 20% of clicks to sales, or generate 30 link backs to blog? Don’t start tweeting, posting blogs or other tactics without understanding and agreeing to the attainable goals.
• Shonali Burke suggested analyzing results and adjust your campaign on the fly to match the medium and message that had the best results. For instance, if a well-followed blogger at your company generates more engagement in one post than two weeks of Twitter posts by the PR team, consider amplifying your message by adding more blog posts to your editorial calendar.

If there is one thing to remember from PRSA 2011: the intersection of social and search is happening. Build your corporate persona and optimize your profiles as you would your own personal accounts. Then measure, measure, measure!

Did you attend the PRSA 2011 International Conference? What was your top takeaway? Leave a comment below.

With this change in demographic, public relations must adapt to the varied preferences of their audiences. Cold calls and blast emails are often ignored, and attempting to connect with a professional contact via social channels must be treated with caution to avoid alienating someone on their personal turf. So how do you engage more effectively?

At Thomson Reuters, I have the unique opportunity to sit between the world’s largest media organization and the public relations officers we support with communication tools. In this position, clients often ask the question: How do I get my pitch noticed?

We interviewed several journalists from our Reuters News team to understand how they choose what to write and how they prefer to interact with PR teams. Here are their responses:

• “PR  people  need  a  clear  idea  of  what  we  are  interested  in—this  is  key  for  us  actually  using  what  they  send.”
• “My biggest pet peeve is PR people who are relentless on the phone. Even if you have a great story, I may be more turned off by the multiple voicemails.”
• “A  smart  PR  team  would  learn  to  tell  the  story  like  a  journalistic  story. I  wish  they  would  stop  telling  stories  with  all  that  jargon  that  doesn’t  make  sense  to  the  average  person.”
• “If  you  are  a  good  journalist,  you  recognize  that  PR  has  a  message  to  get  out.  Their  credibility  is  based  on  how  much  spin  is  in  their  story.”

So, how can your pitch be more effective?

1)      Do background research on your journalist first. Monitor their Twitter stream and their blog. What do they write about and whom do they respond to? Which social site do they dedicate much of their time to? Are they posting on Twitter hourly? Do they update their blog daily? How do they respond to comments on their blog? After better understanding their activity and preferences, start to engage them through these channels to build a relationship rather than pitching them blindly.

2)      Get your influencer hooked using simple, short pitches. Grab attention in 20 seconds or less—an email/tweet with a link to video or image that tells a story is more interesting than plain text.

3)      Write like a journalist.  If the journalist bites on a pitch and asks for more, tell the story in a way that is most easily accessible for the journalist.  If they are forced to strip out the jargon and spin, they may also strip out the main points as well.  Credibility is lost and relationship is damaged if main story has to be altered.

In your opinion, what are the characteristics of an effective pitch?

AMD extends the reach of its product launch events with video webcasts

While most of us are frequent creators and consumers of online video in our personal lives, translating this powerful means of communicating in a business context is still uncharted territory for many.

We all know that online video consumption by the general public continues to skyrocket. YouTube recently announced that they received over 3 billion views a day—a 50% increase over last year. But use by professional audiences also continues to grow. A recent study by Forbes Insights indicated that 75% of senior executives said they watch work-related online videos at least weekly. Even more impressively, 65% then visited a company’s website after viewing. Video encourages action.

While building strong relationships with influencers, customers and the media remains fundamental, the ways in which we engage these audiences continue to evolve. Video is not just a trend, but an expectation. Unfortunately, myths about the cost and complexity of producing video content still paralyze communications professionals from ever getting started. In reality, it’s easier than ever before.

Here are 5 simple ways to start incorporating video into your PR communications program:

1)     Enhance a press release: You’ve taken the time to craft a press release announcing a new product, a new executive, or a recent acquisition. Reinforce your message with a relevant video—a product demonstration, a personal message straight from the executive, or a company overview—to increase the impact of your message and connect with your audience.

2)     Pitch your story: Create a powerful press kit using video to tell your story to the media in a more compelling way. A video of your company’s timelines and accomplishments will leave more of a lasting impression than text-only. Instead of just telling them why they should care (and write about your company), show them!

3)     Enrich your online press room: Incorporate video into the “News” or “Press Room” section of your corporate website.  Supplement static text with relevant, visually appealing video content to differentiate your company and story to the media community.

4)     Launch a product: Use video to introduce/demonstrate your product. A short three minute video can incorporate your marketing message, competitive differentiators and value proposition in a more compelling way than any amount of text.

5)     Create your own company breaking news channel: Leverage broadcast clips, news coverage, and relevant videos to create your own web channel. Or produce your own video content with internal experts sharing their unique views, making your web channel the go-to resource for breaking news stories about your company and industry.

Already using video today? Tell us how you got started. We’d love to hear your story.

Our panel of experts featured Pierre-Loic Assayag (@pierreloic) from Traackr, Barbara Bates (@eastwickcom) from Eastwick, and Katie Delahaye Paine (@kdpaine) of KD Paine & Partners. Each participant shared their perspective as we explored a number of hot topics, including defining influence, traditional media vs. influencer outreach, measurement, and expectations for the future.

Many webinar attendees live tweeted during the session and—in that same spirit—I have summarized 15 key insights from our experts, each in 140 characters or less.

On defining influencers:

• Online influence = power of a person to produce effects on the actions of others through online means
• I’m looking for the most influential people in this marketplace at this time relevant to what matters to me
• Broaden your view of what an influencer looks like – it’s no longer just media or analysts
• When you talk about influence, you have to talk about context; influence scores out of context have no meaning
• To identify influencers  look at reach, relevance, and resonance
• Don’t just look at Twitter – there are traditional journalists who are hugely influential

On outreach to influencers:

• Tools used to identify influence are not a replacement for building relationships – they are supplemental
• Get to know influencers before reaching out to understand the best way to engage
• Influencer engagement is not pitching – identify the content they consume/share and provide it

On measurement:

• Focus on share of thought leadership – are relevant influencers talking more about you or the competition?
• Success is not defined by how many people you reach, it’s how those people you reached respond
• Why engage influencers? 1. Measurable outcomes 2. Tangible benefits 3. Conversations are happening with or without you

On what the future holds:

• Influence needs to be tied back to some impact on your organization
• Merging of on- and off-line data – influencers are active in both environments
• Gaining insight into customer influence in closed communities/forums

For those who missed the live presentation, you can now watch the webinar and Q&A discussion on demand.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think of the content. Also, what other topics would you like to see us explore in our Best Practices Webinar Series?

In my opinion, the headline is the most important aspect of a press release and proves the old adage, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” After all, if you can’t persuade someone to open your release they can’t read it, can they?

A headline should be compelling, it should succinctly state the theme of your release, and it should make someone want to know more. That’s it. Leave it to the sub-headline and the body of text to get into the details.

Here are 3 tips to keep in mind when crafting your release headlines to ensure they make a great first impression:

1. Write a headline that is keyword rich. You know your audience best. What terms or phrases will catch their attention and make them want more info? Think “hot buttons.” It is your release vs. everyone else’s and your headline is the gateway between someone opening and reading your release and not reading it. No pressure.

According to the 2010 PRWeek Media Survey, 95% of journalists use search engines to research a story. It’s not hard to imagine that a similar percentage of consumers start their quest for information with a search engine query as well.

From a press release/search engine optimization perspective, your release will compete against articles, news stories, videos, social media results, and other Web content that is pulled into a search result. By understanding and using the terms that your audience is using—especially in your headline—your release will have a much better shot at ranking higher in search results.

Need help building a list of key terms and phrases that your audience(s) is using (vs. those that you think they use)? Try this free tool, this free tool, or this one as a way to get a feel for which words and phrases are used most in search.

2. Your release has to have guts. The headline becomes the page title (“<title> tag”) in the HTML source code or “guts” of a release when it hits the Web. The <title> tag defines what the page of Web content—in this case, your press release—is about.

According to SEOmoz’s 2009 Search Engine Ranking Factors, keyword use anywhere in the headline (<title tag>) is the #1 most important on-page (keyword specific) ranking factor in search engine rankings.

3. The early word gets the worm—use your top terms at the beginning of your headline. Google only displays the first 60–70 characters of a headline in their search engine results pages (SERPs). I’m not saying you shouldn’t create a headline longer than 70 characters, just try to front-load your headline with your keywords and/or phrases so the important stuff is always visible in SERPs. (Yahoo! displays slightly fewer characters, in case you’re curious.) For more tips on press release SEO, download our white paper, 6 Secrets of Press Release SEO.

Front-loading keywords is important not only because you don’t want key information sliced off your headline, but because eye-tracking studies show that your eyes tend to stick to the left side of the page and that the first few are key. What is on the left side of the page? The beginning of your headline—so front-load for the most appeal! (And yes, that means you might need to rethink starting every release with your company name.)

In summary, headline creation should take you a long time. Between picking key terms that will attract your audience, coming up with a succinct way to describe what your readers can expect from your release, and considering what your readers will see should they stumble across your release in a search engine results page, you have a project on your hands. In the end, it will be worth it.

For additional details about headline and press release optimization, check out our 6 Secrets of Press Release SEO whitepaper and watch the on demand webinar.

Keynote speaker Adam Sohn, Senior Director of Public and Influencer Relations at Microsoft, reinforced these thoughts to kick off the conference. In an environment where non-journalists can have as much (if not more) impact than traditional media, Sohn encouraged the PR Officers (PROs) in attendance to “resist the urge to intervene.”

He referenced a Farmville promotion that generated over 400,000 new Facebook fans for Microsoft in just 9 hours. The key to its success was that Microsoft was able to “let go” and allow the community take over and make it their own. Sohn challenged us to be aware of which direction the chairs were facing with their target audience: Are they in a circle to promote participation or are they lined up theater-style where you are speaking at your audience?

In another session, Rachelle Spero from the Brunswick Group demonstrated how SEO (search engine optimization) is being replaced by SMO (social media optimization). Our social networks now function as “human search engines” with trusted sources acting as our personal content curators. They find and share the information we’re interested in, and the information from these trusted sources is more highly valued.

I also attended Brandjack author Quentin Langley’s discussion about how social media is not about brand but about reputation—what you say and do, and what others say about you online. The key to success in social media is authenticity because that drives believability. Langley quoted Jeff Jarvis—author of What Would Google Do?—when he said that “credibility is inversely proportional to control.” If you relax control, people are more likely to believe you. Tell authentic stories and follow customers instead of trying to lead them. Go to where your customers are and engage with them there.

The bottom line of the day for me: Trust is the key ingredient in social media communications and for gaining approval from key constituents.

How are you building trust with social media? I’d love to hear your stories.

Thursday, May 26, 2011
12 p.m. (New York); 5 p.m. (London); 6 p.m. (Paris)

Register now 

Meet our panel:

• Greg Radner, Global Head of PR Services, Thomson Reuters (@radshiz)
• Pierre-Loïc Assayag, CEO, Traackr (@pierreloic)
• Katie Paine, Founder, KDPaine & Partners LLC (@kdpaine)
• Barbara Bates, CEO, Eastwick (@eastwickcom)

The webinar will feature an interactive Q&A session with our experts. Register now

Leave a question with your comment—we’ll do our best to answer it on the webinar.

To get the attention of their senior executives, PR professionals have attempted to tie their PR activities to tangible business results, like growing revenues or lowering costs. Measuring outcomes, however, has typically been a challenge for PR, often leading to the perception of PR as a “soft science” by senior execs.

Social media is challenging these traditional perceptions. While PR might have been a nice-to-have in the past, it’s now a must-have due to the influence of social media and its impact on the drivers of stock price movement. And that has the C-suite taking notice.

The impact of Web sentiment on stock price
The linkages between social media and share price are starting to be demonstrated, and several services are now analyzing web sentiment as a way to predict stock prices:

• A study from Pace University and Famecount.com found that social media popularity could be used as an indicator of stock price.

• The Derwent hedge fund plans to begin using Twitter sentiment to predict short-term stock market changes.

• And social media content is now feeding into ultra-low latency, machine readable news designed specifically for consumption by real-time algorithmic trading applications.

Because of these connections, CEOs are now interested in the tweets about their company and the number of fans following their company Facebook page. This newfound interest in social media provides PR professionals with an opportunity to quantify their work and demonstrate value to their company’s bottom line.

Many Web-based applications exist that report on quantitative metrics such as number of online mentions, blog posts, tweets, clickthroughs, site traffic, and page views. PR pros can use this data to show how they are using social media to gain more customers, increase customer satisfaction, or more efficiently gather customer feedback.

Use message analytics to show your CEO the financial impact of PR
But like Rod Tidwell demanded in the movie Jerry Maguire, you need to show them the money. This means incorporating message analytics that relate directly to the drivers of stock price movement in your regular reports to senior management.

How do you do that?

• Include sell-side analyst estimates for your company and peers along with their comments in research, on blogs, and in the news.

• Demonstrate graphically how your stock price tracks against the perceived sentiment of the news you generate.

• Show how the volume and tone of mentions of your company among investors on social media sites and blogs compare to those of your peers.

• Identify the leading online influencers in your industry and interpret what they are saying about your company.

By providing a holistic view of these metrics and demonstrating their impact to the drivers of stock price, you’ll be delivering real communications intelligence to the C-suite.

My name is Malcolm. I have a wife, a daughter, and two dogs. I live in Arizona. I work for the Public Relations Services business of Thomson Reuters.

I don’t believe there should be a difference between B2B and B2C strategies when it comes to marketing and PR.

I have a hard time believing that Dachshunds were ever prolific badger hunters.

I think the terms “traditional”, “new”, “social”, and “digital” should have no place in front of the word “media”.

I sense that 9-month old babies have the ability to speak. They just choose not to.

I love how powerful press release headlines can be. And I like good articles about headlines, like this one and this one.

I appreciate how a well-hit kick serve can be more effective than a huge flat serve.

I feel that people make social media much more difficult than it needs to be and applaud those who help simplify things.

I can handle an Arizona summer much more than a Connecticut or Indiana winter.

I firmly believe that press releases are NOT dead.

I can’t understand why my Lab will chase a red or blue ball but never a yellow one.

I see Twitter as a very powerful—but somewhat overrated—tool in the PR and marketing space.

And I think that is a good place to start.

It’s nice to meet you.

What are best practices in length of time companies should keep press releases, financial reports, and webcasts on their website?
Based on our most recent Best Practice review we found award winning sites in the US had the following averages:

• Press Releases: 7.6 years
• Financial Reports: 8.7 years
• Webcasts: 1.4 years
• Presentations: 2.2 years

What data can we use to benchmark our website traffic?
We provide our IR website clients with access to traffic metrics such as number of users, visits and page views. We also enable them to benchmark their traffic against that of a predefined industry or market cap group. In addition, clients using our Web-based disclosure solution can view the following detailed analytics for their company:

• Referral Sources – How are visitors getting to the site
• Visitors – Which cities and countries are visitors to the site coming from
• Navigation – How are users navigating across the site
• Pages – What content are users accessing most and least frequently

Because investors are collecting information about your company from across the Web, we recommend monitoring more than just traffic to your site. To provide our clients with a 360-degree view of what is being said about their company and their peers, we also provide the following analytics as part of our Web-based disclosure solution:

• Know how sell-side analysts are expected to revise their estimates for your company and peers across various forecast measures based on what they are saying in their research, on blogs and in the news.

• Monitor mentions of your company across the Web, including on social media sites and blogs, and benchmark volume of mentions against your peers. Compare overall mentions to articles related to your disclosure.

• Understand how the news generated by your disclosure is impacting your stock price.

• Visually gauge market reaction to your message and compare it to the sentiment your peers are generating.

• Identify the leading online influencers in your industry and know what they’re saying.

If you post your release onto your website through a Web-based disclosure tool, will it only get posted to your site? How would the media get the release?
Our Web-based disclosure solution ensures that your releases are distributed to all key outlets, including your IR website. The Web has fundamentally changed how audiences access information so it’s now about quality, not quantity. In addition to your IR website, our distribution network includes outlets critical to compliance (Reuters, Down Jones, Bloomberg, AP newswires), major financial and media sites such as Yahoo! and Thomson Reuters First Call. Feedback from the more than 200 companies already using our Web-based disclosure solution confirms that our distribution network provides the reach they need to maximize visibility of their message while helping establish their website as a primary point of disclosure.

If a company is brand new to the Web disclosure process—either a new company or a small company that is growing up—what resources do they need to put together to get up and running?
Though the timeline for establishing an IR website as a recognized point of disclosure may vary by company depending on factors such as current reach and design of the site, the recommended action plan is the same for companies of all sizes:

• Take control of your disclosure process with a secure self-publishing tool that will ensure simultaneous distribution of your release to your IR website as well as other outlets critical to disclosure.

• Continuously promote your site and ensure it provides investors and the media with accurate and comprehensive information that’s easy-to-find.

• Continuously measure key analytics to benchmark your reach, and understand investor behavior and interest.

It seems that determining that your website is “Web-disclosure certified” is somewhat subjective. Is my impression correct?
Based on the SEC notice and access guidelines issued in 2008, your website must be considered a distribution channel before you can forgo press releases. Whether postings to your site can be considered “disclosed” depends on the steps you take to alert the market about your IR website. We can help you determine how widely investors rely on your site for information, but we recommend that you consult your legal team prior to moving to website-only posting.

WEB-BASED DISCLOSURE RESOURCES

• Download the recommendations from our experts on the steps you should take to establish your IR website as the primary point of disclosure.

• Access the on demand webinar

• Download the slide presentation from the webinar