Not too long ago, I was approached by a potential client looking for a PR firm to increase its visibility among target audiences. The first question they asked was “So Can you Tweet for me? We need to be on Twitter?” They might need to be but in my view that was the wrong question. What needs to be asked first are two basic questions: Who are you trying to reach and why?
It’s official. The BP oil spill now is the worst in US history, surpassing the Exxon Valdez according to an […]
Last Thursday was Earth Day and there were the usual wonderful and less wonderful actions on the part of marketers, nonprofits and corporations to get in on the celebration by aligning and promoting their brand. Nancy Schwartz highlighted a number of great nonprofit efforts. On the commercial side, Leslie Kaufman wrote a piece for the New York Times about Earth Day now being big business.
The bill for my Washington Post subscription came in the mail the other day and I had a decision to make. To renew or not. Until now, not renewing had never crossed my mind. Keeping up with the news is a lifelong dedication, not just a part of my media relations work.
In times of crisis, people look to someone to lead them through it. Joe Manchin, Governor of West Virginia has done that well throughout the horrible tragedy at Upper Big Branch Mine that killed 29 miners.
While the winds howled last week with the snow of the century, the power managed to stay on long enough so that I could participate in a webinar about building buzz through social media. Hosted by The Communications Network and by the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN), session leaders Holly Ross, Executive Director of NTEN, and Nancy Schwartz, NTEN board member and blogger, the session presented three case studies about nonprofits and foundations that had successfully used social media.
I just came across an old post from David Meerman Scott, who developed with the help of Dow Jones Insight, the Gobbledygook Grader to eliminate those overused phrases from press releases that have become meaningless. You know what we are talking about–I blogged about some of them in an earlier post–innovative, robust, leading provider, next generation, new level, cost-effective and it goes on and on.
A common theme runs through most calls for new business. “Our company [or organization] wants to get more attention for ourselves and our work. We want to create buzz, get noticed,” they say.
The twittersphere was all atwitter today about a public relations firm that sent out an email to a ginormous list of social media and other journalists who erupted in anger over the fact that they were spammed. Not sure what was worse–the stupidity of the email or the wronged recipients who then hit reply all to create a thread of ire.
The other day I was in the office all day and had many lively conversations and not once did I open my mouth. All of those conversations were through Twitter, Facebook, and conventional email. And while I was productive and shared ideas, it was all a bit unsatisfying.
