The Matchbox.

Dec. 21

A PR Partner Wish List

The holiday rush is in full swing and there certainly is no shortage of new tools, tips and resources to help consumers make good purchase decisions and maximize their holiday shopping budget. So in the name of shopping and saving I’d like to offer a few tips for those marketing, PR and other business professionals shopping for external PR services.

1)   Make a list – While as a kid you made a wish list of what you wanted and sent a note to the North Pole, you should have a similar approach for your PR services.  Knowing what your must-have services are, e.g., news releases, media placements/interviews, bylines, social media, as well as your nice-to-haves, e.g., case studies, awards, speaking opportunities, will help you properly evaluate PR providers.

2)   Set a budget – Most people have a budget for their holiday spending so they don’t overspend and they can maximize their gift giving, decorating or party planning. Selecting a PR partner is no different. At a minimum you should be able to discuss a budget range that you can invest in PR. There is no use spending hours discussing your goals, and developing and sharing proposals if you aren’t ready to put a real dollar figure on the services.

3)   Have a deadline – For folks who celebrate Christmas, Dec. 24 is a drop-dead date for Christmas shopping. Knowing when you want your PR program to begin will help you and potential partners be more realistic about program ideas and proposal development will be more real time.

Best wishes for a successful 2012. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah and Happy Holidays!

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Dec. 16

What a Year!

First, let me start out by congratulating our client Emptoris – acquired by IBM yesterday. Fantastic news. This by the way, marks the 5th client acquisition in a year for Y&A. It has been an amazing year for the agency as we entered new markets (higher ed technology) and grew our foothold in others (daily deals, consumer technology). Check out our December newsletter for more news on the agency, our best advice for getting the most out of conferences and our own Jennifer Mirabile’s Wish List for Reporters – a must-read in my humble opinion.

Wishing everyone a fantastic holiday season and one where everyone can put down their iPhone or iPad for a few short days to reflect on what’s truly important in life. Good friends and family.
Happy holidays friends!

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Nov. 22

Ingredients for a Successful PR Product Launch

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, as I double check my menu, grocery list and turkey cook times, let’s talk about the ingredients for a successful PR product launch. Product launches are not a one-way ticket to media fame. The key to success is crafting and promoting a more comprehensive story about the marketplace trends and challenges that make the new product relevant.

So, if you are considering the impact a product launch will have on your media strategy and overall business visibility and sales cycle, there are a few key points to keep in mind:

Get the Bird in the Oven Early
Many companies wait until they have the biggest announcement possible to begin a PR campaign; however, it is valuable to develop media relationships prior to the launch so you can quickly get beyond the introductions and focus on the meat of the news. Pre-brief analysts to ensure you have 3rd party validation on the solution and the issues that make it viable. Also, beta test the product with key clients who would be willing to discuss their experiences with media and/or analysts.

All About the Sides
Build a pipeline of news stories around the launch timing so there are plenty of potential topics to address with key reporters, bloggers and influencers. Also, rather than narrowly focusing on the product features, plug the business benefits, key trends and industry challenges that make the product relevant.

The Big Event
Consider timing the launch around a high profile industry event – where you can sit down with reporters, bloggers and other influencers in person to help cultivate the relationship and story. Be ready to offer a multimedia demo and screenshots.
Just as turkey alone doesn’t make for a Thanksgiving feast, there is more to a product media launch than just the new bells and whistles.

From all of us at Young & Associates, Happy Thanksgiving!

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Nov. 14

Negative Social Media Posts: Turn that Frown Upside Down

Are negative posts on Twitter or Facebook keeping you down?  Don’t worry – there are ways to turn these comments into positive interactions.  In fact, acknowledging a customer or social media follower with a complaint can go a long way to rebuilding a relationship.

When a negative comment is posted on one of your social media channels, your first reaction might be to delete it. However, this is a frowned upon practice.  Unless the post is highly profane or threatening, the best course of action is to address it with a reply.  Responding quickly is imperative.  In fact, within a 24-hour period is suggested.

Even if you don’t have a solution to the complaint or issue, replying appropriately to show the individual you care is important. Oftentimes, a quick public response on Twitter or Facebook can lead to a more detailed solution and conversation on another channel. Perhaps email or even telephone in some cases.

Yes, we know this type of social media monitoring can be daunting.  How is it possible to have your eyes and ears open to social media conversations at all times?  Luckily, robust reputation management tools like Radian6 or free services like HootSuite or TweetDeck exist and can help you depending on your needs.

Remember, there isn’t a company or brand that exists that has not dealt with negative feedback on social media channels.  The important thing is that you properly respond, try your best to make customers happy and mitigate future criticism.

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Nov. 04

5 Tips for Bolstering Byline Success

Even if you have a full pipeline of corporate news to share, byline articles are a cornerstone of any successful PR program. They build thought leadership and instill stronger credibility with your target audience. The key is to generate hard-hitting topics and place them within priority publications. Here are five tips for making your company’s byline articles a success.

1) Consider the Source – Executive level professionals are best suited for byline opportunities as they have the most experience and will come across as established industry leaders. However, junior contributors shouldn’t be left out – they may support article development or appear as co-authors.

2) What’s in a Title – Pay close attention to the headline. The editor’s first impression will depend on whether it is a compelling topic that will pique their audience’s interest. Keep it concise and pack it with punch!

3) Offer Real Takeaways – Articles that offer lessons learned, tips and best practices for readers to apply in their own situations are better received than ones that simply discuss topics. While you may think readers need a deep baseline education to understand a topic, it is much more effective to briefly set the scene and then offer analysis and takeaways.

4) Bring It to Life with Examples – Nothing backs up great advice than real-world examples. Either characterize the examples without divulging their identities or ask the companies you’re spotlighting for permission to include them as named examples.

5) How Many Words? – You may have a book’s worth of information, but if an editor requests an 800-word article, deliver a piece that comes pretty darn close. Prioritize which points are most important, e.g., focus on the top five tips instead of the top 10, and pare down unnecessary dialogue.

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Oct. 28

Three Cheers for the Y&A Staff

Admittedly, this is a self-promotional blog post. But I need to give a big shout-out to our tremendous Y&A team. The year has been filled with major client wins, client successes and yes, some disappointments. Meggan Manson (a methodical strategist and my co-pilot), Eve Sheridan (a consummate PR pro ) and Jennifer Mirabile (a media bulldog) are a testament to the spirit of our agency. Tenacious, passionate (yes, we are very passionate which sometimes drives our clients crazy but they love us for it in the end) and a drive to “kill it” attitude, the team is a cohesive unit that believes in our unique style and our clients’ vision.

We’ve all made mistakes this year – if you aren’t making mistakes, you aren’t trying. But we sit back, learn from them and always ask, what could we have done differently and what can we do better next time. The beauty of the Y&A staff is that everyone has their unique personality and perspective and the collective sum meshes beautifully for the benefit of the agency, and ultimately, our clients.

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Oct. 21

Lights On, Camera Rolling: Broadcast Interview Tips

As we’ve had the pleasure to coordinate an increased amount of broadcast spots recently, we thought it was time to revisit a few tips for television spokespeople.

1. Prepare in advance: Read the talking points that you’ve developed (or your team has provided to you) prior to speaking with a reporter, but don’t memorize.  Reviewing a set of messages before the interview will keep your organization’s key points top of mind, but it isn’t necessary to recite.

2. Keep it simple: If this is a taped interview, reporters are typically looking for a few short sound bites to weave into their stories.  Keep your answers quick and concise as this makes the reporter’s job easier during the editing phase and prevents you from rambling.  This tip applies to live interviews too.

3. Dress to impress: Let us be vain for a moment when we tell you that appearance counts when it comes to broadcast interviews. Take a look at your attire closely before you are interviewed on camera.  We always recommend a solid color shirt, no busy patterns and please don’t pull out any duds purchased in the ’70s or ’80s.

 

4. Be yourself: As a PR professional, I am walking a fine line with this tip, but be yourself.  Try not to reach for answers that you think will sound good on air.  Instead, try to have a natural conversation with the reporter.

Yes, getting ready for broadcast interviews requires a bit more time than the average interview, but the exposure and benefits they can bring your organization are worth the extra time and preparation.

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Oct. 06

Balanced Social Media Posts: Curators vs Self Promoters

Social media dominates today’s media headlines, but companies are still struggling with the right balance of social media content/posts. Eric Boggs of Argyle Social, a social media dashboard tool, addressed this issue last week at Digital East. Argyle analyzed 150K+ social posts from 1K+ customer accounts to evaluate how three types of social media posting strategies fared in clicks and conversions. They compared:

  • Curators: 75+% of posts link to third-party sites
  • Balanced: 50-75+% of posts link to third-party sites
  • Self Promoters: 50+% of posts link to own site/created content

Overall, the findings show that Self Promoters generate fewer clicks (17 clicks per post) and a Balanced approach drives the most conversions (.95 conversions per post). Boggs said the Balanced companies with the best conversion rates are posting 40% curated content and 60% created/promoted content.

I believe it also has to do with the quality of the curated content. As it is sometimes tough to find good social media content to share, here are a few tips:

  1. Post your PR results. Share press releases and positive news stories.
  2. Search your own keywords for relevant coverage and set up Google Alerts for articles on the topics most appropriate for your company/product.
  3. Don’t be afraid to share an article that includes your competitors.
  4. Think outside the box. Don’t just post about what your company does. Include complementary posts relevant to your audience.
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Sep. 28

What’s Behind Facebook’s Latest Changes?

We’ve all seen the commentary about the latest Facebook changes announced at the f8 conference—including the much-hyped Timeline that chronicles a user’s entire existence on the social platform—but what’s really behind them and how will they impact personal and business users?

It’s clear that Facebook is moving toward self-selected data categories, e.g., classifying groups of people (a huge differentiator of Google+ with Circles) and designating who can access status updates or photos. Additionally the news feed now reflects a class system rather than appearing chronologically, with the most engaged Facebook users’ posts showing up as higher priority than Aunt Mary’s occasional posts.

How will Business pages be affected by this change? If a business doesn’t make it into the priority feeds of its Facebook members, then its posts may be shuffled into the smaller, harder-to-read chronological ticker—thus weakening a company’s ability to stay socially connected with its fan base. To combat this issue, businesses will need to ensure a strong affinity with fans by paying close attention to Facebook’s “EdgeRank” algorithm.

From the looks of these changes, I’d say Facebook is greasing the skids for a major monetization step. It had a goldmine of rich user data before, and with further targeting, that data’s value just skyrocketed. And although still under privacy protections, users will now only be asked once by Facebook apps for permission to share stories, potentially freeing up more user data sharing. Further, with Timeline automatically highlighting users’ most exciting or emotionally-charged posts photos/videos, apps they’ve used, and where they’ve been, Facebook profiles are morphing into each user’s life story—offering a clear understanding of their preferences and aversions…and translating into valuable marketing data ripe for the picking.

FbTimeline

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Sep. 13

NBC News Twitter Account Hacked

On Friday afternoon, two days prior to the 10th anniversary of 9/11, NBC News’ Twitter account (@NBCNews) was hacked and tweets falsely reported that an airplane had crashed at Ground Zero.

Due to the prompt response by NBC News notifying Twitter, the account was deactivated and only a small amount of NBC News’ 130,000 followers likely read the tweet. However, the anxiety caused at such a sensitive time was unnecessary and raises the issue of social network security again. (Fox News’ Twitter account was also recently hacked.) It is shocking that hackers were able to easily take over a major news outlet’s account when reportedly only three NBC executives have the password.

NBC handled the situation by making an apology on the “NBC Nightly News,” and tweeting/posting online that the information was false and that their account had been hacked.

Watch NBC News’ Brian Williams Issue Apology

Twitter and Facebook are wonderful tools for communicating.  I can’t imagine doing my job today without them.  However, their security features must be closely examined and upgraded to avoid misinformation. Additionally, news outlets need to revisit their security protocol when it comes to social media.  If not, communications professionals and journalists will need to seriously reconsider how they share news via social media channels while protecting the news’ integrity at the same time.

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