PR Freelancers. Social Media Experts. Social Media Training.
Archive for August, 2010
The key to good PR – be yourself
Aug 24th
I’m in a strange position of being on both sides of the journalist/PR fence, as I contribute a couple of articles a week to New Media Knowledge, the online new media best practice resource from the University of Westminster, as well as my regular PR and social media training gigs. This means that I receive pitches from PR professionals and it is fascinating to be on the other side, rather like a tech industry Janus, staring in both directions.
Some PR pros are excellent, with relevant, targeted, short pitches without the much fluff which journalists regularly moan about but that never seems to go away (hello, who’s training you?). I put out a Response Source request for opinion yesterday and have emails before me which include hyperbole such as ‘cracking’ and, yes, ‘leading’. I even had an estate agent-esque phone call, with that all-too-familiar undulating tone. I am worried that the rest of the PR industry is morphing in estate agent-hood and that soon we’ll be driving branded minis around the block clad in pinstripes.
Here’s the thing: To be successful at pitching to journalists, PRs don’t need to be something they’re not and, although it’s a sales-like job, the art is to NOT sound salesy. Be yourself, get to the point. You have ten seconds to hit the spot, either by phone or by email.
For more, listen to my podcast with Gordon Kelly about pitching to journalists.
Social media pros are the new doctors
Aug 16th
You’ve probably been there; you’re at a party and there’s a doctor or similar health professional present among the throng, and as soon as people find out their profession someone’s got a question for them. I am guilty of this myself, even blagging a free chiropractor session a couple of years back which made me feel like a new person! I’m increasingly finding nowadays, however, it’s me, the social media consultant, which people want to get free advice from at parties.
Back in the day when I did purely traditional technology PR, no one was interested. When I responded to that whole “so what do you do?” thing I could see their eyes glaze over and drift towards the leggy brunette over my shoulder. Now, conversely, if I say “I’m an online PR consultant, you know, I do a bit of social media training, a bit of search engine optimisation, heaps of blogging blah blah”, suddenly their eyes light up and a volley of questions come my way. This week I already committed some free advice to an Argentine beef baron and managed to commit myself to setting up a blog for a vicar with basic WordPress training to boot (!).
My lesson for this week, therefore, is not only that everyone from small business entrepreneurs to maverick clergymen recognise the value of social media, but that as a skillset social media is highly sought after so don’t give away your secrets for free!
I’m too nice for this business…
Social media news releases and why we use them
Aug 13th
You’ll have drafted and distributed press releases as part of your marketing campaigns, but have you thought about making those text-based releases work that much harder for you? Jazzing up your press releases into ‘social media news releases’ enables you to provide multiple channel information – such as video, audio or photos – to add weight to the ‘traditional’ press release, and using free sites to post it on also brings in extra valuable links and views.
This is where social media news releases (SMNRs) come in handy. SMNRs are not new, they’ve been around for years, but most small businesses are largely unaware of them and what they can do for you.
‘Traditional’ press releases might work with some journalists, but they fail as social media tools as they’re often loaded with marketing jargon and one-way marketing speak, which doesn’t gain traction on social sharing platforms.
This is how we it
- Write your headline and subheads with search engines and humans alike in mind. That means keywords, folks
- Keep the content compelling and ‘social’ – no marketing spiel
- Convert your text to html – use a tool like Windows Live Writer, it’s easy – and then paste into an SMNR generator, such as PitchEngine
- Include add-ons – lots of them! What video, audio, text, image or presentation content have you got which will add value to the reader and also add depth and context to the release? This will help it to (a) be more likely to be covered by a journalist and (b) be shared
- Push via all your social channels – blog it, tweet it, Digg it (yes, people still use Digg.com), anything to get it seen
- Analyse, monitor, interact with comments etc. Be social with your social media news releases!
SMNRs give you the chance to be more creative, expressive and social – AND there are search engine benefits. Give them a try next time you have something to announce.
Check out our podcast for more on how to write a press release or down load our press release writing white paper.