It's a Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom World

Mother’s Day may be in May, but the blogosphere reminds us that mom is to be cherished—forever and always.

I chatted via e-mail and Twitter with Cat, the creator of the mom blog 3 Kids and Us, which has made its way to #5 on the top 100 Mom Bloggers Club list. That’s quite a feat since the blog really just started (early summer 2008), and we bloggers know, it takes a LONG time to spread word-of-mouth or link-luv about a blog.

In 1999, it was reported that nearly 80-85 percent of women are the primary purchase decision-makers in the home, and Cat is quick to point out, “men just don’t make up that number, because moms are the researchers. As a mom, I want to make sure the products I use are safe for my family. All moms want that,” she said.

The explosion of moms on social networks has lead to some poignant acronyms as well: WAHM, SAHM, FTWM. There’s probably many more but that’s currently what’s out there on TwitterMoms profiles and online clubs such as Mom Bloggers Club, CaféMom, and Cat’s personal favorite, MomDot.com— because the founder Trisha knows how to keep moms connected while also offering a more personable, welcoming atmosphere. MomDot.com via its Ning social network garners a whopping 50,000 unique visitors per month, so according to Cat, “Trisha is doing something right.”

Don’t underestimate moms’ stamina in broadcasting her favorite events, news, or kids’ stories over a blog. Cat informed me she spends a total of 8 hours/day blogging, so it’s really a full-time gig with the added hustle and bustle around the home. The most surprising thing about mom blogs, particularly “3 Kids and Us,” regardless of the Web-click banner ads for monetization purposes: blogs are not a source of income for families. That sure shocked me, as I always figured top mom bloggers with high visitor traffic would be shoe-ins for a start-up entrepreneur contest entitled, “The Next Best Thing.”

As the telescopic lens of company brands has become more zoomed in on moms, so have the criticisms for doing things wrong. Though it’s not a requirement for brand managers to hire a social media mom (Lolita Carrico thinks so), Cat drives this mom message home:

“If a company wants to sell their product to a mom or her children, they need to take the time to speak with the people to whom they are marketing. Moms know what they want and need; we don’t want to be told by a suit why something is beneficial for our families when they themselves have no idea how the product will fit into our lives.”

So here’s to moms like Cat who are working really hard in energizing other moms and companies to do it right, and aren’t getting paid for it.

To Ask Or Not To Ask: That Is The Question

I think we would all agree it is important to make it easy for people to sign up for our blog's RSS feeds and give multiple options (Reader or email), but I think there are some differing opinions about actively asking for people to subscribe.

My favorite radio station, The Current, is an indie public radio station based in Minneapolis. This week they are having a member drive for financial support. The station is completely funded by donations and therefore depends on the growth of their member base. In its 4 years on the air, word of mouth has spread the station all over the world and their model has been deemed a successful model for how independent and community-based radio is done. Of course you can donate any time, but during member drives, most of The Current's budget for the year comes in.

I've seen blogs go with a few different options for recruiting new readers. Some have their own type of "member drive," occasionally reminding readers in a post to take the next step and become a more involved member of the community by signing up for the RSS feed (or making a comment). Some make a clear push by including a "Did you like what you read, then sign up here" type of approach at the top or bottom of each new blog post. Others prefer to not make outright requests for new readers, but let the community spread word if they like what they read.

I asked "Ask for new RSS members or not?" on Twitter and here's what a few people said:So what do you think? What's your approach?

Strike A Balance Between Hope and Reality

Students and practitioners of PR would be wise to study President Barack Obama's communication skills. His ability to connect to an audience was on display last night during his nationally televised address to a Joint Session of Congress. I can't recall the last time we had such a clear and prominent example of a master communicator in the forefront of American culture. If part of a president's job is to inspire hope and calm the country's fears, then Obama needn't worry too much about his job performance in that category. Some would argue that our daily Dow Jones nosedives better reflect the president's overall approval on Wall Street, but his approval ratings on Main Street--which are currently in the sixties-- should be his top concern at the moment in regards to public opinion.

Obama walked a difficult line last night between acknowledging the harsh reality of our current economic situation and delivering a hopeful message to the American people in desperate need of help. A good communicator addressing his people in times of crisis must never underestimate the hardships of his constituents, nor should he continually linger on a message of sorrow and pessimism. Former President Bill Clinton, in a recent interview on Good Morning America, offered a few helpful suggestions to Obama. Clinton felt that Obama was focusing too narrowly on the reality of the economic situation, which is nothing short of bleak. Though Obama's adherence to transparency in the oval office is commendable, his near abandonment of the soaring, hopeful rhetoric that was so vividly on display during his campaign was disconcerting for many Americans, especially his supporters.

But judging from last night's speech, Obama has taken Clinton's advice and added the necessary "lift" to his oratory address. Obama basically said that though we may have dark days ahead of us, our country has always succeeded and will continue to do so. We've faced much worse in the past, he said, yet still came out on top. Obama carefully stressed several non-partisan issues like improving education and fixing healthcare in order to rouse both sides of the congress to its feet in unanimous applause. 33 times to be exact. He even managed to raise his former rival, Senator John McCain, in support of ending the war in Iraq. Was McCain's gracious gesture more out of courtesy and respect for our country's leader than for full agreement? Probably. But Americans like to see their politicians put aside their differences in support of a common purpose for the greater good of the country. And the people's opinion means everything in a democracy of elected representatives.

It seems that more than ever, we need a good leader to show us out of the darkness of recession and into the light of prosperity. He needs to be a symbol of strength, fortitude, and tenacity. And as we all know, it takes someone who can really connect with the people. Let's hope our leaders continue to practice the lessons of good PR. We need it now more than ever.

Breaking Breakfast Promos on Twitter

Today's tweets about free pancakes promo brought to you by IHOP reminds me of yet another breaking breakfast promotion (previously broadcast) on Twitter: Denny's Free Grand Slam Breakfast.

Now to you newbies of Denny's, like me, that's any four breakfast items of your choosing for FREE (originally breaks your wallet for 6 bucks). Two Eggs, two sausage links, two pancakes, two bacon strips or two slices of toast. Let's not forget about hash browns, buttermilk biscuits, or english muffins. Four of these breakfast items for free; 99 cents for more? I must be dreaming.

Though it may sound like a commercial ad too good to be true, Twitterers are among the first demographic to share free breakfast news with you, and I'd say Denny knows this because Denny knows social media. Denny's "Adopt a Band" program via Facebook Page has been wildly successful--with Good Charlotte and Taking Back Sunday letting everyone know that inside the diner. Band pics adorn the page, as well as 5,300+ fans. A simplified back-door approach, Denny's Adopt a Band program was part of its effort to rebrand "Denny's All Nighter," to appeal to a more on-the-road and breakfast-worthy demographic. Another brilliant move by the Denny's brand: All Night After Parties complete with a listing of party dates. Wow. Apparently, they've been doing this since 1953 (!), according to their Twitter bio.

You might be thinking Denny's fanbase is a far cry from IHOP's 26,000+ fans on Facebook and today being National Pancake Day and all, but as we've mentioned before, it's all about interactivity. No show of a discussion board or an administrator heavily involved in answering Q&As, but a lovely bunch of loyals touting the free pancake promotion at IHOP restaurants nationwide. Hmm... maybe the Twitter love is all IHOP needs to make themselves memorable among breakfast competitors.

What do you think? Denny's or IHOP for sustainable social media?

Getting Caught Up

I just got back from a week vacation. I was almost completely away from the internet the entire week - no email, RSS, blogs, Twitter, or Facebook. Aside from about 1 hour during the week in which I checked my personal email, everything else was on hold and I knew it was growing. When I came into the office this morning, I had several hundred emails, over 1500 RSS feeds, and a whole week of Twitter messages to untangle.

A few observations:

• I ended up just deleting or marking lots of emails and articles right away in order to bail the water out of the boat quicker. While most days this tends to take place on a smaller and slightly slower scale, I found my "scanning eyes" were moving quite quickly. Lesson learned: Maybe there are lots of things that I don't really need to read even during a normal week.
  
• After visiting a few sites, I was able to establish a picture of some of the things I had missed. I watched TweetWeek to get a recap of some of Twitter happenings. I scanned PopURLs to look for top stories that I may have missed. Lesson learned: Sites that compile and recap can be just as helpful as reading it all yourself, but takes a lot less time.
  
• Although I tried to eliminate the clutter and ignore the "echo chamber" effect of social media buzz, there was still a good amount to read. Lesson learned: There is no way around the fact that you must be "in" social media to understand what is going on.
• After getting somewhat caught up, an interesting thought popped into my mind: Did I really miss anything? Through reading recaps, eliminating the waste, and ignoring the echo chamber, I was able to effectively catch up in a fraction of the time I normally would have. It seems like there is not only a lot of repeating going on in social media, but there may also be a lot of things that can waste your time. Possible lesson learned: Maybe a week away isn't as detrimental as I thought it could be.

A few questions for you -
Where do you go to get caught up when you get behind on news, social media happenings, etc?
Could you be away from Twitter/Facebook/etc for a week and not implode?
If you were away one week, what would you really miss that couldn't be remedied with a little catch up?

Was Killeen in it to Spin It?

Poor, poor renowned PR practitioner Joann Killeen. Boy, has America gotten so mean over the years! Or so she said in this recent Larry King Live interview, but we all know she was in it to spin it.

It was Killeen's dream that Ms. Suleman would have had that star-studded "Eight Isn't Enough" TLC show (thanks, Corey, for your suggestion :). The octuplet lady would be such a money-maker by selling her 14 kids' souls to publicity hounds. Due to Suleman's insidious way of having these kids, you might as well call her up for the next casting call of "Bachelorette." She is looking for a husband, after all.

But what really gripes me about this whole ordeal is the fact that Killeen went on the air proclaiming herself a victim more than a culprit. What would possess her to sign on as Suleman's publicist-- if not for the love of generating lots and lots of percentage share? Sorry, Ms. Killeen. I don't buy your quip. And to your Coolidge adage on your Web site's front page quote roll (though I might add some other sayings have strong merit) Nothing I never said did me any harm... Well, apparently, it did.

To the spin doctors out there who cut corners and tell half-truths, shame on you. The web 2.0 world is making your ills more apparent every day. Hmmm... are death threats deserved?

Are Webinars Worth It?

I share the sentiments of my fellow tweeps like @patrickrevans and @terrijellman in saying that webinars are truly behind in terms of helpful content, and are therefore not even worth a “free” tout.

While I certainly do appreciate an organization’s desire to share an "expert" panel’s wealth of knowledge, most oftentimes, it’s stuff I already know. I already know about Twitter and how businesses can use it (how many Webinars are going to cover this?!) The culprits of over-examined social media content tend to be media software corporations – evidenced by topics such as ‘building your brand on Twitter’, or ‘how agencies can tap Twitter’s potential’. If you’re trying to get me to sign on for another year with your wealth of knowledge about Twitter, that’s not the way to do it.

Another pet peeve of mine in attending corporate webinars is the types of people on the call. Who hasn’t heard the one person on the line asking questions that don’t deserve speakers' response, such as “so how do I create a Twitter account?” when clearly the webinar is far beyond that. This person continues to hog the attention of the speaker, and pretty soon it’s time to wrap up. What this person should be doing is undergoing extensive self-operation on these different social media platforms. Because after all, that’s the only way any of us are going to learn anything.

Brian Solis-- Thank you for giving myself and the many others out there in Twitterspace something to chew on and digest appropriately. To the others: please refrain from sending salty, cured ham.

Update: I'm thinking of attending this webinar to see if redemption is possible. What do you think about webinars?

Social Media Education in a Business

Educating a company about social media can be very hard. One way I am working on educating at Axiom Marketing is by compiling a "Social Media Reading List." I am able to read hundreds of blog posts a week (and not everyone at Axiom has this kind of time), so I filter through these articles in order to create a weekly list of reading about social media, marketing, and the evolving world of digital pr that would be beneficial and relevant. Once the list is sent out, I make an effort discuss the material and dialogue about the topics.

In conjunction with my Reading Lists, I am also working on teaching my coworkers at Axiom how to reach out to bloggers and not sound like a flack. Walking them through a step by step process, I outlined how to find blogs to read, how and when to make comments, ways to give instead of just take, and other various do's and dont's for blogger relations. Learning proper blogger etiquette will be important for the future success of marketing companies.

The online world is going to continue changing things, so not only do you need to prepare, but your company must as well. How have you been educating your coworkers and business partners on social media? What has worked? What hasn't?

Marketing with Chaos

This week, we have seen a few big discussions on the validity of a product or message due to their apparently chaotic image being portrayed (Pepsi logo redesign, Jaoquin Phoenix on Letterman).

These things may be real or they may be fake, but I think that maybe marketers are using confusion to create buzz.

While a clear, solid message is often the best approach, disorder, brand inconsistency, and chaos often get just as much attention, whether it is on purpose or not.

The Gravitational Pull of Pepsi: Scientific or Sham?

Pepsi recently redesigned their logo as they have done many times in the past. I came across the document outlining Pepsi's process and rational behind the redesign and was surprised by what I found.

First, Pepsi analyzed their past logos, deconstructing them into shapes and studying the reoccurring patterns. This part seemed pretty straightforward and made sense for deciding where to take the design next.

Next they overlapped the circle patterns to determine what a new logo should look like also taking into consideration the evolution of bottle shapes and how that affects design.

Section C is where thing started to really get interesting. Titled "Towards Innovation: Projecting Pepsi's Future, Applying Universal Laws to Establish a Blueprint for the Brand," this section dug into natural laws such as ratio, proportion, scale, and even gravitational pull of the earth to calculate factors that should be considered for the redesign.

Apparently by studying the Earth's "naturally occurring electric generator in fluid motion that sustains the Earth's magnetic field" the redesign team was able to determine the best way to align the new Pepsi logo curves of blue and red.

After looking through these diagrams, things really moved from scientific to ridiculous for me. Earth's magnetic fields and angles of the light from stars determining the logo for a sugar water beverage?

I believe the aim of this document was to get people talking and to cause people to write about the absurdity of it (looks like they succeeded in getting me to help them). I can't help but believe that at least a good chunk of this document was pure tongue-in-cheek and humor. I could be wrong. What do you think? Scientific or sham?

How To Catch All of Your ReTweets and Mentions On Twitter

Did you know that the @Replies Tab in Twitter only lists the Tweets that begin with "@yourname" but doesn't include any tweets that contain your handle inside of the Tweet? For example - the following Tweet (although it contains @axiompr) would not show up in my @Replies tab because the @ isn't at the beginning:

If you aren't watching your stream constantly, there is no way to catch everytime someone ReTweets you or mentions your name. There is probably a lot you are missing out on. How can you be sure to not let these valuable interactions slip by unnoticed? The answer is simple and will help you become a much better Twitter user.

Step 1. Go to www.search.twitter.com . This great tool will allow you to search for people who are talking about what you are interested in, which in this case is your handle.

Step 2. Search for your term. When I search for "axiompr" (my handle is @axiompr) the search will bring up all the times "axiompr" has been Tweeted. This will find not only my own Tweets, but those times when someone else ReTweeted me or used my handle in the middle of their Tweet.

Step 3. Click "Feed This Query" at the top right of the page. Now, anytime that someone ReTweets you or mentions your handle within their Tweet, you will catch it. This is also a great way to be alerted on other key terms, to keep track of hashtag conversations, and to become aware of opportunities that you may have not known about.

Axiom is Hiring!

Wanted: A candidate who can work a minimum of 30 hours per week for a stipend-paid internship. Best candidate for the position must possess fire-in-the-belly initiative and won’t shy away from being stretched across multiple communications projects, i.e. results lists, product pitch follow-ups, and idea generation for a number of home and garden, hospitality, consumer tech, and automotive clients.

We’re also looking for someone who has confidence; it’s a no-brainer for delivering messages over the phone, in meetings, and via e-mail. Due to our small office environment, ideal candidate must demonstrate independent work ethic, so it’s preferable to have previous internship/class experience in marketing, PR, journalism.

But the biggest thing you must possess… is a love for emerging media platforms and technologies like FriendFeed, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and a number of blogs that benefit Axiom’s clientele. This doesn’t mean you know of them-- it means you use them and understand how businesses can market their products by leveraging multiple social networks. Like to write about social media? Good. You’ll be a daily contributor to our Daily Axioms blog and assist in developing strong word-of-mouth buzz for our guerrilla marketing adventure, the Phone Booth.

If that sounds like you, @ reply either Drew or me on Twitter and we’ll send you off to the guy who hires!

Axiom Marketing Communications is based in the Twin Cities. Only locals may apply!

What is helping Kindle succeed?

I know exactly 0 people who own a Kindle. A lot people I know probably have not even heard of it either. But it is succeeding.

A report came out last week that said Kindle is selling at a pace quicker than the first generation iPod. The rumors about Kindle 2 are spreading like wildfire today.

Why do you think Kindle is succeeding?

Here are some of the responses. Leave some more of your ideas below in the comments.

Interactivity: working for social media popularity

I’m not going to regurgitate Amber Naslund’s stellar post on creating a social media system. I blogged about my own ideas about a week ago, returning limited results by a showing of no comments. You have to wonder… what makes people on Twitter popular enough to be mentioned on Twitter’s most influential Tweeters list? It has everything to do with interactivity.

Interactivity is not a one-way streak; it’s mutual. So why does everyone think someone is going to comment on their blog when they’re not out there working for it? I’ve finally figured it out from my aggregator tool Feedburner that Daily Axioms’ highest blog traffic comes from guest commenting. It’s then that I realize my comments matter, and also when I receive e-mails from the blog authors themselves hoping I come back and visit soon.

You’re probably wondering why I’m using Twitter and blogs interchangeably. Umm… if you haven’t figured out that one leverages the other… yikes. That’s a sure-fire indicator you need to create a social media system. Twitter is used a lot for link building purposes with the help of Tiny URL or some other shortener. It makes sense that, since the space is so short itself, quick links would be a viable option.

There really is no set path to being the best at interactivity, but avoid fragmenting spaces like Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook, etc, so as to look like an expert. Let your interactivity with people on these spaces be the deciding factor of whether or not someone considers you’re worth listening to when it comes to social media consultancy. It’s #followfriday, so if you’re not following this person, you’re missing out on conceptual and hands-on understanding of interactivity.

Time to take the interactivity test
If you answer “yes” to one of the questions below, you need to create a social media system—goals for yourself that will help you thrive at interactivity:

1) Are you skim-reading blog posts and searching for something to say?

2) Are you looking desperate on Twitter by vigorously reading the first feed page and @ replying those people with “haha” or “good post!”?

3) Are you searching for the top Twitter users with more than 1,000 followers and @-kissing them (more on this term later, but you can guess what it means ;)?

4) Are you on LinkedIn joining all the social media groups and then using them to build your credibility on your profile?

5) Are you trying too hard overall, meaning are you finding the lack of “natural” in what your next move is?

I’ve answered “yes” to all of these except 3&4 because I know better now. What about you?

101 Things That Will Add Value To Your Resume

I got motivated to write the following post for two reasons: 1.) Even if you have a job, you should be keeping your eyes open for your next position as well as how you can improve your resume 2.) Looking for a job is tough work and while it can seem like you are getting nowhere, it is important to remember that there is still so much opportunity out there. I have been there. Keep heart and stay positive.

My hope for this post is to answer the following question:

What could I add to my resume that would help me get a job?

Many people go through the routine (especially when jobless) of submitting resumes and cover letters, waiting to hear about the position, and then repeating the cycle if success is not found. What if, in addition to continuing to pursue jobs, we could add more value to our portfolio of experience? It's exciting to think of all the chances that we have to improve our future. Here are 100 suggestions for things that could add value to your resume (thanks to everyone who contributed to compiling this list):


Volunteer
1. Volunteer at a local food organization.
2. Start a charity.
3. Raise $10,000 for a charity.
4. Build a house with Habitat for Humanity.
5. Walk dogs at the Humane Society.
6. Work for Meals on Wheels.
7. Organize a craft project at a nursing home.
8. Give some of your time at an elementary school as a field trip assistant or lunch room monitor.
9. Help at an after school program.
10. Volunteer for a political group.
11. Go on a volunteer vacation.
12. Volunteer to be a book reader at the public library.
13. Organize a neighborhood trash clean up project.
14. Tutor immigrant children.
15. Coach a little-league team.
16. Help out at a church youth group or youth retreat.

Skills
17. Learn Spanish.
18. Learn Chinese.
19. Learn German.
20. Learn HTML.
21. Learn CSS.
22. Learn Flash.
23. Learn inDesign.
24. Learn how to convert computer files between different formats.
25. Learn how to use Technorati.
26. Learn how to use Friendfeed.
27. Learn how to use Feedburner.
28. Become proficient at Twitter.
29. Set up a LinkedIn profile.
30. Write a helpful book.
31. Learn Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
32. Learn the ins and outs of how Google search works.
33. Learn how to use an Apple.
34. Become comfortable with RSS Feeds and RSS Readers.
35. Learn how to put together a social media press release.
36. Learn how to put together a traditional press release.
37. Take a course in accounting.
38. Master Google Analytics.
39. Understand the differences between Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, etc.
40. Get comfortable with PowerPoint.
41. Learn how to track click-throughs on links.
42. Learn how to use all the Google tools.
43. Learn how to use a picture camera - digital and film
44. Learn how to use a video camera.
45. Learn the basics of audio recording.
46. Practice communication and building relationships through email.

Relationships
47. Get a mentor in your field.
48. Attend a Social Media Club/Social Media Breakfast in your city.
49. Build a relationship with an influential blogger.
50. Sign up for HARO.
51. Seek out recommendations from the top people in your field.
52. Join a public speaking group.
53. Have one meaningful conversation with someone each week on Twitter.
54. Attend free social media seminar teleconferences.
55. Create a networking group on an online community.
56. Start a discussion forum or group in LinkedIn.
57. Join an association within your field.
58. Get involved with the alumni association of your college.
59. Find the people that are passionate, meet them, and get involved with what they are doing.
60. Practice your elevator speech about yourself.

Projects
61. Put together a movie project.
62. Get featured as a contributor on an online video series, blog, or column.
63. Build a useful and highly used Facebook application.
64. Start a blog about your passion.
65. Write a short blog post that gets the point across.
66. Write a very detailed blog post that requires a lot of research.
67. Be the first to talk about a hot topic.
68. Improve your Google search results for your name.
69. Find a creative way to show what you've done (go beyond just telling).
70. Successfully pitch a story that gets placed in your local paper.
71. Give case studies of your projects with quantifiable results.
72. Plan a large community event.
73. Freelance a writing project.
74. Start a blog about job searching.
75. Build a profitable Squidoo lens.
76. Teach a community education class.
77. Discover your niche within your field and become the expert in it.
78. Be a guest speaker in a high school class.
79. Meet with your local newspaper and give them an idea for how to make money.
80. Find something you can do in 1 hour that takes other people 2 hours. Show how you do it.

Resume Tweaks
81. Identify 2-3 areas of expertise to bullet-point on top of resume.
82. Buy www.yourname.com.
83. Be a Purple Cow.
84. Don't put these 6 words on your resume.
85. Make sure to have a professional sounding email address.
86. Take a Myers Briggs test.
87. Find a way to fit your resume all on one page.
88. Create a consistent online brand.
89. Consider a creative resume design.

Be Well Rounded
90. Read more books.
91. Learn to play guitar.
92. Take a cooking class.
93. Join a sports league.
94. Join a book club.
95. Start a club.
96. Read Mashable, Techcrunch, and other blogs daily to learn more ways to be ahead of the curve.
97. Become comfortable with talking about a subject on video.
98. Grow a garden.
99. Teach yourself a skill that doesn't relate to your field of work, but is difficult to learn.
100. Join a choir.
101. Finish a marathon.

An Idea for Facebook To Increase Revenue

I don't often think to look for Fan Pages on Facebook. I enjoy getting updates from bands I listen to (some are using the update feature very well) and displaying my support for certain brands or people, but I usually don't actively seek them out. The times I usually "become a fan" are when I notice in my mini-feed that a friend has added a band or group that I also like (maybe the mini-feed wasn't such a bad thing after all?) . A lot of my favorite bands don't have Facebook pages and if they added one, I wouldn't know about it. Here is where an idea Tim and I were talking about comes in.

Facebook should develop a tool that sends users alerts when new pages they might be interested in are created. For example - One of my interests listed is "broomball" (Not sure what broomball is? Check it out here). If a "Broomball" fan page was created, I would be interested in it, so Facebook would notify me of the page's creation ("Hey! A new fan page was created for Broomball. Check it out.").

With the way Facebook already customizes ads on your page based on your profile information, this step doesn't seem like it would be that hard to accomplish. If everyone who was interested in the "Back To The Future" movies knew there was a fan page and joined, a lot more people would be interested in clicking the fan page's ads for "Save The Clock Tower T-Shirts" thus increasing Facebook's revenue. Since people are more likely to click on ads if they are within their area of interest, this new tool would seem to encourage more click-throughs. If Facebook was able to get everyone onto fan pages they liked and clicking ads they were interested in, they could really increase their income.

What do you think?

What Lois Whitman-Hess would really like to know about the New PR Landscape

Following a post I did about the aggravation of PR flacks belonging to social networks, I received an invite on the Axiom phone booth from Ms. Lois Whitman-Hess, telling me to call her and discuss what so many PR people are doing wrong.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but because all new media is so subjective in content, anything goes online really—especially if you hide behind “anonymous.” I call those people cowards, but still we are now very much into the world of transparency, mutual self-disclosure, and the “anything goes” mentality. If somebody can do a better job of explaining this, please hit me up here and we’ll give you some blog space.

And now for the new media reality unraveled…

Read, Comment, Repeat
You’re an old-school PR practitioner if you aren’t following this routine, as part of building a relationship using new media platforms, such as blogs, Twitter, FriendFeed (that one’s pretty obvious). But don’t overdo it; don’t flood their space with comments and then soon after pitch them a product or service. Offering valuable information every now and then will engage the reporter in what you’re saying.

For example, a reporter tweets about the upcoming Grammy Awards. You then @ reply them and provide them a link to the winning Grammy Poster artist. I’m not even kidding. Though they’re a tech reporter and write about consumer electronics, address their personal inquiries or interests and the rest will follow…

Reporters will let YOU know
Has it ever occurred to you that you can call a reporter and ask them where they’re at with their stories? I thought it was rather asinine to do this, but welcome to transparency, being candid, and vulnerable. Because reporters (especially tech) are wrapping themselves up in social networks and blogs ALL THE TIME, they now speak this language via phone. Call them. Ask them if they think your product is a fit—that is, after you mention their trend target and recent article. This couldn’t be more spelled out by several chapters on media in this book.

Less is Indeed More
At the beginning of the 21st century, you might’ve noticed reporters and editors giving more long-winded responses to your pitch, and now you’re seeing them less and less in your inbox, perhaps not at all. The new form of e-mail is now based entirely around “time”; meaning the medium helps get the message across fast. Reporters don’t have the time because they're always on deadline and worrying about their position being eliminated.

Reporters don’t want to see pitches in paragraph form. They want some bullets and a snappy note sent to them as to why readers would like to hear about X,Y,Z. That’s it—press releases don’t work—even if a reporter tells you to send one. This is their P.C. way of saying, “Hit the road.” (Even if you research them and tie a pretty bow on your pitch package by mentioning their article in the subject line, it will still be dismissed.) This was pointed out to me when I had the opportunity to sit down with a Time Magazine reporter in New York prior to attending next day’s Digital PR 2.0 Summit. Even the e-mails she gets from her PR friends that go past one page are deleted, regardless of effectively addressing her coverage area. Consider this: if you were full and wanted to fit in some dessert, would you go for the plate with the smallest, indulgent pie slice? You would if you don’t want an overwhelming stomach ache.

The Opportunity to “Explode” Your Client’s Brand
Though this is a very overused term part of the PR industry, “strategic” is a wise move. Thanks to social networks, you now have all-out access to understanding how influential a reporter’s blog is, i.e. through trackbacking, linkbuilding, retweets. Though reporters don’t have time, PR people need to have LOTS of time. If you can identify the reporter’s sphere of influence, you’re golden. If you can’t, you’re another cashew in the can. Be like pistachio.

For example, if you know that a reporter’s blog is highly trafficked and that they’re known to tweet their blog entries, you can garner the attention of not only the blogger’s visitors and subscribers, but the many Twitter followers as well. Don’t be surprised that these numbers can amount to more than that print newspaper you’re going after in Los Angeles.

Selling your pitch to a reporter will take time, but start learning their habits on the various social media platforms, and you can see where to position your discussion with them. You’ll be way ahead of the rest and you no longer have that “flack” label.

Apologies are accepted
As you may or may not know, Lois received a lot of flack for what she says was an inaccurate display of client representation. Apparently, she doesn’t even work for the company mentioned. Navigating the new media, people are bound to make mistakes, but a reporter welcomes an apology. I appreciated my conversation with Lois and commend her for stepping forward and saying she just doesn’t get it, why it’s not okay to send out product releases to the entire CES registered attendees list, and why people can step forward and blog without consulting the source of criticism.

Lois, welcome to social media.

Biggest Superbowl Commercial Flop?

Biggest Superbowl Commercial Flop?
	SoBe Life Water 3D
	Budweiser Clydesdales
	Troy Polamalu Mean Joe Greene Coke
	Miller High Life One-Second Spots
	GoDaddy.com
	Frosted Flakes Plant A Seed
	Other (Leave Comment)
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An interesting trend with Superbowl commercials this year was that there were advertisements for the advertisements ("Get your 3D Glasses for this years' SoBe commercial!" or "Miller running 1-second ads! Keep your eyes open.") . Even with extra hype surrounding some of these ad campaigns this year, many fell flat. Please leave your comments on which commercials you think flopped the most.

Why social networks aren’t for PR Flacks

HARO has helped thousands upon thousands of reporters push their need for content via social network. It even helped me receive some ink for Axiom, per Julio Ojeda-Zapata’s last-minute “Twitter bad for business” request. Still, in the midst of agencies’ desperation for hits to keep client retention high, PR people get a little desperate – resulting in more flacks than friends online.

While Shankman does a really good job of disclaiming proper HARO etiquette here, discussions about PR spam on social networks continue. We’re now seeing posts about proper Twittiquette, a story angle most likely perpetuated by mishaps like these. Despite the attempts to curtail the flacks, peeps like Lois Whitman-Hess are among the many that have or are in the midst of infiltrating social networks. Reporters, journalists, and sound PR peeps-- time to put on your hard hats and dig hard.

If I were a reporter, I don’t think I would appreciate the many social media enthusiasts’ attention to detail in documenting myself and the many other media now part of Twitter. If you think pitching is bad on e-mail, wait for it—just wait for it on Twitter. Sure, you can choose to respond, but the quick update feed might send your head spinning.

A marketer like me, Jim Connolly is a perfect example of how pitches on a Twitter feed can be so daunting—enough to send you packing for FriendFeed. Suddenly e-mail seems tolerable again.

Don’t undermine flacks. They understand that the key to a reporter’s heart, in addition to successfully helping them out with a story deadline, is knowing their kids’ names and favorite pastimes, commenting on their latest family adventure with Garmin, or explaining to them what #followfriday is on Twitter. Following the “thanks” or the @ reply, the leftfield pitches and follow-ups soon commence, as proper correspondence does not lie within flacks’ vocabulary. Plus, being human is even more insanely hard. Flacks are anything but human, so it’s a wonder why transparency is so time-consuming. I repeat; it’s not in their make-up, but well within Facebooker and blogger confines.

So...the next time a blogger reprimands you for not properly using Twitter, or Peter Shankman sends out a mass HARO alert with another etiquette disclaimer at the tip top of his e-mail, take it very personal. The last thing you want attached to your e-mail pitch is “flack” and BULLSH…

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So what do you think? How can PR professionals befriend reporters on HARO and other social networks? How have you been successful in your approach?