Social Media: The New Black

2012-06-25T18:26:00.000-04:00

PSA: Stop VVS.

A very important PSA in this day and age.

This video didn't hav to look this way. It could have been prevented.

Facebook Really Wants You To Use Facebook Email

2012-06-25T13:30:00.002-04:00

Facebook just sent another platform-wide reminder to users that they own them.

This time, Facebook has arbitrarily changed everyone's email listed in the About section of your Timeline, to that @facebook.com address they're been encouraging people to use for ages.

Gizmodo explains the switcheroo and details how you can remove this email address from your profile.

2011-08-21T00:37:00.007-04:00

A few weeks ago my friend Liz Henry posed a question on twitter questioning the trend of "personal branding." I responded with my opinion and later a link to a blog post Geoff Livingston filed ages ago; Liz included both in her blog post on the topic.

I finally had a chance to read her post and reader's comments and they prodded me to share more of my thinking on the topic than 140 characters provides.

By and large, I don't believe in personal branding. And I think that professionals who believe in personal branding are a detriment to the companies and brands with which they partner or service.

Allow me to explain.

If a business person, free agent, or corporate employee is branding themselves, that means they're competing with your Brand. Think about how much time is required to market something. If that person is working for you, they could have spent that time working on your business. How many opportunities for your business did they miss as they shilled themselves?

Liz's post examined the question for mom bloggers. I'd argue that a blog isn't always a personal brand. A blog is a product and potentially a revenue stream, just like other media companies such as the NY Times or AOL. Marketing a blog isn't personal branding. The blog may be personal in nature and content, but it's not necessarily a personal brand. It's just a brand. And a product that you make. And yes, you should market it.

The person behind the blog, the writer or reporter, is not the product. And if you spend your time building up that person as the product, you're putting your Brand and business at risk. Remember what happened to Wendy's marketing when Dave died? KFC and the Colonel? Have you noticed that Johnson baby products fall under a different "brand name" than other J&J products like Tylenol or Neutrogena? A benefit to that strategy is that the revered Baby brand remains isolated and therefore (hopefully) untainted, should anything happen to the company's other products.

A blogger can be a personality. And yes, you can pair and market a personality with a brand - to support the brand, to help shape the brand voice. Think William Shatner for Priceline. Suzanne Sommers for Thighmaster. Martha Stewart for Martha Stewart Living, Martha Stewart cookbooks, or Martha Stewart bedding. Gary Vaynerchuk for Wine Library.

The exception to the rule, are the handful of household names (often entertainers) who rise above their product to become a personal brand. This elite group includes names such as: Madonna, Cher, Oprah, and Britney. However, even these people started selling a product, creating a personality and then transcended to become the product.

My advice? Make something. Sell that. But never sell yourself.

2011-02-22T11:21:00.004-05:00

I drafted this post in February, meaning to come back and make it more robust, but let's face it, I've been swamped.
~*~
A few things that have caught my eye recently:

Task Ave: This app adds location element to your to do list. So if you need to pick up dry cleaning, the app will push out a reminder when you're nearby.

UnSocial: Connect via your LinkedIn profile, tag yourself, and this app will connect you to business people in your proximity that you'd like to meet.

Intersect: I love storytelling, so this is right up my alley. You enter a location and can post a pic from their and/or tell a story related to that exact location in the world.

2011-02-04T20:01:00.006-05:00

Looking Ahead: User Shared Content

My latest thinking on social is related to the evolution of how we're using it. A few years ago, social media was what some now call "static social". It was text based, updating blogs and wiki's and posting in forums.

Then we moved into the UGC phase, where people discovered the ease of creating and publishing their own content. Regular people and their cats became internet sensations. We loved it.

Today and moving forward, I think social is going to be about USC, or User Shared Content. More and more people are exposed to mass and niche sources for news and entertainment. People are spending so much time socializing and discovering news/information on the web, they don't have time to "create content" anymore and honestly, most would rather read or look at someone else's.

Instead, they can share it. And they can entertain friends and family and their new global social graph, by sharing links/pix/vids with a wider group of friends than ever before, who can like it and comment on it and share it some more.

USC a great opportunity for creatives and ad agencies, whom have the ability and resources to make some kickass content that is irresistibly shareable.

2010-10-03T23:05:00.004-04:00

A letter to CMO's, Brand Managers and in-house Marketers

Hi there:

More and more I hear from brands who've been disappointed by the work (or lack thereof) of a social media specialist. Some of these complaints are about well-known names in social media and practitioners backed by credible organizations like WOMMA, PRSA, and the AMA. With so-called "earned media" there are always going to be successes and failures, there are no guarantees here, but there are ways for brands to better vet who they work with in this field.

A Social Media search checklist:

Define your needs. Do you need a high-level strategist, creative, an educator on the tools, or a day-to-day team in the trenches with you? If you don't know what you need, survey your team or discuss your business goals during the RFP/vetting process and ask for input on a recommended scope of work.
Ask trusted sources for recommended SM specialists.
Find an example of a successful social media campaign that wowed you. Research who executed that and how. Share that example with your candidates so they better understand your idea of success.
Research the SM agency or individual. Check out their pages/accounts/blogs. Find out who they are. Look into their experience in the field.
Ask for case studies. While social media is still young, a lot of great work/campaigns have been done. Ask them what they've done. The proof is in the pudding. Even if they are providing high level strategy, I firmly believe they should have current work under their belt. How can you make a solid recommendation on approach, if you're not actively out there, working and accountable for the success of your ideas?
Ask direct questions about their work/role in their case studies. What was this person's contribution to the work? Who else contributed and how?
Ask for client references. Connect with their clients and seek feedback on the project or campaign.
Agree upon quantifiable program goals.
State clear timing expectations.
Be nimble. If an agreed upon approach isn't working, challenge your SM partner to develop a new approach. One of the best things about SM is that it IS a changing landscape and you can switch gears and try new things without a huge spend set in stone.

Good luck out there.

2010-08-08T20:44:00.008-04:00

Just back from Blogher '10. Here are my observations:

The team at Blogher does an excellent job pulling off a tricky event. Part professional conference, part reunion, part trade show, part retreat, this event is onion-like in layers. It's not easy to produce something that is so many things to so many people. Kudos to the team for tackling this challenge.
I will always love Blogher, if just for the fact this is my Ms. Magazine. I'm young enough to have benefited from the doors opened by the women's movement decades ago, and I'm old enough to have seen the glass ceiling firsthand. Blogher is powerful evidence that Madison Avenue and the C-suite now understand the buying power and purchasing decisions of the WOMAN of the house. That's huge. Blogher is evidence that woman have a seat at the proverbial table, rather than serving it. The awe of having "arrived" always hits me at Blogher.
The community checked itself before it wrecked itself. Last year was gross. Egregiously gross. And some of the blame goes to brands for acting like desperate boyfriends and getting into bed with anyone who had a URL and some the blame lays with community members who fell victim to the gold rush and embraced swag like guest stars on "Hoarders." Hey, it happens. But you know what Blogher's? You nipped that in the bud. Post-conference, you policed yourselves by talking about it on your blogs, acknowledging it and being accountable. This year was a completely different show. Well done.
More than any other year (I attended my first Blogher event in 2005), you felt like a community this year. Last year I felt this, and it was exciting but still new. It was like Freshman coming back to college after Christmas break. This year, it was like college sophomores coming back for Fall semester. You knew each other better - online and IRL, and there was a comfortable and familiar feeling as you ran into each other, hung out and caught up.
PR people. Good lord. I haven't seen that many PR people in one place since CES. Maybe b/c it was in NYC and so many agencies are there, or maybe it's because Blogher now has a seat at the proverbial table, but PR people were everywhere. Don't get me wrong, I looooooved seeing so many old friends, it just surprised me.

Now, here's where I think Blogher can improve:

Session programming needs some work. I attend this show as a blogger, albeit a lazy one, since I rarely dust off this antique (or the 3 other robust blogs I authored under nom de plumes from 1998-2006). I found very few sessions that interested me. Maybe they were poorly titled, I don't know.
Sessions need moderation. While I recognize the "community" and "sharing" aspect of Blogher, some rules need apply to panels. For example, this is not an opportunity for the audience to do improv/stand up, nor is it group therapy. I'm sure 5 of you will argue the latter (e.g. -"But we're bloggers, blogging is my therapy!") - go ahead and take it to my comments. This is a panel. The people on the panel have been chosen because a) they have stories to tell b) they have more experience than you c) you can learn from them d) they are accomplished e) people want to hear them speak and f) they are more important than you. Therefore, when you get the mic, please ask a question. I'm not here to hear your backstory and I don't need you to provide me with your backstory for the question...Just. Ask. Your. Question. Really. And Moderators, you should be on this. You should be setting the ground rules prior to Q&A and gently reminding audience members when they start to riff. Blogher organizers may disagree with me, but without good moderation, the audience is cheated from maximum interaction and learning.
Improve the sponsor experience. Since I knew so many people working booths, I heard lots of feedback. The Blogher team has a ripe opportunity to improve the sponsor experience and like every other company providing a service, they need to listen to their funders/investors/customers/partners and improve service. Blogher charges big money to sponsors for this conference - and rightly so. It's a valuable community to support, and Blogher does a great job integrating sponsors cross channel both virtually and on-site. However, there needs to be some attention to detail in regard to sponsors, after all, they're helping to fund this conference and the community. Why not offer them some good-old fashioned hospitality? Why not provide a few meal tickets to sponsors with booths? How about a small behind-the-scenes sponsor area for them to regroup, get coffee, tea or water? That suite or area could have a flat screen running a live tweet stream of all of the tagged #blogher and #blogher10 tweets so they can see the social interaction and social impact of the event in real time. And how about a bag for the sponsors - even if it isn't the coveted attendee bag (although 1-per booth would be nice) - Blogher could offer their own swag to sponsors (great opportunity for you to market yourselves to your valued partners!).
Sponsors: Be cool. This is a consumer event, even though it feels like a trade show. Educating me on your product or service is cool, I get it, that's why you're here. Overwhelming me when I stop in your booth with a camera crew and amped up host with a microphone to capture my reaction, not providing me with a release to sign nor asking to tape me, is bush league. C'mon son.

Net net, I'm thankful that Blogher hosts this event each year, it's no small feat and is a great service to the community. This year, it re-energized my interest in blogging, gave me face time with people I enjoy who live far away, and exposed me to some fascinating new people I will keep up with virtually.

2010-04-13T12:16:00.004-04:00

Promoted Tweets

Everyone's talking about Twitter's new revenue model called Promoted Tweets. What is it? In plain english, Promoted Tweets are just paid search. A brand buys some keywords from twitter, when the user searches for said keyword in twitter's search function, the paid search Brand tweets will rise to the top of the search queue and populate first, over the community's conversation that may incorporate the same keywords.

Someone like Justin Bieber probably won't need Promoted Tweets. However, this could have been very handy for Motrin, back in the day when the Motrin Moms debacle erupted. Or for Southwest Air when Kevin Smith shook up the tweetstream with his outrage. In instances like that, when thousands of people are chiming in and creating a tweetstorm, Promoted Tweets would help a Brand elevate their POV to high ground rather than drown in the tweet tsunami.

Am I wowed by Promoted Tweets? Not so much. Not yet, anyway. I've got my eye on the next gen of Promoted Tweets, that's gonna be the game changer.

The next gen of this model will change how tweets appear in your personal tweet stream. I have a feeling that's going to rock a lot of boats, which is why that's the next gen feature. Twitter is going to have to do a lot of testing before they roll that out. It sounds pretty invasive and in fact, may be outright disruptive.

According to the NY Times, "In the next phase of Twitter’s revenue plan, it will show promoted posts in a user’s Twitter stream, even if a user did not perform a search and does not follow the advertiser...For example, if someone has been following people who write about travel, they could see a promoted post from Virgin America on holiday fare discounts."

That's going to be tricky for Twitter to implement. Twitter users tend to be finicky curators of their "streams." A lot of people I know approach their tweet stream like a Bonsai project, ever so carefully pruning and cultivating to ensure they don't have spammers in there or people who are "too noisy" or too focused on a specific topic they aren't interested in or if they're like me, cultivating a stream that is the almost-perfect balance of lifestreamers who happen to work in fields related to mine or live in the Philly-area. Tweet streams are serious business for much of this dedicated community, so effecting the individual's curation of it may be a landmine for twitter.

That said, as an advertiser, if I could join a conversation about a topic related to my field or product and share information related to it, that does sound mighty appealing. For me, it's really going to boil down to the integration of the second generation of this product. Am I butting into someone's stream, or am I a blade of grass gently shooting up alongside the stream? Can't wait for the little blue bird to let us know.

2010-03-24T10:24:00.004-04:00

ShePosts.com: Part Gawker, Part Mashable and all Mommy Blogosphere.

Today, at noon EST, ShePosts.com will launch. This online news destination will comprehensively cover "what’s happening in the Mommy Blogging world – from paid PR campaigns to drama with the New York Times. We’re embedded in the mom blogosphere and will share the scoop on the latest posts and events shaping the community. "

Founder Esther Crawford says that the site will include:

Comprehensive coverage of major brand-blogger relationships
Maintain a list of all current brand ambassador programs
Create a ‘brand event’ list which shows who has attended private events hosted by major brands
A complete calendar and map of related conferences, workshops and Twitter parties
Coverage and follow-up of all popular conferences such as Blissdom, Mom 2.0 and BlogHer

Other things to note:

On average, we’ll have 4-6 posts a day tracking the latest news + gossip covering the Mom Blogger community
We’ll feature interviews with well-known mommy bloggers and providing their take on current events as well as hot-button issues such as monetization, privacy concerns, brand evangelism, and the future of the mommy blogging space. And we won’t be lobbing softballs in our interviews.

Last night, Esther was kind enough to answer a few light-hearted questions for me about the site.

What do you want ShePosts.com to be when it grows up?
As ShePosts grows up it'll include a lot more people - there are already a few well-known and loved women from the mom blogging community who are going to be joining the ranks as contributors in the coming weeks.

A lot of sites answer the easy questions like "What happened?", but ShePosts is also going to be a place to find out why it happened.

It'll be journalistic, but with a splash of gossip and irreverent snark thrown in because c'mon - this is the internet and we're living in the age of The Gosselins.

You’ve told us a little bit about what ShePosts.com is. Can you tell us what it isn’t?
ShePosts is not another community site singing "kum ba yah". Disagreements and drama are part of business, as is demonstrated on industry sites like TechCrunch and Mashable each day.

And let's be clear - mom blogging has become a business, which happens to be incredibly lucrative for a select few.

Think about this: major brands routinely fly out a dozen or more mom bloggers to get wined & dined in exchange for a few tweets and links.

While we'll be the first to congratulate folks who get it right, we're not afraid to get our hands dirty while reporting the news - which means calling companies or individuals out when they're involved in shady business.

At the end of the day we believe that accountability & recognition raises the bar, which is good for everyone.

If ShePosts were a cookie (no, silly, not the website tracking kind. The eating kind!), what kind of cookie would it be?
We aim to make ShePosts like Girl Scout thin mints, which are so addictive that you can't help going back for more.

If ShePosts were a Pandora station, what would play?
It'd play strong women who are deep yet know how to rock it. In other words, we'd have Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" on repeat.

2010-03-14T00:57:00.011-05:00

The Heckenbergerization of Foursquare

Well, you knew it was coming. I've done my fair share of bitching about how I think some people I know on Foursquare are doing it wrong (*wink*). And before anyone freaks out, this blog post isn't about suggesting "rules" for Foursquare because no one but the platform (or the law) can mandate how you use social media. This post is about the Heckenbergerization of Foursquare: how I use Foursquare and how I'd love to see Foursquare used by more people.

Background
Foursquare is the 1-year old child born from mobile social networking platform Dodgeball, which my friends and I used religiously starting in 2004. Among my friends in NYC, Dodgeball was our way of life.

When you're young and in NYC, you're generally out every night (your apt is too small to spend much time in it), covering multiple neighborhoods and meeting up with multiple groups of people. At first, Dodgeball was just a great way to mass text friends as you traveled from bar to bar. Dodgeball sent an sms (if they choose to receive sms) to your friends when you checked in, telling them the name of venue & the address and phone number. Super convenient. Genius at the time. (Remember, no twitter & no iphones in 2004)

Soon, Dodgeball started featuring users with the most check-in's on its' website, and that became a status symbol among core users. Later, Dodgeball added a "crush" feature. You could check out the other users on the site, mark someone you thought was cute, and if you ended up in the same bar, you'd be notified of your crush. Until then, all you knew was that someone had a crush and let me tell you - it was compelling. You were dying to know who.

Whoa. Holy tangents. Stop.

Long story short, Google bought Dodgeball, Google dicked Dodgeball, creator Dennis Crowley walked from Google and partnered with Naveen, they built Foursquare, a geo-location based mobile social network inspired by Dodgeball.

Today
And here we are. The basic premise of Foursquare remains the same as Dodgeball - it's a simple mobile way to check-in and let your social circle know where they can meet up with you when you're out socially. On the functional side, it prevents cumbersome mass calls/texts to friends as you dine and/or bar hop. It's also a way to see where your friends are without calling around or texting, if you're looking for something to do.

Bells and Whistles
However, there are Mayor, badges and points systems for the obvious reasons: incentives for people to come back/increase frequency of use and create a B2B revenue model. Obviously, venues want more check-ins from users - that provides viral value (user's check-in and their friends see the venue/tips) and it identifies loyal customers (repeat customers can win Mayorships at the venue, which smart venues reward with a freebie or special).

Heckenbergerization
I check-in to Foursquare when I'm out socially. If I check in at a venue, it's cool for my friends to meet up with me. If I see a friend checked-in'd in on Foursquare, I may stop in and hang with them.

I don't check-in at work. Work is work. I'm busy there. I just don't have time to invite friends to stop by - unless we're hosting a social event. If you're checking in at work, consider this: Foursquare is google searchable. If your boss has google alerts set for the business, your Foursquare check-in's are like punching a clock. Just remembering to check-in at lunchtime? Mmmm. Might not look so good.

I don't check in at home. I'm rarely inviting people over to my place. Mi casa es no su casa. My apt is not a public venue. Sorry.

That's it. Not so complicated. Hope you find Foursquare as fun and functional as I do.

2010-02-08T17:27:00.003-05:00

Oh look. What do we have here? In exploring Facebook's redesign, I spied a new tab under "Account," called "Credits Balance." When you click on it, it opens this:

So here we can guess that soon you'll be paying for all of that virtual clutter people are sending (That's YOU, farmers) and those endless games of free Bejeweled could be coming to an end. But bigger news, if my theory is true, is that Facebook has finally found themselves a micro-purchasing revenue model (which includes buying social ads and likely more to come) and quietly rolled it out buried in a redesign.

Congratulations, Facebook. You just may be all growz up. Your parents, also known as investors, will be so proud. And rich.

2010-01-25T10:20:00.007-05:00

Great little story on rainy Monday morning to share with you. This one is about the real power of social media: connecting with an expanded social graph or social network to make good things happen.

One of our Creative Directors here at Red Tettemer has been collecting clothes to send with his sister and brother-in-law as they go to Haiti with Partners in Health to help in a few weeks. They are partnering with the organization Angel Flights with to transport the donations to Haiti and last week, found out that Angel Flights would only be able to transport the goods to The Dominican - this couple would have to find a way to move the donations from there to Haiti.

Over the weekend, my colleague's wife said, "I'm going to post on Facebook and see if anyone has any ideas of how to get these donations to Haiti." They figured it was a long shot, but why not try?

A short time later they had a Facebook message from a an old classmate in California, A. She has a good friend, D. (also in California), who has family in Port-au-Prince. His brother has a friend named R., who has his own plane in Ft. Lauderdale. R. is commissioned to take people and supplies on a regular basis to and from Haiti. Once hearing their story, he said if they could get the donations down to Ft. Lauderdale, he'd load them on his next flight and fly them to Haiti, gratis.

So Angel Flights is transporting the supplies to Ft. Lauderdale, and then R. will fly all of the supplies ( well over $100,000 worth ) to Haiti. Sometime next week, some of those strangers we watch on the news may be wearing some familiar looking clean clothes.

That's social good.

2010-01-06T16:15:00.001-05:00

RUMOR!

AOL just bought social media industry blog Mashable.

Anyone have confirmation on this? What are the terms of the deal? Do tell.

2009-11-14T21:49:00.005-05:00

If you follow me on twitter, you know a lot about me. You know I have a sense of humor, you know I love the Phillies, you know I love my job, you see campaigns I am working on for clients, and you know my dad's been battling cancer.

There are things I don't share on twitter and keep to myself, but for the most part, I like to keep my social media...social. I try to only follow people who do the same. We don't do business with a company, we do business with people who work for the company, don't we? I buy from and tune in to people I know and like. I think many people do that. Isn't that what word-of-mouth is all about?

Social media isn't the cure for the cancer that is killing big pieces of traditional media. It also isn't the enigma that so many people may think it is. Social media, is just another media channel. A few years ago, my colleagues and I at Red Tettemer illustrated what that channel looks like:

And yes, this channel works a little differently, so did TV when it was introduced.

It's going to be ok.

More than 3 years ago, my friend Chris Heuer shared something the CEO of iProspect said, which I've never forgotten: "The Brand with the best storytellers wins." I love that. That, is the secret to social media - not much of a secret; it's something that advertising and PR have known for years.

The opportunity with social media, for creative advertising agencies, is enormous. No longer is creative chained to :15 or :30 or :60. We aren't limited by 1/4 page or 1/2 page or double trucks. We can create content and tell our stories to massive global audiences and immediately hear back from them, what they think. It's like being in everyone's living room when a tv spot airs - exciting and scary, isn't it? We can launch unfinished content, and let the customer tell us how they want it to end. We can engage our audience and give them option to buy DIRECTLY FROM OUR CREATIVE WITHOUT EVER LEAVING THEIR COUCH. That may make some advertising execs shiver, it gives me goosebumps from excitement.

I see a shift happening within the social media channel. Initially, PR seemed to dominate integration of this channel in their work, naturally, because it connected them quickly and widely with global audiences - press and consumers alike. The channel didn't have that many features and that was ok for PR because they just wanted to tell their stories.

Today and in the future, the channel has bells and whistles. And while PR will continue to work in the channel, telling stories, advertising creatives have the opportunity to stretch the functionality of the channel, create new features with their partners in interactive, and tell the stories with mind blowing creative showcasing new products and services like we've never experienced before.

You want the secret to making social media work for a brand? It's all about integration. A holistic approach to social media in your overall marketing plan, great storytellers and oh...creative that gives you goosebumps.

2009-08-18T16:53:00.004-04:00

It must be an exciting time to be in college or working in secondary education, because the interactive and social web is just exploding. Here's something cool from MIT.

I put my name in it and here's what my online persona looked like.

Simple. Novel. Entertaining. Clean design. B+

2009-07-31T19:13:00.003-04:00

Let's talk about Blogher '09.

First, congratulations and thank you to Lisa, Elisa, Jory and their dedicated team for creating and hosting an event that means a great deal to a growing community of people. From location to sessions to ticketing to sponsors, producing a multi-day event for 1500+ people is an enormous task and I thank them for doing it.

By now, many bloggers have posted their opinions on the swag (yeah, it was pretty crazy), event-related dramas (nikon as the new motrin), and the black hole called wifi at the venue. I'll skip all that.

I'd rather share my observations of the community/event from the business side of the blogosphere.

As you probably know if you're reading this, I lead the social media and PR practices for creative ad agency Red Tettemer. I started specializing in social media in 2005, when I worked for a consumer PR agency in NYC and transitioned from my previous career focus on traditional media. Prior to that, I blogged privately from 1998 on (unrelated to my job as a PR person at the same time).

I frequently work with a wide variety of bloggers on behalf of clients, although that's just a small part of what I do.

When I started working with bloggers, I mostly represented tech clients and the bloggers I worked with were primarily, ex-journalists who left traditional media to blog. Working with them wasn't much different from working with traditional media. The same level of professionalism applied, and they understood common industry things like NDA's (non-disclosure agreements), product loans/review units (common practices to garner coverage), embargoes (agreed upon future date that the journalist will publish confidential information, usually in exchange for exclusivity on the announcement), advances (confidential pre-launch information provided to a journalist to prepare to publish a story on an agreed upon date, which is not necessarily exclusive but shared with limited non-competitive media outlets at the same time), press events, deskside briefings, etc.

What was a wake up call for me at Blogher, is the enormous number of attending citizen journalists who had no knowledge of journalism fundamentals. I wasn't the only one surprised at this observation, a journalist assigned to cover the event ended up standing up and commenting during Geekmommy's session, schooling the much of the audience on these fundamentals (sharing basics like: review units are a common practice, you have to receive them to review the product, don't feel badly about "accepting" free product).

Now, one could argue that the attendees weren't citizen journalists but rather hobbyists. In my opinion, in this economy, if you're paying $200 for a conference pass, plus airfare, and $200 a night for a hotel room for 3 nights, this probably is more than a hobby. For that kind of spend, if it's not a business now, you want it to be.

So here's my advice for the new and inexperienced:

Take a journalism course. Seriously. At your local community college, attend a lecture, read some books. There are best practices, ethics and guidelines. See how they can adapt to your blog if you are reporting on things/people. There are also legal guidelines to be aware of in reporting.
Present yourself as a professional. If you're seeking to generate revenue from your blog, then it's your business. You are your own product. Speak like an adult and with confidence, so that I can believe in your product and walk away feeling I NEED to work with you.
Don't make noise, make a good impression. I can't tell you how many bloggers wasted money on print materials (postcards, flyers, etc) promoting their blog, that they scattered around the venue on tables and chairs like a college band playing a local bar. They generated meaningless leave behinds that just added waste. The real winners were the people who participated, contributed to conversation and connected with the rest of the attendees.

My last observation is for both marketers and bloggers. There were many attending bloggers who were "sponsored" by a brand (meaning the brand covered their travel and/or expenses) or acting as brand ambassadors for a brand. Unfortunately, in many cases, neither the brand nor the blogger were experienced in this tactic, leaving many of us bewildered by friends or new acquaintances shoving brochures or products into our overloaded bags with little to no explanation on what they were, what we were supposed to do with them and why.

I've been fortunate enough to work mainly with Fortune 500 brands throughout my almost 15-year career in marketing, so this next observation completely baffled me. I've always briefed/educated a brand ambassador on our brand or product in advance of an event and had a laid out plan that provided meaning as well as metric for measurement, which was agreed upon by the brand and the ambassador. At the end of the event we both analyzed results and benefit to the brand.

I have no idea how a brand ambassador shoving a postcard or soap sample into my laptop bag intended to deliver a measured ROI (return on investment).

If I were a brand manager that would be the first or second thing I'd be thinking about when fleshing out a sponsored blogger approach.

Additionally, if I were a blogger interested in a long-term partnership with a brand or company, I'd be asking myself what value I could bring to the brand as an ambassador, and how that could be measured as a success to secure an ongoing business relationship/revenue stream with them. Being able to track, measure and prove success is not only the way to advance your own brand, but also something critical for bloggers to do & own during a time of corporate america layoffs and revolving executives. In short, if your marketing contact moves, you need to be able to show the new executive how you moved the needle for the brand in the past, so that you can continue to do so in the future.

Questions? Hit up my comments.

And Good luck!

2009-07-16T22:06:00.002-04:00

It's important to know what you dislike and why.

Today My friend Cecily pointed me to a heated blogosphere discussion about a proposed week-long PR Blackout among mom bloggers.

Initially I guessed this proposed boycott was less of a "PR industry" boycott and more of a stand against consumerism. I can relate to desire to step away from consumerism. I'm not some pitchwoman who thinks everyone should buy, buy, buy.

However, after reading momdot's post, I see that's not the case. She feels that moms have many demands and blogging, initially adopted as a relief outlet, has become another demand in her life because PR people want to connect with her and get her feedback via blog posts/reviews.

Momdot also seems to want to read content by other bloggers that is solely passion driven and not influenced by any brands or paid partnerships.

I can relate to that. Heck, sometimes I even feel the same way.

What I disagree with, is the approach. Boycott, is a strong word and action. I tend to reserve a boycott for someone or something who has committed a heinous grievance against me or my moral code. I don't think a boycott is the answer to the problem of feeling overwhelmed or the way to shape content to be styled the way one person or group wants it styled. In fact, a boycott like this, is very close to a PR campaign of momdot's very own design. Touche, lady! ;)

Here are some alternative suggestions for momdot and the likeminded to find peace of mind:

Create a badge or graphic and place it in your blog sidebar clearly stating "No PR Pitches"
If you chose to accept PR pitches at another time, set up an email account just to receive those pitches. Clearly publish that email as "For PR contacts" in your "Contact" and "About" sections. This way, you can choose when to connect with PR people and when not to.
Find new blogs to read that are solely "passion" blogs. There are plenty out there. For more "journal" type blogs, try LiveJournal.
Take a break from blogging. Step back. Don't let the pressures of writing and having an audience overwhelm you. It's ok to take a break. This is your thing.
You should enjoy it.

Should be interesting to follow this topic at Blogher next week!

2009-07-10T19:34:00.005-04:00

Why I'm blogging again. (Part 2)

I decided to start blogging again because I was tired of listening to people tweet complaints about PR people. On twitter and marketing blogs, it's almost become a meme to bash PR people. Hating on PR, is the new black.

The gripes about PR people range from: bad pitches ("they pitched my blog and they've clearly never read it!"), to inauthenticity in the field or *as* a field (my friend Beth Harte struck a chord on the latter), to my own complaint of SM PR folks doing nothing but shilling on twitter.

Let's talk about PR and shilling.

First, let me disclose PR has been my career. I worked for NYC PR agencies for 11 years, on both the account side and media. The majority of my experience was spent in Media, where I focused on national broadcast and print. Because I worked in Media, I was responsible for generating or shaping the creative/programs that we sold into clients because my department was also setting the media goals and at the end of the program, we were accountable for those goals.

In 2005, I transitioned from VP Media to VP of Emerging Media at Marina Maher Communications (where I spent 8.5 great years), established and led a new department offering all agency clients "new media" services. I still generated creative, set media goals, and led execution but my focus was in new or social media.

In 2006, I moved in-house to a marketing organization to set up shop & lead social media there. Same responsibilities. In 2007, I joined creative indie ad agency, Red Tettemer, to again, set up shop & lead social media. Eventually, I assumed the responsibilities for our in-house PR practice as well. It was a natural addition to my SM job - SM platforms either support or are part of the PR approach and I had a decade plus experience in traditional PR.

I've always worked in consumer product PR, now consumer product advertising, so I'm speaking to those types of clients, not B2B or IR. I've also been always been at creative shops with household name clients, so I've been lucky enough to work with Brand teams consisting of the best marketers in the world (Hi P&G, Amazon.com, Coca-Cola, and J&J - all former clients) with decent budgets to move the needle.

That said, many of the basic PR tactics that SM people complain about today (bad press releases, mass pitches w/o research, outdated press lists) weren't part of our scope of work.

In my world of PR, we learned a client's business, did research/reviewed all the other marketing materials (packaging, R&D, advertising (creative & media plan), promotion, product launch timing), established PR objectives tied to reaching the BUSINESS goals of our clients, developed strategies that would help us reach our objectives/goals, spent time developing hot creative achievable within budget, soft sounded those creative ideas with media "friends" to ensure they were bookable or "mediable" (e.g. - would be something they'd cover) and developed achievable/measurable goals. After the client and sometimes other agencies aligned with our ideas and approach, THEN we did the work.

My approach never included: "draft press release," "develop press list," "pitch bloggers," "byline articles,"etc. Those things are PR basics. They're nuts and bolts. Most of them are ways of the old world. That's not PR in my world. Those are support tactics to help you complete the PR program; teeny tiny pieces that make up the bigger picture. The PR part for me, was always the IDEA. The "happening". The "thing" we created that told the story for the Brand, that provided value for the consumer, that interested media enough to cover it, that got people excited enough to talk about it and be proud to be a supporter or excited enough to be a new customer.

It saddens me that many people are perceiving PR as this DIY profession requiring no skills. In part, it's a Catch 22. One of the reasons PR is so valuable to a company, service or product is because it's relatively low cost in comparison to advertising or promotion/special events. Also, PR's low operational cost is appealing to untrained/inexperienced people who see it as an easy field to break into and make money as a consultant. Because there is little to no cost of entry, and little to no accreditation required, any Tom, Dick or Mary can jump in and call themselves a PR person, much like SM.

Those people, are doing a disservice a to PR as a whole. The people who segue to PR from other professions or having had no profession, are abusing the trust and investment of clients seeking prudent PR counsel.

To truly learn and understand the world of PR, I believe you must work at a reputable PR agency at least once. Why an agency vs. an in-house marketing department? Because at an agency, they live and breathe PR. A corp marketer's time is spent divided among the marketing disciplines (PR, Adv, Promotion) and usually, they are managing the agencies/people who are in the trenches doing the executions. There is a lot of practical experience you earn at an agency that you just won't learn in-house because the agency shields the client from the minutiae - that's part of the agency's job. Also, b/c a PR agency is focused ONLY on PR and not stretched like an in-house marketer covering all marketing disciplines for the Brand, you get a deeper dive into the practice and techniques. Last, at an agency you have the opportunity to work with other professionals of all levels of experience in this specific field. Those professionals are usually very smart because let me tell you, the PR agency world is lean and mean. If you're not producing, the agency cannot and will not carry your dead weight. It's do or die.

I urge people interested in getting into PR, regardless of their age, to intern or work at a reputable PR agency. To research reputable PR agencies, try: PRSA, PR Week or The Holmes Report to name a few.

And if you have questions about PR or getting into the biz, lmk.

2009-07-10T12:24:00.000-04:00

Earlier this week I was feisty and decided to name the SM tactic du jour: giving away random coveted electronics product via a Branded hashtag contest on Twitter.

Now, let's clear the air before you dismiss this entry as one of my anti-hashtag rants.

For any of you who may not know, I am a long-time hashtag protester. If you aren't familiar with the battle against hashtags, go here to quickly catch up. We fought the good fight, however, we lost the war. Enough of the core community latched on to hashtags and the Twitter community grew so rapidly that many knew no other way. For the growing nation of Twitter n00bs, hashtags were a way of life within the platform. Last week, twitter made hashtags legit by hotlinking them, like @ replies.

Ya can't win 'em all.

Lately, adding a Branded hashtag to a tweet is the new SM "viral" campaign. A couple of start up's (and I'm sure there's more than the 2 I'm thinking of) have launched "promotions" (and I use that term loosely) offering to give away iPhones and/or macbook Pro's to randomly selected people who hashtag a tweet with their Brand name.

This is non-strategic marketing for a number of reasons:

This is not a contest to promote or benefit Apple/mac or affiliate programs/services, although you may think it is it, because they are giving away that company's products. Wouldn't it make more sense to give away something specific to the product or service you are offering?

Call entry just requires the branded hashtag on any tweet. So basically, I could negatively tweet about the brand "Yo XYZ company, your service totally blows. #XYZ" and still qualify to win the prize. Or, I could tweet about something unrelated "Checking out the monkey exhibit at the zoo today. #XYZ." How does that shape or improve people's opinion of the brand using word of mouth? Not all word of mouth is positive word of mouth.

I still have no idea who this company is and what they do. Why should I use them? What can they do for me other than win free electronics? What is their VALUE Proposition?

These things don't benefits the brand. They are the equivalent of standing in the middle of a Grand Central Station and screaming a brand name. Imagine standing standing waiting for a train and hearing someone scream "I'm waiting for a train. STARBUCKS!!!" I'd that person was crazy and immediately ignore them. If they continued doing this, I'd get annoyed and move away.

Wouldn't it make more sense to make the call to action a creative reply TO: the brand? Having them follow the Brand in order to receive a DM alerting you to winning? Requiring the tweet to say something positive about the brand and/or service? Customizing the prize to tie back to the product or service that awarded it?

It's great to play with shiny new tools and see your name echo online. However, echoing for the sake of echoing, isn't strategic. It doesn't add value. It doesn't educate people on your brand. It doesn't build loyalists. It's just a blip.

And that's why, since it's not quite spam and not bacn either, I'm calling the branded hashtag promotions/hashtag meme's, Twofu. Not quite spam or bacn. Just a flavored imitator I'll forget tomorrow.

2009-07-06T17:53:00.004-04:00

I can't remain quiet any longer.

I rarely blog anymore for a number of reasons:

The advertising/pr/social media/marketing blogosphere has become bloated. Everyone's got a blog and they're all talkin' about social media. They talk about marketing - whether or not they have experience in any or all of the marketing disciplines.
I don't want to feed the ecochamber. It's rare anyone in this space says something new and maybe that's because many of these bloggers are talking rather than doing. The words conversation and dialogue and evangelists are so echoed anymore, I swear you could find a conch shell, put it up to your ear and hear them instead of the ocean.
I'm not here to teach anyone. You want to learn, get in here and work with me. I'm doing. That's what I've been doing for the last 14 years. From PR agencies, to the corp/nonprofit world, to the ad agency world, I've been working on people's business. A lot of people's business. A lot of times I work on Fortune 500 business. Sometimes, I work on small business. I just work. And I like to work. That's how I learn.
The blog format is a bit tedious for me now. And I'm not saying that in an "I invented the Internet" kind-of-way. I'm just explaining how I feel about it. I started blogging in 1998, vis a vis an online journal I wrote. I blogged almost everyday, sometimes several times a day, for 8 years. I got tired of it.
I prefer twitter. It's mobile, it's quick, it's easy. It doesn't require me to sit down and pound out something coherent.

However, I'm putting those thoughts aside. I'm going to start blogging again.

Now. I'm not back blogging to bitch about adv, pr or promotion. I'm not getting on the hate bandwagon, god knows there's enough of that.

I probably won't tell you much more about the things I'm working on, because I'm bound by confidentiality and again, I'm not here to teach anyone. The secret to how I do my job defines my financial value in the marketplace. So while I'll share information and thoughts here, keep in mind, many of my tricks will remain that...my tricks;)

I will try to speak to the other elements of social media that I don't see the "experts" talking about: advertising in social media, promotion in social media, special events and their efficacy. Marketing isn't *just* PR, although PR is important. The best marketing, is integrated marketing and if you don't look at and speak to the big picture, then success will be a difficult challenge for you. Like the Red Tettemer Trailblazer states, "Success is the Residue of Design."

More to come.

Check out Phonezoo ringtone - Hey, Peter Arthur

2009-06-08T17:05:00.001-04:00

Title: Phonezoo ringtone - Hey, Peter Arthur

Link: http://gotaf.socialtwist.com/redirect?l=-339066901171327126741

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2009-05-08T09:51:00.001-04:00

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2009-03-27T16:08:00.002-04:00

Hey sleepyhead. Are you a snooze scrounger like me? Got an iPhone or iPod Touch? Check out this awesome app created by my friend, Laris Kreslins...The Snoozebot!

2009-03-27T14:27:00.001-04:00

If you're gonna mash up hot tracks, with dope animation and games, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna play. Someone help me, I can't stop playing with Loud Crowd.

2009-02-28T17:35:00.000-05:00

Ouch.