Please head over to http://rockthestatusquo.com and subscribe to avoid any interruptions in your subscription.

Thank you!

Tweet

The PR industry continues to shift like Tony Stewart at a Daytona race, and it impacts EVERY area of our job: pitching, monitoring, placements, bylines and media relations. If you aren’t scrambling to keep up and constantly learning new skills, there’s no time like the present to jump in – and a fantastic starting point is evaluating how you build your media lists.

After all, media lists are the foundation of your PR relationships; the trigger for the entire PR process.  Social media tools can amplify your lists to an entirely new level.

HOW TO BUILD A STELLAR MEDIA LIST USING SOCIAL MEDIA

Instead of throwing your pitch into the great black unknown, you want to lob it directly to the person that writes about that specific topic, at the right time, using means most likely to get their attention (email, Twitter, etc., depending on their preference).

While this strategy is a basic PR 101 tactic that everyone in public relations should know, the entire process is thrown off track if the first part – pitching to the right person – is out of alignment. Social media can help.

1. BUILD YOUR LIST TWICE. Once you’ve spent time building a brilliant, targeted list – go build it again using social media. Don’t simply add Twitter handles to your list. Track down each key reporter’s entire social media presence to find out where the opportunities and conversations are happening for them as an individual.

Once you identify where they prefer to “hang out” in the social media world, tailor your efforts accordingly.

Are they constantly pitching source requests on Twitter, or do they create pinboards on Pinterest revolving around stories they work on or topics that interest them? Follow them where they are most active in seeking sources and monitor their activity.

Understanding their preferred social media environment allows you to craft YOUR efforts to their preferences – increasing the odds of success.

Don’t be a stalker, but monitor and be relevant when opportunities arise. For example, this image was pulled from a Facebook group for PR professionals and journalists in Arizona, and an easy placement win for a PR professional with a restaurant client who met the reporter’s need.

2. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF TWITTER LISTS. Want a simple, FREE way to find journalists looking for story resources?  HARO and Profnet are not the only resources you should be using. Twitter is one of the most powerful pitching resources available today, and Twitter lists are often overlooked by PR professionals.  You don’t need to be following a Twitter user to add them to a list, and your list can be completely private – making it an invaluable research and monitoring tool. (Click here to learn how to build a list.)

You can build lists specific to an industry and/or a client. For example, if you have a client that manufacturers and sells solar panels for residential use, you could have one list following sustainability reporters, a second list following solar competition in your state, a third list following “green” lifestyle media and a fourth list following local real estate, construction and home builder media.

It is also a fantastic way to monitor client competition, or follow industry news for each client in a segmented manner.

If you are a HootSuite user, you can set up a column for each list to make monitoring simple. Setting up your lists doesn’t help if you don’t follow through and monitor the activity, watching closely for editorial opportunities.

In addition to lists, be sure and set up columns tracking specific hashtag keywords (such as #realestate or #solarnews) in HootSuite, or a similar tool. It can help you identify new Twitter users to add to a list and catch tweets you might otherwise miss.

3. UNDERSTAND BLOGGERS & THEIR SPECIFIC FORMAT. Bloggers are different than journalists and typically come in two garden varieties: (1) writers sharing their passion and/or building credibility with no direct revenue from their site, or (2) those making money from their blog through advertising and/or ancillary product sales.

Each type of blogger should be approached differently, and you should know which type they are BEFORE reaching out to make contact. (See this great infographic for some interesting demographics on bloggers.0

Corporate and hobbyist bloggers are typically writers that couldn’t care less about pitches, press releases, story ideas and PR people, and they rarely publish guest blog posts. Blogs that are NOT self-hosted on the blogger’s own URL typically fall into this category and should be removed from your list. Reaching out to these types of bloggers are often a waste of time. If their contact information is deliberately left off their website, take the hint and leave them alone.

Bloggers who make money off advertising are completely different. Their blogs are content hungry beasts who need to be fed constantly, and they are in search of high-value content that can drive traffic to their blog.

They may be an e-zine (online magazine) format with multiple authors and robust guest post opportunities, such as Search Engine Land, or it may be a single person blog (like Design Sponge) with consistent, frequent posts who makes their living from their website and related product/book sales.

As you build your list, be sure to evaluate each blog individually and identify its type. Advertising-driven blogs are fantastic opportunities for posting comments, and for securing guest post or columnist opportunities. They are worth the same time and attention you would lavish on leading print publication for that client.

Do you have a social media related best practice for building a media list that should be added? If so, your comments are welcome.

Tweet

AVOID SHORTCUTS

Public relations is not easy – there’s a reason it is one of the most stressful jobs in the nation – and there are very few shortcuts… especially when it comes to building a media database. Speaking as someone who has been in the industry for almost 25 years – many public relations professionals build their lists wrong, even at the agency level.

Done correctly, this takes several days, and dozens of hours. There aren’t any shortcuts, but THERE ARE ways to build them in a way that brings better results.

25 TIPS ON BUILDING YOUR MEDIA LIST

1. Use media databases (like Cision or FinderBinder) as a starting point, not the only resource
2. Most media lists do not include the correct contacts – go deeper than the editor
3. Understand differences in editorial titles – pub size influences meaning
4. Your list is outdated as soon as you save it to your computer, so update constantly
5. When your list is done, go out and build it again using social media
6. Don’t just add Twitter handles to your list – build lists specific to an industry or client, and monitor closely
7. Look at each journalists entire social presence to find where the opportunities/conversations are for them as an individual
8. Monitor your targeted journalists using Twitter Lists
9. Know what interests a journalist AT THAT moment, then pitch
10. Use Google to fill gaps – trade associations, small pubs not listed, etc.
11. Use Google Alerts to find reporters covering similar stories, then add them to your list
12. Notice newsstands at grocery stores, convenience stores, etc. – pick up copies from different areas of town
13. Read their publication at least a few times
14. Bloggers are different – don’t ever send press releases
15. Bloggers write for free – they usually could care less about pitches, PR people and story ideas
16. eZines are different than bloggers – greater need for content, guest posts more welcome
17. Take time to learn about the pub, research the right reporters/editors
18. Use contacts to pitch, not mass blast
19. Start conversations, BE RELEVANT – contacting them in person keeps you on top of their beats, and their story requests
20. Media relations is about the relationship, not the list – act accordingly
21. Bad pitching burns bridges, so take time to do it right
22. You can pull many story angles from one idea – be creative
23. Repurposing content does not mean plagiarizing. Rewrite it from a different angle.
24. Understand which online pubs are news feeds versus news reporting. News feeds are fine for blast releases.
25. Never give your media lists to clients. They are paying for your expertise and connections, don’t give that away.

To learn more about building media lists and using them to pitch, be sure to check out these fantastic articles:

• Free resources to build a list: http://bit.ly/cGlKJQ
• Best practice basics: http://bit.ly/YRMIqj and http://bit.ly/bOJPVb
• BurrellesLuce whitepaper: Building a media list beyond the basics http://bit.ly/TJQ7nb
• Using social networking for media relations: http://bit.ly/Q4qwzJ
• No wire? Tips for getting in Google News: http://bit.ly/LOJdXu

HAVE MORE IDEAS TO ADD? Speak up and leave a comment!

These tips were part of December’s #PhxPR Twitter chat, held on first Thursday’s at noon. A shout-out to Abbie Fink at HMA for co-moderating! To see the full transcript, head over to the “Notes” tab on our Facebook page.

Tweet

The public outcry on Facebook peaked yesterday morning about the NYC Marathon continuing despite Hurricane recovery relief needs.

In what seemed like just a few hours, criticism about pulling much-needed resources away from victims and recovery efforts blew up into a major trending topic. Then, within 48 hours of the decision to continue with the marathon, the decision was rescinded – heavily influenced by the firestorm of negativity.

The controversy inspired fascinating posts on hundreds, if not thousands, of Facebook pages, and my article on Social Media Today, which briefly held reign as a #1 trending article on LinkedIn yesterday.

The fiasco makes NYC and IMG NYC Marathon poster children for the importance of putting a solid crisis control plan into play BEFORE a crisis hits – not after… Read the full article here for my thoughts along that line…

SOCIAL MEDIA 101: good communication, transparency, honesty.

Tweet

The newest tool is the Google Consumer Survey Tool, which extends the spirit of AdWords into paid polling.

Instead of being presented with an ad, gated content pushes consumers to answer one or two questions before accessing the article. Publishers are paid when users participate, and the businesses who created the survey originally pay for its aggregated results.

Though claiming to be “custom market research made easy,” is Google’s consumer survey tool all it’s cracked up to be?

Because it operates more like a yes/no poll than surveying and because the audience demographics and segmentation are very limited, many marketers say no. They say that while the new tool may be a simple way to collect subjective consumer feedback on anything from packaging design to product features, the tool does not produce legitimate market research.

Here are  a few limitations mentioned by marketers.

Weak Data Presented as Fact

When an agency or company presents subjective data pulled through polling as solid market research, expensive decisions can ride on very weak data.

“Not only do you get a skewed subset of the target audience—those willing to be forced to fill out surveys—but you’re going to get a lot of people filling out random information to get to the article behind it,” commented James Archer, CEO of Forty, an agency based out of Chandler, Ariz.

After all, who hasn’t selected a poll response without reading it, just to get to what’s behind that locked door?

Not only are the results not necessarily authentic, but they are interpreted with far more seriousness than they deserve. Says Archer, “The message gets changed from ‘This is pretty sketchy data, so take it with a grain of salt’ to ‘Here’s proof that this million-dollar spend is justified.’”

Archer feels the method of obtaining the data is bound to skew the results, and produce fake data—furthering the trend of companies making bad decisions based on junk data. “Not only is this a poor way to do any kind of market research, it’s a fairly user-unfriendly practice that many would argue goes against Google’s once-sacred ‘don’t be evil’ mantra. ”

DIY Method Leads to Misunderstood Results

Similar to AdWords, the survey tool is intended for small-business owners and agencies alike. The danger is when its results are presented as gospel by those inexperienced in market research or by those who don’t understand how the method impacts the results.

According to Susan Baier, a respected audience segmentation expert and Founder of Audience Audit, “While this is being presented as a great tool for researchers, it’s really just another way for publishers to monetize their content.

“It’s extremely limited—one or two-question surveys only, with bias, weighting and demographic ‘inference’ issues that most ‘researchers’ using this product won’t understand or even bother to learn. If you wanted to ask one question to a lot of people, this is no worse than other similar tools like mobile apps that allow you to answer questions to earn money—but it shouldn’t be used (and really wouldn’t be usable) for most serious research efforts.”

Other marketers agree. In a simple question poll presented on a closed Facebook group for marketing professionals, most respondents did not feel the tool provided legitimate market research.

Lack of Segmentation Hampers Usability

The type of market research a company needs can determine how useful the tool is. One marketer said, “If you’re asking general yes/no questions, and you ask enough people, it may not cause problems. But if you’re trying to track a series of responses by individuals to generate something like segmentation, you can’t do that. You’re left with the bias introduced by where the questions are posed, and the “survey wall” concept.

“Many research initiatives aren’t trying to get sample matching U.S. national demographics, they’re looking at targeting a particular group. The harm in research comes from people thinking they’re getting one thing, while they’re actually getting something else.”

To Use It or Not

In my opinion, the dividing line for how useful the feature is for marketing professionals comes down to a simple question: are you looking for generalized consumer input to guide your decision, or substantive market segmentation research?

If a business or agency is seeking data from a highly segmented audience—such as female attorneys making at least $200,000 in annual income who live in New York City and Chicago—the Google Consumer Survey Tool can’t deliver the right audience and a market research firm is more likely to fit your need.

But if you simply want to ask which brownie packaging is more inviting or to find out what percentage of dog owners buy treats for their dog? Give it a shot.

(This post by Carrie Morgan originally appeared on MarketingProfs. Reprinted with permission.)

Tweet

Social media is no different – especially for an agency.

Whether you handle a clients’ social media or not, it is your responsibility to occasionally audit your clients’ social presence to ensure they are following best practices.

If the client is NOT a retainer client, it is a fantastic opportunity to provide value, remind clients that you offer services OTHER than what they currently use, and even upsell a new service or project. If you already maintain their social media presence, then an audit just makes you look that much more ON TOP OF YOUR GAME. It helps you view the client with fresh eyes, re-evaluate your social and content strategy, and rejuvenate activity.

A social media audit can be done one of two ways:

•  ”Behind closed doors” with an outsourced professional, if you don’t have the expertise within the agency. Have the professional conduct and present the audit, or simply white-label their finished audit with your agency logo, make it look fabulous and present the results.  Either way, your client gets an end deliverable that makes YOUR agency looks like a rock star for bringing fresh new ideas to the table.
• Or it can be done as an internal agency process, often including the client, using a formalized process. The agency should be sure to bring in fresh talent (outsourced or in-house from another team that doesn’t handle the account being audited) to give it some outside perspective. NEVER use the same team that works on the account every day. Bring in fresh blood.

As far as timing goes, it can be attached to major company milestones, such as before a product or advertising campaign launch, after an acquisition, or when someone new joins the marketing team – to see if tactics need to change – or it can be done on a calendar basis. Please don’t make it an annual process, though; do it more often.

What is a social media audit?

An audit reviews all social media assets, compares them to company goals and metrics, then determines if changes need to be made.  On a simpler level, it can simply be a review to ensure the client is following best practices.  If you Google the term, you’ll find all kinds of great resources.

A few things to consider include:

• Who do you want to reach? Why?
• Are you using the right social platform to reach them?
• What motivates them?
• Are you publishing content that speaks to those motivators?
• What is your end goal – sales? reach? leads?
• Are you accomplishing that goal?
• Who or why not?
• What can you change or enhance to be more successful?

Sometimes a frog is just a frog – and sometimes social media needs a big smack on the lips to transform it into something truly social. Think of a social media audit as a kiss… either a kiss of death bringing issues to light, so you can transform it into something princely… or a kiss of affirmation that you are doing everything right.  Either way, it only helps.

Top blunders your clients are probably making

Most companies (and even agencies) are consistently making blunders in these specific areas. So if you aren’t sure where to start with your audit, start here.

1. TOO PROMOTIONAL. Remember it’s about them – not you.
2. LACK OF CONVERSATION. Are you posting too much? Are you being social?
3. LACK OF MONITORING. Are you watching what is being said about your brand? Responding quickly enough? Don’t let dialog about your company or product happen without you.
4. THINKING EVERYONE CARES. Do you understand your audience, and are you giving them what they want? Or are you feeding them what you want them to see… Nobody cares about your company, brand or product unless you give them A REASON to care.
5. NO INCENTIVE TO LIKE. On Facebook, for example, most people only like a handful of Pages. Are you giving them a reason to follow you, or are you just regurgitating boring content that can be found all over the internet. How are you different? Fresh? Engaging? How is your company page different than most company pages?
6. LACK OF CREATIVITY. Just because it is a business page, doesn’t mean it has to be boring. People crave content that is fun, that sparks controversy or opens the door to conversation. They don’t want a news feed, an advertisement, or being told what to think. Ask what they think! No engagement is a red flag that screams, “BORING!”

Success with social media comes down to understanding your strategy, understanding your audience, and creating something that fits both while accomplishing your end goal. Regular audits should measure against all of these things, and help you drive change.

Don’t be afraid to make major changes, if what you are doing doesn’t work for you. CHANGE IS GOOD.

Tweet

Consider this: you secured a byline opportunity for your client in one of their leading industry publications. HOW MUCH MORE POWERFUL would that placement be if you were able to write it about a trending topic that was highly searched for online last month, then optimize that byline to show up in search results?

Instead of writing about a topic you assume readers will find interesting, you know before putting pen to paper – or mouse to Word – that it’s already something of interest AND demand! It’s a double whammy – and provides FAR more value to your client or your company.

How Can I Use It?

Keyword research isn’t only helpful for identifying the best keywords and phrases to integrate into your SEO efforts. It shows you what the most popular searches were for the month prior.

You can identify new trends – bolster them with client expertise and publish a press release, come up with great byline topics, optimize your placements for the optimal keywords, PLUS collect free market research to support business/product development.

It’s like a doorway into the mind of consumers… for free.

Give it a try! I use Google’s Keyword Research Tool, which does need an AdWords account to see full results. No purchase necessary.

Tweet

Check it out:

http://www.convinceandconvert.com/pinterest/5-ways-to-use-pinterest-to-boost-press-release-results/

Don’t forget to tell me what you think – or share other great examples!

Tweet

We spent a few minutes with Scottsdale Business + Life editor Elizabeth Hughes chatting about the topic for her latest In The Know newsletter – so fun!

Here’s the transcript…

SB+L: Most business owners are very busy – what are a few simple things they can do every day to make their page more successful?

Morgan: The average post is only seen by 12% of your friends, so posting frequently is important. One of my favorite time-saving tools is HootSuite – a free website that allows you to monitor all of your social media resources in one spot, and schedule posts/tweets in advance. You can spend 15-minutes every morning, and schedule an entire day’s worth of activity.

Another great tip is to make use of tasks you already do. If you glance over industry newsletters and news every day, spend a few seconds turning the best article into a post on your Facebook page. It can be as simple as pasting a hyperlink, or you can spend an extra minute or two adding some insight or an opinion to the post that showcases your expertise.  Just make sure anything you post on your page is tailored to fit YOUR specific audience; don’t be too random.

SB+L: If people aren’t commenting on your page and there isn’t much activity beyond what the page admin is posting , what can a business do?

Morgan: Make sure your posts are not promotional. People follow pages to learn, to have fun and be social – not to be sold on your products or services. So how are you making your page entertaining or interesting? Social media is all about being social, having a conversation – it’s not an advertisement.

A great rule of thumb is 30% content curation (posting hyperlinks to interesting, relevant articles and news), 30% commenting on other pages/posts and 40% original posts (always try to include an image). A successful page usually has an interesting blend of posts that targets a specific audience or interest.

SB+L: We hear a lot about “engagement.” What is that and how do you make it happen?

Morgan: Facebook isn’t just a brand awareness tool – it’s a social tool, and businesses forget that in their marketing enthusiasm. Your page shouldn’t focus on posting – it’s about commenting, liking and making your presence felt through PARTICIPATION. It is critical to spend time posting and commenting on other pages. Magazines, associations, customer pages, the pages of people who are influential in your industry – these are all potentially rich sources of conversation and a great way to be more visible.

Tweet

Facebook is great! Pinterest is fun! Twitter is insanely fantastic for reaching/pitching journalists! LinkedIn is the place to be for networking! I think we all agree the top four social media sites have value. But what we DON’T think about often enough is the big picture of social media. It is so much more than the sites that everyone is focused on. If it encourages conversation, it’s social.

Social Media ROI

Marketing is all about ROI – what sells product, brings eyeballs to your product/service, what retains customers. The industry touts great statistics and impressive numbers about how Facebook is so wonderful, but I don’t think it is all that honest. Does it bring new business in the door? Or is it just an effective retention/loyalty tool… That gets my vote.

So what DOES bring new business in the door? If you are a retailer, it’s reviews. Customer reviews. Yet how many companies put a premium on referral programs, and encouraging customers to post reviews? FAR TOO FEW.

As outlined so well in Google’s Zero Moment of Truth whitepaper, most consumers do quite a bit of online sleuthing before they buy. They want to read reviews and ratings – what other people think about the product, and the experiences they’ve had.

It’s an integral part of the customer purchase decision, and what’s more social than people talking about what they buy?

Google reviews, yelp, Amazon, Williams-Sonoma, Barnes & Noble – virtually EVERY SINGLE major retail website invites customer reviews.

Yet how few companies actually invite their customers to post reviews, or ask for them in any way? It’s crazy to ignore it, when it is so easy. And so valuable!

IT’S ALL ABOUT ONE LITTLE WORD. “ASK.”

If you put a little creativity towards how you can encourage customers to post online reviews, they happen. Just ask. How easy is it to offer a small discount to anyone that posts a review? Or to simply thank those who do? Or to showcase them on your Facebook page and share a little love right back?

So marketing professionals and agencies, I challenge you to put those thinking caps on and fire up your brains. What can YOU do – right now, today – to build up online reviews for your business or clients?

Tweet