Three Ways Social Media Affects What You See, Hear and Read in the Media

You don’t have to do a lot of research to see that the mainstream media uses social media every day. Every major news anchor has a Twitter account and many of them have Facebook fan pages with thousands of followers who receive regular updates on that anchor’s activities and interests.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper spends several minutes every night asking viewers to connect with him on Twitter and Facebook. Ed Schulz of MSNBC’s The Ed Show runs interactive polls on a nightly basis connecting those using social media back to his evening show. Every major host or anchor has a social media presence in which they not only promote their appearances, but also seek feedback from their audiences.

Read more →

Two Ways We Know Social Media is Here to Stay

When it comes to the media, it takes a lot to really amaze me.  It’s not that I’m a cynic. It’s just that I’ve been professionally involved with the media for over 21 years and I’ve seen its evolution. I’ve lived through the days when press releases were Xeroxed and sent in the mail with a postage stamp, through the times when the fax machine was king and finally into the age of the email blast through an electronic database. And while I’ve marveled at these technological advances that increased a PR professional’s speed and reach, none of them really floored me.

Until now.

Read more →

How the Different Elements of Your PR Campaign Work Together

With all the movies coming out in 3-D these days, I started thinking about how a good PR campaign also has its own 3-D elements. Well, really, there are four types of media outlets today – TV, radio, print (offline and online) and social media – so you really need a 4-D strategy (a point I am sure I will be arguing online at some point with a smart-aleck physicist who takes issue with my science).

In PR, unlike movies, 4-D is the only way to go. I mention this because people frequently ask me which of the four media outlets I think is better. I try to explain that each one is effective in its own right, however, as the media feeds off of itself, the most effective PR campaign will include using all elements in a strategy that leverages a 4-dimensional approach.

Read more →

Presenting the NEW Face of Public Relations

After 21 years in the PR business, it has become increasingly apparent to me that it’s time to drive a new milepost into the ground.

While the media has been specializing in reinventing itself every few business quarters, the business of marketing has been slowly evolving, trying to keep up with the changes. Regular readers of this column have seen some phrases making repeat appearances, such as social media, email blasts, online news outlets and other terms that refer to some of the technological advances that have hit modern marketing communications. As each of these new areas of outreach emerges, our tactics as PR strategists are changing with the times.

Read more →

Here Are A Few Reasons You Might Want to Think Again

I remember when the Internet first gained prominence and it became apparent that having a Web site was essential for any commercial enterprise.

Back then, Web designers were not plentiful and few people thought to hire a professional to create a Web site. They felt that ANY Web presence was better than none at all and they found people they knew to help them who were “into the whole Internet thing.”

Read more →

How Social Media is Changing the Way the Media Markets Itself

You don’t have to tell Kevin Reilly, entertainment president of Fox Broadcasting Company, that social media is a good way to market new shows. He already knows.

At the MIPCOM show, a TV and entertainment conference and market held in Cannes, France every year, Reilly said the network is using social media to build awareness of new shows with tremendous success. Reilly gushed over how social media has made shows hits like Glee and New Girl, almost before they even hit the airwaves.

Read more →

Last week, we talked about the fact that having great numbers with your social media outreach on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn was not as important as what you did with them. My point was that having good numbers alone was not the goal in and of itself, that you needed to serve those followers with great information so they have a reason to continue following you.

This week, I want to go back and focus on the importance of the numbers, because I feel I may have done that point a bit of a disservice. You see, the numbers of followers you garner will be the driver of your efforts and provide an instant way of establishing your credibility with audiences who may not have ever heard of you. Read more →

How To Tell Which Blogs Are Bonanzas And Which Ones Are Busts

In the age of the Internet, everyone has a blog.

According to BlogPulse, there were 152 million blogs on the Internet at the end of 2010 and the trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Many of these bloggers have become opinion leaders in their particular areas of expertise, while others have next to no following at all and blog just to let off steam. So how do you know which bloggers to target when you’re promoting yourself or your company and which ones to ignore? I have a few tips that might help you weed out the followers from the leaders: Read more →

This is the third in the 3-part series of my interview with David Meerman Scott. As you know by now, David is the author of the number-one bestseller “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” (Wiley…published in 22 languages) and his hit new book “World Wide Rave” (Wiley).

David is an internationally recognized viral marketing strategist and speaker at conferences and corporate events around the world. Read more →

Last week I shared Part 1 of my interview with David Meerman Scott. As a recap, David is the author of the number-one bestseller “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” (Wiley…published in 22 languages) and his hit new book “World Wide Rave” (Wiley). David is an internationally recognized viral marketing strategist and speaker at conferences and corporate events around the world. Read more →