Posted by Jennifer on July 27, 2009
Mashable recently covered Muck Rack, a company that charges by the word to tweet releases to journalists on Twitter. The story and concept elicited plenty of negative responses from PR and journalists alike - from indignation to charges of ripping off another business entirely.
From a PR perspective the responses missed the point entirely. Twitter is all headlines and any good tweeter will tell you, 140 characters doesn’t leave much room for verbosity on the brilliance of a new hire. Write a good headline and they will come. Even better, write a brilliant headline and they will share.
Does your release pass the Twitter test? Is your news interesting, clear, compelling in 140 characters? If not, perhaps you don’t know what your point is or, better do you need that release at all?
If you need inspiration just grab a few copies of the NY Post or Variety.
Your job is to make the reader WANT to know your news.
Posted by Jennifer on February 12, 2009
The bulk of my PR experience is in entertainment (tv, film, music) and technology. While the tech sector has raced ahead with social media releases and embraced cutting edge social media tools I still find my entertainment PR friends stuck in 1990s of PR. Clips, exclusives, covers…old media thinking. Of course I am generalizing here but I do find the mindset a bit old school. Here is my mantra to you - evolve or face extinction. The old way has passed away and now you are saddled with the burden of learning the new way and also educating the entertainment hierarchy on this ‘new way’. In other words - Dorothy you ain’t going back to Kansas. Every day I hear budgets slashed, departments ’streamlining’ and I know you are carrying an even greater workload but you must prevail or you will be extinct.
Here is what I recommend.
1. Stop thinking in terms of outlets - it’s not about placement or outlet ie. LA Times, NY Times anymore, it’s about volume and chatter. Much like consumers who search for shows rather than channels, consumer consumption of media isn’t relegated to top tier outlets to ‘bless’ your news. It’s about creating conversation and a lot of it.
2. Start working with marketing. Yep you two are gonna have to make peace and work together to stay relevant. Marketing needs PR to lay the ground work for new shows and new projects and PR needs the muscle of marketing to help build upon that awareness. Waltz on over to that no mans land and introduce yourself. It’s not that scary.
3. Think direct to consumer - You are now the QVC of product pitching. No more excuses for why Entertainment Weekly didn’t run your photo, you have a direct line to the masses and you need to use it. This also means building community and talking rather than relying on industry jargon. I’ll address this more in future posts.
4. Embrace social media - Yes you do have time to learn twitter, Digg, Yahoo Buzz, SEO. Learn them - they are your new tools for success.
5. Learn how to measure your success. Impressions, clickthroughs, reach - these are your new terms. Don’t plunk down a 3″ thick book of press clips and think your job is done. Your job has just started (see #1, 2, 3). Perhaps PR would get more respect if we regularly demonstrated that our efforts increased ratings share. (Yes, again I generalize, but right now it is the exception). That means we need to talk like marketers.
6. Use what you know. You already know how to get the word out and what makes a good story so use those hard won skills but incorporate new tools. I’ll talk more about conversing in the ecosystem but for now just say Yes I can.
7. Leverage your access. Despite what you may really think about the system - 98% of the public would trade positions with you in a heartbeat. To have a front row seat into the epicenter of entertainment is valuable and enviable. Figure out how to leverage that to accomplish the goals above. More on that in future posts as well.
My PR friends and readers, this is an exciting time. I liken it to 2000 when the possibility of what you could do with technology got a lot of early adaptor creatives really excited. (Let’s not discuss the dot com bust) This is your time to embrace the possibilities. Remember Evolution or Extinction.
Posted by Jennifer on December 10, 2008
Good manners never get noticed but bad manners can really ruin the moment. And bad manners are never more obvious than in the social universe where you think you are having a conversation but then you get hit with a sales pitch. Really ruins the mood if you know what I mean. Tells me that I should leave the money on the nightstand.
This brings me to my relationship with twitter. I’ve unfollowed numerous people via twitter who might have been valuable relationships for me because they didn’t respect the rules of the medium. Some tweeted every 3 seconds and some broadcast their ‘free’ consultation services once an hour.
If a friend hounded me hourly I’d be annoyed but when a twitter stranger abuses my relationship in the early stages, it’s glaringly obvious they think Twitter is an old school marketing platform. A much better strategy for my persistent friend would be to engage me working with the medium rather than against its nature. Talk to me, share with me, invite me to engage on your blog…and when I’m part of your influence sphere sell me your services. Since I know and respect you, I’ll recognize your value.
