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November 2, 2009

Getting started in the social media space with GumdropLane.com

Reina Communications is helping Gumdrop Lane step up its social media marketing efforts. Gumdrop Lane is an online children’s clothing boutique, somewhat new to the social space. Here are some tips I offered Gumdrop Lane to get social. Hope they help you as well. Also, please check out Gumpdrop Lane’s twitter and facebook pages as well as their new blog. Let us know what you think!

  • People should tweet, not businesses. Twitter is about personal communication. Consumers know there is a person behind each business, and we want to see who they are. While you are representing a brand, tweet about personal experiences — those experiences are what make your business unique! Just make sure the people representing your business have fun personalities and you can trust them to represent your brand.
  • Share information and promote interesting finds, even if it doesn’t directly relate to what you’re selling. You want to be an information resource for your customers. Read other blogs and seek information your customers would seek. If you see something that would be helpful for them, blog about it or retweet it without the expectation of sales in return. You’re building a relationship, and that’s a two-way street.
  • Don’t underestimate the power of blogs. Good bloggers know their audiences and can recognize when your products or services are a good fit for their readers. Word-of-mouth advertising can be as effective as Google Adwords in gaining exposure for your business. Identify the influential bloggers in your market and use sites like Alexa to see what kind of traffic they get. Bloggers love hosting giveaways for your products, but if you have limited resources, you need to be sure you offer products to the most influential blogs first.

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September 17, 2009

Reasons you need a blog

A number of my clients still do not have blogs as well as many major companies, and while other social media like Facebook and Twitter are stealing the spotlight, it’s time to revisit this oldie but goodie. Blogs offer several advantages and just about every type of business can benefit from the communication tool. Here’s what a blog can do for you.

Keep your audience regularly engaged
As consumers, we all have short attention spans. To stay top of mind, you have to communicate a consistent message often. Updating a blog daily or weekly offers an opportunity to reach out to stakeholders on a regular basis.

Search Engine Optimization
Blogs offer rich fresh content for search engine spiders as well as the opportunity that others may link to your posts. Just remember your blog should serve a purpose to communicate with your publics first and foremost. The SEO benefits should develop naturally from that. Saturating your posts intentionally with too many keywords will not win over many readers.

Share content with people who want to connect
Blogs offer a way to connect with customers who want to read your content. By subscribing to your RSS feed, consumers are proactively pulling information. Stakeholders who seek out your information are much more likely to become advocates than passive recipients of marketing e-mails and advertising.

Simple and efficient interaction
Blogs are a tool for two-way communication. By opening up your comments for readers to participate, you empower your stakeholders to communicate and reap the rewards of gaining valuable feedback.

Another tip, blogs can be very time consuming to maintain and post updates regularly. The PR department doesn’t have to go it alone. Consider having several employees from different departments contribute to the blog each week. Varied perspectives will keep it interesting for the reader while helping you balance out organizational resources.


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July 15, 2009

Tips for responding to a negative blog post

Is all publicity good publicity when it comes to social media? Well if your goal is simply to generate buzz for your brand, certainly any attention from blogs could be considered good publicity. However, in public relations, the goal is to communicate accurate information and manage reputation. So if you discover a negative blog post about your organization, you might want to take action.

This assumes that you have already taken the first very big step in social media PR, which is monitoring the blogosphere. Half the battle is simply being aware of what’s being said about you. From there, every situation will be different. However, here are some general tips when considering your response.

Do you even want to respond? The first option of response in any public relations problem is to do nothing. Obviously many times, this is not the best approach. However, consider the audience of the blog in question. Do you need to engage with this audience or will posting a response just give a blog with little credibility unnecessary attention and validation? If you decide to respond, time is of the essence. The Internet news cycle moves very quickly. Depending on the blog, you may have days or even hours before the post you need to address is archived news.

How do you respond? If you decide you do need to engage with the blogger and his/her readers, your plan of action should depend on if the blog post contains erroneous information or simply casts your organization in a negative light. In the former instance, clearing up the misinformation should be your primary goal. Post a respectful response in the blog comments explaining what was misstated and provide evidence to back up your claim. If the blog comments are not open, e-mail the blogger with the information. Do not ask the blogger to take specific action (e.g., take down the post, correct the post), simply explain that the information posted is defamatory and provide information to correct the misstatements. If the blogger does nothing to rectify the defamatory statement, you may want to consider the long-term resolution of legal action. However, in the short-term, do not threaten the blogger with legal action.

If the negative information is true, take a similar approach that you would to traditional media in formulating a message for response. Create a message that respectfully acknowledges what the blogger wrote and thank them for covering your organization. Consider offering an apology (if necessary) and point out everything positive your organization is doing to remedy the situation. Post your response in the comments section (or e-mail the blogger if comments are closed) and continue to monitor the conversation and participate as needed.

In all cases, a non-confrontational, professional approach is your best bet when relating to bloggers.

Who should respond? Some of the big PR firms who provide blog monitoring offer the full-service solution of responding to blogs on your behalf. I do not recommend this approach. If you have a PR agency, use it to monitor blogs and help formulate your message, but be sure an internal spokesperson actually posts the response and engages in the conversation. Social media is all about genuine, transparent participation in the community.


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June 16, 2009

A little pole-blicity

Inside Fitness Michelle Rogerson

Inside Fitness

I’ve had a lot of co-workers ask me how I stay fit, and I never had the courage to tell them the truth. My secret: pole dancing. When I leave the office three days a week, I spend about two hours at a women’s-only gym in Virginia Beach, Studio Rio.

Well, that’s not much of a secret anymore. I was featured in Inside Business this week for their “Inside Fitness” column. I’ve been pretty shy about it, but the truth is, pole dancing is a fabulously fun workout that more women should experience. It will whip you into shape and improve your confidence, which I believe makes you a better person at home and at work. So open your mind, check out the story, and consider taking some classes yourself. You can follow Studio Rio on Twitter as @StudioRio.


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March 9, 2009

Twittles: Taste the social marketing rainbow

I’m loving the new Skittles Web site. Launched last week, it’s simply a rotating look at the live Skittles entries on social media sites, such as Flickr, Wikipedia and Twitter. It certainly generated a lot of buzz for Skittles in the last week on Twitter. With a completely user-generated website, Skittles gets kudos for learning how to relinquish control. Continue Reading…


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October 8, 2008

Paid blogging at what price?

Paid blogging, paying a blogger to write about your product or service, is not a new concept.  It should come as no surprise that there are bloggers out there who accept payment for postings and organizations willing to pay them. Search “paid blogging” on Google and you’ll find plenty of sites like PayPerPost.com, which pairs up bloggers with advertisers.

But I was quite shocked to find that one of the nation’s largest advertising agencies suggested paid blogging as one of their social media services. When did paid blogging gain such validity?

Web 2.0 thrives in the spirit of open and genuine social participation. Bloggers are influential opinion leaders because they have credibility with their audiences. Serious bloggers who are trusted for information would not sell their posts. Even if the bloggers who write paid posts disclose they were paid to do so, I question the value of a paid post. What’s the point if there’s no credibility? If you are looking to advertise with disclosure, why not just buy an ad on the blogger’s site rather than create what amounts to an advertorial in an attempt to dupe savvy Web readers. And is it worth the price of a damaged reputation when these readers see you are not being transparent?

Maybe the big firms are encouraging paid blogging in their social media mix, but it doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. I suggest we stick to communicating with bloggers like members of the media and trust that most readers can distinguish between ads and editorial.


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August 6, 2008

What does a grocery store have to say on Twitter?

Last week while on Twitter, I came across a tweet mentioning  Whole Foods Market and saw the grocery store launched a Twitter account. That was the first I noticed of a lot of Twitter buzz about the store. There was enough buzz to make me curious, even though there is no Whole Foods in my area (which seems a shame after reading so many tweets about how great the store is). I was wondering what a grocery store would have to say on Twitter, so I checked it out.

According to the Whole Foods blog, during the month of August, Whole Foods is giving away $25 gift cards via Twitter contests daily. Customers can win a gift card by following Whole Foods Market on Twitter and being one of the first five
people to meet at a specific store location when an announcement is tweeted each week. Also, the company is encouraging customers to tweet about Whole Foods by selecting one winner daily who tweets something funny or interesting about the store (so this is where the buzz is coming from).

Whole Foods Market already has 2,414 followers on Twitter. Here’s what some are tweeting:

Samwar: Whole Foods BBQ Chicken Sandwich = = Awesome.

smackdown: Whole Foods‘s tea tree toothpicks are the most incredible things in the universe.

jenontheedge: Bought cupcakes at Whole Foods today. Am now “Mom of the Year.”

My favorite tweets about Whole Foods are a conversation between the company and Digg founder Kevin Rose:

kevinrose: it’s great having whole foods right by the @digg offices, grabbed some food, now having a kombucha

WholeFoods: @kevinrose Thanks:) what flavor of kombucha? I’m a Synergy Trilogy fan myself

kevinrose: @wholefoods GT’s Gingerade – I’ve never talked to a store before, this is odd, hello whole foods


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May 18, 2008

A phone call? Ewww.

I recently set up a wiki for one of my clients using PBWiki. I’ve never used PBWiki before, but my friend and Web wiz, Amber, recommended the service. So far, setting up the wiki was a breeze, and I’m looking forward to watching my colleagues use it to collaborate on a project.

PBWiki only is free to a certain point and then you have to pay to upgrade for additional features. The paid version seemed like a worthwhile investment, so I clicked to upgrade with a credit card in hand. That’s when I hit a major roadblock: the site notified me that in order to set up the account, I had to call an 800 number.

A phone call to purchase a Web service? To me, this was a serious offense. If you are not yet with me, compare this to ordering take out and the restaurant forgetting to include utensils. It’s an essential part of an online service, particularly a Web 2.0 service, to offer everything online. Honestly, if I hadn’t already been working on the wiki using the free account, I would have bailed and moved on to the next wiki service provider.

I share this story for two reasons. First, if you are communicating online, you must consider your target audience and their preferred method of communication. If your target is a blogger or savvy Internet user, never, ever expect us to pick up a phone. It’s just unnatural. I don’t even call my friends on the phone (I use sms, facebook or twitter), so why would I want to call a company rep?

Second, bloggers share opinions. In this case, I told 74 followers on Twitter and countless lurkers, “Just set up a pbwiki for a client. Works great but u actually have to CALL someone (ewww) to upgrade.” That was then shared with my 63 friends on Facebook and readers of my Tumblelog. Instantly using my cell phone, I vented my frustration and shared my experience with everyone I know and even more people I don’t know.

It could have ended there, but the folks at PBWiki recognize the opportunities of monitoring and participating in the blogosphere. Using Google Alerts to track mentions of “PBWiki,” the company found my blog post and quickly sent me an e-mail to address the concern. Kudos to PBWiki for getting this very right. A friendly e-mail from their Chief Marketing Officer goes a long way in showing that they care about my business and think that my opinion matters. That sure makes me feel good as a customer, and now I’m blogging about it. What an easy way to smooth things over and create an advocate for the company.


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May 7, 2008

Wikiquette: you can never go wrong with transparency

It’s always a good idea to look up your organization on Wikipedia to see how the entry checks out. But what’s the etiquette on contributing to Wikipedia?

First and foremost, there is no place on Wikipedia for autobiography. Wikipedia is intended as an accurate resource for unbiased information. You wouldn’t expect to edit your own Encyclopedia Britannica entry, would you? It’s never okay to author or edit your own entry. And in keeping with transparency, it’s never okay to pay a third party to update your entry either.

What can you do if you find an error or think important information is missing? Post concerns of inaccuracies to the entry’s discussion forum on the Talk Page. Be sure to only bring attention to truly inaccurate information. When you post to the Talk Page, be forthright in identifying yourself as a representative of the organization. Then, let other community members make the corrections if they see fit. This approach is the best way to improve your entry while remaining transparent, maintaining credibility and following the rules of wikiquette. For more information, read Wikipedia’s FAQ for PR professionals.


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August 1, 2007

PR students and APRs will recall that Ivy Ledbetter Lee is credited with issuing the first press release in the early 1900′s for The Pennsylvania Railroad. Today, we’re still issuing the same press release, complete with the ### (which really serves no purpose if you are e-mailing the release).

Web 2.0 offers the perfect opportunity for an extreme press release makeover. Enter the Social Media Press Release. The Social Media Press Release targets traditional journalists as well as bloggers and consumers. This new type of press release is Web 2.0 friendly, complete with bullet points, links to videos, RSS feeds and tags for del.icio.us, digg and Technorati.

SHIFT Communications offers a Social Media Press Release template, which may seem a bit daunting to traditionalists. But Coca-Cola’s example is quite simple and straightforward. This overhaul really breathes new life into news releases.

It’s been a hundred years of the same old press release format. I’m ready for a change. Are you?


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