Yes, we’ve all heard that “content is king” but that’s really always been the case. What hasn’t always been the case is the incredible number of creators, consumers and distribution for that content. Publishers, brands, social media platforms, bloggers… they’re all struggling with the same issue, what content do I create and how do I attract an audience?
Read more after the jump…
Strategically Timing Press Releases
We often get the question from clients, “When is the best day/time to distribute this press release in order to get the most attention?” And while our answer generally depends on a mix of experience coupled with the intent of the specific release in question, PR.co decided to put conventional wisdom to the test with their study, “What can we learn from 50,000 press releases?” They compiled their results in a handy infographic, which was recently highlighted on Ragan’s PR Daily.
Weekly Reads – Social Video: Stop Planning and Start Filming
There’s a gap in social video and how brands perceive and use the medium. Brands quickly adapted their text and image content for social and now have a unique voice and look on social platforms. But video content on social platforms still often looks the same as it does on traditional media. Video content on Facebook, Twitter, Vine, etc. can be gritty, it can rough and it can be quick to produce as long as the message is authentic and in brand. So start shooting your video.
Read more after the jump…
How Much Damage Did That Tweet Cause?
It was bad, but did it hurt the company’s reputation?
As we head into two weeks of Super Bowl coverage, we’ll see more and more about “what brands will be tweeting” from the publications that cover the marketing and communications industry. The articles brought up a concept that I first came across at a South by Southwest session back in 2011: Do even the worst social media flub ups cause real repetitional damage for a brand?
Search Engine Optimization and SEO for 2015
For many years, Google in particular has stressed quality content as the key to good search engine rankings. However, with some success achieved through simply technical means, many SEO practitioners still have not given a great deal of attention to the value of their content. I can’t count the number of times new client prospects have come to me saying that their competitor’s website has no optimization in place, and yet it still outranks them. Usually, it is because the competitors site is established and has engaged readers who regularly visit the site and have a relationship with the organization. So, what will it take for a website to attract readers and visitors?
In looking at the future of SEO in a recent Searchengineland article, search guru Jenny Halasz opined:
What a lot of people don’t understand is that SEO is a creative field. You can test it, and you can hypothesize, but at the end of the day, what works for you may not work for someone else. There are simply too many variables to say anything for sure.
For those of us mired in the depths of analytics, research, statistics and implementation strategies, considering SEO as something other than a primarily technical field this represents a fairly radical change.
PR Predictions for 2015 – Will They Materialize?
I’m always interested to read predictions for the new year, and I found the following predictions for the PR industry in the January issue of Tactics worth sharing. As I read through each of the predictions, some were ones that our industry has been talking about and living with for some time now, but a few stood out to me that I wanted to share. Only time will tell whether or not these predictions ring true. What predictions do you have for the ever-evolving PR industry in the next year?
“Honing in on personalization with target audiences — while it should be about quality over quantity, we’re going to see companies take that extra step and personalize their message to individuals or select groups. We’ve seen this with Coca-Cola and their name campaign, but this trend is going to go further with social media content, blogs and emails catered to their receiver. It won’t be about how much and how fast we’re pushing things out, but about how we can make it unique enough to connect with its audience.”
— Rebecca Potzner, Twist on PR blogger, Social Media Strategist at Game Day Communications
Weekly Reads – Piggybacking and Positioning
Online media and social networks have opened up completely new avenues for individuals to express themselves. Brands, hoping to take part, have been coming up with new and inventive ways to position themselves and their products almost as long as individual users have. Brands with the wherewithal and clout have recently gone in a different direction: stand where people are already looking. By engaging during public events and with public figures, brands can amplify their messages by ingratiating themselves with the public or simply acquiring a new audience. The difficulty, however, will always be remaining authentic. Read more after the jump…
Applying Yoga to PR
I have been practicing yoga now for 12 years, and while yoga and my job here at GFM both play huge roles in my life, I was dubious when I read the title of a recent article on Ragan’s PR Daily – 4 Yoga Principles That Can Be Applied to PR. Fun, fast-paced, interesting, challenging – PR can be all of those, but I would rarely – if ever – apply the words “calming” or “zenlike” to this profession.
It turns out author Sarah Elson was on to something, though – she cites four different yoga principles in her article and then extrapolates them to the PR world.
Should journalists or sources hire PR firms?
This blog post first appeared on Ragan’s PR Daily.
There is an old saying in journalism: “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.”
Journalists are taught to be skeptical and to back their work up with multiple sources and research. It is the cornerstone of the Fourth Estate and the basis for news media credibility. Unfortunately, that high standard is not always met during the rush to get a story first. The old journalism credo of checking it out sometimes is modified, at least unofficially, to: “Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.”
Two high-profile, head-scratching examples of the failures of journalism have occurred in recent weeks: New York magazine’s reporting that a teenage stock trader made $72 million, and Rolling Stone’s coverage of an alleged University of Virginia rape victim. In each case, additional reporting, and some skepticism by editors would have changed or even killed the stories.
Given my time in a newsroom, I know one of the hardest calls to make as an editor is the decision to kill a story, particularly a story that will generate readers or one in which the outlet has invested a great deal of time and resources reporting. At the core of making a decision to kill or to delay a story pending further reporting is maintaining the credibility of the media outlet and, to a certain extent, of all journalists.
Every time a reported story turns out to be false, it erodes the public’s trust of the news media, and even well-reported stories are viewed skeptically.
Weekly Reads – Capitalize on Social Media Enthusiasts
It’s that time of the year…the end of year round ups focusing on measurement; a look back at successes, which included all things visual; and predictions for 2015 – finding and capitalizing on differences among social media user segments.
Read more after the jump…