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Archives for May 2011

Influence Is Topicality With Tools

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Influence has been my favorite topic of late; in fact, it’s been everyone else’s, too. Let me bring you back up to speed with a bunch of good reads (not to mention a five-post series right here with many guest bloggers) since my series ran:

  • Gini Dietrich writes at Spin Sucks about Peer Index vs. Klout In this post she talks about tree frogs, her new pet and friend for Jack, and she also shares that Peer Index is trying mightily to be produce authorities on various topics.
  • Neicole Crepeau writes a heckuva intriguing post at Mark W. Schaefer’s blog, Grow, about a new way to measure and categorize influencers (she told me she is a “nerd” and this bit is all her intensity).
  • Shakirah Dawud tagged an Adweek article on Twitter about the Klout score showing up on resumes (I told you so…there, had to say that again.)
  • Judy Shapiro wrote a really good piece about why social media is a bad measure of influence (and she addresses that new influencer game, Empire Avenue (I’m staying far away from).

There’s another application I’d like to share based on a conversation and brief look at a beta site I saw yesterday. mBlast has products focusing on influencers and its flagship is mPact, rolled out earlier this year. mPact’s claim to fame is topicality as the filter of influence, and I liked what I saw although the kinks are still being worked out.

They’ve got a free product, so you can check it out, too, and its fee-based offering is reasonable considering what you’re going to get. In fact, as a small business, it’s quite reasonable at the lowest level.

One thing that resonated in my conversation with Mark Blount, vice president of mBlast, is about influence in general – it’s going to become more complex to sort through those with new social media influencer status, and the way to do that is going to be by using tools. Indeed.

(And, I especially like this Gartner-esque influencer map mPact offers…check it out…)

(images: TVArtists.org, mBlast)

BM & Sh&tty PR

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What does “BM” imply to you? Excrement. Poopie. Crap. Sh$t.

It’s also the texting lingo and acronym for the previously esteemed Burson-Marstellar, which even uses “BM” as its domain name, a leading global public relations agency that was recently named agency of the year by someone.

I would be remiss not to also write about the recent unethical behavior by B-M as it went stealth on behalf of Facebook to schmear (the only thing I schmear is cream cheese, hold the lox, on a bagel) Google in a very unprofessional, unethical, and nasty campaign it lied about, took Facebook posts down about, and slapped more egg on the face of the public relations profession.

We’re really taking a beating, and it disgusts me when the alleged leaders of the industry behave in this fashion. Look at the home page of the B-M website; what a trove of extreme tweets – one apologizing to the woman whose Facebook comment was removed (obviously because it was anti-BM); the statement by the firm about its work for Facebook; and its notation of being selected North American Agency of the Year. Oh, and there’s one more – B-M is hiring; want to work there?

*** @JessicaRMurray Jessica we’re sorry about removing your post. Clearly, your comment was fair. Please feel free to repost. 3 days ago · reply · retweet · favorite

*** Our firm’s statement on our work with Facebook https://bit.ly/kjkJ0L 4 days ago · reply · retweet · favorite

*** #Burson-Marsteller is named North America Agency of the Year at #Sabres https://bit.ly/jBbY5j 5 days ago · reply · retweet · favorite

*** RT @maggievdleeuw #Burson-Marsteller is hiring experienced #b2b & social media folks in our Corporate Practice https://bit.ly/jqYvo8 #in #SM 6 days ago · reply · retweet · favorite

I will not repeat the excellent job of my esteemed colleagues who always know the news just as it breaks in the PR world; in fact, I get my news from these Ad Age Power bloggers the likes of Gini Dietrich at Spin Sucks and Spin Sucks Pro as well as Waxing Unlyrical’s Shonali Burke (who I just watched in a dark video on her blog and love, love her accent; can’t decide if she’s doing the British thing with American slathered in or American twang and trying to maintain some semblance of British propriety).

You can also see for yourself on B-M’s Facebook page; its now allowing everyone to party on in true critical fashion; however, B-M is nowhere to be found! So, go ahead, hijack the page just like everyone else. B-M got its hand slapped for removing comments from its Facebook page just hours after the campaign surfaced. Someone even posted this from the Huffington Post on the B-M Facebook page (that’s a good shiner if there ever was one). I think I need to post this post there.

While I’m a tad late to the party, it’s easier to watch the fireworks, comment early and blog late. That way, I can see the fall out (and it’s a beaut) and add some hot links to this post. However, in all seriousness (I’m trying to be that way sometimes), I hate that this happened. And, “hate” is a banned word in my house; in fact, I charge for that word. Each time the kidlet uses it, she pays me $.25.

I’ve written with this community about What is PR. We spent something like six weeks drafting commentary, together, about all the ways we need to define PR. In fact, we even came up with something called the PR Justice League. (I recently saw sketches for our super power figures by Beatriz Alemar of BlackCat Strategy.) Many have been so up in arms about the values, ethics and standards in public relations that the venting launched right here and continued into an entire series.

To sum it up, we didn’t absolutely define PR, but we tried and we brought the discussion to a semi close. What we did discuss and share about was the necessity of ensuring people in business and young peeps entering the profession understood that at the core of this profession is a passion for standards of quality. When the leaders among us deem the mighty dollar more important than upholding values and ethics, we are doomed as small-businesses to pick up the pieces and suffer their arrogance.

I’d love to survey the B-M employees globally and ask them one simple question, “Do you believe your employer, B-M, should’ve counseled Facebook against engaging in this anti-Google campaign?”

About that image above, courtesy of PRinyourpajamas.com, I’ve not seen an apology yet, have you? Comments very welcome, but I know everyone’s seen the story already…thanks for reading!)

PR, Business Development & Today’s News

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Today’s news in the Wall Street Journal “Marketplace” section is chock full of opportunities for some PR peeps. Let me share (although I see they’re getting stingy with their story links and wanting $ so I promise to find other sources for links) and see if you agree and can go get some new business in your neck of the woods using these features below:

** WellPoint (aka Anthem) is asking hospitals to increase patient quality and reduce re-admissions otherwise the hospitals will not get payment increases as high as they used to. WellPoint is going to score hospitals on a test with 51 indicators for patient treatment quality. The indicators include preventing patients from relapse, following a safety checklist and patient satisfaction.

“The change is part of a broader shift within the health industry to compensate providers based on the quality of their care, instead of the volume of tests and treatments they perform. Next year, as part of the health-overhaul law, the Obama administration will rework how the government pays hospitals through Medicare so facilities with better-quality treatment outcomes get higher reimbursements,” said the

$$ — Public Relations Opportunity: Hospital marketing/PR departments need to educate physicians/providers on this new change that will cascade throughout all payers. It only takes the first one to cause the entire industry to follow suit, and the pressure will be on providers to deliver higher-quality treatment rather than higher volume. Having worked in health care marketing my entire career, hospitals focus less on provider relations and more on patient relations. There’s an opportunity to create integrated programs to help push quality treatment from all sides of the health care equation. In addition, PR can share these stories with patients (old, new and soon-t0-be) that quality treatment is a first priority.

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is taking a hit with Japan still re-building after the quake that ruptured an entire industry. Demand for vehicles is rebounding, and U.S. dealerships are struggling with a shortage of Lexus, Honda and Toyota brands.

$$ — Public Relations Opportunity: Any U.S. dealerships that sell autos made in the good ‘ol US of A should pounce on this opportunity to sell American cars, especially fuel-efficient American cars. We’re inundated with advertising campaigns to sell us cars; but, what about a PR campaign that’s solid and education oriented? I always liked the programs by auto repair shops that taught women what’s under the hood.

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— Have you ever known a publisher to execute a PR campaign? GASP! Imagine if they did; perhaps that’s the way publishers get us to pay $455/year to get the Wall Street Journal online, in print and digital.

$$ — Public Relations Opportunity: Start engaging in social media, publishers and create a loyal community for the brand. Because, just like law firms, people are dedicated to a personality — the reporter who writes a favorite column or story. Because we can’t buy a year’s print subscription for $10 any more, we consumers of news are going to need some help keeping loyal with publishers’ brands and not reading at the local library.

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: No surprise here and a good PR idea…digital publisher Rosetta-Books, LLC is giving away digital editions of five classic titles (now movies) to jump start sales of online books. The promotion launched May 7 and ends June 3.

$$ — Public Relations Opportunity — E-book publishers are going to need to keep PR top of mind to ensure digital book readers keep the money flowing. I’m not sure how all this is going to work unless PR is adopted by authors and publishers. Perhaps authors are going to need to use PR/social media even more so on their own i.e. book signings, appearances at special events, social media engagement, and direct marketing.

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There’s another struggling to get people to buy the product after all the cool re-vamp re packaging, displays and what about the taste? Have you tried that stuff lately? My kid loves the Chicken and Stars, but man, I cannot eat that without hot sauce.  So, PR teams inside and at agencies — how about a cook off contest using Campbell Soup as the foundation? And, I’m not talking about mom’s famous casserole with all those cream-based cans of fat.

 

 

 

Does Your Blog Banter?

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I love banter; in fact, I thrive on it. I sit here zipping off the one liners on Twitter and laughing my arse off and fully enjoying the 10 p.m. inanity and nonsense.

Banter is an art, I fully believe. There are some blogs that do and some that don’t. There are two peeps who immediately come to mind as the Banter Queen and King. I respectfully crown them such here today – Queen Davina of 3Hats fame and her cohort King Bill Dorman (with whom I’ve only recently begun to share snark).

There are two blogs that immediately come to mind who banter well; is this intentional? Perhaps…visit SpinSucks by the venerable Gini Dietrich; she’s definitely in the King and Queen royal court. And, Ingrid Abboud aka Griddy at the NittyGriddy blog. That woman rocks the house; hands down – IN the posts every time!

And, this is the crux…banter typically comes alive in the comments, and I’ve been thick in the middle of blog comments that don’t quit; in fact, they continue over the weekend (@Shonali, @Gini and others who shall not be blamed, I mean named).

If you want to be a banterer, and that’s not like a bantam chicken just clucking all day, you need to look at a few things:

**Personality. Queen Davina shares that’s she’s an introvert; really? No way in Laxahatchie is that chica an introvert; if she is then I’m a man.

**Confidence. Do you dare to write that remark that rides the edge between acceptable and downright dirty? Who’s going to be offended? Do you care?

**In-The-Moment. It’s so EZ to get caught up in the moment and zip it off; ensure your comfort level is accepting of what comes back because social media can and will provide that intellectual stimulation (I crave and cannot get in my day job and location).

**Clever (not cleaver)ness. Let’s face it, banter takes a semblance of intelligence on a plane where true meaning and implication fly on a higher plateau. If you don’t get the joke, it’s OK, just don’t ask “what does that mean?” of someone on a roll.

Not every blog banters all of the time; in fact, banter happens when you least expect it. I wrote a post at midnight recently in 10 minutes (Is Goal Setting Genetic), hit publish and did not edit, rewrite, get nervous whether the voice was too strong or offensive or whether the person I was picking on was going to hate me. (Turns out she laughed her patoot off, and suggested I write in that voice every day; heh, impossible.)

Want to get crowned banter royalty? Insert yourself in comments; start there and you can’t go wrong.  Share me some banter-ful blogs, would you? I think it’s time to make a list so we can all belly laugh, cuz it’s so healthy.

(credit: Balooscartoonblog.blogspot.com)

This Is A No Mojo Blog

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Anyone wondering where I’ve been? Yeah, me too. This blog is suffering from low-to-no mojo.

What excuses shall I share? Absolutely none; there are worse things in life; thus I shan’t complain. But I can be upset with myself, mope around a bit, hit bottom, and crawl my way back into action. What I can’t do is force the words or ideas because that’s lame and everyone can see right through it.

What I will offer are several posts from others to help remind all of us that blogging is downright time-consuming, requires a steady stream of creative content and as Mark W. Schaefer reminded us this week — highly creative content. When we bloggers get down in the dumps, because I’m telling you, (sh)it happens, here are some wonderful reminders to weigh anchor and sail:

–Here is what Shakirah Dawud sent me by Rhonda Hurwitz, and it is a wonderful post, called Holy Blog Fail, etc., with many recommendations on where to find creativity. Rhonda also reminded me on Twitter yesterday “to spend time on things that make my topline healthy.” (Indeed.)

–Ali Luke (don’t know him/her) wrote How to Nurture Your Creativity; just read it and it’s good basic recommendations.

–On ProBlogger, a guest post from Glen Allsopp of Viper Chill has other insights for bloggers to Re-Ignite to Get Their Steam Back.

–Here’s some nonsense from the Creative Leadership Forum (and Harvard Business Review?) suggesting creatives should embrace failure but do it inexpensively…LOL…because it can be very powerful (yeah, like taking a downer for days).

–And, finally for today, here’s the icing on the cake — to be creative, stop thinking about yourself. Yeah, I think I like that and will heed this counsel over all others.

And this, too, shall pass, right? (Please share your secrets to get out of the dumpster…)

(image: care2.com)