Blogger relations!

It appears the more I understand about the topic of pitching bloggers, there are many who seem to be labeled as grass roots journalists, the more amazed I am that people tend to overlook that blog operators have a job to do. In the case of pitching ideas or stories to bloggers, it is abundantly clear that the easier you can make your story for your target...the better! In reference to press releases; people attempting to raise awareness about an issue or in support of a cause are more likely to get these items printed if they are personalized. Ideally, many of the press releases received will be in response to a story or feature recently featured on the blog site. Additionally it is essential that you are certain that the material you are offering to bloggers, fits within their niche or website focus. In researching blogger relations outside of class material, I often encounter the C's of blogger relations:

• Concept: What's the compelling plan


• Context: Why is it relevant to them


• Consumption: Create a package that makes it easy for bloggers to write their story


• Credibility: What makes you credible? Become the expert


• Community: Join it, participate without expectations


• Conversation: You are not invited to the conversation as a marketer. This is about people so be articulate, responsive, and resourceful

My internship with NC State media relations

The lecture by Dr. Waters on media relations caused me to reflect back on my time as a media relations intern with NC State athletics my senior year. As part of the Communication program, all students had to partake in an internship project their last semester. I was fortunate to land an opportunity with an organization that I deeply supported and loved working with. Media relations personnel are stretched so thin due to the incredible responsibilities placed on this function. From covering all sporting events to relay stories to fans, to representing the university with the local and national media, and producing essentially all publications of the sports teams. I was lucky to work hands on and interact with the media and basketball team all season long; including writing articles for the official website, gopack.com As an observer now, I can defend many of the criticisms levied against the NC State media relations department. However, there does appear to exist a serious problem with correcting misinformation and proactively diffusing media stories before they achieve the intended negative impact. The media can report situations in which their perceptions may eventually become reality especially when the target remains quiet based on the stance that they will not justify such nonsense with an answer. Three areas the media relations department fail at are: getting ahead of the story, diffusing opposition arguments, and advancing their agenda. The good deeds done by the athletic teams and student athletes rarely is headline news or even reported news, but the negative stories are front page with large photos. In this area the media relations efforts must improve in order to present the university in the best light possible!

Growing organizational emphasis on web analytics!

The Web Analytics Association (WAA) recently released their second annual web analytics outlook survey for 2009. The WAA was able to gain participation from over 650 web analytics practitioners, that included diverse respondents from all around the world. There was overwhelming agreement on three company fronts: budgets are tight, training and best practices consulting are important, and we are still trying to get the message through to top management. Other key highlights from the report include the following:

• Over 96% of respondents indicated they either plan to maintain current spending levels or increase spending on web analytics in 2010.


• 65% of participants revealed a demand to focus more business decisions and implementation of initiates based on web analytics in the coming year.


• Almost 81% of respondents plan to invest in consulting and staffing efforts pertaining to maximizing existing analytics tools.

Please comment and offer any insights you have on web analytics! Please feel free to visit the WAA official site and read the entire report and other valuable content.

http://www.webanalyticsassociation.org/

Is your social media staying clean?

While recently helping some graduate school peers find participants for a research study, I realized that some of my contacts on Facebook are people I have not interacted with in many years. I do not view their profiles or really gain any benefit from maintaining these links other than just having them included on my friend list. I started thinking about all the people that I include on Facebook, Twitter, and other applications and how few are actually the users who I get information from and post comments with. It became clear that an essential part of social media use is to make sure you clean it up from time to time; getting rid of the useless blog subscriptions, followers, and friends. It is important to avoid becoming complacent and hoard needless companies, people, blogs, etc. that do not generate usefulness. At the same time, users should also search for new applications to participate in that potentially has more valuable content. Here are some quick tips to better organize and improve efficiency:

• Identify your most important contacts


• Unsubscribe from blogs you do not read and search for some new material you may be missing out on


• Unfollow those pages that produce little usefulness


• Maintain a good balance between personal and valuable professional connections

Please comment, I think we are all guilty of continually adding to our social media but I imagine we do not pay much attention to subtracting the clutter!

How social media can be helpful in the job market!

I thought I would follow the excellent online lecture by Dr. Waters on social media and finding a job by providing some of my own key points to consider. I am a firm believer in the old saying that jobs are all about networking, this applies in person and online. Here are a few quick tidbits to consider in your online job search.

• Know the website before using it: It is probably a good idea to survey the online tool to gain better insights on the most effective way to use each medium. Twitter is limited space, so be interesting or entertaining. Facebook is more socially oriented and expressive, which may discourage the desire to connect with a boss or colleagues. LinkedIn's purpose may be better suited for strict professional use of networking.


• Detailed profile: A user's profile should produce descriptions similar to a resume just not as formal. Include relevant accomplishments and work experiences, keep in mind the qualities a recruiter would look for. Link to any other appropriate personal social media profiles that may provide additional information.


• Do not sell, share: Utilize the sites more for offering help and advice to other users that you meet from a contact or mutual friend. Generally, self-promotion is not as appreciated compared with a friendly interaction.


• Publish proper content: Social networking use with an emphasis on finding a job is not the appropriate place to divulge weekend party plans, political views, and any other type of behavior that may be viewed as offensive. Prospective companies are watching and you can quickly eliminate yourself from consideration.


• Participate: Make an effort to engage other people in discussions relative to your field of interest, stay in contact, and use features available to get noticed (LinkedIn question & answers).

Social media in organizations: It will not work, if you don't know what is being said!

Social media monitoring is integral to the ultimate success and impact on organizational use of this medium. Company use of social media to perform public relations efforts requires evaluation of the material, the responses from the audiences, and the effectiveness of persuasion in the message set. It is critical to survey the online landscape and monitor what people are saying about your product so that the company can implement responsive and proactive strategies to address criticisms and concerns. Obviously this will require a commitment of time and resources, in addition to knowledge of the proper Internet sites that should be incorporated into monitoring efforts to increase efficiency in the process. Monitoring is a strong tool in examining the persuasive messages utilized by the company and determine both the positive areas of impact and ways to critique social media offerings.

• Is the message reaching the intended audience?


• What are the misconceptions being generated?


• How can we now shape the message to combat misinformation?


• Are we achieving positive message sharing and growth?


• What potential target audience is the company unaware of?

Perhaps my best advice is to be ready to accept the positive and negative topics you will encounter. Do not enter into this process if you cannot check your ego at the door, open your mind, and learn from comments you may not appreciate but have the potential to improve your brand. Please comment, what kind of advice or experience do you have with monitoring?

Social media use, make it essential but do not overly rely on it!

Every organization, non-profit, social movement, etc. should consider social media applications imperative to their success. These mediums are effective and efficient at expressing opinions, promoting organizational ideology, connecting with friends, and serving seemingly any needs or purposes imaginable that is intended to reach an audience. The uses of social media is so specific to the goals and needs to each individual site operator, but there do exist some concerns for organizations that could experience negative consequences from an overly abundant use. These institutions may find that they will become limited and only capable of accomplishing goals that can be achieved through online participation and action. The following concerns have to be critically evaluated for many organizations prior and during implementation.

• Negative impact on grassroots efforts


• Alienating portions of your support base


• Limiting the cultural knowledge of an organization


• Failing to learn and obtain from shared experiences


• Creating an environment that values convenience over commitment


• Leadership initiatives and policies that may lack transparency


• Evaluations that suffer from insufficient feedback and variety

This post is not intended to downplay the importance of social media application, but rather to illustrate the problems associated from heavy dependence on online mediums when it is detrimental to the original organizational mission. Please comment, what are some tips you would offer pertaining to social media use?