Social Media PR Blog

PR Learning to Bypass the Media Filter

Public relations has always included business-to-consumer promotions in its arsenal of tools, but a large portion of the PR business has traditionally involved attempting to get stories placed in the media, in the hope that the consumer will then see those stories.  Even highly public promotional stunts were largely, in the end, designed to gain mass media coverage.

But, what happens when the media weakens, and there aren’t enough reporters to cover even the most fascinating stories?

I happened upon two different articles this week that say essentially what I’ve been saying for some time — the answer is to create your OWN media.  Blogging, podcasting, web videos, online news release distribution, Tweeting, and Facebooking all can take your message to your customers in an unfiltered way.
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Facebook Groups Better for Businesses

It went unnoticed for a lot of people because Facebook groups are not used as widely as they used to be, but Facebook earlier this week unveiled a redesign of those groups. The screen shot below is of the former Fight SMA Facebook Group, which I’ve been working for some time to transition to a Fan Page.

The first thing you’ll notice (click the image for a larger view) is that the look and layout are now much more in line with Fan Pages and individual profiles.  One obvious unique addition is organization information in the left sidebar, above information about group members.

So, the first question I asked myself after hearing of this redesign is, “Are groups now better than Fan Pages for businesses?”  For the answer, lets look at the pros and cons of each…

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5 Steps to Proper Setup & Feeding of Twitter

If you’re a member of the Twitter Elite (Twelite? Tweelite?) or even a regular user of Twitter, you probably already know everything there is to know about setting up your Twitter account.  This post is for everyone else.

I’m surprised at the number of people who have 1,000+ followers, but haven’t filled out the basic information that Twitter allows.  In fact, when I see an account with a mess of followers but no details, I automatically assume they’re playing the Twitter Numbers Game, and don’t follow the person.

Below are a list of five tasks that I feel are required for a successful Twitter account:

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Surprise! Journalists use Social Media!

It should come as no surprise, but it’s at least a confirmation of what I and others have been saying for a while.  A new study by Middleberg Communications and the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR) shows that 70% of reporters use social media sites like Facebook and Twitter when doing research for stories.

Here’s an excerpt from an article about the study on Journalistics:

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Optimizing Twitter for SEO

You had to know it was coming.  Twitter is taking over.  Now, we have to optimize it to make it happy!

Just kidding, of course.  What I’m talking about is making sure your Twitter account is optimized for the search engines.  Yes, Virginia, Twitter is indexed by Google.  That means you want to make sure you get the most bang for that opportunity.  I found a good article at Mashable recently that described the steps you should be taking, including picking the right Twitter name and taking advantage of the space for your bio.

Read more at The Top 10 Twitter SEO Tips