MSN.com Goes Hyperlocal — Creates Local News Sites
MSN is working on a project (http://local.msn.com/)to create hyperlocal news sites for cities around the country, similar to all those hyperlocal sites that are popping up around the world.
Microsoft in December announced partnerships with MSN, Hearst, and NBC – this arrangement gives MSN the opportunity to display TV news on its local MSN subsites. In November, Microsoft started the addition of MSN Local Edition –which you can now see in its preview stages (link above).
Four Free Tips for a Social Media Campaign
A zookeeper at the Blank Park Zoo in Idaho listen, learns, engages and talks to a very large turtoise. You (too!) can be successful in social media!
1) Listen – there are lots of “listening” tools that are available online. Check out my post on 12 free social monitoring tools that helps you listen.
2) Learn – take time, watch what others are doing, learn about the tools, practice, try things out.
3) Engage – to engage is to host a meaningful interaction between you (your company) and someone else (a consumer. You can increase your following on Twitter or fans on Facebook if you engage people.
4) Talk – once you have accomplished steps 1-3, you can begin to talk with expertise and authority. Too often we talk without engaging or even listening. It is usually by way of a press release or a marketing video. Most meaningful Twitter interactions are not about free products or about the world’s first technological innovation, it is usually a conversation.
Follow these steps and you’ll find yourself social media success!
List of Top 75 News Sites in Seattle (Belltown Messenger)
Thank you Belltown Messenger for creating the list of Seattle’s top 75 news sites, with stats!!! It was something I thought about doing but just didn’t have enough time to compile. SO THANK YOU!!
InstiAds Could Become New Revenue Generator for News and You!
I just came across a site that is in beta testing mode – it is called InstiAds. It is a self-service ad system designed for small businesses and local advertisers. I’m waiting for it to launch. And I’m sure you are too!
Facebook’s New Privacy Agreement Changes
This week, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg wrote a note to the more than 350 million users about the site’s new changes to its current privacy agreement. The main changes are to networks and information sharing. The full post can be found online here.
Essentially, you will have new abilities to control who sees each piece of your content and you’ll have a simple privacy settings page, as opposed to the current, more difficult page. (Just for fun, I tried to block a member of my Facebook network from viewing some content (today: 12/4/09) but couldn’t do that just yet.) Networks will be eliminated as part of the new privacy settings.
Also in the note, some key numbers were released. Within the last year, Facebook has grown from 150 million users to more than 350 million worldwide. About 50 percent of Facebook users belong to regional networks. The local homegrown pages are very important!!
Happy Facebooking!!!
See you online.
Things I continue to learn at the PRSA International Conference
(Live blogging (Day Two) from the PRSA International Conference in San Diego, California)
If you ever have the opportunity to attend a session, Webinar or seminar by Lee Odden, CEO of Top Rank Online Marketing, do it! His session, while fast, is full of information and was sold out! Major focus of talk was about search engine optimization for news and press releases. This is what I learned:
PR Tactics that can be affected by Search Engine Optimization (SEO): 
- Public Relations in general
- Letters to the Editor
- Press kits
- Corporate blogs
- White papers
- Webinars
- Newsletters
- Real world interviews published digitally
Basically, if YOU are not optimizing your press releases for the Web, you better re-think your strategy, especially now that the world is full of far fewer journalists.
How can you get more from your press release?
- Research keyword using Google ad words
- Optimize your content
- Include a call to action within the release; link to a landing page and use a tracking URL to ascertain ROI
PR SEO Tips:
- Think upward and to the left
- Do not obsess on keyword density – if you have a 500 word press release, use only 2 to 4 terms
- Use keywords in links to competition Web site
- Add media such as podcast, blog, imagery, etc.
- Optimize for people first, then search engines
Check out Lee’s PPT presentation from the session.
Last takeaway from Lee’s session: PDFs are not good for SEO. But if you must use it on the Web, use links!
I then attended a session on healthcare and took away a couple items.
1) Key terms in healthcare PR right now are: A) Affordability, B) Prevention, C) Chronic health. If you create a press release or a blog, focus on the hot items.
2) Social media tools are good for hospitals. For instance, peeople who put off hip replacement surgery have worse outcomes. People are nervous because they do not know what surgery is like. Videos on YouTube and other sites, that show an actual surgery, help ease the mind. Always start a video with a patient, then the surgery, and follow up months later with a final story.
3) When developing a social media plan, always work with your legal department first. Getting them into the process, although is sometimes painful for PR professionals, helps in the end!
4) Always start with a goal! Don’t do social media for the sake of just doing it… figure out what you want to accomplish first, then measure what is relevant.
…good night!
Things I Learned at the International PRSA Conference
(Live blogging (Day One) from the PRSA International Conference in San Diego, California)
While I am here, I thought I would share some of the key takeaways from the conference.
Here is day one’s recap:
First, the PRSA conference program is rather large. 90+ pages of messages that I can barely read. I attended a pre-conference meeting with the PIO from the Jacksonville, Florida sheriff’s office and a consultant who has been involved with major crisis situations. At this session, I gathered the following takeaways:
- If you are a part of any crisis preparedness communications team, make sure you take the FEMA 700 Overview course. It is available online, for free.
- Whenever in a major crisis situation, develop an Incident Command Center. While you create this post, figure out the key players. Your crisis preparedness plan would have introduced you to these people prior to the crisis.
- It is not “social media”, it is “people media”
- The Jacksonville, Florida sheriff’s department can have a Twitter and Facebook page but the PIO cannot have a personal page. The PIO is a spokesperson on behalf of the department at all times.
- Video News Releases are now “statements”
- All crisis responses should pass the SAPP (Security Accuracy Propietary Policy) test
- Always have a spare black jacket in your office – key for spokespeople!
Then…I went to the opening ceremony with Arianna Huffington. First off, did you know she has a thick accent?! Me? No! Why?! I don’t know! But she does…
This is what I learned here… The Huffington Post gets 7 million visitors and 2 million comments each month.
- Press releases are obsolete.
- It is more effective to give information to a blog post or a Web site.
- The people you communicate with observe news differently and therefore you must adapt. Old media people are on the couch at home. New media people are galloping on a horse and are engaging!
- Don’t fear the Web. You can be corrected as fast as the information is disseminated. Pres. Obama corrected things all the time during his campaign!
- There is a constant need for drama! Frame your information in a dramatic way and then you’ll get some major press!
- Touching people’s hearts is bigger than touching people’s minds!
- The new economy is the linked economy! People that get this will change profession!
- Hoarding content and protecting information does not work any more.
Then we heard from Wendell Potter, a PR icon! He says that in his job he was able to remove himself from the humanity of what he was doing. He says don’t get in a postition where you are worried or will make a mistake. When you are in a constant state of fear, do a check cause something is wrong!
Arianna Huffington gave us her e-mail address: arianna@huffingtonpost.com and said to e-mail her at any time! Will she respond? I will check.
From there I attended the session by Katie Paine of KDPaine. It was on ROI of Social Media. Here is what I learned:
- Proctor & Gamble recently said that they pay for engagement, not eyeballs.
- Sodexo cut $300K from recruitment budget using Twitter.
- Stanford University calculates ROI from Facebook based applications and retention.
- IBM generates more leads, sales, exposure from a $500 podcast than a $40K ad campaign.
- Wal-Mart credits its Q109 profits to 11 moms.
- Direct mail ends up in the recycle bin!
- Goals for social media: A) Marketing function; B) Mission explanation; C) Brand awareness
- Omniture is as good as Google Analytics
- KDPaine.com will have PPT on her Web site on Monday
- Other free measurement tools include socialmention.com, Twinfluence and Twazzup.
Then I heard from Andy Gilman of CommCore Consulting. He was rather good. It was about messages; how to keep your messages sticky!
Essentially, give analogies and anecdotes. Give examples. Bring in third party individuals to support your work as much as possible!
1) Run tape on all your TV interviews
2) Visualize the message
3) Jeep is the word used to teach kids how to say the letter “J”
4) Use Haikus
I took a look at the new TVEYES.com social media software. Love it!
I met with the folks from MyMediaInfo.com – use it and love it!
Saw my alma mater, Quinnipiac University, in attendance! Go Bobcats!
Sat down with friends from PitchEngine.com – it is a free MNR service – kind of! Can’t wait to tell the folks at my firm about it!! It can ultimately save us thousands of dollars!
Saw the booth for MyPRGenie.com and EurekaAlert- they closed shop early so I hope to see them tomorrow!
Ended my night with some new friends aboard a naval ship in downtown San Diego. We went on the flight simulator and called it a night. See you tomorrow!
The Power of Multimedia News Releases
With social media becoming front and center these days, have you checked your news release to make sure it has legs for social networks? Today, my company issued a multimedia news release via PR Newswire to amplify the buzz on social media networks. Why? It includes social media tags, a video, all press materials in one location, hyperlinks and much more. It is also optimized for the Web. Check it out here and consider multimedia news releases whenever you have something to say: Brain cancer atlas has worldwide implications.
