Could SM come to occupy a similar role in movies and television programs?  Is it reasonable to think we could see a day where reality show contestants are live tweeting?  Could Facebook updates replace some of the face-to-face interaction?  Not to mention how the speed at which messages move in the SM sphere seems ideal for helping the contestants on reality dating shows to spread their trash talk and drama effectively.

While the integration of SM into reality television would undoubtedly serve as a catalyst for drama more than it would a tool for achieving objectives, it seems like SM in movies and television could become the rule.  But would we still watch?

Product placements hit on our radar, but they don’t typically detract from or interrupt the plot.  But SM?  I think it looks like a distraction.  Would you watch contestants on The Bachelor receive their date boxes via Facebook?  Would it be at all compelling to have Jeopardy contestants Tweet their answers?  Beyond that, could SM be integrated into plot lines of movies and sitcoms?  Any detectives up for solving mysteries with clues found on Facebook and/or Twitter?

It might seem that I’ve taken this idea too far, but product placements started slowly and took off like a firestorm.  Can SM follow in its footsteps?  At what point will SM integration turn off viewers?

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• 19 March 2010 : Could SM Become the New Product Placement?
• 19 March 2010 : We Know Nothing
• 18 March 2010 : The Decline of the R.S.V.P.
• 18 March 2010 : Act of Nature and Lifetime TV
• 17 March 2010 : Dunkin’ Donuts: Keeping Customers Loyal Via Social Media

Here’s the kick in the pants — PR pros, and other professionals in the related communications fields, don’t really “know” anything either when it comes to this stuff that a first or second year wouldn’t.Can an experienced professional craft a story better – very likely. Do they have more sector contacts from years of practice – probably.  But at the end of the day, when you’re expecting the hit, it’s completely out of our control – whether that’s from someone who has 2 years of practice or 20, attended an ivy-league school or their local 4-year unaccredited university, has an APR or not.

Knowledge, at its basic, is probably best defined as a “justified true belief” of something.  A justified opinion or justified belief (“I’ve sold similar stories that have made it to the cover of top trades so I believe I can do it again”) is one thing.  We don’t know if the “true” part will happen until afterwards.

At best, the field we work in is a social science, as opposed to a hard science where you can remove all variables and get the same results time after time, year after year.  Public opinion and interest can be fickle, editors and editorial direction change, etc.  The introduction of new platforms (and SM isn’t the first – I’d bet the introduction of radio, television, “glossies,” etc. all had similar disruptive effects on the biz) adds new uncontrollable variables to our business that we can’t predict – ever.  Even putting aside public interest and opinion there’s simply no way to predict whether a larger, breaking story will bump yours from the date you expect it to run.

The point – anytime you’re in a comms meeting and hear someone use the word “know” (when referring to an end-game and not “I know Bob at the Times” or “I know the ad rates for that publication” – and even then, things change), put down your pen and start listening – it’s likely you’re being sold (or selling if you find yourself saying it) a bridge.

(And yes, sometimes we have to say it to portray confidence during a new business pitch — but be careful…)

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• 19 March 2010 : Could SM Become the New Product Placement?
• 19 March 2010 : We Know Nothing
• 18 March 2010 : The Decline of the R.S.V.P.
• 18 March 2010 : Act of Nature and Lifetime TV
• 17 March 2010 : Dunkin’ Donuts: Keeping Customers Loyal Via Social Media

The decline of evite popularity is becoming more and more of a trend.

I, myself, have been on both sides of the fence in relation to the R.S.V.P. Nothing is more frustrating then sending out an evite, only to realize no one has responded. Not only does it make you sad, but how do you even know who is coming to the event or not?

On the flipside, I just logged into my Facebook account and realized I have yet to respond to 12 event invitations. Oops. Since the majority of these are for events in different states, I have the tendency to ignore all event evites. I guess that’s not fair to those that are inviting me to actual, relevant events.

I remember back in the day, you would get an evite and everyone would be psyched! There would be a ton of responses – not everyone could come, but at least there were actual responses. Nowadays, it seems no one responds. It’s just another e-mail or reminder that sits in your inbox, going totally ignored.

The other trend is the “yes” that’s actually a “no.” This has happened to me on a number of occasions. People R.S.V.P. yes, and then don’t show up. They never give you warning beforehand – it’s like they totally plain forgot.

I fully admit that if I get an invitation in the mail,  I am 99% more likely to respond than if it was sent via Facebook or some other way via the internet. Why is that?

Is it because we are filled to the brim with information? Are we “over” the whole evite thing? Should we go back to the old-fashion invitation? Or, have we just become too jaded to be bothered with such trivialities?

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• 19 March 2010 : Could SM Become the New Product Placement?
• 19 March 2010 : We Know Nothing
• 18 March 2010 : The Decline of the R.S.V.P.
• 18 March 2010 : Act of Nature and Lifetime TV
• 17 March 2010 : Dunkin’ Donuts: Keeping Customers Loyal Via Social Media

I was totally ready to stay in and enjoy my time, save some money, do some work, catch up on TV, but I ran into a problem. For months a movie has been being pushed on Lifetime TV, “Who is Clark Rockefeller?” It’s based on a true story, seemingly dramatic, and appeared to be a night of entertainment, I was exciting to find out that the movie was debuting when I was stranded in my house!

I’m sitting down, watching the movie, all into it, and about an hour into it, the screen goes black. Black. I switch rooms, black TV. I go to the third room in my spacious apartment, black screen. All the other channels are working, what happened? Lifetime TV was off the air! Beyond my dismay for not being able to see the movie that I have been pumped about, I wondered what could have happened.

Turns out, through inside sources, that Lifetime TV in general was disrupted. Not only in the tri-state area, but across the country. Our lovely tropical storm in New York City knocked out Lifetime TV! I never thought something could knock that station out but it happened. So to the tie in of the post…Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent by advertisers for this movie debut, but nobody got to see them…and let me tell you, the ratings for this movie were doing amazing until the catastrophe.

So what happens? It’s not really Lifetime TV’s fault that a monsoon hit the northeast, so why should they be responsible for the loss of airtime for advertisers? They are obviously never going to win that battle, but is it really ethically correct? Can’t these advertisers just find another spot? Wait till the next amazingly awesome original Lifetime TV movie and get an I.O.U?

Sorry but I think the advertisers should just suck it up and deal with it, act like it was a lotto ticket with losing numbers. Just move on kids.

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• 19 March 2010 : Could SM Become the New Product Placement?
• 19 March 2010 : We Know Nothing
• 18 March 2010 : The Decline of the R.S.V.P.
• 18 March 2010 : Act of Nature and Lifetime TV
• 17 March 2010 : Dunkin’ Donuts: Keeping Customers Loyal Via Social Media

Not the author

It’s no big secret that I am a bigger Dunkin’ Donuts fan than most.  This weekend, in the wake of New Jersey’s monster hurricane, I traveled to three different Dunkin’s just to get hash browns and an iced coffee, and then I went to a fourth one later that night.  Today I somehow found myself in a Starbucks and asked for a medium iced coffee three times before I realized I was supposed to say Grande.  Dunkin’ is sort of always on my brain.

And I’m definitely not the only one.  Last month, Dunkin’ Donuts was named number one in customer loyalty (in the coffee category) for the fourth straight year, which shows just how many people in the United States have made stopping at the infamous chain part of their daily routine.  Of course the question that a study like this raises is, what is it that Dunkin’ Donuts does that inspires such utter devotion among their consumers?

I won’t be so bold as to claim that their activities in Social Media is the sole answer to this question (I mean have you ever had their Coconut Iced Coffee? It’s seriously delicious). However, I do think that they do a particularly fantastic job of taking advantage of all that social media has to offer and using it to reach their customers.  They were one of the first brands that I really started actively following on Twitter and Facebook and I have truly enjoyed keeping up with all of the things that they do.

Aside from their “Create Dunkin’s Next Donut” contest, Dunkin’ doesn’t do a ton of large-scale, media attracting social media initiatives.  It’s the small things that they truly excel at.  They know how to keep consumers engaged and interested on a daily basis and they have a way of making you feel like you’re special, even as just one of their millions of consumers.  They may not make a huge splash by doing ridiculous things that no one has ever heard of, but I would argue that it really doesn’t matter.  By making the consumer the focus of their brand (which goes along perfectly with their “America Runs on Dunkin’” slogan) instead of the brand itself, Dunkin Donuts has ensured that they will stay loyal.

The brand’s Twitter account is a great model for companies looking to try their hand at the service.  Instead of just broadcasting information and deals, “Dunkin’ Dave” makes it a point to respond and talk to the fans that tweet at him.  I’ve been RTed by the account many times and have been reached out to after I tweeted a (semi) complaint.  The level of engagement really made tweeting with a brand FUN to me. And Dave definitely has a fun, witty personality that goes with the vibe of the brand.  I don’t know much about the backstory of Dunkin’ Dave, but I’d be really interested in learning more since it seems his full time job is tweeting (which is a fascinating concept in and of itself).  The Twitter account also hosts frequent promotions like their recent “Twinter Games” where followers can use a certain hashtag to win a number of different prizes.

Dunkin’ Donut’s Facebook account (currently boasting more than 1 million fans) does an even better job at interacting with their consumers.  The page is the site of weekly contests where fans can become the “Fan of the Week” and have their decked out photo featured as the brand’s profile picture.  I can’t think of a better way to keep consumers passionate about the brand than by letting them broadcast their passion to the world.  It’s incredibly entertaining to browse through the crazy pictures that mega-fans have posted on the page.

Not many brands participating in social media can say this, but the brilliance of Dunkin’ Donut’s strategy comes from its simplicity.  I think they are a perfect example of what the standard might one day be for any company that is looking to successfully engage with their customers through social media.

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• 19 March 2010 : Could SM Become the New Product Placement?
• 19 March 2010 : We Know Nothing
• 18 March 2010 : The Decline of the R.S.V.P.
• 18 March 2010 : Act of Nature and Lifetime TV
• 17 March 2010 : Dunkin’ Donuts: Keeping Customers Loyal Via Social Media

Affect is a verb. Effect is a noun.

I remember it by saying an affect is an action.

Exception: when you “effect change,” then you can use effect as a verb. And when you use “an affect,” meaning you’re using a certain trait (as in acting), then you can use affect as a noun. But those instances are so rare you may as well not even bother.

That’s it. Bookmark and go on with your lives.

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• 19 March 2010 : Could SM Become the New Product Placement?
• 19 March 2010 : We Know Nothing
• 18 March 2010 : The Decline of the R.S.V.P.
• 18 March 2010 : Act of Nature and Lifetime TV
• 17 March 2010 : Dunkin’ Donuts: Keeping Customers Loyal Via Social Media

A recent survey by Middleberg/Ross revealed that 98% of journalists go online daily to generate story ideas and access information. Clearly, the web is working for them, and maybe for some of us as well. Over the past year, we’ve become increasingly familiar with hearing journalists site social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter as sources for story ideas. My question is, where are the PR people getting their story ideas?

Yes, some clients come equipped with a bevy of compelling story angles and news hooks. Others have newsworthy stories that can be easily uncovered. Yet, I’m convinced that everyone experiences a drought from time to time. Those periods when the ready-to-go angles have been exhausted and there aren’t any shiny objects to chase with pitches offering expert commentary.

For some, ideas come from tracking the competition, scouring social media for obscure statistics that can be packed into an eye-opening pitch or hours spent in a creative room playing darts. . .errrmm. . .brainstorming and releasing creative energy, that is.

For others, it comes from seeking new perspectives. What I affectionately consider ‘client roulette’ — assembling a group of your colleagues, having everyone put one client name in the hat, and then drawing names. While you not only gain some fresh perspective, you also buy a few minutes to take a deep breath and reduce frustration.

All kidding aside, how do you generate story ideas to wow your clients and break through the clutter? With the plethora of information bombarding social media consumers alone, it is becoming easier each day to get lost in the shuffle of the day-to-day or simply the mere barrage of information coming at each of us from dawn to dusk.

With the need for unique, high quality, compelling stories at, what I consider to be, an all-time high, I’m interested in hearing how fellow PR pros stimulate their creative juices and pull rabbits out of hats when it comes to new and compelling stories to pitch media.

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• 19 March 2010 : Could SM Become the New Product Placement?
• 19 March 2010 : We Know Nothing
• 18 March 2010 : The Decline of the R.S.V.P.
• 18 March 2010 : Act of Nature and Lifetime TV
• 17 March 2010 : Dunkin’ Donuts: Keeping Customers Loyal Via Social Media

Which is probably why there are so many damn blog posts, articles, books, and Web sites devoted to work/life balance and effective time management and whether you need to separate your personal life/time from your professional life/time, or if you should choose the new trendy time-management theory of “your job and your personal life should blend harmoniously and in perfect sequence with one another.”

I say bulls*** to all of that.

Seriously. There is no magic theory or great article or blog post you can read that will help you deal with everything that comes at you in this profession or in any other, at least not from a time-management standpoint. Your life is your life, and whether you choose to designate some formal separation from work and home (e.g. not checking work e-mails every five minutes once you have left the office, or not constantly scanning the headlines on your BlackBerry during the weekend to see if there is some big trend rising up that you need to client your client in on), or whether you choose to have a cohesive blend of work and home is your own choice, and it’s one only you can make after a great deal of trial-and-error, introspection and thought about how you want to manage your life and career.

Because you have control over all of this. If you want to separate work from your home life, great. Do that. But know what you are doing, and be accountable for it. Likewise, if you want to be the always-on, “my work is my life, and vice-versa” type of PR guy, that’s fine, too; but again, know what comes with that. So, when you miss a big trend over the weekend that your client would have been perfect for, but you have decided that you’re a “work is separate from my personal life” type of PR pro, be accountable for what happens. Likewise, if you’re “always-on” PR guy, be accountable if you feel like you haven’t stepped off the giant treadmill of work for about 27-straight days.

I’m not trying to say one way is better than the other, or indict anyone who chooses one path versus the other. What I am saying is the constant chatter, articles and blog posts claiming that “work-life balance” no longer exists, or “to be successful, you must blend your life and your career” is a bunch of crap, and needs to stop. It’s your decision, and it’s going to take a hell of a lot of trial and error to figure it all out, and that’s something that none of the so-called “experts” in time management will ever be able to figure out for you.

As for me? I struggle every week with trying to figure out what type of career balance I want to strike. Some weeks, I’m flying along with a great balance of things, and everyone (me, my fiancé, my friends, family, clients, employer, etc.) is happy with how things are going, and the amount of attention I am giving them. Other weeks . . . eh, not so much. And, it’s exhausting sometimes to try to work through all of this.

So, no, unfortunately, I don’t have the magical answer for everyone on this, but I’d love to hear from all of you as to how you balance things out.

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• 19 March 2010 : Could SM Become the New Product Placement?
• 19 March 2010 : We Know Nothing
• 18 March 2010 : The Decline of the R.S.V.P.
• 18 March 2010 : Act of Nature and Lifetime TV
• 17 March 2010 : Dunkin’ Donuts: Keeping Customers Loyal Via Social Media

Answer: I think this is the age-old question that many PR people struggle with!

There are two schools of thinking: measuring outputs or outcomes. Outputs measures the number of clips you place, how many column inches you secure, etc. Outcomes measures the impact of the media placements. So, did your proactive media relations efforts help increase donations, volunteer hours, etc? Obviously, you can’t tie one clip to an specific jump in donations; instead you’re looking more broadly at the communication effort as a whole — media placements, speaking engagements, isssue advocacy, etc.

As a nonprofit that has never tackled measurement, perhaps you could start start by measuring a mix of outputs and outcomes. It’s a lot easier to measure outputs. For example:

• Secure 10 positive media placements in the next 6 months.
• Generate positive media coverage in at least 5 different media outlets/publications in the next 6 months.

While that’s pretty straightforward, you don’t know if those media placements are doing the organization any good. That’s why I also recommend measuring outcomes. Can you approach your development team about setting a joint increased-donations goal, or work with your volunteer coordinator to identify a need?

Then, you could establish objectives like this:

• Secure 4 clips in the next 6 months tied to volunteering for [organization] and the need for additional volunteers.
• Generate 5 positive media placements that convey our organization’s need for additional monetary donations in the next year.
• Increase traffic to our website by XX% year-over-year.

Once you’ve established these objectives (and gotten managemenet’s buy-in), then you can begin proactively pitching the media on the types of stories that will help you achieve the objectives. So, for example, if one of your objectives is tied to increasing volunteer hours, perhaps you can pitch a local magazine on a feature story about a resident who is a long-time volunteer. Or, maybe you have a cool story about a mom and a daughter who have both volunteered for your organization … something along those lines. You’ll have to work closely with the other people in your organization to uncover these story angles, but when you do, you’ll be amazed at how much media coverage you can garner.

* * *

That was my answer. What would you add to help this nonprofit start measuring media relations?

Got questions you’d like answered in the “Advice for Nonprofits” series? Email them to blog [at] gebencommunication.com.

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• 19 March 2010 : Could SM Become the New Product Placement?
• 19 March 2010 : We Know Nothing
• 18 March 2010 : The Decline of the R.S.V.P.
• 18 March 2010 : Act of Nature and Lifetime TV
• 17 March 2010 : Dunkin’ Donuts: Keeping Customers Loyal Via Social Media

Who am I kidding? I have a lot of pet peeves.

Ok, well one of the things that I’d like to vent about today is the High Importance E-mail Indicator ! ! !

One day last week, POP goes an e-mail right into my inbox. This e-mail was from a lovely young lady I had spoken to about internship opportunities with my firm. A routine e-mail at best. But definitely NOT of high importance. Lucky girl . . . she marked that e-mail with that little red exclamation point.

Now, I do not respect or like this young woman any less because she marked this e-mail ‘high importance’ when it most definitely was not. She is most likely an unaware offender. However, I have to ask myself: “How would I be perceived by journalists (heck my colleagues too) if every e-mail of a routine nature I sent was plagued with a red exclamation point?”

Thinking about sending an e-mail of ‘high importance?’ Think again unless your e-mail falls into one of these categories:

1 ) The editor you are in contact with is on deadline and you need to get something your client has in their possession to that editor.

2 ) You’re passing on a message to your boss or co-worker relaying the cops just called and her kid has been arrested…or is really ill at the nurse’s office at school and needs to be brought home ASAP.

3 ) A reporter accidentally included incorrect/erroneous information in an article about your client that may harm the client’s company or the reporter’s credibility. Timeliness is serious in these matters especially if it’s an online article.

4 ) A fast-approaching meeting has been cancelled or postponed.

5 ) Your client has gone M.I.A. and the WSJ would like to do a front page article on them.

6 ) Your colleague is on a conference call with you from a different office and starts sharing privy and/or dangerous/incorrect information and you want to stop her.

7 ) You’re watching your colleague’s car being towed away.

8 ) You’ve sent your boss to a meeting with Mrs. Turner who recently had a nasty divorce and is now Ms. Smith. He needs to know about her name change!

9 ) Your client calls while you’ve stepped away from your desk asking if the address he has for the “Capitaltown Daily” is correct since he’s on his way to an interview for his big story . . . you then realize he’s got the number of the street address wrong and is actually headed for the town landfill making him not only late for his interview, but also smelly.

10 ) The sky is falling.

Got any good ones?? Please share!

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• 19 March 2010 : Could SM Become the New Product Placement?
• 19 March 2010 : We Know Nothing
• 18 March 2010 : The Decline of the R.S.V.P.
• 18 March 2010 : Act of Nature and Lifetime TV
• 17 March 2010 : Dunkin’ Donuts: Keeping Customers Loyal Via Social Media