Monthly Archives: January 2011

Eric Berto

Unicorn Metrics

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Caution: I am not a Social Media “Expert,” “guru,” “ninja” or “shaman.”

When we counsel our clients about what metrics are important for measuring a successful communications campaign, we often lob oral grenades such as engagement, influence and interactions. These kinds of metrics make you feel great.

But they don’t really exist. They have the possibility to exist and some folks have come close to making them a reality, but for the most part, these metrics are figments of our social media dashboard’s imagination. They’re Unicorn Metrics. Continue reading →

Rebecca Denison

How to: Keep Your PR Measurement Resolutions

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It’s that time of year. Everyone is making New Year’s resolutions, and if you’re like most other PR or marketing professionals, measurement is on your list initiatives for the year ahead. If not, it’s likely that you want to continually improve and be able to make a greater impact with the same budget, for example. And if you’re like most other people in this world, you’ll probably lose some (or all) of your motivation as the year goes on.

One of the most important ways to ensure proper measurement is to set benchmarks. It’s hard to measure if you have “moved the needle” or made an impact if you don’t know where you started.

The tricky part about using benchmarks to measure, though, is that you have to measure or set the benchmarks in the first place. And as new clients and campaigns emerge throughout the year, sometimes setting the proper benchmarks gets lost in the shuffle. Below are a few tips to ensure measurement will be a part of your New Year. Continue reading →

Mike Schaffer

Fixing the Toxic Talk PRoblem

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I am not what you would call a “politico.”  The closest I come to being a political junkie is staying up late to watch election returns.

However, I do live and work in Washington, DC, where it is impossible to NOT get pulled into the machine from time to time.

Over the course of my career, I’ve dabbled in a few political events.  I’ve met politicians from “my” persuasion that I didn’t enjoy spending time with and had terrific encounters with officials from the “other team.”

I’ve spent the majority of my career in sports, where there is a clear winner and a loser.  (We won’t get into the head-scratching NFL overtime rules here.) Continue reading →

Shelly Kramer

Etsy – The Latest Brand to Disappoint

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Etsy, the online marketplace self-described as “Your place to buy and sell all things handmade, vintage and supplies,” is the latest brand to suffer a full on image meltdown. And, like BP, Tiger Woods and Toyota before them, they’re also the latest brand to resolutely stick its head in the sand as a way of dealing with PR crisis and the resultant public outcry.

A friend alerted me late last week to the fact that Etsy was allowing a vendor to sell some very offensive greeting cards and shared Change.org’s petition requesting Etsy remove the cards–to date supported by almost 16,000 signatures. This friend has a daughter with Down Syndrome and was espe­­­­cially horrified by a card like the one in the image above.

Let me back up and say that I’ve been a huge Etsy fan and supporter for a long time now.  I love dealing with craftsman and artisans and have patronized Etsy vendors for years, buying things like hair bows, laptop sleeves, jewelry, reusable snack bags and mesh produce bags and a myriad of other handmade things.  And I’ve often preferred to go to Etsy for the things I’m looking for rather than eBay because the community they’ve created has always evoked a good feeling. A feeling of trust. I’ve felt that the people I’m buying from are people I might actually want to get to know and maybe even want to hang out with – and I certainly want to support them by buying their wares. For me, that kind of feeling is like shopping at the local specialty store versus at a big chain – and Etsy did it for me. Continue reading →

Jeff Esposito

Defacto 2011 PR Resolutions

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Before we all checked out for 2010, we opened up a challenge to the readership of the PR Breakfast Club – to complete our list of PR New Years’ resolutions. Part of it was out of laziness on my part mixed with my inability to count, but the other part was to hear from you guys to see what you thought collectively that our industry should change.

After all none of us is as dumb as all of us put together, so without further adieu, here is the list of PR resolutions, crowdsourced from the PRBC community (click here to see the original post): Continue reading →

Marie Baker

2011: The Blogger Revolution

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Can you hear that sound? It’s the sound of a blogger revolution ya’ll! That’s right the blogging world is changing and I predict that this year we will see some things really come to surface. From money to marketing, bloggers are savvier than ever before and we all need to get with the program.

I spend quite a bit of time reading tweets, blog posts, etc. which are all about the blogger/public relations dynamic. After covering this territory for years, here’s what I think will go down in 20-11: Continue reading →

Nathan "PRCog" Burgess

Rules of the Road

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I’ve hosted and been the honored and humbled guest at a few tweet/meetups for those coming into my city and when visiting other cities. Everything from small groups for coffee to much larger get togethers.  From everything I’ve seen and done there appear to be a few misconceptions a) on how these things actually happen and b) how much people think of themselves.  So let’s  review a few of the basics. Continue reading →

Keith Trivitt

New Realities Emerging in Crisis Communications

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Boy, was last week a tough one for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. With his city stung by a 20-inch blizzard, its sixth-worst on record, and massive delays in cleaning up the mess, “Mayor Mike” managed to put his foot in his mouth for what will likely not be the last time in his political career.

Saying Monday that #snowloko was “inconvenient,” while urging New Yorkers to see a Broadway show (seemingly oblivious to the fact that millions of outer-borough residents were literally trapped in their homes — and would be for several days — because of his administration’s mismanagement and bungling of the cleanup effort) Bloomberg perfectly exemplified a new reality that is starting to emerge in crisis management in the digital age: words, much like images, can make or break you. Continue reading →

TJ Dietderich

A Christmas Miracle: The Professional Holiday Greeting

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It’s December 16 and I am sitting in front of my Mac Book, planning on what kind of holiday message I’ll be sending my LinkedIn and Facebook friends and colleagues. Some of these people I’d consider very close friends indeed; I can swear creatively in their presence and they won’t care. They will join in. They will one-up me. Others, I know only through work or school. I might have a cocktail with them, but I would avoid saying anything less than charming. I would be a perfect gentleman. I’ve read about them in books.

OK, so my holiday greeting will be very general and all-encompassing. I will save the draft and send it on December 25. “Happy holidays to you and yours,” I type. “Travel safe and stay warm!” Continue reading →