I’m old enough to remember the days of bringing a Walkman into my bed at night to try and listen to baseball. On the clearest of nights, I could hear the radio home of the Chicago Cubs, the St. Louis Cardinals, and sometimes, the Boston Red Sox from my New Jersey bedroom. However, most times, I’d have to deal with plenty of static and interference.In our social media world today, we have the same issues. While we can “hear” some of the most influential PR/social media/marketing folks, we still need to get through the “static” to actually listen. Why? Our Facebook and Twitter streams are clouded with too much noise and clutter that affects what we take in.
So, how can we better listen and engage our followers? Here are five tips to fine tune your focus on social networks. Continue reading →
In public relations, we are taught that preparation is key for any crisis or situation that may need our attention. But, it is equally important on how we train our clients. One of the integral parts to keeping a client prepared is media training.
How your client looks and sounds on television or comes across in a newspaper story can go a long way to showing they are credible. I entered public relations after a long career in television and radio. Taking that experience, I’ve been able to assist my clients in making sure they are well prepared for the media. Continue reading →
You may be aware that there is a big debate going on in the social media blogosphere about “influence”. We’re all familiar with the mantra that we should be out there leveraging influencers in our communities in order to get the word out about our causes, brands or services… and that makes total sense from a generating-word-of-mouth point of view.
But hold on. If you’re trying to do this, and you don’t actually know who your industry influencers are (perhaps because you’re not really immersed in your own open community, or because your community is too large or public-facing to be able to list your champions in an organic way), and you’re looking at some tools out there that purport to measure influence…. maybe you’re starting to think “this is not as easy as it sounds.” Maybe you’re starting to think that influence is not about how many followers someone has on Twitter. Maybe you’re starting to think that “influencer scores” are totally meaningless for your goals and objectives. Continue reading →
Ten minutes. That’s all you have to influence your audience. How do you make sure your messages are communicated efficiently?
One of the most valuable things I learned from my previous job was how to own a five and, if Iwas lucky, ten minute interview. I worked as a publicist for a book publicity firm and scheduled Radio Tours. For those of you who don’t know what that means, imagine having twenty back-to-back interviews with radio hosts all over the country for approximately six hours….starting at 7:00 a.m. EST. Sounds exhausting and intimidating right? Continue reading →
Over the last six months, Coffee Talk has taught me and hopefully you, about the many sectors of public relations. We’ve learned about agency and corporate life, entertainment, and consumer PR, juggling careers and a family, and how to go solo and much more. PR is so diverse that we can learn something new about it everyday, but what about the rest of our communications professionals? We work with media professionals on a daily basis, yet we never really get the chance to see what a day is like in their life. So I’ve decided to open Coffee Talk to media professionals too. I will interview hard working professionals from all different levels to give us an inside look at their daily life. First one to bat, Rob “Stats” Guerrera, production assistant for ESPN’s “Mike & Mike in the Morning”.
Continue reading →
…..a chance to start the day off right.