Tag Archives: sm

Mikinzie Stuart

The BronxZoosCobra IS Dead

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Okay, not really. But even if the Bronx Zoo’s cobra isn’t actually dead, the buzz about her is.

If you work in the NYC area or read the news, chances are you’ve heard about of the escape and capture of the Bronx Zoo’s Cobra. If you have, it’s as likely that you’ve also heard her voice as @BronxZoosCobra when she slithered onto the social networks. Not only did the “snake who tweets” become a hot topic and easy news peg for major news sites such as The Wall Street Journal and NYTimes, but she sparked many a conversation about social media in our own circles, including raising the question of whether the person behind the reptile would make a good communications hire.

But is obtaining 240K Twitter followers in seven days a tell-tale sign of social media prowess? No, it’s not and here’s why: Continue reading →

Jeff Esposito

What We’re Reading at PRBC

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Every week it seems like there is a new list coming out listing the top 20, 50, or 100 blogs in a particular industry. These are usually based on available public stats, people submitting themselves or, for some, some nepotism. I often wonder if the list creator reads any of these blogs or simply relies on the numbers and makes the list to build backlinks.

So with that in mind, I chatted with the folks round the PRBC water cooler to compile a list of blogs that we all read and would recommend you checking them out in both social media and PR. Continue reading →

Nathan "PRCog" Burgess

New Platforms: Pinterest

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Oddly enough, only a few months ago I was lamenting the rapid influx of new social media platforms trying to supplant (or support, depending on how you looked at it) the holy trio that are Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.  Yes, I know YouTube, Flickr, etc. all have their own history and their own niche markets, and are ready to be tapped at a moment’s notice for the right purpose.  But by and large FLT (FB, LI & Twtr) are based on communicating with other members of the community.  Sure, you’ve got soap-boxers on each of them, but success isn’t based on soapboxing on those platforms.  The other platforms don’t really require engagement from the content creator for them to be seen by the right audience or even considered successful.

And so it was, with a bit of nostalgia for the good ole’ days of cool new platforms that I began to consider the upstarts – FourSquare (though it’s somewhat in the middle of the foundations of SM and the spawn), SCVNGR, GetGlue, Empire Avenue, etc. Each of these new platforms relied heavily on your existing digital footprint.  You connected with people you knew primarily elsewhere and saw what they produced on each of those platforms.  For the record – I’ve yet to find anything worthwhile about GetGlue that I couldn’t just get from posting a normal status update to FB and Twitter.

Then along comes Pinterest. Continue reading →

Matt Krautstrunk

PR Job Descriptions: Professional Social Media Experience Now Necessary?

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There have been abundant ramblings on how the emergence of social media has changed PR, for better or worse. Whether you are a social media guru or a non-believer, the requirements of the public relations profession has undoubtedly become more “social.” Here is a sample pulled from a PR coordinator job posting in 2005, and an almost analogous job description posting pulled from this year. Continue reading →

Justin Goldsborough

Are You Getting Credit for the 3Rs of PR?

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I don’t think PR professionals give our industry enough credit. And it starts with the fundamentals. As in those of us who are practicing them aren’t claiming them. And that’s our bad, because we should be.

Why should we claim things “everyone” should be doing? Because when we don’t continue to talk about doing the three Rs well – research, relevancy and relationships – bad pitches like this one gobble up all the PR headlines, tweets and Google results. Continue reading →

Tim Otis

Do you have FOMO?

6 Comments

Sounds like a disease, right? Oh, it is. FOMO is the “fear of missing out,” as the New York Times cleverly reported this past week. The cause: Facebook – and other social networks that can’t notify you enough of what your friends are doing.

The availability and accessibility of content has caused an uproar “socially”; many people think their life is boring when comparing it to other individuals’ posts – whether it be an update, photo, or video of a concert, new baby, etc. I, for one, get rather envious when I see a particular “friend” post updates of his trips to Costa Rica to swim in the hot springs, or the fact that he sold not one but two houses in a couple hours as a part-time realtor on top of his full-time gig. It’s these types of posts that make people nauseated. Continue reading →

Jessica Malnik

The Lost Art of Humility in PR

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Ask yourself this: Are you an “expert” at anything? Have you really taken the time necessary to completely master a skill, job or even just a hobby? Think long, hard and be honest. 

My guess is no.

We hear the words, “expert,” “guru,” “jedi” and “ninja” thrown around like ego-infused projectiles day in and day out in the PR and marketing sphere. To be completely honest, it drives me nuts.

Here’s why – 99% of the people, who call themselves experts or gurus are just doing it to inflate their own egos and make themselves feel good and sound more important. Continue reading →

Nathan "PRCog" Burgess

You’re Doing It Wrong

19 Comments

You’re on Twitter, right?

Yeah, but guess what, lots of you are still doing it wrong.  It’s not just a matter of being on Twitter but also of how you interact (assuming that is, that you interact), and what you send out to the world to make sure your digital footprint is as deep and defined as you’d like it to be.

Let’s face it, just like some other things (swimming and sparring have been used as examples recently) – you can know how to do it “by the book,” but until you feel water on your skin or a jab to the face working with the tools and on the platform isn’t the same beast at all.

So, to figure out if you’re actually doing it wrong, take this quickie quiz and see where you fall.  You might be doing it wrong if… Continue reading →

Richard Spiegel

Passion + Community = Success

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Marketing and PR continues to become more complex as there are more and more accessible methods for consumers interact with brands and with each other.  Making sense of all the possibilities is a daunting task. Everyone is familiar with the basics like Facebook and Twitter—but what else is there?  While Facebook and Twitter are regarded as engagement tools, the clutter of many-to-many conversations does diminish a campaign’s impact and effectiveness.  This is precisely where crowdsourcing can fit in as a way to cut through the noise and build meaningful connections with your consumers or community.

Crowdsourcing, or co-creation, is a fun and engaging marketing and PR tool to get a community of participants activated and engaged leading up to an event or as part of a campaign. Building a campaign around crowdsourcing can be a quick and easy way to mix things up and get people talking with little or no cost. Continue reading →