My BU New Media Class (Part 2) #bunewmedia

CM443 B1 Fall 2012 (Part 2)

New Media and Public Relations

Explores the effects of new media on the fundamental theories, models, and practices of public relations. Studies how websites, blogs, citizen journalism, social media, direct-to-consumer communication, podcasting, viral marketing, and other technology-enabled changes are affecting interpersonal, small group, and mass media relationships. Also covers and uses the interactive tools that are re-defining the practice of public relations. The course combines lecture, discussion, guest speakers, case study, and research to help students uncover and appreciate the power and potential of interactive media.

Course Schedule

Course Schedule

FEEDING THE BEAST & SELLING YOUR PROGRAM

CM443 B1 Fall 2012 – Weeks 7/8

The Four Cs

• The Four Cs– Content creation (inform)– Community building– Conversation engagement– Conversion (changing behavior)

C

Getting Buy-In

• Seed (identify a suitable first user group)

• Prioritize (identify key players)• Experiment• Create evangelists• Turn evangelists into trainers

Shared by Natalie Levine

(Some) Content Rules

• Start with the why• Reuse• Define success• Speak human (but read tech)• Reimagine (but don’t recycle)• Share, solve, but don’t shill• Listen and learn

http://www.contentrulesbook.com/

I do some pretty egregious

paraphrasing here – the book

is better

The Best Content Advice I Have

Kinds of Blogs

1. CEO Blog2. Executive Blog3. Group Blog4. Company Blog5. Advocacy Blog6. Promotional Blog7. Sponsored Blog

Secrets Chapter 5

The Blogging Tenets

SuccinctTransparen

tResponsiveAcceptingInsightfulGenuineHumorousTimely

Secrets Chapter 5

Curation, Not Just Creation

• Content curation, or the reuse/repackaging of other people’s content, is becoming hugely popular

• You must be able to add value to that content: commentary, insight or more news

Podcasting Tips

1. You already have the equipment– You can start with free software and built-in

hardware, then work your way up

2. Export your audio from videos– Whenever possible, capture content in video,

then work backward

3. Listen before you record– Not just to your own test recording, but other real

podcasts and radio programs

4. Keep length in mind– Under your community’s average commute time

Content Rules Chapter 17

Podcasting Tips (Part 2)

5. Publishing is easy-ish– Pick up a copy of Podcasting For Dummies to tackle all

the issues

6. Submit to iTunes– Plenty of other places too, but start here

7. Plan before hitting “Record”– Write out your intros and outros and have an outline of

topics at least

8. Use music wisely– NOT from your CD collection, but music you have rights

to use

9. Editing is your friend– And you’ll hate it, but you need to do it


Video Rules

1. Audio quality is significantly more important than video quality – use an external mic

2. Get a copy of Get Seen by Steve Garfield3. Viral video “rules” get broken all the time, but

in general:– Shorter is better– Don’t bury the lead (the call to action)

4. Video isn’t searchable yet (nor is audio), so be very descriptive in title, description and tags

5. Include a dragon – a problem you’re trying to solve

Question: Monetization• #presentandfuturebusinessmodelsformonetizingthenewspa

perindustry• What do you charge for and what do you offer for free?• Does free content cheapen you? Can it cost you business?

Gating: Costs and Benefits

• Kinds of gates– Paygates– Likegates– Infogates

• Does gating keep people out? Of course!

• But does it keep out the wrong kinds, or the right kinds?

• A/B testing is one great technique to find out

FEEDING THE BEAST (PART 2): CONTENT AND COMMUNITY

CM443 B1 Fall 2012 – Week 8

Top Content Marketing Goals

http://www.slideshare.net/hschulze/b2b-content-marketing-trends-2012

Most Effective Tactics/Formats


Top Content Marketing Platforms, Tactics & Influencers


http://www.slideshare.net/stevenvanbelleghem/a-six-step-content-marketing-model

6 Keys to Sharable Content

http://www.slideshare.net/stevenvanbelleghem/a-six-step-content-marketing-model

Rand Fishkin’s Content Marketing Manifesto

http://www.slideshare.net/randfish/the-content-marketing-manifesto

I pledge to create something remarkable – something that people will love. Something they will want to share. Something I can be proud of. And if it fails to achieve my marketing goals, I won’t give up. I will try again. My failures will be the practice I need to earn future successes and future customers.

Todd’s Building Blocks of a Content Marketing Strategy

1. News2. Understanding of Customer3. Understanding of Competition4. Understanding of Industry5. Understanding of Influencers6. Opinions on Any and All of These7. Lack of Fear to be Different, Better

or Critical

The Eight Elements of News

1. Immediacy2. Proximity3. Prominence4. Oddity5. Conflict6. Suspense7. Emotion8. Consequence

Creating a Customer Profile

• Give them a name, e.g., “Sally Spender” • If necessary, include– The User– The Decision Maker– The Influencer– The Buyer

• There may be more than one• Include both– Demographics– Psychographics– Socialgraphics

http://www.entrepreneurship.org/en/resource-center/customer-profile.aspxhttp://www.businessesgrow.com/2012/01/26/forget-demographics-its-all-about-the-socialgraphics/

Know Thy Competition

Your competitors include:• Organizations offering the same product or service now.• Organizations offering similar products or services now.• Organizations that could offer the same or similar products or

services in the future.• Organizations that could remove the need for a product or

service.

The Four Stages of Competitive Intelligence:1. Collect the information2. Convert the information into intelligence

a) Collate and catalog itb) Integrate it with other informationc) Analyze and interpret it

3. Communicate the intelligence4. Counter adverse competitor actions you identifyhttp://www.marketing-intelligence.co.uk/resources/competitor-analysis.htm

Know Thy Industry and Its Influencers

• What are the key trends and topics being written about?

• Who’s writing about them?• What are the related keywords and

key phrases?• What’s not hot and should be

avoided?

Find Your Voice

• Opinions are more interesting, and more valuable in a Twitter world, than facts

• Becoming a trusted source is a very valuable position

• Remember that PR is storytelling, and…• Social media is the ultimate cocktail party, and…• The hit of the party is often the best storyteller,

and…• Stories require characters, but…• Characters have flaws, so…• Don’t be afraid to show your own, and others’,

flaws – chances are they’re going to be found anyway

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/222779#

Before You Create or Engage

1. Have a social media policy in place2. Have a social media response protocol 3. Build a repertoire of pre-approved

messages4. Have a monitoring tool in place

http://www.slideshare.net/princessmisia/how-to-be-an-awesome-community-managerhttp://www.slideshare.net/hschulze/b2b-content-marketing-trends-2012

Why Create a Community?

• Networked structures speed information transfer

• Shared ownership and commitment speed adoption

4 Types of Community Members

• Commenters• Passives• Trolls• Passionates 4


Social Media ≠ Community

http://www.slideshare.net/rhappe/community-management-fundamentals

What is Community Management?


The Discipline of Ensuring Productive Communities

The Ice

berg

Eff

ect

Community Management Rules

1. Remember that community is not the platform, it’s the people

2. Set up clear guidelines for participation, and put them in writing

3. Understand the implications of exerting editorial control over user-generated content

4. Don’t sell!5. Disclose your identity6. Be yourself, but don’t be all about you or the product7. Be friendly and helpful, but firm8. Ask questions and show that you’re listening9. Show that you’re learning; that they’re making a

difference10. Feed the stars but starve the trolls11. Keep calm and carry on12. Admit mistakes and apologizehttp://www.slideshare.net/princessmisia/how-to-be-an-awesome-community-manager


The Community Maturity Model


Joselin’s Rules for Experiential Marketing

• 5 stages of event planning: pre-planning, planning, pre-event, event, post-event

• 7 stakeholders of events: Organizer, attendee, venue, speaker, (paid) sponsor, (paid or unpaid, more closely involved) partner, service provider

BUILDING YOUR PROGRAM: DISCOVERING, PRIORITIZING AND LISTENING

CM443 B1 Fall 2012 – Week 9

Influencing the Influencers

1. Discovery Tools and Tips

2. Prioritization Ideas3. Listening Tools4. Changing Behaviors

The four critical elements to finding and influencing your influencers

Discovery Tools and Tips: Paid

• Radian6• Lithium• Sysomos• Brandwatch• Crimson Hexagon• Alterian• Synthesio• Social Radar• Buzzstream• eCairn• Traackr

Discovery Tools and Tips: Twitter

• Twellow• WeFollow• Klout• Twitter Search• Twitalyzer• TweetLevel• Mentionmapp• Tweetreach• Trendistic

Discovery Tools and Tips: Blogs

• Alltop• Blogpulse• IceRocket• Touchgraph• Technorati• Postrank• Google Blog Search

Discovery Tools and Tips: Other

• Boardreader• Facebook Search• YourOpenBook

Search

• Basic vs. Google vs. Boolean• Basic Operators– AND (implied by space in Google

Search)– OR– NOT (use – in Google Search)– * (wildcard)– “” (group phrase or skip synonyms)– site: (search site only)

Prioritizing Your Influencers

• Influencer Maps• Influencer

Tiering

http://mentionmapp.com/#user-vanhoosear

• Reputation

• Reach• Relevance• Receptivit

y

46

The Four Rs of Influence

R

The Listening Dashboard

• Google Reader• Google Alerts• Search.twitter.com


Listening & Engagement Tools

• HootSuite• TweetDeck• CoTweet• Jive• Collective Intellect• Lithium• Sysomos• Attensity360• Alterian SM2• Crimson Hexagon• Spiral16

• Spredfast• CustomScoop• Meltwater Buzz• SocialToo• Topsy• Trackur• UberVU• ViralHeat• Webtrends• Google Reader

Influencing

• The Cocktail Party Model (D.M. Scott)• Don’t pitch them right away• Paul Gillin’s Advice: Court Them–Make initial contact meaningful– Ask for advice– Take conversation offline– Treat bloggers like media

• “Listeners make the best conversationalists”

- Solis

From Monitoring to Action

• Establish a conversational workflow– A decision tree outlining how

conversations are treated and routed across the organization

– e.g., if the topic is this, then this person should respond; if the topic is that, then there’s no need to respond

Group Exercises

• Form 5 groups of five people or less, with ideally:– At least one (online) laptop per group

please• Laptop owners are the researchers

– Appoint• One group leader• One notetaker• One presenter

Group Exercise #1

• Pick your favorite consumer retail store

Group Exercise #1

• Hurricane Sandy, for many, was a tragedy

• For others, it was an inconvenience• For some, it seemed like an

opportunity• Your boss just asked you to newsjack

the hurricane• What do you do?

Group Exercise #2

• Pick a Fortune 100 “Best Company to Work For”– http://cnnmon.ie/2012fast100– Let me know which company you pick

• Conduct a Social Media Audit for that company…

http://cnnmon.ie/2012fast100

Social Media Audit

• Team member #1: Web site analysis– Social media presence on home page– Social media press room– News coverage (blogs vs “traditional”)

• Team member #2: Twitter analysis– Follower/following– Engagement mix– Klout Score and top Twitter influencers/influences

• Team member #3: Facebook analysis– Profile, Group or Page– Engagement levels

• Team member #4: Blog analysis– Content and engagement levels

• Team member #5: Other social media

PR & SEARCH: MEDIA AND INFLUENCER RELATIONS

CM443 B1 Fall 2012 – Week 10-11

The Last Ultimate Press Release

• Here’s the first press release ever written:

• It appeared verbatim in The New York Times

• Probably the last time that happened…

• Since then, things have gone downhill…

PR’s Catch-22

• The press release’s goal – and PR’s goal – is essentially to put words in reporters’ mouths

• Reporters know this, and want to exercise their independence

• Meanwhile, outlets that automatically pick up press release content are popping up like mad

• This actually reduces the value of verbatim copy – because it’s seen as inherently biased by everyone

• PR’s goal needs to evolve: to make journalists’, editors’ and bloggers’ lives easier by giving them the seeds of good stories

The Art of the Pitch

• “The biggest problem in PR is that people don’t read enough.”

– Former Journalist Ed Zitron

1. Has the reporter/outlet already written about topic?

2. Will it be interesting to their readers? How?3. What do they love writing about? What

interests them as a human being and a reporter/blogger/editor?

Top Pitch Mistakes

• Wrong person/beat/name/outlet (read before you pitch)

• Buried lead (start with the ask/news, then back it up)

• Sounds like a marketing script (write like you speak)

• No links or contact info (make it easy for them to get more info)

Social Media’s Impact on Pitching

1. Makes it easier to reach some folks, but…

2. It’s created a lot more noise!3. It’s made everything public4. It’s shortened our attention span

http://thenextweb.com/media/2011/10/01/the-art-of-the-pitch-inspiring-media-relations/http://gawker.com/5949099/pr-dummies-how-not-to-pitch

http://www.vocus.com/invocus/media-blog/pitching-journalists-via-social-media-yay-or-nay/

Paid vs. Earned vs. Owned

• PAID = Money exchanged for space in magazine, newspaper or online site; for time on radio, TV and sometimes online channels

• EARNED = Coined by public relations professionals to differentiate from paid media

• OWNED = Print collateral, websites, blogs, social network content, video, podcasts, ebooks, etc.

Paid vs. Earned vs. Owned

• Advertising was traditionally the realm of paid media

• Public relations was traditionally the realm of earned media

• Advertising claimed an early lead in “interactive” media

• PR claimed an early lead in “social” media• Both PR and advertising are now

competing for control of owned media channels

Inbound Marketing

“Inbound marketing is based on the concept of earning the attention of prospects, making yourself easy to be found and drawing customers to your website by producing content customers value.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inbound_marketing

PR=Stories=Content=Search

• Public relations is, at its essence, a combination of the art of storytelling and the science of influence

• Storytelling is structured content• Good PR (and thus good content creation)

combines proactive outbound efforts with smart passive inbound marketing techniques

• Inbound marketing is driven by two factors:1. Search2. Social sharing

SEM vs PPC vs SEO

• Search engine marketing (SEM) is a combination of paid search programs and “organic” search optimization

• Paid search includes:1. Pay-per-click (PPC) 2. Cost-per-impression (CPI or CPM)

(M=1,000)

• Organic search (i.e., SEO) focuses on “unpaid” ways to improve search engine results page (SERP) placement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_marketing

5 Key Metrics of Site SEO1. Searchability. Is the structure, content and meta-content

(descriptive information including titles and keywords) of the site optimized for search engines (specifically Google and Bing), providing the best possible organic search engine results possible, as defined by search experts and online SEO/SEM measurement resources?

2. Accessibility. Is the site accessible from different kinds of devices, and can people with disabilities perceive, understand, navigate and interact with the site, as defined by the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative?

3. Navigability. Once on the site, is the content easily organized and navigated?

4. Sharability. If a visitor likes what the can see or do on the site, is it easy for that person to share their likings (or dislikings) with site managers and/or the general public?

5. Salability. Does the content of the site lend itself to one or more understandable (and measurable) goals – e.g., driving visitors to try out a product, buy a service or tell others about the site?

9 Steps to SEO Success

1. Market research2. Keyword research3. On-page

optimization4. Site structure5. Link building6. Brand building7. Viral marketing8. Adjusting9. Staying up-to-date

http://www.toprankblog.com/2007/01/google-cartoon/

Market Research Secrets

• Begins with a competitive analysis• What companies / sites are you

competing with?• How well do they perform?• Great tool: http://websitegrader.com/

http://websitegrader.com/

Keyword Research Secrets

Once you have identified and analyzed the competition at a high level, you can turn your attention to analyzing the keywords from four perspectives:

1. What keywords you want to be known for2. What your site is keyword optimized for3. What your competitors’ sites are keyword optimized for4. What people are searching for

Four great keyword tools:5. http://seokeywordanalysis.com/ 6. http://www.googlerankings.com/ultimate_seo_tool.php 7. http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword-density/ 8. http://textalyser.net/

http://seokeywordanalysis.com/

http://www.googlerankings.com/ultimate_seo_tool.php

http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword-density/

http://textalyser.net/

On-Page vs. Off-Page

• On-Page SEO focuses on how you can improve the content, structure and navigability of your own site

• Off-Page SEO focuses on, well, pretty much everything else, including– DNS (Domain name services)– Social media– Inbound links– Press releases– PPC

http://www.directtrafficmedia.co.uk/blog/on-page-seo-vs.-off-page-optimisation

HTML 101

<HTML> This is the outside paired HTML element that declares that what’s inside is HTML

<HEAD> Content inside the HEAD element describes the whole page <META NAME=“KEYWORDS” CONTENT=“keyword 1,keyword 2,etc”> <META NAME=“DESCRIPTION” CONTENT=“Description of website for SEO”> <TITLE>The descriptive name of the page goes here</TITLE> </HEAD> Paired elements (including TITLE) are “closed off” with a leading forward slash <BODY> All the content displayed on the actual web page appears inside the BODY

elements <H1>The largest header tag for really big type</H1> <P>Body copy appears inside the P element. Click on image below.</P> <A HREF=“http://hyperlink.com/”><IMG SRC=“pic.gif” ALT=“Desc”></A> <H2>Slightly smaller header type</H2> <P>Headers are really important for SEO.</P> </BODY></HTML>

• Right click on a webpage and click on View source to see how a web page is designed…

On-Page SEO Checklist

• Always start with keyword selection, research and testing• Meta Description tag• ALT tags• H1 tags• URL structure• Internal linking strategy• Content• Keyword density• Site maps, both XML and user facing• Usability and accessibility• Track target keywords• Expect results in 6-12 months

4http://www.directtrafficmedia.co.uk/blog/on-page-seo-vs.-off-page-optimisation

SOCIAL MEDIA CRISIS + VIRAL VIDEOS

CM443 B1 Fall 2012 – Week 13

Social Media Crisis Rules, Part 1

At the start:1. Acknowledge and investigate the issue2. Apologize for how the issue is impacting your

community, even if you’re still investigating3. Act on what you learn from the investigation,

and communicate your actions• Share what you learned from the investigation• Share how you intend to keep it from happening

again• Keep the trust

http://www.infosecisland.com/blogview/21565-Nine-Tips-for-Social-Media-Crisis-Response.html


As it starts to brew:1. Amplify your key messages wherever

you have a social media presence2. Advocates – use your partners, allies,

employees and even happy customers to help spread the word on how you’re responding to the crisis

3. Adhere to your corporate values, and understand your limitations



As it continues to percolate:1. Analyze what’s being said about you online2. Answer your critics and fans alike3. Aggregate all the stories – positive and

maybe even negative – about the crisis, along with your prominently-displayed own analysis and response. • You must counter inaccurate information!• The risk of adding to their story’s Google juice

is offset by getting your own response on the record


The Nine Keys to Viral Marketing

1. Click rate * share rate = viral index2. Create an instant emotional response3. Cater to 100 percent of the population4. Make me look sexy5. Amplify my emotions6. Affiliate with a brand of higher resonance7. Give stuff away8. Make a baby with the user9. Follow the collective conscious

http://allfacebook.com/9-secrets-to-successful-facebook-viral-marketing_b50545

The Five Secrets of Viral Marketing

1. No such thing as an accident

2. Great content means nothing if it’s hard to share

3. Go big when identifying and reaching out for influencers, or go home.

4. Like comedy, it’s all about… timing…

5. Hey! Grab their attention!

http://allfacebook.com/9-secrets-to-successful-facebook-viral-marketing_b50545

SOCIAL BUSINESS & THE FUTURE OF PR

CM443 B1 Fall 2012 – Week 14

Rules of the Rave

• Nobody cares about your products (except you)

• No coercion required• Lose control• Put down roots• Create triggers that

encourage people to share

• Point the world to your (virtual) doorstep

New Rules Chapter 8

The Social & Interest Graphs

Source: AssetMap Blog, “Why the interest graph will reshape social networks”

Two Perspectives, Same Dream

• The brand: Wants a unified view of the customer (“social customer relationship management”)

• The customer: Wants a unified experience of the brand (“social business”)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/huzicha/3292538266/

Evolution of Social CRM

Content Creation

Monitoring & Reporting

Platform Integration

Workflow Management

Unified View of Customer

1

2

3

4

5

(Social CRM)

(Where we are today)

The Five Is of Social CRM

1. Information. Brands have to start somewhere, and it’s the data.

2. Interaction. When brands introduce social technologies, relationships move to the forefront and control shifts to the customer.

3. Integration. Brands own the information, customers owns the conversation. They need to be integrated.

4. Influence. Brands need to be able to (quickly) measure which customers need what level of attention.

5. Insight. Finally, brands have to be able to measure the impact they’re having on customers.

More Than Marketing

Services & Support

How can I reduce support costs?How can I reduce response times in addressing client issues?How can I improve customer satisfaction & loyalty?

How can I develop long-term relationships with customers?How can I reduce my sales cycle?How can I accelerate new client acquisition & upsell opportunities?

Sales

ProductHow can I innovate my products faster?How can I stay abreast of market research for R&D?How can I streamline my product development process?

MarketingHow can I improve brand visibility?How can I drive enhanced demand generation?How can I increase website traffic & ad revenue?

And beyond…

Social Business

Social Brand

Source: David Armano, Edelman 2011, edelmandigital.com

Benefits of the Social Enterprise

Source: McKinsey & Company, “The rise of the networked enterprise, Web 2.0 finds its payday.” Survey of 4,394 executives. December 2010.

Final Takeaway

• PR is at the cusp of enormous change• PR should have a seat at the

management table• PR can play an important role in

creating social businesses, and this is the most likely way to that table

• Learn email marketing and marketing automation tools!

• Good luck out there!

If You Go the Agency Route…

Education

My BU New Media Class (Part 2) #bunewmedia