Social Media... Leave It To The Professionals....

Your business is ready to develop a Social Media plan. You know you need one. But just how do you come up with a plan and then put that plan into action? Researching the efforts of similar businesses is a good place to start, as is doing a thorough audit of your own company's needs.

Your social media plan is an essential first step if you want your social media program to be successful. But you don't have the time or expertise to develop one. What are some options? Professional help? An intern?

Once the plan is formulated, who will implement it? Options again: professional help or an intern.

We're all cost-conscious today. So some companies opt for the intern. Okay, you won't get the benefits of professional experience and expertise, but it's certainly a cheaper way to go. An intern can post updates on your Facebook and Twitter pages and maybe even write a blog for you. Choose an intern who's enthusiastic about your product or the causes you support and the intern may fit seamlessly into your organization chart. Problem solved.

But, social media programs are not that simple. There's a lot to think about first.

Sure, college kids today have grown up with computers. As “early adopters” of social media, they can bring you a vast knowledge of the workings of social media Web sites. They probably feel way more comfortable with the medium than you do. They've been tweeting, using Facebook and blogging since those sites were launched. They probably even know of some sites you've never heard of.

But a knowledge of the use of social media doesn't necessarily mean a person is ready to be put in charge of your company's marketing message and reputation. Remember, while the intern may know “how” to interact with others on the social media sites, he or she is unlikely to know how to best utilize social media for you and your business. Life experience and business experience are just as important as social media experience.

Should you be thinking about bringing in the pros?

The heart of public relations is communications. A good PR team is experienced at working everyday to cajole positive editorial coverage for clients out of the media. They know how to forge and build relationships that produce results. Social media is just another extension of those kinds of communications, of conversations.

Writing comes naturally to PR pros. Engaging blog postings, Facebook updates and Tweets flow easily.

In addition to writing and communications, good PR professionals think strategically. That really comes in handy when a Facebook status update could be the beginning of a possible PR problem. Would your intern recognize when to address an issue or when to leave it alone? What experiences would your intern draw upon to handle the issue in your absence?

A good PR team will bring life and business experience to the table — plus they'll have made it their business to understand yours. That leads to strategic decisions and appropriate actions when the need for fast thinking arises. PR pros have been handling such challenges since long before the dawn of the Social Media era.

On the surface, an intern might seem like a logical and cost-effective way to maintain your presence on the Social Media landscape, but before you choose that path, ask yourself the big
questions.

Who do you want to represent your company when customers come to call? Would you send an intern out to represent your products to your customers face-to-face?

How would you have your company's spokesperson handle any important customer interaction?

Would you put your brand in the hands of someone who's inexperienced?

Would you rely on the counsel of an intern when making marketing or sales decisions?

Would you ask an intern to resolve an issue that could have important PR implications for your company?

Or would you rather entrust your brand and reputation to a seasoned professional experienced in the real world of PR and marketing?

Social media provides the biggest opportunity your company will have to reach people directly and make an impression.

Is that a job for an intern?

TEN THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE YOU LAUNCH A BUSINESS BLOG

Blogging for business.

It’s so easy to get into— and just as easy to get wrong. A business blog is a vehicle for you to develop relationships with consumers. To educate them about your products and services. To build a community of people who are involved in a conversation about your company.

Designing, maintaining and updating a blog should not be taken lightly.

Here are ten things to consider before you launch a blog:

1. Is your company ready to make the commitment to doing a blog?

2. Will the blog be an integrated part of your marketing program?

3. Do you have a plan for your blog? What do you want your blog to accomplish?

4. How frequently will your blog be updated?

5. How will the blog meet the needs of your customers? How will you keep customers coming back to the blog for more information or to interact with the company? What business-related topics are most engaging? Why?

6. What will be the tone and “voice” of your blog?

7. Will one writer provide postings or several? If more than one, how will you insure the “voice” is consistent?

8. Will you provide for “guest” bloggers? How will they be identified/positioned?

9. Is there sufficient in-house writing and marketing expertise to do the blog correctly?

10. Is it more cost-effective and efficient to contract with someone to write blog postings regularly?

CLIENTS AND PR FIRMS: RELATIONSHIPS NEED TO BE BUILT ON RESPECT AND TRUST

It's the age-old story of people who make their living selling their time.

PR pros pretty much know how long a particular kind of work assignment might take, but they also know that unexpected variables can shrink or stretch timelines. Clients who haven't worked with PR firms, often seem surprised about all the steps that consume time, as well as what it really takes to get good results.

For any time-based relationship to work, there has to be a basis of trust. Any good — and successful — business relationship has to start there.

Clients, you need to realize that the PR pro you hire wants to get good media coverage for you. It's in our blood. We live to secure strong, positive feature coverage. With pictures. We get a thrill every time we're successful.

If we're unsuccessful, we don't need threats to motivate us. We don't need to be verbally dressed down. Believe me, we're already beating ourselves up.

PR pros, you need to keep track of how you spend your clients' time. Yes, it's their time, not yours. They're paying for it and you're on their clock every time you work on their behalf. Guard that time as if you were paying for it out of your own pocket.

Remember, time is money in this business. Keep careful time logs of your activities for each particular assignment. Careful record keeping will pay off when you need to estimate time for similar future assignments. Tracking will also be your first line of defense if a client inquires about the time you've invested — or if a challenge about results rears its head as a prelude to a client seeking to avoid payment for services rendered.

PR is not a science and, most times, you can't predict results. You can have all your ducks in a row and be the best PR person in the world, but, in the end, you're not in control. A third party makes the decision on whether your news runs and when. It's an uncontrollable.

But you can try your very best. That's what professionals do.

How to avoid a future dust up? Before entering into an agreement with a client, be clear about expectations.

Are you being hired to write a press release and dedicate a set amount of hours to follow up and pitch to targeted media? Have you and the client outlined goals? Does your client trust you as a professional who will do his very best to achieve the desired results?

Or do you have a “results only” agreement? Do you have a clear understanding and mutual agreement that payment will only follow the appearance of coverage in specific media? In short, no story in USA Today, no check?

Either kind of arrangement is fair — if both parties are in agreement.

But few professional firms will work on a results-only basis and those that do charge a premium for getting coverage in your target media.

So what's best for you? We like to be partners with our clients and that means we establish a basis of trust. We're treated fairly and we treat them fairly. We work our tails off to get great results for them. And, most of the time, our results are so good that we go way beyond their expectations.

There's an atmosphere of trust and a commitment to performance. Everybody wins.

WHY WON'T THE MEDIA COVER MY NEWS?

You've taken a lot of time to put together a press release announcing the opening of your store. You've sent it to the local media. And, yet, not one reporter has called you. Not one media has covered your news. What went wrong?

Here are some tips for getting your news in the news:

Don't use exclamation points to proclaim your news. If what you're announcing is really news, the editor will recognize it.

Be sure your press release doesn't sound like an ad. Don't insult editors by sending them a press release that is really an ad in disguise. Put yourself in their shoes. Would you just turn this over to the sales department? What makes this news?

Check your grammar and style. Think of your release as a representation of yourself and your business. Put you best foot forward. Spelling and grammar count.

Get familiar with a media outlet before you send them your release. If your store is a clothing boutique and you send it to a golf magazine, chances are you've wasted your time and distribution money.

Send your release to the right person. Take the trouble to find out who is following your type of business and send the release directly to that reporter. The banking reporter is never going to cover your golf store, and unless you are announcing really big news, he'll just put your release in the trash.

Don't give a release to your ad rep and expect editorial because the ad rep says she'll pass it along to the editor.

Don't just send out the release and then sit back and wait to be called. Follow up and pitch your story. A release is merely a door opener.

Be flexible. Smaller publications may ask you to adapt your news to their style in order to consider publishing it. If they reach your target market, step up and do whatever they want to make your news fit.

If you don't feel comfortable writing a release or calling a reporter, hire a professional to do it for you.

RECYCLE YOUR MEDIA COVERAGE TO GET MORE PRESS

It seems like it's a no brainer. You get a big story and you tell the world, right? Amazing, but this kind of opportunity is regularly mishandled.

After all your hard work pays off with big-time coverage, it's no time to sit back and hope the world will notice. With all the news coming at people 24/7, you've got to give your news a little push to maximize its impact.

But, all too often, a company will simply bask in the glow of its excellent coverage. Top management is thrilled that they are profiled in a top magazine and millions will see it. So, they pat themselves on the back and maybe use a line or two from the editorial on their Web site or in their ads.

Good start. But so much more can be done. You can give an article extra legs and keep your name in the news for little or no cost, simply by taking these steps:

Blow your horn by distributing a press release to the local media. You don't get coverage like this every day and when the local media tells the community about your big-time coverage, you get additional exposure, plus increase your credibility.

Post the article and some compelling call-outs prominently on your Web site. Don't just bury your press release back in your Web site's press room. This is your time to shine!

Use an excerpt as a third party endorsement in your ads or on billboards. It makes your ad more credible to have someone else saying your product is great — especially if it's a well-known media outlet. But here's a word of caution: Be sensible about how long you use the praise you've received. After a year or less, move it off its prominent spot and stop using that same tired quote. People know when they see the same quote for twenty years running, that it's just recycled old news and not new accolades. So, don't hold yourself up to ridicule. Instead, press your PR folks to get more and better coverage each year and use the fresh stuff.

Send out an email alert (with the coverage attached) to your list of loyal customers, friends and employees. Whatever email lists you have. Ask them to send it out to their friends.

Tweet about it on Twitter and lead people back to your Web site to read it. Ask your friends and employees to re-tweet (RT) it to give it more traction.

Put it on your Facebook page and tell your friends how proud you are. Ask them to pass the word.

Create an “In The News” sheet for your press kit and keep it updated with the latest and greatest excerpts from articles written about your company. That way, each time you give a kit to a media person, that writer will know that other prominent journalists say you're great.

If the media outlet is big enough and the praise is strong enough, you may even want to create a “thank you” ad to let more people know that you're proud to be recognized in such prestigious media.

WERE YOU MISQUOTED OR DID YOU MISSPEAK?

Over the years, we've heard many people complain that they've been treated unfairly in the media. Newspapers, in particular, are favorite targets for complaints.

Have you ever said, “I can't believe he wrote that in the article” or “that reporter did a horrible hatchet job on me”?

If so, ask yourself: did the reporter really misquote you? Or did you provide the ammunition for that big old shot in the foot?

Ideally, clients set aside time to get a little media training before going into an interview. But, all too often, some feel they can handle interviews without any advice.

Those who get media training from us will hear the most valuable ten words for anyone suiting up to meet the print press: “don't say anything you don't want to see in print.” There are even different versions of this, depending on the media. Substitute “on TV,” online, or “on the radio” and you get the idea.

We've had clients express amazement when a reporter takes something the client says and actually reports it. At times like those, we always ask the client “did you say it?” It's amazing how frequently we hear, “yes, but I didn't think it would show up in the story.” In that case, we advise the client to direct his outrage inward — and not at the reporter. The reporter is just doing his job.

Let me say it again: in any interaction with the media, don't say anything you don't want to see in print. Think before you speak. Be prepared. Because if you blurt out something you should not have said, don't be surprised if you read it in the paper the next morning.

Mothers love to say, “put your brain in gear before opening your mouth.” Well, that's especially important when dealing with media. Reporters are trained to listen — and they listen keenly for quotes to spice up their reports.

So what do you do if a reporter asks a question that you really don't want to answer? Pause. Take a breath. Put your brain in gear.

As a society, we're conditioned to be polite and to answer questions directed to us. But, remember, you don't have to answer a question directly. You're in control of the words you speak. In an interview situation, you can construct and provide an answer tailored to communicate the message you want to get across.

If you have a position that will require you to meet the press from time to time, get some serious media training. A skilled media trainer can help you to learn techniques for interacting with the media, as well as how to organize and communicate your message in a clear, concise fashion.

Don't be disappointed with the article that follows your next press interview. Get prepared and “don't say anything you don't want to see in print!.”

“IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME”..... NOT WITHOUT PROACTIVE PR

We've all seen the movie Field of Dreams, and heard that unforgettable line, “If you build it they will come.” Well, that's not necessarily true.

If you're looking for good media coverage ‑— and you want to be successful at letting the public know you're worth their time — simply building your business is not enough. Big companies with marquee names have failed over the years, simply because they thought that on name alone they would succeed and be profitable.

Sure, that big name or recognizable brand might get the media's attention when you're shiny and new. But without a multi-tiered, proactive public relations effort in place, that initial buzz will fizzle.

Press releases, follow up, relationships with the media, and the ever-evolving social media platforms provided by public relations can keep the flame of media interest burning. Frequency of coverage keeps your products above the crowded marketplace and will help the public realize that your business is something they should spend their hard-earned money on. The only way to succeed is to stay in touch with reporters and editors and keep your business name at the top of the media's minds.

As you read this you might be saying, “Hey just because we have a big name, doesn't mean we have a big budget. Can we really afford PR?” Good public relations is one of the most cost-effective ways to get your message out to the public. You'll get a big return if it's done right and, unless you have virtually no marketing budget, a PR plan can be designed for you. consider dropping one ad or billboard and underwriting PR. You'll be glad you did.

Remember, if you build it, you need a positive, ongoing PR campaign to let folks know you're there. Then, you can be sure they'll come.