Media Guerrilla

The Press Release Page A New Approach To An Old Problem

So I've never really considered the whole 'press release vs. social media release' debate an either/or situation. The way I see it, there's arguably utility and merit in both formats, as there are gaps and drawbacks. Frankly, I'm not convinced either approach is really the best way to think about news distribution on the web, and well, maybe for that reason alone, I think there's still room for experimentation.

With this in mind, the Voce team did an experiment of our own recently, something we've been calling the "press release page."

Conceptually, it's pretty simple: We "announced" a partnership two weeks ago. There was a press release which we distributed over the wire, as well as an accompanying web page (i.e., the press release page) we created to augment and contextualize this news. I'll explain both things here...

The Press Release
It was 175 words (less than this blog post). It captured the top-level news and highlighted the type of info the reader might find helpful on the accompanying press release page. It was a functional teaser of sorts, that's it. The goal was to pique interest and pull attention to the press release page for more information — and, well, looking at our stats among other things, it more than accomplished that.

Now, did the format of the release really matter here? Not really. Did we encounter any wire distribution headaches? No, none whatsoever. If it had been a "true" SMR, by all the standards, would it have spread further across the web? I don't know, maybe. Was it expensive? Nah, it was less than $100 bucks, although your milage will vary, depending on the wire service and the distribution circuit you pick.

The Press Release Page
It was a simple web page we created with WordPress, the same platform that runs our company blog. We did some minor CSS and HTML customization, but nothing radical by any means. Again, the whole purpose of the press release page was to augment, color and contextualize this announcement with copy and content – basically, the very same stuff that would have torpedoed the attention and economic gains of our press release had we tried to shoehorn a fraction of this into what went across the wire.

Now, could we have made this press release page a little more dynamic? Could we have enabled comments? Yeah, and we should have, because *this page* is where the value of conversation bears real fruit, longer term, for us and those that trip across it with future web searches, it's not, however, the press release, which will steadily and inevitably disappear online.

And therein lies one of my biggest gripes with focusing so much energy on the release format.

There's been too much fuss over the wrapper, not enough focus on the package.

Again, I make no claim to this being anything other than an experimental approach, an experimental alternative to news distribution on the web. One that that I think has real practical potential for an increasing number of companies that are already deploying corporate blogs and could very easily squeeze more PR value out of those platforms, by extending their scope and purpose a bit.

pr, socialmedia, pressrelease, smr, media

Social Media Takes Architects AND Developers

[I wanted to post some quick thoughts here which I think put today's Voce news in some additional context...]

So in my previous post, I touched on an observation, a belief really, that there's a widening gap within this bubbling ecosystem of social media practitioners.

On one side you have an up crop of strategists that are advising, counseling and generally speaking, helping their clients and companies plot their social media programs. And on the other side you have a pool of developers who have learned that there's dimension, color and a layer of richness that people are increasingly expecting from the social web, and, well, they know how to deliver this experience. Period.

You have, essentially, the social media architect and the social media developer. Each capable in their own right, and each equally incapable in so many others. And therein lies the gap.

Architects will plan incredibly cool and compelling social media strategies, but inevitably they reach a threshold, usually it's a technical one, which forces them to compromise, shelf or trash their ideas because they don't have the resources or the knowledge to push things forward. Or, worse yet, they don't acknowledge this technical threshold and we get really interesting looking Blogger and Myspace pages to talk about.

On the flip side, developers can make incredibly cool and compelling tools, with all the 2.0 lipstick, but fail miserably at figuring out how to apply these experiences to broader pains and problems that might exist. It's the all sizzle, no steak conundrum...

Unfortunately, I don't believe it's a gap that either can cross easily.

For this reason, I think the stronger social media practitioners will be those who can continue to bring these two areas of expertise together and approach programs way more holistically (from the get-go) — thinking about strategy AND development in tandem — verses trying to bolt the other side on to an idea, or worse yet, trying to fake it.

Somewhere in the middle here also lives a new sort of practitioner, maybe it's the media architect Tom Foremski speculated, maybe it's something else all together, it's all still taking shape, but I expect it will solidify very soon. This Voce post today is just reflective of how one company is planning to get the job done....

socialmedia, strategy, webdev

So, What Are You Proud Of?

It's funny, some people saw the angst in my previous post, others the sarcasm, I guess everyone will interpret it differently, but the spirt of it seems to have struck a cord....in a good way, I think, at least that's what I've heard back.

The truth is, there are a lot of us "doing it" every day, and many of us are doing a damn good job. What exactly the "it" is changes for us all.

For me and a lot of people I talk with here, the "it" is social media work, it's what I do every day and like so many of my colleagues and peers, I try damn hard to do it really well — and lord knows we're all growing tired of hearing about things when they *don't* go well. I know many of you guys feel the same, so it occurred to me to try and kick-start a mini-meme here by asking an obvious question: you're each smart, you work hard, you've earned some respect and most importantly, some experience with social media:

What are you proud of?

What are the companies, organizations, clients, projects, initiatives, etc., that you're proud of? Save the case studies for the awards, the details for your business and the BS for your resume. Seriously.

What are you proud of?

For me, I'm proud of my work with Yahoo! the last 3+ years. It's run the gamut from blogger relations and trench community work to media production and special events. In between the heartbreaks and the ass kickings, it's been enjoyable, I've learned a ton and I'm proud of what I've been able to accomplish working with them. Most recently, I'm proud of my work with Sony PlayStation, particularly their community development efforts - something I hope to blog more about here soon.

So, I'm picking three people at random from my feeds list today to get their take and to get this started: Constantin Basturea, Chris Thilk, Kamie Huyse.

What are you proud of?

This could be fascinating and grow or it could be tragically lame and go nowhere, we'll see...;)

Technorati Tags: socialmedia, what are you proud of

Podtech Talks "Pressroom of the Future"

Another great Third Thursday meetup last night. Our guest speaker was Podtech's John Furrier who, among other things, shared his thoughts on the recent Podtech BlogHuas at CES and discussed how projects like this are indicative of bigger possibilities for newsrooms at special events. Jeremiah Owyang captured a live stream of our talk, check it out.

Thanks to all that attended. June's meetup will be on the topic of citizen journalism - we think. Details will be posted to the Third Thursday Meetup page shortly. BTW, if you have ideas for speakers or topics, let me know, we've got some great stuff on the horizon, but we're always looking for new topics, new voices....

Technorati Tags: socialmedia, podtech, john+furrier, thirdthursday

@ PR Online Convergence, Third Thursday

Man, days like today make living and working on the left coast worth the price of admission....

I spent the first half in Studio City, talking along side Sally Falkow, Phil Gomes, Brian Solis, Eric Schwartzman, and a host of other industry friends and peers at the inaugural PR Online Convergence conference. It's always good to hear these guys color and contextual-ize new media and its impact on PR. My thanks and congrats to John Gerstner for pulling this together.

Now I'm returning north for tonight's Third Thursday meetup where we'll be speaking with Podtech's John Furrier. Blog posts, photos and maybe a few podcasts to come. Good times....

Technorati Tags: brian solis, california, eric schwartzman, phil gomes, pr online convergence, sally falkow, thirdthursday

My Name's Mike. And I'm a Project Pusher.

I've never understood the distaste and disdain that some firms have toward project work. I mean, trust me, I get the part about wanting a sustainable revenue stream, it's just that the line between a program and a project has always been, well, kind'a fuzzy - especially given the inevitable to and fro that is service-side business. One month you've got a client with a program, the next you don't....

Anyway, when it comes to new media work, I'm a self-admited project pusher.

It's not that I don't see a place for longer-term programs and support work, but I think more often than not, these activities have natural transition points. You do a sentiment analysis for client X. You create a blog for client Y. You produce a video for client Z. Each activity has a start and a finish and most important, a pause - the place where you and the client determine what the next few steps look like.

I think projects tend to net out for everyone involved. For clients, it controls costs and insulates them from risk, to a degree. A short term project can help them determine whether or not they have the right partner for the job and the resources to boot. And for agencies, it gives them a chance to show their stuff outside of boardroom rhetoric, plus honestly, it gives them the opportunity to walk from a client that's perhaps over-extended and under-committed to this sort of work.

It's not the best bet every time, but generally speaking, my experience is that a project-based approach puts things in the right direction from the get-go...

Technorati Tags: marketing, new media, pr, projects

Which Agencies "Get" Social Media?

A question Tom Foremski gets asked a lot. A few pull quotes from his response:

"If a PR company is not using social media to effectively promote and market itself--then how can it do it for its clients? It can't...."

"...There is no "generational gap" in understanding these things, there is an "experiential gap...."

"The only way you can know how to use these digital communications effectively is by doing. It is not something that you can read about and then do it...."

Generally speaking, I tend to agree with Tom on this, although with a caveat:

In very much the same way you don't want to play golf with *that guy* who walks the course using every conceivable golfing gadget, you should probably exercise the same degree of care and caution when evaluating a firm that shows similar tendencies with new media.

Knowing how to use all the new tools, gizmos and gadgets is helpful, but ultimately, at some point, you just have to know how to play the game....

Related Post
New Media Projects: Pick A Good Partner

Technorati Tags: pr, socialmedia, tom foremski

PRWeek: New Media Key For PR Firms

Just a quick pointer: Keith O'Brien with PRWeek has a good piece today that profiles how various PR shops are fortifying their new media expertise and services.

"Given the likelihood that clients are becoming increasingly interested in the space, agencies from multiple disciplines are competing for digital and social media accounts. PR agency executives say that since they are increasingly included in pitches that also feature pure interactive and advertising shops, the industry, as a whole, needs to evangelize about why PR is the best discipline to handle the social media space."

To some degree, Keith's story pivots and builds off recent ramblings here on RFPs and picking a good social media adviser. This write-up is part of PRW's big '07 Agency Business Report. Enjoy.

Technorati Tags: pr, prweek, keith+obrien, socialmedia

A New Media RFP? Not Likely...

Okay, as promised, a quick revisit of the AdWeek piece on RFPs, plus some thoughts on how this sort of thing applies to new media work...

So, here's the thing: RFPs are a pain in the butt no matter how you slice it, for multiple reasons, not least of which is the fact that the average return (i.e., business gained) rarely outweighs the total investment (i.e., time lost, energy spent and the intellectual capital shared). For this reason alone, a lot of people (cough, Tac Anderson) hate them. For me? It's the cost and risk of doing business, nothing more, nothing less. M'kay.

Now, talk about RFPs in the context of new media work and this gets a little more interesting because, well, they're not very common. I'm not sure why exactly this is, but if I had a wager a guess, it'd say it has to do largely with social media literacy levels.

A lot of folks just don't know what they're looking for, let alone how best to ask for it or who to approach.

This being the case, corporate PR and marketing departments interested in new media projects more often than not have the dubious task of manually sifting, identifying and evaluating all sorts of outside experts on things ranging from their credibility and authority with this stuff, to their experience and know-how, to their fees and availability, and the list goes on. You get the picture. I'd argue this process can be, in many ways, as stressful and painful as any RFP.

Unfortunately, this process has very few shortcuts and can be rife with risk and uncertainty. Perform the due diligence and you'll more than likely reap the rewards, but look for the quick fix and, well, be prepared to pay the price.

I'm baking a follow-on post which lists a few ways corporate folks might identify good social media partners and, more importantly, insulate themselves from risk and overcommitment on new media projects, while still experimenting with the YouTube and the MySpace dem kids keep talking about. More to come...

Technorati Tags: marketing, RFP, socialmedia

Joining Social Media Collective...

A quick update:

I'm now participating in the Social Media Collective and contributing to Social Media Today.

"Social Media Today is a collection of the best writing from the Social Media Collective, a diverse group of bloggers, consultants, entrepreneurs, investors, journalists, and analysts who represent the web's best thinking on social media, marketing and Web 2.0."

The group blogroll is just stacked, nuff said, my thanks to Jerry Bowles for the invite.

Technorati Tags: jerry bowles, marketing, socialmediacollective, socialmediatoday, web2.0

Technorati Tags: jerry bowles, marketing, socialmediacollective, socialmediatoday, web2.0