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Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.

From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.

Infographic: Must-Know Social Media Statistics From 2013

While 2014 may already be in full swing, there’s still much that can be learned from 2013. I came across an infographic from SpareFoot which summarizes some truly interesting social media statistics from the past year.  As you formulate your social media strategies for 2014, consider the following:

  • In 2013, 30 percent of traffic from social media was from SlideShare.net.

Takeaway for 2014: If SlideShare.net isn’t already part of your social media mix, consider adding it. Content on SlideShare isn’t limited to just slide presentations. Many companies publish whitepapers, documents and infographics much like this.

  • In 2013, Google+ added 25,000 new users every day.

Takeaway for 2014: While Google+ has yet to hit the same number of members as Facebook, there’s no doubt that it is a formidable social media network. Even if your current social media plans don’t include Google+, it would not hurt to claim a custom URL for your organization now.

  • In 2013, a branded Vine video was four times more likely to be seen than a regular branded video.

Takeaway for 2014: Diversify your video assets and distribution channels with micro-videos like Vine (up to six seconds) or Instagram Video (3–15 seconds) along with longer-form videos. While YouTube isn’t going away anytime soon, Vine was ranked as the fastest growing app of 2013 with a growth rate of 403 percent.

You can find more fascinating social media statistics in the infographic below.

How has your social media strategy changed from 2013 to 2014?

 

Courtesy of Sparefoot (Sparefoot.com).
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Reaching New Customers for Twisted Pair Solutions

Last week my colleague Heather looked at some of our team’s great work for our client Mobidia. This week, I thought we would take a look at our work for Twisted Pair Solutions, a company here in Seattle that delivers push-to-talk over broadband solutions.

Need to link all different types of communications networks and devices together? Twisted Pair is your answer. Its WAVE® communications platform lets enterprises and public-sector agencies extend land mobile radios and other communication systems to allow teams of employees, whether mobile or in offices, to connect through voice, text and data regardless of network, carrier, protocol or device.

That means that a police officer in the field with a radio handset can easily talk to his supervisor in the office carrying a BlackBerry or an iPhone—a really game-changing bit of technology for a lot of public- and private-sector organizations.

We began working with Twisted Pair in the spring of 2013 to grow awareness of its suite of software applications in key markets, including public safety, aerospace and transportation, utilities, retail, logistics and more. To do this, we set a few objectives for ourselves:

  • Build brand recognition among key customer segments and develop thought-leadership over competing solutions
  • Educate press and potential customers about the benefits of Twisted Pair’s software in business- and mission-critical communications
  • Position Twisted Pair as the leader in push-to-talk over broadband solutions

Our Strategy

Over the last 10 months, we have worked to create more awareness of Twisted Pair’s product among key markets in several ways. For one, we developed case studies on the implementation of Twisted Pair’s WAVE software by several customers. We were then able to share these case studies with press, while Twisted Pair’s sales team could use them as marketing tools as they introduced their solution to new markets.

We also supported Twisted Pair around ongoing news and announcements by developing press releases and blog posts and by sharing product updates and company news with media.

Twisted Pair’s marketing team also attended a number of industry events and trade shows, such as the annual International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE) and the annual conference of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO). We leveraged these events to schedule on-site briefings with press who also attended the conferences, helping introduce Twisted Pair to relevant reporters and plant the seeds for coverage down the road.

Finally, we undertook a campaign to develop and place contributed articles on behalf of Twisted Pair. These articles were targeted toward Twisted Pair’s key customer segments. They focused on the benefits of Twisted Pair’s technology, told the stories of customer successes with WAVE or shared Twisted Pair’s perspectives on industry trends.

Over an eight-month period we placed a total of 29 articles for Twisted Pair, including 16 contributed articles. Our work garnered coverage in print and online outlets heavily read by Twisted Pair’s customer targets. A sample of these includes:

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The Rise of the Contributor

While pitching an announcement for one our clients recently I ran into an increasingly common problem: The perfect person to pitch was a contributing writer at the publication and I couldn’t track down his contact information. Eventually I found a way to get in touch with him, but it got me thinking about the balance between contributing writers and full-time staff reporters.

As the digital evolution continues to sweep the media industry some outlets are adapting by restructuring their staff to include more contributors, which in turn could have some benefits for PR pros.

Forbes is a prime example of an outlet that is shifting its structure in order to remain relevant. The magazine still has staff reporters, but they are backed by an army of contributors who are topic experts. According to a Forbes article published last August, the company has about 45 staff writers and 1,200 contributors. Here’s how it works: One or two staff writers head up coverage of a certain topic and have anywhere from 10 to 200 contributors helping out. For example, the technology department has more than 100 contributors, each specializing in a certain topic. Using this model, Forbes produces a wider variety of content and reaches a much broader audience.

Forbes isn’t the only outlet with a large contributor list. Sites such as Entrepreneur, Fortune, Business 2 Community, PC World, Thought Catalogue and more rely on contributors to produce the majority of their content. Conversely, many freelancers write for multiple sites. For example, a writer who contributes to Forbes might also contribute to ReadWriteWeb.

The rise in freelancers means PR pros might have to do a bit more digging to uncover the perfect person to pitch, but in the end the extra research could pay off. Since freelancers write for multiple outlets, forming a relationship with one freelance writer could connect you to several publications.

However, forming relationships with freelancers isn’t always easy. PR pro Krystal Tingle offers helpful tips for working with contributors in her post on PR Daily. Most importantly, stay connected to freelancers so you know what outlets they are writing for and what’s in their pipeline, but be careful not to badger them.

Do you have any tips for pitching to contributing writers?

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How to Build a Media List

Finding a list of journalists who may be interested in your pitch is no easy task. The success of a pitch or press release often rides on the shoulders of a thoroughly developed press release. When approaching a media list, I find myself facing asking questions like: How do I find journalists who will be interested? How do I narrow my search? How do I expand my search? Am I targeting the right audience? Where can I find their contact information? Luckily, PR Daily recently shared some useful tips on how to answer many of these questions and effectively tackle this sometimes overwhelming task.

Begin your search and keep it organized

Start by using any search engine, such as CISION, to begin collecting contact information. Try finding an email address or phone number for a specific journalist, not just the outlet’s general information. If you contact someone directly, there is a much greater chance that you will receive a response.

When searching for media outlets, keep your niche in mind. Are you targeting a specific area? Are there trade magazines that your audience would be inclined to read? Try to answer questions similar to these to understand a more specific audience. By targeting a particular audience, you are more likely to find outlets and journalists that make sense for your story and will therefore be more inclined to write about your pitch.

Filter and sort

If you are using a search engine then they will have no shortage of contacts, meaning filters will be a great asset. Start with a somewhat broad term such as “technology.” If that leads you to too many options, narrow it by making your topic more specific to your pitch topic, such as “collaborative technology” or “collaboration tools.”

If this is still producing a selection that is too large, examine how much traffic the outlet generates. It is important to pursue outlets that will reach the audience size for which you are aiming.

Look past the database

In an ideal world, contact information would always be listed for each journalist and it would always be the most up to date information. However, we are usually not so lucky. If you are unable to find an email address or phone number in the database you are using, look at the outlet’s website and look for a journalist profile or contact information listed with one of their previous articles. If all else fails, send an email to the general address to inform them of who it is you want to contact and most importantly, why.

Use Google to your advantage

There is a good possibility that there are journalists who may be interested in your pitch but are not in the database you are using. By searching Google News, you may be able to find articles on related topics and that could lead you to a new contact.

Creating media lists can be a daunting task, but it is a crucial one. Targeting the correct outlets, and more specifically journalists, could be the difference between a successful, well-covered release and one that is simply pushed aside. Following these tips will assist in creating a well-developed list that will hopefully lead to the optimum coverage that your story deserves.

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Should PR Pros Be Engaging in Comment Sections Online?

In today’s digital world, PR pros are offered an array of avenues to help voice their client’s message and shape public opinion. Comment sections are among these channels, but pose an interesting dilemma.  Comment sections have become the playground for “trolls,” or negative commenters. These “trolls” pose a risk of defaming the efforts of PR pros. So the question remains: Should PR pros engage in comment sections?

In a recent article in PRWeek the two sides debated this argument. Both sides seemed to agree that comment sections are necessary in some circumstances, but varied in their opinion of the degree of involvement PR pros should expend on these comment sections.

Jeffrey Zack “disagrees” with engaging people in the comment sections. Zack sees a variety of options to carry out your client’s message. Comment sections are among these, but are riddled with people just looking to rant on a subject. While he believes these sections should be avoided, Zack says that if information is incorrect, comment sections are where you can set the record straight. PR pros should consider other approaches before rebutting in the comment section though, such as requesting a correction if the information is incorrect.

The argument in favor of commenting, written by Paul Rand, pointed out that PR pros should be allowed to clarify or correct wrong information in the comment section. Letting this incorrect information sit on the internet would be a mistake. Rand points out that comments should only be left if it makes strategic sense.

Comment sections are bound to persist, so communicators in PR should use this outlet to leverage their message when appropriate. When commenting on something in relation to a client, it may be a wise call to disclose that you assist with PR for the company.  By being up front about the situation, you alleviate the risk of a commenter’s backfire if you were to not disclose this information and then were discovered.

Forming responses to comments should be done so cautiously. It is vitally important to not get worked up over irrational, negative and sometimes even violent comments.  You cannot stoop to the “troll’s” level, for what you think to be a witty comment back could risk your image and or the image of your client.  Giving these “trolls” more fuel will backfire.

Some companies have tried to remedy this comments backlash by removing comment sections.  This may be a mistake, though, because comment sections show the public that you care about their opinion.  Negative comments are bound to happen, but handling these situations with poise and a clear head will ensure a smooth message and delivery.

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Turning up the Heat – Driving Awareness Through Targeted Media Outreach

With 2013 behind us and the new year just getting underway, now is a great time to look back at the year and reflect on the unique and interesting client campaigns that we worked on at Communiqué PR. One client for whom we’ve had a great experience driving publicity over the course of 2013 is Mobidia.

Mobidia, a leading mobile analytics provider with the largest global sample of smartphone and tablet users, provides unique insights into mobile usage trends on mobile applications and mobile networks. Mobidia’s main commodity is usage data: real usage from real users on both cellular and Wi-Fi networks, which provides a comprehensive and unique understanding of what people do and value in the mobile world.

Mobidia has grown quickly over the past 15 months, and as such, we’ve partnered with Vice President of Marketing Chris Hill to scale up our media efforts and draw awareness for Mobidia’s main commodity: data.

In order to do so, our main objective was (and is) to establish Mobidia as a resource for media when they need data to build out or provide evidence for a story. To accomplish this, we employed the following tactics, which I’ll explore in greater detail below:

  • Targeted media outreach
  • A steady drumbeat of news
  • Bylines or contributed articles

Targeted media outreach

In order to reach journalists who actively write using usage data, we started tracking stories that feature data and reaching out to journalists, offering up Mobidia as a source.

Tracking what journalists are writing about is relatively seamless in this day and age. We leveraged Google Alerts and Twitter to ensure that we caught all the journalists for whom Mobidia could be a future resource.

A steady drumbeat of news

In addition to reaching out to journalists who made active use of data in their stories, we also put out a steady drumbeat of news on newsworthy topics in the fall of 2013. This provided us with collateral and relevant examples to offer journalists, and often resulted in standalone coverage.

We partnered with Mobidia to identify what newsworthy storylines they could distribute interesting, meaningful and credible data on – and with the rise of mobile apps, there were many opportunities! Over the course of the fall of 2013, we issued the following releases on topical subjects:

Bylines / Contributed Articles

To build thought leadership for Mobidia’s team, and to provide Mobidia’s own perspective and analysis on trends in data, we also work with Chris to pursue byline opportunities whenever it made sense.

In the fall of 2013, we secured and published three bylines:

Results

In addition to the three bylines mentioned above, we secured 51 articles and mentions from November 2013 through December 2013, amounting to 54 total pieces of coverage.

These results are detailed below, and range from the Wall Street Journal to coverage in blogs like BGR.

We have thoroughly enjoyed partnering with Mobidia to drive awareness around its data. Working with Chris Hill and the team at Mobidia is always an excellent experience, and we look forward to continuing to place stories on Mobidia’s unique data in 2014.

We’ve also been grateful for the skilled and helpful journalists we’ve worked with on behalf of our client. We’ve connected with a wide range of interesting and insightful industry professionals, and are excited to see the stories that come from these publications in 2014.

Here’s to a data-filled New Year!

Results (Detailed)

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