Public Relations in Salt Lake City, Online PR, PR For Small Business

Just a few days ago a friend of mine was featured on CNN. He’s an Elvis impersonator. Yep, I know a real live Elvis impersonator. He didn’t get on with a press release and he doesn’t have a website with a newsroom. He actually uploaded his photos to Flickr and then responded to a request on a CNN blog for Elvis stories (to commemorate the King’s 75th birthday). Before he knew it, CNN producers were on like Donkey Kong to get his story. To further the report he then posted it to Facebook, Twitter and his own blog.

Things have changed, folks.

As I write, Brittish news outfit, Sky News, is installing Twitter software across their network to encourage more use of social media for news gathering and reporting.

One of the ways I personally use to reach reporters is through Twitpitching, or chatting them up on Twitter to tell them about stories I’m working on for clients.

Don’t just toss your old PR tactics out the window, though. Press releases are still valuable. They just aren’t the first way to approach the news people anymore.

Think about your own strategies this past year. What has worked and what hasn’t? Adopt social media pitching in this new year and you’ll see the value it can bring to coverage for your company.

Need help with a creative PR or Social Media campaign? Big Star PR specializes in online public relations and social media. Call and ask about services today at 801-708-0958.

Sincerely,
Sarah Buhr
Owner / Consultant
Big Star PR
801-708-0958

p.s. Easy ways to find Big Star PR (and me) on the web:
http://www.twitter.com/sarahbuhr
http://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahjanebuhr

In case you missed it, breast cancer awareness went viral yesterday with a campaign to get all the women on facebook to share the color of their bra. You may have noticed the one or two word status updates mentioning just colors. The note that went out from women to their girlfriends went like this:

“Some fun is going on…. just write the color of your bra in your status. Just the color, nothing else. And send this on to ONLY girls no men …. It will be neat to see if this will spread the wings of cancer awareness. It will be fun to see how long it takes before the men will wonder why all the girls have a color in their status… Haha”

Women who got the message copied and pasted it and sent it on to the other women friends on their list.

Whether it sparked anyone to do something about breast cancer was not the point. It was to spread awareness in a way that engaged and empowered women to feel that they could personally do something to help spread the message. At the same time it involved men’s curiosity, enough for some to start typing out their own random colors and discuss what they thought the women were doing. It was a social experiment that seemed to go really well.

No one knows exactly who started the trend, but there is much speculation. Whoever it was really gets social media and just how powerful it can work to raise awareness.

According to marketing master Seth Godin your Online Community Manager (ie the persons who handles your social media and online profile) has the most important function for your business in this century. That’s because nearly everyone is online and listening to the people they know, trust and follow more than any ads or anything they see on TV.

This includes Facebook fan pages, group pages, LinkedIn, Twitter, blogger communities, Digg, Del_ici_ous, Reddit, Youtube, Vimeo…and the list goes on. Who has time to manage all that on top of running a business? Unless you’ve got an in-house social media team, probably not you.

Big Star does!

Me and my team do it so you don’t have to. And at reasonable prices to suit your budget. It’s what I’m good at and do all day so you can get back to running your store, services and life (example - I have 3500 followers on my own Twitter account @SarahBuhr).

Is social media for everyone? Yes, but there are ways to do it and not do it and not every community works for everyone. It depends on what your goals are, how long you want to run your campaign and what you are willing to do. We can discuss what will work for you when we meet.

I will show you specific case studies in your industry that have worked to reach a larger audience, increase sales and awareness for your brand and company.

Just the other day I had a client who was contacted by a major media outlet based on a tweet that went out. I’d like to do the same for you.

Big Star PR specializes in online public relations and social media. But you’ve got to act fast. New Years is coming up very soon and we will be filling up with orders. Call and book an appointment with me and my team today at 801-708-0958.

You’ve got to act fast on this one. The story may be old before you know it. Here are three things to do now:

1. Join in the conversation on high profile blogs mentioning the fiasco. Comment and add a link back to your site or mention how your product or service ties in. Get creative here. You don’t want it to sound like a sales pitch. Add real, valuable information.

2. Sports expert? Divorce attorney? Media expert? Call your local media and offer advice or an interview that ties in locally and shows off your expertise in the matter. Any local ties you can make about big national stories work well with the local media.

3. Join the social media conversation on Twitter. Do a Twitter search for keywords about Tiger Woods and add your expertise. Try to link back to your site or your product where appropriate.

Need help with a creative PR or Social Media campaign? Big Star PR specialized in online public relations and social media. Call and ask about services today at 801-708-0958.

Our favorite daytime talk show queen really is closing her doors for good in September 2011. But the upside is that’s a whole two years away. Still plenty of time to make a plan and get on.

Joan Stewart, the Publicity Hound, recommends these three things to give yourself a foot in the door:

–Pitch a topic that pushes Oprah’s hot buttons, like helping
children live better lives.

–Pitch an entire segment, not just yourself.

–Research her producers by reading their blogs at
http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20090313-tows-producer-facebook-blogs

Getting on Oprah can really do wonders for your business. So make a plan of action today, do your homework and keep working on it!

Over two thirds of the 831 respondents in a recent survey by VerticalResponse, Inc say they plan on increasing their use of PR and social media in 2010.

Furthermore, the respondents (all small businesses with under 500 employees) ranked public relations as one of the most important tools they’ll need to succeed in 2010.

However, you may have noticed that the world of public relations is changing rapidly. The results are in and there are things that don’t work as well anymore, as well as some things to really focus on in your next publicity campaign. Here are four PR do’s and don’ts in 2010:

1. Don’t focus so much on media relations. Getting mentioned in the paper is not what it used to be. Think about it. When’s the last time you read the paper? When’s the last time you actually watched the 5 o’clock news?

2. Do focus on social media relations. Numerous studies have shown that people trust people they know over people on TV. Use social media tools more often to send your information to friends and family and get them to send your information on to their friends and family. You’ll need to come up with a clever campaign strategy for this. Think in terms of what motivates people to share.

3. Don’t worry so much about impressions. Impressions are measured by how many people view your blog, press release or online article. It’s important to have those numbers, yes, but it doesn’t necessarily spur anyone to action. What you want to look for is engagement. How many people are sharing what you wrote or what was written about you? How many people are starting to say they’ve heard about you or that they really like your shop, your cause, whatever so much they are telling all their friends about it? How many people are acting on the information they now have about you? It’s tricky to get that going without awareness of who you are so you do want to measure impressions, but a clever campaign can really spur them into doing something beyond just looking at who you are.

4. Do use the new model of measurement:

Exposure => Engagement => Influence => Action

Now get out there and get creative with your next PR punch. I’m looking forward to seeing your efforts in 2010.

LinkedIn announced a partnership with Twitter today. When you set your status on LinkedIn it will now also be forwarded to your Twitter account. The verdict is out on whether this is genius or just duplication. However, it will help bolster LinkedIn business networking. Twitter has caught on more with marketers, media and business owners than it has with the general public. It’s a logical combination.

Click here for the actual announcement from LinkedIn

Here’s what the NY Times has to say about it, too.

Twitter - Over 60% of Twitter users quit after the first month. Most say they just “didn’t get it” Yet big celebrities (think Ashton Kutcher, Oprah and even Rainn Wilson), big media (CNN, NPR, FOX) have realized what a power house this social media site can be for their brand. Yes, I know, you are not a celebrity or a major media outlet…and you don’t want to spend all day on Twitter, either.

You don’t have to be famous or develop a new addiction to make Twitter work for you. There are plenty of people on there who have 5,000-45,000 real, targeted Twitter followers who are not famous or a part of the media - and they don’t spend all day on line to get there.

How do they do it?

Tip 1: Follow users who have a large amount of followers AND follow others back. You can find this out by looking at the ratio of followers to those they follow.

Tip 2: Use services like Tweetlater to send out automated, value-added messages that link back to your site

Tip 3: Reply, Retweet, Repeat. You don’t have to come up with original or mundane details about your every moment of your own life. Find a few cool things other people have mentioned and retweet it for them. They’ll thank you, your subject will come up in the searches and you’ll have easily gained a new friend all in 5 seconds or less.

Trust me, these things do work. I went from 300 or so followers to about a thousand in just one week with them (and a few others I’d be happy to help you with).

For more great tips like these I recommend following the user I got them from @tweet_fu (or click this link http://twitter.com/tweet_fu and hit “follow”)