He started by explaining why SEO is/should be important to PR Professionals.

In a 2008 Journalists Use of Search Survey by TopRank, we discovered that 91% of journalists use standard search to fulfill a component of their job whether researching a story or locating a subject matter expert.

With journalists writing for more channels and with less resources making your content visible within search is critical.

Here are Odden’s 10 SEO Tips:

1. Number one thing to do?
Magic answer is that it depends on the problem.
However, if you choose one item to tackle make sure your website is crawlable. If the site isn’t crawlable, then really nothing else you do in terms of SEO will matter.

2. Understand and Optimize PR Tactics
The content that is likely already being created as part of the PR campaign is low hanging fruit in terms of SEO.

Optimize the following content with keyword phrases (or those terms that journalists might be searching) to help your content become more visible:

• Press Releases
• Letters to the editor
• Online Newsroom
• Media kits
• Corporate blogs
• White papers
• Webinars/demos
• Newsletters
• Real world interviews published digitally

In addition, Odden introduces the audience to the idea of Micromedia Optimization. Now that tweets and soon status updates are being integrated into the search engines, it’s important to optimize the content regardless of the channel.

3. PPC vs SEO for PR
SEO is long term, part of a content process and contingent on content and links over time.
PPC is on-demand, pay to play and an alternative to natural listings. If you have something you need to draw attention to right now, PPC is perhaps the more viable option as you can have ads live within minutes.

4. Keyword Research
In order to optimize your existing content, a list of keyword phrases needs to be developed.
Here’s how you build the list:
1. Brainstorm phrases
2. Import to a keyword research tool
–Google Keyword Tool
–Google Insights & Trends
–WordTracker
–Keyword Discovery
–SEM Rush
3. Find popularity and variations of the original keyword list
4. Create a keyword glossary

When creating the glossary, be sure to segment by popularity and category to ensure no important phrases are missed.

5. Basics of OnPage SEO
When optimizing a website, newsroom or landing page, don’t forget to include keywords in the following places:

• Title Tags
• Keyword Placement within content
• On-page titles
• Navigation links
• Body copy
• Keyword text links
• Image alt text

6. Get more from Press Releases
Press releases can be more than a vehicle for distributing messages. If optimized, it can also serve to pull journalists (and even prospects) to the content hosted on a website or within a newsroom.

To optimize your press content for search visibility, remember to:

• Research and identify target keyword phrases
• Optimize the release for 1-2 phrases
• Include a Call to Action (link to landing page, so you can track activity)
• Develop and Optimize Landing Pages
• Post to Newsroom
• Pitch to Media
• Distribute via RSS
• Leverage Wire Service Distribution
• Measure Results

Here are 7 tips specific to Press Release Optimization:
1. Think up and to the left
2. Optimize for people first, search engines next
3. Use keywords in Title, Subhead, body
4. Don’t obsess over keyword density
5. Aim for a 500 word release to use target keyword 2-4 times
6. Use keywords in links to company sites
7. Add media: images, podcasts, video

7. Newsroom Optimization Tactics
Online newsrooms can be an added resource to draw journalists in, if it is optimized and can be found via search.

To optimize your newsroom or to get one started, follow these tips:
1. Consider using blog software to manage your newsroom, very search friendly
2. Share/Save Bookmarks
3. Leverage keyword categories
Chronological archives don’t benefit the search engines or the user. No one wants to search through years of press releases – as opposed to clicking on a category of content like ‘SEO Tips’.
4. Cross link from optimized content to relevant content on the website

8. Link Building
Links ‘electrify’ content in search and can significantly improve search rankings.

Earn links with great content and by deploying the following:

• Promote content socially
• Link up with partners
• Cross link internally
• Embed links in releases
• Social bookmark pickups of release content/coverage

When creating hyperlinks, be sure to use keywords in text:
Yes: Red Widget
No: Click Here

9. SEO & Social: Yin Yang
SEO and Social Media can be very complimentary to one another, so if deploying both (or even parts of both) be sure to integrate for highest impact.

Optimize Social Media for Search
The role of SEO in a social media effort is to directly influence discovery of social communities or content via search.

Link Building for SEO Through Social Media
Indirectly, social content can boost links to website content, improve search traffic and online sales.

10. Measuring & Selling the Value of News SEO
After deploying some or all of the above, it’s important to tie back to results.

There are are many different ways to attach measurement to the optimization of news content and here are a few to get you started:

• Newswire service metrics
• Web analytics for landing pages and websites
• Google / Yahoo alerts
• Monitor blog search engines (via RSS)
• Press release landing page conversion tracking
• Social media monitoring
• Inbound links
• Pickups on blogs
• Pickups on other websites
• Pickups on publications
• Search Rankings

Don’t think those will work? Odden recommends using the power of the competitors. Are your competitors receiving better social or standard search visibility? If so, that’s often a compelling data point for decision makers.

What tips do you have to add for optimizing news content?

TopRank is offering a Free Guide to SEO for PR here.

            Subscribe to this Feed

© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | PRSA09: Top 10 SEO Tips for Public Relations | 28 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

One session I’ve really been looking forward to was the one on social media measurement featuring Katie Paine of KDPaine & Partners. She started the audience off with some numbers, that we all might find useful:

• 48% of respondents to a PRWeek study said that they were moving money from advertising to social media – only 18% said they were taking money from PR
• 78% of people trust peer recommendations, 14% trust advertising
• 91% of Inc 500 companies are using social media
• 38% aren’t monitoring their brand, product or reputation in social media

Next, the audience had to grapple with the idea (read truth) that it’s the end of measurement as we know it. Here are ten supporting facts:

1. Procter & Gamble is now paying for engagement, not eyeballs
2. Sodexo cut 300K out of its recruitment budget using Twitter
3. Comcast avoided government regs and improved customer service via Twitter
4. Immunize BC used social media to boost awareness and increase percentage of population immunized
5. BMC Software measures communications effectiveness based on contribution to EPS (earnings per share)
6. HSUS (Humane Society) generated $650,000 in new donations from an on-line photo contest on Flickr
7. Red Cross judges success in terms of property saved and loss averted
8. IMB receives more leads, sales and exposure from a $500 podcast that it does from a $40,000 advertising program
9. Wal-Mart credits Q109 profits to 11 Moms
10. Stanford University calculates ROI from Facebook based on applications and retention

So, if you are measuring success with any of the following, you might be labeled Old School (and need to keep reading).

• AVE (ad value equivalency)
• Eyeballs
• Hits
• Couch Potatoes
• # of Twitter Followers
• # of Facebook Friends/Fans

Paine explains that the above measurement methods are in fact Old School and the incorrect way to measure the effectiveness of any campaign. Eyeballs aren’t a measurement of success anymore because those eyeballs likely avert your advertisement. Hits aren’t an objective of a website, inquiries and conversions are.

The measurement of success isn’t the creation of a Facebook page or even the number of friends/followers the page has. Rather, success is in the engagement with a particular audience and how that engagement has the potential to impact a preset objective.

So why don’t more professionals update the way they approach measurement? Paine says it’s fear. She adresses many fears that this (or any other) audience may have when it comes to social media and defining metrics.
1. Afraid metrics will reveal the program isn’t working.

• If it’s not working, why keep doing it?

2. Afraid of what you will hear.

• If you’re deaf to the conversation, only your enemies will hear it.

3. Afraid I won’t be able to justify my program/existence.

• It’s not about justifying; it’s about improving

4. Afraid I’ll be fired for not showing the right numbers.

• You should be fired for not showing any.

Social Media renders everything you know about measurement obsolete. The definition of timely has changed, the definition of reach has changed, the definition of success had changed.

The answer isn’t in how many you’ve reached, but how those you’ve reached have responded

Once you have reached the audience, take a look at how they engage and make decisions as it may have changed.

OLD:  Awareness > Consideration > Preference > Trial > Purchase
NEW:  Find > Observe > Participate > Engagement > Purchase/Act/Link/WOM

To get started, set goals for Social Media. Examples of goals are:

1. Marketing/leads/sales
2. Mission/safety/civic engagement
3. Relationship/reputation/positioning

To reach those goals, what do you need to measure?  Paine recommends following the 7 Steps to Social Media ROI:

1. Define the ‘R’ – what are expected results
2. Define the ‘I’ – what’s the investment
3. Understand your audiences and what motivates them
4. Define the metrics (what you want to become)
5. Define your benchmarks
6. Obey the Rules
7. Analysis

In what ways are you measuring social media? What have you found to be the most compelling metrics for getting management and/or client buy-in?

            Subscribe to this Feed

© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | PRSA09: Social Media Measurement – Katie Paine on Establishing ROI | 15 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

Topics during these events will emphasize the practice areas of our agency: Search Marketing, Online Public Relations and Social Media Marketing. Locations will range from New York to San Francisco to Minneapolis.

May 19: Media Relations Summit, Crowne Plaze Hotel in NYC (event info)

4:30 pm: Mastering SEO, Google AdWords and Other Search Tools to Increase Visibility
If you’re ready to vault your website, landing pages, corporate videos, blogs, press releases, and online newsroom into the top of the search rankings, take in this one-hour bootcamp. You’ll learn all the latest tools, tips and tricks for making Google and Yahoo love you.

Panelists:  Howie Jacobson, Consultant/Author, “Google Ad Words for Dummies”, Bill Barnes, EVP, Business Development, Enquiro and Lee Odden, CEO, TopRank Online Marketing 

Tweetup Monday 5/18

May 28-9:  Private Company Training Engagement, San Francisco (Contact TopRank for our on-site training services)

• Social Media Monitoring and Brand Positioning
  
• Search Engine Optimization Skills for Corporate Marketing & Public Relations
  
• Social Media Roadmap: Strategies and Tactics for Large Organizations

Presenters: Susan Misukanis, President, Jolina Pettice, Senior Account Manger, Lee Odden, CEO (All from TopRank Online Marketing)

Tweetup Friday 5/29, location TBD 

June 2: ClickZ Online Marketing Summit, The Depot in Minneapolis (event info)

3:30 pm: Twitter and Advanced Blog Strategies
The Social Media Road Map:  Many companies are jumping off the cliff of Social Media, while others fear directly engaging customers.  Learn how to strategically align your marketing objectives with long-term social media strategies that work.

4:40 pm: Big Brands, Big Plans Panel
This is the highlight of the day… join a  round-table panel comprised of  the world’s leading brands and practitioners and get the inside scoop on how leading brands are driving success through social media, SEO, websites, and testing, and how you can apply these principles to your own initiatives. 

Panelists: Jeanniey Mullen, CMO Zinio, Founder of Email Experience Council, Kevin G. Espinosa, eBusiness Platform Manager, Caterpillar Inc., Lee Odden, CEO, TopRank Online Marketing, Keith Dieruf, Manager, Online Marketing, Ameriprise Financial, Matt McGowan, Vice President of Marketing and Publisher, ClickZ

Tweetup – meetup 6/2

June 4-5:  Social Media Smarts, DMA Seminar Facility, NYC (event inf0)

9:00am – 5:00pm Introduction to the Intersection of SEO and the Social Web Through Strategy, Tools and Tactics
Intensive, 2 day workshop will help companies better understand the social web and how social media and SEO can help increase brand awareness, improve customer relationships and compliment both PR and marketing efforts at growing business.

Tweetup June 4, location TBD

June 10: PRNews Webinar (event info)

1:30pm (EST):  Boosting Your Bottom Line with Online News & Other Cost-Effective PR Tactics 

From savvy email marketing campaigns to press releases that attract media attention, there are simple, cost-effective strategies that will help you increase revenue. This webinar promises insight from a mix of expert practitioners in a wide range of areas including: 

• How to generate buzz and word of mouth around your small business
• Integrating PR efforts with marketing and advertising to increase sales
• Driving traffic to your website through search engines
• Building a strong community around your brand
• PR’s role in uncovering customers’ needs for new products/services
• Getting buzz and coverage among bloggers and citizen journalists
• Best/worst tactics for holding media or customer events for your business
• How to effectively leverage Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook & MySpace
• Blogs and Video sites: what you need to know
• Pitch your stories to bloggers and to the Twitter community
• Writing social media press releases that work
• Conducting keyword research and finding the keyword sweet spot
• Optimizing PR content online, posting it and building reciprocal links
• Linking techniques: from blogs to social networking pages
• Identifying the most popular search terms for your campaigns
• SEM tools, resources and SEM for-hire checklists
• Email marketing Do’s and Don’ts

Panelists: Idill Cakim Vice President, Golin Harris, Sally Falkow Principal, ExpansionPlus & Senior Fellow Society for New Communications Research, Greg Jarboe President, SEO-PR, Lee Odden CEO, TopRank Online Marketing, Sophie Shiatis
Vice President Ecommerce, PRWeb, Moderator: Courtney Barnes Editor, PR News

If you’re attending any of these events and you would like to connect, please @ or DM on Twitter: @leeodden

            Subscribe to this Feed

© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | Learn SEO, Social Media, Digital PR from TopRank | 6 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

I’ll also be presenting on SEO for publishers locally this week at a private event for MSP Communications, publishers of Mpls St. Paul Magazine and Twin Cities Business. 

PRSA Digital Impact Social Media: April 30 – May 1, 2009 New York, NY
This event covers how public relations practitioners are effectively using technology for public and media relations.  That means social media, online PR, mobile PR and topics like data visualization. The keynote will be delivered by social media and PR guru, Brian Solis of FutureWorks. 

I’ll be doing a solo, one hour presentation on “Top ten SEO tactics for PR professionals“.  Here’s my outline:

1. SEO tactics – if I could only do one thing…
2. PR tactics that affect SEO
3. When is PPC better than SEO for PR?
4. How to choose the best keywords?
5. Basics of on-page SEO
6. Press release optimization tips
7. Newsroom optimization tactics
8. Link building fundamentals
9. SEO and social media promotions
10. Measuring & selling the value of SEO 

You can still register here and get more info on the other presentations.

Media Relations Summit:  May 17 – 19, 2009 New York, NY
This is the largest media relations conference and brings together PR and corporate communications practitioners together with journalists, reporters, analysts and other members of the media. As with most conferences in the PR and marketing industries, there’s a heavy focus on new and social media. Dan Rather and Dan Abrams will be giving keynotes this year. Charlie Rose did the keynote last year and it was excellent.

I’ll be on a panel “Mastering SEO, Google AdWords and Other Search Tools to Increase Visibility” with Bill Barnes from Enquiro and Howie Jacobson.   My presentation will focus on optimizing news content, which I’ve presented on at many search marketing conferences and at previous PRSA events. This one will include updated case studies. 

Register here and get the full schedule. 

ClickZ Online Marketing Summit: June 2, 2009 Minneapolis, MN
What’s not to like about an event in your own backyard?  The Online Marketing Summit is traveling to 13 cities May-July this year offering a great mix of client and agency expertise, advice and insight on all things related to marketing on the web.  The OMS Minneapolis style will be held at The Depot, downtown Minneapolis.

I will be giving a presentation on Building a SEO and Social Media Roadmap that will explain the benefits of incorporating SEO and Social Media as well as the framework for developing a Social Media Strategy.  Last week I wrote about this exact thing at Mashable.  Here’s a general outline which will include several practical examples:

1. Audience
2. Objectives
3. Strategy
4. Tactics
5. Tools/Technology
6. Measurement

Register here before they sell out!

Social Media Smarts Workshop:  June 4-5, 2009 New York, NY
Apparently I like to travel to New York. Who doesn’t?  Companies that really want to sink their teeth into not only creating a social media strategy but also want the knowledge to implement will want to run, not walk, to Social Media Smarts.

This is a 2 day, intensive workshop filled with practical examples, case studies and exercises that enables attendees to learn about blogging, social networking, Twitter, media sharing (images, video, audio), social news & bookmarking, wikis and social media measurement.

Here is the outline for Day 1 and Day 2:

• Introduction to Social Media
• QuickStart to Business Blogging and RSS
• Marketing Socially: Creating and Promoting Blog Content
• Social ROI: Measuring Blogs and the Social Web

• Step Up to Social Networking
• Videos and Podcasts and Images Oh My!
• Social Roundup: Microblogging, Social Bookmarking and wikis
• Social Media Strategy Workshop

Register and get more information on the course material here.

            Subscribe to this Feed

© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | Upcoming PR, SEO, Social Media Marketing Events | 6 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

This year TopRank had 2 speaking slots (a workshop and a panel) plus Account Manager Mike Yanke and Media Relations Associate Nicole Leach stayed busy attending sessions, keynotes and blogging.

The theme of this year’s event was “The Point of Connection” and I think the reference served the interests of attendees well. Social technologies were top of mind for attendees, speakers and the event itself with all the blogging, Twittering and real world networking going on. PR professionals from across the globe converged on Detroit to learn, recognize their peers, conduct business and most of all to connect.

The exhibit hall area offered a variety of products and services to choose from and was well laid out and well attended, which was something many exhibitors appreciated.

While I didn’t get to visit much of Detroit outside of Sweet Lorraine’s for the PR Tweetup and Tom’s Oyster Bar for the PR Technology Section dinner, I did have this rather stoic view from my hotel. Many other photos can be found on TopRank’s PRSA 2008 set on Flickr and the official PRSA photo pool.

Here’s a wrap up of the posts Mike and Nicole posted here and over at Media Relations Blog:

• PRSA International Conference Detroit: A Halloween Perspective – Mike
• PRSA International 2008: Evolution of Communication – Nicole
• True Tales of Social Media Measurement & Analytics – Mike
• Word-Of-Mouth Media Relations: What Really Works? – Nicole
• Embracing Social Media and Deriving ROI – Nicole
• Word of Mouth Online or Off – What’s The Difference? – Mike
• PRSA 2008 Detroit Conference Photos – Lee
• New Influencers of Social Media Marketing – Nicole
• Media Myths & Realities – Mike
• Giving Back To Those Who Impact PR – PRSA Keynote Mitch Albom – Nicole
• Craig Newmark Keynote: Social Media and Democracy PRSA 2008 – Nicole
• The Changed PR Landscape – What Works, What Doesn’t – Mike
• Virtual Reality: New Platform for Media Relations – Nicole
• What’s The ROI On Your Press Release? – Mike
• Current Consumer Trends & Communicating with Green Media – Mike

Thank you to Mike and Nicole for doing a great job blogging the event – this was definitely a “working” conference.  A big thanks also goes out to PRSA staff Judy Voss and Colleen Seaver from Professional Development, our PRSA clients Ann Caggiano and Richard Specter and PRSA President and COO Bill Murray.

Find other blog posts on sessions offered at PRSA 2008 on the official PRSA blog, ComPRehension.

            Subscribe to this Feed

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | PRSA 2008 International Conference Round Up | No comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

Working for TopRank Online Marketing, which offers both SEO and public relations services, I always enjoy attending sessions that focus on both.

In part, it’s an excellent feeling to know that the SEO services we integrate into our online PR programs are ahead of the game in many ways, and in part because there is always something new and of value I can continue to offer to our clients.

That was my exact feeling when attending the PRSA session “What’s The ROI On Your Press Release.”  This excellent session was presented by:

• Greg Jarboe, President, SEO-PR
• Laura Sturaitis, Senior Vice President Media Services & Product Strategy, Business Wire

Much of what was presented by Sturaitis will be familiar to regular readers of this blog, but new and vital to those either new to PR or veterans of traditional PR only.

As was the theme for much of this conference, and within the title of this session, the first step when drafting your next release will be to outline your measurement of success in advance, whether that be coverage, online visibility, straight up sales, disclosure, or some mixture of all or some of the above.

Once established, Sturaitis offered excellent tips to help increase ROI in each of these areas, again, these may seem well established in the world of SEO, but it’s equally important that PR professionals also learn to take hold:

• Identify keywords for which you seek for your release to be found.  Leverage keyword research to find popular keywords relating to your story or industry.
• Link these keywords back to your website.  This will not only help increase keyword rankings for your site, but will provide another portal for users.
• Format your press release for robots and readers – place keywords up & to the left, where both of these lifeforms look.
• Measure your results.

The reason for the vitality of Sturaitis’ tips came alive in Jarboe’s set where results driven case studies were shared.

These case studies, with their real world examples, should help to put any client who may be apprehensive or unsure of new optimized news blended tactics at complete ease:

• Symettricom, a developer of extremely niche technology chips, optimized a release around an admittedly unpopular, but extremely relevant keyword with a corresponding link to a form page.  Predictably, only 8 inquiries were seen.  Unpredictably, one of these leads accounted for $200 million.
• Southwest Airlines had previously only optimized releases around corporate nickname “Southwest”.  Upon optimizing for “Southwest Airlines”, and implementing tracking pages, they were able to account for approximately 2.5 million in ticket sales.  A big reason why we’re advocates of landing pages and full brand names at TopRank. TopRank Online Marketing, that is
• Christian Science Monitor, in support of their 11 part article on former hostage Jill Caroll, sought additional exposure through an optimized release.  Jarboe, breaking AP style and (apparently, per his recollection the heart of the Monitor’s editor) identified Caroll as the keyword “Jill Caroll” several times throughout the release.  The results were, again, a marked increase in traffic, simply by modifying AP style to “Google Style”.

The biggest takeaway for PR professionals is the realization that little will change about what we do.  Whether we are communicating via AP Style or “Google Style” we’re still communicating – and we’re still seeking to communicate with people.  In other words, we don’t have to write like robots to be found by robots.

If anything, the ROI seen with press releases thanks to our world’s advancements ensure we simply see more results for less as our messages retain far more permanence online.  At the end of the day, more results for less work is something we could all become accustomed to, regardless of industry.

Speaking of online PR and press release optimization, be sure to sign up now for the free Webinar on Wednesday Oct 29, 2pm EST.

“SEO & PR: Using Online PR to Drive Better Search Results – Today PR generates more than just media visibility, it is a key tool to increase search engine rankings and drive website traffic.

Join Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Online Marketing and Jay Byrne, President of v-Fluence Interactive Public Relations to learn powerful, cost-effective ways to use PR to drive better search results.”

The webinar is free and you won’t be disappointed. Get more information here.

            Subscribe to this Feed

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | PRSA 2008: What’s The ROI On Your Press Release? | 3 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

At TopRank Online Marketing, many of our clients are intrigued with the prospect of going to market with green messaging. We match their excitement like most firms do when faced with the prospect of communicating an honest-to-goodness good story with so seemingly tailor made for results.

Is it really enough to announce that you’re going green, however, if your objective is to receive coverage?

The session “How To Leverage Current Consumer Trends & Most Effectively Communicate with Green Media” illustrated ways we could help ensure our clients do it right.

Presented by Annie Longsworth of Cohn & Wolfe and Sandy Skees of Communications4Good, the session dispelled the myth that it is simply enough to announce yourself as green in order to achieve increased media coverage.

One of the primary reasons being that people care about this messaging, but at the end of the day they don’t “really” care about this messaging. No one wants to see a cuddly old polar bear drown, when faced with the prospect of paying an extra dollar a day to ensure they don’t, we all of a sudden remember that if that bear had the chance, it would likely rip our face right off.

Journalists are seeing this conflict hit the bottom line of their publications directly as, per example, Time Magazine recently saw their annual green issue come in with the third lowest sales of the year.

The easiest way that PR professionals can combat this is simply by sharing “new” news and know that green may not be the lead story. (In fact, some journalists have been hit by green fatigue so heavily they simply will not cover a story unless it’s brand new).

It’s not enough to get coverage by saying your hotel chain has implemented green practices nationwide, but if green were simply the side effect of say, environmentally friendly hover-shuttles to and from the hotel, well, you may have something.

As this is my concluding post from this event, and this was my concluding session, I would like to finalize coverage with key trends associated with the green movement that can be leveraged both when contemplating green PR messaging (remember – think something BRAND NEW) or, truly, any other PR story or business practice:

• Transparency – be open with who you are as an organization (whether in PR outreach, or in general), from both the good and the bad, and ensure everyone within your organization can speak to your mission.
• Creative innovation is the quickest way towards better results. Example, UPS eliminated left-turns in their routes and saved 3 million gallons of gas their first year. Will your latest PR story lead with this anecdote, or will it lead with green? Which is more powerful? On the other side, what innovation can your company implement that will provide this kind of result?
• Value optimism over fear – seriously, do you want to see another polar bear slowly dying, or do you want to see stories or corporate policies that begin with creative solutions rather than terrifying realities? Which do you think will spur action v. cowering?
• Do good things, and you’ll probably make money – People love to read positive empowering stories, employees want to work for and will work hard for responsible employers, and all things being equal, consumers will buy from you if they believe in you.

Yes, it is possible that it be all about money, all about results, all about our own ego – but still be centered around the good, centered around the positivity, centered around optimism.

Apart from a flight taking my happily exhausted self home a bit earlier than 10:30pm EST, what more could we ask for?

            Subscribe to this Feed

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | PRSA Session: Current Consumer Trends & Communicating with Green Media | No comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

I personally started the conference on Saturday with a 4 hour workshop on SEO for Public Relations which included results of our Journalist Use of Search Survey. At 10am today I’m on a panel with Peter Himler, Rob Key and David Bradfield.  Here are a few of my favorite photos from the first 2 days of PRSA 2008.

It wouldn’t be a proper PRSA conference roundup without a photo of PRSA President Jeff Julin

Paula Tutman, news reporter from WDIV, a NBC TV station in Detroit and great compliment to keynote speaker Craig Newmark

Speaking of Craig Newmark, here he is looking awfully dapper after the keynote on how social media makes us more Democratic

PR measurement guru Katie Paine listens to the ASPCA case study presented by Shonali Burke

PRSA peeps at the opening reception

Good looking Kentucky smiles from Wendy Treinen of the Kentucky Derby Museum and Social Media Guru Jason Falls

Friendly faces of Marc, Craig and Chris at the Radian6 booth. PRSA International 2007 is where I first met Radian6

PRSA Tweetup Tweeple: Shonali Burke, Shannon Paul and Kami Huyse

PRSA Tweetup Tweeple: Eric Schwartzman, smiley guy, Scott Monty and Peter Himler

Tube from the Tweetup to the Twhotel. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

And the trusty laptop that makes most of the blogging magic happen for Online Marketing Blog

Check out all the photos from TopRank on the Detroit PRSA 2008 photos set on Flickr.

            Subscribe to this Feed

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | PRSA 2008 Detroit Conference Photos | One comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

These were the bold questions set forth by Jeffrey Graham,  Executive Director, Customer Insight, New York Times, in the day one PRSA International Conference Session “Word of Mouth Online or Off – What’s the Difference?”

The session’s formal agenda began with the stunning, though entirely unsurprising, admission that word of mouth, while noted as critical towards any marketing campaign’s success, is rarely accounted for in a campaigns budget.

The answer for this is surprisingly direct, in addition to being a complete cop-out: it simply cannot be measured.

Of course it can be measured.  Everything can be measured.  I can still measure the first fish I ever caught when I was six years old.  It was 57 inches long and 32 pounds.

Now, if you are saying it can’t be measured truly accurately, then that may be something we can come closer to agreement on.  In the case of a fishing story, we know before we hear the answer it will not be accurate, and the lie itself is a predictable action of the storyteller.

In fact, many in the old guard agree that the credibility of online word of mouth is negligible at best, and even among younger demographics, most word of mouth still happens – and is still trusted most – when it comes from face to face contact.

Online, does offer its share of benefits, however, including:

• Nearly absolute permanence of any conversation
• Complete transcendence of any distance

Many, however, still see it as an extremely volatile channel, and this is to be expected in any forum where anyone at anytime can post any ridiculous parable they feel like.

So knowing the influence of word of mouth, and knowing the reach of online, and admitting to the incredulity of this channel, what can savvy marketers do to be most effective?

The answer here is twofold – find what channels will spread your conversation and find the “multiplier” – those who will take the message you provide to them and multiply it among their entire network.

In terms of channels, surprisingly maybe to some – but television is still king in terms of a channel for overall “push” messaging (ie advertising) to start an online conversation.  However, when this is segmented further down to the industry level – certain verticals will actually see more conversations started from online messaging, among them technology (Note: one of TopRank’s key verticals) who, research indicates will see 49 conversations started compared to television’s 37.

Significant research was done by Graham and the New York Times to determine just what exactly constitutes a multiplier, and essentially, a formula has been created that breaks it down into three basic questions:

• How many people do you speak to each day?
• Do people come to you for recommendations?
• Do you love to learn, share and advice?

Of 3000 people polled (in this case, the experiment was limited to the power of women as multipliers) roughly 30% fit this criteria.

Not only did this 30% of women match the criteria from the questions above, they also shared one other remarkable – 87% saw themselves as loving to help people – and see, either consciously or unconsciously, themselves as fulfilling some altruistic purpose in truly helping their family and friends.  They were truly inspired that their networks saw them as a trusted source to go to for buying decisions.

What else did they have in common?  They were each, in their own way, completely full of themselves.  They loved to talk about how “I” help people, how people come to “me”.  They were all – and this is purely my take – idiots.

A sandwich, like your opinion, is a wonderful thing to have, but no one wants either shoved down their throat.  I myself find it hard to believe that anyone would be truly influenced by these so-called multipliers, would be interested to see truly definitive research showing otherwise – and at the end of the day – feel altruism has as much place in marketing as truth does to childhood fishing stories.

If all this is true, is this another log being placed onto a fire burning partly on pure and utter confusion, and part on the realization that we can only ever get so far inside our target’s mind?

Not quite.  While we may never know definitely if a multipliers network truly likes to listen as much as multipliers love to talk – we do know – without a doubt – multipliers LOVE to buy.  They will spend money because they want to, they will spend money because they feel compelled to, they will spend money because they owe it to the world to do so and share their thoughts.

The multipliers in your vertical are your big, fat target and – quite possible, just maybe – are influencing some other folks out there, too.  So how best do we find them?  That’s best handled more fully in another post, but an off the cuff idea is a simple three question survey:

• How many people do you speak to each day?
• Do people come to you for recommendations?
• Do you love to learn, share and advice?

Just like a fishing story, the accuracy of the response is secondary to the predictable action of the storyteller.

            Subscribe to this Feed

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | PRSA 2008: Word of Mouth Online or Off – What’s The Difference? | 7 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

Next weekend, I will be deployed to Detroit, MI  to attend 2008’s PRSA International Conference titled “The Point of Connection” and will be sharing thoughts on several sessions, in addition to general overviews of the event itself, on behalf of Online Marketing Blog readers. So what am I looking forward to most about the PRSA International conference?

Visiting Detroit, of course!  When most think of Detroit, they will no doubt reflect on the history of Motown, past flawed baseball greats such as Ty Cobb and Denny McClain, or “Detroit Rock City”.  My nerdom leads me elsewhere, however.

For me, Detroit will always be immortalized as the city that hosted the monumental world premiere of  “Night of the Demons” in Halloween of 1988.  Per IMDB’s invaluable trivia feature, had this filmed opened nationwide with the numbers posted in Detroit, it would have ranked among the top grossing horror films of the decade.

The reason I begin the post with this story is not simply that this conference is being held just before Halloween, but rather the conference itself is populated with excellent sessions with a true bend towards social media and ROI – two oceans I navigate through seemingly daily in my work at TopRank Online Marketing.

The pre-conference workshop, “Optimizing Content for Optimum Search Results: Search Engine Optimization for News” run by TopRank’s CEO Lee Odden promises to shed light on (and in the process dispelling any zombie like myths) the intersection of search engine optimization and news content. Journalists and bloggers use search and the social web for more efficient research and this workshop will show PR professionals how they can leverage SEO to faciliate both “PULL PR” and increased online news distribution.

In the session “The Changed PR Landscape: What Works, What Doesn’t” (including a panel of digital PR experts including moderator Peter Himler, principal, Flatiron Communications LLC, Rob Key, founder & CEO, Converseon, David Bradfield, senior vice president and partner at FH Digital and TopRankMarketing.com CEO Lee Odden) social media channels and tactics such as wikis, Twitter, Facebook, etc, will be discussed at length – and the question posed will be – with the advent of social media, should PR professionals throw out traditional PR techniques in favor of increased focus on these new channels?

This session will help with this critical question, which is one I have to answer on behalf of many of my clients whose objectives we achieve by harnessing the streams of new marketing techniques and PR.

Will the future see distributing press releases to traditional media outlets as our highest impact tactic towards our clients end goals, or will creating a Twitter account where CEOs can express their innermost interests (favorite horror movies, as I did above, for instance?) in an effort to humanize themselves be most effective?

The answer is dependent on ROI – another major focus of this conference, particularly relevant in our tougher economic times.

Going back to Night of the Demons, imagine if the producers would have had the foresight to spend the extra distribution costs to distribute nationally, rather than just geographically.  On the other side of that coin, imagine if other horror producers learned from this film that their latest budget conscious opuses could turn a tidy profit with a geographic focus.

Sessions like “True Tales From the Social Media Measurement Trenches — Using Research to Learn and Improve Your Programs” (featuring Shonali Burke, vice president, media and communications, ASPCA and Katie Delahaye Paine, CEO, KDPaine & Partners) will illustrate how a measurement system tied to public relations will help to further overall marketing results, while  “What’s the ROI of Your Press Release” (featuring Laura Sturaitis, senior vice president, media & product services, Business Wire and Greg Jarboe, president, SEO-PR) will describe how to get the most out of traditional press releases in our web 2.0 world – again, with the objective of increasing overall marketing results.

Other sessions I look forward to attending include:

• Media Myths & Realities with Nicholas Scibetta, global director, global media, Ketchum
• Word of Mouth Online v. Offline with Jeffrey Graham, executive director,customer insight, The New York Times
• How to Leverage Current Consumer Trends and Most Effectively Communicate With Green Media, with Annie Longsworth, president, San Francisco office, Cohn & Wolfe

I look forward to this conference and to checking in with TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog readers starting next week!

If you’re attending PRSA International in Detroit next week, be sure to register for the half day pre-conference session on SEO for PR and News Content” Saturday, October 25, 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

            Subscribe to this Feed

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | PRSA International Conference Detroit: A Halloween Perspective | One comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

I promised myself I’d slow down on conference speaking last year and while I’ve turned down more offers this year than ever before, (and been turned down myself the one time I formally pitched) some really great opportunities have popped up.

Here are the upcoming conferences I’ll be speaking at for pretty much the rest of this year not including private company engagements:

Aug 20, 2008 – Search Engine Strategies, San Jose
Presenting: “SEO Through Blogs and Feeds”
Presenting: “News Search SEO”
Media Sponsor
TopRank is sending 4 bloggers to cover the event (Thomas, Jessica, Dana and Ashley)

Sep 18, 2008 – OMMA Global, NYC
Panel: “Digital Asset Optimization”

Sep 20, 2008 – Blog World Expo, Las Vegas
Moderating a Panel: “SEO and New Media”
Media Sponsor

Oct 16th – DMA08, Las Vegas
Workshop: “SEO and Public Relations”

Oct 25 & 27 – PRSA International Conference, Detroit
Panel: “Future of PR and New Media”
Workshop: “SEO for News Content”

Nov 12, 2008 – WebmasterWorld Pubcon, Las Vegas
Presenting: “Alternative Discovery and SEO – Feeds, PDF’s, and Blog SEO”
Panel: Five Bloggers and a Microphone

Dec 1 & 2 – DMA Seminar, New York
Workshop: “Social Media Smarts – Introduction to Social Media”

You can get a lot out of conferences just by attending. Exhibiting, sponsoring and speaking add even more opportunities. While we’re not doing any exhibiting this year, it’s something we’ll start to look into for 2009. Having been a media sponsor for most of the major search engine conferences, we’ve gained a noticeable increase in visibility. Speaking, attending sessions and networking have also been instrumental for our growth.

If you’re attending any of the conferences listed above, please be sure to say hello.

            Subscribe to this Feed

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | Upcoming TopRank Conference Schedule | 3 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

Last week at the PRSA Digital Impact conference I met Steve Rubel, SVP Director of Insights from Edelman Digital and famous (sometimes infamous) PR blogger at Micropersuasion. He presented “2008 Digital Trends: Open Files” which talks about the framework Edelman uses (Faint Signals, Watch List and Hallucinations for tracking digital/social media trends.

Read my live blogging notes below or you can view the entire presentation over at Slideshare or Rubel’s post about tracking digital trends here.

Mass vs Micro. It’s less about reach and more about impact. Mass reach is dying. Micro is blogging, Twitter, Friendfeed etc. Even if people are not producing content and media, they’re impacted by it.

Google is not just a search engine, it’s a reputation management engine and is a place for PR. People trust each other more than authority figures. PR is more about “Public Relationships”, not “Public Relations”.

“Open Files” references the way Edelman tracks digital trends. Signals, Watch list, Hallucinations (you think you see something or not)

Faint Signals:

1. The cut and paste web – the web has evolved into a place where you can take content from one location to another easily. Traffic to your web site is less relevant as traffic can be driven elsewhere. Content follows you wherever you want to put it.

You want content not only to live on a web site, but so that it can spread elsewhere. Make it easy for that content to travel and track where it goes.

Gives example of the NBA using widgets. Can place widget in Facebook, MySpace, iGoogle.

2. Attention Crash – People are inundated with electronic communications. The numer of inputs we have as individusals has exceeded what we are capable of managing. Need to chunck it down. Keep it simple and use storytelling. If they can’t understand it in 3 seconds, they’re gone.

Gives example of Blendtec (willitblend.com). Great example of simplicity.

3. Digital Curation. There’s so much content everywhere it’s difficult to distinguish the “art” from the junk. At museums there are curators to make those distinctions. Online there are curators as well: humans and also algorithms.

Every popular niche will offer opportunities for brands to become the digital curator for that niche. The challenge is to do it before others do first.

Gives example of POPURLS and how they partnered with Intel to create an Intel version of POPURLS.

4. Super Crunching. The digital space is the most addressable media and marketing platform ever. However, many marketers are not “quants” and data is largely under utilized.

Google is the operating system for marketing. Data mining and visulaizations reduce risk, make marketing more efficient .

Example: Google Trends. You can track over time if the work you’re doing has impacted news search. Helps you see if you are creating demand with your PR work for keyword concepts.

5. Collaboration – The web is a platform for action. People are working together for shared outcomes.

Rubel shows a matrix of open and controlled communication. Communicate and collaboration. Different tactics fall in different quadrants. Advertising is controlled communication. PR is lessed controlled. Viral video is far more open but less likely to result in a specific outcome. Blogs, community engagement and ideastorms are open and collaborative.

The web is not just a platform for communication but for collaboration.

Example: mystarbucksidea.com. Anyone can submit ideas and the community can vote on them. Starbucks evaluates the best ideas. Open and collaborative.

Watch List – areas of experimentation

1. Living Room 2.0. The internet is coming to the living room in a big way. Shares that he has an apple TV and Xbox 360 connected to his LCD and also to the internet. Streams itunes and friends Flickr images.

We’re entering a new Golden age of TV via the internet. It’s still very early days though. Buy an apple TV and experiment with it so when the trend grows, you’ll be familiar with the experience.

2. Geek Marketers. There are people at companies tasked with staying on top of things. If you’re in PR find out who those people are at companies. If you’re at a company, hire one of these people to stay on top.

Hallucinations

1. Digital Nomads. Increasing numbers of people who are virtual workers or indpendent consultants. Small number but an interesting trends. They are using web based collaboration tools and lot.Ex

Examples/resources: anywired.com and Tim Ferriss’s 4 hour work week

It’s concievable that companies will become more virtual and distributed.

2. Data Leaking. Information is seeping out of institutions. Technology outside the enterprise innovates far faster than what companies are able to do inside. Gen Y workers expect the same tools in the office that they easily have at home. Work and corporate information is migrating to social networks and other online platforms. Be aware of this trend and be involved.

Traffic is something that can happen elsewhere, not just on your site. It’s important to enable content to travel. Digitial curation is a big opportunity. Find high demand niches and “become the curator”.

–

The PRSA Digital Impact conference was seriously information rich and I heard sentiments from many of the attendees as such. Hopefully PRSA can make them a regular event and in different cities.

            Subscribe to this Feed

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | PRSA Digital Impact: Tracking Social Media Trends | 6 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

Heidi starts out a with a poll: How many comments for media relations? and How many have created a social profile for a client? A small number of hands raise for each question.

Jason: What are three things you want to know?

1. Less tools and tactics and more to how you’re applying this, illustrating the value of it
2. More about blogger relations
3. Strategy and context. Enough about tools. Are blogs for every organization?

My observation is that based on these questions, it seems many of the PR professionals in the audience are not sold on blogs per se, and tools/tactics are premature. They want to know if a blog makes sense or not, does it fit within an overall communications plan.

Social media is about community not an audience.

Ironically, Jay starts out talking about tools. How do you find the right blogs to pitch? You qualify blogs to pitch not by the reader counts, but by how much that blog’s content is shared amongst others.

Process for finding blogs stats with blog search through something like Technorati. Then use traditional metrics like RSS subscribers. Also mentions unique visitors and email subscribers (for blogs that make that kind of information available)

Social metrics let you see whether a blog’s content gets passed around. Examples: BlogPulse, Delicious, Digg, Newsvine, Google blog search, Reddit, Mixx, Tailrank, Technorati, Stumbleupon, etc.

Once you see that a blog is popular amongst these social metrics, you’ll know that blog is worth spending your time on.

Jason mentions that being strategic about reaching out. Blogs may not be the best first content. He mentions Beam Global, owner of Maker’s Mark his client. He’d reach out to forums about new information before going to blogs about bourbon.

Playing by the rules in social communities gives you permission to contribute. Being transparent is what gives you the credibility to participate and share information with the community.

For PR practitioners: How do I determine whay type of involvement I should have with social media?
How does my target market consumer news.

Heidi talks about the importance of psychographics over demographics. Jason follows up with the distinction in psychographics between bourbon and whiskey brands.

Benefits of social media: Social media efforts are supplemental to your regular PR and media relations campaigns. It;s more direct to consumer communications than most PR pros are accustomed to. Social media carries with it an immediacy.

How do you deal with crisis managment when dealing with dissenting bloggers? You need to be involved in the space. Consumers can tell a “troll” versus a legitimate complaint. You need to be transparent, open and honest (easier said then done).

Gina Trapani of Lifehacker started a PR blacklist. It gets mentioned that Gian’s personal email address was listed in the Cision database. Heidi relates a story of how Jason Twittered not hearing back from Cision and how she contacted Jason to answer the questions he had. She was quick to reply to his concerns, honest, apologetic and transparent in Cision’s willingness to correct the problem and serve the PR community.

Jason mentions an event tomorrow 1pm Eastern with Shel Holz and Neville Hobson as well as many others in the PR, media and blog communities to talk about how to best improve communications between media relations and the media. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fir

Responding quickly and honestly are key for PR and media relations professionals communicating with bloggers. Being a resource to bloggers and reaching out as a “heads up” and not a specific pitch can be very effective.

Find them, read their posts, what they write about, what they care about, and reach out to them in a very personalized way. willvideoforfood.com best blog pitch letter ever. Actually it wasn’t a great pitch because the blog post didn’t mention Jim Beam, more about Jason’s actual pitching skills. Although it does include links to Jim Beam.

Jason says you should ask for opinions and show that you care.

The pitch vs community engagement involves establishing authenticity: Comment, reach out and participate.

Time for Q and A:

Audience: Is there an equivalent measurement you can share with clients that equal to some monetary value

Jason: It depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. If it’s sales, you need to have that in mind from the start. Links need to go to the same landing page designed to convert to a sale. We report buzz factor, talk valiue, PR clippings. Specifics include feedback, inbound links, comments.

You have to get buy in from corp from day one on what the key metrics will be. RSS subscribers, links, and other outcomes.

Audience: Itmsounds like a FT job, but for an organization that has slim resources, how much time should be allocated to blog relations and outreach?

Jason: You want consistent content, once a week.

Heidi: Blogher recently did a study, that people read blogs 4 times a day.

Jason: More active participation will result in an effect more quickly. Allocate a certain about of time per month for creating that month’s editorial calendar.

Audience: My company sells a diverse range of products, How do you decide whether a blog makes sense?

Jason: Where does your audience spend their time?

Jay: Start by evaluating what’s out there. It’s amazing how many blogs there are for every niche.

Jason: Even if there isn’t a blog for your niche, then take the first mover advantage.

Audience: What’s the difference between blogs in general and blogs run by journalists?

Jason: Coordinate with PR to make sure there isn’t any crossover.

            Subscribe to this Feed

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | PRSA Digital Impact: Not All Blogs Are Created Equal | 7 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

Conferences are a big part of TopRank’s marketing and content promotion strategy and it looks like a busy summer is ahead of us. Numerous events are coming up quickly – enough to make your head spin. Here is a summary of our involvement with PRSA, DMA, PUSH, SIS, SES and SMX events over the next 30 days:

05/14/08 – MIMA: Duality Reality – Who Controls Social Media in the Enterprise?
The local interactive marketing association along with inspiration and motivation from Doug Pollei, there will be a very interesting panel of in-house Interactives discussing how large companies (General Mills, Best Buy, Target, Fingerhut and OptumHealth) are adopting and measuring social media programs. If you’re in the Twin Cities this week and involved with social marketing now or in the future, this is a MUST ATTEND event.

05/15/08 – Teleseminar: Reputation Management in a Google World
Crisis communications PR pal Kami Watson Huyse and I will be doing this PRSA Teleseminar for PR professionals that are still trying to make sense out of SEO and search engines as PR tools. More info is available on the PRSA web site

05/18/08 – Search Insider Summit
On beautiful Captiva Island in Florida, MediaPost is holding another strategic, networking focused conference with TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog as a media sponsor. The SIS event is hands down one of my favorite conferences. It’s small, exclusive, high level and full of networking with senior agencies and brands. Visit the SIS site for more info.

05/19/08 – ACCM: Reputation Management – Protecting Your Brand in the Search Engines
The DMA is holding it’s annual ACCM conference in Orlando, FL and together with Heather Lloyd-Martin of SuccessWorks and Rob Key of Converseon, we’ll be explaining the intricacies of online reputation management to the direct marketing crowd. More info on the session page.

06/03/08 – SMX Advanced
Of all the SMX conferences I’d like to attend, this is the one I look forward to most. Due to conflicts, Dana Larson from TopRank will be attending and blogging in my place. This SMX event promises high level content for those already fluent in SEM. More info here.

06/09/08 – PRSA Digital Impact Conference: SEO for News Content
For the PRSA I am presenting a session in NYC for PR practitioners on how to make the most of optimizing the digital assets they have access to. Optimizing news content leads to more effective discovery by journalists researching topics/experts online. Find the 2 day conference schedule here.

06/15/08 – PUSH: The Fertile Delta
PUSH is an annual executive conference for innovators on topics including Economics, Religion, Politics and Technology held by the PUSH Institute in Minneapolis. I’ve heard buzz about this event for several years and am now finally going to attend. Here’s more about the PUSH experience.

06/17/08 – SES Toronto: Twitter – Ultimate Time Waster or Great Tool?
Clearly the writer of this session title has some bias. David Snyder of JRDunn, Chris Winfield of 10e20 and myself will effectively clarify what Twitter is good for and what it is not. I will be presenting results of our Twitter survey as well as a case study and 3rd party tools. Session info here.

If you are attending any of these events, be sure to say so in the comments!

For our coverage of conferences ranging from PR to direct marketing to search marketing, visit our Marketing PR Conferences category.

            Subscribe to this Feed

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | How Many Conferences Can You Attend in 30 Days? | 4 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

Jeremiah Owyang posted recently asking his readers what conferences they would be attending in the coming months and I thought that would be a great question for Online Marketing Blog readers as well.

Over the past 3 years we’ve been focused on search marketing conferences but have expanded more into direct marketing, interactive and PR. We’ll continue that trend the rest of this year but with more conferences outside of search as our online marketing agency evolves.

Conferences that I’m attending in the coming months include:

• May: ACCM in Florida
• Jun: PRSA Digital Impact in NYC
• Jul: ad:tech in Chicago
• Aug: Search Engine Strategies in San Jose
• Sep: Blogworld Expo in Las Vegas
• Oct: DMA08 in Vegas
• Oct PRSA International Conference in Detroit
• Nov: Pubcon in Vegas

Personally, I try my best to limit conferences to one per month and those I am speaking at. The above list is not comprehensive for the TopRank team of course, since we do typically blog most SES and SMX conferences. We’ll definitely be at SMX Advanced this year as well as SES Chicago in December. It just won’t be me that attends. There are several other events that I may attend or speak at, I’m just not confirmed that far out.

There are many other great conferences with programming that touches on search, social, interactive and PR the rest of this year. What conferences are you attending in the coming months and remainder of 2008?

            Subscribe to this Feed

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | What Conferences Are You Attending? | 21 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

M&O PR’s Kevin Sawyer and I are now finally back in the office after two jam packed days of Media Relations Summit. Public and media relations professionals, academics and business communicators from across the country gathered at what is known as the largest event for media relations in the world. Kevin blogged the event over at Media Relations blog and I made a few posts here and many more on Twitter.

Here’s a summary of the sessions we attended and covered:

The compelling morning keynote presentations were sandwiched by PR Technology updates and then followed by 4 tracks of sessions. Here are the sessions that Kevin and I blogged:

• Media Relations Summit 2008: A Preview – Kevin
• MR Summit: Charlie Rose and the Death of the VNR – Kevin
• Disney’s Duncan Wardle and the Future of Public Relations – Kevin
• Evergreen Magic: How To Make News When There’s No News – Kevin
• Blogginz Yer Presentationz – Scoblizin Yer Paradigmz – Kevin
• Do it Wrong, Stupid! Mike Moran Keynote – Kevin
• From the Horse’s Mouth: 11 Tips for Pitching Reporters – Kevin

• The Future of PR: Media Relations Summit 2008 – Lee
• Charlie Rose Keynote with Howard Rubenstein – Lee
• Mike Moran Keynote: What Corporations Need From PR in a Web 2.0 World – Lee
• Getting the Most Out of Your Corporate Blog - Lee

My speaking slot was the last of the day and in direct competition with the “Future of the Press Release” session – yet we still had pretty good attendance. Lee Aase from the Mayo Clinic was kind enough to cover my talk and others on the panel, “Secrets of Increasing Traffic to Your Corporate Website” plus Mike Moran added a few thoughts and observations as well.

I would point you to all the photos I took, but if you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know about the Alcatraz inspired seasick episode of the cowboy fishing boat captain and the camera-eating bay – which resulted in a greater appreciation for dry land.

However, Kevin was armed with another camera and was able to take a few photos before his battery went dead.

Overall, it was a great conference with plenty of networking opportunities including a nice Twitter meetup held by the SF Social Media Club on Sunday afternoon with Chris Heuer, Jeremiah Owyang, Brian Solis, Dave McClure, Daniel Riveong, Kristie Wells, Eric Doyle, Lorna Li, Ellen Leanse, Andy Kaufmann, Deborah Crooks, Albert Maruggi, Jacob Morgan and others I didn’t meet.

Later on in the conference it was nice to catch up with Mike Moran before he did his keynote presentation. Mike is someone that I always look forward to seeing – very smart, social and a tremendous skill at being both visionary about technology trends in marketing and grounded in fundamental marketing principles at the same time. Mike is really becoming an in-demand speaker, especially for keynotes.

I was also able to spend some time with Brian Solis (photos) – someone, who after talking with in person, I can tell really “gets it” when it comes to understand the emerging roles of conversation, social media and digital marketing.

            Subscribe to this Feed

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | Media Relations Summit Wrap Up | 4 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

In the opening keynote at Media Relations Summit, the legendary TV journalist and interviewer, Charlie Rose, had the tables turned and became interviewee with the famous PR guru, Howard Rubenstein.

Rubenstein: Why are your interviews so revealing? How do you get your guests to reveal so much?

Rose: The thing about a story… Describes the recent news over the weekend about the Clinton campaign manager getting sacked. People that do what I do want to advance a story like that. Stories are about communicating the range of emotions that are important to people.

The world I live in is driven by relationships. It’s not who you know, but how you know them.

I tell the story through interviews and visuals. On the CR show, he tells the story through engagement. Doesn’t go through the interview with questions but with an arc. An interview shouldn’t be QA QA QA. It should be a dialogue and the interviewee should be engaged.

What I’m after is, tell me what you know, tell me what it was like. The engagement is what is likely to produce the response you’re looking for. Telling you maybe more than what they meant to. This is because it’s clear I have sincere interest, that I care, that I’ve done my homework.

Cites Bob Woodward – 40 years of relationships in DC. Cites Woodward getting some info from one person and then disclosing that to another person to get more info, and so on.

It’s important that people feel like they’re in a place where they feel comfortable to talk.

Rubenstein: Do people ever ask to cut things out?

Rose: I make an editorial decision. If I think it’s editorial relevant, then it stays. I also listen to my staff.

Rubenstein: Some people come into interviews with message points and rehearsals. I’ve never seen you “out to get someone”, only to get them to explain themselves.

Rose: Cites using Google Alerts for his name. (maybe he’ll notice this post) and noticing that John Kerry cited Rose’s interview with John McCain.

Rubenstein: I think you’re quoted more than any other interviewer. You’ve interviewed so many famous people – Kissinger to Rupert Murdoch to Sophia Lauren (his fave). Why do you interview a relatively unknown person?

Rose: Some of our best shows were with people who were relatively unknown. Cites an interview with 3 Iraqi reporters.

Rubenstein: How did you go after them?

Rose: We were looking for people who can tell a story. Relates discussion with his (producer) We’ve had too many coprorate types on our show. A great guest is someone with opinions. I think of our show as a global conversation.

Rubenstein: What are the 2 -3 more interesting interviews?

Rose: There are 4-5 interviews that really resonated all over the world.

I say things like, “Take me to the moment ….” Recapture the moment, the experience”. If I can do that, we can get something that will be compelling and interesting.

• Sophia Lauren – she’s the total package (my words)
• Rupert Murdoch – He loves the news, a great personality
• Bill Gates – Enourmously interesting and smart
• Warren Buffet
• Bruce Springsteen – Rarely interviews and really talked about music
• The Iraqi journalists
• Soldiers that were at Falluja
• Bill Buckley – Had everything you could want for a guest

My definition of my program is not my opinions, it’s to find interesting people and bring out their stories. Find out what they have to say.

Rubenstein: Do you have any advice for people wanting to get personalities on the Charlie Rose Show?

Rose: The most important thing you can do is show that you understand what they do. Charlie Rose is where you go when you want to talk. Understand the show – it is a reflection if Charlie and his curiosity – as well as input from his staff. Interested in biography, ideas, lessons.

Second – give us what you think might be helful. Don’t engage in “we don’t want to talk about this and that”. Don’t avoid television.

Most important. Don’t try and sell a product. Sell authenticity – realness. Try and make the person believable. Senator Clinton has done the best when she seemed real and done more poorly when she’s not.

Email is the best communication format.

Rubenstein: You’ve embraced digital technology – the online presidential forum as an example.

Rose: The web site is a good example

Two things in the digital world I can mention: Social networking (MySpace, Facebook) as well as what Google’s doing with Search. The greatest thing is that the web allows us to gain exposure everywhere. Our archived shows are available for free online. That makes it easier for people to see consistency in commentary from interviewees.

Rose cites an interaction with a fan and when asked, how the fan knew of the Charlie Rose show, the fan said, “YouTube”.

Our single mission is to make our show and clips of our show more easy for people to use on the web site and more available around the world.

The digital revolution, in terms of what Rose does, is a great thing because he’s in the content business. And a lot of it. 17 years of interviews with some of the most interesting people in the world.

Rubenstein: What do you think about the ethics of PR communications?

Rose: I do think it is an issue. (Although, he doesn’t have day to day interaction with PR people). Keep the media person informed that you have their interests at heart. Not just the client’s interests.

Also, don’t insult out intelligence by sending things that are an “official line”. Spin or lying are just wrong.

The best PR people are advisors and consultants. They provide strategic advice. Make sure that the media target understands the client. Spin the media and they screw you.

Audience Questions:

Audience: Has anything ever happened on your show to cause you to be speechless?

Rose: Someone walked off. LOL. We’ve done 20,000 interviews. Bill Clinton 6 mo ago, left me speechless when talking about his book, philanthropy and politics. Clinton defined the sense of frustration they had about Obama at the time – essentially about Obama not being ready to be president.

Speachless with love when Sophia Lauren cried.

Audience: What is the one interview that you didn’t get that you wish you had.

Rose: I would love to go to Rome and talk to the Pope before he comes to America. Chaney is one that I haven’t interviewed. I’d like to interview Bush again before he leaves office.

Other people Charlie Rose would like to interview include: Jasper Johns, Phillip Roth, Jack Nicholson, Johnny Depp, Stephen Hawking – artists and others.

I hope our legacy will be that you will be able to look over our conversations and see that it’s a pretty good reflection of the voices that shaped our time.

Audience: What’s your opinion of how the cosumer media is covering the presidential campaign?

Rose: I think it’s hurting the Democratic party – Clinton and Obama. “Should she” continue or quit is a not the question to ask. She’ll know. And it’s smart that Obama doesn’t play up to that.

            Subscribe to this Feed

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | Charlie Rose Keynote with Howard Rubenstein | One comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

“You have permission to sip from the new web 2.0 world, rather than drink from it like a fire hose”. Give yourself permission to do a little bit of this. What I don’t want is for you to feel overwhelmed by all of this. Also, “I’m going to count clips and thats it”. Don’t retreat to what you’re comfortable with. Be willing to experiment.

The reason second book is named “Do it Wrong Quickly” is to encourage people to be wrong and then learn. Admit that most of what we do is wrong. Most of the things we do the first time, we screw up. It’s ok.

Instead of spending too much time analyzing in advance, find out how we can get feedback from the people we’re trying to influence. Over time we’ll learn more by doing than reading about them or from an outside expert. What you need to figure out is how you are going to be the expert. An expert in finding out what works best for your clients, knowing that many new things may not work the first time.

The good new days of public relations. You can now target even the smallest group and measure the results of everything you do. You must change your message in response to what your customers say in comments and blogs as well as do when searching, purchasing and interacting online.

The internet is so cool for PR people because they understand the value of Free. It does cost an investment of time and effort, which isn’t any different than the effort currently made at developing relationships. What’s different is that with the web, there are more measurable effects and outcomes.

PR has not been in the listening department. PR is outbound messaging. Now PR has to be listening. It’s just as important to pay attention as to get attention.

The Times they are a changing. TV screen, laptop screen and cell phone screen. How do we (PR) reach the latter two?

TV, radio and print are all lagging the web – especially with younger consumers. The media shift is also a change from passive reception to interaction.

Don’t be a PR expert, be a storytelling expert. This is an advantage for PR people who are familiar with telling stories to editors and now need to help other people tell your clients’ stories.

Instead of looking at the internet as threat, but as an opportunity to use your storytelling and persuasion skills in more places.

Who are the new gatekeepers of the web? Example 1 is bloggers. Netflix decided not to have a corporate blog, but rather treats bloggers like press.

Relates story of Netlix inviting a blogger (Hacking Netflix) along with other mainstream media. Neflix customers read the blog, investors read the MSM pubs.

What happens if you ignore bloggers? Gives Kryptonite locks as example. Kryptonite went through measures to react, but didn’t communicate that to anyone, especially not bloggers. The story built momentum in blogoshpere and the mainstream press. The lesson is that they should have reached out to bloggers to educate them on what Kryptonite was doing.

Another example give was Dell Hell. Dell was flamed for not being real. Dell quickly admitted its mistakes and promised to do better. The blogosphere eventually gave Dell credit for trying.

Yet another example: Walmart likely paid millions for their web site and have #1 and #2 search positions for “Walmart” but #3 is a “hate site” which is likely far more dedicated to their message than the Walmart PR team.

Companies need to pay attention and engage when it makes sense. You may not win them over, but at least you’ll blunt their message. You’ll look better by trying.

The second gatekeeper – customers. Social media allows you tap into “word of mouse”.

The leverage of online interactions and reach is much higher online than offline. How can PR people create messages that get passed along? PR people have an opportunity to be great at creating messages that get passed along.

Gives example of the Blendtec “Will it Blend?” Sales have quintupled. Polls audience who’s heard of Blendtec? Many hands go up. How many heard of them before the video? 3 hands left.

Another example is Mentos and Cola. Coke said, “We prefer our customers drink our product”.

If you ignore customers, they will flame you.

Third Gatekeeper is search engines. Helpful content beats marketing hype. You must appeal to Google.

Great content makes your site a link magnet. Write content people will want to link to.

Cost for leads: Direct mail $10. Search .45

The three R’s of marketing 2.0. Real, relevant and responsive.

PR pros need to help all employees do the job. Coordinate, not centralize.

Listen to what people are saying with tools like Google Alerts and reputation monitoring services.

How to coordinate? Evangelism, training and establishing policies. Start with a small number, train them to train other people.

Why is this so tough? Different kinds of changes:
- understand the difference between technical versus adaptive change.
- Understand that culter changes are adaptive. People must overcome their habits. When you “get it” have mercy on others that haven’t. They may feel stupid.

Mike has two fantastic books:

Search Engine Marketing Inc. and Do It Wrong Quickly

You can also read Kevin Sawyer’s excellent coverage of the Mike Moran Keynote at Media Relations Blog

            Subscribe to this Feed

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | Mike Moran Keynote: What Corporations Need From PR in a Web 2.0 World | 8 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

Our client visit to San Francisco last week fell right next to the Media Relations Summit conference happening this week at the Westin St. Francis on Union Square. The near crossover meant a weekend in one of my favorite cities.

As one of the largest conferences dedicated to media relations, this event attracts an array of public relations practitioners including the top PR agencies in the world, large and small corporate PR staff and academics from PR programs at major universities. Overall theme seems to be looking to the future.

I am joined by media relations specialist, Kevin Sawyer who will be blogging the event over at Media Relations Blog. Today was made up of pre-conference intensives and workshops. Monday and Tuesday sessions are filled with high level and practical how to programming.

Here are a few of the PR sessions I plan on attending:

• Keynote #1: “The Art of the Story: Finding the Heart of Drama” presented by Charlie Rose
• Keynote #2: “The Future of PR: How New Technologies Will Transform the Way We Communicate” presented by Duncan Wardle, VP, Global PR, Disney Parks
• PR Technology: “Driving Sales Using Public Relations,” presented by Bill Wagner, Chief Marketing Officer, Vocus, Inc.

This next one is tough!

• “Measuring Your Impact in Online Media” – Katie Paine, KDPaine & Partners

OR

• “Influencing the New Influencers: Blogs, Podcasts, Online Video” – Paul Gillen Communications

There’s an awards lunch which I’m not sure I’ll go to except they typically have some celebrity speaker. Not sure who it will be this year. Then the afternoon sessions will start:

Now, another tough one:

• “Following the Conversation: How to Monitor Reputation in an Online World” – Pete Blackshaw, Nielsen Online and Rob Stokes, Quirk Marketing

OR

• “Crafting a Powerful, Cost-Effective Social Media Strategy” – Sally Falkow, Expansion Plus and Brian Solis, Future Works PR

One question I have, is why so many people in the PR industry (client side) are so afraid of putting budget towards social media strategy? Why does it always have to be characterized (by PR practitioners and conferences) as “low cost”? I think it’s because the industry as a whole is scared that it’s ability to change with the times won’t be fast enough and that areas like social media are direct threats to their comfort zone of business as usual.

I’m looking forward to hearing what Sally and Brian have to say in their session as two of the most respected PR and social media practitioners that I know.

There are several sessions in the final time slot for Monday, but the one I’m really looking forward to is:

• “Blogger Relations: Inside the Hearts and Minds of Top Online Pundits” Tom Foremski of Silicon Valley Watcher, Om Malik of Giga Om, Craig Newmark of Craigslist.org and Jon Greer of BNET/Media Bridge.

There’s another great schedule for Tuesday as well. I will be speaking later in the day on the “Secrets of Increasing Traffic to Your Corporate Website” session with Brian Kaminski of iProspect and David Hulme of Vision Media.

During both days of the conference I’ll be blogging a few sessions and will post those most relevant to the SEO/PR/Social Media mix we typically write about here at Online Marketing Blog. The media relations and PR specific sessions will be blogged by Kevin over on our Media Relations Blog.

            Subscribe to this Feed

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | The Future of PR: Media Relations Summit 2008 | 8 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

A modest sized audience, but engaged and plenty of questions.

Jim Sinkinson, Publisher of Bulldog Reporter

One of my presentations: “Optimizing Press Releases for Search Engines (SEO) and Using RSS to Distribute Releases”.

My co-panelist Bill Barnes of Enquiro on our panel about driving traffic to corporate web sites and optimizing PR content.

Keynote speaker, Barry Parr of JupiterResearch talked about how social media is transforming corporate communications.

Niki Dugan from Yahoo talking about using video on corporate web sites.

Jeannette Gibson from Cisco also talked about using video on corporate web sites, but more from a BtoB perspective.

Peter Hirschberg, CMO for Technorati talks about “Monitoring Material Published in the Blogosphere and Developing Positive Relationships with Top Bloggers”

Brian Solis of Futureworks talks about social media strategy.

There are many more photos on the Advanced PR Technology San Francisco Flickr set.

            Subscribe to this Feed

© Online Marketing Blog, 2007. | Bulldog Reporter Advanced PR Technology in Practice | 4 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com