Oops! Six months since my last post. That's not good. But that's what I have always said is the problem with blogs. People start off strong and with honorable intentions but then life gets in the way.
It's just like the things that you tell yourself you are going to accomplish the next business day, come hell or high water, and they get swept out to sea by the unforeseeable phone call that in polite society is best described as one of those "Oh Compost" moments. Said another way: "Compost Happens." (You get my drift.)
So tomorrow -- October 21st -- I will be speaking to an organization of small business owners, mostly women entrepreneurs, about Social Networking 101. I worked pretty hard on my presentation because just as when I was teaching at Fordham University, earlier this year, preparing this presentation was a work in progress. Even though I was invited a few months ago to do this gig, I didn't really start writing and researching the topic until a couple of weeks ago. That still seemed like plenty of time, especially for someone like me who works best under pressure. Mind you, I seriously gave it a lot of thought, read and clipped a lot of articles, and visited a lot of Web sites.
But what happened, which is so often the case with me when I start doing research, is that I got carried away with collecting the information. I get so turned on and intrigued by the subject matter that I often struggle in determining where to cut off the research and sit down and do the hard part: writing it and, even harder, editing. As a result, I have enough material for a day-long seminar, much less a half-hour presentation.
So here's the message that I am delivering to the National Minority Business Council in a nutshell: Social Networking is still very much a work in progress. Like so many other technologies, what's hot today may be passe a year from now. Or it will be acquired by its competition and quickly put out of business. I liken it to the dot.com era of the late 1990s. By 2000, how many of these multi-million dollar companies, on paper, had gone bust? They got a lot of investor money because they were successful at selling the sizzle. But eventually, it became apparent that there was little or no steak.
I say: Explore your options. Figure what's going to work for you. If you're enamored by Twitter and if you're using it as a business application, make sure that you can develop a sustainable thread that your target audience will care about and want to follow. Otherwise, I can't imagine why many people would really care what color shoes you're wearing today, what you had for lunch, weather or not you have a hangover, or if you just had another fight with your significant other. Yet millions of people post this...compost...every day and sometimes several times a day.
If you are a blogger, blog more regularly than every six months. (Note to self: Practice what you preach! Next on the docket: 52-weeks of publicity results.) If you're into Facebook or MySpace, think twice about: 1) The pictures you want to post; 2) The personal information that you want to share and, 3) Who you "friend." You just may not want to "friend" your best friend if part of his or her charm is that he or she is the life of the party and never passes up a free beer. (But do you want your boss or clients or prospects to know this much information about your personal life?)
And while I haven't tried my hand at YouTube, I think it's got some terrific marketing applications and I would not discourage my clients from using the tool. A lot depends on how far out onto the silver screen limb you want to venture.
If you would like a copy of my presentation, please send me an e-mail (robs@robseitz.com) or give me a call (914-393-6144).
Oh, and if you happen to be reading this before my early curtain, please wish me well!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Ho-Hum. Another New York Times Publicity Placement
I can't bring myself to cancel my subscription to The New York Times.
There are days when it never gets taken out of its distinctive blue plastic delivery bag, which also doubles as a favorite pooper scooper with conscientious dog walkers.
And then there are those editions that I have taken the time to sit down with -- often on the morning of my neighborhood weekly recycling day -- and I find wonderful gems relevant to my work, my clients, my teaching, my life. One day last week, in a single edition, I hit pay dirt.
Page One had an article about how protesters in Muldova mobilized a turnout of an estimated 10,000 opponents of the country's ruling Communist party by posting "Tweets" on Twitter to spread the word. And when the government shut down the Internet, in response, the organizers resorted to text messaging on their cell phones. Talk about "revolutionary event planning!" Who needs newspapers for publicity?
Directly opposite this article was the tale of Good Samaritan cyber sleuths (something that I am pretty good at, myself.) They tracked down the owners of a found digital camera by downloading photos and posting them on the Internet. By using clues in the photos -- the buildings, the countryside, the signage -- they were able to track the owner's footsteps, right to their front door. Who needs newspapers for unraveling mysteries?
And then on the front page of the Business section, there was a report on the recent presentation by Google's CEO to attendees at an annual conference of newspaper publishers and editors. His message: Google really, really wants to be their friend. Of course it does! Newspapers are a tremendous source of free information that the Google search engine delivers to the millions of eyeballs that its advertisers pay big bucks to reach. Who needs newspapers? Google. And do the rest of us.
That's why I can't cancel my subscription to The New York Times.
I believe that newspapers are in a period of rediscovery and reinvention, just as they were int he Halcyon Days of the dot.com era. As a consultant to organizers of "interactive newspaper conferences for newspaper publishers and editors, in the late 1990s, I witnessed how ALL of us in attendance struggled with what would be the role of newspapers online and how would they remain profitable by giving away their content. Then, and now, it was one of those "you gotta' have an Internet presence," whether you like it or not and whether you know what you are doing, or not.
And then, this weekend, I was able to see my labor for a client bear fruit with the publication of an article in, where else, The New York Times. The writer did a wonderful job in capturing the essence of the story, as did the headline writer: "More Than Just Loaves and Fishes."
Who needs The New York Times -- an other major daily newspapers? I do. We all do.
There are days when it never gets taken out of its distinctive blue plastic delivery bag, which also doubles as a favorite pooper scooper with conscientious dog walkers.
And then there are those editions that I have taken the time to sit down with -- often on the morning of my neighborhood weekly recycling day -- and I find wonderful gems relevant to my work, my clients, my teaching, my life. One day last week, in a single edition, I hit pay dirt.
Page One had an article about how protesters in Muldova mobilized a turnout of an estimated 10,000 opponents of the country's ruling Communist party by posting "Tweets" on Twitter to spread the word. And when the government shut down the Internet, in response, the organizers resorted to text messaging on their cell phones. Talk about "revolutionary event planning!" Who needs newspapers for publicity?
Directly opposite this article was the tale of Good Samaritan cyber sleuths (something that I am pretty good at, myself.) They tracked down the owners of a found digital camera by downloading photos and posting them on the Internet. By using clues in the photos -- the buildings, the countryside, the signage -- they were able to track the owner's footsteps, right to their front door. Who needs newspapers for unraveling mysteries?
And then on the front page of the Business section, there was a report on the recent presentation by Google's CEO to attendees at an annual conference of newspaper publishers and editors. His message: Google really, really wants to be their friend. Of course it does! Newspapers are a tremendous source of free information that the Google search engine delivers to the millions of eyeballs that its advertisers pay big bucks to reach. Who needs newspapers? Google. And do the rest of us.
That's why I can't cancel my subscription to The New York Times.
I believe that newspapers are in a period of rediscovery and reinvention, just as they were int he Halcyon Days of the dot.com era. As a consultant to organizers of "interactive newspaper conferences for newspaper publishers and editors, in the late 1990s, I witnessed how ALL of us in attendance struggled with what would be the role of newspapers online and how would they remain profitable by giving away their content. Then, and now, it was one of those "you gotta' have an Internet presence," whether you like it or not and whether you know what you are doing, or not.
And then, this weekend, I was able to see my labor for a client bear fruit with the publication of an article in, where else, The New York Times. The writer did a wonderful job in capturing the essence of the story, as did the headline writer: "More Than Just Loaves and Fishes."
Who needs The New York Times -- an other major daily newspapers? I do. We all do.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
This is NOT ENTIRELY new to me
In January, I started teaching public relations (again) as an adjunct professor at Fordham University. I was essentially given total academic freedom to create the course that I thought was most appropriate and relevant in these times. I decided to focus on social media and networking.
I admitted to my students when we began the semester that I would be learning along with them. What I bring to the classroom -- and to my consulting business -- is more than 30-years experience of fairly traditional "PR-101" tools and practices of the trade. But blogging, Twitter, Face Book, Meetup and some of the lesser-known social media sites are still in the PR-usage development stage, in my opinion.
Companies hire me and others like me to get them "press," essentially. How I get them coverage and where I get them coverage is a whole new ballgame in the 21st Century. I've always ascribed to the old adage, "there's more than one way to skin the cat!" And these new Internet-based outlets do allow public relations practitioners to get their clients coverage in media that might otherwise have said "no." Now I can post on a journalist's blog! Now I can create a venue and employ viral marketing tools without having to register with the County Health Department as a known carrier!
Getting the word out as far and as wide as possible has always been and remains a challenge. Convincing clients that online media coverage is the route to go -- or at least has value to them -- is an even greater task. Although demographics can not be ignored.
If a company wants to reach my 91-year-old parents then relying solely on the Internet -- or on the Internet, at all -- is a big mistake! If you want to reach my 20-something daughters, newspaper coverage, to a certain extent, is an equally less-effective tool. I was told by one of my young students that even radio listenership is down with his generation. Podcast them. Text them. The "Y" generation doesn't even e-mail much while I'm addicted to it.
"There's too much information out there!" bemoans my wife.
I disagree. I can do a brilliant job of getting media coverage for my clients and I still hear from some people that they knew nothing about it, "there was nothing in the newspaper"
Me: Do you read the newspaper?
Them: "No. I listen to the radio (or) I watch the evening news."
Me: It was promoted and advertised on WXYZ for the last couple of weeks.
Them: I don't listen to that station.
Me: So how did you hear about (fill in the blank)?
Them: I got a flyer.
Ah! Guerrilla Marketing at its best!
I admitted to my students when we began the semester that I would be learning along with them. What I bring to the classroom -- and to my consulting business -- is more than 30-years experience of fairly traditional "PR-101" tools and practices of the trade. But blogging, Twitter, Face Book, Meetup and some of the lesser-known social media sites are still in the PR-usage development stage, in my opinion.
Companies hire me and others like me to get them "press," essentially. How I get them coverage and where I get them coverage is a whole new ballgame in the 21st Century. I've always ascribed to the old adage, "there's more than one way to skin the cat!" And these new Internet-based outlets do allow public relations practitioners to get their clients coverage in media that might otherwise have said "no." Now I can post on a journalist's blog! Now I can create a venue and employ viral marketing tools without having to register with the County Health Department as a known carrier!
Getting the word out as far and as wide as possible has always been and remains a challenge. Convincing clients that online media coverage is the route to go -- or at least has value to them -- is an even greater task. Although demographics can not be ignored.
If a company wants to reach my 91-year-old parents then relying solely on the Internet -- or on the Internet, at all -- is a big mistake! If you want to reach my 20-something daughters, newspaper coverage, to a certain extent, is an equally less-effective tool. I was told by one of my young students that even radio listenership is down with his generation. Podcast them. Text them. The "Y" generation doesn't even e-mail much while I'm addicted to it.
"There's too much information out there!" bemoans my wife.
I disagree. I can do a brilliant job of getting media coverage for my clients and I still hear from some people that they knew nothing about it, "there was nothing in the newspaper"
Me: Do you read the newspaper?
Them: "No. I listen to the radio (or) I watch the evening news."
Me: It was promoted and advertised on WXYZ for the last couple of weeks.
Them: I don't listen to that station.
Me: So how did you hear about (fill in the blank)?
Them: I got a flyer.
Ah! Guerrilla Marketing at its best!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
This is all very new to me
I've been writing all my life. Now I'm trying my hand at blogging. More to follow.
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