A social media downfall

Social media, it’s trending duh! With so many creative ways to grab facebooker’s and twitterhead’s attention, it has become that main ingredient for any successful product launch. Social media has become the ideal place to get your product’s engines revved, and send them off from the starting line with the most buzz. With the countless unique outputs social media provides, it’s seemingly flawless. But wait! Does all this social media impressiveness result in the increased sales like we desire? Umm, yes? Well prove it!

I knew something had to be wrong, nothing is that perfect! “One of the greatest challenges with using quantitative measures for social media is that not all social media can be tracked… it lacks descriptive information: you know how many are in your audience, but you don’t know who your audience are” (Howard, Mathews, 2013).

 So how do we determine that the campaign ran on social media, reaching all those ears and eyes, will result in a profitable outcome? In social media eyes are usually drawn to the outputs like the hilarious photos or seat edging sneak peaks. But will it increase that chang-a-lang in that big corporate pocket? So before we go off about how social media is the greatest thing to happen in marketing since the billboard first hit those sad empty streets, we need to find out how to measure that outcome.

You can start by making friends with programs that can help you determine the shiny success of your social media. Tools such as Google Analytics, Klout, Wildfire’s Social Media Monitor, and My top Tweet by TwitSprout provide some good insight into the demographics on your social media posts. This is one little birdie you do not want to let go of.

 Now lets see how you would do. Lets take goaheadtours.com, first advertisement displayed on my facebook home page (interesting enough I was just looking at trips to Italy…creeps.), and examine how we would measure its impact on social media. What is the first thing you would do to measure your success on social media if you were goaheadtours.com?

First step would be to define the social media success by establishing clear audiences, goals, and measurable success. Measure social media engagement by tracking the amount of shares and comments it has, but keep in mind that you want to measure influence not popularity. Use your measurements to determine what has and hasn’t worked.

Do you think social media can be a truly measurable market?

Have you found it to be a useful tool when marketing your own products or even yourself?

How could social media be counterproductive and work against you?

http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/14406.aspx

http://www.goaheadtours.com/?popup=italy&utm_content=hover&utm_source=adroll&utm_campaign=GAT_Italy_FBX_Right_Rail&utm_medium=display

It's a PARTY!

Time to pull out the polished shoes and the ornate accessories because were throwing a media event!

A media event is not your average party. These events can range from press conferences, interviews, receptions, press launches.  Their mission is to gain maximum amount of media coverage. “Media events are pre-planned, announced and advertised in advance; they are typically organized outside the media and the media serve as a channel; they electrify very large audiences; and they could cause an audience to celebrate the event” (Feng, Dong, Xu, Feng 2011).

A lot of tireless preparation is needed for a successful event. Much of this success is a result of the coverage the event receives in the media. And it is the job on the Media Relations Practitioner to get on that media coverage!

The book suggests to create a media checklist for the following:

1.     Date/ Time of announcement- You must consider other components when selecting a date such as weather, holidays, and media availability.

2.     Site of Announcement- Pick a place that makes the most sense for your company and event and also accommodates guests.

3.     Main theme/ Primary Message: What is the main reason you are throwing this big shindig?

4.     Guests and Media- Just like any other party you need to make sure you have the most popular and influential people there i.e. government officials, community leaders, news media, etc.

5.     Speakers- Who does the public want to hear from?

6.     Type of Occasion- Is it a standard tie or bowtie kind of night?

7.     Media Relations: Organize press kits, interviews, and transportation.

8.     Invitations to Media- Who will make the biggest noise about my event?

9.     Mementos- Gift bags for everyone! (Only when appropriate, no puppies.)

10.  Collateral Materials- Standard marketing materials geared specifically towards the company and the media event.  (Howard &Mathews p. 128)

Apple jumped on the media party train, mid September, with a media event to premier the next-generation of multicolor iPhone models. (Okay, so I know that this news is a little old, but we can still look at their stellar use of a media event.)

Apple created buzz about the hot event, held at the corporate headquarters in Cupertino California, by releasing an announcement saying “it should brighten everyone’s day.” This was hinting towards the newer and “brighter” iPhones on the starting line.

Boom! Now this really caught the public’s attention. Everyone loves their iPhones. Now by adding bright colors to the electronic the people are really going to get going!

Using this momentum, Apple also used the media event to announce the release date of the one and only iOS 7. Not only was the outside of the iPhone getting a facelift, but the inside as well.

I want to hear from you my fellow Media Relations bloggers.

How would you create a big media event? Do you find the checklist a helpful beginning for event preparation, or is there anything else you would add?

And Apple! Do you think they made a big enough splash with their big announcement? Would you have done anything different to make it bigger?

Bingqi, F., Bing, D., Taolong, X., & Ruofei, F. (2011). Place media events and place image communication: The role of festivals and special events from the perspective of media relations. Catalan Journal Of Communication & Cultural Studies, 3(2), 159-173. doi:10.1386/cjcs.3.2.159 1

Howard, C. M., Mathews, W. K. (2013). On Deadline: Managing Media Relations. Illinois: Waveland Press Inc.

AppleInsider Staff. (2013). Apple promises to ‘brighten everyone’s day’ at Sept. 10 iPhone announcement. AppleInsider. Retrieved from
http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/09/03/apple-issues-invitations-for-iphone-media-event-on-sept-10

Journalist Shmalist

This is so amazing and capturing and interesting. It should be no problem getting the media on this, right?

Not always.

I think this is how most feel about their event after laying blood sweat and tears into preparation for it. As amazing and capturing and interesting it is, it’s hard to get the maximum interest without support from the media.

These are some busy people, so how do we get a moment of their time? Well, chapter 4 gives us some good insight into drawing the media’s big spotlight of 15-minute fame into our direction.

The fact of the matter is we have to get our information in front of them by working it around their deadline. That’s why we need to be BFFFFFFFs with these people! Okay maybe not that close, but to have a direct e-mail and cell phone number to a journalist at each news station is a fast track to getting your story out.

Understanding the journalist’s deadline will help you get your own timing down. If you issue your news story in the morning, noon and evening news will be the ones to get ahold and report it. Sending out your story in the afternoon favors the morning news and gives the evening news a shorter deadline to feature.

When it comes to the media you have to keep in mind what runs them. So when in doubt just remember PSSBT.

 Profit, Speed, Space, Bias, and Time, these are the 5 factors that motivates any newsroom decision. Keep these in mind when reaching out to the media with your story.

Profit, who doesn’t want to make a profit? In the media, profit results from having the widest-possible audience. So to catch the media’s eye you need to have the excitement and sensations that will attract a large and wide spread audience.

Speed speed speed, hurry hurry hurry, vroom vroom vroom! The newsroom has turned into a race to get the news out there before competitors do. This means your information and stories have to be ready to go right away. 

Space, we can’t have all of it! Journalists are granted limited space, sometimes down to 500 words or to a 2-minute airtime, so be brief but informative. It is essential that you get all the important information out there in an interesting and condensed way.

Bias, can’t we just love everything?  No! Especially when it comes to the media. You have to keep in mind any ideological bias when it comes to leaning to a conservative or liberal side. And all media is more prone and biased to easy, cheap, and visually appeasing. If you are able to make it as easy and inexpensive for the media they are more likely to cover your story.

Time, who has it? Not me, and especially not journalists. Journalists are on such a short deadline that allows them no time to do extra research. So if your story requires it, you can forget about it. Make sure you have done all the necessary research and al is 100% accurate. 

By keeping these factors in mind you’ll be able to attract the attention of the media to your company or event without all the kicking and screaming. By being considerate of their job you will be able to build relationships with the media that will favor you.

B. Phillips (2012). 5 factors that will determine whether a journalist will cover your story. Retrieved from http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/10531.aspx

Carole M. Howard, W. K. (2013). On Deadline: Managing Media Relations. (5th, Ed.) Waveland Press, Inc.