The Matchbox.

Feb. 16

Ways to a Reporter’s (or Blogger’s) Heart

With Valentine’s Day fresh on the brain, I was thinking about how many of the same tenets for personal friendships or romantic relationships also apply to professional relationships with reporters or bloggers. The dance of communication (or miscommunication at times) plays a major role, and there must be interest on both sides for it to work. With the ”Hallmark holiday” in mind, I offer five ways to a reporter’s or blogger’s heart…Please drop a comment on whether these work for you or if you have others to add.

1)    Show a Common Interest – Do your research and demonstrate your familiarity with their work by reading their articles/posts before you contact them. This is a simple, but often overlooked, way to earn bonus points and to show them that you’ve tailored your story idea for them rather than a mass reporter e-mail.

2)    Know Their Communication Preferences – Is a particular reporter always on Twitter but you can’t get them on the phone or to respond to e-mail? I’ve recently had success with this one by sending a Twitter Direct Message to a hard-to-reach tech reporter (after we reciprocated follows) and got interest within minutes.

3)    Stay in Touch – After the correspondence for a particular story has wrapped it may seem unnecessary to continue the dialogue, but staying on the radar requires a little TLC. Don’t be afraid to check in again in a month or two if you have another valuable market perspective to share or to see what the reporter or blogger is working on now.

4)    Offer Interesting Stories – Reporters and bloggers are always looking for a unique perspective to capture readers’ attention, so up your chances of being included by giving them a spice of controversy (enough to pique attention without being reckless) or presenting a new or different angle for a relevant topic.

5)    Follow Through – Media contacts remember which marketing and PR professionals make their jobs easier by facilitating interviews around deadlines and providing requested follow-up material in a timely manner. They also remember the ones who don’t, so deliver on your promises before closing out an interview or story.

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Feb. 11

Product Placement, Anyone?

Personal email blasts. They remind me of chain letters, except the four or five old friends who have me on their lists don’t always require me to pass on or be cursed with “five years of bad luck.” Like personal blogs, the tone, e.g., “true” stories, jokes, and advice, usually reflect the person’s age, politics, interests and philosophy. As a whole, these folks are not Tweeters but they sure love their email blasts.

Several weeks ago, I received one that I actually looked at, a very sophisticated and well-produced video on YouTube re the “joys of getting old.” The jokes were pretty standard but it was obvious that this was not made in some senior’s basement. Then, halfway through the three-minute vignette, the geyser reaches into his frig and pulls out a bottle of Coca-Cola. Bingo. Paid, sealed and delivered by the folks who care about seniors…buying their product.

I made the mistake of sending back a comment that it was a Coca-Cola produced advertisement. Good grief, talk about the Holy Grail. Few of the group of eight believed that it was advertiser sponsored. Has YouTube and the “media” done such a good job that a public, even though it may be an over-50 crowd, believes that the corporate folks are not taking advantage of YouTube, Facebook and other social media tools to “sell”? Product placement, anyone?

So now, I’m curious. I’ve been looking for research on social media and unattributed advertising with little luck. Let me know if you have or see any good consumer studies. Oh, I got kicked off my friend’s email list. That’s all right. My mid-western friend still sends me dirty jokes.

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Feb. 09

Let Facebook Show the Personality of Your Organization

On a recent client call, I was asked why an organization needs a Facebook page and what the benefits are.  For me, the answer lies in the numbers.  It is hard to believe, but Facebook says they have 350 million users worldwide.  With this many people engaged, it is definitely time for organizations (who don’t already have a page) to consider Facebook as a platform for communicating with current and potential customers, former and existing employees, partners and friends.

Why, you ask?

1) Facebook shows who you are as an organization.

Facebook gives you an avenue to show your corporate personality.  By posting photos of a typical day around the office, a video from a conference or a news article, show fans who you are as an organization.

2) Facebook helps your company stay in touch.

When it comes to Facebook fans, it is about quality, not quantity. Staying connected with a core group of fans is important.  This is especially true for the BtoB crowd – think former customers or colleagues that might turn into or lead you to future business.

3) Facebook offers a forum to engage.

Not only can you share your latest products/services, news, discounts and specials but you can ask fans to provide reviews and feedback, post photos when applicable and participate in lively discussions.

4) Facebook builds SEO.

A Facebook page adds another link to your company in search engine results pages, giving potential customers a better chance of finding you on the Web.  And, that is a whole blog post in itself.

So, get moving already. The benefits of your Facebook page will continue, as your page grows.

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Feb. 05

The Balancing Act of Traditional + Social Media

When social media first came on the scene, some mused whether it would overtake traditional media as the primary news venue. While some of us would declare ourselves social media “addicts”, it has certainly not replaced traditional media.

Both sides are very much needed and can work together quite nicely, but how do we achieve that balance?

I’ve noticed that there are still camps of people who rely only on traditional media for “validated” news because they feel more comfortable with the traditional journalism, fact-checking aspect (yes, many of them are in the older crowd). However, still others are bypassing traditional media in favor of speedy, in-the-moment tweets, online conversations among a group of “friends” or thoughts from trusted bloggers. Now, this is where the lines blur–Technorati’s 2009 State of the Blogosphere survey showed that 35 percent of all blogger respondents have worked within traditional media and that 27 percent of respondents both blog and work in traditional media. This makes it difficult to completely separate traditional from social media, or even to choose one over the other, as they’re spilling over into each other’s cups.

Most traditional media outlets today have a social media presence, e.g., blogs, Twitter and Facebook pages, and vice versa, e.g., links to traditional media’s news coverage from the social sites. This gives us the best of both worlds for balancing comprehensive or more structured media coverage with the immediacy and often spirited delivery of news in a social media setting.  No need to choose one over the other—just realize what they both bring to the table and their constant evolution and intertwining.

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Feb. 03

Extra, Extra…Read All About It

Although as Meggan put it in her last post – we are fashionably late to the blog party – we have been hard at work for the past three years developing and distributing an opinionated bi-monthly newsletter, peppered with some rah rah about us including client successes. But with each new iteration, we also strive to educate our growing number of readers on the challenges and of course best practices of PR, marketing and sometimes just good old-fashioned business sense.

Some of the highlights of the current issue include taking another look at a speakers program and the challenges today of stiffer competition at industry conferences with everyone fighting for a spot at the presentation podium (or table). Jennifer Mirabile authored this edition of the My Two Cents column highlighting the debate of sharing too much strategic, or for that matter any, business information in online forums. It’s a good read. We also share our strategies on using Multimedia News Releases more effectively. Take a look and give us your feedback. If you are not on the subscriber list but wish to be, let us know and of course you can read the full edition here that just came out today.

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Feb. 01

Fashionably Late

Finally! Young & Associates has its own blog. Welcome to The Matchbox. We are very excited to have a new channel to share with readers an inside view of how we work and think. Our goal is to offer our PR and marketing insights, best practices and challenges, with a conversational style that helps everyone get to know us better and hopefully offers some valuable tips along the way. The whole gang will be contributing – both Jennifers (MacLeid Qotb and Mirabile), Eve, Jean and me – and we invite you to comment and share as well. We don’t expect everyone to always agree and hope for some lively discussions.

In arriving late to the blog party (can we even call it fashionably late at this point?), we’d like to offer a few insights we’ve dealt with along the way:

Don’t over think it: A blog is not meant to be the be all and end all on any topic. Use blog posts as conversation starters.

Don’t be everything to everyone: Our expertise is our PR and marketing counsel and that is what we intend to focus on, so while you will probably hear about some of our client pursuits this will not be a client industry forum and will not be a breaking news source.

Do be yourself: Young & Associates is a tenacious and aggressive agency with real insight to real business issues – this is what we plan to share.

Do plan: While a blog should offer timely insight, have some back up or planned editorial content to fill in the holes when life – or work in our case – gets too busy.

Talk again soon.

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