I believe that follow-up (well-done, targeted, slightly aggressive follow-up) is crucial to turn a well-planned public relations campaign into a success story. I have seen many a promotion bomb because the team did not:

Do Any follow-up calls (Do not be afraid to call! The Media are people too)
or
Do Enough follow- up calls (It takes several tries – do not give up!)
or
Do Effective follow-up calls (Be a clever and quick communicator and don’t give up until you speak to a human being)

Many public relations professionals are expert writers and creative thinkers, yet they are afraid to follow-up out of fear of bothering, angering or upsetting a member of the media. Forget the worry and charge ahead because the truth is PR people and the media can have a mutually beneficial relationship and often do need to rely on each other.

Here are four tips for following up on your perfectly crafted press release or pitch email:

1. Reporters receive thousands of emails and phone calls per day so remember that they may not have seen your press release. Always present yourself as if your call is the first time they’re hearing about you and your company or product.
2. Make it snappy: write down the three points you must get across to them and refer to it so you do not get flustered or lose your focus.
3. Be respectful of their time and know when their newscast is or deadline, and do not call at that time. If you aren’t sure, ask “Is this a good time?”
4. Even if you find yourself speaking with a grumpy person, just stay positive and give a big “thank you so much” before signing off.

We all hear a lot of “nos” on the road to a golden “yes” but note that rarely does a reporter become irate and slam the phone down simply for following up on a release. So go ahead and follow the tips above and let us know how much more successful your next campaign is because you found the courage to follow up and connect with the media.

On a Saturday morning a couple of weeks ago, I happened to peruse a blog entry on Mashable about a site called StyleOwner.  I read about a lot of new sites and apps and always investigate them as possibilities for Creative Concepts and/or our clients and this time was no different.  As Mashable explained, you could create your own online boutique drawing from many established and up-and-coming designers the site has negotiated a relationship with and by selling your picks, you could earn 10% of sales.  Instantly, I felt that this was a winner which was strictly instinct as I hadn’t even gone to the site yet.  And this wouldn’t be for me because I don’t need another business…Creative Concepts and a new sister site being developed is quite enough thank you…but this might be fun as a mother/daughter project for the youngest entrepreneur in my family, Olivia.  As a side note, when Olivia was in 2^nd grade, she created a store in our family room selling her stuffed animals for hugs and when she decided to hire her older brother to play cello to bring in customers (us), I knew that marketing and doing business were a part of her being even at that young age.

So it didn’t take much to get Olivia on board:

Me: “So, Olivia, do you want to pick out some cool clothes and accessories, sell them to your friends, and make money?”

O: “Sure Mom and can I get an iPad to help grow the business?”

Me: “Oh boy!”

So despite the perceived need for new tech toys from Olivia, I emailed StyleOwner for an invite (they are still in Beta) and within ½ hour we got the OK to build our site and boy what a joy it was and is!  Once we got our code, StyleOwner asked us to go through some very simple steps where we got to choose the name of our store and then we had the chance to design all the elements of the store from music that plays on our homepage, to the font and the background design where we had many options and styles to choose from.  Some elements we were able to pull from our own archives like the profile picture and a bigger picture that sits on the homepage so the setup of our store ended up being a nice combination of personalized elements and their templates which totally worked for us!

Next step was up to Olivia.  She built the store.  Styleowner has merchandise from a range of 75 individual brands she could choose from to help create a fashionista’s online dream.  From men’s and women’s clothes to categories like hats, scarves, jewelry and more, there was no doubt a store could be built that would provide a solution to everyone’s dressing needs.  Olivia took two days to go through every item that the site had laid out perfectly for the “stylist.”  While choosing an item to put into her store, she could click on an arrow to add to her store and she could click on a bubble to add a personal note about that item.  Other options allowed Olivia to choose from designers, categories of items or items based on pricing…so easy even a 6^th grader could set up a store if they have an eye for fashion and a heart for sales.

So here is where the site gets super fun with the social commerce side of the business.  They have easy ways to share updates about your store on your Facebook and Twitter profiles (Olivia: “hey look Allie (a good friend), I found the perfect necklace for you!” which posts right to Olivia’s facebook and twitter profiles with a link to that necklace so Allie can see it).  Olivia can also create recommendations for her friends and share with them once complete.  Maybe Olivia’s sister needs some options for the prom so Olivia, with her “recommend” tool, could grab dresses, jewelry, and shoes so her big sis doesn’t have to go through Olivia’s whole store.

While Olivia was still in set up mode, I found a little something to buy because the item was cool (can’t say what it is because it’s a Christmas gift and others are reading this) and I wanted to test out the site as a shopper.  Again super easy.  I chose the item I wanted, added it to my shopping cart, bought it, got a confirmation email and within days received the item directly from the designer.  We realized that Olivia and other storeowners don’t have to mess with ecommerce and shipping and handling themselves because it’s a built in feature.  The ecommerce is managed by StyleOwner and the shipping is handled by the brands.

Other helpful tools provided for the “Stylist” is a forum to share your wishlist and problems (it is in Beta after all), incentives for selling like $25 gift cards after five sales which is big for a 6^th grader, a blog for talking more about your fashion know-how, and amazing customer service which might be tested once they get more stores up and running but it works perfectly now.  There are some much needed elements like SEO for each store and analytics so you know if anyone is visiting but I am hopeful that those goodies will be provided for down the road.

As an up an coming business person, Olivia couldn’t have it better with this site (she has already made her first commission…ok, it did come from me but still…).  She has to be in tune with her potential customer,  keep an eye out for new designs provided by Styleowner.com that appeal to her clients and she has to continually market the site to preteens (her group), teens (her sister’s peers) and to the mom’s watching over their kids’ shoulders (do I have to say this is my peer group?).

With high quality products, responsive support on the backend for the store owner, and lots of room for personal expression and style from Olivia, the store owner, I am thinking she might just be paying off the mortgage soon with all that she can earn selling from her store, Liv2Shop.  Check it out and let us know what  you think!

Valorie
Founder, Creative Concepts

This link is a great example of every PR person’s worst nightmare: a journalist (or blogger in this case) makes fun of your pitch, shoots you back a snarky response, and it doesn’t end there as you continue to make more mistakes and they continue to broadcast it to their followers! Have you had this happen to you?  Do you never want to be on the receiving end of being called out online? Below are a few very easy ways to avoid this situation – even for the greenest PR person out there.

• Do not send out your client news to anyone and everyone – really know your media outlet, know what it reports on, know its tone, know its past stories. This sounds really simple but I know so many PR People who pitch a good story to the wrong place – wasting everyone’s time and energy (and their reputation for the future).
• Listen for media-feedback, and then incorporate that into your pitch moving forward—or perhaps even your current pitch. The writers, bloggers, and producers out there know what they want to write about –and know what their bosses what to see printed or on air.
• Determine if no means not now – or no means “NEVER” This is subtle—but a PR person who actually speaks with his or her intended target will get a sense of whether he or she should stop sending this person pitches forever—or keep them on a list.
• If No means never, don’t keep trying them with different angles of the same story. They could just be a media person who does not want any noise (or news even) from PR people. That’s THEIR problem. Leave them alone!

This brings me to my last but also very important point. Person to person contact is very important in communicating news. That, I hope, will never change. Really good, actually NEW information is difficult to obtain by Editors and Bloggers.  Public relations can help get the word out about a little brand that is trying to break into a bigger category or a company that is sharing industry news which can ultimately generate new ideas and then stories for the media.  Clever, well-thought out Public Relations campaigns are designed to inform and deliver news so please do follow the above points and make yourself (and the PR industry) an invaluable part of the news cycle!

Photo via Top Rank Blog

While I mostly use Facebook for social purposes, I’ll occasionally connect to a brand or like a page.  Because I don’t like unnecessary clutter on my newsfeed, I really only connect to the brands that I know and love outside of Facebook.   For example, Gossip Girl, and America’s Next Top Model are examples of two brands that I’ve connected to.  I am a religious Gossip Girl watcher.  No matter what is going on, even if I haven’t finished my homework, I will watch the show, and the fact that their Facebook page is so active makes it even better!!!!  For the nights when I am busy, and can’t watch the show, GG posts a link where you can watch the episode for free!  Constant updates and pictures prior to episodes make me excited to watch (not that I wasn’t already!).  Honestly, I don’t actually visit the pages of any brands on Facebook.  If an update shows up on my newsfeed, then I’ll look, but if it doesn’t, then there are probably zero chances that I’ll go look at what the brand is doing on their page.  The brands that are relatively inactive on Facebook are ones that I will probably disconnect from later on, since the connection hasn’t been worth it.

Image via Gossip Girl Facebook Page

But trust me, the brands that invest time in promoting themselves on Facebook (where probably a large majority of teenagers spend their time), win in the end.  They’re the brands I’ll stick to and support even more, just like Gossip Girl!!

But in our post-9/11, post-Hurricane Katrina, post-An Inconvenient Truth society, something changed.  Suddenly, people were concerned about the environment, and about energy, and about the impact their daily actions might have on the planet’s future.

In the aftermath of this green awakening, people needed a way to ask questions, share suggestions, pitch policy reforms and raise environmental concerns.  Thus, from blogs to YouTube to Facebook to Twitter, social media became the hub for a wide array of environmental discussions — and today their collective conversation is louder than it’s ever been.

Blogs: The Spark for Green Journalism

Before the mainstream news media embraced the green movement, impassioned individuals were using blogs to bring attention to the environmental issues they were personally concerned about.  These grassroots movements flowered, and today some of the most trusted (and highly-trafficked) sources for green news are blogs like Grist, Sustainablog and TreeHugger.  In turn, larger news organizations like the New York Times and the Huffington Post now have blog channels dedicated to green content, further validating the environment as a mainstream subject.

Green News Travels Fast

A simple search of Twitter hashtags like #sustainable, #green and #EcoMonday reveal that hundreds of green conversations take place on Twitter every day.  Equally impressive is how often brands and corporations enter those conversations to share related tips (and to promote their related products and services).  This real-time information exchange helps brands monitor topics of interest to their customers, but it also means that breaking news like the BP gulf oil spill quickly becomes common knowledge (and stays in the public eye for months), making it harder for companies to manage the spin.

Common Bonds Create Communities

As young mothers become increasingly aware of the ingredients they’re introducing into their children’s lives, “green mommies” have become a swiftly-growing subset of the “mommy blogger” community, championing a renewed emphasis on natural and organic foods, fibers and cleaning products (like those made by our client, Ecover).

This same unifying “green” thread can be found in other eco-responsible communities, including designers, chefs, fashionistas and anyone seeking a little lifestyle improvement.  This provides consumers with universal access to information, support and resources, and it provides ecological brands with unified audiences to poll, connect with, learn from and sell to.

Greenpeace vs. Nestle: When Facebook Becomes a Battlefield

Sometimes, brands who use social media for sales and marketing find themselves trapped in a PR conundrum because they forget a basic online truth: they don’t control the conversations that happen on their channels.  For example, when Greenpeace activists hijacked the conversation on Nestle’s Facebook page, Nestle was slow to respond (and clumsy when they did), which caused the company to seem both evasive and dismissive.  News of their snafu spread like wildfire, causing Nestle a lengthy and time-consuming PR headache — and, ultimately, led to Nestle agreeing to meet Greenpeace’s demands.

It’s hard to imagine that kind of outcome occurring a decade ago, before social media provided the green industry with a collective voice.  And it’s fascinating to wonder where such a hyper-connected green future might lead both a green-obsessed world and the ecological companies that serve their needs.

You should follow us into the future on Facebook and Twitter!

Image by Ken Colwell via Fickr.

While the merits of that question can be debated endlessly, we here at Creative Concepts do know one thing for sure: whatever “wrong” happens to be, it sure feels good to know we’re doing something right!

Sometimes, validation comes from metrics.  Social media can be unpredictable, so when the numbers prove that our theories (and campaigns) are bearing fruit for our clients, we feel good because they feel good.

Other times, validation comes directly from the clients themselves.  We’ve been working with some of our clients for more than 5 years, which means our methods are working for them.  And every time we sign a new client, or expand our responsibilities with an existing client, we know that we’re all moving confidently forward in a positive — and profitable — direction.

And then there’s the validation from our peers.  For example, when we read Mashable’s recent list of 10 Tips for Posting on Your Brand’s Facebook Page, we digitally high-fived ourselves because we already do each of these things for our clients. (See for yourself on their Facebook pages.)

Client love, new work and metric boosts are what keep us active and engaged, but there’s still nothing like reading a major advice column and realizing we’re already ahead of the curve.  (And we haven’t even had our coffee yet!)

Wondering what else we know?  Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

You may use social media to increase brand awareness, build a loyal community or manage customer service, but make no mistake: you are always selling.

Every tweet you send is a pitch.

Every Facebook status update is an advertisement.

Every YouTube video is a commercial.

Your company’s social media presence might provide the most friendly, engaging and community-oriented experience any human being has ever had online… but it’s still a sales tool.

This shouldn’t be surprising.  Think about your brick-and-mortar store, or your corporate headquarters, or your fulfillment center.  Why do any of those facilities exist?  To sell products.

Your store is a point of sale.

Your office is where you manage your employees… so they’ll increase sales.

Your fulfillment center is where product is shipped… completing sales.

Your customer service center helps keep customers happy… so they’ll buy more.

So while social media may be about “conversations” and “communities” — and we’d never deny that those are the social structures which make these tools useful — when it comes to brand interaction on these channels, the bottom line is always, always sales.

You tweet to give your followers a snapshot of your company’s personality… so they’ll buy more from a company they can relate to.

Your Facebook page gives your customers a place to ask questions and provide feedback… so you can optimize the sales process.

Your YouTube videos can be funny, informative or inspirational… as long as they incite viewers to buy what you’re selling.

Be as social as you want.  Be talkative, personable, informative and entertaining… but always be selling.

Because just being interesting won’t keep the lights on.

Learn more from us on Facebook and Twitter!

Image by Gerard Stolk via Flickr.

Here’s a dirty little secret: you don’t need a degree, a portfolio or any experience to make a living at social media.

All you really need is a website.  (And, if you’re really fancy, a blog.)

Because the barrier to entry for this emerging field is still so low, the social media industry has been plagued by hundreds of self-appointed “gurus,” “experts” and “ninjas” who’ve never actually worked for a client, but they’re eager to convince you that their “expertise” will improve your business and make you a smashing success online — even if their expertise only consists of reading the blogs written by the people who actually do it for a living.

Fortunately, we at Creative Concepts are happy to give you a few tips to help tell the legitimate service providers apart from the social media charlatans.

5 Questions to Ask Your Potential Social Media Agency

Q1: “How long have you been managing social media for your clients?”

Granted, longevity is only one indicator of success.  But the longer an agency has been in business, the more likely it is that their collective experience can improve your bottom line.

(Our answer?  Since 2005.  Yup; even before Twitter.)

Q2: “Have you created any campaigns I might have seen?”

Again, a caveat: some social media successes occur far below the public radar, especially in terms of B2B or niche markets.  But if your potential agency has been working with brand-name clients (and can furnish portfolio proof thereof), it’s a good indicator that other decision-makers have considered them to be a smart hire.

(Our answer? While Ouidad and Ecover may be niche-specific brand names, and while you couldn’t have seen the internal media we created for Pitney Bowes, you just might be one of the 11,000 Facebook fans we’ve helped attract to the Bigelow Tea Facebook page.)

Q3: “What do you consider some of your greatest social media successes?”

This is really a two-pronged question: it allows the agency to list any wins it’s collected (even if they’re not “mainstream”), and it gives them an opportunity to explain how they judge their own successes or failures — via sales, traffic, engagement, awareness or any other metrics they might favor.  That way, you can see how your expected needs and their areas of expertise overlap.  (HINT: If they can’t point to a positive impact on client sales, you should be skeptical.)

(Our answer? Now that our clients list Facebook as one of their top 10 sales drivers, our clients’ YouTube videos have received industry awards, and both we and our clients have been invited to speak about social media at industry conferences, we think we’ve had quite a few successes — and counting!)

Want to learn more? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Image by respres via Flickr.

If you think writing novels (or blog posts) is hard, try tweeting for a living.

In most forms of communication, the audience invites you to spin your story and enchant them over time.  Even a 30 second TV commercial gives you half a minute to make your pitch.

But on Twitter, you only have milliseconds to capture someone’s attention as they scroll through a nonstop litany of links, promotions, inside jokes and regurgitated news stories, desperately in search of something interesting.  If you’re not immediately captivating on Twitter, your boring tweets will be buried under an avalanche of similarly blah messaging in the blink of an eye.

So how do you manage to stay interesting on Twitter, day after day?

Here are 11 tips that we at Creative Concepts have developed internally on behalf of our clients to help them stay competitive in Twitter’s attention market:

1. Every tweet is a headline. For centuries, newspaper editors have been writing great headlines to draw attention to dense blocks of text that might otherwise go overlooked. Imagine that every tweet you send is going on the front page of The New York Times, and that you’re single-handedly responsible for increasing the paper’s circulation.  (No pressure, right?)
2. Be useful. “Interesting” is always a matter of perspective, but “useful” actually provides a service.  You may not be dazzled by the prose of a tweet, but if you want (or need) to know what it’s pitching, you’re far more likely to click.
3. Be direct. Addressing someone with the @ symbol in front of their Twitter handle ensures that they’ll see what you have to say.  (Now, just don’t be spammy…)
4. Be brief. The shorter your tweet is, the easier it is for others to add their own commentary as they retweet you — and people love adding their own two cents to your discussion.
5. Solve a problem. We search Twitter to find out what kinds of problems our clients’ customers (and potential customers) may be having, and then we help our clients offer their customers solutions via links to products, blog posts, or just good old-fashioned advice.
6. Remove doubt. People like to know what works. By sharing the positive reviews and accolades that others have tweeted about your products and services, you’re letting potential customers know that your existing customers would recommend you — because they just did.
7. Say thank-you. When you see kudos about your brand, thank that person directly. They’ll appreciate knowing that their kind words helped make someone else’s day.
8. Become an information resource. What are the hot topics in your brand’s industry right now?  What is everyone talking about? What is no one talking about? By sharing information about those topics great and small, your brand becomes your customers’ curator for a larger conversation about the field or the industry itself.
9. Be funny. Humor travels fast on Twitter, and while everyone’s sense of humor is different, a brand that can laugh at itself is a brand that others are more likely to take seriously.
10. Be positive. Twitter is occasionally a traffic jam of complaints and customer service debacles. Be the upside that cuts through the clutter and you’ll stand out simply for taking the high road.
11. Be yourself. What you say is important, but so is how you say it. No one stops to read a brochure, but they’ll linger to overhear a private conversation. Deliver your messages honestly and authentically — and in your own voice — and you’re less likely to be confused for an easily-ignored marketing robot.

Want to stay ahead of the attention curve? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Image by Angie Muldowney on Flickr

If anyone can publish a blog, create a video or launch a meme, you’d think that Twitter, Facebook and YouTube would be the empires of the new, with the latest self-made stars forever in control of the cultural conversation.

And you’d be wrong.

A recent report from HP Labs confirms the exact opposite: the most popular sources of information on Twitter are actually traditional news media outlets like CNN, ESPN and (egad, a newspaper?) The New York Times.

Why?  Because people like to share information that impacts wide audiences, and because traditional media still has information-gathering resources and robust distribution platforms that “new” media can’t live without.

In other words, no matter how easy social media makes it to talk to others, people still need something to talk about.

Is that “something” your business?

It could be, if your brand is worth the buzz.  But even topical companies need more than just a social media hook to catch and hold an audience’s attention.

A tweet is gone in an instant.  A Facebook update crawls off the page and out of sight.  A YouTube video might be shared for weeks, months or years as new viewers continue to find it… but what’s driving them to it in the first place?

Periodic fame is always the cumulative result of widespread general awareness — and that includes mainstream publicity.  Is your company poised to take long-term advantage of short-term PR success?

Ask yourself:

• Is your social media team working hand-in-hand with your traditional PR and marketing teams?  (Or, even better, are they fully integrated?)
• Do you share your brand’s mainstream media mentions with your social media audiences?
• Are you trumpeting your online successes in offline media?  (Don’t forget: newspapers and magazines still write about the Internet.)
• Does your media contact list include reporters from all branches of journalism?
• Do your print ads include icons and URLs where interested customers can find you on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.?

Remember: whether it’s physical or digital, all ink is good ink, as long as it gets people talking about you.

And you can talk with us on Facebook and Twitter!

Image by Blue Mountains Library on Flickr.