Why do some PR people continue to blast out their releases to everyone in their network? Do ad agencies do that with their creative? Maybe they do and we’re just not on those SPAM lists.

Anyway, we received another “press release” from a brand today. Why, we’re not sure. We’re not a media outlet. In fact, the release was from a competitor of one of our clients! Thanks for the heads up on what you’re doing .

We fully realize why brands keep PR in house. Sometimes it’s budget, often it’s because a company doesn’t see the value of a dedicated team (in house our outside help) and believes it’s ‘easy’, since the hard costs in terms of tools include a word processing program, email and phone, along with the ability to write.

And sometimes, those mass-blast emails do bring results. Great results? Not really, but they do bring results for little investment.

Regardless, PR is not easy. You may be able to get a few hits by leveraging your network or the simple mass-blast. Heck, because of the great work we did for some clients, we know journalists continue to go back to those brands for news on their own, regardless of if we’re working with them any longer. That says a lot.

But to really put together a great, results driven, strategic campaign takes some work. Megan Michelson, someone we’ve worked with more than a few times in the outdoor landscape (in addition to being an all around nice person too), made a Tumblr post a while back offering some tips for PR people. Here are some highlights and our thoughts from Megan’s post:

Totally agree. Story pitching in PR is a little like dating. No response often means not interested.

Mental note: mass PR blasts do not = exclusives. Sometimes you don’t have the luxury of doing an exclusive, but when you do, it can help really get that top tier coverage.

Keep it personal. It may take longer to do this than the mass-blast BCC email, but a little extra effort can go a long way.

Look at the magazine/website/tv show before that email goes out or you grab the phone. You wouldn’t buy a boat trailer to haul your dirt bike… make sure the media you’re sending info to is the appropriate media for your brand!

Some of our favorite portfolio pieces involve the people behind the brands. Those sort of stories take real effort, but they’re worth it (and many times, our friends in the media, like Megan alludes to, enjoy working on them as well).

While the team at BBPR, or the newly launched, website in progress, Remedy Communications (http://www.remedycomm.com) is good, we’ll acknowledge that we make mistakes too and sometimes don’t follow all of the rules Megan has put out there. Sometimes we don’t have a choice, sometimes… well, stuff happens. But regardless, this is solid, strong advice for anyone who is taking on a PR role.

So, if you can, take the advice of  a journalist on the other side who has had a few stories published and listen to what she’s asking for. Or just send out the mass blasts and be happy with the coverage you get. That works to some degree too.

That being said, there is a marketing lesson to be learned here, social media to be specific, and it involves Charlie’s “Two and a Half Men” co-star, Jon Cryer.

Regardless of if you’re a consumer brand or simply have some level of celebrity, it’s important to squat your profile on the major (and minor actually) social networks.  This also means, that if you’re more famous than the average person, say a pro skateboarder or locally known chef, you should start a Fan page on Facebook so people who aren’t your “friends” can still interact with you and you don’t have to worry about them peering into your deepest secrets or offending them by not accepting them into your friendship circle.

We’re not saying that you have to (or should) be active.  We have a Facebook page that’s inactive (for various reasons we’ll discuss later), but it’s ours.  And having it helps keep confusion as to if it’s this agency or another with a similar name to a minimum.  Even if you’re not active on Facebook or don’t want to be active in social media at all, it’s better to squat and leave a “we’re not here” message than let someone else become the official face of your brand/personality.

If John Cryer had setup a Twitter account, his PR person probably wouldn’t have had to issue a statement.

Facebook has a lot of power over people right now.  Internally, we’ve been mulling this around for quite some time… “What if Facebook were to start charging brands for Fan pages?”

Well, right now they’re not.  But they could.  It is their network.  But that’s not the hot social media topic right this second.

The big issue with Facebook this week is the upgrade and redesign of how you can interact via Fan pages.

There are a lot of pros to this, namely the ability to interact outside of your page, as your page.  We’ve been using workarounds for this sort of functionality for a while now, some of which we’re going to keep in place because they’re better, but overall this new interaction is a nice feature.  Being able to see who adds your page and when is a cool bit of information to know.

What don’t we like?

First, this new functionality also allows brands to spam other brands.  Are they?  Not on our clients’ pages, but we suspect for some bigger brands, this could happen in the very near future.  The major thing we’re seeing out in the Interweb is that a lot of brand managers are disappointed in how posts by Fans are coming through.  Instead of coming up in chronological order, you get the below:

As of right now (February 15, 2011), Facebook hasn’t announced plans to change how posts are shown.  And they may never do so.  This may change the way we interact with people on our Fan pages or perhaps, make social media a little less social.

Similar to how we’re hesitant to use the word “social media expert” , despite the certificates we’ve received and previous work we’ve done, we’re also hesitant to say if these changes will be for better or for worse.  Your best option is to play around and see what works for your brand.  Experiment.  Social media isn’t truly “free”, but if you have a little time to spare, it is worth experimenting with to see what works for your brand now and ways you can adapt to the landscape in the future.

It’s not rare that brands purchase the start power of athletes and celebrities for marketing campaigns.  We see it in action sports, we see it in CPG, we see it in advertising for car dealerships.  But is it worth it?  That’s hard to say.

Not too long ago a host of celebs, including Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake and Usher, agreed to give up Tweeting until fans donated $1 million to Keep A Child Alive. While they didn’t fail, their success did not come as quickly as some thought it would.

(sorry for the lousy pic – you can see the image here)

It turns out that one person donated the majority of the funds, which is great for the charity and the children involved.

But what does that say about celebrities, social media and their influence?  Is Twitter just not as important to these celeb’s fans as we thought?  Maybe these celebs are simply too annoying on Twitter, and even though they’re being “followed”, they’re not really following them?

Or maybe the fans aren’t all that altruistic? It’d be interesting to somehow do a comparison and see if a $10 donation meant you’d receive a signed picture from Lady Gaga, versus helping kids survive in Africa.

Again, it’s great the $1 million was raised, regardless of how. But in this seemingly ROI driven world, think twice before you base your decisions on raw numbers… regardless of if those numbers are based on the amount of Twitter followers a person has, their Google page rank or the circulation of a magazine. More doesn’t always mean better.

Most of us @ BBPR started our careers when cellphones (forget about BlackBerrys) were a novelty, even for PR people.  We used to fax press releases to journalists and Fed-Ex slides of products to be run in magazines.  Email?  Who thought that would ever take off   So like many of you who’ve been in the work force more than 10 years, you remember a time before cell phones ruled our lives.

We love the freedom and conveniences that come with mobile devices.  We’ve can put out fires from the lifts at Mammoth and had them act as back-up modems for laptops when a hotel’s WiFi goes down.  Cell phones are great.  But realize that just because you can use it in certain situations, doesn’t mean you should.

Like in the car.  Not that we don’t make calls from my car… we do… all the time.  But we try not to make work-related calls of an important nature and when we do, we make sure someone on the other side can take notes and recap them.  Why?  For the same reason we bring this sort of notebook to trade shows in my our pockets (well, the guys do, this is one instance where ladies have it easy with their purses!) and we put the cell away during meetings.  Details are in the notes and if you don’t jot them down, things may get forgotten.

Too often we’re finding we as a collective are meeting with clients or partners, but many in the room are not giving things the full attention they deserve.  Ideas get lost, details get missed and things simply don’t get followed up on.  We’re to blame as much as our friends and colleagues.

Here’s an idea.  With the holidays coming, think about adding this to the list of inexpensive things you may want thrown into your stocking (or whatever you have gifts thrown into for the holidays).  If the Mead version isn’t cool enough, have them step it up with Field Notes, those guys have great designs.

The team @ BBPR manages between 4-6 client profiles on Twitter at any given month.  Because of Twitter outreach, we’ve actually had media seek us out in the green and fashion spaces, in addition to finding a great group of consumer champions.

We’re not social media experts, but here are a few tips we’ve learned along the way:

* Keep it Tight: Not just because you only get 140 characters, but also because you want your fans to RT (re-Tweet for you newbies) what you Tweet.  And if your Tweet is too long, it’ll be difficult for them to do so in 140 characters.

* Abbreviate: In the spirit of keeping it tight, it’s ok, if you write the numeral 4 instead of “for” or even make up your own shorthand. Use “some1” or even “sum1” instead of “someone”.  Write the way a high school kid sends text messages… it’s ok.

* Time Your Tweets: We mentioned this before. Tweet when your audience is on Twitter.  We’re not going to tell you when that is… it varies by audience.

* Engage: Ask questions.  Don’t just post that you uploaded 90 pictures to Facebook.

* Respond and Thanks: This falls under engagement, but people (especially on Twitter) love it when brands respond to them.  Thank people for RT’ing your content or simply giving your brand/company some kudos.

* Hash Tags: You don’t need to # everything you Tweet, but do so when the descriptor doesn’t fit into the Tweet on it’s own.  If you’re Tweeting about a political campaign, the word “politics” may not fit nicely into the sentence, so add “#politics” to the end.  If you’re talking about Monday’s NFL game, use “#mondaynightfootball” at the end of your Tweet. Or just #football.  Trending with hash tags is a post for another day.

* Fill Out Your Profile: Twitter gives people and brands a little profile section to fill out.  Do it.  And be real.  Real “marketing ninjas” don’t need to write that they’re ninjas, so avoid that.  Try to put what you Tweet about, if you can.  For individuals, location is very important too.

* Don’t Over Tweet: Similar to your use of Facebook, either as a brand or individual, don’t simply log onto Twitter and blast 20 Tweets out, then go away.  You’re going to annoy more than promote and even though someone is following you, there’s a good chance they’re doing so via a list or dashboard program that lets them break out different categories of who they’re really following.  Don’t over-Tweet… you simply don’t have that much going on (a good exception being an event, where people may be tuned in specifically for your Tweets).

Keep in mind that these are just guidelines and there’s a lot more that goes into making Twitter part of a strong marketing program.  However, they’re basics we see a lot of brands we follow on Twitter missing, so we wanted “2 do u a fvr”.

We’re not really friends  on Facebook.  Even though technically we Fans of your brand, we may as well not be.

When you’re working with social media, it’s incredibly important that you don’t judge success based purely on how many people you’re potentially reaching.  You need to take into account a few other metrics and one of the easiest ones to measure is how many people are hiding your Fan page.

Similar to how you can “hide” your neighbor from third grade who you haven’t spoken with in 30 years (and besides a few posts back and forth, you still don’t), brands that engage (and I use that term loosely) on Facebook in ways their Fans (or Likes… or whatever they’ll be called in 2011) don’t deem appropriate, risk being hidden from their Fans’ feeds.  And once a brand is hidden, your posts simply aren’t seen by that particular Fan (by the way – you can’t tell who is hiding your brand at the present time, you can only see the number of people hiding your brand).

How easy is it to hide a brand on Facebook?  It only takes two mouse clicks on your feed.

We would never consider hiding Dirty Birds… this is just an example.

If you’re in PB, like wings, beer or good times, you should head on over!

So how can you ensure people aren’t going to hide your brand?  Start with how you interact with Fans through Facebook.  Here are some basic do’s and don’ts when working out the strategy for your brand’s Facebook Fan Page.  They’re basic, but I see a lot of brands missing the mark:

Do’s

• Build out a schedule for your Facebook and other social media interactions.  You know what ads are running in December, right?  Put the same planning into your social media programs.
• Post about events you have going on.  Realize that you can target posts by geographies, so consider making that UK event UK specific, unless what you have going on will have global appeal.
• Post about new and upcoming products.  But work hand in hand with your PR department (if they’re not already in charge of social media for your company).  You don’t want to cannibalize potential editorial coverage.
• Respond to positive comments and posts.  Depending on how many people are Fans and the size of your team managing the page, you probably can’t respond to everyone who posts.  But respond to a few, the feedback will go a long way.

Don’t’s

• Treat Facebook like a one-way street.  When people become Fans of your brand, they’re opting in.  Engage them from time to time.
• Post more than twice a day, unless you really have something great going on.  Similar to how you hide your friends who post every hour or so about mundane things, frequent posting by brands can lead to hiding more than helping them engage.
• Freak out if you have a few negative comments.  It happens.  But be ready to monitor and address for potentially large-scale issues.
• Post anything and everything.  Just because you have 40 pictures from an event or a product comes in 90 colors does not mean you should post them all.  Edit.
• Post “when you have time”.  Post when your Fans are online.  Figure out what demographics are your biggest Fans and skew accordingly.  If your company makes football cleats, you probably shouldn’t post after school during football practice, because your main users will be offline and practicing themselves.  Facebook gives you numerous free insights into demographic information, so figure out who your Fans are and work posts in accordingly.

These are just basic guidelines.  Similar to other forms of marketing, you don’t always have the luxury that comes with unlimited bandwidth to do everything to its fullest potential.  Do what you can, but try to do it right.

For many journalists, press releases are a quarter-step above SPAM.  And some probably consider them a few steps below.  Here are some things to consider before you start writing your next release.

Let’s start with what you’re sending.

We’ll assume here that you’re sending a press release to garner editorial coverage somewhere and not for SEO related purposes (if it is for SEO, use a newswire instead of spamming our busy journalist friends).  So the release is intended for a journalist at a media outlet, such as Men’s Journal, Outside, Antenna, High Snobiety, Culture Shoq… somewhere where people write about things going on.  If you’re not sending it to someone who is a journalist… that’s another story and we’d ask why you’re sending it out at all.  Would you mass email JPG’s of your brand’s latest ads your friends and colleagues?  Would you hand out the same ad while waiting on line at the post office?

So what are you sending?  Is your new packaging one-percent more recycled than last year?  Does your new t-shirt line now come with the option of orange prints?  Probably not newsworthy.  BUT, these are the sorts of snippets that you may want to include in a round-up release – showcasing multiple touch points for your brand in the news – that you can post on your website, send to the trades for your industry, etc.  That could work.

Anyway, let’s say that your story (not press release) is newsworthy.  Is your release readable, or is it filled with jargon, fluff and poor writing?  Is it paradigm shifting for Web 5.0?  Does it have typos like this blog post?

The release – in a formal sense – should have all the facts and stats a journalist may need to begin crafting a story.  But personalize it with a pitch (more on that below) and explain how this is right for their audience.

If you do have some news, now you have to find the right people it’s appropriate for.  Generally speaking, it’s “your list”.

Before you send something out, think about if it’s appropriate for the people you’re sending it to?  The “PR blast” is a tool that needs to go away… it annoys journalists more than it helps.  In fact, get rid of the list.  Target your press releases with a quick elevator-style pitch – or as some people call it – Tweeting (we’re joking here… kind of).  Put a 3-10 line description – keep it brief and relevant.   If your elevator pitch (or Tweet) sells the story, then the journalist will turn to the release for more.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a PR newbie or have friends throughout the world of journalizing, if your story isn’t appropriate, they’re not going to write about it.   Antenna Magazine does not cover women’s denim or skimboarding events.  At least right now. Surfer’s Village does not cover snowboarding news, so hold off on telling Bryan about that great Gore-Tex jacket you’re company is coming out with – but do tell him about how well your team did at the South Shore SUP BBQ & Bro-Down.  Jeff Koyen from Caveat Viator is not going to cover your new headphone collaboration – unless of course they’re extremely appropriate for travel.  Trust us, Bill hung out with Jeff in Austin last month (name drop!).

When it comes down to “the list”, realize that if your story is appropriate, it won’t really matter if you have all the contacts or not.  You can find them.  Walt Mossberg and the folks @ Cnet will cover your new MP3 player if it indeed does redefine the listening experience for lifestyle consumers with unique audio needs.

In all seriousness (and perhaps as a better example), the crew @ BBPR just did a project involving accessories for firearms enthusiasts… an area where the collective team here has very little background.  That didn’t matter to the client.  We know how to write, how to find the right journalists and how to engage them.   And we didn’t mass blast to Jeff and remind him about some beers Bill may or may not have bought him in Austin.  We have lots of journalists who are our friends that don’t write about our clients.   And by not blasting them with releases that are irrelevant is one way we maintain that friendship.

When are you sending your news?

Here’s a secret… journalists are people too.  They have deadlines and things going on at work besides waiting for story ideas to come in.  Sometimes they work weekends, but many try to have what some refer to as “a life” outside of work too.

So when are you sending your pitch and press release?  Here’s a general tip – don’t email it over the weekend or at 4:30 on a Friday unless you want it to get ignored.  Depending on if you’re targeting print publications (daily, weekly or otherwise), online or TV/radio, you really need to adjust accordingly as well. Don’t just blast out the release to everyone you know.

Putting together a PR program doesn’t require an advanced degree in media relations… most people I know in the industry actually didn’t even study PR in college.  But there is some strategy and thought that you need to have if you want to get your stories covered.  Just spend some time and think about it before you hit the send button… and maybe don’t hit that button at all.

But according to some recent research, not a ton of people are reading your Tweets.

Why is that?  Well, it could be because even though people are subscribed to your Twitter feed, they’re using a third party system to view only the feeds they’re interested in.  Or it could be because they’re boring.

The hot buzzword in social media is engagement.  Are you interacting with your brand’s fans?  Are you interacting at all… or are you just blasting things out.  “I added 20 photos to the album ‘Events’ on Facebook.”  I’m sure that’s very compelling.

A great thing with digital marketing is that we can anylyze interactions easier than with some other media.  For example, the “Hidden From News Feed” stat on Facebook.

The above is a grab this month from one of our clients.  Only around 3,000 fans, but less than 30 are “hiding” the page.  What’s hiding?  It’s when someone “Likes” your page on Facebook, but has decided your posts are too frequent, annoying or otherwise irrelevant to their personal interests.  The same way you hide your “friends” who are constantly checking in via FourSquare, playing Farmville or otherwise updating you on their life every hour, on the hour.  It’d be great if this brand had 500,000 fans… but for the time being, we’re happy to have 2,970 out of 3,00 who don’t think we’re annoying.

A few brands we work with have their Twitter feed streaming to their site’s homepage.  To me, that’s a great idea.  Even if someone doesn’t follow them on Twitter, the feed is helping to keep things fresh.  Assuming what is being Tweeted is worth reading.

I (Bill) personally use Twitter a great deal for interacting with people relevant to our clients (both through my own account and the acounts we manage for our clients).  We pitched story ideas, helped forward the initiatives of colleagues and otherwise cemented relationships.  But this only for some of our clients and with a certain subset of consumers.  It won’t work every time, for every brand.

So what’s the secret to social media?  There isn’t one.  Should your brand be on Twitter or Facebook?  The short answer is yes, in one way or another.  However, look hard at what you have to offer via these tools, what your consumers want to see and how much time you can devote to things people will want to know about.  Devote time to where your audience is.  Interact and engage in an appropriate manner.  Don’t be “that guy.”