Press Releases

The PR State of Facebook

May 17, 2011 by Basil Puglisi Leave a Comment

In a few days in Silicon Valley there were some rather unusual ideas, stories, and news articles, pitched that insinuated that Google was invading their users’ privacy. PR agency Burson-Marsteller, even offered to assist a highly influential blogger write an Anti-Google op-ed, promising him it would be posted in places like The Huffington Post or The Washington Post.

Not ignorant of their own share of privacy or security shortcomings, they were likely none-too-happy when Burson’s offer fell apart as the blogger turned him down, then publicly posted the emails in which Burton had asked him for assistance in publicly maligning Google. Subsequently, this failure to communicate was compounded as USA Today latched onto the story and accused Burton of launching a “whisper campaign” about Google on the behalf of a client that was unnamed.

In a world of instant coverage on any type of event, those very elements on which Facebook thrives upon, it is quite difficult to understand how anyone at Facebook thought that it would be a remotely good idea, or one that was kept a tight secret. Is this a sure sign that Facebook executives are worried about recent Google social marketing elements such as the +1 system? Will their willingness to execute black hat behaviors cost them enough users to matter? Unlikely, but it has likely done irreparable damage to their reputation, at least for now.

Google?

Since many users may actually have seen or suffered from privacy issues from Google themselves. As usual, in most situations, the truth likely lies somewhere in the middle of both sides. The problem is, Google has said very little about the incident and as of yet has made no public comment about the failed campaign. In a way, this could also lend the some weight to the original plan by bringing Google privacy issues even more into the public eye.

The real problem is that now that Facebook has made such an irrational and hasty decision that will likely cause them to suffer from some form of back lash, and any real issues that Google may need to address, could have been brought to light a bit more properly, will fall to the wayside as most publicity outlets and news releases will report it and spin it as the story in which Facebook failed in an underhanded campaign to publicly bash another company.

Love-Hate Relationship

Facebook’s most recent PR plan to smear Google was an embarrassment and failure on more than a public relations scale.

In the internet advertising world, Facebook seems to be on the losing end in effective marketing and product branding. If you monitor Facebook regularly, you know it is not uncommon to see someone ranting, raving, and railing at Facebook for some imagined, or even a realistic slight. A week or two later they are back, having forgiven and forgotten their source of displeasure, or at least enough to continue to use Facebook.

As Facebook has begun to integrate itself into everything from daily deal websites to major retail chain, we have largely come to depend on it as our go-to log-in integration of choice. This is predominately because Facebook integration sites will auto-complete most of the information that will commonly be required to complete a new registration for a website’s products or services. Users would certainly be frustrated and disappointed if Facebooks PR flog affected their Facebook experience.

Will Users Boycott Facebook?

Many groups openly boycott websites that make immoral or illegal decisions. However, just as many points above prove, it would be quite difficult to boycott a large interactive element of our social media usage, most certainly Facebook that so many now use for advertising, entertainment, social network, or even just chatting with long distance relatives.

Of course there are a few obvious boycotting methods, anything from ceasing to use Facebook, refusal to integrate other programs and remove already integrated applications from your Facebook account, and even simply deleting your account.

PR on Facebook

Facebook has already proven to be an effective method of PR for a few businesses.

AT&T
Microsoft
WordPress
Coca-Cola
The New York Times

Although likely the best representation of the shortlist, many other smaller businesses have also found great advantage to applying Facebook capabilities for better consumer interaction.

Business Promotion

Facebook has proven a very handy tool in managing membership relationships for fans of your products, or even groups related to your business. This is a very cost effective tool for group, member, or fan management that will allow users to create events calendars, or even just supply other leads and information that could provide additional networking benefits for those same consumers.

Facebook Connect

Adding this handy tool allows users to quickly register with your website by allowing them to approve Facebook integration. This easy option is highly encouraging for those who may not want to spend time filling out many fields, even those who have interest in your brand.

Brand Affinity

One of the most important public relations elements that can be satisfied via Facebook. If you have a product or service that directly, or even indirectly meets a need and connects a user to their Facebook presence. With the text and visuals you have the ability to provide for easy viewing, this can be a great beginning in building the brand awareness that can be invaluable to your business.

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Demand Studios and the Impact from Google’s Algorithm Change

April 30, 2011 by Basil Puglisi Leave a Comment

There seems to be some serious back-and-forth about the state of Demand Studios since the Google algorithm alteration. Initial impact indicated that they may have lost ground on the search driven traffic of some of their sites. Citing eHow.com as one of the locations where the change may have triggered a down-turn, Demand Studios initial statement indeed, indicated that even they knew that the new algorithm may have relatively lasting impact on their page views.

Demand Relies on SEO

Demand Media does rely heavily on search engine optimization to boost traffic to their content which is created by over 13,000 freelancers worldwide. So Google’s announcement that its change would impact almost 12 percent of search engine queries, was definitely destined to negatively affect Demands current page views by sheer numbers alone.

With sites like eHow being a large part of their company’s content, often ranking high on search engine queries before the change, and afterwards, there can be little doubt that the effect was in fact, a minor one for them. However, falling stock values are also a cause for concern for Demand. Some searches even provide Demand Studios content ranking higher than before the change.

Google Panda

Continued updates, codenamed Panda, have provided a different viewpoint altogether. Just over a week ago Google enacted the Pandora update worldwide. This time stating that two percent of Google queries in the U.S. would be affected.

Sistrix, a site that had previously released the results of impact on content farms after the first update, also released new information on the Panda change and how it has definitely affected the page views of eHow content. Although in general, the second update was not as search engine query altering as the second, or Panda update, it did land on eHow this time, even though it is rumored that it was actually one of the targets of the first update in February 2011.

Demand Demands Acknowledgement

While admitting a slight decline in search engine traffic on eHow sites due to the recent changed, Demand still insists that the Sistrix numbers are way off. Citing a predicted 2/3rds decline in eHow traffic, Demand reps responded that the numbers were greatly so grossly overstated that they must comment.

Demand CEO Richard Rosenblatt shared with MediaMemo that the relationship it shared with Google was a highly valued and mutually generous one.

They stated their relationship with Google made much sense for many reasons.

That they help to fill gaps in Google’s content when other high quality content is not available.
That they are the largest suppliers of YouTube videos.
That they are a huge Google Adsense partner.

Stating that the current losses are projected to cause them to suffer around 10 million dollars in lost revenue, they are assured that with projected sales this year reaching around $311 million, they do not consider it a substantial, nor a 2/3rds percent loss.

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Writing a Great Press Release

April 18, 2011 by Basil Puglisi Leave a Comment

Press Releases are a crucial part of marketing, in fact they are one of the few traditional marketing tools that have flourished in the new media or Digital Brand Age. There are six major types of press releases.

General News
Event
Launch
Staff or Executive Announcement
Expert Positioning
Product

Each of these press releases may have differentiating information, but should take one single overall format. And while it is important to be certain that your press release will help to boost your company’s search engine rankings, it is also critical to consider what will happen once people do find and read your press or news releases.

Creating Your Press Release

Many elements in the creation of the press release are very important.

Title Creation

Above all, you need to make sure the title is compelling. This is what draws the reader in and drives them to continue to read past the first sentence. It is good practice to be sure your title supplies a question that would appeal to those whom your marketing efforts target.

Subheadings

Subheadings or bullet points provides visual breaks in the content. Although some readers may not be bothered by massive chunks of text that contain many sentences, most readers can quickly become overwhelmed by the ‘job’ that reading five hundred words in a few paragraphs may be.

Body Content

Create the strongest lead paragraph you can formulate. Try to remember the five important W’s that should be incorporated into the first two paragraphs.

Who
What
When
Why
Where

Try to make these two paragraphs read to a viewer so that even if they do not continue to read beyond this point, they understand the general idea of the press release.

Supply quotes and statistics. Depending on the direction your press release is taking, gather related quotes from company engineers, experts in the industry or even customers who have tried, and enjoyed your products or services. Select the most shining example that you have.

Boilerplate

The last part, or the last few sentences of your press release can sometimes be referred to as the boilerplate. The text used here should be very standard and for this reason could be used on any other press releases regardless of their nature. This information always immediately precedes the use of # # # which signals the end of a press release.

This informative selection of text should include the contact information or instructions on how or where you can get more information on the news, product or service behind the press release itself. Phone contacts, physical location and website information are all common elements of the boilerplate.

Before setting your press release in stone by submitting it online or even to a physical news source, be sure you have reviewed it and while doing so keep an eye out for common mistakes in press releases.

It should never exceed one page and a half. Even if you have much more to say, this size of press release is fairly large. The ideal press release will fit on one digital document or one sheet of paper.
Avoid writing in singular or plural. Stick to a third party, neutral source point-of-view.
Use reader-friendly English, not tech jargon understood by only a few.
Do not use overly hyped language in your press release. Phrases such as breaking news, most unique, the best are all considerably generic terms that may turn your viewers off instead of compel them to read on.
Most important aspects of the press release are in the first two or three paragraphs.
Always include a means to reach a live contact.
Proofread and edit for typos or other grammatical issues.

All of these elements are important in creating a press release that can provide coverage for your news and information on your company’s products or services in one tight article.

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Press Release: Submission Software & Easy Self Serve Sites

March 23, 2011 by Basil Puglisi Leave a Comment

One aspect of online business marketing may require the distribution of press releases for special events, products or even discounts or other coupon or seasonal promotions. And although drawing up a press release may not be that difficult or time consuming, submitting it to the many directories available can be a definite time-killer.

Many have heard of article submitters or even article directory software, however, this is not the same as press release submission. While article or content farms are a dime a dozen, legitimate press release sites are not as abundant. This is a good thing as with less available sites to choose from, comes more coverage and hopefully views, for the content submitted to the quality press release websites available.

What Tools Are Available?

Although there are tons of article submission tools, there are only a couple of press release targeted submitters.

Traffic Mania Pressbot

Traffic Mania Pressbot is also known as Press Release Submitter. Released by Incansoft, this press release submission tool is available under a couple of different titles. The most valuable package it is bundled in includes many different tools available by this developer. Though it is also listed sold individually, with a different cover, but at the same price.

It is hard to find a bad review on this product. Most who use it seem incredibly satisfied with its capabilities and ease of use. The fact that this tool comes with a one-time cost and offering solid technical support and lifelong free updates may make it well worth it.

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Submit Like Magic

This is a heavy duty marketing tool. It allows users to create and submit articles and press releases, upload videos and even one-click social media bookmark to hundreds of sites. Although this tool is a literal powerhouse, some user reviews suggest that it hasn’t quite worked out all of its initial kinks. Overall, the kinks that Submit Like Magic does have are seriously overshadowed by its capabilities.

This tool will also come with a hefty price at $67 USD per month. They do allow a quick trial period of thirty days for a small fee of $4.95 to test out the software as well. Although this may not be the right tool for those who dabble in marketing, this is definitely the perfect tool for powerhouse marketers. There is little that you cannot do as far as social bookmarking, article directory submission, video uploading, RSS feed submissions and captcha support is concerned.

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Easy Self Submit Sites:

If your looking to just do a little self promotion and want to create a nice simple Press Release then PRLog and FreePressReleases are great sites that will allow you to create a single press release that will be added to the digital world with all the formatting done for you. This is great for small businesses that want to just create or pitch a story from time to time to their local media. Both Sites have the ability to email or send once the Press Release is live.

What Can Press Release Submission Software Do for Small Business?

It can absolutely save a small business owner loads of time and money. By utilizing PR submission software, users are able to eliminate the hours of manual submission and complete their PR submissions to many sites with a few entries and the click of a submit button.

For the minor marketer, Traffic Mania Pressbot is plenty of software, but for the power marketer, Submit Like Magic may be a multimedia marketers dream.

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Sneak Peak: Digital Brand Marketing 411: Educate, Embrace, Brand

February 28, 2011 by Basil Puglisi Leave a Comment

So, the internet is flooded with 101 courses, be it Social Media 101, SEO 101, Digital 101, SEM 101 and so on. The shocking part is that we are well beyond Freshman year, perhaps now it’s time for an advanced course.

This is a book in progress and the purpose of this post is to get feedback and support from fellow professionals who will have the chance to help shape its final publication.

Educate, Embrace, Brand

If training programs are a natural part of any induction to new employment, then should we not use this time to maximize the experience both professionally and personally?

Imagine a company that spends time introducing its new employees to Social Media during the training, helps them set up accounts, teaches them etiquette and the role that each different social media has both in personal and professional communication, even if it is at the most basic level.

That same company now embraces its new employees, like a press release, announcing their employment on the company’s Facebook page, twitter accounts, foursquare and more. At stage one, the companies’ own Social Media, has just gone viral with opportunity that has yet to be realized by corporations.

Educating and supporting an employee’s personal brand with the company would touch every contact that the employee has on a regular basis (i.e. profile pictures that resemble something like a baseball card with the team name, or in this case, the company name). The natural progression of Social Media would give the brand a reach and repetition beyond traditional marketing campaigns (This is not even considering the value for professional outreach to clients, service providers and more).

Features, Benefits & Pitfalls

“This section will be the core of the book”

Why?

The ability to control your brand has been lost for some time. The introduction of reviews, facebook, twitter and more have shifted the spectrum. The current chain of command climate, has corporations and their brands operating as spectators or participants at best.

Your employees are already doing it! A claim like “When John/Joan made that racist, sexist, ageist, etc. etc. comment on facebook, it was not endorsed or supported by [insert company name]”. That’s a PR nightmare, because we all know s/he works for you and now your associated with the people you surround yourself with, or in this case employ.

Already employees are engaging or starting to engage in social media. In most cases, the biggest threats come from those that will not let you into their social network. Social Media demands a proactive approach or a great damage control team and understanding stockholders. The best way to understand what your employees are doing on social media is to be an active participant and take a stake in it.

The Coca-Cola Example:

In 2006, The Coca-Cola Company stated that 71,000 people worked for that company. Imagine what that means in the way of networks if Coca-Cola Educated, Embraced and Branded their people!

If each employee averaged a modest 100 unique Facebook Friends, that’s a reach of 7,100,000 people that will directly see the company name, product or message at least once, if not on a repetitive basis. Take a minimal assumption that 10% of them may do something that others find worthy of sharing in their networks just once in a month and you just doubled your direct impact to a whopping 14 million direct touches with your brand, product or message. That’s 14 Million a month based on just one touch. We are more than likely talking about a more realistic value of about 30 Million at least once and most of them more than once. How much would you spend to reach 30 Million people? Remembering you have to do it with someone they know and possibly trust or value.

The influence for the book:

Social Media has transformed the way we do business, “This is a massive socio-economic shift that is fundamentally changing the way consumers and companies communicate and interact with each other”, Erik Qualman (Socialnomics, 2010).

Is this True?

I believe that Erik Qualman is correct. However, what most are missing is that we are still stuck in the entry level courses or just fulfilling our general education requirements and the time to be undecided is at an end.

Companies continue to adjust to the trend that Social Media dictates on how consumers spend. Their reactive state has paralyzed them, and no one has taken a moment to stop, think and produce a proactive campaign or policy.

Social Media 101 was the introduction of Away Messages, Chat rooms and Buddy lists. Social Media in the 200’s was all about the personal networks we build. Whereas, Social Media 300’s have been a consistent battle to generate ROI for business and balance the separation of personal and professional.

Social Media in the 400’s (Senior Year) will be the race towards the podium. The first to Educate, Embrace and Brand will be the Valedictorian. This senior year has some big potential leaders that are laying the ground work. However, there’s not a single corporation in that list!

The Preview

This is a part of the conceptual work of my book that will be released in 2011. This post is to introduce the concept and ideas of the power behind Social Media that has yet to be realized by corporations. I specifically target corporations because small business owners all across America are already transitioning into this next stage. Stating “separation” as the key to a business or professional image is proving everyday in small business to be false.

The Naysayers

Some will be quick to jump at the hesitation of individuals to cross the personal and professional barrier, as much as, the companies they work for. However, social media has already crossed those barriers. For those that wish to continue to try and separate the two on a continual basis, Mark Zuckerberg has already covered that for them. That is why education is the first step in this process. There is no one way to accomplish this goal. Like fire, we can get burned, but without embracing fire we would be hard pressed to stay warm or protected. Companies, Businesses and Organizations are made of people and now more than ever its harder to hide who we, or they are, it’s just a matter of time.

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How to Protect Copyrighted Work for Social Media Week

February 9, 2011 by Basil Puglisi Leave a Comment

There are many ways to copy protect your original works. It may depend on how much convenience you require, or simply how much funding you have to invest in it. Here are a few great options for protecting your original works.

Declare it! Make a Statement!

Add copyright notices to all of your work. Be sure to use the format of Copyright OR ©, the copyright symbol itself. Followed by the year the item was created as well as the name of the creator. An example for me would be ©2011 Basil Puglisi.

Register with the US Copyright office.

Register your copyright. This will immediately establish public records and is imperative in case you ever have to bring a copyright infringement case to a court. You will need to send your completed application form that relates to the works you are copyrighting, along with any fees required, as well as two copies of the work to the US Copyright Office. You have up to 5 years to do this, but it is highly suggested to do it as soon as possible to avoid red tape in an infringement case.

Other Paid Services

With Click & Copyright, you have a more wrapped up package. They do start at around $79 USD but can provide you copyright options on all forms of media, as well as help you monitor for infringement issues.

Free Services

Myfreecopyright offers many free resources and helpful tools to get your content protected as soon as possible, with or without upfront money. You simply need to upload your content to their server. A digital fingerprint of your content is captured, logged and stored. It is also emailed to you. This creates a safety net to protect your original work as well as register it. This service is entirely free and a great one.

Consider copyrighting all of your work, anything from eBooks, to pictures, to your personal blog content are all at risk until you do so.

Should you find that your work is being used elsewhere, be prepared to file or have someone file and enforce your rights under the DMCA.

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Visibility Marketing Trends for 2011

December 30, 2010 by Basil Puglisi Leave a Comment

As for Businesses and visibility, what can be predicted to be the trends for 2011?

Here are some thoughts:

Web Design – As the reliance on websites becomes widespread for small businesses, so does the competition. How to retain the visitors and make them go to other pages on your site has been a question may want an answer to. The trend for the upcoming year in websites, points to the fact that a basic page is not good enough anymore. Sites are expected to engage, entertain and interact with their visitors. The design process has become simpler and many sites are offering, for small amount of money, templates that and already set up, making them hipper, more fun to use and interactive.

Mobile Connectivity – Smart phones are gathering speed and offer possibilities that we never had before. Almost 50% of business owners already own smartphones. Mobile devices will change how we do business. They offer another platform for advertisement as well.

E Commerce – will continue to grow in popularity. A research done in the beginning of 2010 showed that only 30% of small business websites have e commerce capability.

Social Shopping – and interacting with customers is becoming increasingly important. More businesses will get into the social media plains. First hand recommendations in a saturated world are more important than ever.

Social Media – In the past year many business owners spread themselves thin over many social media platforms. The important thing is, and will remain to be, a consistent message and brand, with exposure to consumers.

Cloud Computing – In the beginning of 2010, a group of internet experts and mavens got together and announced that “we will all be leaving in the cloud by 2020”. It seems to be happening faster than they have predicated. Many business owners realized that cloud computing is very beneficial. It eliminates the need for an office and a desk. Everything can be accessed from mobile devices (laptops, tablets and smartphones). Having the ability to see everything that goes on, wherever you are anytime you choose to, is becoming a reality with cloud computing. It is the ultimate “virtual office”.

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Can You Get Free PR?

November 12, 2010 by Basil Puglisi Leave a Comment

How to make the most of your internet presence and increase your visibility is a subject many small business owners are grappling with. With the enormous speed in which social media is evolving, you probably have this question reverberate in your brain: am I doing all that I can do to advertise my business?

Even if you don’t have a big advertising budget, there are some things you can do to get free – or almost free – PR. But you have to know how to do it.

– Do your homework – know what is happening in your niche, what makes you different and better. Identify local publications and trade magazines. See which writer writes about your area of business and what is he writing about (personal story, facts, sales?)

– Build your story. It has to be compelling, short and to the point. It has to entice the writer to look into your new venture.

– Choose the date carefully. Does your business have something to do with dates? Holidays? Writers are looking for things to write about which are relevant to the date of publication. They are more likely to look into your business if it has something to do with the date of the next issue.

– There are few site you can go to which will cost relatively very little but will start you up on the road to a PR campaign:

PRWeb is one of them. Their site helps you create a press release and they will send to search engines, news sites, geographic location sites and 5 industry sites. Press releases start at $80 and go up to $360 if you want your release to appear in big newspapers like New York Times or USA today.

1888 Press Release – a similar service to PRWeb but more variety in pricing and more control over the message. They also have editors going over your press release to check for grammar mistakes and appropriate content.

MediaSync. A site that aggregates material according to subject or market and allows you to see who writes about your kind of business. It also lets you contact the writers or bloggers to offer them new information to write about. Their service is free. In the future they will introduce a paid subscription for going deeper in measuring the influence the writer has had.

Handle Your Own PR. A service designed for medium and small businesses, it offers PR tips, media lists and press release writing assistance.

These are but a few initial steps to increase the visibility of your small business, but these steps cost you – in time, not money. It has been said that the most expensive element a small business owner has is his time. If time is an issue, contracting a consulting firm that knows all the ins and outs of online advertising world and social media websites. There is much more that can be done to increase your business visibility.