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Tell your story – Storify

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storifyWorking in an industry that’s constantly evolving, it’s imperative in PR to stay on top of the latest technologies, tools, and services. Whether it’s a social network (we love LinkedIn for networking and thought leadership opportunities) or a social media management tool (Hootsuite is on the top of our list)—we’re always on the look out for new and innovative ways to improve efficiency and enhance our client service. Being open-minded to new ideas, testing out new processes, tools, and services helps PerkettPR remain in the forefront. Did you know in 2008, we were one of the first PR firms to join and find value in Twitter? So, it’s no surprise that when I came upon social media curation service, Storify, I was eager to explore this social network that allows users to tell virtual stories using videos, pictures, tweets and more.

In PR, storytelling is pivotal. Every brand has a story. And it is how a brand creates a story for its target audience—one that features compelling content and meticulous thought – that makes it relatable and engaging; however the way we tell the story has evolved from traditional mediums like newspapers to the concise art of 140 characters. Storify extends our “storifying” abilities even more. Being in PR, this network is especially enticing as it gives us the control to creatively tell our clients’ stories – on our terms. Whether it’s showcasing client coverage, sharing videos, or promoting an upcoming event there are many valuable uses for this tool. Storify makes stories more interesting and authentic—bringing together many voices into one story—allowing a brand to build more trust and credibility with its audience. This network proves to be both interactive and social—giving stories depth and resonance—qualities needed in today’s social media savvy age.

In fact, Storify recently launched Storify Business, a premium service that allows companies to spread story content more effectively while building their brand presence. Some of the new specialized features include the ability to make stories private, more accurate analysis of results, real-time updates, CSS styling with custom story display, and enhanced technical support. We’re looking forward to seeing how marketers and companies alike embrace this new service.

Do you use Storify? Is it useful? What are some of your favorite stories? What additional features would you like to see to further boost your story? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Persuasive Picks for week of 7/16/12

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Most forms of marketing and advertising focus on attracting and engaging customers through a sales cycle to create awareness and interest, guiding the customer to consider and purchase. Lee Odden writes on ClickZ that while a lot of social media-savvy companies are leveraging social channels to engage with communities and for customer service, expectations are high to influence a social return on investment (ROI). Learn more in Optimizing Social Media Across the Customer Lifecycle

David Murdico at iMediaConnection thinks that a lot of efforts and resources are being wasted by too many businesses, brands and organizations that lack a clear understanding of social media marketing. He cites 5 Social Media Marketing Myths You Should Understand to provide a powerful way of building awareness, communicating with consumers and ultimately selling more stuff!

If your brand has a social media presence, consumers need to hear from you. 60% of Consumers Expect Brands to Respond on Social Media regarding service at least most of the time, according to a new report. Daniel Mickens reviews the findings of a recent online survey that looks at social media’s impact on people’s brand perceptions and purchasing decisions – via Mashable.

Do you tweet at the supermarket? “Like” your favorite brands? Scan QR codes? If so, you’re part of a growing group of social media savvy consumers who use technology to inform their purchasing habits. Lauren Dugan posts How Do Consumers Use Social Media To Shop? [INFOGRAPHIC] on AllTwitter – visualizing the results of a recent study that looks at consumers’ social media behaviors when they shop.

Persuasive Picks for week of 4/16/12

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When Deborah Sweeney, CEO of MyCorporation, started to run her own business, she never would have guessed that a day would come when she’d be expected to update the internet on her life in 140 characters or less. To help CEO’s aspiring to join the Twitter-sphere, Deborah posts her advice on Becoming a “Corporate Executive Tweeter” on SocialMediaToday.

A strong referral network is imperative for small businesses. Thanks to social networking, businesses can now connect directly with customers, enabling them to market in new more cost-effective ways. MarketingProfs guest blogger Pamela Springer provides some tips to Build a Strong Referral Network to Boost Your Business and parlay those social networks into business opportunities.

Pinterest isn’t only for women – despite its heavy concentration on all things girlie, it’s for guys, too! Pinterest has a growing audience of men who like the site – for many of the same reasons women do explains Jennifer Waters in her latest MarketWatch article Why men like social-media site Pinterest.

Doug Schumacher takes a look at some numbers around Facebook content and what kind is the most shared, and finds that video and photo posts are far more likely to be shared than status updates or links. Find out more of What consumers share on Facebook – and why in his iMediaConnection post.

Persuasive Picks for week of 11/28/11

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IT Web journalist Kathryn McConnachie reports on Google’s video sharing platform unveiling a new homepage, channel design and user interface in YouTube Gets a Makeover

Huffington Post blogger Philip Keightley provides ringside commentary in Let’s Get Ready to Rumble: Facebook versus Google+ in the Battle for Social Media Hearts and Minds

 

Who Are the Top 10 Influencers in Social Media? Forbes contributor Haydn Shaughnessy shows how some influencers have the reach and pull as media outlets.

Ed Lundquist gives 10 Social Networking Tips For CIOs on InformationWeek as he explains why adding a robust enterprise social network to your priority agenda is a must, and how to get going.

Armondo Roggio provides insight on how the continued growth of social networking and blog sites have an effect on brand marketing, consumer shopping behavior and innovation  – 3 Ways Social Media Affects Brands via Practical eCommerce.

 

 

Thanks From PerkettPR

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It’s that time of year again when we take a day off in the U.S. to breathe a little more, slow down (even if for just one day), think about the blessings in our life and thank those around us who make it better every day. I asked the PerkettPR team what they’re grateful for this year, and here are some of the answers:

  • I’m grateful for great friends, family and food this Thanksgiving – not to mention four days of being able to sleep in (forget those Black Friday lines; I’m thankful for online shopping!) – Jennifer
  • I am thankful for my kids – they are the funniest, smartest, craziest kids I know. They teach me more than I teach them and I am amazed by their generosity, patience, understanding, humor, intelligence and politeness every single day. – Lisa
  • I am thankful to have found such a great group of people to work with; I have been renewed with an overall sense of optimism and positivity. Thank you! – Vic
  • A lot can change in a year and this year especially I am thankful for good health, family, and best friends. – Johanna
  • This has been a rough year, but with the hard times, comes the much needed reminder of all the blessings in my life. I’m so grateful that my kids were able to spend some time with my dad before he passed away this fall. I’m grateful for my husband who is endlessly supportive and generous. I’m thankful to have a good job and a fantastic group of colleagues – and one amazing boss — who not only inspire me with their work ethic every day, but understand and respect that we each have personal lives and responsibilities and graciously offer their support when needed. Finally, I’m grateful for this moment — a few minutes in the midst of a busy day to reflect on what’s truly important and give thanks. Wishing everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving. – Crystal
  • Things I am grateful for this year – My Dad surviving his first (and second) heart attack last week, the doctors who saved him and the wonderful family and friends that have been so supportive with it all.  Also thankful to have a career I love, the great community that I live in and the health and happiness of my family and friends. – Susan
  • I am thankful for good health! – Stephanie
  • I’m thankful for so many things but one thing I actually smiled about the other day (as I was driving home from helping my son’s first-grade class make cookies for charity) is how thankful I am to have a job that I love that also allows me the flexibility to be so involved in my children’s lives and take part in moments like that that are so special to them and me. – Kristen

From a professional standpoint, I can say that I am most grateful for my team at PerkettPR. They are hard working, intelligent, creative, patient, supportive of each other and fun to work with. They are also extremely loyal and committed to our clients. They get results, and they have a camaraderie that makes our culture what it is – leaving egos at the door, digging in and working together towards mutual success every day. Thanks guys, I’m proud to work with each and everyone of you.

I’m also grateful for our clients. Each time we build a positive new relationship, it’s a feeling of pride. The best clients are honest, open communicators and I’m grateful for what I learn from them – and the respect that they give us in listening to and learning from us – as well as the respect they give me and my team. I’m especially grateful for those clients that rehire us time and time again as they move along to other companies throughout their careers. It’s an honor and a privilege to work with them over the years – even decades! It means they respect us, our work and what value we provide, and we build long-lasting, fruitful relationships and friendships. Special thanks to those clients like Donna Parent at Aternity Inc., Parker Trewin at Mindjet and others who have recently returned that I can’t yet mention!

I’m also extremely grateful for the community that supports PerkettPR every day through reading or participating in interviews on our blog, liking our Facebook or Google+ pages, interacting with us there, sharing ideas, spreading the love for our clients, trying their products and apps, following us on Twitter, inviting us to speak at events, etc. We have met many clients, friends, supporters and industry colleagues through these networks, and it has enriched not only our daily work, but our business.

Thank you!

What are you grateful for this Thanksgiving? Please share in the comments!

 

5 ways social media has changed PR

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social-media-poststamps In celebration of Social Media Day today, we decided to take a retrospective look at some of the ways social media has had an impact on the public relations industry. Not only has it changed the way we communicate with each other, but as it gains acceptance and usage among executives, it will play an increasingly-important role in our scope of work on a daily basis as PR professionals.

According to a report from eMarketer, a whopping 63.7 percent of internet users in the U.S. will use social networks in 2011, creating quite the desirable pool of prospective customers (and advocates, ideally). The firm also reported estimates that four in five U.S. businesses (with at least 100 employees) will take part in some sort of social media marketing this year, up from just 42 percent as recently as 2008. This number is expected to continue to rise, especially in light of related surveys that have revealed that as much as 63 percent of small businesses feel as though social networking makes a “significant” impact on their sales and revenue.

So what does this mean for us? Well, not only has social media infiltrated nearly every industry, but PR pros will be expected to ramp up their strategies in order to best engage audiences using the social web. And as much as the occasional rogue Facebook post or off-color Twitter rant from the public can keep us up at night, we’ll be seeking to embrace this form of communication more and more as a mechanism for not only sharing information with key audiences, but also listening to and connecting with them like never before.

Read on for our take on how social has already made its mark on PR:

  1. It’s a two-way street – Not that jumping on your soapbox and simply blasting a message via megaphone was ever effective, but now more so than ever, PR practitioners are connecting with audiences on a human level and inviting conversation. Receiving this invaluable feedback allows for real-time refinement of strategies and tactics, making brand connections with consumers and constituents that much deeper.
  2. 24/7 Engagement – Gone is the traditional 9-to-5 schedule because social media conversations never stop. Now that consumers can connect directly with a brand at any time, it’s up to us as PR pros to play host or hostess at the party, keeping the conversation going, encouraging a good back-and-forth and making new introductions to facilitate constant – and consistent – engagement.
  3. Increased demand for digital Pros – Forget about ‘keeping up with the Joneses’…if you’re in PR, you’re more concerned about keeping up with the latest Facebook feature or location-based app. The advent of social media has shown us that the most successful (and in-demand) PR people aren’t afraid to explore and embrace new technologies, continually adding all sorts of new technologies to their repertoire.
  4. Navigating the new landscape – As this article in Mashable points out, social media has blurred the line between paid, earned and owned media – not only altering their definitions, but also posing the PR challenge about how to integrate all three forms for the greatest success. By focusing on a balanced mix, PR professionals can help spread customer touch points across all functions within a company, and it’s this new approach that will have the greatest lasting impact.
  5. Evolving definition of success – Yes, some of us may have entered PR thinking it was the furthest field from anything math-related, but the fact remains that metrics have been – and continue to be – a PR pro’s best friend. And thanks to social media, we’re continually redefining the measure of success: Whether it’s friends on Facebook or daily of Tweets, we know that quality reigns over quantity, and that a long-term approach garners the most powerful return on investment when it comes to making connections.

What else would you add about how social media has changed the PR industry, and how do you expect it will further change our industry in the future?

The staff here at PerkettPR is also having some fun on Social Media Day by creating a series of videos explaining how Social Media has changed each of our lives and/or what our favorite social media tools are. We will be posting them to the PerkettPR Facebook page throughout the day, so be sure to check them out and leave us a comment!

Persuasive Picks for the week of 06/28/10

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Why We Check In: The Reasons People Use Location-Based Social Networks
Is it for the colorful badges or the chance of a spontaneous meet-up with like-minded people? Marshall Kirkpatrick explores these and other reasons why people are becoming obsessed with “checking in” on location-based social networks like Foursquare and Gowalla.

Social networking sites: 10 mistakes organizations make
Steven Overly from the Washington Post provides these helpful “back-to-basics” tips that highlight many of the things organizations aren’t doing right when it comes to integrating social media with their online marketing strategies.

ROI: Marketing’s Best Frienemy
Helena Bouchez explores Christopher S. Penn’s statement on a Marketer’s accountability of their efforts and how it effects the success or failure of the bottom line.

Why Your Release Might Not Make It In to Google News
Business Wire’s Joseph Miller explores several reasons why the carefully crafted press release you worked so hard on might not show up on Google News, and he provides some helpful tips to ensure that it always does.

Social Networking Affects Brains Like Falling in Love
This Fast Company post explains how Neuroeconomist, Paul Zak has figured out that social networking releases a chemical in our brain that triggers “empathy, generosity, trust and more.” Click the link for the full read, or get the 50 second run-down via the video below.

Facebook and “Future Community”

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Like many of you, we’ve been keeping an eye on the Facebook privacy issue. However, unless it’s central to your job (aka tech pundits), most people are way too busy to keep up with the changing features and policies from week to week, or all the particulars of the last brouhaha. Still, if you took the time to look closely enough to form an opinion, you may have found yourself being pulled in one direction or another – meaning the privacy camp or the open social graph camp.

When Facebook became available en masse, most of us made immediate connections to other early adopters and soon prodded colleagues, friends and family to join. For many, the next wave was locating people from our past – forging lost bonds with old flames, childhood friends, high school classmates and the like. Facebook soon became a part of our present and our past, with a constant stream of personal updates and suggestions to connect with new and/or old friends. For some, Facebook offered immersion in virtual worlds and, in essence, membership in new — and sometimes addicting — communities, created by social games such as Farmville and Mafia Wars.

Over time, our attachment to Facebook continued to become exceedingly more and more personal. Lest we forget, it’s a business. And so it goes – with more personal details come more opportunities for marketing and selling to your every interest. Being in a constant state of evolution to develop revenue streams and achieve profitability is as much a part of Facebook’s soul as the free services they provide to both you and me.

As we look more closely at the privacy issues and the idea of “future community” experiences, it’s easy to see that having a say when it comes to who you are connected to within the Facebook social graph is vital. While some users may have been gung-ho to share “Activities, Interests, Music, Movies, Books, Television” with “Friends” past and present; they don’t want to be connected to everyone else on Facebook who lists “Bossanova” and “Sublime” in the Music field of their Profile. The “disconnect” in this instance was between intention and execution. Similarly, most users intended to share favorite musical genres and artists, along with Interests like running, wine and yoga, with their present and past communities. Then, Facebook decided – without user consent – to connect us to new “future communities” of others on Facebook who listed the same information.

Thankfully, Facebook recently heeded the outcries of some of the public and rolled out new privacy controls (further explained here). But, it certainly sparks some thought… What community experiences do you seek in general? How are such experiences the same or different via Facebook?

A curious and social group, we thrive on interacting with new people, otherwise known as “future community.” So whether it’s the staff and patrons at local coffee shops, other parents and children at the playground, the checkers and baggers at our local markets, or strangers at the airport — these polite chats and sometimes surprising and inspired conversations comprise connections with others that nurture humanity and individual creativity and kindness. So back to the question: How are such experiences the same or different via Facebook?

Just like the offline examples above, certainly possibilities to make meaningful connections as part of a “future community” via Facebook do exist. Facebook sees these potential benefits whether it be connections with advertisers or other individuals. For now, I can accept the advertisements that key off some of my personal data (it’s a business after all), but I can also be at ease that who I count as part of my “future community” is up to me.

How does Facebook power community for you?

Persuasive Picks for the week of 07/12/09

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Verizon Integrates Twitter, Facebook into FiOS TV
Verizon helps consumers take another small step towards TV and online integration with the addition of Twitter and Facebook access via their set-top box.

Verizon FiOS and Twitter/Facebook

Box-Office Weekend: Brüno a One-Day Wonder?
Another example of how Twitter has changed the “product launch” game by accelerating the word-of-mouth process with potentially negative side-effects.

YouTube Will Be Next To Kiss IE6 Support Goodbye
Fans of Internet Explorer (do any really exist..?!) who frequent YouTube are now being notified that the platform will be dropping support for IE6 in the near future. Gone are the days where web app developers felt the need to continually support aging browser technology as to not “upset” the user base.

Can a Company Take Social Networking too Far?
Chris Pirillo shares this almost unbelievable news about retailer Best Buy’s odd move with their new “social networking requirements” for employees.

9 keys to the perfect corporate blog
Michael Estrin provides 9 tips to help companies to provide a more compelling corporate blog.

Persuasive Picks for the week of 08/25/08

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The Best Practices In Social Media Marketing Writing Project
Mitch Joel from Twist Image has launched a writing project that encourages marketers to share their best tips for Social Media Marketing, and hopes to build contributions to the project into an ongoing organic resource for marketers to reference in the future. Mitch’s own best practice contribution revolves around consistency.

Before Consistency in Social Media Marketing
Bryan Eisenberg from the FutureNow blog contributes his Social Media Marketing best practices to Mitch Joel’s writing project – in the form of transparency, being social and communicating values. Make the jump to read more!

Three tips for “company blogging”
Google’s Matt Cutts shares three tips for those who blog for their company. Be sure to read through the 60+ comments for additional tips and points of view.

Community Manager Salary Report
Community Strategist Connie Bensen has touched on the subject of Community Manager salaries for almost a year now. This post is her latest entry on the subject and is a great starting point for companies looking to fill such a role in their organization.

Use Ning to Build a Community Around Your Personal Brand
Personal Branding expert Dan Schawbel expands on the power of using Ning to build an online community around your personal brand – and backs it up by highlighting two “big name personal brands” who are doing it successfully.