Tag Archives: pr

Media News & Moves for May

Posted on May 15, 2013 by | Leave a comment

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MEDIAware, PR Newswire’s Audience Research Department newsletter, features recent media news and job changes in the industry. Here is a sampling of this month’s edition:

Fort Lauderdale’s South Florida Sun Sentinel (http://www.sun-sentinel.com) won the prestitgious 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for its outstanding series “Above the Law: Speeding Cops”.  The series led to numerous police officers being suspended and one who got fired for his excessive abuse of speed. Investigative Reporter Sally Kestin, Investigative Editor John Dahlburg and Database Editor John Maines were part of an entire team at the Sun Sentinel that worked on this series. You can read the winning series here: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/speeding-cops/

The Denver Post (http://www.denverpost.com) won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News with its coverage of the Aurora Movie Theater mass shooting last year.  The Pulitzer cited the Post’s use of social media, video and the written word in their winning coverage of the story. You can check out their winning coverage here: http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2013-Breaking-News-Reporting

The Alcohol Professor (http://AlcoholProfessor.com) is a new blog about liquor, spirits & ale. It was started by beverage connoisseur Adam Levy (https://twitter.com/AlcoholProfessr) who also founded the New York International Beverage Competitions. The sites main contact is Senior Editor-in-Chief Amanda Schuster (alcoholprofamanda@gmail.com).

Minneapolis’ Star Tribune (http://www.startribune.com) won two 2013 Pulitzer Prizes for Local News and Ediorial Cartooning. Glenn Howatt, Brad Schrade and Jeremy Olson won the Local News Pulitzer for their work on a series about the rise in infant deaths at Minnesota day-care centers. You can read that series here: http://www.startribune.com/local/150283965.html. And Steve Sack won the Editorial Cartooning award. You can view a bunch of his great political cartoons here: http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2013-Editorial-Cartooning

Columnist Daniel Ruth and Editorial Editor Tim Nickens won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for the Tampa Bay Times (http://www.tampabay.com). Their op-ed pieces and columns were a campaign that helped reverse a decision to take fluoridation out of the water system in the area. You can check out pieces of their work here: http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2013-Editorial-Writing

The New York Times has made its own crossover as for the first time ever, they have published an article in Spanish. “A Drug War Informer in No Man’s Land” will go down in NYT history.
You can read it in Spanish here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/us/mexico-dea-fugitive.html or in English here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/us/us-mexico-dea-informant.html?pagewanted=all 

Representing The New York Times in the category of Investigative Journalism, David Barstow (barstow@nytimes.com) and Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab were selected as Pulitzer Prize winners for their year and a half long project which centered on Walmart’s interests in Mexico. The journalists investigated the Multinational Retail Corporation’s use of coercion as a means to gain a competitive advantage in Mexico. Eventually, the exposé led to an investigation by the Justice Department into whether Walmart violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

A series of 10 articles which covered the business practices of Apple and other technology companies, won a group of journalists at The New York Times a Pulitzer Prize in the category of Explanatory Journalism. The series focused on the question of whether or not the United States could be considered a lucrative place for innovators to manufacture new products. Apple’s choice to employ cheaper manufacturers in China, passing over the opportunity to invest in the United States’ turbulent job market, was one example used in the series. The reporters included Keith Bradsher (https://twitter.com/KeithBradsher), David Barboza (barboza@nytimes.com), Charles Duhigg (duhigg@nytimes.com), David Kocieniewski (kocieniewski@nytimes.com), Steve Lohr (lohr@nytimes.com), John Markoff (https://twitter.com/markoff), David Segal, David Streitfeld (https://twitter.com/DavidStreitfeld), Hiroko Tabuchi (https://twitter.com/HirokoTabuchi), and Bill Vlasic (vlasic@nytimes.com).

The Pulitzer Prize in the category of International Reporting was given to David Barboza (https://twitter.com/DavidBarboza2), Shanghai Bureau Chief of The New York Times. Barboza composed a series of articles that focused on the overwhelming wealth which many of China’s top leaders have kept in hiding. According to Barboza, over the span of a year he “pieced together hundreds of names and a web of connections among more than 100 companies found in China’s official financial records.”

Sports Reporter for The New York Times John Branch (https://twitter.com/JohnBranchNYT) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in the category of Feature Writing. Branch composed an article entitled “Snow Fall: the avalanche at Tunnel Creek,” about a fatal avalanche in the Washington Cascades. Branch combined text, online video and graphics to vividly illustrate what took place.

The Pilot newspaper in Southern Pines, N.C. is launching yet another magazine. It already publishes PineStraw and O. Henry. Now it adds Salt magazine to its line-up of cultural publications. As with the other magazines, Jim Dodson will head up Salt as Editor. The free, monthly magazine is scheduled to launch later this month with a distribution of 18,000.

Following up on a Charlotte, N.C. story previously reported on in MEDIAware, the FCC gave final approval on the sale of WYMT-TV and WJYZ-TV to Fox Television. With the ruling, the stations were free to hire more personnel. Lynda Grahl was chosen as VP of Finance and Jay Abbattista was added as VP of Sales. Both report to the previously hired GM Karen Adams. As a result of this purchase by Fox, another local Charlotte station, WCCB-TV, will switch affiliations from Fox to the CW this summer.

There have been two personnel changes at the Cooking Channel and Food Network. VP of Digital for Emerging Brands Mark Levine (mlevine@scrippsnetworks.com) has been promoted to VP of Programming and Multiplatform. And new to the stations is Todd Weiser, who was hired as VP of Programming and Development. He arrives from Animal Planet, where he was previously Director of Development.

After 21 years in print, The Rhinocerous Times (http://greensboro.rhinotimes.com) is now an endangered species. The publication originally had two editions: Greensboro and Charlotte. It folded the Charlotte edition back in 2008. Now with a growing debt, the Greensboro edition is closing as well. The website will remain but for how long is not known.

Culture Critic Philip Kendicott of The Washington Post won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. In one of the articles submitted for the award Philip examined the use of controversial photographs in the media. You can read the piece here: http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-12-27/entertainment/36016736_1_images-subway-track-pleasure

Aereo (https://www.aereo.com)has been hit with a copyright lawsuit by almost every major network trying to prevent Aereo from creating a free streaming of their content. This is something to keep an eye on, as it can change the way networks will distribute its content if Aereo wins the case.

KSL-TV, the Salt Lake City NBC affiliate, has announced on its Facebook page as well as its website that it will no longer air episodes of the network series “Hannibal.” This decision was made due to the extensive graphic nature of this show. The time slot will be replaced with a special edition of KSL 5 News at 9 pm. “Hannibal” is a TV show about serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a literary character created by author Thomas Harris and initially made famous by the movie “The Silence of the Lambs.”

KMOV-TV in St.Louis won the 2012 Investigative Reporters and Editors Award. Craig Cheatham and Jim Thomas won in the category of “Ware Zone: The Destruction of an All-American City.” Read more at http://www.mediabistro.com/tvspy/kmov-wfaa-win-ire-awards_b86802

Mike Herrera, Long-time New Orleans broadcaster, passed on April 6 at the age of 66. Herrera who for the last five years served as an engineer at WWL-TV previously worked as a staff announcer, Weathercaster and Producer/Director at WVUE-TV for more than four decades.

William Glaberson says farewell to The New York Times. His 25-year career at the newspaper came to a halt on April 26th. He most recently served as Court Reporter, throughout these 25 years he covered Guantanamo Bay and the Crown-Heights trail.

Highly respected Chicago Sun-Times Movie Critic Roger Ebert has passed away. Over the course of his expansive career, Ebert hosted various television programs such as “Sneak Previews”, “At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert”, “Siskel and Ebert and The Movies”, alongside Gene Siskel, and the series “Ebert & Roeper & the Movies”. He also produced his most recent show, “Ebert Presents: At the Movies”. Ebert was an author of more than 20 books and won a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.

Nils Larsen has stepped down as CEO at the Tribune Company. He managed Tribune local stations, WGN America and WGN Radio. Jonathan Wax has been named Senior Vice President of scripted programming for WGN America. Wax currently serves as Vice President of drama development at Twentieth Century Fox, Inc.

Edible Milwaukee, a new magazine set to launch its May issue, will focus on the production, distribution and consumption of food in the greater Milwaukee area. The magazine reaches out to the local and regional food consumers and buyers who are zealous about food quality. Jen Ede will serve as Publisher and Editor for the quarterly. You may reach her at jen@ediblemilwaukee.com or http://ediblemilwaukee.com.

You can view the whole May issue of MEDIAware here: http://www.prnewswire.com/knowledge-center/mediaware/

And all of the Regional Updates here: http://www.prnewswire.com/knowledge-center/mediaware/May-2013-Updates-By-Region.html

You can also follow all of the latest media moves and news from PR Newswire’s Audience Research Department on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/PRNmedia

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Press Release RX: 3 Ways to Improve Reader Experience

Posted on May 14, 2013 by | Leave a comment

PR RXYou can’t read an article or blog these days on web design or SEO without seeing a reference to “user experience design” (or “UXD” if you want to look cool.)   It’s a hot topic, and for reasons that go far beyond aesthetics.   The experience users of a web site encounter have a direct effect on that site’s search rankings and conversion rate.  And in the advice offered by UXD pros and SEO gurus are some important lessons for writers.

First, a little background.  When we’re talking about web site user experience, we’re referring to all the different aspects of content, structure and navigation that enable a site visitor to do the things he or she wants to do, whether that means reading a white paper, registering for an event, browsing information or purchasing things.  Poor UXD means that something on the site prevents the visitor from doing what he or she intended to do.

pr as leadgen

This blog post was actually inspired by a press release I reviewed for a client last week.  It was long, wandering from topic to topic.    It tried to tell the story of a new product along with the story of the product pipeline as well as the story of a successful acquisition.  It tried to achieve too much, and as I read through it, I really wanted to stop reading.  And that is exactly what we don’t want our readers to do.

As we’re drafting press releases, we should be thinking about what exactly we want our readers to do, and then structure the content accordingly.  But how do we design press releases (and other content, for that matter) to encourage readers to move forward, to the outcome we want them to take?  Here are a few ideas.

  1.  Identify the specific outcome you want your primary audience to take.  In most cases, you’ll want other constituents to read the story, too. But trying to serve all audiences in one message is tough to do.  Focus the content on one audience, and one outcome, such as getting industry media and bloggers to write a particular story, generating social shares of an image or getting readers to click on a specific link.
  2. Focus the content of every paragraph on leading the reader to that outcome.  If your writing starts to veer from the path, so will your reader.  Stay focused on the key message.   Other messages will need their own separate vehicles, whether that means another press release or something else, such as a blog post or inclusion in a customer newsletter.
  3. Structure the content to enable the reader to get to the desired outcome.  It’s important to assume that most readers do not read all the way through a piece of content, unless it is meeting their needs and hooking their interest every single step of the way.  This means that in addition to keeping the message focused, you need to put links where people will click them – such as right after the first paragraph, rather than at the very end of the copy where they could be easily overlooked.   Weave links and access to supporting information throughout the content.

As writers, we need to think first about what our readers want to read and accomplish, rather than what messages our organizations want to convey.   Press releases should march the reader straight to the key points of the story and wrap up with an inevitable conclusion.  Just as marketers strive to prevent their sales funnels from leaking, and webmasters focus on increasing the time visitors spend on the site, writers need to be thinking about maintaining reader attention as they author content.

 Author Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of content marketing, and is the author of the e-book “Unlocking Social Media for PR.”  Follow her on Twitter at @sarahskerik .

 

 

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Vulnerabilities in Social Media: The AP Twitter Hack and How They Recovered

Posted on April 23, 2013 by | 5 Comments

Hacking happens. Today it resulted in the following false and malicious information being tweeted from the @AP Twitter account: 

“Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured.”

S&P 500 dips drastically after @AP Twitter hack.

S&P 500 dips drastically after @AP Twitter hack.

Unfortunately the Associated Press, a normally very credible source of information, was victim to a hack and the results were devastating for the stock market. According to Bloomberg, the malicious tweet tanked the S&P 500 by $136 billion within two minutes.

@AP quickly tweeted that their account had been compromised and it was soon suspended and remains so now. The stock market regained strength and I think a lot of people nervously took their first breath after several long minutes.

Who should we blame?

Of course there are lots of people playing the blame game. At the top of the list is of course is the hackers themselves, and I agree! But who else holds responsibility for this crisis? The AP? Re-tweeters? Twitter?

The fact is, we’re all as vulnerable as the AP. I recently attended a panel featuring Eric Carvin, social media editor at the AP. He spoke of the efforts they put into securing their social accounts and gave some very sound security tips.

They were doing their due diligence. Unfortunately, there are always people out there who can get around almost any online wall.

The tweet was retweeted thousands of times within minutes. All of us with the power to retweet or repost messages ‘must’ be more vigilant about confirming through a second and even third sources, information that seems incredible.

Social media is a powerful tool that can be used for good, and which can easily turn to evil by our very own laziness to verify what we’re posting.

Is Twitter to blame? Perhaps Twitter can put better security measures around its service, but in the end, online vulnerabilities are everywhere, and that includes all social media platforms. Not just Twitter.

After securing our passwords and linking social accounts to something other than an easily hacked free email address, part of doing our due diligence is to have a plan of action in case such a crisis occurs.

The AP made the right moves to recover quickly today:

1. They quickly caught and countered the false tweet on their own twitter account, @AP.

2. They had AP journalists with strong Twitter presences Tweet out that the tweet was false.

3. They put out a media advisory with information making sure the story was clearly represented.

4. They told their own story on their own web properties.

At the end of the day the stock market was stable and I don’t think anyone questions the AP’s credibility as a source of news anymore than at the beginning of the day.

UPDATE:  The AP Twitter account is back up and running this morning.

Victoria Harres

Victoria Harres is VP, Audience Development & Social Media at PR Newswire, the main voice behind @PRNewswire, social media lead for @Business4Better and a frequent speaker and writer on social media for business. 

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Casting a Story: How Journalists Select Subject Matter Experts

Posted on April 17, 2013 by | Leave a comment

If sourcing a story is like casting a movie, experts are like celebrities. They can impart gravity and credibility and eloquence that the facts can’t on their own. They can boost ticket sales.

But finding the right expert is easier said than done. Subject-matter experts, like celebrities, don’t pick up the phone for everyone. But good reporters know when and how to work the phones and email to put top sources in their stories.

How do they do it? To find out, we recruited reporter Bob Van Voris, a legal reporter for Bloomberg News.

Bob Van Voris of Bloomberg News and John Hazard of Contently

Van Voris, a former practicing attorney, was the featured speaker at a freelancer meetup we co-hosted with Contently. He shared his advice on and experience with finding sources, vetting their expertise, identifying the ones that will give you great quotes, and more. It was a great event, and Van Voris was generous with his time and experience.

Here is a recap of some of his insight and advice. A tip of the hat to Contently’s John Hazard, who did a great job moderating the discussion.

What was the source that was farthest afield from what you were covering?

What I was at the National Law Journal, I was covering a story about a lawyer in California who developed a practice specializing on litigation involving penile augmentation gone wrong. My editor suggested I contact a mohel.  So I did, and I awkwardly asked him what happens when there’s a mistake. Needless to say, he really didn’t want to talk about it. I went back and convinced my editor that the story didn’t really need a mohel.

But when you’re writing about something that’s complicated and you need to explain it to readers, you don’t want it to sound like a seminar. If it’s dry, you need people who can make it understandable. You need to give readers something a little fun, a little compelling.

How do you identify someone who will give you a great quote?

It’s definitely trial and error. First, start with a pool of people to choose from. You can find them through ProfNet, or on the lists of people who attend conferences on the topic. Talk to a few of them and see how is good at expressing the point in a way that will appeal to readers. You have to put in the time and talk to people.

Of course, sometimes you don’t have that luxury and you have to talk to a specific person. If you aren’t getting what you need, don’t be afraid to bring them to the same point two or three times. Ask them, “How would I tell this to my mom?” to get them to simplify. Sometimes, by the second or third time through, they’ll be a lot looser and will give you a better quote.

There will be conversations that will go nowhere, but those can still be useful because you can learn about the topic, especially if it’s something you’re not too familiar with.

What about using other reporters, like at niche publications, as sources?

Members of the local press are good sources for background; trade magazine reporters are too. They know the gossip, and they like to talk about what they know. They like to talk.

How do deadlines affect this “audition” process? I would imagine you have very tight deadlines at Bloomberg.

I often have three bylined pieces a day, so I don’t have a lot of time for those. But for my second-day stories, I find ProfNet to be a good tool. I’ll put out a query in the morning, and when I’m ready to start in the afternoon, I have several emails waiting.

What do you do when you hit the source “wall” and you don’t know whom to contact?

I recently had to get sources quickly for a story covering a gay-marriage case in the Second Circuit. It’s not ideal, but I’ll look at who has been quoted in the Times that I can contact quickly.

How do you then make sure you get something unique?

You try to get them off their talking points. Anyone on a wire deadline will have two or three go-to people. You’re not going to have a really deep interview with them. The interview will be two minutes long, and you’ll get a good quote, but those people tend to get over-represented. That is a really good reason to go on ProfNet, go on Google, call two or three new people — so you’re not getting the same people.

On a short deadline, the important thing is getting your call answered or getting a call back in two minutes. The source who is new to you today might be a regular source down the road.

How do you vet the experts who’ve responded to your query?

If I’m on deadline, it’s pretty ruthless. If I get 20 emails, I can kind of sort through them just by their responses. You don’t want people who have been in every newspaper or program.

You can check their education, what kind of committees they’re on, their résumé, if they’ve written about the topic. You can’t spend hours on it, but you need to do it. Sometimes I do it while I’m on the phone with the source.

I don’t want to sound like a commercial (and they didn’t ask me to say this), but I like ProfNet because the people are motivated and they know how it works. Responses usually come from PR people. You can tell them, “Here’s my story. Make sure the expert really fits. Give me an idea of what they have to say.”

My biggest fear is, I don’t want to be played; I don’t want to look like an idiot. Anytime you have a new source, you need to question them about their position, but you also have to use your instincts.

Have you ever been played?

Yeah, sure. Back when the AGs were suing tobacco companies, there was one guy who would spin you aggressively and would tell you things that would make you look dumb. When that happens, or when someone lies to you, you freeze them out.

Do you ever have trouble getting someone to talk?

You’d be surprised what people talk about. If you ask a question, people will usually help you out. I’ve always been shy, and I was nervous about talking to people in the beginning, but people like to share their knowledge. They do have a vested interest in getting publicity, too, but people also like to get their knowledge out.

How do you balance getting a story out quickly vs. doing the best story possible?

Everybody is a wire service now. The good thing is, you can always update. You can get the story out now and then add depth later.

Who decides, you or your editors?

It’s a mix of both. I have to be satisfied with my story, but sometimes my editors will say, “We need another voice.”

Do you ever give experts quote approval?

I always let them see the quote, but I’ll never let them change it or take it back. But it’s not an adversarial relationship. You don’t want to make them look bad.

Sometimes they do try to edit the quote. What I’ll do is say, “OK, let’s talk about this a little more,” and I might get a better quote.

I do sometimes run paraphrases by them if it’s not something I fully understand, but always by phone. And I never show them the story – just the quote.

Do you get quotes by email?

Yes, but it’s not going to be the freshest quote. It’s going to be labored. If I do use a quote I got by email, I will mention it in the story for the readers. I think it’s kind of dishonest not to tell them.

ProfNet, a service of PR Newswire, connects PR professionals with journalists and writers in need of subject-matter experts.  Each month, ProfNet users are quoted in hundreds of media outlets, ranging from major newspapers like the Wall Street Journal and New York Times to trade magazines like Risk Management and QSR magazine.  Users receive queries about potential story opportunities daily, and can manage the type and volume of queries received.  Want to know more? Get a quote or request a free trial at: http://www.prnewswire.com/profnet/profnet-experts/

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What the Pulitzers Tell Us about Successful Storytelling Strategies

Posted on April 16, 2013 by | Leave a comment

The Pulitzer Prizes for journalism were announced this week, and the winning stories represent a variety of different angles, techniques and tools that provide good ideas – and more than a little inspiration – for public relations and marketing communicators.

Breaking news:

The big winner in breaking news was the Denver Post, for their use of “journalistic tools, from Twitter and Facebook to video and written reports, both to capture a breaking story and provide context,” in their reporting of the movie theater shootings in Aurora CO.

The lesson:

A review of the Post’s response to the tragic event reveals a comprehensive approach that did a variety of things well – it delivered information quickly, created a hashtag around which people could coalesce, told the across platforms, and did a great job managing the extremely fast-moving story.

So what’s the lesson here for brands?  I’m going to step away from the obvious (but relevant) crisis communications parallel, because the real lesson here, in my mind, is how effective communications can be when an organization makes full and specific use of the myriad channels available to us today.   The Post blended channel-specific content and interaction with a heavy dose of the human touch.

Investigative & explanatory reporting:

The New York Times garnered awards in the investigative and explanatory reporting for long-form pieces on Wal-Mart’s use of bribes in Mexico and the business practices of Apple and other IT companies in Asia, respectively.

pp nyt infograf

This infographic is a small component of one of the rich elements the Times used to illustrate this story. Click on the picture to access the full presentation of assets.

The lesson:

It’s no secret that we’re living in an age of radical transparency. News travels fast and sways opinion immediately.  However, there is still plenty of interest in the deep dive.   Even though we may spend a lot of time whipping together blog posts, case studies and social status updates, there is still interest in the nitty-gritty – and from a brand standpoint, those are the details that can influence a potential customer.   Brands shouldn’t shy away from developing longer-form, meatier content.

Feature writing:

The New York Times racked up another win in this category, for a reporter John Branch’s “… evocative narrative about skiers killed in an avalanche and the science that explains such disasters, a project enhanced by its deft integration of multimedia elements.”

A snippet from the NYT story "Snow Fall." Click the image to access the entire experience.

A snippet from the NYT story “Snow Fall.” Click the image to access the entire experience.

The lesson:

The winning story the Times published looks nothing at all like a traditional newspaper story.  “Visually compelling” doesn’t even begin to describe it.   The presentation is immersive, and encourages the reader to delve deeper into the story by embedding an array of interesting multimedia components that do more than illustrate the story.   The take away for brands is the sheer effectiveness and stickiness a variety of good multimedia elements can create.   Utilizing a variety of multimedia elements has another benefit too – in addition to presenting the set of content holistically, chances are good the content elements can stand alone and create their own gravitational pull and traction in and of themselves.

Here’s the complete list of Pulitzer Prize winners.  Clicking on each winner’s name will enable you to access the winning story and related materials, where you’ll undoubtedly find even more ideas and inspiration.

Want to explore new ways to tell your brand’s story?  We’d be happy to chat with you about creating a video or a designing multimedia distribution strategy that will increase discovery of your brand’s messages.  We’d love to hear your ideas, and help turn them into reality. Contact us for more information.

 Author Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media, and is the author of the e-book “Unlocking Social Media for PR.”  Follow her on Twitter at @sarahskerik .

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An SEO Expert’s View of Public Relations

Posted on April 10, 2013 by | 6 Comments
The pyramid of media influence.

The pyramid of media influence.

We spend a lot of time in the PR space thinking about how to optimize our press releases for maximum search engine visibility, and I’m one of the purveyors of that sort of information.  Ask me about  press release headline writing best practices, and be prepared to strap in for at least thirty minutes while I babble happily about keyword placement, headline length, reader drop off rates and how these factors can ultimately impact the results your message generates.

But let’s face it: fine-tuning press releases and other  content individually, piece by piece, for max visibility is a bit shortsighted, because it ignores some bigger opportunities – specifically, the opportunity to help the brand’s web site (which has a lot more gravitational pull than the odd press release, blog post, backgrounder or tweet) build rank and visibility.

How PR can positively impact SEO

In reality, a good PR campaign that results in media pick up, relevant industry blog posts and social buzz can have a profoundly positive effect on crucial web site rankings.  And those web site rankings play an important part in lead generation — and ultimately sales.

“A few years ago, I launched a website called FindHow, and we gave it a full-court press from a PR standpoint. In the first month of FindHow’s existence, it surpassed 15,000 unique visitors and eventually grew to around the 100,000 uniques (editor’s note: unique web site visitors) mark. After about five months, the Public Relations effort had resulted in a total of around 18,000 links to the site, primarily because of prominent media mentions that boosted the site’s credibility and aided word of mouth.” – Ted Ives, “Public Relations for SEO.”

The quote above is an SEO expert’s take on PR results.   In my many years of experience with PR Newswire (eighteen, to be exact), I know that plugging PR into the brand’s SEO strategy is something many – heck, most – public relations departments overlook.    In most cases I’ve seen thinking about SEO starts and ends with the optimization of a particular message, with the goal of getting the press release itself to rank in search engines.  In reality, we should be thinking about how to help our brands’ web sites rank, not individual messages.    PR sells itself short when the focus on results is too narrow.

Integrating PR & SEO

To get a good look at how the results a good PR campaign can integrate (and improve) a brand’s SEO program, you can’t do better than to read the first of the series on PR and SEO just published on Search Engine Land.  Author Ted Ives (@tedives) (the aforementioned SEO expert) lays out a new view of PR in the series,  offering perspective on how brands can more fully capitalize upon media pick up and other public relations outcomes to effect business outcomes.

Results & effectiveness – the benefits of integrating PR & SEO programs

Understanding the follow on benefits of press release distribution and media mentions in the context of a brand’s web site and SEO initiatives can do a couple things for the PR department.  First, as you can see from the paragraph above, the SEO guys have measurement down.   They know where traffic comes from; they know which keywords have the best conversion rates.  If measuring results is a bugaboo for your PR department, cozy up your SEO team.   Chances are good they already know a surprising amount about the results your PR campaigns generated.

Secondly, integrating with the brand’s SEO program can lend real power to the messaging the PR department creates.  Keyword research is another facet of audience behavior that can (and should) inform the content strategy.  In addition to simply using the language of your audience, paying attention to larger keyword trends and usage patterns reveals what your marketplace actually cares about.  For a content creator, this information is golden.

The other two parts of the series focus on targeting and pitching journalists, offering good, solid media relations advice, tuned for today’s newsroom realities, and are also worth reading.

So next time you’re drafting a PR campaign, don’t limit your goals to simply generating reads for a press release or media placements. Working with the SEO team can increase the measurable results the PR team generates, and the business impact it delivers.

sarah avatarAuthor Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of content marketing, and is the author of the e-book “Unlocking Social Media for PR.”  Follow her on Twitter at @sarahskerik .

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5 Things You Should (and Shouldn’t) Do in a Crisis

Posted on March 27, 2013 by | 2 Comments

You walked in to work this morning, coffee in hand, ready to take on another week. But your colleagues are doing (what look like) sprints, papers are flying and your Blackberry’s buzzing like a chainsaw.

You know it’s bad. All signs are pointing to a corporate crisis.

Now’s not the time to lay blame. And until time travel’s perfected, it’s up to you – the PR pro – to help your organization weather the storm.

You’re used to leading teams and guiding organizations down the right path. You try to keep a clear head about the whole thing but the office uproar is distracting.

To help you stay focused, here are some simple Dos and Don’ts to keep in mind when dealing with your crisis:

crisis dos and donts

The last thing you want to do in the throes of a crisis is make things worse.

Remember to always refer to your crisis communications plan. But, if it gets lost in the chaos, you can fall back on these five reminders.

An ounce of planning is worth more than a pound of cure in a crisis.  Incorporate MediaVantage into your communications strategy and stay on top of industry issues — and maintain control of your brand.   Learn more about our real-time media monitoring suite.

 

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Headline Hashtags & Other Tweetable Press Release Tips

Posted on March 20, 2013 by | 4 Comments
Press releases generate multiple tweets per minute.

Press releases generate multiple tweets per minute.

A post on the Forbes CIO network titled “#Accounting: Why Finance Teams Need to Get Social” garnered an unusual amount of traffic when compared to other posts on that channel.  With a current tally of more than 430,000 reads, this particular post is a real outlier.  A quick scan of other posts on the site suggests that reader tallies in the low four figures are the norm.

This anomaly was spotted by Lou Hoffman of the Hoffman Agency, and he highlighted it in a blog post titled, “The Role of the Hashtag in a Forbes Headline Attracting Over 400K Views .”

“The one element that makes this Forbes post different from other executive byliners lies in the headline and the use of the hashtag #Accounting,” he noted in his blog post.

I think Lou is on to something.  According to HubSpot’s new LinkTally tool, the article was shared 1,200 times on social networks.  And, as illustrated in Lou’s blog post, Google is differentiating between the search terms “#accounting “ and “accounting.”    While I am not willing to ascribe the success of this post on Forbes entirely to the presence of the hashtag in the headline – after all, it is a well-written discussion of a timely topic – I do think that the headline format had something to do with the article’s success.

press release quote

There’s certainly no doubt that press releases are important grist for Twitter’s information mill.  A look at the live search results for “PRNewswire” on Twitter shows that people are tweeting the press releases we issue multiple times per minutes.   And there are a few things you can do when writing press releases to help encourage people to tweet and share your copy.

  • Try using a relevant and popular hashtag in a Tweet-ready headline – keep it to about 100 characters, and make it interesting.
  • That obligatory quote?   Craft it for Twitter by dropping the hyperbole and editing it down into a 100 character statement that makes a key point.
  • Encourage tweeting by including the Twitter handle of anyone you quote in the press release.
  • Don’t forget visuals.  Twitter.com displays media in tweets, and we know that visuals do a great job of grabbing reader attention.

You can also use ClickToTweet to embed pre-loaded tweets in your messages, though I would caution against relying solely upon an embedded tweet to generate engagement.   People use lots of different mechanisms to tweet, including browser extensions and social media management dashboards.  You’ll be most successful when you cater to a variety of user preferences.

Why 100 characters?  I thought Tweets were 140 characters?

While you can put as many as 140 characters into a tweet, there are a few reasons why limiting tweets to 100 characters (or even less) is a good idea.

  • If you’re adding a URL to your tweet, allow 20 characters for Twitter’s URL shortener.  All URLs on Twitter are converted to Twitter URLs automatically.
  • You’ll also want to leave space for other people’s comments and Twitter handles, to encourage re-tweets.
  • Research by PR Newswire shows that press releases with long headlines (longer than 140 characters) experience a significant drop in online views, so writing a Twitter-friendly headline can help boost overall results.

sarah avatarAuthor Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media, and is the author of the e-book “Unlocking Social Media for PR.”  Follow her on Twitter at @sarahskerik .

Want to get more visibility on Twitter for your news?  Try SocialPost – our Twitter-based press release distribution service, delivering exposure via carefully-curated, subject-specific Twitter presences.

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Want to make a viral video? Don’t forget the PR! #SXSW

Posted on March 10, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Newsflash – brand videos don’t go viral.  According to the #ComedyTech panel yesterday at South by Southwest Interactive, viruses go viral; videos spread.  To simply describe that spread as “viral” implies an organic, infective power that simply doesn’t exist — and worse, it overlooks the mechanics of creating a video that successfully develops a life of its own online.

Whether or not a video spreads on the web and in social networks is largely predicated upon three things:

1) Whether or not the video is funny (seriously, when’s the last time you shared an inspirational video? Or a boring one?)

2) The video’s originality.

3) The PR push behind it.

According to the panel, the real driver behind the spread of videos online is getting “a big voice” behind the content.  That big voice can be a celebrity, or it can be generated by media coverage.  Enter the PR department.  Deliberate media research and engagement can deliver the credible media exposure that gives a video message the best shot at internet immortality.

Give your messages a boost with video and multimedia content distribution from MultiVu, a PR Newswire company.

sarah avatarAuthor Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media, and is the author of the e-book “Unlocking Social Media for PR.”  Follow her on Twitter at @sarahskerik.

 

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Media News & Moves for March

Posted on March 5, 2013 by | Leave a comment

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MEDIAware, PR Newswire’s Audience Research Department newsletter, features recent media news and job changes in the industry. Here is a sampling of this month’s edition:

Over the past few years Newsweek Global (https://twitter.com/Newsweek) has endured several foundational changes including a 50/50 partnership with The Daily Beast in 2008 and the groundbreaking announcement of plans to go digital late last year. With a new year and a new digital Newsweek and Daily Beast on the horizon Editor-in-Chief Tina Brown (https://twitter.com/TheTinaBeast) unveiled a new name — NewsBeast.

Beginning in March, readers will notice one notable Editor missing from the Vogue (https://twitter.com/voguemagazine) masthead. Managing Editor Laurie Jones announced that February 28th would be her last day with the mag. Before beginning her iconic tenure with Vogue, Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour was hired by Laurie Jones at New York Magazine. Later Wintour brought Jones over to Vogue where she would become Managing Editor.

The International Herald Tribune, the New York Times Company’s 125-year-old Paris-based newspaper is getting a name change. This Fall the paper will be known as The International New York Times. In addition, the brand change will combine forces between the New York Times website and the Tribune’s to create one international news site for the rest of the world outside of New York, You can check out the newspaper here: http://global.nytimes.com and https://twitter.com/iht.

Global pharmaceutical company SCRIP Intelligence (http://www.scripintelligence.com) names Brett Chase US Companies Editor. Chase was previously Deputy Managing Editor for Crain’s Chicago Business, Deputy Business Editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, health industry team Assignment Editor for Bloomberg News and Milwaukee Bureau Chief of the American Banker in Chicago. Contact Brett on Twitter at https://twitter.com/brettchase

A rash of television station re-designs have occurred this past month with three in the South being updated. WTVC-TV in Chattanooga, WXIA-TV in Atlanta and duopoly WDRB-TV/WMYO-TV in Louisville have all recently undergone renovations. WTVC-TV in TN now features a high definition set with LED color changing lights, large back-lit graphics and a 1×4 strip of monitors in the Weather Center With a rear projection screen.NBC affiliate WXIA now includes a new Gannett graphics package. Also, the set has color changing, frosted plexiglas and flat screen monitors including a large freestanding 3′ by 4′ monitor array. While construction on the set of the Louisville stations has just begun, it is scheduled to be expanded by 11,000 sq. ft. The existing facility dates back to 1980 and is too small for the station, which has grown considerably in that time.

Being a field reporter has its dangers. Just ask News 14 Carolina Reporter Caroline Vandergriff. Vandergriff was struck by a car while reporting on a story about severe weather in the area. While reporting from a major intersection in Charlotte where the traffic lights were out due to the storm, two cars collided after one lost control and struck Vandergriff. She was immediately taken via ambulance to the local hospital where she ended up staying for a week. She is back at work now.

Entertainment Weekly announced two veteran Contributors would bid farewell to the Time Inc. magazine. Senior Writer and Film Critic Lisa Schwarzbaum was the first to accept a buyout package earlier this month. Shortly after TV Critic Ken Tucker followed suit. Tucker was a member of the founding staff of the magazine in 1989. According to Adweek, the buyouts are a result of a 6% overall cutback set in place by publisher Time Inc.

WSB-TV in Atlanta is just one of the many companies in Georgia donating to the relief of tornado victims.After a tornado struck down in Bartow and Gordon counties, the ABC affiliate donated $50,000 to the Red Cross to help victims of the tornado, which spawned winds of more than 135mph. The epi-center of the storm was in Adairsville, Ga., where three fatalities were reported.

WKYT-TV in Lexington is adding another newscast to its line-up. The CBS affiliate will now air news 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. This makes two early afternoon newscasts in the market with WLEX-TV of NBC being the other. WKYT-TV’s news will be anchored  by DeAnn Stephens. She was re-hired specifically for the show. She can be emailed at deann.stephens@wkyt.com. Stephens also can be heard on WBUL-FM in the morning. A pioneer in Carolinas television passed away last month.

Reporter Jane Harrington-Smith passed away at the age of 62 from heart failure. Harrington made history as the first black female Reporter/Anchor at Winston-Salem, N.C. station WXII-TV in the turbulent 70s. She also hosted a weekly program called “Shades of Ebony.” She worked there for six years before moving to Indiana. She worked at WTHR-TV in Indianapolis, covering such big stories as the Mike Tyson rape trial in 1992. Harrington was a graduate of Fisk University in Nashville and a member of the Black Professional Journalists Association.

Last month, Reporter Ann Mercogliano (http://twitter.com/AnnMercogliano) departed WCBS and sister station WLNY-TV. This month she join joins WPIX-TV (http://pix11.com/) as a freelancer. She will be reporting both mornings and evenings when needed.

Ken Tonning, the President and General Manager at Tampa’s WTSP-TV announced he will retire in July. Before joining the station in 2008, Tonning worked for stations including KUSA-TV in Denver and WXIA-TV in Atlanta where he was the Sales Manager. Beginning his career in 1974, he was credited for altering traditional journalism and pushing the envelope of newscast reporting. http://www.wfla.com/story/21058646/gm-of-st-pete-tv-station-to-retire-in-july

In a strange twist, Orlando’s WKMG-TV hires the son of an Anchor at a competing news station. Justin Warmoth joined WKMG as a News Reporter with the blessing of his father Greg Warmoth who is the Anchor for Orlando’s WFTV-TV. Surely journalism runs in the genes of this family. http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2013/02/wkmg-hires-son-of-wftv-anchor-greg-warmoth.html

The Web Producer at WFOR-TV, Dave Game has passed away. Dave was only 57 and leaves a long legacy in the industry. Game, a veteran journalist, came to WFOR in 1985 where he served as a General Assignment Reporter, Investigative Producer and Reporter. He is accredited with creating one of the first broadcasting websites in South Florida for WFOR. http://miami.cbslocal.com/2013/02/06/longtime-cbs-miami-web-producer-dave-game-dies-at-57/

WTVT-TV Channel 13’s Andy Johnson has left the Fox TV station after over three decades with the company. Johnson joined the station in 1979. A native of Tampa as well, the low key retired Meteorologist has not spoken on his plans hereafter. http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/media/content/wtvt-ch-13-forecaster-andy-johnson-leaves-air-today-after-33-years-marking-low-profile-depar

Journalist Mike Guy (http://twitter.com/MrMikeGuy) has stepped down as Editor-in-Chief of The Fix.com. He still regularly contributes to Playboy Magazine and Wenner Medias Men’s Journal. He will also continue to be the Editor-in-Chief of Hopper.com. Thrillist (http://twitter.com/Thrillist)features off-the-beaten-path activities, restaurants and products found around the world. The website is easily accessed by each city; a total of 21 are featured, including New York, London and Miami. The site managers are looking to add more cities to explore in the near future.

London’s Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk) is opening a new Washington, D.C. office and it will be headed by David Martosko (http://www.twitter.com/EditMeDavid). Martosko was the Executive Editor at The Daily Caller. Martosko’s new title will be U.S. Political Editor.

You can view the whole March issue of MEDIAware here: http://www.prnewswire.com/knowledge-center/mediaware/%20

And all of the Regional Updates here: http://www.prnewswire.com/knowledge-center/mediaware/March2013UpdatesByRegion.html

You can also follow all of the latest media moves and news from PR Newswire’s Audience Research Department on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/PRNmedia

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