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Sailing Off the Edge of the Blogosphere
From my perspective, the momentum for embracing Web 2.0 technologies and social media tools is accelerating dramatically. Just as Dion Hinchcliffe predicted in The state of Enterprise 2.0 a year ago, the use of blogging, wikis and social networks has become second nature for many corporate cultures like Dell and Sun Microsystems. As the Great Explorers, these companies were among the first to sail off the edge of the blogosphere and, yet, they returned to talk about it! I believe that the survival of the early adopters has now inspired other companies to be brave and engage in Enterprises 2.0 strategies.
The explorers also returned with good news to report! In the new Web 2.0 world, blogs create a positive impact on customer service and an ability to openly examine and deal with internal issues. Wikis are just plain efficient and social networks offer the leverage of crowd contact.
Our savvy client, Mercury Mambo, an Hispanic marketing team with Mambo flair, understands the opportunities that can be gained from sharing their deep expertise on the web through social media tools. While faced with exploring a corporate blog strategy, Matt Reyes shared a Forrester report with me that provided solid advice for proceeding with social media strategies.
The article reminds us to clarify your target audience’s social media habits and interests before building a strategy. Then your work will play to their current interests. Seems like a V8 moment, but no one wants to spend hours building a social media machine and then feeding it … only to find that no one is interested in it.
Accustomed to pushing information out, B2B marketers are going to have to get used to listening to what the communities want to pull in. As Laura Ramos of Forrester phrases it, “Social media use is about creating dialog and relationships with a community. The community says what is important, not the marketing folks.”
It’s part of the magic behind Bazaarvoice’s success. The company sets up rating systems that let consumers voice their preferences and companies learn from the consumer data. Bazaarvoice empowers companies to listen to the consumer opinion that is already there; it does not try to go in and push an agenda.
Listening has always been an important part of the sales process. Figuring out what consumers want and filling the need – this is the posture that companies will need to get comfortable with as they adapt to the new rules of doing business in an Enterprise 2.0 world.
Published by cynthia on August 7th, 2008 tagged Enterprise 2.0, Social Media, Web 2.0 | 1 Comment »Share This
Convergence of Media Online
While preparing for Interactive Austin 2008, I kept thinking about the great breadth of experience represented in our panel and how they were going to be able shed some light on the impact of news and consumers shifting online.
Reporters and consumers are networked now and accustomed to news being delivered directly to their desktop. Citizen journalism exists; bloggers claim a distinct voice in news reporting as well. Social networks and conversational social media are places where consumers hang out online to get connected and to get their news.
In trying to understand how this has impacted public relations, we needed a panel that understood the transitions and transformations happening at todays newspapers. Our Interactive Austin panel had incredible experience in this area.
Jon Lebkowsky of Polycot Associates helped us to find the roots of the convergence of media in low cost social media applications spinning out of open source technologies.
Adam Weinroth of Pluck has worked with newspapers like USA Today, The Washington Post and Better Homes and Gardens as they have added social networking and Web 2.0 features and discussed the importance of management in having the vision to meet the new demands.
Stacey Higginbothan who has experienced the traditional needs of publications like the Austin Business Journal and also the GigaOM voiced her belief that PR people need to be both a “stalker and a concierge” in the world of new PR. She explained the reporters or even more overloaded with new publications and information overload. PR specialists need to stalk a reporter on the one hand, shadowing them and learning what is of interest to them on their beat and on the other – serve up the stories of interest.
Clint Howell of BusinessWire updated us on the social media press release and his client experiences with the SMPR template format, which has not been adopted as readily as many had hoped.
And, then the ever entertaining Omar Gallager, Digital Savant blog author, woke us all up with the realities that reporters face in keeping up with social media strategies and the demands or reporting. He sees hope for the local hometown papers like the Austin American-Statesman in the interest in the local story and in new niche markets, which often reach entirely untapped readership.
This conversation spun off into User Generated Content and other related topics, but this should give you’re the feel for the insight of the group. I personally found useful information from each of the panelist and walked away loving the fact that I live in a social media kind-of- town where experts like these will get together and share their expertise for the benefit of all.
My thanks to you all… when you see this post.
Published by admin on July 8th, 2008 tagged Austin PR, Interactive Austin | 1 Comment »Share This
Accolades and the Interactive World
We at Accolades PR are very excited about the upcoming Interactive Austin 2008 for several reasons. The first of which is that Interactive Austin is the first conference of its kind to hit the Lone Star capital city with keynote sessions and panels compromised of today’s thought-leaders in the world of digital marketing and social media.
The second reason we are excited to attend is that our President and Founder, Cynthia Baker, is a panel moderator discussing how the convergence of media online affects marketing and public relations.
Media and communications are changing daily in response to technological advancements and societal change. Google, search engine optimization and RSS feeds affect the distribution of press releases and marketing online. The world of marketing and public relations is not the same; and businesses need to adapt their marketing and PR to keep up with the times.
Cynthia will address these issues as the lead of a distinguished panel that includes Jon Lebowksy – President of Polycot Associates, Clint Howell – New Media Specialist from BusinessWire, Adam Weinroth – Director of Product Marketing from Pluck, Omar Gallaga – Reporter and Blogger from Austin American Statesman, and writer Stacy Higginbotham.
The panel will discuss how social media has doubled the content of traditional media and that because of this; newspapers like USA Today and the Washington Post are racing to add social media to their Web sites. The panel will also discuss what the role of a PR agency is in the interactive news world and the challenges that PR professionals and news services are facing as the number of publications keeps growing.
Cynthia Baker, a third-generation native Austinite, and Accolades PR serves both regional and national clients in the technology, financial, franchise, advertising and business sectors. She is a member of the Austin Corporate Growth and Bootstrap organizations. Cynthia also is a co-founding member of the Austin Social Media Club and is considered a leader in new media public relations.
Published by beth on June 16th, 2008 tagged Accolades News, Austin PR, Client News, Events, Industry News, Interactive Austin, Social Media | Comment now »Share This
Interactive Austin 2008
Gone are the days of closed communication and here are the days of wikis, blogs, podcasts, tweets, FaceBook and Flickr – completely open and completely personal. Social media is how the world is communicating with each other; and if companies aren’t willing to play they are going to find themselves falling behind their competition.
Social commerce, the use of social media in business, is putting companies on an even playing field; and that is why major corporations, like Austin-based Dell and AMD, are adding social networking feature to their sites daily
In an effort to get companies in the game, Austin’s social media experts have come together to create Interactive Austin 2008: Putting Social Commerce to Work. The conference, which takes place on Thursday, January 19th, is dedicated to educating companies on the advantages of Social Commerce, its importance in the rapidly changing corporate environment, and how to harness its power for increased profitability.
Interactive Austin 2008 will feature two prominent keynote speakers. Pete Hayes, the Vice President of Corporate Marketing & Communications for AMD, will speak on “Get into the Click Stream: An Alternative to Driving Traffic to Your Site.” While the Co-Founder and Chief Development Officer of nGenera Corporation, Brian Magierski, will speak on “Social Commerce and It’s Impact on Business.” Aside from the keynote speakers, this will be a day full of educational and informative panel discussions and case study presentations from Austin’s social media experts.
If you are in business, you need to attend Interactive Austin 2008 so you don’t get left behind. Get in the game and register at http://www.interactiveaustin2008.com.
The Accolades team will see you there!
Published by beth on June 12th, 2008 tagged Accolades News, Austin PR, Client News, Events, Front Page, Industry News, Interactive Austin, Social Media | Comments OffShare This
Optimized PR- The Sweet Spot for Online News
In my opinion, Optimized PR , the intersection of Public Relations and Search Engine Optimization, is the sweet spot for news on the web!
Unlike most public relations people, I have a past life of doing Web development. Although I only developed sites for about a year, I learned first-hand the power of keywords, search and content. My experiences created a fascination within me for observing the intersection of SEO and PR.
When I returned to public relations work and observed the media shift online, I realized that I could bring my PR clients the highest value by clearly understanding how to customize PR plans for them that would provide a blend of traditional public relations along with optimized PR. I remember the excitement of learning that search engine tactics when properly appplied will make press releases appear in top Google News, AOL News and Yahoo! News search results for about a month! I have used these tactics to help clients gain customers, develop association to a national news stories, introduce new blogs into online communities and expand brand recognition. I love creating double wins for our clients … garnering traditional media exposure in print publications and then gaining more mileage from the same release by syndicating it for exposure online to their target audiences through pick-up by search engines and RSS feeds. Frankly, I relish the efficiency of it!
From my viewpoint, one of our most important jobs at Accolades is to understand the array of tools for wire distribution, web syndication, and search optimization – to know their advantages, limitations, and cost effectiveness.
In this way, our team can gain recognition for our clients and optimize the releases and articles that we create for them with key words that will improve their prospects for being found by the right people on the Web. As the Internet is becoming a key factor for most companies in gaining new business, the ability to improve the traffic to a client’s corporate site for conversion into leads (and ultimately sales) is crucial.
Published by cynthia on June 2nd, 2008 tagged Accolades News, Austin PR, Optimized PR, Public Relations | Comment now »Share This
Open4Business Conference Offers High-Impact Sessions on Marketing
The Austin Open4Business Conference today announced that it has formed a session that will focus on guerilla marketing strategies for the small business. Panelists include, Cynthia Baker, President and Owner of Accolades PR; Pete Monfre, Owner of Clarity Marketing Support; and Joe Slade, Owner of the Slade Group. “Small businesses need to concentrate on marketing strategies that support sales,” said Monfre. “I look forward to discussing marketing tactics at the Open4Business Conference that will help local companies see great returns on investment,” he continues. The Austin Open4Business Conference is October 10, 2007 at the Wyndham Garden Hotel in Austin.
To register today click here!