Archive for the 'Required Reading' Category

A Bunch of Twits

Published
by
David Parmet
on 4/24/2008
in Required Reading
. 0 Comments

To twit or not to twit, or more precisely, Twitter, what is it good for?

At sessions like the one I led on Tuesday, the question always comes up. Yes, Twitter is cool and all but what can we do with it?

Tara “Miss Rogue” Hunt has written the definitive guide to Twitter for Fun and Wuffie.

The key to Twitter is the level of listening you do as well as talking. It is definitely supposed to be an interactive program. And, in fact, this is where you build the majority of your Whuffie (aka social capital). The more you interact on Twitter, the more people will interact with you, which attracts others to you as well.

I can’t think of a better place to start. The rest is here. And if you aren’t already, follow me.

PR Two Point Oh

Published
by
David Parmet
on 3/27/2008
in Required Reading
. 1 Comment

Brian Solis opines thusly:

Somewhere along the way, PR lost it’s way and created a new “sub” standard for what should have been one of the most respected positions within business marketing. Words such as shill, spin, sales, BS, bluff, exaggeration, arrogant, sensationalist, and oblivious, have become synonymous with this once golden profession. While the majority of the PR industry truly believed they were doing the right thing, the truth is that it took the Internet to expose our weaknesses and most importantly, it provided the infrastructure for us to learn from our mistakes publicly.

PR is just like a whole host of other industries - the auto industry, the music industry, the news industry - that sometime around 1997 got caught with its pants down. Once we all figured out that we could find out anything by just looking it up online, shady car salesmen and PR flacks were shown for the naked emperors they were all along.

Of course, this new transparency can be a good thing. It can make us all better, stronger and more honest. But only if we dare to grab the moment. Which brings me to Brian’s next point:

The divide between those who do get it and the people that don’t is oceanic. Equally, there are veterans and opportunistic marketers who “believe” they get it, but actually don’t and are actively pushing this substandard, naïve, or manipulative form of person-to-person marketing…and they too must also learn. 

Unfortunately I’m not so optimistic. It’s 2008. The “opportunistic marketers who ‘believe’ they get it” aren’t going to get it and don’t care that they don’t get it and hopefully will soon be out of business. There’s a storm brewing, it’s going to be as bad if not worse than the downturn of 2002-2003 and a lot of the old school folks who couldn’t be bothered with the (airquotes) blogs (close airquotes) are going to find themselves out of a job for good this time.

Brian concludes:

If you believe in the reinvention of a more socially conscious, informed, and relationship-driven form of public relations, then that’s all that matters. Call it whatever you want, just as long as you contribute value to the evolution instead of stealing from it.

Which is what it is truly all about.

Here’s the full post. Go and read.

Catch that train

Published
by
David Parmet
on 3/21/2008
in Required Reading
. 3 Comments

Jeremy Pepper, in his own inimitable way, calls out PR agencies for paying lip service to the idea of community.

I still laugh at some of the people I have run into at BlogHer over the past years that did not participate, but just walked around. Or when they did participate, did it in such a heavy-handed way, it was embarrassing for PR people that were there to learn, talk and participate.

Link

I sometimes wonder why I’m one of only a handful of PR people who attend events like SXSW. Or a BarCamp. Or any social media gathering. The time I spend at these events not only helps me build my knowledge and experience of social media but helps me get my cilents in front of people who know me as a person and not as an annoying email.

Then again, maybe I shouldn’t be giving away my secrets…

How do I get people to read my blog?

Published
by
David Parmet
on 12/20/2007
in Required Reading
. 11 Comments

That’s a rhetorical question, lest you get any ideas….

But all seriousness aside, I get asked this question a lot so here are some answers. And those in the know, feel free to add some more thoughts in the comments.

Don’t Monologue - There are a lot of blogs out there and chances are, whatever industry or community of interest you are in, there are a few other blogs covering that same territory. There’s no way they will know you exist unless you tell them, and the best way to do that is leave comments (thoughtful comments, not spam) on their blogs, and links them on yours.

Remember, marketing is conversation and conversation is dialog. If you aren’t engaging, no one will know you exist, no matter how brilliant your 1800 word tomes on Byzantine iconography.

That’s Enough About You - While we are on the subject of dialog, don’t fill your blog with stuff about you, your company and your products. You probably have a whole marketing program to do that and in any case, blogging isn’t a sales channel, it’s a conversation channel.

Talk about your industry. Be a resource for others who are following in your wake. Share some of your real brilliance. And of course, pay attention to the first rule - don’t forget to share it with others.

Think Search - If you want people to find you, you have to understand a bit how search engines work. And you have to put yourself in the head of someone who might be looking for what you have to offer. See the title of this blog? ’nuff said.

Use Every Tool - Tag your posts. Announce them on Twitter. Share full RSS feeds. Don’t feel that because it’s a blog, you have to stop at blogging. Use every tool in the social media toolkit you can find to bring people to you.

There’s a start. I’ll have more throughout the week.

Embargoed

Published
by
David Parmet
on 12/12/2007
in Required Reading
. 0 Comments

I normally eschew embargoes - that is I try very hard to convince clients that unless they are offing information on the second gunman, an exclusive interview opportunity with Jimmy Hoffa or a sneak peek at the last season of Battlestar Galactica, embargoes aren’t worth it.

Allen Stern of Centernetworks however, has a different take:

Why are embargoes important? Because they allow the writer advanced time to prepare a story that has more details than just a press release post. It allows me to look at the service and give you a more detailed analysis. I can dive in and give you more than some corporate speak. They are critical for a site’s readers.

Full post here.

Allen is a blogger and source of news on the East Coast technology community who’s opinion I respect so I’m going to have to start reconsidering offering embargoes. Especially to Allen.