Resources for PR Folk on Photos, Pitching Bloggers, and Using Google News

Here are some excellent resources that have been provided by PR bloggers.

Top tips for PR photos

Sean McManus of Prompt Communications Ltd writes: “Given two stories that are roughly equally interesting to readers, the one with a strong picture stands a much better chance of coverage. In some cases a weaker story with a good picture will get coverage over a stronger story. Print is a visual medium.” He then follows with 10 really good tips that we should all memorize.

Blogger Relations 101

Lee Odden of the Online Marketing Blog provides a list of five guidelines for pitching bloggers “sure to help you resonate with the blogger audience.” He then provides an excellent list of links to other resources on blogger relations.

Google News Releases Guidelines

If you depend on Google News to monitor coverage of a client or your organization, this one’s for you. Steve Rubel of Micropersuasion announced recently that “Google News has posted a bunch of new help pages that explain what content is indexed in the site and why.” Read more at Steve’s post.

An Interesting Economics Question!

I mention often that I am a student at UTSA, but I am also taking a Micro-economics class online at San Antonio College. I bring this up because my professor posted a discussion question based on an article in the Washington Post online, entitled "Virtual economies attract real-world tax attention."

His question was, "Should we tax people who play World of Warcraft and Second Life?" Below is my response. I don't know how my colleagues feel about this issue so I wanted to pose the question you. Let me know what you think about this matter by posting a comment!!

While I do not understand the draw to virtual sites like World of Warcraft and Second Life, I do know that they are very popular in many sectors of the business world. I am aware that virtual societies such as Second Life have been discussed at great length in PR circles lately.

As for whether I feel that virtual economies should be taxed, I have two thoughts on that matter. The first being, if a person's wealth aquisition remains virtual and there is no taxation system in place within the virtual society, then no, that person should not be taxed on their virtual wealth. The key word being virtual. On the other hand, if an individual has amassed enough virtual wealth, and the opportunity is there for it to be converted into U.S. dollars or any other currency for that matter in other countries, then yes there should be taxation on the virtual wealth at the time it is converted. With this being said, the taxation should be in accordance with the tax laws of the country of which the virtual dollars are being converted into that country's currency.

Does this make sense????

Tips for Gaining National Coverage for Your Local Client

I love the opportunities that are afforded to the members of the PRSSA Chapter at UTSA. One of those being the ability to attend the PRSA Luncheon program each month. The guests of the October installment of the PRSA luncheon were treated to a speaker who was both informative and extremely funny. We heard from Michele Krier, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Santikos Investments, Properties and Theatres, and Consultant for Creative Civilization. Michele Krier has worked in the PR field for 20 years, the last 10 focusing on national PR for a variety of clients including San Antonio companies Santikos Investments, Properties and Theatres and the Rivercenter Comedy Club.

Krier began by giving recognition to the many local PR professionals who have mentored her throughout her career. She gave a brief description of her professional background including how her successful pitches have resulted in getting news items published in many national newspapers and magazines, and on the national TV networks. Krier has worked with individuals ranging from movie stars, musicians, politicians, to Queen Elizabeth II.

Krier provided some important tips to gaining national exposure for the local clients of a firm. If a PR professional gains a national media contact it is important to nurture that relationship. A happy medium must be found, because it is not the goal, or job of the PR professional to be the contact’s best friend. Krier suggested that a follow up should be done no sooner than one week after a news item has been submitted. The reason for this is that some items are only placed on specific days.

Krier revealed some pet peeves of some of her national contacts. One being that before a PR professional submits a news item to a national contact they should determine whether the item will resonate on a national level or only locally. Along with this, the PR professional should research the medium they are sending the item to. What the medium covers, and what they have done in the last six months, and whether they have covered this type of item before. These questions will help determine if the item is right for the particular medium.

PR professionals should also know the deadlines of their contacts. Items pitched during deadlines are often ignored. With this, unless it is imperative that an item be immediately released due to time constraints, items should not be pitched on Mondays or Fridays for some obvious reasons.

When it came to submission preferences, Krier mentioned that a recent poll found that 50% of media contacts prefer to get items via e-mail. She did also mention that some contacts still prefer to receive items via fax. When e-mailing an item, using a strong headline in the subject line will catch the attention of the recipient causing them to open the e-mail. Pitches typically should not be made over the phone. If an item must be pitched over the phone, lead off with a strong headline. Catching the attention of the contact with the headline will help the PR professional, while not keeping a contact on the phone longer than necessary.

I walked away from this luncheon with some valuable information and having had quite a few laughs.

Get a Taste of Second Life for PR

I’m not a Second Lifer, but I do recognize that it has significant opportunities for public relations especially as more and more companies are using it.

If you are wondering and want to see what it looks like with out signing up just yet, go to YouTube. An innovative PR firm, Text 100, has put together a short video “illustrating how companies can use Second Life to improve both internal and external communications.” It’s less than three minutes long.

Then you can talk with our own Kami Huyse. She recently held a successful “meetup” in Second Life for PR folk.

Shel Holtz Leaves ‘Em Beggin' for More

A couple of weeks ago we had a great visit from Shel Holtz. He led a professional development session, “Introduction to Social Media” held jointly by the San Antonio chapters of PRSA and IABC and sponsored by Frost Bank. Not surprisingly, people are still talking about it.

I circulated a follow-up survey by e-mail to participants who had registered through PRSA’s web site. Here are the results.

There were 10 responses to our follow-up survey (out of 44 registrants through PRSA, a few of whom were not able to attend). Thre were about 70 people at the session.

Most respondents (80 percent) rated the event a 5 (highest), the rest (20 percent) rated it a 4.n Below are all of the responses to the open-ended questions. I did not filter any.

When asked what was the most useful thing they learned in the workshop was, responses were:

• Big picture truths, plus, I now have a better understanding of microformats and edge content.
• About new processes and resources such as social tagging, edge content and RSS• I learned a little more about microcontent and the talk sparked some interesting thoughts that I will be able to use with my clients.
• Too many interesting things to list.
• Considering my low starting point, it was almost all useful.
• General info on social media. Overview was great. Speaker engaging and knowledgeable.
• All the different monitoring sites.
• Everything he presented was new information that I was not familiar with. Very interesting and insightful!
• That social media is real and is, to some degree, disrupting the PR business.
• Citizen marketing

When asked what they wish they knew more about regarding social media, the responses were:

• The rationale for elements of a social news release so I can determine which elements are right for my situation.
• More about nuts and bolts of "how to use"
• How to measure results of social media
• How to better deal with pushback from upper management
• More on open source marketing & co-creation
• Technical training on how to create podcasts, other similar tools to communicate with our audiences.
• Applications

Additional comments included:

• This was my first PRSA-SA participation. If all of your future topics are as interesting and useful as the social media workshop, you will be very successful in your educational mission.
• Unsurprisingly, Shel led a great presentation! His use of both data and real-world examples help paint a clear and credible picture of social media and communications. I'm sure this will prove to jump-start many of our professionals into the world of social media.
• Great program!
• Great collaboration of IABC and PRSA. We should do more of this kind of partnership. Better to have fewer great meetings than more less-than-great meetings. You're doing a great job on the programming! Thank YOU.
• Good speaker, good event.
• This was one of the best seminars I have been to in a very long time. Shel was articulate, funny and informative.
• Wonderful high caliber speaker - great job!

By the way, Shel was interviewed by Shel (Israel) the other day.

There is No Such Thing as Bad PR

Let me qualify that. Of course, public relations professionals make mistakes, and there are many – myself included – who are not as competent as they should be. But that’s not what I’m talking about.

Public relations is, by definition, a field that serves the public interest.

When so-called PR activities do not serve the public interest or when they hurt the public, then they are not public relations.

Such activities include the “clueless telemarketing/spamming” of “drones” that Dan York has been “ranting” about. And they include astroturfing and other deceitful campaigns. We should call them what they are: propaganda, laziness, unethical… But we should not call them public relations!

It’s like we’ve given in to the perception that all this stuff is a part of our profession that we don’t like. Our acquiescence is a big reason for the PR profession’s PR problem that we keep talking about. It is also a key reason some people are easily led to believe that such tactics are ok.

No, it’s not all black and white. Terry Fallis and David Jones, focused their Inside PR #21 podcast (August 22, 2006) on the issue and asked honest questions about when an activity is astroturfing and when is it not. It was a healthy conversation. We need more of them. As public relations leaders, it is our job to help define the gray areas.

Astroturfing – Slippery When Wet

It’s football time again. Whew, we made it threw another off-season! Welcome back to the sounds and smells of the gridiron. The stadiums are open. The sodas are ready. And the grass is green. But is it real, or is it Memorex?

That’s the question many folk are asking about some grassroots campaigns. Is it really grassroots-driven or is it Astroturf? Which strategies are OK and which ones are foul?

Real grass is unpredictable. It doesn’t grow evenly. Sometimes, weeds pop up. Grass needs the right amount of water and sunlight. Often, it needs to be nourished by a little fertilizer. Working with it is messy business. It takes time to grow. But once it gets going, it is strong and long-lasting. Watered grass smells really good.

Watered Astrotuf is slippery. Astrotuf is, by definition, artificial. It leads to injuries. Each Astroturf field has a hand-selected texture, hand-selected fiber, hand-selected pad, and hand-selected color. Astroturf is easily controlled.

When public relations works with a grassroots campaign, it provides support. PR may provide resources or counsel. It’s complicated and it takes time.

When public relations works with an Astroturf campaign, it does so to be in control. PR becomes deceptive and manipulative. It’s relatively easy and fast.

Astroturfing clearly is not an ethical practice.

Paull Young and Trevor Cook have launched an anti-astroturfing campaign and are asking PR folk, agencies and other communicators to sign on. Go to the Anti-astroturfing PR Wiki for details.

It may not be as clear-cut as it sounds. So discussion and debate about it is healthy.

Out of Hiding!

As PR professionals, I am sure that most of you know what it is like to have too many things on your to do list and not enough time in the day. This has been so true for me over the last few weeks. That is why I have been missing in action.

In one of my previous posts "Can It Be Done?" I mentioned that one of the goals of the UTSA-PRSSA for this year was to start a Student Run Public Relations Firm and to secure our first outside client before I left the office of president. While we were sure that we could do it in that time frame, our executive board could have never imagined that we would wind up with the carriage in front of the horse, so to speak. I say this because we have succeeded in securing our first outside client for our firm. We have been hired by the Med Center Rotary Club to do their public relations and media print creations for their "2007 Nightingale Gala" to be held on May 11, 2007. This Gala will be the second held with the sole purpose of raising money for nursing scholarships to be distributed among the five nursing schools in San Antonio. The first Gala was held in May of this year and raised a total of $20,000 for nursing scholarships in the span of 4 1/2 months of the initial planning of the first Gala.

We are extremely happy and excited to be a part of something so important. Because there is a growing shortage of nurses in not only San Antonio, but the State of Texas and the country, we will be working on a fantastic cause. So because of this awesome opportunity, I have been missing in action. I will continue to keep you posted on the progress of our firm. I also ask that if you have an opportunity that you feel is a good fit for our organization to do some work for you, let us know by contacting us at prssa@lonestar.utsa.edu.

Kami is Interviewed by Shel Israel

One of our chapter members has been interviewed by famous blogger, Shel Israel. Shel is co-author of the popular book, Naked Conversations. He is conducting a series of interviews on the issue of PR and blogging. Kami’s quick rise to prominence in the PR blogosphere through her insightful blog posting and commentary led Shel to select her as one of his five interviewees.

You can read the entire interview at “PR & Social Media Part 3: Kami Huyse.”

Note that Kami is the instigator behind this PR Byline blog as well. Without her, we’d be nowhere, blogopherically speaking that is.

Great interview, Kami!

Ethics in Business Awards Nomination Deadline Extended

PRSA friend Debi Pfitzenmaier sent me the following notice about the annual Ethics in Business Awards. Since this is ethics month for PRSA, and we just held an excellent luncheon on the topic today, it is certainly appropriate that I share this opportunity with you.

Plus, the deadline for nominations has been extended. But you'll still have to act fast!

Here's the notice:

The Ecumenical Center is now accepting nominations for the 2007 Ethics in Business Awards. The annual program recognizes individuals, nonprofits and businesses that have exceedingly high ethical standards that are reflected in their relationships with individuals, businesses, employees and the community.

There is no fee to submit a nomination. It is easy to nominate an individual, onprofit or business online. The deadline for nominations was September 7, but we are accepting online entries through Tuesday, September 12.

One recipient in each of five categories (large business, medium-sized business, small business, nonprofit and individual) will be recognized at an awards dinner to be held April 7, 2007. Ethics in Business recipients in 2006 were Labatt Food Service, Monterrey Iron & Metal, OsteoBiologics Inc., Southwest Mental Health Center and Charles E. Cheever, Jr.

Established in 2005, the Ethics in Business program is designed to provide an opportunity for students - our future business leaders - to study ethics first hand in the real world, with today's leaders, as they research each of 40 finalists as part of the business ethics curriculum at The University of Texas at San Antonio. In addition, the program seeks to promote the importance of ethical business practices, recognize the efforts of outstanding local individuals and companies and provide a forum for dialog about how ethical practices can effect change in our community. Proceeds from the dinner event benefit the Ecumenical Center's programs and outreach and The University of Texas at San Antonio through academic scholarships.

For more information, please contact Vicki Boyce Ecumenical Center at 210-616-0885.

About the Ecumenical Center: The Ecumenical Center is a San Antonio-based nonprofit organization that is dedicated to alleviating suffering and facilitating spiritual, physical and emotional healing and growth. Founded by in 1967, the Center offers counseling within a faith context, education, consulting and a variety of special outreach programs. More information.

What a great way to highlight someone in your business or organization!

Accreditation Keeps the River of Learning Flowing

When water stops flowing, it becomes stagnant. Icky things start to form, like mosquitoes and foul odors. It can no longer nourish people.

The same things happen when we become complacent in our profession, when we stop pushing ourselves to learn more and when we take shortcuts rather than seeking new paths.

When we don't nourish ourselves professionally, we can't nourish our profession or the society we serve.

My friend Kami has been blogging recently about the value of accreditation (see "PR professionals should consider getting accredited"). And I just saw an excellent summary of the blogosphere debate at the Forward blog.

It's a topic that's been dear to my heart since I became accredited over a decade ago. So much so that I developed a training seminar for people who were interested in accreditation. Our chapter hosted the seminar several times over the years with folks coming from across the state to attend. Others in our chapter (like fellow Byline bloggers Monica Faulkenbery, APR, and Kami Huyse, APR) have since greatly improved the seminar.

Accreditation is important to me because professional development is important to me. I couldn't do my job well if I didn't keep learning how to do it better. And while I don't believe that accreditation is the sole answer to what ales our profession, I can attest to the fact that my employer's view of public relations became much more positive when she learned about our accreditation process.

In 1995, I was asked to write a little article for PRSA's Tactics about what accreditation had done for me. I just reread that article and found some statements that could have been written today:

"We are facing a new horizon. As a result of corporate downsizing, more and more people have created small businesses and freelance operations. The current trends of two-way communication, audience-driven messages and information on demand offer new avenues of opportunities in public relations. And computer technology, now more than ever, enables the average person to produce a publication. Anyone can put a sign on the door to advertise 'PR' services."

At the very least, accreditation demonstrates that you're not just anybody.

In that article, I also outlined some personal goals, "In [these] times, I want to be creative, trustworthy and effective."

Still true.

And I could never hope to get there by being stagnant.

Business Journal Runs Story about PRSA Workshop

Andi Rodriguez ran a story in her Marketing and Media column in this week's edition of the San Antonio Business Journal about tomorrow’s workshop that we are hosting with the IABC San Antonio chapter. (I can’t give you the link, because it’s only available to subscribers.) Shel Holtz is coming to town, and thanks to Frost Bank, will be leading an afternoon workshop for us, “Introduction to Social Media.” The response has been incredible, especially since we only had about a month to promote it. But it is Shel after all.

Walk-ins are welcome. So if you’ve got a little time to spend preparing for your future, come on over. Details are on the chapter web site.

Every time I attend a session led by Shel (this is my third) or participate in one of his webinars (three so far), my professional knowledge has leaped forward dramatically. And it always pays off big time in my work.

And thanks, Andi, for helping to spread the word!

Some AP Stylebook Rules Deserve to be Broken

PRSA’s Strategist magazine recently discussed an issue regarding diversity and the AP Stylebook. At issue was use of the lowercase black rather than Black when referring to the racial group. Some readers criticized the magazine for doing so just because the AP Stylebook says to. Interestingly, the folks over at AP say the rule is lowercase because that’s what newspapers do. And the cycle continues.

In my editing, I’ve always used uppercase for racial and ethnic terms, like Black and White. It’s both respectful and logical.

After reading the discussion, I got to thinking about other AP rules that deserve to be broken. Here are a few from the styleguide I created for my organization. Interestingly, two are kind-of gender-related.

1. Chairman, Chairwoman: I agree with AP about not using chairperson. It says to use chairman or chairwoman. I prefer chair (“The chair of the board said…”). It’s clear and brief.

2. His, Her: These AP guys actually state that “the pronoun his when an indefinite antecedent may be male or female.” (They also approve of the use of mankind.) Excuse me! The better choice is to either use his or her, use he or she, or revise the sentence from singular to plural. Though I am icked-out by combination forms like he/she and (s)he.

3. Abbreviations and Acronyms: This is the one I struggle with the most. AP says not to follow an organization’s name with an abbreviation or acronym in parentheses. Every time I try to follow this rule, I hear about readers getting confused – even coworkers who know what the acronym stands for. Ed Tijerina, columnist for the San Antonio Express-News has repeatedly expressed dismay that most PR folks break this rule. It is by far his pet peeve. The conflict though is that acronyms are jargon, and the more jargon you have, the less likely the piece will be read. But taking out the first-reference acronyms causes confusion and slows reading, which means the piece is less likely to be read.

What do you think? What AP Stylebook rules do you break (on purpose)?

A Great Night for the San Antonio Chapter of PRSA

The evening of August 3 was a fantastic opportunity for the local chapter of PRSSA, which calls University of Texas at San Antonio home to see the superstars of public relations in San Antonio being recognized at the Fourth Annual Del Oro Awards. It was so wonderful for me that I had to really think about what I wanted to write for this blog posting. I first want to thank all of my executive board members for attending the event and I also want to thank Cynthia Hokanson, our vice president for acting as the student reporter for the evening.

As a student of public relations and the president of the UTSA-PRSSA it was an honor to be able to provide my executive board this opportunity. But a larger honor was being able to visit with so many of the PR professionals in San Antonio at one time, enjoying the opportunity to network and talk a little shop in order to pick brains.

I enjoyed meeting the 2006 Del Oro Tex Taylor Lifetime Award recipient, Bob Howard of the American Red Cross and learning that quite a bit of his career with ARC had been as a volunteer. It is wonderful to know that there are some selfless individuals still around.

It took some patient waiting to have a moment with 2006 Del Oro Public Relations Professional of the Year recipient Lorraine Pulido-Ramirez, Director of Marketing for CityView - a Henry Cisneros communities venture. Pulido-Ramirez was recognized for her work as the director of communications and public relations with the Edgewood Independent School District (EISD). In this position she was the spokesperson for the District. It was well worth the wait to shake her hand and tell her congratulations.

While the above mentioned recipients were intriguing and gave very heartfelt acceptance speeches, I would have to say there could not have been a dry eye in the room after listening to the acceptance speech of the 2006 Del Oro Horizon Award recipient, Carol Schliesinger who was recognized for her work as the Director of Public Relations at Southwest Mental Health Center. Schliesinger is responsible for making the media and community aware about the issues of chidren's mental health which is not recognized enough in San Antonio, let alone the rest of the country. This touched me personally as in my life I have known many chidren who have had to deal with mental health issues, and have had the opportunity to mentor some when I was a young teenager. I was extremely honored to meet Carol Schliesinger, and I am glad that she does the work that many people do not want to do.

I want to close with a final thought on Marilyn Potts, I had written previously that I did not know Marilyn. As I sit here in the position of president of my organization, I wish I had. Seeing the wonderful, fitting tribute to her did bring tears to my eyes and I got choked up. I know that if she were here today, I would have just one more mentor to learn from. San Antonio has truly lost a legend and she will be greatly missed.

It’s More than a New Media Release, It’s a New Strategy for Media Relations

Background: There is a group of PR professionals who are exploring the development of a news release that integrates the best features of the online social media world. Among them is Chris Heuer, who has started the Social Media Club, Todd Defren and others from Shift Communications who developed the first “new social media press release” (see my previous post), and Shel Holtz, who (along with Chris) is hosting a weekly podcast on the topic. There are several others and there are several ways to become a part of this conversation. (You can get all the background scoop at http://www.socialtext.net/hrelease/index.cgi.)

Picking a Name for this Baby in the Oven
The heart of it is: how should the standard news release be changed to both be more effective and integrate elements of social media. Interestingly, a big part of the conversation so far has been what to call this new press release (or media release or news release). Is it a new media release or a social media release?

I’ve listened to the podcasts (three so far) and it sounds to me like what we are really talking about is an electronic news release. If it were a printed news release only, you wouldn’t add buttons for adding it to Delicious or for Digging it. So as far as a label goes, when I explain this to my boss, I’m going to call it a new standard for an electronic news release.

A New Strategy
Gone are the days of creating a four-page prose news release and mailing it to a list of reporters. Since that time, we’ve evolved to using multiple methods like online distribution services and e-mailing tiny descriptions of the news item with a link to the release on our web sites.

In lieu of those long-winded prose releases, I actually have been using what I call advisories most of the time. You know, with the W’ and H. But I still sent it somehow to my list of reporters.

And this group is talking about much more than that. It’s more than just a new template for a news release. It’s really a new strategy for media and community relations.

In my next media relations project, I’m going to have to decide whether or not to integrate Delicious, for example. And I have to decide how to go about setting an RSS feed and how to encourage reporters to use it. I also have to plan ahead and do a little research about what tags I will use. This is much more than using bullets instead of paragraphs. These are decisions about strategy.

Online Tutorial Introduces You to Social Media

Capture the Conversation has posted on their web site a set of tutorials that are really cool. If you’re waiting for someone to show you how, you can stop waiting. These tutorials range from about three minutes to 10 and give you basic info on how to use a particular tool and why.

Here are the topics they’ve created tutorials for:

• How to Post a Comment on Blogs
• Receiving Blog Trackbacks
• Setting Up a Blog Using Blogger
• Setting Up Feedburner
• Submitting your RSS Feed to Syndication Services
• How to Subscribe to a Podcast Using iTunes
• Setting Up a Del.icio.us Account
• Setting Up Newsgator
• Subscribing to a Blog via RSS Feed
• Setting Up a Technorati Account

Check it out!

Del Oro Awards Banquet Less Than a Week Away

Our chapter’s Del Oro awards banquet is this Thursday. If your planning to register and haven’t yet, you’ll want to by Monday to save a little moolah. It’s also the last day to register for a whole table (as lots of folks are doing).

I’ve been talking with some of the planning committee members, and I can tell you this is going to be a really nice event. A good number of folks will be getting awards for their work on PR campaigns and tactics. Then, we’ll also be celebrating our three individual winners:

Tex Taylor Lifetime Achievement Award – Bob Howard, American Red Cross

Public Relations Professional of the Year – Lorraine Pulido-Ramírez, Edgewood ISD

Horizon Award – Carol Schliesinger, Southwest Mental Health Center

For details go to our chapter web site or go directly to the registration page.

Students Can Be Better Writers in PR

As an individual I have a passion for writing. As a student of PR I am lacking in my writing skills. I attribute this to a couple of important factors, the first being that I did not realize until now that there should be a specific order that PR classes should be taken. I just finished my junior year at University of Texas at San Antonio, it was not until my second semester as a junior that I took a technical writing class. By all means, this should have been a class taken in my freshman or sophomore year. Tough lesson learned. This next semester will be interesting because I will be enrolled in three intense PR classes, (Case Studies in PR, Editing, and Writing for PR). For some reason I am thinking I should have taken these classes a long time ago. I did not, so I will have my work cut out for me.

Because I am not well versed in writing for PR in any sense of the word, I will need a lot of help. Where will I get this help? Besides the normal route of instruction, I will be utilizing my renewed old best friend, reading. Part of this reading will entail reading as many blogs as possible, because I am learning that there is a wealth of information and instruction that is passed through the many blogs available for students of PR. I found another one to add to my bookmarks called Forward Blog. I recently read a posting entitled Write or Wrong? that was about whether writng matters in public relations.

Writing is an extremely important aspect in the PR profession, so in order to be successful in the profession a person must also be a successful writer. In order to be a better writer it is important to constantly follow four wisely given steps that are important to be successful at writing for public relations:

1. Read widely;
2. Think clearly;
3. Write simply;
4. Proof and edit last

As you can tell from my previous postings, I get wordy. So the step that will be hardest for me will be writing simply. What was great for me were the comments posted to this blog. I believe that there is never too much advice as long as it is good advice that continues to cement your efforts in learning the craft.

Using Social Media Strategies in Traditional PR Programs

Shift Communications announced in its blog today that it has released a 30-page “PR 2.0 Essentials” document today that covers the use of social media tools for public relations. They are sharing it with the PR community free of charge.

The document includes information about how to incorporate new media strategies in your public relations programs such as: RSS, blogging, memes, tagging, poscasting, wikis, social networking, social bookmarking, the social media release, instant messaging and SMS (messaging for cell phones).

While not complete, no such resource will ever be due to the rapidly evolving nature of the Internet, it has a lot of great resources and I recommend you download the document (direct link to the pdf) as a reference.

It is also a good read-ahead companion for our upcoming professional development seminar on August 30, 2006.

PRSA and IABC have teamed up with Frost Bank to bring Shel Holtz, a well-known blogger and podcaster in the area of public relations, to San Antonio. He was the top-rated breakout speaker for the recent IABC International conference.

If you will be anywhere near San Antonio on August 30, be sure to register for the seminar.

Tags: Shel Holtz|Shift Communications|Public Relations|PR|San Antonio|Texas

Del Oro Award Story in San Antonio Business Journal

Andi Rodríguez of the San Antonio Business Journal wrote a nice piece about our upcoming awards celebration in the July 14 issue. The article is titled, “Journalism organizations host annual awards celebrations,” in the “Talk of the Town” section. On the opposite page, the chapter placed an advertisement to highlight our three individual honorees:

Del Oro Tex Taylor Lifetime Achievement Award – Bob Howard, American Red Cross

Del Oro Public Relations Professional of the Year – Lorraine Pulido-Ramírez, Edgewood ISD

Del Oro Horizon Award – Carol Schliesinger, Southwest Mental Health Center

For more information or to register online click here.

Thanks for the nice write-up Andi!

Resources for PR Folk About Blogs

Last month, I posted about a couple of really good resources about blogs and blogging. I provided some details and excerpts. I intended to do it again but haven’t had time to more write “reviews” so I’m going to stop withholding valuable information. Below are links to several top-notch resources.

1. From Edelman and Intelliseek
Trust “MEdia”: How Real People Are Finally Being Heard (in pdf)

2-4. Waggener Edstrom Worldwide has several useful resources, including:
Are You Listening: Understanding the Blogosphere from a Communications Perspective (Part I)
and

Engaging the Blogosphere: Creating Connections and Fueling Conversations (Part II) (in pdf)

Also on this site are tip sheets that provide the “general rules of engagement for communicating with bloggers or introducing and managing your corporate blog.”

5. Kaye Trammel, assistant professor of mass communication at Louisiana State University provides a comprehensive list of research about blogs.
List of blog research

6-8. Hyku Author Josh Hallett includes in his blog several tips for starting a business blog, etc.:

Starting a Business Blog? Here Are a Few Questions You Need to Answer

Starting a Blog: Do These Things

Pitching Bloggers: Send Something of Interest to Somebody You Know

9+ And don’t forget Kami Watson-Huyse’s “Corporate Blogging 101: What You Said,” a list of more than 35 useful links to posts about corporate blogging supplied by her readers.

Have you come across other good resources or posts? Please share them here.

PRSA Blog Team Grows in San Antonio

Our blogging team has grown this week! We are pleased to add Monica and Melissa to our team!

Team members will be bringing their unique perspective from the industry they work in. So far we have

• a blogger who owns an independent PR agency,
• one in public affairs for one of the fastest-growing school districts in the state,
• a PR person from a large federal credit union,
• two from the non-profit world (one involved in direct service and one from the advocacy and research side), and
• a college student and leader of PRSSA.

For our team members and others who are just starting their role as bloggers, here is one good resource on thinking of things to post about: 10 Killer Post Ideas by Chris Garrett.

PR Majors Need Experience Prior to Graduation

At our blogging training session for San Antonio: Bline Blog I was introduced to a great blog site for students, NewPR. As the student blogger on our team I have had a little trouble being inspired and motivated to post. Until now!

I read a great blog written by Brian Solis, Colleges send marketing/PR graduates to workforce ill-prepared that struck me as very relevant to the students at the University of Texas at San Antonio(UTSA), especially those in the UTSA-PRSSA chapter. The degree offered at UTSA in the area of public relations is theory based with some excellent courses, but the only real experience a student can participate in is the PRSSA National Bateman Competition. Even then it is only a select group of students that are chosen. Solis mentions the need of universities to monitor the field for any specialized program that the evolvement of dynamics happens quickly and often. This is especially true of the PR curriculums with the growing amount of social media that has recently evolved.

I found the annual intern program that Solis hosts at San Jose State University for PR students to be an awesome opportunity for those students to get the real world experience before graduation. Solis basically places students with the PR teams of San Jose State University and local San Jose businesses charging them with their PR and marketing initiatives. Solis compares this to the types of situations that are seen in such reality television series as the Apprentice, and the Real World. The great thing about this concept is the ability of peers to work together in real-time accomplishment by utilizing their education, teamwork, and experience while working for a group of clients. This is all done in a situation where the playing field is pretty even. I feel this would be something that the UTSA-PRSSA executive board should discuss at length with both our faculty advisor, professional advisors, and the UTSA Internship advisor in regards to the feasibilty of beginning a program like this at UTSA.

Since becoming the 2006/2007 president of the UTSA-PRSSA I have been contacted by several professionals interested in partnering with our chapter, including a restaurant that is considering partnering with us for a full PR/marketing campaign. I am extremely excited and grateful for the renewed interest in our chapter, which is the only PRSSA chapter in San Antonio. This would be a great opportunity to begin a program such as that mentioned above.

Guidelines for a Team Blog

During our organizing meeting in February, members of our blog team identified our purposes for this blog (see first bullet below). Last week, we met again to welcome new members of our team and we agreed on a set of guidelines for this group blog.

We extend a special thank you to Dan York! He posted a set of guidelines a few months ago (see April 24) and said we could adapt them. Thanks Dan for giving us a good place to start! Here the are…

PRSA San Antonio Byline Blog – Group Blogging Guidelines

All posts must support one or more of our goals for this blog – The goals for the PRSA San Antonio Byline Blog are to provide and experience professional development for public relations professionals, to advocate the profession of public relations and its ethical practice, to conduct outreach to professionals and students (particularly in the San Antonio area), and to foster an exchange of ideas regarding public relations and related topics, including use of social media.

Regular posting – Each blogger in the group is encouraged to post at least twice a month – though work and family can come first.

No product pitches – This blog is for general discussion of public relations issues, not promotion of individual products or services unless sponsored by PRSA or PRSSA.

This blog is not a press-release distribution vehicle – Links to press releases are okay, but with context and preferably by a third party.

Copyright on your text is yours, but… – By posting on this blog you give the chapter permission to redistribute your content as deemed appropriate.

All articles must be your text (or appropriately quoted)

No slamming of other professionals or competitors – Praise or criticism of a campaign or tactic is fine, but this blog is not to be used to defame or personally attack anyone. Also, profanity will not be tolerated.

Social Media: Measuring Where You Are

Are you wondering how, or if, social media tools can be successfully used in your organization?

Taking the pulse of the employees that are essential to move such programs forward can be one step toward integrating some these new tools into your communications programs.

Dan Greenfield of the blog Bernaisesource offers the following survey (pdf)
to be given to employees of an organization just to see where everyone is at concerning social media.

Sometimes knowing where you are starting can help to determine the level of education needed to successfully integrate social media tools such as, blogs, podcasts, video-blogs, and wikis (among others) into your over public relations strategy.

Tags: Social Media|Measurement|PRSA|Public Relations|PR|San Antonio|Texas

Jupiter Research Alerts the Media, But Still Wants to Keep their Big Secret

You can’t eat your cake and have it too.

There has been an interesting buzz in the blogosphere recently about a curious study released by JupiterResearch on the gargantuan explosion we’re about to see in the number of corporations that kick off blogs this year. The buzz started when Toby Bloomberg of Diva Marketing Blog raised some questions about the results of the study. In short, the company’s PR firm refused to answer her questions.

Then another blogger, Fard Johnmar of HealthcareVox.com, shelled out $750 to get a copy of the report. And – to say the least – he still has questions. One of the responses he got to his questions over the phone was, “JupiterResearch is not revealing any more information about the survey to any member of the media.”

There are a lot of weird things about this situation:

• Why would a reputable research firm refuse to provide even basic info about a study’s methodology?
• Why would a research firm that specializes in Internet and Web 2.0 research disregard bloggers?
• Why would a research firm refuse to back up its results that it surely knows are counter to findings of similar studies?

But the question I can’t get out of my mind is:

• Why would a company issue a news release to the media when it doesn’t want to talk to the media?

What’s the strategy here? I understand that the data is proprietary. I work with a non-profit that, among other things, conducts research and evaluation of school programs. When the data and findings are proprietary, we don’t issue a news release. If the client wants to, that’s fine, and we’ll answer reporter’s questions.

My organization is in no way a competitor of JupiterResearch. I am not a client. I’d never even heard of them until this brough-ha-ha. I did review their web site and find that they release research and data very frequently (from weekly to daily). I don’t know if all of their reports omit methodology information or other explanations for their findings. But doesn’t it seem just a bit arrogant to think people will believe what you say at face value without asking questions?

PR 101 says don’t court the media if you don’t want to dance. So it seems to follow that you really shouldn't court the media if you’re planning to stomp on their toes!

Web 2.0 Name Doesn’t Promote Understanding

Names are important. Which is why posted last week about the new PRSA Counselor’s Academy needing to change its name. It is also why I offered a comment to the For Immediate Release podcast #148 about the trouble I see with the Web 2.0 name. I thought I was offering just a little “something that makes you go Hmm.” I really didn’t expect much discussion to follow, but it did.

To summarize my comment: The labels 2.0, 3.0 and so on typically refer to application upgrades. But what folks mean when they use the term Web 2.0 is much more than that. And many people are confused by the name. While the term “social media” is insufficient, it at least provides a picture of this new thing.

There are actually two issues here. The first is that there is there is little agreement about what “Web 2.0” actually means. Some conversations on the blogosphere by folks who are “in the know” demonstrate this disagreement, like the O'Reilly blog and a list of several people’s definitions summarized by Richard MacManus. Wikipedia gives a decent, but wordy definition of Web 2.0.

I kind of like the “web as platform” definition. But rest assured, if you’re confused you are not the only one.

There is a loose knit group of people whose life revolves around technology. It’s the focus of their jobs and super-hobbies. They are the ones who test beta versions of applications and operating systems. They are the ones in measure their lives in the blog world in years rather than months. They are the ones who know all about what’s next, while the rest of us are trying to get a handle on what’s now. They are the “innovators.” And I strongly suspect they are the ones who came up with the name Web 2.0.

There are two rationales, I see, for how we name things:

1. Sometimes we chose a name that has meaning to us. George Jr. for example. My first dog’s name was Marvin Alfred Elis because those were the names of my parents’ groomsmen. The name itself has no meaning to people outside the family. It’s just a name.

2. Other times, when we have something new or complex that we want others to buy, use, adopt or advocate, we give it a descriptive or other name that has meaning to them. Shel and Neville have given us a good example of this point when they agree with others who suggest we quit trying to describe “RSS” and use the term “newsfeed” instead. The name “RSS” is a barrier because it is a teckie word.

That’s my point about Web 2.0. It’s a teckie term, and it is a barrier. It doesn’t help people understand what is meant by it. It probably wasn't meant to originally.

Shel and Neville did agree that they’d be happy to use a better label if someone could come up with one. It’s tough challenge. But it’s worth it because names are important and so is Web 2.0.

This sounds like a job for a professional communicator!

News Release Getting a Makeover

By: Monica Faulkenbery, APR, San Antonio PRSA – Published in San Antonio Byline eNewsletter, July 2006

In an age when the vernacular is becoming seemingly space age… vlogging, vloggercon, blogs, vcasts, podcasts…I came across an article that just made me feel like the old hack of years gone by. The article was titled, “The Press Release Is Dead! Long Live the Press Release!” by Shel Holtz.

Some 10 years ago at a national conference I attended, PR icon Pat Jackson, APR declared the demise of the press release, but I refused to believe that would happen. We argued, especially since my job at the time was pretty much being a Pez dispenser for news releases.

Like Holtz, I resisted jumping upon the “press release is dead” bandwagon. One of the main reasons cited for their demise is that most press releases have no news and are poorly written. I think you can say the same for some VNRs also. The drum majors for the “press release is dead” parade say that the “new media can better serve the objectives that press releases have offered in the past.”

In quoting Holtz, “There are plenty of current stories of press release effectiveness. And while the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission does not require material disclosure through press releases, press release services like PR Newswire and Business Wire know how to reach all the right audiences concurrently and satisfy the regulations that do exist.”

So, Holtz and I both concur that the “new” media doesn’t necessarily need to kill the “old” media. The old media must adapt and evolve (and us old hacks with it.)

Shift Communications has now given the press release a “nudge” along its evolutionary path. Shift’s Todd Defren, responding to others calling for press releases to get with the interactive, social, digital era, proposed an approach that would satisfy Defren’s desires. According to Todd, Shift has released a social media press release template, which the company is making available to the profession. (See June 8, 2006 post on this blog.)

Although I’m still an old journalist at heart, I’ve finally resigned myself that I need to get on the bandwagon, or at least acknowledge its existence, and go to the next level of e-news or podrelease or whatever the term is now. (Yes, Pat, roll around in your grave ….although I’m still not saying the press release is dead; I will agree that at the least it is getting a makeover.)

The Blogs of Professional PR Associations

The big PR associations have been somewhat slow to take up new media, but I have a collection of blogs, some active and others not so active, that are associated with PRSA or IABC at the national and chapter levels.

Take a look, there is some interesting stuff, and some pretty dry stuff too. If you know of other blogs, please add them to comments section, and they don't have to be a part of the big 2, Women in Communications blogs and others are also welcome.

Maybe once we have a pretty good list we can move it to the NewPR Wiki, which by the way is an excellent resource for those just getting involved with social media. The site includes historical facts and other information that can help you get up-to-speed or just conduct research.

PRSA Blogs
* I have included the month and year of the first and the last post made to the site as of today

• PRSA Midwest District (March - May 2005)
• San Antonio PRSA Byline (January - June 2006)
• PRSA Acron, Ohio Chapter (February – May 2006)
• For Immediate Release (June 2006), the PRSA Counselors Academy, which as Christie mentioned in her previous post needs a name change so it isn't confused with this popular podcast.
• Las Vegas PRSA Blog (June 2006)
  

I have also started a del.icio.us page to track PRSA Blogs.

IABC Blogs

• IABC Café (October 2004 – June 2006)
• IABC chatter (April 2005 – June 2006)
• The Captain’s Log (July 2005 – May 2006)
• IABC Commons (February - May 2006)

Constantin Basturea informed me that he has a complete list of PR/Communication association blogs worldwide, of course. Thanks Constantin!

Tags: IABC|PRSA|Resources|PR|Public Relations

PRSA Counselor’s Academy New Blog Needs a New Name

The PRSA Counselor’s Academy has launched a blog. It states that it is for PRSA's Counselors Academy “members to share ideas, read best practices, comment about the public relations industry and learn from each other.” There are 10 bloggers listed as contributors. From what I can tell, the first post was May 22.

What great news that national PRSA has finally joined the conversation! I’m tired of hearing how PRSA is lagging behind the times even though our chapter and maybe others already have PRSA-related blogs. Also, I’ve heard from Kami that at least one other PRSA blog may be in the works.

Interestingly, I didn’t hear anything about the new CA blog from PRSA. Of course not being a member of the Counselor’s Academy could by why. Once I learned about it from someone else, I had trouble finding it on the PRSA web site. But I’m sure that’ll be fixed.

The name of the new Counselor’s Academy blog is “For Immediate Release.” Problem is, that name is already taken – and not by just anybody, but by one of world’s most famous PR and communication podcasts/blogs. Seems like a quick search of other PR blogs would have kept this snafu from happening.

Sheville’s For Immediate Release got there first, perhaps the Counselor’s Academy may have to rethink the name. Otherwise they’ll be breaking one of the 7 C’s of communication.

They probably won’t change it. But just in case, here are some suggestions I’ve come up with:

• No Embargo
• Spin-Free Zone
• Limelight
• Stop the Presses
• The Buzz
• PR Counselor
• Feedback Loop

“Byline” is good, but you can’t have that one. It’s ours.

If you want to help the Counselor’s Academy think of a new name, leave your suggestions under comments. And if you want to grab one of these names for yourself, help yourself. Royalties can be sent directly to me.

Losing Control of the Question

Occasionally, I have the opportunity to speak to our local student PRSSA group. And the most often requested is about the dreaded job hunt. Whenever I am leading one of those sessions, I typically start by asking, “What is the Number One rule of public relations?” They always give me what I’m looking for, “Know your audience.”

There is a lot of talk in the PR blogosphere and in the podworld about the slow rate at which PR pros are adopting social media (blogs, podcasts, RSS, social networking, etc.). One of the biggest reasons I’ve heard recently in several podcasts I’ve listened to is fear of “losing control of the message.”

Larry Weber of W2 Group counters this by stating there are lots of ways in social media to have control and that those will increase. (Listen to the For Immediate Release podcast interview of Weber.)

I’ve always thought that the question of losing control is really a misplaced worry. Could it be the wrong question? The whole point of public relations is to build relationships with our publics (or audiences). And if our audiences are online, then we should be too. But it goes way beyond that. This new technology gives us a unique opportunity to dialog and work in collaboration directly with very specific publics. Isn’t that our business?

Public relations is not about control anyway. Influence, sure. But not control.

Larry Weber talked about now being the time for public relations to shape the direction of social media and how it affects our society. They stated that we messed up and let advertisers shape the World Wide Web that was supposed to be a community building medium. But social media is “made for us!”

Then Weber made a point about social media that is messing with my head a bit. He said, “It’s not a channel. You can’t think of it like news-pa-pers or tel-e-vi-sion or ra-di-o. It’s everything. So you’ve got to think that way before you start organizing.”

Know your audience. It means being where they are. It means listening without judging. And now, more than ever, it means creating something new together. Relax. It's all cool.

“Social Media News Release” Could Raise the News Release from the Dead

In the midst of ongoing conversations about the future (or lack thereof) of the news release, SHIFT Communications has provided a “first-ever” template for a social media news release. What does that mean? First, it does away with the never-ending narrative that journalists have to schlep through to find the news. This template puts the key points in bullets. But it goes much further than that. It incorporates the latest tools of social media to provide background data, context and ongoing updates.

For example, following the key points, it has a link to access a specially-created delicious page (that’s del.icio.us.com, where you can provide links by keyword topics that you define). It also provides a link for reporters to sign-up for their RSS feed so that reporters are notified of future news announcements automatically.

Then, this innovative template has a built-in company logo and CEO photo that journalists can download immediately. This is followed by bulleted quotes and other elements. At the bottom it has Technorati Tags. There’s lots more – with a rationale for each piece.

You can download the template from SHIFT Communications. They encourage you to use it and have released all copyright restrictions on it. You can also read more from the blog of a principal there, Todd Defren (see PR Squared blog), and in the flurry of blog posts about it, like Shel Holtz’s post, “The press release is dead! Long live the press release!” and one by Neville Hobson, “Are journalists ready for the social media press release?”

To be completely forthcoming, I don’t know enough about social media yet to understand how a reporter would use some of these tools. I suspect they are most useful for organizations that have a lot of news. One of the advantages I see is that those long narrative news releases typically take forever to get approved internally – over a week if an outside funder is involved. But when I do an advisory that’s basically bullets, I can be done in an afternoon.

I’m planning to incorporate some of these features into my future news releases. And we’ll be offering RSS to media in the next month or so. I am curious about what the reception will be. I know that, already, one the education reporters I work with only wants information electronically (and won’t touch regular mail), another one has had a blog for over a year, and still another has set up an online news service. So I suspect they’ll be happy with this.

What do you think? Have you added any of these elements to your news releases?

Resources on Blogging

I’ve come across several really good resources on blogging, particularly related to use by businesses and organizations. Here are profiles of two of them. They are available in PDF.

Resource: "To Blog or Not to Blog"

Jeneane Sessum of the Content Factor provides this white paper that outlines the basics – and more – on corporate blogging. The full title is: To Blog or Not to Blog: How businesses can get closer to their markets through blogging. It details 10 rules for “starting your corporate blogging off right.” Sample rules include “Don’t use your own blog to sing the praises of your company” and “Comments – tread carefully.” This 17-page document includes an excellent three-page list of resources on corporate blogging.

Excerpts

• “A sure way to drive readers away is to write a blog using a corporate voice rather than the discernible, unmistakable voice of a human being.” (pg. 4)
• “It is as important to be a good ‘listener’ of a blog as it is to be an interesting blogger.” (pg. 9)
• “Start slowly. Read extensively. Post frequently. Link liberally.” (pg. 14)

Resource: "Introduction to Blogs"

The full title is: Introduction to Blogs: A quick guide to understanding and maximizing communication efforts in the blogosphere. This five-page document by Bacon’s Information Inc., discusses four reasons blogs have gained popularity, four general types of blogs, tips for working with blog writers, tips for monitoring the blogosphere, and tips using blogs as a marketing tool. While not being as comprehensive as some of the other resources I’ve found, this is a quick-read and good as an introduction (as the title indicates).

Excerpts

• “In a recent survey, people were asked to indicate their reasons
  for reading blogs. The top three reasons were: ‘news I can’t find elsewhere,’ ‘a
  better perspective’ and ‘faster news.’” (pg. 2)
• “Blogs can create a direct outlet between a company and its
  target consumers.” (pg 5)

I will be adding other resources to this list soon. What resources have you found useful?

PRSA Tactics Online Runs Tribute to Marilyn Potts

John Elsasser, editor of PRSA Tactics, the national newsletter that comes to members of PRSA, ran the following article about Marilyn Potts, which appears on the front page of the PRSA Web site.

Thanks to John for thinking to include Marilyn and thanks to Mike Cherenson, Advocacy Chair for PRSA for letting me know about it.

Tags: Marilyn Potts|PR|Public Relations|San Antonio|Texas

"Can It Be Done?"

"Can it be done?" That is the question that is on the lips of the Executive Board of the UTSA-PRSSA chapter. What we are talking about is the creation of a Student Run Public Relations Firm. We have a completely new executive board taking the helm of a chapter that has been under the radar blip for a couple of years now. We are all extremely excited. With this excitement comes big goals and ideas of how to accomplish them.

We held our first Executive Board meeting on May 19 and decided several key factors. The first being that our theme and mantra for 2006-2007 is, "Attitude Is Everything!" We chose this because in order for our general membership to become excited about the chapter they will need to see a much different attitude than has been seen in the past.

We have three goals for the coming year. First, we must increase new membership while improving retention of new and current membership. This will be done by each of the board members being very visible while encouraging all members to get involved on the UTSA campus.We will be sponsoring different workshops for our members and social events. Second, we will look to raise our fundraising goals while also gaining sponsorship through local public relations professionals and businesses. The reason for this is that we would like to have a delegation going to the 2006 PRSSA National Convention in Salt Lake City, Nov. 10-14. Third, we have a very doable goal of creating a Student Run Public Relations Firm and securing at least one client before I leave the post of president in May 2007.

If you are interested in assisting in sponsorship of fundraising donations, supplies or other items, feel free to contact Gregory Frieden by e-mail at prssa@lonestar.utsa.edu.

In Remembrance

The PRSSA Chapter of the University of Texas At San Antonio wishes to extend its deepest sympathies with thoughts of prayers to the family and friends of Marilyn Potts a longtime member of the Public Relations Society of America. Marilyn was the San Antonio chapter president last year, while also holding several positions on the board of directors for the San Antonio chapter. While I did not know Marilyn, it was well known on our campus that Marilyn was very devoted to the support of students along with recent graduates working to enter into the profession of public relations. Our chapter of the PRSSA will move forward knowing that Marilyn contributed to our cause of pre-professionalism for the students of Public Relations.

Express-News Article on Marilyn Potts, APR

Carmina Danini of the San Antonio Express-News wrote an article on Marilyn Potts, APR, in today's paper.

Thanks Camina! Marilyn was special to so many people!

Express-News Publishes Marilyn Potts' Obituary

Today's edition of the San Antonio Express-News has published Marilyn's obituary.

Services been scheduled for Marilyn Potts, APR

In San Antonio, Texas
Thursday, May 25, 2006, at 7:00 p.m.
Porter Loring
2102 N. Loop 1604 East, at Gold Canyon Road

In Augusta, Kansas
Saturday May 27, 2006, at 2:00 p.m.
First Christian Church
1600 State Street
Augusta, Kansas 67010
316-775-6317

A memorial fund has been established in the small island community where Mike and Marilyn have vacationed for many years. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent in the memory of Mrs. Marilyn Potts to: The Isle of Springs Association, 21 Wildwood Circle, Portland, Maine 04103.

San Antonio PR Leader, Marilyn Potts, APR, Died Saturday

It is with great sadness that we announce the death on Saturday, May 20, of our friend and colleague, Marilyn Potts, APR, due to injuries from a car accident two weeks ago. We are forever grateful for the significant professional and personal contributions Marilyn made not only to the PRSA but to the public relations profession.

Since 2000, Marilyn was the PR/Marketing Specialist at Methodist Healthcare System. Previously, she worked with University Health System in San Antonio planning public relations, including special events and internal communications. Before coming to San Antonio, Marilyn worked with Catholic Charities in Wichita, Kansas, where her communications work resulted in a 69 percent increase in annual giving. She has also been a feature writer and development manager.

A member of the Public Relations Society of America for 25 years, Marilyn served in several board positions in chapters in San Antonio and previously in Wichita, Kansas. She was the San Antonio chapter president last year. Marilyn also was deeply devoted to supporting students and recent graduates into the profession of public relations.

Marilyn earned a bachelor of language arts from Wichita State University and several hours toward a master’s degree in marketing and management from the same university. She was accredited in public relations by PRSA.

Marilyn was married to fellow chapter member, Michael Potts, APR, and has a daughter and three grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m. at Porter Loring (2102 N. Loop 1604 East, at Gold Canyon Road). Other details will be posted on this PRSA San Antonio chapter blog as they become available.

We invite you to share your own fond memories of Marilyn with us. Please leave your warm recollections as comments on this chapter blog.

Knowing Where Your Audience Is

I just read a story by Tech Web about a new report by Nielsen/NetRatings showing that, in April, half of all web users visited a social networking site. Such sites include MySpace (with 38.4 million unique users) and Blogger by Google (with 18.5 million visitors). MySpace has had a growth rate of 367 percent in the last year. Other social networking sites include Classmates Online, YouTube and Microsoft's MSN Groups.

TechWeb stated, “The number of visitors to the top 10 social-networking sites soared in April, attracting nearly half of all Web users.” You can view the list of the top 10 at the Nielsen/NetRatings press room.

So, I’m thinking, if I have a defined audience that has access to the Internet, there’s a 47 percent chance they are visiting or even actively participating in an online social network. What does that say about my printed newsletter?

Survey Shows PR $alaries on the Rise

Money, Money, Money, Money....
Originally uploaded by Valerie Renee.

According to the 2006 edition of "The Official PR Salary & Bonus Report," published by PR News, across-the-board salary percentage increases were up in 2005, but junior executive pay outpaced senior professional compensation by more than four percentage points.

Nationally, the salary for a Communications Specialist rose 11.7 percent to an annual average of $71,000. In agencies, junior level salaries increased 11.8 percent to an annual average salary of $47,000.

The report, shows that corporate public relations salaries increased 7.6 percent during 2005, while agency public relations salaries increased 8.9 percent. By comparison, in 2004, corporate public relations salaries increased 5.3 percent and agency public relations salaries increased only 3.6 percent.

In most instances, corporate and agency salaries and bonuses in second-tier cities and suburban markets were shown to be increasing at a faster rate than those in top metropolitan markets. In the report, top metropolitan markets are defined as New York, Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles, while Boston, Dallas, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. are defined as second-tier metropolitan markets.

Tags: PR Salary|PR News|PR|Public Relations

Three Ways for PR Folk to Use Blogs

From what I’ve seen, there are three basic ways to use blogs in PR. And they progress from low involvement to high involvement.

Listening (Monitoring)

The first way to dip your toe in the blog waters for the benefit of your organization or client, is to start monitoring blog conversations about them. At a minimum, it’s interesting to see what people are saying. But sometimes, you can get wind of a potential crisis before it hits big. You might even be able to avert a crisis, by “listening” to what your audiences are saying in the blogosphere. The Dan Rather/60 Minutes II case is one oft-cited example.

There are several tools you can use for monitoring blogs: Technorati (is the Google of blogs), Bloglines, PubSub, etc. You just type in your keywords, like the organization name or product, and see what comes up. The key is to do this regularly. If you haven’t already, try it right now. What have you found out?

Blogger Relations

Another way to use blogs, is to pitch to bloggers asking them to discuss your organization or product or whatever. In some ways, this is similar to effective media relations. You target certain bloggers, get to know what they blog about, send them a pitch that is relevant to them, etc. You do not ever send a mass pitch to a bunch of bloggers. You have to develop relationships. I’ve haven’t done this myself. Shel Holtz is blogging about one of his recent blog-pitch campaigns. Another example is the 100 Geek Dinners in 100 Days event we’ve been blogging about during the last week. There are plenty of good resources out there to give you direction.

Blog Hosting

A third way to use blogs of course is to host one yourself. Your organization might want to host a CEO blog (like Jonathan Schwartz, president of Sun Microsystems, a customer service blog or a blog directly related to your core functions (like TV Guide’s blogs about TV shows. There are a lot of policy-type questions to deal with though before you start, like giving up your control of the message (as if you really had control to begin with), when and how to monitor comments other people make on your blog, who do you get to be your blogger, etc. This is one area where the PR blogs can be a great resource. By visiting them regularly and listening to some of their podcasts, you can learn about current cases where companies are doing things right and some that are doing things wrong with their blogs.

For example, the For Immediate Release podcast recently talked about Starwood Hotels’ launch of a blog, The Lobby, and how they initially “missed the mark” about allowing comments. (See The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #129: April 17, 2006).

A Gathering of Blog Enthusiasts

As a novice blogger, I was excited about the prospect of attending the kickoff of 100 Geek Dinners in 100 Days at Central Market in San Antonio. This campaign was envisioned by Hugh MacLeod. It was interesting for me because as both a PR and blogging novice, I gained some insight into the technique of utilizing blogging for the purpose of promoting one's company or product. It was also a networking opportunity for me.

The co-hosts for the event were Kami Huyse of Communication Overtones and Allen Weinkrantz, of Wide Angle Blog.

I enjoyed the the wine that was provided by Jason Korman of Stromhoek. I mostly enjoyed the fellowship of others in the PR world that I can learn from. I was reminded because of our conversation that blogging can be a very creative and useful tool for promoting a business or product. At the same time, it can have negative effects. This is because, if a business or product has poor performance or reviews, they will show up faster on a blog than some of the other mediums out there. I hope to attend other get togethers like this in the future.

My thanks to all of the other attendees, as I enjoyed meeting each of them and hope to remain in contact in my never ending plan of networking.

The Rewards and Risks of Blogger Campaigns

So, we had the first ever Alamo City Blogger Meetup as a part of Hugh McLeod’s 100 Geek Dinners in 100 Days.

A campaign they have dubbed in their brochures, “Wine Blogging as Marketing Disruption.” We were first dinner (lunch) in that campaign, which also launched May 1, 2006.

The attendees were bloggers, former bloggers and blog readers located in San Antonio that make their living in public relations, high-tech fields and one retired public affairs professional turned scrapbooker.

A special thanks to Jason Korman at Stromhoek for providing the wine and the very impressive prints from Hugh that were numbered and signed. Also thanks to Alan Weinkrantz, a fellow PR blogger and San Antonian for co-hosting the event.

I used this special occasion to produce my first podcast. I used the free Audacity software and it is hosted at Evoca. To record the conversation I used my Olympus Digital Voice Recorder (wave format), not the best thing to use, but it was what I had and the quality is pretty okay for an on-site environment I think.

The show is 28 minutes in length, and we try to identify ourselves as we go so that you can follow. We are geeks and public relations professionals, so we talk about blogging as a PR strategy, the risks and the rewards.

LIsten right here on the site or Download the Podcast, to listen later. Once there, click on the "Alamo City Lunch Meetup" title and you will see a download button or use the RSS Feed to download directly to your iPod or computer.

Links to the Show:

Stormhoek Blogging Campaign, here and here.
Sprint Ambassador Program

Attendees:

• Kami Huyse, Communication Overtones and contributor to the Byline Blog and Marcomblog
• Alan Weinkrantz, Wide Angle Blog, read his post about the event
• Matt Reedy, Amida Technologies
• Gregory Frieden, UTSA-PRSSA President elect and contributor to Byline Blog
• Ellen Evans, KLRN public television
• Christie Goodman, Intercultural Development Research Association and contributor toByline Blog, where she posted about the event
• Carla Sylvester, Scrapbook Designer and Instructor who wrote a recent article about marketing through blogs (free registration required)
• Bruce Hughes, TriAgility Inc.

See more photos of the event at Flickr.

Tags: Stormhoek|Alamo City Bloggers|Hugh McLeod|100 Geek Dinners|PR|Public Relations

Stormhoek’s Geek Lunch Campaign Kicks Off in San Antonio

So there we were. Sitting in the “community room” of the Central Market near downtown San Antonio. Eating lunch with strangers and friends. There’s wine at the end of the table, ready to be opened. And we’re being handed other neat free stuff. There’s even a photographer from the San Antonio Express-News.

Wow. So this is what it feels like to be on the receiving end of a pitch.

Yesterday, in San Antonio, we held the first of 100 geek dinners sparked by Hugh Macleod. There were seven of us – all communicators, several from PRSA. We’d been invited by Hugh as part of a blogger relations campaign introducing Stormhoek wine into the United States. A similar campaign in the UK doubled the company’s wine sales.

I found it very interesting to witness such a campaign first-hand. Hugh had extended an open invitation to bloggers to hold geek dinners. There was no requirement to taste the wine, to talk about the wine or to blog about it. Then he sent us a box of stuff: three bottles of Stormhoek wine to sample; a cute little booklet describing the campaign for each of us, and a limited edition print of his cartoon for each of us. There was also one copy of the print for us to sign and send back to be displayed at the winery. So the next time you’re in South Africa…

We passed around a tape recorder to capture part of our conversation about blogger relations campaigns like this. There are several benefits that come from an activity that is so relevant to your audience. The “geek dinner” with a soft pitch idea is clearly jives with the subculture of bloggers.

We also talked about the risk of such campaigns. Like, what if the product stinks? Some of the group criticized other blogger relations campaigns that had been executed poorly, like one that didn’t target well and sent sample products to bloggers in the UK where their service isn’t provided. One of the diners, Alan Weinkrantz, has already posted about the event (including a photo of him receiving the print; I thought he was going to climb over the table to get one!).

So through this experience, I saw that before kicking off a blogger relations campaign (just like any other type of campaign), it is vitally important that you do your homework first. Find out who the key bloggers are in your niche market and review case studies of similar campaigns so you can learn from their mistakes. This is especially true when you are treading on new ground for your organization. Hugh Macleod gives us a good lesson on how to do it right. (I’m sure it helped that this product tasted good.)

I offer my thanks to Hugh and Stormhoek for bringing me to my first “geek dinner.” And thanks to Kami for setting it up. After a while, we turned off the tape recorder and talked about what each of us is doing in the realm of new media. And the whole time, part of me was wondering, why did that photographer have to take a picture of me when I was taking a bite of my turkey sandwich?

Alamo City Hosts Blogger Meetup Today

Today is the day that bloggers and blog readers in the Alamo City kick off Hugh McLeod's marketing disruption experiment for the Stormhoek wine launch in the U.S. As I mentioned in a post last week at Communication Overtones, they used this strategy for a successful launch of the wine in the UK.

I received a box late last week from Stormhoek and it is full of interesting stuff. As a communications professional I was VERY interested, to say the least, to see how it would be presented and it is pretty cool.

There are signed and numbered prints of a cartoon by Hugh (included in this post) to commemorate the event for the guests, a print that we all will sign to adorn the winery, three bottles of wine (which are still in the Styrofoam sleeves) and some cool "Wine Blogging as Marketing Disruption" booklets that describe the wine and a little about using the blogosphere as a marketing device.

The only other thing I would have included was disposable wine glasses. In fact, I, or someone I appoint, will bring them since I think it would be uncool to have a wine tasting in the giant red disposable plastic cups that I have on hand, or in whatever disposable cups they have at Central Market, where we will meet.

So far, I have 11 RSVPs and one reporter from the Express News who is working on a story about blogging, bloggers and readers of blogs will be there.

San Antonio Geek Lunch
12 noon to 1:30 p.m.
Central Market (directions)
San Antonio, TX
Community Room, second floor and to the left

Technorati : 100 Geek Dinners, Case Study, PR, Public Relations, Stormhoek