Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category
PR drives up to 80pc of content: The Australian
A University of Sydney study reported in The Australian’s media section this morning says it’s a myth that journos don’t use PR and press release content to generate their stories - instead, 30-80% of content comes from PR efforts.
The article also reports it’s a myth that PR people don’t spin - or to put it another way, it’s true that PR people spin, when directed to do so by their clients. (You always hope that readers are smart enough to see that, equally, journalists work under the instruction of their editors. They have to espouse the party line they don’t always share and sometimes put a negative spin on stories just to increase their newsworthiness.)
The study’s author, Jim Macnamara, says: “PR is a fact of life. Journalists should recognise it as an important communication channel and not deny it. And if there is PR material being used, it should be open and transparent.” Couldn’t agree more - the more quality PR, the better the relationship with the journalist, the better you become as reliable and trusted a source as any other. Bloggers themselves have become both a source of news and a publishing vehicle for PR - there’s another debate in the making.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,25422943-7582,00.html?from=public_rss
Why I’d rather pay for news than some devious premium text message I didn’t ask for
Google and other companies that aggregate content without paying a fee have been likened to “parasites… in the intestines of the internet” by Wall Street Journal editor Robert Thomson. Talking of parasites, I recently got a phone bill for $50 of ‘premium messages’ that I tracked back to a quiz I answered on Facebook. So I have paid $5 a throw for some total crap I didn’t want. These two might appear unconnected, but I want to draw attention to the irony that we consumers are willing to pay millions and millions of dollars for mobile texts while refusing to pay a few cents for professionally produced online news.
It has always struck me as unfair that media companies pay their journalists to produce content while the aggregators simply swipe it, stick a few ads round it, and reap the rewards. Journalism at its best exposes injustice and produces in depth analysis, but think about the cost, say, of sending journalists into Afghanistan or Timor. Finely crafted writing doesn’t come cheap. But is anyone out there willing to pay for it?
I agree with Google CEO Eric Schmidt that newspapers need to innovate more to turn their news-making machines into profit centres. He suggests mobile as one path, and I’m guessing that means on-phone subscriptions for web-based content. If the price was right and I had the right device (which I don’t because I’m still paying for my last phone, and my kids’ phones), and it was easy to view on the screen, yes, I probably would pay to consume high-quality news on my mobile.
But I don’t want to pay through the nose for spurious, uninvited text messages….. I’d much rather pay News Ltd for some decent reporting than some smutty text-messaging company who hijacked my details through some fineprint on Facebook….
Trial by social media: Hanson et al
In response to the call last month by Victorian police to stop internet blogging about the alleged Victorian bushfire arsonist:
When the alleged Victorian bushfire arsonist was outed with his photograph published on Facebook and numerous blog posts, did the social network and possibly the self-publishers breach a court order that prevents media discussing the case? Should social networks be subject to the same conditions as other media publishers and broadcasters?
By revealing the accused’s identity, the Facebook posts could jeopardise his right to a fair hearing. The reason the law binds traditional media is that prejudice could result in a guilty man walking free, or an innocent being found guilty.
Some social network operators claim speaking freely is the right of their members and equate it to catching up with a mate in the street. The reality is that social networks are as public as your local newspaper.
Take another recent high-profile case: when purported pictures of Pauline Hanson turned out to be fakes, people asked, ‘have the media gone too far?’ This highlighted two issues:
1. The individual’s moral right to privacy: were these tacky 30-year-old images in the public interest?
2. What are Pauline’s legal rights? If the pictures were published on a social network, what would be her legal rights then?
These two cases open us all to the possibility of being victimised for a crime we did not commit, or being subjected to embarrassment or harassment if inaccurate or sensitive information is published, either online or offline. Proving false accusers are wrong in court is costly and, sadly, even if you win, mud sticks.
Without regulation, social networks can become a great playground for bullies - and they already are to a degree. Just ask Jodie Melbourne of CQR Consulting, a white hat hacker who is crusading against cyber-bullying.
Even if you lead a pristine existence, would you want your entire private live opened up for all to see, from birth to grave, whether by writing, image, video or sound, without your permission? The whole issue of privacy, online and offline, reminds me of the Ben Elton book Blind Faith, which paints an ugly picture of a world where it’s illegal NOT to expose every moment of your life publicly.
Whereas smaller social forums have tended to be self-policed by their members, the mega-networks have much bigger challenges. I believe that if they can’t control malicious or illicit content, they will eventually implode. There will be more and more cases of inaccurate opinions and indiscreet pictures taken in private circumstances — leading to legal challenges and a mass turnoff by people who want to keep their private lives private. The Twitter network has some precedents - there already are laws governing harassment by text message.
The “Wild West” feel of social networks is exhilarating; suddenly we don’t need to rely on third party media channeling our opinions. But both advocates and owners of social networks who feel they have a right to freedom of speech at any cost are heading down a slippery slope.
COPYRIGHT© 2009
Spreading sunshine with search-engine friendly PR
Hi - I’m new to e-Channel’s blog so first a bit about me: I’m a journalist with a background that covers everything from Australian Women’s Weekly to The Australian newspaper’s Tuesday IT section, Vacations Magazine (travel writing - those were the days:-)) to Cosmopolitan to the Toronto Star. I founded a service called NewsMaker last year to help marketers and PR dudes give their clients added value with every PR campaign - Google News Indexing, SEO, social media as well as traditional media distribution services. Here are my favourite tips to help you get started in maximising every word in every press release while increasing your Google quality ranking:
Top Ten Tips for Successful Online Publicity
The following tips for writing online press releases will help generate buzz about your products and services across the web, driving traffic back to your website and creating a direct channel to journalists, media outlets and customers.
- Use major keywords in your heading and first paragraph - these are often all that will be picked up by Google and other News Indexing services
- Proactively share your news using the share and RSS buttons on press release websites
- Don’t use “you” and “your” or “I”, “we” or “our”, unless it’s within a quote - your press release should be written in the third person so it doesn’t sound like an advertisement
- Make your headline meaningful to media and search engines - don’t be too clever
- Keep it short - Google will not index news item that are too long
- Make your press release relevant to news or trends - get the message across succintly in headline and first par
- Make sure you have good landing pages on your website relevant to your press release - otherwise you are missing an opportunity
- Proofread your release and make sure it’s of a press-ready standard; your release could end up anywhere and you don’t want to spread an unprofessional image of your company (or yourself)
- Use free online press release services tagged with relevant keywords to make it easy for people looking for your products/services to find them - this is the cheapest, easiest free publicity you will find
- If you’re new to online press releases, post older material first then work your way up to the present so you have a good history online, driving incremental (long tail) traffic back to your website.
Cheers,
Little Miss Sunshine
Facebook used to gain members
I read with interest last week in the SA Advertiser that the SAJC where embroiled in controversy relating to sourcing members via FaceBook. Sourcing the membership through FaceBook is a great social media strategy and one many sporting clubs could and should explore.
The problem with the SAJC delivery of the membership was its reportedly only gave out a free membership after a questionable voting slip was signed in favour of a particular candidate at a pending Board election. Right social media and membership idea but wrong deliverable.
Social Media and Organic Search
Social Media sites provide great branding opportunity for online businesses. Sites such as YouTube, Myspace, FaceBook, Flikr and Twitter are some of the most popular; and are used by a global and national audience.
All internet businesses should incorporate Social Media as part of their overall internet marketing strategy. However, resourcing these activities can be time consuming for the company and the agency. If Social Media is to be used for the purpose of increasing organic (or non paid) search engine traffic one must carefully consider the limitations of the company’s resources to ensure that maximum ROI is achieved.
You can burn hours of time in YouTube and even if the Movie gets 1,000,000s of visits, it doesn’t necessarily increase your organic traffic. Likewise, 1,000s of Fans in Facebook is great awareness but may not increase your Organic Traffic.
Using Social Media to increase Organic Rankings
Two effective ways to increase rankings is to:
Extend your website content – depending on your audience’s needs this can include but is not limited to:
- User Reviews
- Testimonials
- Blog posts - These can be informative, funny, controversial or anything that the organisation can produce that will appeal to the online community
Be a good Social Media Citizen
- You need to be active in the community you want to excel in
- Develop trust, make friends and influence the community