52: Anniversary Party

It’s our birthday! And in recognition of this, our 52nd weekly podcast (okay, so we missed one or two weeks) we convene a roundtable discussion of the new world of business communications.

The stars aligned perfectly: David was in Boston on a speaking tour and some of our best friends and colleagues from our years in media were up for a free meal and discussion. Our friends at Lois Paul & Partners kindly provided the venue (as well as two of our speakers) and our seven participants turned out to encompass a mix of media, marketing and financial disciplines.

The debate got quite spirited at points, with Bob Scheier and Steve Hall famously facing off over the ethics of fact checking. Venture capitalist Bill Frezza had the quote of the evening: “We are in the post-integrity age of journalism.” And Lois Paul and Ted Weismann of LPP recounted with resignation the frustration of convincing clients that it’s about more than just the Wall Street Journal these days.

This podcast runs 56:42, with several minutes of bonus material and the end. This week we launch “Dana’s Pick of the Podcast,” a new weekly feature in which Producer Dana Gillin spotlights the program’s best quote at the end of each episode. For those of you who have always wondered about our theme music, we offer the full version of Meet You In The Heavens by Rebel Soul Band. Enjoy. And post your comments below.

Thanks to our panel:

Lois Paul, President, Lois Paul & Partners

Ted Weismann, senior vice president, LP&P

Bob Scheier, IT/Business Writer

Bill Frezza, General Partner, Adams Capital Management

Steve Hall, Publisher Adrants

Download the podcast (56:42)

Below:

Bill Frezza          Bob Scheier

Lois Paul

Steve Hall

Paul Gillin & David Strom

50: The Social Media Think Tank

The Society for New Communications Research has been studying social media since before the term was created. Founded by veteran publicist Jen McClure in 2004, the nonprofit group known affectionately to its members as “snicker” now counts more than 40 futurists, scholars, business leaders, communicators and other new-media professionals as research fellows. Its signature event in the New Communications Forum, a multi-day multi-track conference that features top speakers and results of the group’s most recent research. It also hosts the New Communications Research Symposium, a more intimate gathering on the east coast each fall.

Jen McClure’s passion for new media is the fuel that drives SNCR. In this interview, she talks about how the group was founded, the four new research studies that will debut at the New Communications Forum in April and what value PR professionals are getting out of their SNCR membership.

BTW, Tech PR War Stories listeners can take advantage of a $100 discount. Just use code NCF08100 when you register.

Download the podcast (16:05)

47: Twitter magic

Many people’s first reaction to Twitter.com is that they just don’t get it. At first blush, the group instant messaging service looks like chaos: everyone is talking at once and some of them talking about nothing in particular.

But Twitter has inspired a passionate following. Some people make it their main online communications medium. It’s certainly changed Laura Fitton’s life. The Boston-based presentations consultant uses Twitter to meet influential people, find business opportunities and answer everyday questions. Twittering as “Pistachio,” she’s amassed a following of more than 1,500 “followers,” who value her ability to stimulate discussions with provocative questions and comments that fit into Twitter’s 140-character format. She’s a poster child for a service that is revolutionizing the way people interact with their social networks.

In this interview, Fitton describes what’s unique about Twitter and how it can be useful even to people who don’t log on that often. She also touches on possible uses of Twitter for marketing and PR.

Download the podcast (23:27)

Creative commons photo by Doc Searles

45: The social media skeptic

Jennifer Mattern calls herself the “social media Grinch.” But that doesn’t mean she’s down on social media. On the contrary, her NakedPR blog is one of the more popular online journals in the PR world. It’s just that Jenn thinks the focus on social media can distract PR people from their real work, which is to influence the organizations that shape opinion and achieve business results for their clients. In this interview, she outlines her cautionary advice about social media and stresses the fundamentals that PR people still need to employ. She also discusses the value of press releases (they do have value, you know) and how to use the impressive list of free press release distribution sites that she’s assembled.

Download the podcast (18:28)

44: Internet marketing superlist author shares secrets

Late last month, a post appeared on Tamar Weinberg’s techipedia blog that stopped us in our tracks. It’s called Best Internet Marketing Blog Posts of 2007 and it weighs in at more than 8,500 words and 250 links to an amazing assortment of blog entries about everything from headline writing to linkbaiting to becoming a Digg.com power user. So we called up and Tamar and talked to her about how she assembled the list and what she learned in the process.

If you’re trying to figure out what social media is all about, listen to this interview. Tamar is a recent Columbia graduate who consults on social media marketing and who isn’t tainted by memories of how easy things used to be. She’ll tell you about behavioral and ethical standards of new media and give you a lot of practical advice. We certainly learned a lot!

Download the podcast (15:51)

Why you should never give an unrehearsed demo to a journalist with a video camera

Scott Kirsner (TPRWS episode 31) blogs about a disastrous live demo by an executive at Nuance Communications, one of the biggest players in speech recognition. The demo went so badly that the exec posted a follow-up on YouTube explaining what went wrong. A lot of reporters carry video cameras these days, so know what you’re doing before you agree to let them switch those devices on!

43: A roll of mints, a jug of cola and Wow!

Stephen Voltz and Fritz Grobe have turned chemistry into a viral video sensation. Their experiments mixing Mentos candies with Diet Coke have produced a series of online videos that have logged more than 40 million downloads and shaken up marketing at the Coca-Cola company. This week we snagged the duo, whose venture is known as Eepybird, and asked them about the secrets of their success. A hint: Don’t overdo it on production values, but pay attention to staging. Above all, keep it genuine.

Download the podcast (22:55).

39: Pitches, deadlines, and trade shows

This week our guest is Evan Schuman, who is the retail editor for eWeek and author of the blog www.storefrontbacktalk.com on retail technologies.

Evan has worked for Ziff and CMP for more than 20 years in various capacities, both for print and online media. He talks to David and Paul about how PR pitch him for expert interviews and things that he likes and doesn’t like about these pitches and how PR can make them more successful. He also talks about the meaning of deadlines in the online world and how hard it is to track down spokespeople during trade shows, among other pet peeves.

Download the podcast here (14:16).

37: How to measure social media success

This week our guest is Katie Paine, the social media measurement guru of the great northeast. Katie’s an experienced journalist and PR professional who has spent the last several years developing a business around understanding the payback of social media campaigns. She has strong opinions about what marketers should do.

Katie believes that the Internet is the most measurable medium ever invented, but that people generally don’t do a good job of using the metrics they gather. It’s not about bar charts, she says, it’s about trends. The important thing to measure is how your reputation in the blogosphere is developing over time, using a variety of promotional means.

Katie tells the story of the ASPCA, which had an epiphany when it realized there was a direct correlation between news stories in the media and traffic to its web site. The organization used this insight to increase contributions and membership.

Lots of services try to automate the task of measuring online conversations, but the human factor is still needed. Even Microsoft is on record as saying that machines alone aren’t up to the task of evaluating online results; people still need to interpret the data. In the early days of the Internet, measurement was all about total eyeballs, but Katie argues that the important factor today is audience engagement. In that respect, online media is a powerful complement to traditional media. You can use online metrics to assess the effectiveness of print and broadcast campaigns.

Listen to the podcast (18:39)

36: All about corporate blogging

This week’s virtual guest is Debbie Weil, author of The Corporate Blogging Book and an expert on business blogging. Paul met with Debbie at the BlogWorld Expo conference in Las Vegas and conducted a short interview, which we play here. Paul and David then discuss some of the more frequent questions they hear from PR professionals who are trying to get their executives on the Cluetrain.

Some major issues they address include:

• Should every company have a blog and are there alternatives that are superior for different business objectives?
• What do you do about reluctant executives who don’t see the value of online customer conversations?
• What should your blogging policy look like, or do you even need one?
• What are the different applications of blogs to achieving business goals?
• How do you deal with negativity? Should you enable customer comments and engage with persistently negative commenters?

Download the podcast (16:34)