Archive for December, 2006
New Year’s Resolutions
To help my clients meet their communications and marketing goals
To spend more time with my husband and son, with friends and family
To find at least five new clients
To post at least twice a week on this blog even when I am busy
To stick to my current exercise regime
To finally get the Marketing Roadshow podcast off the ground
To enjoy my connections with marketing & PR colleagues around the world, in both our virtual and real manifestations
And as I sign off for 2006, I would like to leave you with the lyrics of an old song that really resonated for me this year — May Every Day Be Christmas by Louis Jordan:
"May every day be Christmas
And every day be blessed
Let the end of every day be filled with happiness
And may the Lord be good to you with every rising sun
All through the day have a smile for everyone
[repeats] At night time comes a longing to be with ones you love
To sit around the fireside and dream of stars above
So may God bless you and keep you, come what may
Then every day will be a happy day [end repeat]
May good times come to you every day"
That is my wish for you, dear readers: May good times come to you every day!
Posted by Susan Getgood @
8:58 pm |
Askville
December 26, 2006 | Marketing
From the folks behind Amazon, a Web community called Askville. Concept: members pose questions about whatever they want. Other members in the community answer them. In this process, you earn coins which will have value of some sort in the not-too-distant future. There are a number of elements that increase the stickiness of the site - each question is limited to 5 answers, better answers get more points and so on. Read the FAQ if you really want to know. There’s also a blog and a discussion forum. And, oh yeah, you can easily insert product recommendations related to your answer…
So, is this a) the wisdom of crowds. b) the collective mind. c) another way to move product. or d) possibly all of the above?
I’m going with answer d, and a cautious congratulations to the developers of the site. The idea that everyone is an expert in something is a compelling one. Askville promises to give people an outlet to share that expertise without having to start a blog of their own or deal with the administrivia of open source endeavors like Wikipedia. And unlike other equally noble collective efforts, they’ve got a head start on getting adoption with the Amazon connection. I was pleased that the product recommendations are not limited to products available on Amazon. In the questions I poked around in, I saw links to all sorts of resources, Google maps, etc., so they definitely dodged a bullet that could have had them DOA.
But… before I give un an unqualified "YEAH," I’d like to know what the rewards will be, which is still unannounced. Given that this IS a commercial venture, the participants will expect real value for expertise, especially since they are being asked to conform to a structure.
My other concern is that the structure does seem a bit complex. When things get complicated like that, I always wonder if they are going to collapse under their own weight.
That said, I’m glad to see any recognition by big companies of the value and importance of community. Askville is still in beta and I imagine my questions, and many others, will be answered in due course.
Tags: Askville, Amazon, web community
Posted by Susan Getgood @
9:28 am |
Happy Holidays
Best wishes to everyone for a safe, happy and healthy holiday season.
Posted by Susan Getgood @
10:59 am |
More holiday
Yes, I am a Battlestar Galactica fan girl. I admit it.
Fellow fans, check out these holiday greetings from the blog The CIC.
Also — check out all the holiday stuff on the OfficeMax site. There is much more than the Elf — among other things, there is North Pole Dancing. Well done, OfficeMax.
Tags: holiday, santa, Battlestar Galactica, viral marketing, OfficeMax
Posted by Susan Getgood @
6:09 pm |
A little holiday cheer
A little viral cheer from OfficeMax (first seen on Whedonesque)
And don’t forget to track Santa on Norad
Tags: viral marketing, christmas
Posted by Susan Getgood @
8:16 am |
Pay Per Post now requires disclosure
BIG NEWS <snark> from Pay Per Post today. It now requires disclosure by participants that the postings are sponsored postings.
Umm, that’s great, but how come that wasn’t in place from the beginning?
I still do not think this is a good alternative to an ongoing blogger relations program. It might be a useful supplement, but it cannot replace something that comes from the heart or the mind, not the pocketbook.
Disclosure notice: This post is sponsored by nobody.
Tags: Pay per post, ethics, blogger relations
Posted by Susan Getgood @
2:36 pm |
How to get an “F” in blogger relations
Want to get an "F" in blogger relations?
Just follow this model, as humourously described by mom blogger Lindsay Ferrier.
Update: Another way to get an F, reported by Eric Eggertson; try to scam the social media sites (Digg et. al.)
Posted by Susan Getgood @
8:10 am |
Five Things You Don’t Know
I was tagged today by dear blog friend Mary Schmidt in what is apparently the latest blog meme going around. You are supposed to blog five things that folks don’t know about you and then tag five more people. Here goes.
1. This is the first time I’ve ever been tagged in one of these memes. Thanks Mary. Really. As Sally Field once said, "you like me, you really like me."
2. I am a closet romantic. No surprise to anyone who reads the blog that I am a huge science fiction/fantasy fan. What you don’t know is my shippy little heart. Aragorn and Arwen, Lessa and F’lar, Buffy and Spike, Mal and Inara, John and Aeryn (major swoon) and lately Starbuck and Apollo with a side dish of Adama and Roslin. (For the non-believers, Lord of the Rings, Dragonriders of Pern, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Farscape and Battlestar Galactica.) All started with LotR and Luke, Laura and General Hospital in the 70s and 80s.
3. I have a 6-foot cardboard Spike in my exercise room that my mom gave me for Christmas a few years ago. My husband keeps moving him to the basement and I keep bringing him back upstairs. At least I don’t put him in the bedroom 
4. Bond, James Bond. When I was 12 years old, I loved Roger Moore. He was a great successor to Sean Connery as James Bond. I also thought he was great in The Persuaders with Tony Curtis, a mostly forgettable series other than the buddy chemistry between the two leads. Back to Bond: Pierce Brosnan was great.. Less said about George Lazenby and Timothy Dalton the better. Looking forward to seeing what Daniel Craig has to offer.
5. My most vivid political memories from childhood. There are two. The first is a distinct memory of watching TV in my grandparents’ house and seeing the reports that Martin Luther King was dead. I don’t recall the rest, but my family tells me that I came downstairs and told them that the King was dead. Since the monarch of Britain was Queen Elizabeth, they were confused. I was only six years old. The second memory is a compound - the Watergate hearings and Nixon’s resignation. I was riveted. Probably part of the reason I am a lifelong Democrat.
Okay Andrea, Kami, Todd, Elisa and John, you’re up.
Tags: Five things you don’t know
Posted by Susan Getgood @
9:22 pm |
Thoughts on Social Media Press Release
The big news last week was Edelman’s social media press release tool. If you aren’t familiar with the details, check out these posts.
As usual, the PR blogosphere erupted.
Not all the commentary was critical, but clearly some of the criticisms were spurred by antipathy toward the firm itself, rather than any real issue with what they announced. Robert French had some of the best comments I’ve read; I agree with him on pretty much all points. When a "big name" screws up, whether Edelman or any other, by all means call them on it. But don’t call them on everything they do just "because." It’s childish and silly. The Edelman tool, called StoryCrafter, seems like a decent effort and they gave ample credit to prior efforts like the "open source" new media press release developed by SHIFT PR.
The more germane question, and Robert brings this up in his post as well, is do we really need a social media press release? Don’t misunderstand — I think the work folks are doing to integrate social media tools into the practice of public relations is extremely worthwhile. But I am often concerned that we spend far too much time debating the tools, and not nearly enough time discussing the more fundamental issues. Things like does the story actually have any news value? Is the press release, whatever format it is in, well-written? Are we reaching out — to media and to bloggers — in an ethical, honest manner? Todd Defren of SHIFT PR answers some of these questions in a follow-up post; he says that he’s not suggesting the social media press release discussion should replace the discussion of these other issues, merely sit alongside. Knowing Todd, I am certain that is true. But I still think we are missing the point.
A focus on public relations automation risks turning us into public relations automatons.
If the most valued PR skill set becomes whether someone understands metadata or can navigate social bookmarking, we will have fundamentally changed, and not for the better, the practice of public relations. The most important skill in this field shouldn’t be how well you automate. It should be how well you relate. Isn’t that why it is called public relations?
So let’s keep our eyes on the prize, and make sure we are clearly and honestly communicating the news to any and all interested parties. Whether they be intermediaries like journalists or participants like bloggers. Whether we use a social media press release, a newswire, the telephone or a tom-tom drum.
In fact, if your story is good, and you are telling it to the right people, it shouldn’t matter what tools you use to spread the word. Unless of course you happen to be reaching out to Tom Foremski. In which case I highly recommend a social media press release
Tags: PR, public relations, press release, social media press release, Edelman, StoryCrafter, SHIFT PR
Posted by Susan Getgood @
4:02 pm |
The giving season
December 9, 2006 | Charity
Things have been pretty hectic the last couple of weeks, with no signs of slowing down until after Christmas. So posting here will be quite sporadic.
Before I (sort of) disappear to the holiday rush, I wanted to remind readers and friends that the best business gifts are donations to charity. So when you sit down to send holiday gifts to your clients and employees, instead of a gift basket or a bottle of wine, consider making a donation. If you know the person well enough, it is nice if the charity is important to them, but that isn’t absolutely critical.
Here are the organizations that I am supporting this holiday season in honor of my clients:
Have a great holiday season, whatever traditions you celebrate, and don’t forget to drop a few bucks in the Salvation Army kettle.
Tags: charity, holiday gifts
Posted by Susan Getgood @
1:07 pm |
