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This and that, and Battlestar Galactica too

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Okay, folks, it is 9pm on a Friday of an amazingly busy week. Here’s some random stuff I’ve been thinking about.

Mary Schmidt has been on fire lately. Do yourself a favor and check out her blog if you haven’t already. One topic she covered this week was Blog or Website or both . Lately, I have been recommending that small businesses use blog development platforms like WordPress for their Web sites, as it lets them have a simple Web site with the option/flexibility of easily adding a blog to the site.

Meankids.org. Hhhm. I sense the fine hand of Chris Locke, once again (remember Kat Herding), and being a bit of a Rage Boy fan girl, I am enjoying the  irreverence. I can’t help it, folks. The language is profane, the subject matter often gross, but I love it when someone sticks pins in folks who take themselves way too frakking seriously.

Speaking of frakking, Battlestar Galactica got renewed.

Amen.

So say we all. 

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Other places I blog

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In addition to Marketing Roadmaps, I write on a few other blogs — some for clients, some simply as a contributor.

As I mentioned last week, a lot of my effort over the past week, both as writer and researcher, has gone into HP’s Backstage at Sundance blog. Among the highlights of the blog, exclusive live performances from Simon Townshend, Alexi Murdoch, and a duet with Glenn Hansard and Marketa Iglova, stars of the Sundance award-winning film Once. The Festival is over but there will be a few more posts over the next week to wrap up the story for the readers.

Robert French, professor at the University at Auburn, created the Marcom Blog three years ago for marketing and PR professionals to interact with and advise the students in his PR and Marketing Communications classes. I’ve been a contributor for about a year or so now, and I love the comments from the students, both on the Marcom blog and here on the Roadmap. I posted there today about the biggest value from blogging.

I also post semi-regularly on Multiple Choice, the blog of client Software Secure and do a couple of newsletters for clients.

Which is why sometimes the Roadmap goes a little silent 🙂  I’m writing, just not here.

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On a completely other note, Mary, Battlestar Sunday just isn’t the same as Battlestar Friday, is it?

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What’s so wrong about “audience?” – another social media press release flap

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Big blog kerfuffle over the social media press release.

Short story: Panel to discuss in San Francisco last week, including Shel Holtz and Chris Heuer. Stowe Boyd attends, writes critical post. Robert Scoble chimes in against press release. Lots of people comment.

As readers here know, I don’t have any problem with press releases, old or new format, as long as the PR people do the real job of crafting well written and  newsworthy announcements without BS. The press release and other materials created for announcements are just the documentation of the story. They aren’t the story.

However, I do want to comment on one aspect of the linguistic nit-picking that has crept into this disagreement, and that is the word "audience." Just exactly what is so wrong about talking about the audience?

When we tell a story, whether to a friend, a colleague, a journalist or a neighbor, in person or on a blog, to one person or many, we should always think about them. What are they interested in, how will this story be more compelling to them, how can I make this a better story for the person/people who are listening, what parts of the story will make them want to participate, pass it on, and so on. 

And guess what! Not all people are interested in all stories. Everyone doesn’t participate in every conversation, online or off. It helps us tell a better story when we think about the people who are most interested in it, and tell it for them. Telling it for them is what makes them want to chime in.

So, I suppose we could advise people to frame their stories, their blogs, their outreach to best reach "the people who are most interested in it." Or we could just get over ourselves and understand that "the people who are most interested in a story" are the audience for the story.  Doesn’t mean they are passive.  Doesn’t mean they don’t participate. Doesn’t mean we are simply talking to or at them, not with them. Doesn’t mean we aren’t part of our own audience — we are.

Just means they are the ones who care.

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I’m Backstage at Sundance

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In case any of you were wondering where I’ve been for the last week, and warning, where I am likely to be much of next week as well, I’m Backstage at Sundance.

Well not literally of course. I’m covering general news and monitoring the blogosphere for interesting Sundance tidbits for the HP blog, all from GetGood Strategic Marketing world headquarters in Hudson, Mass. But as we all know, there’s only so much time to blog in any given week, so for the next little while, most of my writing will be over there, not here. And of course there’s lots of great Sundance blogging from the folks on the ground at the festival — film reviews, press conference reports, celebrity sightings. Be sure to check it out.

A few things I definitely want to note for my marketing and PR readers. I posted yesterday at Backstage about how Sundance is really embracing social media. In the last two weeks, they announced deals with iTunes and YouTube. Starting Monday, folks will be able to purchase short films from this year’s festival on iTunes. And on YouTube, there’s going to be a Sundance Channel section with all sorts of Sundance content — festival coverage of course, but also clips from programming and so on. Not to mention the festival screenings being held in Second Life. More details and links in my post over at Backstage at Sundance.

HP is trying something new with the Backstage blog this year: "En Español." Many of the general posts as well as posts of interest to the Hispanic audience will be translated into Spanish. From HP Hispanic Marketing Manager Kathleen Haley’s post today:

… we will have the most exciting entries about the festival, as well as specific entries that are relevant to the Hispanic market and our Hispanic readers — whether that be a celebrity sighting, a great movie (Padre Nuestro or Summer Rain directed by Antonio Banderas) or a big event. Keep coming back to see the latest on HP and Sundance en Español!

Finally, regular readers know how strongly I feel about donating to charity, early and often. Friday at Sundance, actor Kevin Bacon announced a new charitable initiative that plays off the well known game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

Together with Network for Good, Bacon has created  sixdegrees.org, a charitable community in which celebrities and regular folks alike share their favorite charity. When you donate to someone’s charity through sixdegrees.org, you can display a “badge” from the person whose charity you supported on your Web site or blog. Linking us all together by doing good.

You can read more about sixdegrees.org and Network for Good at the Diva Marketing blog and my Backstage post (updated).

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