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Just Follow Gini Dietrich
 There are now about a bazillion books on Twitter and Facebook, and there are hundreds of social media conferences and untold numbers of social media “experts.” Some actually have a clue about what they are doing, but most are nothing short of redundant. In fact, I am fairly certain that I have un-followed more so-called social media “experts” than anyone else. The truth is there is only so much you can learn in a book. If you want to do it right, just follow Gini Dietrich, @ginidietrich.
As a creative director for Dashal.com (@dashalgroup) I make it my business to always be up to date on the latest social media techniques. Clients pay Dashal to create and execute their social media campaigns. Although I would put Gini Dietrich in the list of competitors, she is a prime example of how to effectively communicate with social media. It is nice to see someone else who “gets” it.
Gini Dietrich is the CEO of Arment Dietrich, an award winning PR firm located in Chicago, Illinois and has recently branched out into teaching corporate social media and online brand management and communication strategies. Gini is also the author/creator of http://www.spinsucks.com a blog against destructive spin (a must read).
What separates Gini Dietrich from about a million other PR firms and social media “experts”? For one, she is a born educator. I am always learning from her. When Gini recommends a link, I open it because I know it is something worth reading. She is also very supportive. Gini is no stranger to re-tweeting and using her follower base to help promote a friend or something she believes in.
One thing that Gini Dietrich does better than much, is she is engaging. She wants to know what you think and why you think it. Most bloggers (me included) will post an article and just read the comments. Not Gini; she views those comments as a conversation and puts herself right in the middle to start a conversation. She is a born communicator. There is a reason why every post she writes on Facebook is inundated with comments. There is a reason why http://www.spinsucks.com has comments on every post and very lengthy ones at that. Gini uses social media to communicate, not to give a million quotes and pitch a million products. She actually does what all of those books and conferences preach. She engages people and learns from them as well as teaches them.
Don’t take my word for it. Follow Gini Dietrich on Twitter (@ginidietrich), and see for yourself. You will learn more than reading 10 books on Twitter and Facebook. Make sure to take notes.
Web PR The Silent Ninjas of Public Relations
 Web PR is the Gorilla Warfare approach to public relations that few public relations agencies employ, but that is growing every day. It is not exactly a widely known specialty and is mostly contracted out to firms like Dashal.
Nothing can spread buzz or information faster than the internet. If a story is posted on a popular internet site, it is then blogged and spread over social media faster than it took me to get my morning coffee. Oops, forgot to stir it, I will be right back. Okay, so a good firm that specializes in Web PR can spread much press and buzz about a story rather quickly and is an extremely valuable tool in traditional public relations. If the product or service or person you are trying to publicize is generating buzz online, that reporter you are pitching will look at your press release a little differently than if there was no presence. Their business is to sell newspapers and advertising or at least that’s their editors’s job.
Just like traditional Public Relations, Web PR is for good times and especially for bad! Although Web PR is a fantastic tool for creating buzz, it is even more essential for combating negative press and feedback. This is the reason why it is most often contracted out to a specialist firm. Now we get into the Gorilla Warfare aspect of it. The top secret, don’t tell message will self-destruct in five seconds pat. When negative press hits the wire, depending on what it is, the traditional Public Relations firm goes into crises mode. The partner will dash out of the office to conduct an emergency meeting and the little PR peeps will hit the phones frantically trying to kill the story or work to issue a corrective statement. This is where the Web PR team helps to soften the blow. There are a few main techniques that are employed.
To summarize, the job of Web PR people’s job in the combating of negative press is to cast a shadow of doubt.
1. The normal strategy in casting a shadow of doubt is to create an article doing just that and blast it over the internet. If done right, it should be on major search engines in as little as an hour. How do you do that? You can either hire Dashal or read the book Web PR if we ever write one :o).
2. Most online publications and blogs have comment sections which is very useful. Even if there are ten comments that side with the negative press, one or two anonymous comments can cast that essential shadow of doubt. Obviously the more comments on the story, the more counter comments that are needed.
3. Full-on Social Media assault. You will be amazed at the amount of buzz you and your Twitter family can generate within a matter of minutes. People love gossip and if you make the story interesting enough, it will be blasted everywhere while you go get your second cup of coffee. Be right back!!!
Now I have the bring out the fresh taste of Folgers in your cup song stuck in my head. Will have to combat that noise with the new Black Eyed Peas album. Ah, much better.
In short, traditional public relation firms are vital for enhancing your brand, creating buzz, and protecting their client’s image and brand from negativity. However in today’s world, traditional public relations firms are using Web PR firms like Dashal to greatly enhance their power over their clients publicity.
Somebody has to do the dirty work~
Ride the Social Media Bandwagon or Lose Your Clients
 Recently, Dashal received a fantastic question on our blog. Cindy Kim, a Corporate Communications Executive from Scottsdale, Arizona asked us this question:
What is your recommendation for agencies that have yet to launch their SM strategy or have no presence at all? I know of several and it? baffling to me that they are in this wait and see mode. Their media buying is the traditional approach. So I would like to get some recommendations on why it is critical for agencies to get started and how this impacts results and branding?
Well according to the classic adage, there are no stupid questions, and this is absolutely not one of them. The question is so critical and timely that Dashal had to respond immediately on our blog.
Were just happy to be able to answer this brilliant question in response to Dashal’s recent interview about advertising agencies and social media:
http://www.dashal.com/comments/dashal_interviewed_about_social_media_and_advertising/
Any agency that is not engaged with social media is just like any public relations firm that is not blasting RSS feeds from their own corporate website. Both types of firms are social-media-phobic and are doing a huge disservice to their clientele. In today’s market, your clients deserve an agency that is both technically savvy and fully vested in social media tools and practices. And, if you don?�塟 step up to the plate, your clients will turn elsewhere.
Let’s take a look at some current social media usage statistics. Facebook reports that they currently have over 122 million total users and Twitter posts about 22 million average monthly visitors. The difference between social media and traditional advertising is simple. When your company has a friend a follower or a fan you have the ability to talk with them again and again and again without having to purchase advertising space to distribute the message each time. Not only can you reach your friends, fans, and followers, but you have the potential to reach deep into their extended circles of personal friends and contacts. Then, if your friends and fans each tell two friends, and they tell two friends, and so on, and so on. You get the picture; the reach of your message expands exponentially, all without the additional hard cost of purchased ad space.
Social media is also extremely powerful in regards to the feedback loop both for customer service and new product development. In the world of social media, active participants do not hesitate to tell you what’s on their mind for good and for bad. You are able to get instant feedback from your customers about your product or service. In the best case scenario, your customers rave about your fantastic product or service or give you ideas for new product development. In the worst case scenario, you can also receive negative feedback. But, this too, turns into a positive in short order. Previously, you could not have imagined real-time feedback from customers. Now, if you receive a negative review or comment, you can address the situation immediately and in real time. That’snever been possible before.
Here is the best advice that I can offer for an agency that is on the sidelines of social media: start today (as in right this minute) or direct your clients to another agency, an agency with bona fide experience in the field. If the agency (or its principals) lack a Facebook page and/or a Twitter account, you shouldn’t take social media advice from them.
If you are starting on your own in the social media world and you are trying to build a presence, the most important thing you need to do is start.
The first thing that your company needs to do is to answer the following question: What do you want social media to do for you and your company, product, brand, or service? Will you use social media to field new ideas for product development? Will you use the media as another customer service channel to decrease your call center costs? Will you use social media to help define and preserve your brand identity? Then, decide how you are going to measure the success of your strategy. For example, if you decide to use social media to augment your customer service channel, will you measure success by a decrease in the number of calls that your off-shore call center fields?
From there, determine which social media tool sets will help you best achieve this objective. Twitter? Facebook? YouTube? It’s free and easy to set up your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Tell all of your friends, and ask them to tap into their networks on your behalf. Here is where the social part of social media comes in telling your friends and asking them to tell their friends is just like having a fun conversation. Make yourself interesting. Would you want to have a conversation with your online identity? People will spread the word if you are engaging and un-friend or un-follow you if you’re boring. Rude? Sure, but it is how the social media game is played.
If you ask people to follow you or be your friend in most cases they will. People arent as evil as I normally rant about. But, turnabout is fair play. Then, return the favor when your friends ask you the same favor. It is all about being social! You never know who you will meet across these extended networks; your next great lead might just come from a friend of a friend of a friend. Then, spread the word as far and as wide as possible. Put your social media address on your website making it easy for everyone to be a friend or follower. Stamp it on all of your print marketing material. I even include our Dashal Twitter account on my work email signature. Use social media as a powerful tool that can enhance your brand significantly because of the power of your extended network. Be prepared for the number of people who will see your logo and your company on a daily/weekly basis to grow exponentially. You and your brand will become a household name within this extended network even if you are not in real life.
Results as you know can vary, but let’s take a look at the @dashahlgroup Twitter account as an example. Right now we have about 2,100 followers which is not bad for a very new account. If we post a URL on one of our blog posts we average about 2 to 4% conversion of people who actually go to our website to read it. So if I post that same URL on Twitter 6 to 8 times in a single day, an additional 100 to 200 people will read that blog from the Twitter post alone. Our Facebook page averages about a 20% lift. Keep in mind that once your accounts are established and you have a solid network, it is free to post your articles, your blogs, your products, whatever. Also if people like what you have Tweeted or posted on Facebook, they are likely to spread the word, RT (Retweeting, to those of you still learning) or repost it on Facebook, an almost daily occurrence on our posts.
For agencies with limited social media knowledge and its affective usage, we suggest that you work with an experienced firm like Dashal. And, trust me, we are always more than happy to help. I have never subscribed to the theory that I know everything. And, well, most of the time, I don’t. If your agency cannot best help you in this particular area, just find someone who can.
Dashal does social media for several agencies and public relation firms on a third-party contract basis. They simply outsource the work to us and bill the client themselves.
On the surface, the power of social media is the ability to post freely (and frequently!) without having to purchase advertising space, every single time you want to say something. However, the true power of social media lies in the extended personal networks into which your friends, fans, and followers will distribute your message. Spreading your message has never been easier.
There are also several other techniques out there including my favorite, Internet Public Relations. That article will be coming very soon to the Dashal blog. In the mean time, please post any additional questions that you would like us to answer.
Business Is Like Dating
Times have changed. This isn’t where you begged the media to feature your story and spent most of your capital on advertising. The public’s IQ has tripled these last 30 years with the invention of new technology like computers, cell phones, wide use of the internet, etc.
You have to realize that with the internet, the public sees thousands of pitches and ads. The media is inundated with firms trying to pitch their story, or press releases. What makes it that much worse, is that many newspapers and media outlets are failing. It is hard work trying to place a story or release when the outlet is holding on to every subscriber for dear life. How do you make your message stand out?
This is why you should approach your publicity like you are on a date. Now, is your date going to be more successful if you just talk about yourself and how great you are at everything, or will it be more successful with you mixing it up, talking about yourself, but also asking them questions and getting to know what their wants and needs are?
The most brilliant salespeople in this world do not come across as selling on the first sentence, even though they are, (Always Be Closing). You have to engage your target audience and get to know them. You need to know what makes them tick. You have to write content that people want to read. This is how you will get the media to pick your articles/releases, and how you will get your customers to read them. Give them what they want. They don’t want a company writing three paragraphs about how great their product or service is. Give them content that they will enjoy reading and learn from. You do that, and they will spread the word for you.
Instead of going up to your customer at a bar and saying “are your legs tired, they have been running through my mind all day,” instead try “Hi. I am Nick and it is nice to meet you.”
Dashal’s Article #1 Spot on Google
Not sure how long my article will remain #1 but will enjoy it while it lasts :o).
Your Public Relations Firm Is Not Your Sales Staff
There is a common misconception that a PR firm sells your product or service and the response to that is, “Not really.” Do not blame your PR firm if you cannot sell your product or service.
I have stated repeatedly that your focus should be on your conversion ratios. It doesn’t matter if you have the best PR firm in the business, their job is to bring people to you, not convert them into sales. How do you convert the customers that your PR firm worked their butt off bringing to you?
“The most valuable commodity I know of is information.” Gordon Gecko.
You focus your energy on converting sales and let them focus their energy on getting the customers to come to you. I tell all of my clients before you launch a new website or product or service, you need to test your conversions and customer feedback. The best way I found is using PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising. You can see how effective your website and ad campaign really are before you blow your advertising budget. It is also a fantastic way for keeping things more quiet then being in the Times. It is all about adjusting your website, your ad campaign and your message to perfection first.
Do you think a company like Microsoft is going to release a product without a test campaign and focus groups?
You are in a great position right now because you have all the tools available that will enable you to track in your effectiveness in real-time.
Why bet it all on red, when you can stack the chips in your favor? Why bet on 50% when you can have 100%?
5 SEO Tricks For Your Company’s Blog
I see several blog mistakes everyday from corporate blogs that are not only hurting their search engine rankings, but in other cases making them obsolete. Here are 5 quick tips that can greatly improve your SEO without much effort.
External Blogs: The biggest mistake your company can make is having an “external” blog. The entire idea behind having a corporate blog is to get attention by bringing people to your company to sell your products or services. Why then would you want to bring people to an external site? (company.blogger.com, company.wordpress.com, etc.). You are already paying to host your website. By having an internal blog (http://www.company.com/blog), you will substantially improve traffic to your corporate site because people will be directed right to it. It is anathema to bring traffic to your website from a blog that is not on your website. It is incredibly easy to implement your blog from your own site. Just download the CMS (content management system), i.e., Wordpress, Joomla, Typepad, etc., onto your server in a folder (blog, etc.). It is just as easy to host your own blog as it is for them to host it for you. You are already paying for hosting and 95% of the time it will have a database included.
Blog Titles: Make sure that the (title) portion of the blog page has the title of the article contained therein. I cannot express the importance of this enough. Naturally, your main blog page will have a generic title, but your comments page should ALWAYS have the title of the particular article. This could mean the difference between being on page 1 on Google or page 40. The code for the title is already in your template (blog section). Just copy and paste between your (title) tags.
META Tags: META tags are actually not as important as the title, but are still very important. Although Google does not place much importance on them, a number of other search engines do. The META tags need to have relevance to your posting to improve search engine optimization. These tags should not solely be about your company. When I am writing a blog, I create a special field called “tags” and each time I write a new article I include relevant keywords to the article. You simply place the CMS form tag in your HTML (title) tags. Example: (title)some of the company information(tag or PHP code for CMS for tages)(/title).
Email Field: Almost every blog has an Icon to subscribe to RSS feeds. Most people are not going to go through the work of an RSS feed unless they know you, even though it is a minimal amount of work at best. You need to allow them to just put in their email address and press subscribe. Not only is this extremely simple, it goes right into their email each time you have a new post. Due to time constraints, people are much more likely to read your posts in their email versus going to your blog every day. I use Feedburner.com. It is free, and super simple to use. By subscribing to the free service yourself, it will also ping your blog automatically to other media sites.
Plug It: When you write an article/post, take ten minutes to plug it. There are several free sites out there that give you “instant” search engine results. You do not have to wait for Google or Yahoo to get around to crawling your blog. Search engines already have websites they crawl as soon as they are updated. Technorati, Digg, Twitter, Buzzit.com, are just a few of the networks who will get you on Goggle almost instantly. Not only will pinging and submitting your article give you almost instant Google results, it will also help your website’s SEO because you are going to generate a lot more link traffic, which is one of the biggest factors in getting you listed on top.
All five of these changes you should be able to do yourself or pay a web developer professional to achieve for you inexpensively.
Is Zookz.com The Next Napster?
Zookz.com is brand new company that offers unlimited downloads of movies and music for a low monthly fee. I was able to try out the website for a week and here is my review.
When I first heard about Zookz.com, I was a bit skeptical. Upon hearing that downloading was unlimited for a monthly fee, my first thought was, well, so is Napster, Music Rhapsody, and several others. I was also even more skeptical about it only being $9.95 a month for music. So, what is the catch?
I logged into my account at Zookz.com and I really enjoyed the fact that it was browser based. At first, I didn’t like the basic look of the site, however I changed my opinion shortly after I realized this is a site about downloading movies and music and not about selling fabric softener. I changed my tune (remember as a web designer I am ultra picky). I downloaded song after song and then I realized I could just download the entire album, which made life much simpler. It was about two hours later of downloading and downloading that I realized the true beauty of Zookz.com. All of this music I was downloading was just a regular MP3 format that was being downloaded right to my hard drive. I actually was able to keep what I was downloading. I wasn’t tied down to having the service and could transfer it to any device I wanted. I figured that because they were just launching there had to be something wrong with the service or something. So, I did my checking around and nothing was wrong. They actually let you KEEP the music. I have now downloaded over 70 albums and can’t get enough. Last night, I started downloading movies as well and just like the music, I downloaded it right to my hard drive and was able to play them without being logged into the site whatsoever. I even burned the DVDs and played them on my Xbox 360 with no problems.
I do have a few negatives about the site. I couldn’t tell what I downloaded without having to look at my own hard drive. They also have a very basic search function making it a little difficult to find what you are looking for, however when I just searched by letter, it became much easier. I wish they had AJAX built into the website so that you could see what was downloading in real-time. Also, the website really needs a visible internal queue set up so I don’t have to wait for each download or have a million external browser windows open. It would also be nice if the website was a bit more colorful and inviting. Another problem I have overall is that the database is pretty limited. I found a ton of things to download and still have a huge list, however it doesn’t really compare to Napster yet, but with Zookz.com uploading several new movies and music daily, I am sure it will catch up eventually. It is also really fantastic that you can request what you want and they will just upload it for you to download which is a HUGE plus.
My overall review is this: Zookz still has a lot of work to do on their UI (user interface) and overall technology. There are many more movies and music that need to be uploaded, but for $9.95 to download AND use the media all that you want and on any device, you simply cannot beat it. In this regard, it does not compare to the other download websites. I think if Zookz works on their website technology, and has the right marketing plan, and word of mouth, this website could be just as big as a Napster. I don’t like the limited database, but they upload whatever I want with a simple request form. So, with a little patience, (usually about a week), you will have the music and movies you want. Honestly with the 70 albums already downloaded, it would take me months to even get to it anyway…
Zookz.com definitely has a thumbs up from Dashal and I am excited for the future with better technology and overall UI.
Your Website Matters More Than You Think
It is still shocking to me how many companies still don’t get it. Your website is everything, it is your product, it is your service, it is who you are. Even if you meet a client in person they will go to your website you can count on it. Not only should your website be professional, it shouldn’t look like every other website. Do you know how many blogs have the same boring word press theme? How is that going to separate them from the rest? Designing a website isn’t about knowing HTML/CSS and it certainly isn’t about who is the cheapest. Your specialty is your business or blog; it doesn’t mean your specialty is Internet branding.
You pay tens of thousands for advertising yet you spend a grand on your website? Success is 100% dependent upon your conversion ratio. How many customers/clients you convert, it is as simple as that. Your website should be your main focus. It doesn’t matter how many people know about you if they aren’t buying!!! Does it make sense to spend $20,000 on advertising, $1,000 on a website and achieve a 1% conversion ratio or does it make sense to spend $5,000 on a website, $15,000 on advertising and achieve a 5% conversion ratio? The higher closing ratio will follow you just like the lower ratio for future ad buys.
When hiring a design firm, remember it isn’t just about how pretty they can make it look, it is about UI (user interface), it is about SEO and it is about your conversion ratios. Why do successful companies hire top advertising companies? It is because their advertising companies have the experience to know what will work or will not. They know what makes a consumer buy. Your website is your ultimate testimonial and client base. It builds trust. If a company has a bad website I simply won’t do business with them. Why? Because if they can’t even have their own website designed properly how on earth am I going to trust their product or service? In order to be successful one must look successful. Do you think your going to get that conversion because of a testimonial and an existing client base? Sure it helps, but your competition has the same. Your Internet presence is what will separate you. Remember 100% of clients will look at your site.
Make the initial investment and hire a firm that knows what they are doing and has experience in advertising. It WILL increase your ROI significantly and it will be worth it 100% of the time in the long and short run.
Burger King’s Ad Brilliance
Burger King’s public relations & marketing firm are nothing short of brilliant. Is their latest ad in low taste? Definitely! Did their objective work? Absolutely! This is the out-of-the-box thinking that separates the major players from the nobodies.
Any company can get a certain amount of publicity if they have money for ad space and their PR firm has a big enough rolodex. If you are creative enough with your approach, not only will exposure cost significantly less, you will have reporters and consumers doing the publicity for you.
Let’s take Burger King’s latest ad as a prime example. Burger King knew exactly what they were doing by releasing the campaign. It was causing pure shock value. Not only did the ad itself attract attention, but it was in all of the major news organizations. Not just agencies publishing their press release, but their actual reporters writing articles themselves. All of a sudden Burger King’s little tasteless ad is everywhere and people are talking to one another. Burger King took its one PR firm and turned it into a hundred PR firms working for free.
How can Burger King get away with this? For one they have a very established brand and loyal fan base. They are big enough to drum up the attention and have a history of this type of advertising. Who is creepier than the mascot? It is that edge that separates them from the competition.
Yes that ad is going to offend some women, however only a small percentage of them are not going to get a Whopper because of it and the publicity will far outweigh that.
It is the classic case of oops sorry to have offended anyone, we will pull the ad immediately just like planned. Their ad wasn’t designed to get you to buy their latest sandwich, it was designed to get you talking about Burger King and that is exactly what it did.
You don’t always have to have the new product to be successful. You just need to know how to market it uniquely and to get the most bang for your buck.
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