Killer PR - Driving Large Audiences

How PR and marketing can drive more readers to news stories featuring your company

Tom Foremski, former Financial Times reporter and editor of Silicon Valley Watcher, wrote a blog post about a killer public relations pitch for a journalist - a guarantee that the PR person could drive traffic to the story. Foremski said that journalists are being pressured to write stories on topics that will drive page views and that a clicks-for-coverage guarantee might push the reporter to cover a company. Foremski predicts that PR will learn to push traffic in the future, but I'd say that the future is already here. Practiced PR people already have several tools available to them that reliably drive large audiences to stories about their clients.

All of these tools are things you have heard of before, but when they are sharply focused they can drive thousands of unique visitors for a publisher. For some sites, this effort could double or triple their daily views. In addition to the benefits to the publisher, this promotional approach helps a company merchandise its successes quickly and consistently.

Six steps to drive traffic to news stories:

1. Build loyal Twitter following - Appoint at least one person to be your Twitter ambassador to help build a loyal following. Preferably you should develop several executives, product managers, engineers or other industry passionates to engage with the community. When relevant to their followers, they can be a great channel to share your latest New York Times story.

2. Send stories out to sales teams and sales channels - Merchandise the stories so they are easy for sales teams to share with their customers and prospects. This is good news and it deserves its own email with a well-constructed headline so busy sales people take the time to read it. If you are a multi-million dollar company, you likely have thousands of sales people, customers and channel partners that are eager to read the top-tier stories. Their livelihoods are closely tied to your promotional efforts and they want to know what third parties are saying. Throwing it at the bottom of a monthly marketing update email won't help much. Take the time to summarize the story and write it so readers can easily forward it to their network.

3. Build an email list and RSS feed of news stories - Your press section of your Web site probably already lists your top news stories. Add a way for visitors to subscribe to the feed with email and RSS. I worked for a start-up company that built up a list of over 1000 subscribers to its opt-in list. Examination of the list showed that most of our channel, customers, investors and even prospects asked to get this news pushed to them. The list grew on its own without any nurturing from the marketing team. It became one of our best promotional assets and it cost us nearly nothing to build.

4. Socialize your news - Post the news stories to your company's moderated social media sites such as its Facebook Fan page. People are fans because they want to know more about your brand and products. Keep the content fresh and build your community with your hottest hits.

5. Company sponsored media channels - Larger companies have lots of channels, such as newsletters, that reach out to their internal and external publics. Be sure your best news stories are promoted in these outlets. This tactic doesn't drive immediate traffic to the story, but it can add a lot of volume over a longer period.

6. Measure the traffic - The publication's Web site manager may notice a spike in traffic to one story, but it isn't guaranteed the reporter will know that it came from your efforts. Closely track the traffic that you are generating for the story by using a unique Bit.ly link in your promotion of the story. This will allow you to count the number of times that someone with your link clicked on the story. Also, count the number of Tweets that link to the story using tools like Topsy. In your next conversation with the reporter, let them know that you saw the large audience for the story. Also, share this information with your boss - you are driving thousands of additional impressions for your brand and you should get credit.

With this list, I'd also like to add some caution. Please respect the terms of use of social media sites. Don't AstroTurf them with your votes or posts. It's perfectly OK to post your news to your Facebook Fan site, but it would be unethical to drive your employees to Digg a story to drive up its popularity. Your goal is to help people read the news who have an interest in your company, not artificially inflate it. If popularity or ranking is the purpose of the social media Web site (like Digg, and Reddit), think twice before you canvass for votes. Send your followers to the original news story to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.

Also, it is important to keep a close eye on the ethical implications of your story promotion efforts. Just like it would be unethical to offer a reporter money for a story, it seems difficult to expressly promise clicks for coverage. I'd never promise a client that I can get coverage in a specific publication. In the same spirit, I'd never want to promise a reporter that I'd drive traffic on a specific story. Generally I'd recommend that PR people build relationships of trust with reporters and the reporters will look to you for assistance in building and promoting their stories.

PR and marketing teams that become media companies and develop their communication channels have the opportunity to greatly increase the readership of news stories. A disciplined approach can increase brand impressions without any additional cost. So, if a killer pitch includes lots of readers, then PR is ready, well, to kill.

Connecting with Colleagues in the Silicon Valley

How to effectively network with marketing and PR people in the Silicon Valley.

A couple of times a month a colleague will ask me how to go out and meet new people in the public relations and marketing industry. Since I'm giving this advice all the time, I thought I'd put it in one place. If you have suggestions, please add your favorite networking event in the comments.

The first place to start is Facebook Events. In the San Francisco Bay Area, this is the single best place to find networking opportunities. The digital cork board for these events changes every few years, but right now Facebook is the best place. Everyone that has an event puts it on Facebook because they know it will get easily shared on people's Facebook wall. As soon as you get to the Facebook Events page, click on the Friends' Events tab to see the events that your friends are attending or hosting. This filter will help you quickly find an event that someone you trust has already evaluated.

If you don't have a Facebook account, please create one so you can connect with all your current friends and colleagues. No need to meet new people if you aren't maximizing your current network. I strongly believe that online interactions lead to more real-world connections. If you don't believe me, come to one of these events and I'll be happy to convince you. :)

I've put together a great list of organizations that are generally focused on PR, marketing, technology and social media. I regularly attend these events and I find them quite helpful, well-organized and fun. I normally set a goal for myself to add one person to my network at each of these events. Everyone that attends is there to meet new people so it is easy to approach a new face and strike up a conversation.

Where to network with PR and marketing people:

• PRSA Silicon Valley
  
• PRSA San Francisco
  
• San Francisco New Tech
• Silicon Valley New Tech
• Silicon Valley American Marketing Association
  
• Social Media Club
• Girls In Tech
• TechKaraoke
  
• Silicon Valley Tweetup
• LinkedIn Events - Like Facebook, LinkedIn is a great place to connect with colleagues and friends. The events section should be checked if you are looking for industry specific events.

Whether you are looking for a job, new clients or just getting to know more people, the events by these organizations will help you connect with your colleagues.

Do you have a great networking event? Please let us all know about it by posting a comment.

(Disclosure: I serve on the PRSA Silicon Valley board of directors as the immediate-past president.)

Pimp my event with Twitter

Engage with top Tweeps to drive attendance at events, conferences and networking mixers.

Public relations and marketing professionals are trying to figure out how to incorporate the promotional power of Twitter into their events. Instinctively, you have a feel that Twitter is a perfect tool to promote the event and engage with your audience, but you may get stuck on where to start. I've used Twitter over the past year for several networking mixers, trade shows and professional development events. Used well, the communication tool will drive more attendees to your events, increase the event's brand equity and increase your media coverage.

Before we dig into how, I'd like to quickly talk about why. Twitter could just be one more hassle in a already complicated event. Let me explain why it is worth it for both the small professional organization all the way up to the 30,000 attendee conference.

First, I assure you that people are already Tweeting about the conference before and during your event. The conversation is already occurring so you should join it.

Second, if you don't claim your position as event organizer, someone else on Twitter will. So, doing a little organizing of the conversation will help you monitor it and increase the quality of the discussion.

Finally, Twitter will drive more registrations to your events and it is a measurement dream. It is easy to tell exactly how many people clicked on your Tweet invitation to register. Take that data to your marketing team and they are sure to fund these efforts in the future.

I've organized these tips into three categories: promotion, engagement and measurement.

How to promote your event using Twitter

1. Set up a hash tag for your event - If you only do one thing, do this one. Set up a hash tag for your event so everyone has an easy way to follow the Tweets about the event and so you can monitor the conversation. It should be short, but very obvious. For example, if you are doing an event for the PRSA Silicon Valley chapter, make the hash tag #prsasv. Put the hash tag on every registration email, promotional email, panel PowerPoint and printed hand-out. You want everyone to use the same one.

2. Invite Tweeps with lots of followers to attend the event for free - People with a large following are sure to drive a lot of people to your event. Once they know they are receiving a free conference or event pass, they are likely to push out the information to their followers and continue the conversation during the event. At one event I organized, we allowed all the high-follower Tweeps into the press room where they had Internet access, food and the exclusivity normally reserved for reporters. These people Tweeted almost constantly during the event to their large following. We recruited these Tweeps through the Web site and verified that they had a large and relevant following. They also happened to know all the parties and made the after-event scene a lot of fun.

3. Email speakers with a suggested Tweet and a discount code - Weeks or months before the event, send an email to your conference speakers with a suggested Tweet. Crafting the suggestion allows them to cut and paste it into Twitter and encourages them to include all the needed details. Because they are speaking at the event, they are likely to enthusiastically share it with their followers. Also, give them a special registration discount code so your speakers feel they have something unique and valuable to offer their followers.

How to engage with event attendees using Twitter

1. Display the Twitter stream at the event - Conferences seem to have screens everywhere. Dedicate a few of them in the hallways to displaying the Twitter stream. This physical reminder of the online conversation will incourage people to Tweet more often and serves as a good information point for those who aren't closely monitoring Twitter. I've also seen it used to bring in those who weren't able to be there in person.

2. Ask for questions through Twitter - By engaging the audience through Twitter, you encourage more people to ask more questions and you help people keep their questions honest. They are among their professional peers and they are unlikely to ask unfair questions. I've also seen panelists and moderators who have been corrected when the material isn't meeting the needs of the audience.

3. Recognize strong Tweets with an @reply - Very quickly the stronger Tweeps will surface in the online conversation. Send a Tweet out that recognizes their work with the conference hash tag to encourage others to follow them. This act will drive the strongest Tweeps to continue their reporting and point the conference followers to these emerging leaders.

4. Tweet the after-parties and activities - When people travel for events, often they are in a town they don't know and are eager to meet their colleagues. Actively organize the after-event parties and activities and Tweet them. This added value to the attendees will drive more people to follow you and also help them to listen to your information during the standard conference hours.

5. Post photos and links to live video - Twitter might be 140 characters, but the platform allows you to make the conference interactive and dynamic by adding links to photos, videos and recordings of the sessions. This content is interesting for those attending the event, but also elevates the stature of the conference for those who couldn't make it this time. I use Twitpic for photos and 12seconds for video.


How to monitor and measure the Twitter conversation

1. Monitor the conversation in real-time - To keep your eye on the conversation, use a tool like TweetDeck or Seesmic that allows you to easily see, sort and reply to Tweets about the event.

2. Use a URL shortening service to count clicks - To count the number of times people click on the links in your Tweets, use a URL shortener that includes stats such as Bit.ly. For example, I recently blogged titled How to influence the influencers. I used a Bit.ly link to direct people to my blog. This data shows that 255+ people clicked on my Tweet and all the people that ReTweeted it. With this data, it is easy to show the Tweets that are working to drive traffic to your registration page and the Tweets that might need a little rewording.

Twitter is appearing at every event and PR and marketing professionals have the opportunity to engage with the community in ways that help build relationships and expand the influence of the conference. If you take just a few minutes to consider these points well before the event, you will grow your event's brand equity and probably increase your revenues.

Have I missed something? Please take a moment to share with me your successes and failures. If you have tools that work better than the one's I've mentioned, I'd love to hear about it.

Resources:

• For those looking for a nice video tutorial on Twitter, please go here.