Most Influential PR?

Well, I was shocked last night when I found out that I have been listed as one of the most influential people in PR in PR Week's Power Book. Completely forgotten I had completed a form many months ago and so a nice surprise for me at the launch of the Power Book (wondered why I had been invited!) at the Maddox Club (wouldn't advise it for use for anything other than a cool place for a drink) in London. Anyway, on my way home, with my Power Book proudly tucked under my arm, my father called so as any daughter would do I shared my new status with him. First he laughed heartily and then his only comment was 'Is it hardback or paperback?' - nice to know you have the continued support and admiration of your parents.

Tech news links 17/03/08

Managing director of Guardian says digital media is "smashing traditional media business models" from Press Gazette

Friendfeed is getting a lot of hype - bring all your social media feeds together as one, from ReadWriteWeb

Neil McIntosh does a nice job on the fallout from the Lacey/ Mark Zuckerberg interview at South by SouthWest digital conference in Austin - note, when speaking in public remember it's no longer to the 30 people in front of you

Bebo bought by AOL, from PaidContent's summary of news updates

Interesting stats - China is about to pass US in terms of internet users from Strange attractor

Three new mobile social networks taking off big time... from 1000heads - kind of like Twitter with more social tools

Web user behaviour tracking (which has been going on for years) gets another look re privacy issues from BBC's Darren Waters

Womma post linked to MediaWeek figures on amount of social network users going mobile

Lecture in Leeds

Helen and i have just given talk to students at Leeds uni about social media. Only three bloggers in the audience but lots of interest at the end of presentation. Dont think number would be same in US uni.

Chameleon in Bristol

New office view over the South West city.

Tech links 20/02/08

Interesting snippets over the last two weeks...

Yahoo buyout story of week with Microsoft and News Corp in the pot from BBC Online

Darren Waters and Rory Cellan-Jones reported all last week from 3GSM via mobile phone video footage and their dot.life blog. Loads of interesting interviews to check out all loosely still around whether internet services work on the mobile. Link here has details of Nokia's idea for mobile content and social networking share.ovi.com

Sessmic gets Valentine's funding round from great and good from FT

PDA roundup includes Spinvox (that Chameleon PR launched) hook up with micro-blogging platforms. Talk your microblog into your mobile and let Spinvox do the rest!


Interesting take on describing social media "campaigns" from buzz marketing


Tips from Charles Arthur on managing your RSS feeds

From BBC - eBay to ban negative seller views - mutal feed is what their whole company was built on, the ability to gain real feedback from sellers and buyers. If the process is squewed we only get one side of the story?

Web 2.0 book might be worth a read detailed on CNet

What does Web 2.0 mean for your business from Mycustomer.com

How Google search works from redorbit

Trouble at t'Facebook mill from Slashdot

Personal best - that's what the clock says

I completed Sussex Beacon half marathon on Sunday - with no end of performance stats to expose the part-time runner.

Runners' bibs had a chip inside that triggered the timer as they went through the start and they were tagged by the timer at the finish for their time; others checked their times for each mile their watches (well, some did). Best of all, cutting edge runners had a chip in their trainers that provided real time data wirelessly to their i-pod.

Had I connected my i-pod, it might have provided these real time updates:

Through the start - 5,000 runners, families and photographers everywhere - very sunny after a freezing night

1 mile - moving up nicely, though overtaken by a basketball player with ball (get me) and worryingly, Spiderman, Batman and Robin without real running shoes on

3 miles - too easy - the feared London Road hill was just a mild slope

4 miles past the Grand Hotel - scene of last night's fire and my interview with Red FM (Were there any flames? Well, no, actually); right hip starting to complain

5 miles - like the beach huts but there's a lot of wood washed up on this beach; more families, children wobbling alarmingly on new bikes very near the runners

6 miles - left knee now complaining

7 miles - on the promenade - dying for an ice cream; I'm catching the sun now -am I really this slow?

9 miles - I can see the finish line below, only one more long loop round the Brighton marina development and we're in

10.5 miles - that's a cliff - we have to run over the top - before we even get to the marina

11 miles - top of the cliff ... another photographer... raise knees and try not to look too washed out

12.5 miles - last water station; fantasising about ice cream now; slice of banana will have to do

Finish - manage token sprint but 2hrs 25mins? People do whole marathons in that time.

Monday: Amusing wait for time to be published online, and, of course, all those photographs

PR 101 - 10 Top PR Tips

Just attended a very well qualified event held by Sally Whittle and her colleagues from the team at the:101. Their first Meet the Media event for 2008 was delivered by a panel of esteemed journalists who contribute to some of the country's leading newspapers and magazines. They shared with a packed room of PR professionals their pleasures and trials of dealing with us PR folks.

Here are their top 10 tips:

1. Timing is everything - know the deadlines of the journalists and publications you are dealing with
2. Nobody likes a spammer - tailor your stories don't round robin
3. Journalists want stories not releases - make your story topical, make it mean something to the journalist and their readers
4. Most people don't have PHDs - don't get too technical, make the story relevant
5. If it didn't bounce it arrived! - don't phone up to 'see if you received my email' - if they're interested they'll phone so again make your story relevant
6. There are good celebrities and bad celebrities - if you have to use them then make sure they are current and appropriate
7. 'Fess up when things go wrong - be honest, if a story isn't going to work out phone the journalist to let them know in a timely manner, everyone makes mistakes!
8. It's all about the case studies (personally I think this should be point number 1) - note to clients - invest in developing a case study programme - this is exactly what brings a story to life and should be mandatory support to any story
9. Don't send attachments/photos....if the journalist likes your pitch they'll come back for more...let them know there's more available in the body of your pitch
10. Nothing beats reading the paper - before speaking to a journalist take a good look at their publication and double check that the story you are pitching is really relevant.

Other pertinent things to note:

Many journalists archive all emails and even if they don't respond this time they may come back in the future via a search of their emails - so make sure specific keywords are included in your emails
The subject line on an email is all that matters - get it right - make it the headline of the story, don't be obscure, don't try to make it funny
Journalists track blogs for research and sanity checks so make sure you are contributing to them but note that they would not necessarily use them as a basis for a story
You MUST listen to the journalists agenda and be prepared to shape your story to fit it
Deliver a package of information - your story, supported by a case study, an analyst quote, relevant statistics, avilability of good photography etc - all in one go! The better you package your story the more success you'll have
Before you pick up the phone to a journalist have a rethink - do I really have something to say? can I make 3 bullet points out of what I'm going to say?
Knowing an analyst or other third party has been briefed on your client/product etc is a godsend for a journalist - it means they don't have to trawl round to find one. If you provide a quote from an analyst the journalist will suspect that you have 'paid' for it so don't waste your time - just provide a contact

So thanks to Sally and her team for 'from the mouths we feed' advice on PR best practice. Oh yes and don't forget their media requests blog.