Oh, I Get by with a Little Help from My PR Pro

By Liz Laneri (@Lizlaneri)

There is a misconception that you have to spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on video production.  Not true!  

Wait, let’s back this up first.  While a lot of companies like the idea of including video, podcasts, blogs, etc. (the list can go on) within their PR program, some are reluctant to dive right in, especially when it comes to video.  Why?  Fear of cost and the messaging. 

In my humble five-plus-years of experience as a PR pro, I’ve had clients who like the idea of bringing a camera to the show floor and interviewing conference attendees or showing the ins and outs of their lab, but they don’t know how and think it needs to cost a sh*t load of mullah.  My response: All you need is a flipcam (or something comparable that costs about $200 or so) and a little help from your PR friend. 

To be honest, one of most favorite things I have done at SHIFT was creating a video for a new business prospect.  Here’s the (true) story:

A Boston-based start-up in the high-end condo market was looking to incorporate social media into their marketing program.  Before the meeting, the team discussed a few video ideas we could do in a short amount of time.  We wanted to showcase them at the new business meeting and demonstrate how these types of videos would translate into something we could do with/for them if we had the great opportunity of working with them.

I was tasked with developing one particular video about showcasing the South End and highlighting South End-ers, restaurants and retails stores.  For many reasons, I was psyched that I personally got to create this video.  I posted a message on my Facebook asking if any of my South End friends would be interested in being interviewed for the video.  I immediately got several responses and was off and running.  In just one weekend, I interviewed several people, asking them what they love about the South End and why they live there.  I also recorded several chefs and store owners about their experience in the South End.  Come Monday, I edited the recordings, added some music and created a three-minute video that basically said without saying it directly; that the South End is a great place to live and you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in Boston.  It was that easy.  And the prospect loved it, saying it was the type of thing he was looking for.

Every situation, company and budget is different – some may need a full video production team that utilizes an in-depth script, story board and weeks of recording and editing, while others may want to start small with a modest budget.  In that case, ask your friendly PR firm for help with the flip cam and messaging.  Starting small doesn’t mean you’re sacrificing quality, especially if the content is there and the intention is right.

What You Need to Know About Facebook Fan Pages

By Kimberly Moniz

It seems as though there is a Facebook Fan Page for just about everything – from Starbucks and Pepsi to Mr. Ed and Men in Kilts.  Over the past year, I’ve learned quite a bit about creating and managing a brand’s Fan Page.  Here are 10 things that I didn’t know about Fan Pages in 2008, but have become second nature in 2009.  I wonder what 2010 will bring…

1.  Choose the creator carefully – Until recently, I didn’t realize that the creator of a Fan Page can never be removed as an admin of the Page.  Once a Fan Page is created, the creator will always have the ability to make changes to the Page.  Moral of the story: don’t let the intern create your company’s Page.
2. Update often, but not too often – There is some debate about how often Fan Pages should update.  Too infrequently and fans are disengaged, too often and they are inundated.  I’ve settled on twice a week as a happy medium and I think that keeps fans interested without overpopulating their feeds.
3. Content is King – Status updates are great, but posting unique videos and cool photos is a great way to keep fans interested and involved.
4. Create a custom tab – The Static FBML application is a fantastic tool that allows brands to personalize their Page with the information that is most relevant for fans.  Threadless is a great example – their “New Tees” tab gives fans a look at their catalog of shirts.
5. Land with a splash – The default landing tab for your Page will be the wall, but how boring is that?  Take your newly-polished custom tab and make it the default landing tab.  Check out Dunkin Donuts’ News/Promos tab – much more interesting than the wall.  NOTE: only non-fans will land on the tab you set as the default.  Fans will continue to land on the wall.  Not sure why Facebook made this the case, but here’s to hoping brands can alter it in the future. 
6. Don’t be a wall flower – If a fan writes on the wall asking a question or reporting a problem, by all means answer them.  It can only improve your relationship with fans and show that you are actually listening.
7. Messed up?  Fess up – Fans will know when you mess up, and they will call you on it.  So if you mess up or there is a problem with your Page, let fans know you are working to fix it.  Fans will appreciate knowing you are aware of the situation and trying to resolve it.    
8. Beware of contests – Facebook has recently announced regulations for hosting contests on Facebook.  Contests that require commenting on or responding to items in the News Feed are not allowed.  It could be tricky to make sure your contest falls within the legal limits, so be careful while planning. 
9. No easy way to get the word out – Want to send a message to your fans?  It’s not as convenient as you’d think.  Instead of appearing in fans’ inboxes, messages from brands appear in an almost secret “updates” location within the inbox.  From my experience, no one checks these updates.  I’d stick with communicating on the Page. 
10. Loosen the reins – Let your fans interact with the Page by allowing them to tag photos, post on the wall and upload videos and photos.  If you don’t like fan content, simply remove it, but fans will appreciate being able to contribute and interact with the brand.

Community is More Than Just Social Media

By Matt Trocchio

This is a brief add-on to the great post from my colleague Alex earlier this week. Seeing the different charitable projects run from each office reminds me why I’ve been with SHIFT for the past 5 years.  The company finds good people – not just good at what they do – but good in the very best sense of the word.  SHIFTers care about the quality of their work and the quality of life for others.

Community is a word you see thrown out quite a bit in the social media space.  What is important is to not lose sense of the physical community you are a part of.  If you are fortunate enough to be reading or writing a blog, then you should always remember that you have it better than a lot of other people in this world.  The Boston office this year conducted a drive for the Greater Boston Food Bank and as part of efforts learned some pretty scary eastern MA statistics:

*   320,000 people or 7% of the population uses emergency food programs annually
*   More than one in three households served has a child under the age of 18
*   Over 10% of those who receive emergency food assistance are 65 or older
*   57% of the people served have to choose between food and rent, medicine, or heat
*   84% have a place to live but cannot get the food they need

Thanks again to all of you for making a difference.  Happy Holidays!

To Lieutenants Sperry and Wesley, From SHIFT with Care

By Alex Kirschner

Photo Credit: From tassiesim's photostream

Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” During the holidays, nothing rings more true.

It’s probably standard form for most businesses and organizations to give back to the community in some regard during these festive times – the “fortunate” helping those in need. And at SHIFT, there’s no exception.

Over the years, the San Francisco office has adopted families through the Salvation Army, playing Santa and providing gifts from a wish list for adults and children alike. The Boston office has held clothing and food drives, while the newly minted NYC office played their part this year by donating clothing and coats.

This year in San Francisco, we decided to pay it forward to those that spend their lives away from family and friends, abroad in foreign countries, protecting us each and every day. That’s right: those of us on the left coast put our efforts and cash towards troops in Iraq.

After our collecting efforts, we used the money to shop online from their wish lists; we were able to sponsor two military families through eCarePackages.org. The first was Paul (deployed in Iraq) along with his wife Melissa and their children Tyler (10), Olivia (4) and Ella (1). The second was Larry (also deployed in Iraq) and his wife Jaresse alongside Kwan (8), Kwameer (6), Larese (4) and Larry (2).

Thanks to all the San Francisco SHIFTers for their impressive support of this charitable initiative, and kudos to Boston and NYC for also bringing the holidays to those in need!

Happy Holidays from SHIFT Communications!

A Slice of SHIFT – Suzanne Chan

Who knew motivation came from leftover pastries and cookies?  This week’s Slice of SHIFT features San Francisco SHIFTer Suzanne Chan.

Name: Suzanne Chan

Twitter: @Suzanne_Chan

SHIFT office: SF

Client focus/title:
I work on the B2B team with a current focus on storage, data governance, security and CRM/marketing. I heart technology. J

Hometown: I grew up in a little town called Alameda in Cali. No longer living there, but you can find me there every month visiting my hairdresser on Park Street. He’s the best. (Off topic, I know)

What is the best part of your job?
When there are leftover pastries or cookies from client meetings. What can I say, I love to eat! Just kidding, all jokes aside, I love getting results for clients – whether it’s coverage, fostering analyst relations or beefing up a customer reference program. There’s really nothing better than setting metrics with a client and working with the team to go above and beyond to knock it out of the park.

What is your PR shining moment?
Receiving positive feedback from clients and seeing measurable ROI on PR programs are two of the most rewarding parts of the job.

What brought you to SHIFT?
Craigslist! But of course, it was the wonderful team that I interviewed with that ultimately kept me here.

Whose Tweets/Blog could you not do without?
I read the Jennifer Beautiful Me Show religiously (I’m easily swayed. She bought me pizza for lunch and bribed me to continue her shameless blog plug on Slice, so I ate it and said OK). Anyhow, aside from her blog (which I read probably once every other month), I have Google alerts and TweetBeep set up for all of my clients so I can stay on top of their industry news. I’m their number one fan. J

PR 2.0 – “Tool Time”

PR 2.0 – “Tool Time” – Edition 1, December 15th

Twitturly
By Abby Snyder, Account Executive, SHIFT Communications
Twitter: @AbigailHS

Introduction:
Welcome to the first edition of “Tool Time,” SHIFT’s latest social media resource!  In the weeks that follow, we’ll be providing you with a run-down of the most relevant social media apps out there – what’s great about them, things to take into consideration and how to use them.  We kick things off with an analysis of Twitturly.

Overview:
At the most basic level, Twitturly calculates the number of times an article or blog post has been re-tweeted.

This tool tracks and ranks the URLs people are tweeting about in real-time.  The site incorporates the links into “Twitturly’s Top 100” list (updated every 24 hours) and the more people tweet the same URL, the higher it’s ranked and viewed by more people – very similar to how Digg works.

Pros:
Twitturly is a useful research and tracking tool, and is fairly user friendly.  I did a quick search for the term “supply chain” since I actually just wrapped up a supply chain social media audit, and was pretty impressed with what I got back.  Not surprisingly, there aren’t many supply chain trending links on Twitter, but there is definitely a conversation surrounding the industry.  Just a quick look gave me insight into some industry news being discussed, as well as relevant people I want to be following.

However, the best part of my research was that I instantly found this YouTube gem.  The Muppets cover Bohemian Rhapsody?  Animal yelling “Mama!”?  Can’t get much better in my book.

Cons:
From a business standpoint, particularly for the B2B industry, Twitturly should be used with caution as there is no filter for inappropriate links.  I would also suggest ensuring the language choice is English (the language selection is in the top right-hand corner), or whichever language you prefer – otherwise you’ll get everything from Arabic to Thai tweets.

When I started playing around with the site a little more, I came to the realization that a real-time stream of the most popular links on Twitter is quite a bit of data.  Which means the search feature can be quite slow.  However, I do give Twitturly credit for the thought bubble that popped up letting me know to “Please be patient, this might take awhile,” otherwise I may have thought the site was down and would’ve given up. (I mean, I already found my Muppets video, what else do I need?)

Summary:
In my estimation, Twitturly is worth the short wait I endured during my search.  I wouldn’t call it a “catch all” for doing research via Twitter, but it’s a great starting point to see what’s out there and what’s being discussed.  Plus, I found a great rainy-day Muppets video to refer back to!  Overall, I would give Twitturly 8 out of 10.  For more information on Twitturly, check out this post at oneforty.com too.

How to Build a Brand and Keep it!

By Jennifer Eastman – @eastmanj

Photo Credit: sensesmaybenumbed photostream on Flickr

Last week I attended the Personal Branding @ Work event that was held in the Cambridge Innovation Center on Wednesday—featuring Dan Schawbel and Dan Zarrella.  In addition, the presentation’s panel was moderated by Stever Robbins and included SHIFT’s own Doug Haslam, Sarah Long of Soundbridge Group, civil litigation lawyer David Barrett and financial specialist CJ Bowker. I had never heard any of these presenters speak before, and as a whole, the event raised some interesting issues that I hadn’t given thought to before.

One of the most dominant topics of the panel was about who owns your contacts and relationships—especially in a world where our personal and professional lines are blurred—when you leave a company.  As the debate goes, social media has enabled us to build our own brands based on both the personal and professional lives we lead, and removed any barriers we’ve previously had.  Perhaps we have a personal relationship that becomes a client or customer at some point—so if you leave the company, exactly who owns the relationship?  And at what point does a non-compete come into play if there is no existing contract in place about these interactions.

It’s an unprecedented time for companies and employees that are getting more involved in social media initiatives.  From a PR perspective, and while we can’t counsel clients from a legal standpoint, I think it’s an important issue for us to be aware of.  We often counsel our clients on how to develop social media/social networking company policies.  In addition, when we think about how we build a company’s brand online, we should be aware of the personal brands from within the company, whether prolific or not, what this means for the individual, the company and in any future departure.  I personally think that while for some companies this may become more a legal matter, the debate of owning contacts, friends and followers will calm down—much like the initial hesitations to blurring personal and professional lines.

One of the most interesting parts of the evening, was a presentation by Dan Zarrella—a self-proclaimed Social Media Marketing Scientist and Hubspot employee.  With all of these emerging social media tactics, everything is fairly new, the future remains to be unforeseen and to a degree we’re all in trial and error mode.  But in the very near future—and really these are conversations we’re having externally and internally at SHIFT—we are going to have to be able to prove our tactics, ideas and strategies beyond case studies.  This is especially true for the traditional businesses that may still be hesitating on the sidelines of social media—they want to see the numbers in order for them to make a business case.

His presentation included countless formulas, stats and graphs that identified what works and what doesn’t—particularly for Twitter.  From what words get the most re-Tweets to the time of day one should Tweet to get the most number of re-Tweets.  He examined words and links in Twitter bios and how this compared to their number of followers.  The reality is there was so much new and valuable information in the presentation I had trouble keeping track of it all.  Social Media is still new, and the hard and fast true facts about best practices are still volatile—but the initiative Dan has taken to try to at least start to make sense of it all, will likely become a huge part of how we counsel our clients in the future.

A Slice of SHIFT – Cara Foley

Think you know Cara Ambrose Foley?  Think again.  Read on to learn a little more about this BC Grad, Kennedy enthusiast and Chinese food lover.

Name:

Cara Foley

Title:

Senior Account Executive

Twitter:

@CARAFOLEY

SHIFT office:

Boston

Client focus/title: Consumer, Security, B2B or Admin:

B2B! Currently, my clients focus on engineering, healthcare IT, and security.

Hometown:

Cohasset, Massachusetts

What is the best part of your job?

My favorite part of my job is meeting face-to-face with clients. In the day-to-day craziness of updating the weekly, pitching reporters, drafting a byline, etc., etc., etc., it can sometimes be challenging to keep the bigger picture at the forefront.

I love to be able to hear straight from the executive team, the sales force, the office manger, whoever, how they see, in ways large and small, the impact of the SHIFT’s hard work.

In my last role at a consulting company, I was constantly exposed to different types of companies – in various industries, of all sizes, and each with their own separate culture – and that’s something I continue to enjoy in my current role at SHIFT.

What is your PR shining moment?

I’ve been lucky enough to be on one of my current accounts since day one of my SHIFT career. Less than two years ago, the team was brokering introductions for the Company with the security trades, and, in the last couple of months alone, they’ve received a number of top-tier inbound inquiries from business publications. It’s rewarding to know that you had a direct hand in helping a Company take their awareness to the next level.

What brought you to SHIFT?

Mary Sullivan! In early 2008, I had decided I wanted to make a career change and Mary and I had a mutual friend who put us in touch. I sent Mary my resume to pass along, and, within a few weeks, I was sitting in the cube across from her.

Whose Tweets/Blog could you not do without?

@ariannahuff for entertainment and politics updates. I also love mrs-o.org, a blog started by a BC grad that follows Michelle Obama’s fashion choices.

Gilbane Boston Conference: Content Management and Social Media

By Doug Haslam

I had the pleasure of attending the Gilbane Boston conference on December 2^nd. The topic? Content management, with “CMS” (Content Management System) and “WCM” (Web Content Management) being the magic TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) for the day. While I am not deeply immersed in content management systems at the moment myself, the need to manage it is common, and the conference wasn’t a total nerd party (although you might consider it slightly nerdy that some of us were sneaking around trying to steal pictures of a lookalike for SHIFT client, Aaron Strout of Powered Inc). I came away with these few thoughts:

• Social Media is still a hot topic: People in technology silos aren’t simply sticking out their heads, acknowledging social media, and going back to the way they were. Social media informed every conversation, weaved into most very bit of technology, and was baked into many of the sessions (examples: “Driving Net New Revenue with Socal Media;” “Social Publishing and WCM;” “Social Media Solutions Enriched with Mobility”). People are intelligently finding ways to harness social media for content management and collaboration. It’s actually quite an interesting time for those in the space.

• Google Wave is (probably) not a fad: Just because most mortals can’t make heads or tails of Google Wave when they get in, IF they get in, doesn’t men people won’t take it seriously. Far too many discussions centered on Google Wave at Gilbane Boston to come away feeling dismissive. For example, the “Content Collaboration” panel with Bob Collins of New Marketing Labs, Andrew Davis of TippingPoint Labs and Chris Paquin of Sun Life spent a bit of time discussing potential uses of Wave, and the conference itself had a “Gilbane Boston” Wave (which I, of course, could not find). People want Wave to work for them. I suspect it will happen, and once Google Wave becomes a public product, it will look a lot different than it does now.

• The “Analyst Debate” was a dud. Well, not really; the participants, from 451 Group, Burton Group, Forrester, Gilbane, and IDC, said a lot of right-on things, such as the need for more globalization features for social media to work in larger companies, a healthy cynicism about the widespread adoption of Twitter (though I am not so cynical, I don’t think it is there yet), and the fact that younger people are leaving companies that don’t offer the requisite (to them) social tools. Other things said I wasn’t so sure about, such as the impression that there is a hard “age line” between the types of communications tools being used (do we risk mislabeling social media as a “Generation Y” thing?) Actually, the main complaint on the Twitter stream for the event was that the analysts were agreeing too much (moderator Frank Gilbane admitted as much at the end of the panel)- we wanted blood! That was OK in my opinion, if a little less fun. Ellen Rossano of Crisis Media Consultants, seated next to me, wondered if the analysts were talking in terms that were 6-12 months behind the curve. I wondered if they were behind the curve of early adopters, but still ahead of the curve of enterprise social media adoption. I wonder what others think.

One last bit: it’s great to get out there and learn. I think it’s vital to take time to read, interact, and participate. Reserving time for this and taking what we learn back to our client work makes us stronger and more successful.

A Slice of SHIFT – Reshma Fernandes

From Bombay to Boston to NYC! Check out how Reshma made the journey from India to SHIFT.

Name: Reshma Fernandes

Twitter: @reshma

SHIFT office: NYC

Client focus/title: Consumer, Senior Account Executive

I’m part of the consumer team and my clients are pretty diverse, ranging from consumer tech software and gadgets to an upscale travel resort.

Hometown:

I was born in Bombay, India but for now I call NYC home.

What is the best part of your job?

Being surrounded by sma–ht people [I lived in Boston for 4 years!]. From the clients I interact with on a daily basis to colleagues, reporters, bloggers, it’s great to work with a smart, challenging, fun bunch of people that push you to do your best. No day is ever the same and I can honestly say I learn something new everyday.

What is your PR shining moment?

I’ve made the transition from doing PR in Bombay and Dubai to B2B and now consumer tech at SHIFT, so it’s hard to find a shining moment! I’d say predicting what your client wants and delivering it before you’re asked – every time that happens it’s the best day of my week.

What brought you to SHIFT?

I was newly minted from grad school, had just arrived in Boston and eager to get started on my PR career. Sure I spent my time networking and doing research online but it was actually Todd’s blog that brought me to SHIFT’s Web site. It was great to get a feel for the agency through Todd’s voice on PR-Squared, so I decided to apply.

Whose Tweets/Blog could you not do without?

The best part of my day is I get to read blogs and follow Tweeps whose work I have a natural interest in. So anything travel related from the Practical Traveler blog on the New York Times to Walletpop.com for anything personal finance is interesting and fun. I use Twitter to stay in the know, keep up with the industry and to stay alert for developing stories that can impact my clients. I’m by no means a Twitter addict but for anything PR or marketing related, I usually check out the latest tweets from @briansolis, @sgetgood, @skydiver and of course @badpitch!