Who’s Reading Social Media? Journalists
July 7, 2008 by Lyn Mettler
Filed under All, PR, social media
Who is it? Journalists. For those of us in public relations or those of us trying to secure media coverage, there’s no one we want to reach more than journalists. And, wow, can first getting a journalist’s attention, and then communicating with them, be a fine art (that’s why you ALWAYS need a PR pro on your side, but I’m not biased or anything…).
One way to get in front of them besides blasting them with press releases and phone calls is on the Web. A recent study of 180 reporters and editors across multiple industries found that those interviewed said the the blogosphere is having an impact on the speed, tone and editorial direction of their reporting.
That’s right. Journalists are looking to bloggers, YouTube and more for story ideas. Because Internet media can post news almost instantly, they are generally ahead of the game and a place where journalists can check in to see what’s going on, what’s being talked about and more. It’s becoming more and more common to see major bloggers, who are well respected, being quoted in traditional news stories. Twitter has become a major spot for breaking news. For example, the instant Tim Russert died it was all over Twitter.
So, even if you think it’s just “the kids” reading these blogs, watching YouTube and “tweeting,” remember, one of those kids just might be a reporter at the Wall Street Journal researching his next story. And imagine if that blog post he or she is reading is about your company.
Marketing With Online Video
November 2, 2007 by Lyn Mettler
Filed under All, social media
I came across two great examples of creatively using online video to promote a product (in both of these cases the product was a new album) that I thought I would share.
First, Sony BMG recently launched a contest to promote Bob Dylan’s new three-disc collection, Dylan, by allowing people to submit video on YouTube of themselves lip-syncing to “Like a Rolling Stone.” They will pick their favorite submissions and edit them together to make the very first video for the song. Check out the submissions so far here.
Nelly and his label also came up with a creative way to engage another popular Web site, Panraven, which allows you to create “stories.” Essentially, it allows you to meld together text, photos, audio and video to create an interactive format that tells a story. Here, Nelly posted a “story” about the making of the video for his album’s first single, “Wadsyaname.” You can watch video, see photos, read about it and more, all while listening to the song. As far as the promotional part, they created a contest where the person who brings the most new people to Panraven to view the video by clicking the “shout it out” button wins an expense paid trip to a Nelly video shoot.
So when it comes to promoting yourself and your product, get creative! Think about your target audience, what they enjoy and how they communicate and come up with a unique campaign that may not only get you some publicity, but will resonate and speak to your audience.
The Hubbub Over Hulu
October 30, 2007 by Lyn Mettler
Filed under All, social media
No, I am not talking about the Hawaiian form of dance, I promise. Those of you in the 2.0 or tech world have probably heard more than you care to in the last two days about the test launch of Hulu.com. Those of you who are not are probably thinking what kind of crazy site is this?
Well, it’s actually quite a revolution in the world of online video, seemingly the first real contender to take a stab at challenging the dominance of YouTube. NBC Universal and FOX teamed up to create their own video site, which apparently tries to offers visitors a more user friendly experience in viewing television shows and movies. NBC even pulled its channel from YouTube last week before this beta launch (us regular folks can’t visit the site quite yet) of their new video site Hulu.com.
So far the reviews from bloggers who got to test it out are pretty good. Hulu allows you to cut clips to send to friends, provides the code which allows you to embed the video into blogs and emails, and advertisers; messages are actually embedded into the clip itself so users don’t have to wait for that ad to finish before the clip starts.
What will you find on there? So far, it appears to be NBC and FOX TV shows, as well as Sony and MGM movies. Both movie companies signed deals with Hulu shortly before the launch. What you can’t do, however, is upload your own videos. So I guess what Hulu is trying to do is create the new platform for a place to get all your TV shows and movies online, but not compete with YouTube on the individualized content. And it’s all free, by the way!
It will be interesting to see how it pans out once the general public can get a view of Hulu!
Here are some interesting articles on the subject:
