Red Shoes Speak No. 37: 5 Reasons to Blog

Red Shoes Speak No. 37: 5 Reasons to Blog from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.

Red Shoes PR and iamThomasBishop, along with Tommytrc discuss 5 reasons blogs are a powerful tool for an organization.
1.) Interaction
2.) Give your company a face
3.) SEO
4.) Thought-leadership positioning
5.) Have fun and be creative

Jess Dennis' Top 5 iPad Applications

Red Shoes Speaks No. 36 Jess's 5 Top iPad Picks from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.

Red Shoes PR Idol- Sara Jeffers

Red Shoes PR Idol - Sara Jeffers from Jessica Dennis on Vimeo.

It was the biggest audition of my life. Well, at least since the last time I auditioned.

“You only get one shot, make it count,” Ryan Seacrest said. “These 25 seconds could change your life forever.” Great. I was having enough trouble getting in and out of the bathroom every 20 minutes because of all the “voice-healing” water I was guzzling. Now Seacrest was adding another layer of nausea to the mix. I had full-body shakes.

You would think I would be used to the grueling process that is American Idol auditions. I was in the same position for season three: same never-ending lines, same extremely talented competition, same high-stakes potential. Only this time I was confident I was going to take it. I’d been the lead singer in two bands and sang for dozens of weddings (and a few funerals) since season three, and while that doesn’t make me a pro, it gives me the poise I need to sing for this random producer.

After waiting for eight hours in the Bradley Center stands with my competition, my turn was up. Myself, along with three others sitting next to me, lined up to make the best first impression. I had been watching table 11 all morning; so far he had given away three golden tickets to advance, so my odds were stacked against me. The three others sang before me, and all were given one chance to sing. It was my turn to knock his socks off.

I sang my first choice, “Billionaire” by Travie McCoy. “Great,” random producer said. “Give me another one.” Another one? Yes! Next up was my rendition of “Dance With My Father” by Luther Vandross. “Excellent. Can I have another?” Another? Absolutely. Next I sang “Natural Woman” by Aretha Franklin.  I officially had almost two whole minutes in front of Mr. Random Producer, and I was convinced I killed it. In a very good way.

“So…unfortunately you’re not what we’re looking for, “ Mr. Random said. “Good luck.” And just like that, it was over. But before leaving, he grabbed my arm and said, “Seriously. Don’t stop.” Really? Then why are you stopping me?

So now I’m back to the real world. Back to being an intern and back to singing for people who want to listen. And you know, I’d rather be at Red Shoes PR anyway. :-)

When it comes to using social media, do what feels right

You probably weren't expecting me to include AARP.org in my blog post about my recent column! But here it is. One of my social media tips in this week's column in The Post-Crescent includes not overlooking the baby boomers when it comes to social media.

Click here for the complete column: The Post-Crescent. Let me know what you think. I always welcome feedback.

Tommy answers a few questions about social media craze formspring

Red Shoes Speaks No. 33 Formspring.me from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.

How does it work? What is it exactly? Why would you use it? Tommy and I talk about Formspring to answer these questions and more.

Product Reviews With a Transparent, Social Media Twist

 

About six weeks ago I received an email from Klout asking me if I was interested in receiving some free make up products from a big name brand. I was confused to say the least. I couldn't understand how they got my name and contact information until I remembered. I had voluntarily signed up on the Klout web site.

I remember seeing people post their tweets from the Klout web site. These tweets included a "Klout" score or rather showed what their ranking is when it comes to influence among their tweeps. While I was signing up to see what my influence was, Klout had another purpose. Klout's clients are companies or businesses who want to get their products or services in the hands of influential people online. There are a number of factors they review such as true reach, amplification, engagement and more. At my low Klout score of 41 out of a 100, I'm still a little stumped why they approached me but they did.

After I read through the first email from Klout, I decided to experiment and agreed to reviewing the CoverGirl products. After all, I do love my makeup! I also thought it would be interesting to see how Klout implements the process of soliciting reviews and subsequent policies requiring disclosures. I was pleasantly surprised.

Each email clearly stated that there were no expectations. I could simply enjoy the product and not say another word. Or, if I did talk about it I should include this link: http://cmp.ly/2 The tone of the emails was engaging, personal and lighthearted. I was definitely intrigued.

And of course I wrote a full review of the make up on my personal blog, you can read it here.

What do you think of their approach to product and service reviews? Does it make you uncomfortable? Do you think it's OK to do as long as people abide by full disclosure? Will the social media sphere accept or reject this approach? I look forward to your opinions.

In the meantime, I'll keep using my CoverGirl lip gloss and eye shadow. I'm a woman, I can't help it!

Social Media Listening

 

I had a recent experience via social media that is a must-share. Last week online, I was searching for the next pair of red shoes. Finding red shoes can sometimes be a little bit of a challenge for me. The heel height cannot be too high or too low. They need to be a size 10 (big flippers yes I know). And, finding the right shade of red is imperative.

Of course one of my online shoe shopping behaviors is to peruse what's available at Zappos. I did find a pair that fit all of my criteria. I was in love. This dazzling pair of shoes included straps and gems -- a winning combination. So I tweeted about it, "Please tell me these shoes qualify as red shoes." And included a link to the shoes but did not identify @zappos in the post. 

As tweeps comments came flying back at me via twitter, I quickly made my purchase. The time of this order was after 9 p.m. Wednesday night. In addition, the online @zappos customer service person that night also engaged in conversation with me. I'm assuming they are doing broad searches on Twitter for anyone talking about shoes and stumbled upon my tweet. 

Then the @zappos customer service representative also pointed out to me that the name of the shoes is "Lisa." Yes, it was a match made in shoe heaven. 

But, that's not where the story ends. The next day I got home from work around 3 p.m. Guess what was waiting for me on the kitchen counter. My precious, dazzling shoes. Zappos went above and beyond from beginning to end of my purchase. Think about how well run their processes have to be to be able to deliver those shoes by the next day. 24 hours had not even passed. I'm not even sure it was 15 hours. 

The lesson here? Make sure you are listening on social media as much as you are participating in the conversation. And ... make sure you have the capabilities and processes set up on the back end to wow your customers.

Does the story end there? Absolutely not. Because now I have written this blog post and I'm going to share this experience online. Social media can really be the gift that keeps on giving. Kudos Zappos. You rocked my red shoes world.

Google Alert: Bing falls short on content and public relations

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of weeks ago I tweeted that I was only going to use Bing as my search engine tool of choice for the next five days. As a result of my experiment, this blogpost will be short.

I did my best to break my Google habit but, wow, is that hard. Every gadget I own is set up to naturally access Google. Funny enough, I found myself Googling Bing to get to their homepage. 

Available Wisconsin news was also very limited. Only news generated out of Milwaukee or the Journal-Sentinel came up in searches. I know for a fact we generate quite a bit more news from around the state so I was surpised at the lackluster search results.

Many in my social media circles had plenty of opinions as I set forth in my non-scientific experiment. The majority sang high praises for the map offerings. Which I admit are pretty cool. But, my life requires a bit more than beautiful maps. I need content at my fingertips--quick! 

Another interesting thing that I became aware of during my five-day odyssey? Bing has no credibility. Because I don't hear anything about it since it launched, there's no social media chatter ... nothing. Which equates to little if any credibility and that lead me to doubting my search results. And then wanting to double check my searches with a comparison of Google's results.

Google searches are a great reminder that content is truly king when it comes to the Internet. Forget the imagery, bring on the content.

My observations are also a good lesson for any company: Don't forget the power of generating continuous buzz --especially when you are launching a new service or product. But you better have the product or service to back up the buzz.

 

 

5 tips for successful live event tweeting

Guest Blog Post By: Shane Arman

I consider myself a multi-tasker, but I can also be easily distracted. These realizations became clear after I attended the PR+SM Summit April 8 at Marquette University.

 

Having brought my laptop, I tweeted throughout the event and in the process learned how exciting participation in that dialogue can be. From my observations and conversations, here are my tips for successful live event tweeting:

 

1. Make your tweets relevant and understandable: Frame your tweets so that followers who aren’t at the event can still understand and benefit from your updates. This goes back to knowing your audience.

 

2. Diversify the type of updates: Don’t simply repeat everything a speaker is saying, word-for-word or constantly retweet. Instead, move the conversation forward by rephrasing what the speaker says or adding a fresh viewpoint. Remember that you want to spark a two-way dialogue, and unique viewpoints get people talking.

 

3. Avoid update overload: For your sake and your audiences’ don’t update every 30 seconds. Finding a balance can be difficult but if you stop actively listening to the speaker you should take a break. A few times throughout the PR+SM Summit, I found myself not listening and just browsing Twitter streams. I had to stop and remember why I came to the event in the first place.

 

4. Use correct formats: Include conference designated hashtags and try to find the speakers on Twitter and mention them in your updates. Speakers will appreciate the comments and it shows you made the extra effort to include them in the conversation.

 

5. Take time to decompress: After the event, spend time reviewing the hashtag stream and follow fellow attendees to start conversations and build relationships. Conferences often feature subject-matter experts as speakers, so take advantage of your first-hand insight by blogging or tweeting about their presentation.

 

With these tips on the table, it’s critically important to understand that you’re speaking to the audience and you are the audience. I had a chance to speak with Vice President of Communications at IBM Timothy Blair (keynote speaker at PR+SM Summit) about his thoughts on the backchannel, the live twitter conversation happening during his keynote.

 

Timothy seemed to have mixed feelings about the constant activity and he said it was sort of odd to look out and see many heads buried in their phones or laptops. He caught himself looking back at the conversation a few times, but said he lost his train of thought when he did. In any case, I’m sure he went back and looked at the Twitter conversations later.

What are your thoughts on monitoring the backchannel at conferences? Any tips for live event tweeting that I didn’t mention?

Shane Arman (armans84@uwosh.edu) is a senior at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh majoring in public relations and graduating in May. He maintains his own career development blog, on the PR path (http://ontheprpath.blogspot.com) and can be found on Twitter @ShaneArman.

The Role of Social Media in Disaster Communications

Tommy and I give some thought to how social media can play a role in communicating with loved ones when disaster strikes. Sitting at Red Shoes PR chatting it up we decided everyone needs to think beyond phones for communication needs.

Red Shoes Speaks No. 22 Social Media Role in Disaster Communications from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.