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.

 

 

Getting A Job During the Recession—My Story

As a senior at St. Norbert College, I began my job search at the beginning of spring semester. My story of finding a job at Red Shoes PR is unique because when I first contacted them, they did not have any open positions. In the midst of sending out cover letters and resumes to every position I heard about or saw online that in any way resembled PR, communications or writing, I heard about Red Shoes PR when I saw Lisa Cruz featured on the cover of Women magazine. It immediately stood out to me as different than any other PR agency I had heard about. I began doing research on the company, and while they had no job postings listed on their web site, I went ahead and contacted them to see if they had any internships or entry-level positions open. They didn’t have any positions open at the time, but encouraged me to still send them my resume and writing samples.

A few weeks later, they invited me in to interview for a part-time summer internship. After two interviews, I was offered the position. While a part-time internship wasn’t my ideal post-college situation, I really liked the company culture of Red Shoes PR and knew that they were growing fast, so there was potential to grow with them. By my third week, I was switched to full-time and was ecstatic to be offered an account coordinator position at the end of the summer.

At a time when many of my peers have struggled to find positions in any way resembling what they had hoped for, I feel extremely blessed to have found a position not only in my desired field, but also at a company that truly is the perfect fit for me. Being at a small, start-up company has allowed me to jump right in and quickly gain experience that would have taken me years to gain at a big company. I am happy that I pursued Red Shoes PR, even though at first it didn’t appear they had an open position.

Here are some tips for the job search:
1.    Don’t aimlessly apply to every position you hear about. Research companies and find a place that you think you would fit in well with. Customize cover letters, and resumes to a few, specific jobs that interest you, instead of sending out dozens of generic ones.
2.    If you find a company that piques your interest contact them, even if there isn’t an open position posted. Not all companies post open positions and if it’s a good fit, they might create something for you.
3.    Remember that no one owes you anything. Even if you have already done multiple internships, do not be afraid to do another one. The place that you intern for post-college will know that you are looking for a full-time position. If nothing opens up with them, most likely they will help you connect with a company that does have openings.

Patience and Persistence in Pitching

In our technology-centered world we’ve come to expect rapid responses. Instant communication is possible through a variety of channels. I often spend time in areas without cell phone reception and if one of my colleagues can’t call me, she’ll e-mail me; if she can’t reach me via e-mail, she’ll twitter me; if she can’t reach me via twitter, she’ll page me…and on and on…

We become impatient if e-mails aren’t answered within 24 hours – and with certain people I even find myself picking up the phone if I don’t hear back in a few hours. For those in PR, working with the media can often be a reminder that “all good things come to those who wait,” especially when you’re the one with the great story idea.

It goes without saying that when the media calls I move quickly to fulfill requests by their deadlines, but when I’m pitching something, it doesn’t always happen that quickly.

One of Red Shoes’ clients, Affinity Health System, recently began using Barrx, a new technology to prevent esophageal cancer. The expectation was to have a story placed, in addition to blurbs running in local trades. We sent out a release announcing the new technology in October and kept talking about Barrx to the media.

After unsuccessfully pitching the technology to two different media outlets, I finally had a break in June. One of the local TVs had a new reporter from Rochester, Minn. (where the Mayo Clinic is located), with a niche in health care. I told him about Barrx and he was immediately interested. After lining up a patient and the physician, the story went off without a hitch.

After nearly nine months of not getting any coverage, I know a few people had given up, so the satisfaction that came from the story was enormous. The process was a good reminder in the basics of proactive PR: be patient and be persistent.  

Social Media: My Intro to Social Media for Business

Red Shoes PR is happy to welcome the latest addition to the team, Rachel Wollersheim. Rachel graduated from St. Norbert College in May of 2009 with a degree in English and a minor in media communications. In her role with Red Shoes PR, Rachel will support the client services team through media relations, social media and public relations planning and execution. 

Over the past seven weeks, I have been immersed into the exciting world of social media. While I have had a Facebook account for four years, and joined Twitter and LinkedIn months ago, the way I think about these sites is rapidly changing.

Upon graduating in May, I immediately jumped into my intern position at Red Shoes PR in Appleton, WI. While I have previous PR experience, I have never been in an agency setting, especially an agency that focuses heavily on social media.

As a college student, I used social media as purely a social tool—a way to keep friends from home and family updated on my life, a place to share photos from various events and a way to plan and share my social calendar with friends at school.

So, throughout my time at Red Shoes PR, I am quickly learning and catching on to ways social media can be used beyond a personal social tool, as part of a public relations strategy communications channel for companies and individuals.

One of the many changes I have made to the way I use social media is in who I interact with. During college, I used social media as another way to communicate with people I already knew and already talked to or interacted with on a daily basis. Now, I am beginning to use social media to reach out to people I have only briefly met, or people I have never met at all. I am finding thought leaders in my field to follow, interacting with clients and talking with other recent graduates looking to get into the PR field.

Along with expanding who I communicate with, I am redefining the way I present myself through social media. I no longer present myself as simply a college student interacting with friends. Instead, I aim to show a balance of my personal interests and day-to-day happenings alongside what is going on at Red Shoes PR.

While this new outlook on social media is a bit overwhelming, especially for someone with a quieter personality like mine, it is also an exciting time to enter the PR field. For us recent grads, with a little training and guidance, our vast knowledge of using Facebook and other sites as social tools can be transitioned into making us thought leaders in the social media world.

SlideShare April Fool's Joke Parts 1 and 2

SlideShare AFJ Part 1: Red Shoes Speak - Slideshare April Fool's Joke	SlideShare AFJ Part 2: Conference Call with Dan at SlideShare

If you’ve been following Red Shoes PR on Twitter and Vimeo these days you’d know that we were a little miffed about the SlideShare April Fool’s Joke. Here’s what happened - SlideShare added two extra zeros to everyone’s presentation views on April 1st as a joke. They then sent out emails to all of their subscribers calling them “SlideShare Rockstars” and sent the following message:

    Hi ___,

    We’ve noticed that your slideshow on SlideShare has been getting a LOT of views in the last 24 hours. Great job … you must be doing something right. ;-)

    Why don’t you tweet or blog this? Use the hashtag #bestofslideshare so we can track the conversation.

    Congratulations,
    -SlideShare Team

What looked like overnight success for SlideShare users ended up being the work of the SlideShare team who had falsly increased views by a significant amount. Angry subscribers began to take their frustrations out on Twitter and the SlideShare blog, which disclosed  it was an April Fool’s Joke. Some users laughed it off and moved on, while others became quite upset after having spent a significant amount of time trying to figure out from where the flood of new viewers came.

This could seem like a harmless April Fool’s Joke, but here’s where it went wrong - SlideShare is a credible file sharing site that contains professional presentations created and uploaded by users. The only tracking mechanisms in place to gauge success are views, downloads, embeds and comments. Therefore, when SlideShare changed the number of views by two zeros they fudged one of the only measures of success.

At Red Shoes PR, we decided to let our voices be heard so we made a video with our thoughts about the prank. The video went live on Friday, April 3, and we received a call from Daniel Lu at SlideShare that day apologizing for what had happened. Dan asked if he could comment via a video recorded conference call.

Here’s what we learned. As companies begin using social media as a communications channel to engage, they are inevitably going to make mistakes. It’s what you do after the mistakes are made that say a lot about who you are as a company. SlideShare began immediately answering angry posts on their blog and via Twitter. They also monitored the online conversations and responded to those in a sincere and timely manner. They continue to use these opportunities as a way to turn the situation around.

Will Red Shoes PR still use SlideShare for posting our online presentations and e-books? Absolutely!  

What are your thoughts? Did they handle the situation well? What would you have advised them to do differently?

Everything I need to know about running a business I learned in the recession

Many people have asked us why we chose to start a business in one of the worst economic downturns that we will know in our lifetimes. The answer is simple; we didn’t know this would happen in May of 2008.  Having said that, would we have made a different decision? Absolutely not! In fact, I would recommend more people make the move when times are tough. We have learned and will continue to learn lessons that take some businesses generations to learn. Here’s a list of my top 5 lessons tough economic times teach all of us.

1. Frugality: Separate your needs from your wants and make smart purchasing decisions. Sure, we all want the grandiose office space that gives the impression of success and prestige, but that cost can be prohibitive. All costs need to be worked into your pricing structure and your overhead may put your pricing above the industry average. In some instances this is ok, but you don’t want your hands tied. Reevaluate where you’re spending money as a business and make sure it’s in line with your goals and vision. You may want the mac-daddy signage/computers whatever, but is it necessary? Determine a set of criteria by which to judge all purchasing decisions and stick to it! As with most rules, there are exceptions and the big exception to this rule is saving money on your people. Do not undervalue or underpay your people. In the end, it’s your people that will help get you and your business though the tough times.

2. Never get complacent: I think we’ve all seen that in tough times the individuals who lose their jobs aren’t necessarily the ones that should have moved on in the first place. In tough times everyone worries about their job because decisions are being forced to be made based on the bottom line. For small businesses, this means always challenging your value proposition. Why did your clients hire you? How do you contribute to their bottom line? Everything comes back to ROI.

3. Move faster than your surroundings: The economy and the market will dictate change. This happens very quickly when things are tough. Anticipate these changes and move faster than the market and certainly faster than your competition. Is the market demanding a new product/service or a change to your current product/service? If so, determine if you can make the necessary changes in a cost-effective, timely manner.

4. Be the best, even if you’re not the only: As the saying goes, “when the tide goes out, you’ll see who’s been swimming naked.” This isn’t a lesson for tough times this is a basic for anyone starting or buying a business. Determine early on what your point of difference will be. You will never be the only, ever, but you can be the best. Always look at what makes your business stand out against your competition and make sure you offer something different and/or better. The market will determine who’s left standing when the economy turns around.

5. Think big, act small: This lesson wraps up the first four lessons. Make smart purchasing decisions always keeping your business goals in mind. Always challenge your value proposition and point of difference, and make changes in a timely manner. Many times, people assume that tough times call for lower prices. Lowering prices in tough times is very rarely the answer. This is why this lesson is extremely important. Don’t forget who you and what you’re business represents. Lowering your prices or giving away free products/services will only train your consumers to expect the same in a good economy. Figure out how to work better and more efficiently. The tough times will eventually end, but the new processes you’ll develop will help you retain employees and increase revenue in a good economy.