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.

The Changing Faces of Social Media Avatars

Do you change your avatars? Yes? No? If so, how often? At Red Shoes PR we often have this conversation as well as with others in and outside the industry.

I confess, I change my avatar frequently. It usually starts with Twitter about every month or two. From there, as I use the other social media tools, I update the avatars as I go along. By the time I finish the whole smattering of them, it's time to start over. But I am OK with this.

I know, I know. But what about branding you say? Whatever. Have you ever seen a celebrity's photo in person, then you see them in person and you realize they are using a photo that's about 15 to 20 years old and they no longer look anything like that? And what about real-time social media? Someone sees you on Twitter, Facebook, etc., and then meets you in person and you look absolutely nothing like your social media avatar???

Look, life changes. What looked OK a month or two ago, might not necessarily ring true today. My hair color changes frequently. During the winter I wear sweaters, during the summer I wear lighter colors. Sometimes, I want to look smart so I wear glasses. And then there's Halloween when for one day I looked (a little bit anyway) like Kate Gosselin.

I know it's confusing for others when I change it so frequently, especially on Twitter. But from my perspective I like when others change their avatars because I can see another "face" of their personality. The new photo catches my eye as I make the connection of the name, tweets and new look. In my head, through your comments, photos, and interactions, I am conjuring up who you are in "real life." It's like putting a puzzle together. So the more avatars I see of you, the more I am able to put the pieces together for a more complete picture.

But the funny thing is, no matter what I look like in my avatar, you can pretty much bet I'm wearing red shoes. So I get branding. But my changing avatar also reflects who I am and how I have chosen to represent myself through social media. 

What do you think? 

To change or not to change avatars ... that is the question.

 

"Changing Faces" Photo by Brenda Plonis via FlickR

Red Shoes Speak No.20 No buyer's remorse: They didn't buy an iPad

Red Shoes Speaks No. 20 No buyer's remorse: They didn't buy an iPad from Jessica Dennis on Vimeo.

 My experience with the iPad = iheaven

I thought I would wait a couple of weeks after the release of the iPad to actually get my own. I knew i wanted it (bad) but I thought it made sense to read more review before actually taking the leap myself. Well, I just couldn't contain my excitement. On April 3, 2010 I was one of the people standing in line at the Appleton BestBuy to purchase the iPad the minute they opened. Part of the excitement about buying a revolutionary product like this is the standing outside of the big box retailer waiting and hoping to be one of the first luckily people to get your hands on such an amazing device. So what's all the hype about? And why is the iPad so amazing?

 I firmly believe the iPad will change the way we work and communicate. I wrote this entire blog entry sitting on a plane using the on screen keyboard, which despite some negative reviews is pretty easy to use. I can feel that typing will get easier to use as my fingers get used to the keyboard. So back to what makes this product so remarkable...

1) Travel: I fundamentally believe this will revolutionize technology and the obstacles around traveling. I can see traveling with just my iPad and my Blackberry in the future rather than my cell phone and my MacBook Pro which is quite large and heavy. The iPad can't quite slip into your back pocket like the iPhone but that's also a large part of its beauty, it's not as small as the iPhone and feels more like a personal computer rather a phone. 

2) There's an app for that: apps are the future and the iPad will have many apps as more people embrace this new technology. There are apps for almost anything you could want. There are business apps that help you work harder and stay connected. There are personal apps that allow you to play games and download your favorite media. There are also apps that enable learning and can help children with homework or learning a new language.

3) Connectivity: as more and more people rely on social media to keep them connected, the iPad will offer a level of connectivity that mobile devices just cannot at this point. There are platforms for Twitter and Facebook with many more to come.

4) Gaming: From some of the first reviews I have seen, the iPad will give all other gaming devices a run for their money. Who wouldn't choose one, light-weight device that allows you to surf the Web, update your social networks, download ebooks/media and download apps? 

 There are many more reasons on why this new device will revolutionize technology and the biggest one in my opinion is that it will change how people work and allow them to easily work/stay connected anywhere. What are your thoughts on the iPad? What does the future of technology look like?       

SlideShare Presentation: Social Media for Communicators

The UW-Oshkosh PRSSA chapter invited Jess Dennis and Karen Buckoski in to speak about social media and the impact it is having on the public relation industry. Here is the presentation that was given.