XPRL group meets in London

Standards for news releases

Chris Heuer is on his 'walkabout' and attended the XPRL meeting in London this week.

The other question we were striving to answer was “Who would be the most valuable supporters of XPRL that would get us to the point of broader adoption in the industry?” One path considered was to create demand from big clients who have a real need stemming from the pains of their current operations in this area - particularly from the financial PR companies and public companies who have to adhere to the latest financial disclosure regulations. By cultivating this demand in clients, it would drive demand for the agencies to pick it up and then in turn to bring the wire services along.

Mark Adams noted that “if there were a petition from the biggest clients to support the standard, the agencies and related services would certainly follow.”

This would be something akin to a preferred vendor list which had certain minimum requirements in order for agencies to be able to get their account.

Here I relayed Mark Nowlan’s suggestion that we needed to get the major newsroom editors from AP, Reuters and other major news organizations to want to use it along with the wires - to include the journalists in the conversation, which is exactly what we are trying to do with our New Media Release efforts.

We will get a full report from Chris at the Social Media Club meeting in LA September 28th. Perhaps we can lure AP and Reuters to attend?

We also need the wire services. PrimeZone, now owned by Nasdaq, is a prime candidate - and they are located in LA.

NBC Making Smart Moves. Meredith Blogs the BackStory
NBC making the most of consumer generated media, blogs and chat

Smart moves, NBC!

Meredith Vieira, the new co host of the Today show, is blogging her personal thoughts and backstory elements of her interviews on iVillage.

"There are a lot of things I might like to say on a personal level on the blog that I can't on Today because of time or it might not be appropriate," Vieira says. "So it helps me wind down and get some thoughts out that I wish I could have otherwise and let people see other sides of my personality."

And of course it neatly ties the two new acquisitions together and leverages the audiences. Vieira's arrival at Today attracted 6.9 million viewers. Now they've been directed over to iVillage to read the backstories on the Today interviews.

Who wouldn't want to hear all the 'real stuff' we don't get to see on the show?

And the link to ther blog is right on the homepage of iVillage - so their readers get corss pollinated to the Today show.

Then there is the launch of the daily talk show in December called "iVillage Live" that will be broadcast simultaneously on its local stations and on the iVillage Web site.

Community features such as online chat and blogs will be a big part of the online version of "iVillage Live."

Don't ya love it when a social media plan comes together?

Social Media Optimization: which sites matter?
Is there life beyond Del.icio.us?

An excellent post this week from Read/Write Web compares the social bookmarking sites and concludes that there are two dominant players - del.icio.us and StumbleUpon. The rest of the pack, including Yahoo MyWeb, appears to be substantially behind.

Note: This comparison does not include social news sites like digg. Watch for a future post that will cover these sites.

Read all the comments - it seems there are a few anomalies in this data, and some sites that were not reviewed. But all in all, it's a good start at comparing the features of the social bookmarking sites.

Clearly social media is gaining ground. If you are interested in getting traffic from social media sites you must offer an easy way to bookmark your content on these sites.

Although del.icio.us is the front runner, the list is growing. A list of 20 or more social media sites can really clutter up a page.

Thanks to Lee Odden's team, PRESSfeed clients now get a nifty drop down menu for all social media sites at the end of each RSS feed article.

Consumer input reaching deep into corporate marketing and product development
Consumers have more control over what products and services companies will offer

We hear a lot about PR 2.0, but marketing is also getting the message: companies are responding to consumers' on-demand expectations by focusing more on marketing strategies, according to a recent survey from Weber Shandwick.

"Consumers are 100 percent in the driving seat," said Billee Howard, a co-director of Weber Shandwick's global strategic media group.

"Companies are now a part of customers' lifestyles and have a better understanding of their culture."

It sound as though the online conversation and consumer-generated media is making its mark.

SEO PR landscape is changing
Content syndication and social media becoming an integral part of SEO

Matt Cutts`of Google said it best in the interview with Mike Grehan titled "The Future of Search and Outdated SEO Methods."

"There's no point in doing textbook (SEO) stuff unless you have enough great content and the reputation within your community to be a challenger."

Delivering good content, that your audiences find interesting and valuable, has always been the best way to do SEO. While there may be many tips and tricks, some considered black hat, that have worked in the past, syndicating good content and making the most of social media opportunities is the best way to improvbe your search ranking and broaden the audiences that see your content. And it pays off in online visibility, brand awareness and traffic.

The launch of Skin MD Natural is a case in point, and it was so successful that it got the attention of PR Week. It was featured on July 31, 2006.

There was a great thread in the Search Engine Watch forums yesterday about getting traffic from social media sites like del.icio.us

1. Write Good, Relevent, Useful Content.
I know its an obvious one, but it's the one to remember. People will only bookmark what they find interesting. Watch what's popular on del.icio.us for a couple of days to get an idea.

2. Get Popular On Another Site, Leap Frog to Del.icio.us
If you can make it to sites like Digg.com, BoingBoing, Kottke, instructables.com - anything influential - chances are the cascading effect of the web, will have your site be popular on del.icio.us too.

3. Use Del.icio.us Like a Directory
Find the best articles tutorials and bookmark them on del.icio.us with the appropriate tags. People searching for similar content, matching your tags, may find your site and (if they like it) bookmark it, building your "capital" so to speak.

4. Make sure all your content has an "Add to Del.icio.us" link (along with email to a friend etc) As your content is found, it'll be picked up by visitors and maybe even added to del.icio.us.

There are a few initiatives in progress to assist PR folk to take advantage of these ideas. PRESSfeed, the content syndication service that was built specifically for SEO-PR purposes, is one of them. All enterprise level clients get social media bookmarking links, Technorati tags and "easy subscribe" buttons for all the better known RSS readers on their articles, news updates or press releases.

You can see it on the PRESSfeed news page

Put your cursor on the RSS icon to see the drop down menu for subscribe buttons

At the end of this article on the future of search and content syndication you'll see the tags and the list of social bookmarking links.

Reaching the Younger Genration Online
Some savvy Church and State leaders have seen the light

Many, many years ago Cutlip and Center wrote the 7 C's of communication in their seminal textbook, Effective Public Relations, One of these C's is the channel you use to reach your audience.

Use a channel your audience is familiar with and uses frequently, advised these PR gurus.

The more things change, the more the stay the same! A few church and political leaders have figured out that this still works and they need to online:

“As a pastor, I shouldn’t be just leading a church but connecting with people using the same formats they use every day,” says Pastor Ben Arment of the HIstory Church in Oak HIll, Va. "Blogging is a forum that’s successful because it corresponds with how younger generations think.”

Mark Batterson, the lead pastor of National Community Church in Washingaton, D.C. Batterson estimates he spends 20 percent of his workday updating his blog, “Evotional.” He recently hired a “digital pastor” whom he met through the blogosphere to maintain the church’s Web ventures.

“I used to think that the blog supplemented my weekend message,” said Batterson, who draws upwards of 25,000 visitors a month to www.evotional.com. “Now I wonder if it isn’t the other way around. It’s hard for me to imagine why a church that has younger members wouldn’t have a blog component.”

How about a Church that would like to attract younger members?

And on the political side, NPR's On The Media spoke at length yesterday about the power of consumer generated media, blogs, video and podcasts.

Politicians needs to take heed of the power of the Net, was the overarching message. Smart politician's know that they need to take their message directly to the audiences who are relying on the Internet for news and information.

Senator Lieberman's loss in the Connecticut Democatric primary to Net-savvy newcomer Ned Lamont was a case in point.

Indiana Senator, Evan Bayh, is posting messages aimed at the younger generation on sites like YouTube and Facebook in preparation for his anticipated 2008 presidential bid.

The channel still matters. In fact it matters more than ever. if you want to reach a net savvy younger audience, you have to learn how to include social media components like blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts and video news in your online PR campaign.

Study Shows Blogs Increase Media Attention for Companies


Yahoo! Adds More Social Media Features
Their FUSE find, use, share, extend philosophy expands

If you are a small local business and you think that online reviews and comments don't affect you, think again. Yahoo Local has just become more personal and more social.

A number of new features have been integrated into the site that allow people to create customized profiles and lists of local favorites but also to tag and share those favorites for discovery by the larger user community. SEW Blog

One of the cool features is collections - a list of your personal bests or worsts in the area.

Best place to eat with kids

Best way to get to the Farmers Market in LA

Worst service from a local dry cleaner

The lists can be kept private or shared with the local community. Shared lists of this nature will inevitably influence people's perception of local businesses, restaurants, entertainment.

Online reputation management has come home to roost.

Podcasting recommended for SMB's
Podcasting and content syndication has emerged as a next generation medium for small to medium businesses (SMBs) to syndicate and distribute all types of audio content.

Podcasting should be a part of the SMB communcation toolbox, says SmartBiz in an article today.

As a an emerging mode of communications, podcasting has the potential to create a unique opportunity for SMBs to gain a competitive advantage, grow their business, as well as contribute to bottom line profitability.

Podcasting has the potential to become a valuable part of the marketing mix, says the article. It allows these organizations to transition their Web sites from traditional support vehicles to dynamic, multimedia marketing and sales channels.

Many marketers make the mistake of thinking only the young listen to podcasts. According to a recent podccast survey almost half the people listening to podcasts are over 35.

And the genres where demand outstrips the supply of podcasts is news and business.

What takes an audio file from traditional content to next generation communications tool is the distribution and syndication of the content in an RSS Feed.

So if you are looking for a way shine in your field, start podcasting. At the Podcast Expo last week we heard from all kinds of podcasters - Mommy casters, Food casters, Comedy casters and Culture casters.

One of the great ideas I heard at this show was to produce a podcast sponsored by a relevant product and talk about the issues close to the hearts of the users of that product.

Podcasts I'd like to hear:

A podcast about skin care sponsored by The National Skin Care Institute. Dermatologists talk about natural skin care options.

Environmental podcast focused on fuel, vehicles and harmful emissions

Social Media Club LA
If you are in the vicinity you should come

Chris Heuer has been on the road setting up chapters of the Social Media Club

There will be a launch of four chapters of the Social Media Club over the next two weeks

If you are in the area, we encourage you to attend one (or more) of these meetings as Chris will be relaying his findings from the XPRL
meeting that is taking place in London on September 14th.

Unfortunately, there will not be a conference line available - but each meeting will be recorded and the audio files will be posted on the Social Media Club website (http://www.socialmediaclub.org)

Also, the first meeting of the New Media Release Working Group takes place next week on Tuesday and the notes from that meeting will be posted to this group as well as on the Social Media Club website.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me or Kristie

Airplane Seats


The Internet Influences Movie Goers, Says Google
More than one third say the Web is the most influential medium in their decision to see a movie

No big surprise here. Movies, like pretty much everything these days, is influenced by web content.

• One third of moviegoers turn to the Internet to learn more about a movie release after first hearing about it elsewhere
• 49 percent of moviegoers who actively research a movie after hearing about it through TV ads or word-of-mouth
• Seven in 10 go to the Web to get more information.

• Just over half of the moviegoers surveyed used the Internet to find movie schedules and theater locations--more than all other sources combined.

• More than one-third of those who rely on the Internet to research movies say it's the most influential medium in their decision to see a movie

• 17 percent of all moviegoers said the Internet was the most influential medium in deciding what film to see
• Studios spend only 2.6 percent of their marketing budgets online

Now there's an odd contrary fact.