KoiFish — The World’s Second Best PR Blog

Wow. A gimmick news release was put out today by a company called Pitch Point Public Relations claiming to be the “Most Amazing Press Release Ever Written.” Perhaps I’m getting old, but I just don’t see it.

In the past 10 years we’ve seen a lot of attempts to change the nature of the news release. And along the way there have been some improvements. The fact that they can now be easily distributed online along with hyperlinks, meta data and rich multimedia content is pretty cool and a drastic improvement to what we used to do back in the pre-Internet days.

But as fads come and go, there are a few things that any good news release still needs to accomplish (and, yes, there is a reason I call it a news release and not a press release, which is more valid today than ever). Below are some choice nuggets from some training materials I put together for our junior staff and clients about a decade before the author of “the Most Amazing Release” cut his teeth in the PR racket:

• A news release must be newsworthy
• It must work as a stand-alone story
• It should be written using AP style
• It should be written in the “inverted pyramid” style
• It should be free of hype and jargon
• It should be objective
• It should be complete
• It should be straightforward
• It should contain context and inform the reader (ultimately the journalist’s audience) why the news matters

Even today, as news releases are used to serve multiple audiences, these fundamentals are still important. Perhaps that’s why the traditional — even somewhat formulaic — news release remains the weapon of choice for the world’s most marketing savvy companies. Why? Because they continue to generate more media coverage than anything else.

The fact that this release got coverage in some pretty high profile places including TechCrunch and even the Huffington Post is impressive — and to be honest, a bit of a surprise based on its lack of any real content or news. So kudos to Pitch Point. I don’t think I’m going to start recommending a strategy of sending newsless news releases to clients any time soon, but this release does demonstrate that it’s OK to have a little fun and lighten up with language once in a while. And that’s refreshing indeed.

Introducing The Blogmobile

Cycle Oregon is one of the greatest cycling events on Earth. Each year, 2,200 cyclists embark on a 7-day ride through some of the most scenic parts of the state. Along the way, a lot of money is raised to help support the rural communities that serve as our gracious hosts.

For many, Cycle Oregon is a life-changing experience and one that begs to be shared with fellow cyclists as well as non-riding friends and family. And this year, it will be easier than ever for them to do just that thanks to The Blogmobile.

The Blogmobile is a mobile platform for the growing number of bloggers who cover the event on a daily basis (Including the KoiFish team, which manages and writes for the Cycle Oregon Blog). It also has a bank of PCs for everyone else to use to access Twitter, Facebook or whatever social network tickles their fancy.

Our hope is that The Blogmobile also makes it easy for the community to make a collective record of the event unlike anything that we’ve previously seen before and that this record inspires a few folks to join us in years to come.

You can follow the action at:

www.facebook.com/cycleoregon
http://www.flickr.com/groups/cycleoregon2010/
http://www.youtube.com/user/cycleoregon
www.cycleoregon.com/blog
www.oregonlive.com/cycleoregon
http://hollerit.blogspot.com/
http://pdxcyclingonline.com/

Socia Media and Cycling Go Totether Like Peas and Carrots

Today Facebook has more than 500 million users. If you’re reading this blog, chances are you’re one of them. If you’re younger than 30, chances are you already know how to post status updates or photos to Facebook from all your various mobile devices. This tutorial is not for you. If, however, you’re new to Facebook and/or accessing Facebook from your mobile device, read on.

Facebook from an “old-school” mobile phone

Facebook can be accessed from any mobile phone that can send e-mail. Through e-mail you can post status updates and – provided your phone is equipped with a camera – you can also add photos. The first thing you need to do is find your personalized Facebook upload e-mail. To find your upload e-mail:

1)   From a PC, log in to your Facebook profile
2)   Type http://facebook.com/mobile in your browser and hit “Enter”

At the top of the page, look for the heading that says Upload via Email. There you will find your personal Facebook e-mail address.  To update your status in Facebook (in other words, write on your page to let your friends know what you’re doing), simply send an e-mail from your phone to your personal Facebook address. The subject line of the e-mail will become your update. If you want to post a photo, e-mail the photo to the same address. The subject line of the e-mail will become the caption.

That’s all there is to it.

Facebook from a smartphone

If you’ve got a smartphone (an iPhone, Android or BlackBerry), you’ve got options. You can e-mail updates and photos as described above. You can also simply use a Web browser – go to www.facebook.com and use the program in the exact same way you use your PC. And once you try that method, you’ll understand completely why it isn’t ideal. The best way to do it is through a Facebook application that was designed specifically for your phone. To download the Facebook app for your device, follow one of the links below.

Facebook for iPhone
Facebook for Android
Facebook for BlackBerry

All these apps are easy to navigate and fairly self-explanatory. With any of them, you can do pretty much anything you can do from the Facebook Web page. This includes posting status updates and photos to your page as well as posting on the walls of friends or on Facebook pages that you already “like.”

To post a photo to your own profile, simply login to the application, choose “profile” from the menu page, then tap on the “What’s on your mind?” area. This will invoke your keyboard and allow you to type your update. If you want to post a photo or video, touch the camera icon just to the left. You’ll have the option to shoot a photo or video or choose from one in your library.

Posting to a Facebook page is also easy. For example, let’s say you’re out on Cycle Oregon and just snapped a photo you want to share on the Cycle Oregon Facebook page. Here’s how it’s done:

1)   From the main menu, touch the “search” menu at the very top of the screen
2)   Just underneath the search menu, touch the “pages” button
3)   Search for Cycle Oregon
4)   Open the Cycle Oregon page
5)   If necessary, “like” the page (if you already post stuff on the page, you’ve probably already done this)
6)   Touch the camera icon and follow the same steps outlined above

It’s that simple. One thing that might not be so simple is navigating your way back to the page from the main menu when you want to post another photo. That’s because the main menu consists of multiple pages. When you open the app, you always go to page 1. To get to page 2 – where your favorite pages are saved – simply swipe your finger to the left as you would on the main phone menu page.

This is the best online video I’ve seen in a while on any subject. I hope more businesses take it to heart. My take on the subject comes in the form of two lessons. Lesson one — lighten up and show a little personality. That’s what will let people connect with your brand on an emotional level. Lesson two — ban writing by committee. Brainstorming as a group is good. Writing as a group is bad. If this process is mandatory, have the testicular fortitude to be the guy at the end of the session who steps up and points out that the vapid, milquetoast crap you all just hammered out is just that.

Thanks Fast Company!

Come on, Delta, understanding social media isn't hard -- the Golden Rule is that the community comes first

I recently heard a tale of sadness and despair from my normally cheerful and up-beat father. He is a member of the Delta Sky Miles Dining program, which offers extra bonus miles when you use your Delta credit card to pay for meals at certain restaurants (three miles for every dollar spent).

As part of this program, diners may leave reviews on the Delta Dining Website about the participating restaurants they visit. More specifically, they may leave POSITIVE REVIEWS. Alas, dear old dad had a terrible experience at one of these restaurants and submitted an appropriately negative review to the Delta Dining community. Sadly, his review was never posted. Concerned for his fellow diners, he called Delta Dining to find out what happened. Point blank, he was told that they can’t post negative reviews. They have a policy that forbids it. After all, these participating restaurants pay good money to be included in the program and bad reviews would make them sad.

It doesn’t take a genius to see how short-sighted Delta is being here. In fact, this provides a stellar example of a company not understanding the whole point of social media. If you are going to ask for feedback, you have to take what you get. Otherwise your credibility is shot. And once that happens, the backlash can be severe.

Since Delta is pretty much ripping off CitySearch or Yelp, by adding a reviews component to the site, they should take a few minutes and realize WHY those sites are successful in the first place. The reason is obvious — credibility. While there will always be positive reviews for crappy restaurants and crappy reviews for excellent restaurants, the reviews for any given establishment — when taken as a whole — are usually pretty accurate.

You can almost always weed out the reviewers who don’t know squat (or don’t care) about food. You can also easily spot the people who are just looking for a venue to bitch because that’s what they like to do. Even if you aren’t sure, if someone is really far off, the community will let this be known. And that’s the whole idea. Because when it comes to social media, you need to trust, respect and protect the interests of your community. Sponsors may come and go, but once the community realizes you have sold them out, they are gone for good.

For the record, the restaurant my dad visited is Joseppi’s in Tacoma, WA. His chief complaints were that the restroom was dirty and the hostess was too busy talking on the phone to her boyfriend to do her job. He also found the food to be mediocre.  Looking at reviews for Joseppi’s on Citysearch and Yelp, most people find the staff friendly and helpful. Some like the food and some find it so-so.

Taken collectively, I think I get a pretty good picture of what to expect — decent service and lousy food. I’d expect the food to be bad because a large number of people in this part of the country don’t know  good Italian food from Chef Boyardee. If several find it mediocre, that’s a bad sign.

Regardless, if I visited Joseppi’s based on a bunch of glowing reviews from the Delta Sky Miles program, I’d almost certainly be in for a nasty surprise. And that’s just not cool. Sorry Delta, but you blew it.