The Press Release is Dead: Using New Communications Tools to Build Your Business, Non-Profit or Campaign

The Press Release is Dead Presented by Curt Mercadante Merc Strategy Group, LLC Business Expo 2010

Who is this guy?

Who Are We?
We bring technology to bear in communications, marketing and grassroots campaigns to cost-effectively augment message and reach.
Social Media
Online Media Placement
Email List Building/Lead Generation
E-Grassroots/Mobilization/Rapid Response

What is “Social Media”?

What is “Social Media”? There’s no such thing as “social media.”

What is “Social Media”? Thing AsSocial Media

Is the Press Release Dead?

New Communications Tools
Communication no longer a one-way street.
Authenticity required.
More efficient, effective communication than ever before.

Medium or Messenger? Trust?

You May be Thinking... This is all just a fad. I don’t have time for this. I don’t have the budget for this. I’m scared. It’s just for kids. I love this stuff!

Just a Fad? Comcast: More than 160,000 customers serviced through social networking sites since 2008.

Just a Fad? Comcast: More than 1.4 million views of video of Comcast technician asleep on customer’s couch.

Just a Fad? Jason Plummer: Young Illinois Lt. Governor candidate wins 6-way Primary by 4,900 votes — after building a 4,700-supporter network on Facebook in two months.

Getting Started
Facebook strategy? Twitter strategy? No — what is your content strategy.
Perform a content audit.
Begin building your opt-in lists.

Email Email is the first and largest social networking tool.

Email
The massive reach of email:
Hotmail: 375 million active accounts
Yahoo: 280 million active accounts
Gmail: 146 million users

Email 77% of online U.S. adults trust ‘emails from people they know’ more than any other media. Forrester Research, Inc., North American Technographics Media and Marketing Online Survey, 2008

Email
Start building your opt-in list now.
A number of free (or inexpensive) email distribution tools.
Please kill the “e-newsletter” ( let me explain )
Short, concise, clear call to action

Twitter The online cocktail reception.

Twitter

Twitter
Starbucks (@starbucks)
Twitter as a real-time focus group.
3.37 million mentions of Starbucks on Twitter through May 2009. (Daniel Adler, “Twenty One Twitter Apps”, Forbes , July 31, 2009.)

Twitter

Twitter
Sign Up for Account at http://Twitter.com
Select a “personal” name — not a corporate or company name.
Remember the importance of personalization.

Twitter
Go to http://Search.Twitter.com.
Who’s talking about your company?
What local customers are on Twitter?
Who’s talking about your products?

Twitter
Listen.
Follow.
Engage.
Repeat.

Facebook
More than 400 million active users — would be the world’s 3rd largest country.
Average user has 130 friends.
20 million people per day become fans of pages.
1.5 million local businesses have active pages on Facebook.

Facebook
35+ age group = 30% of Facebook.
55+ age group grew 922% in 2009.
Source: http://istrategylabs.com

Facebook

Facebook
Pay-per-click.
Target by:
Keyword
Location
Demographic
Facebook Ads

Facebook

Facebook
Sign up for a personal Facebook profile
Get acquainted, search around, follow other businesses.
Sign up for a business page at http://Facebook.com/pages
Suggest to friends. Engage. Watch your network grow.

Online Video

Online Video
Americans Are Watching:
More than 161 million U.S. Internet users watched online video in August 2009.
99% of Americans watched videos on YouTube, which accounted for 10 billion video views.

Online Video
American Consumers and Voters Are Watching:
More than 140,000 people have viewed the YouTube video of U.S. Senator Conrad Burns napping during a 2006 U.S. Senate Farm Bill Hearing.
More than 1.4 million people viewed the video of the Comcast technician sleeping on the customer’s couch.

Online Video The ultimate storytelling tool.

Online Video

Online Video Who can best tell your story? Put ‘em on camera. Keep it authentic and ‘real’.

Key Points
It’s not about eyeballs — it’s about engagement.

Key Points
Keep it authentic. Keep it real.

Key Points
Not “extra” time spent ... it’s what you need to be doing.

Key Points
“The Web site is the easy part ... the hard part is the engagement.”
Luanne Lawrence VP for University Advancement Oregon State University Speaking at 2010 PRSA International Conference

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The Press Release is Dead: Using New Communications Tools to Build Your Business, Non-Profit or Campaign

by Curt Mercadante on Feb 19, 2010

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The Press Release is Dead: Using New Communications Tools to Build Your Business, Non-Profit or Campaign — Presentation Transcript