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May 28 2010

I’m w/Zuckerberg – Facebook Fan Salutes Good PR

May 28, 2010 – 12:57 am

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, was in the news this week with an example of yet another monster-sized-almost-monopoly giving its mea culpa to its customers via an op-ed in The Washington Post and other places. I’ll give Mr. Zuckerberg’s detractors their point if they want to criticize his ironic comment in the lead paragraph “If we give people control over what they share…,” since it has been a HUGE pain to control personal sharing on FB. But, the man does give a good apology, and his efforts this week are good PR.

Since Benjamin Cohen of the UK’s Channel 4 news insisted the week before that change was in the air, Facebook did seem to take a little time to get its PR act together, and the resulting effort was better than just OK, seems to me. The Facebook credo of a connected world can become a better world is something I buy intuitively, and the company’s young, sometimes stupid acting (aren’t we all?) leader is trying to be more connected to the reality that is today’s internet.

I can’t imagine a more difficult job than trying to create universal happiness in the Facebook kingdom. Some stats from the company provide an illustration of just how difficult the communications challenges are compared to other companies. First, 400 million users spend over 500 billion minutes each month on the site, sharing 25 billion pieces of content in the process. With this many customer content interactions, even a 99% effectiveness in handling them each month would deliver about 250 million screwups in just the basic stuff you promised to do for your users.

Throw privacy into the mix, and societal forces that are pushing us toward paranoia a little at a time…and controversy will ensue. Miller-McCune’s Erik Hayden posted about this in March in “On Facebook, You Are Who You Know,” citing Northeastern University and Max Planck Institute for Software Systems research using algorithms that infer personal attributes of Facebook users simply by looking at their public list of friends. There is no escape, perhaps, in a connected world.

The good news, I think, is that Zuckerberg has tried to distance the company from those who would say that privacy is dead on the internet.  He’s also taken a stand against the complicated “granular” controls that users were being forced to navigate to try to achieve some measure of privacy online. (Keep in mind, we aren’t just talking about Facebook. Once information is public in one place, it tends to show up in a lot of places, so FB controls may help stem the tide of revelation.)

Zuckerberg took it a step deeper, too: “We have also heard that some people don’t understand how their personal information is used and worry that it is shared in ways they don’t want… We already offer controls to limit the visibility of that information and we intend to make them even stronger.”

With the move afoot to get users to close their Facebook accounts, I’d suggest that the genie is already out of that bottle. In fairness, though, I remained acutely attuned to accusations such as those Dan Yoder posted recently on Gizmodo (“Top Ten Reasons You Should Quit Facebook”) as he encouraged folks to abandon ship (or maybe FB now qualifies as a country). Trust, but verify seems to be the watch phrase, as always.

The principles Zuckerberg has outlined for Facebook are worthy of review by public relations counselors who will increasingly have to deal with such issues for their clients and companies. Users must have control over how their information is shared. They should not have to worry about their information being shared with unwanted people or services. Advertisers shouldn’t have access to personal information, nor should it be sold.

I want to believe the CEO of Facebook, and I maintain the hope that the wisdom of the crowd will continue to help him align his approach with the wishes of his audience.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Michael Whitlow | Posted in Digital Marketing | Comments (1)
May 27 2010

Foursquare in Healthcare?

May 27, 2010 – 8:00 am

Photo courtesy of dpstyles™

By Jenn Riggle

It seems like every day another company enters the geolocation race. Google’s Buzz, Gowalla, MyTown, Yelp and even Facebook are jumping into the fray. But the company to beat is Foursquare.

The question I have to ask: Does Foursquare make sense for healthcare?

To answer this question, I employed the tried and true method – I created a pros and cons list.

PROS

Customer Relationship Management

In the consumer sector, companies like Starbucks, Pepsi and Macy’s are using Foursquare as a virtual loyalty-card program, while others are offering discounts or other rewards for shopping. They also use Foursquare to see who’s coming to their stores, how often they’re coming and offering special coupons or discounts to people who visit. Hospitals could definitely benefit from creating customer loyalty programs. For example, this type of program might be great for “happy” hospital visits, such as pre-natal check-ups or childbirth education classes.

Promoting Wellness Programs

A great way to use Foursquare is to have people check in when they visit the gym, physical therapist or the health food store. So in addition to people earning their “Gym Rat” badge or becoming mayor of their gym, they could find other people who share similar interests and help develop a virtual community. Foursquare could also work in sync with Twitter fitness hashtags like the #TwitFit or #Twit2Fit.

Social Media Leadership

Hospitals are continually looking for new ways to distinguish themselves from their competition, whether it’s by highlighting their emergency department wait times or promoting their quality and HCAHPS scores. Being the first health system in their community to implement Foursquare could help position a hospital as the technology leader.

Integration with Health Resources

There is potential synergy with services like Google Health, Facebook and Twitter. Foursquare even has the potential to impact new services like 23andMe, a personal genomics and biotech company that claims to help people understand their genetic information. The benefit about this type of integration is that it might provide doctors with information about where they have gone and how environmental factors may impact their health.

CONS

The Privacy Question

Lawyers and hospital executives stay awake at night worrying about social media and the possibility of violating Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations. And while more and more hospitals are convincing their lawyers that the sky won’t fall if they create a Facebook page, Foursquare adds yet another layer to the privacy question.

Denton Gentry touched on some of these issues in his Coding Relic blog when he wrote about his concerns when he receive an update that one of his friends checked into the local children’s hospital:

“A check-in notification is devoid of context; there was no indication if it was routine or emergency. Certainly if one had just rushed a child to the hospital one wouldn’t bother checking in… but what about hours later? What about an extended stay, after initial panic subsides? Where detail is lacking, the mind fills in possibilities.”

But do hospitals want to arouse these types of questions? Hospitals have always been committed to protecting patients’ privacy. Yet when patients send online updates about when they visit the hospital, they’re throwing away their privacy and creating questions in people’s mind. That’s why it’s a lot easier for Foursquare to be used with health and wellness programs – the reasons why people visit are understood.

Limited Hospital Resources

While hospitals are beginning to engage on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, they have limited social media resources. More often than not, social media is just one of the tasks the marketing/public relations staff is trying to do. Rather than trying to spread themselves too thin and engage in too many social media platforms on a limited basis, it’s better to engage and build strong communities in one of two of these platforms.

Since it’s already clear that there are audiences on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, it makes sense that hospitals focus their efforts there. Foursquare is still a young platform. And while it has generated a lot of buzz, it still hasn’t reached critical mass. When Foursquare becomes mainstream, hospitals will want to incorporate it into their marketing plans.

Hospitals are Risk Averse

Hospitals aren’t known for taking a lot of risks. So before they engage in social media projects, they typically run it by their lawyers, who are even more cautious. In addition, the thought that hospitals could develop marketing plans that could be derailed by Foursquare’s acquisition could make them even more cautious.

Geolocation Market Is In Its Infancy

Right now, the geo-location market reminds me a little of the video industry in the 1970s during the Betamax vs. VHS format war. While Betamax may have been the technically superior format, a number of factors resulted in VHS becoming the dominant format – at least until digital technology made it obsolete.

The same is true with the geo-location industry today. Right now, there are a lot of players vying to be the leader in geo-location space and it remains to be seen who will win. And while Foursquare has the early lead, in the end, the company with the deepest pockets wins. You also have to wonder whether Foursquare will be an acquisition target and eventually be integrated into a larger service.

What’s Next?

Edward Boches wrote about SeeMyOp.com, a new social network being developed that takes the live-tweeting during surgery to the next level. SeeMyOp.com is intended to be the first social network site that lets members stream live video from surgical scopes and instruments used during their surgical procedures. People can view the video from SeeMyOp.com’s site over Twitter and Facebook. I’m sure this will give lawyers another reason not to sleep at night.

From my perspective, the timing isn’t right for hospitals to adopt Foursquare. But I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jenn Riggle | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (21)
May 26 2010

Ten Tips for Successful Event Planning

May 26, 2010 – 1:51 pm

The next time you attend an event, look around. Those napkins fanned out in a perfect display on the catering table? Someone spent the morning twisting them with a practiced spin of the wrist. That RSVP list that is being scanned for your name? Someone spent months painstakingly updating it so the nametag about to be handed to you could be cross-checked and alphabetized at midnight the night before.

Event planning is not rocket science, but it requires an acute organization and constant attention to detail. If everything goes off without a hitch, it often goes without notice, but if something goes awry, it’s a public display of failure.

Here are ten tips to help you manage planning and execution process of an event – large or small:

1. Start Early: There is no such thing as having too much time to plan an event. For large-scale events, start planning four to five months in advance. For smaller events, one to two months is reasonable. Try to finalize all major contracts (venue and vendors) a full month before the event date.

2. Create a Retroplanning Document: Start with the day of the event, and create a detailed list backtracking every task that needs to happen, assigning each a firm deadline and responsible team member. Some deadlines may change, but use it as the master reference for your team, everyone checking things off as they get accomplished.

3. Negotiate with Vendors: Everything is negotiable – even when they tell you it’s not. Before a conversation with a vendor, make a list of everything you need from them, determine your budget and then give them a number that is 5 – 10% lower. There are always unforeseen costs (post-event taxes, service fees, etc), so allow some wiggle room. Go through the proposal with a fine-tooth comb and tell them which sections of the estimate are too high. Vendors are up against dozens of competitors and will almost always give you a discount to win your business.

4. Divide and Conquer: Assign portions of the event to each team member. If everyone has ownership of a piece of the puzzle (set-up, registration, catering), details are less likely to slip through the cracks and team members will feel more involved.

5. Make it Social: Events are a great way to harness your client’s social media presence. Leave a sign-in sheet for guests’ twitter handles. Create a custom hashtag for the event and encourage attendees to tweet about it. Post pictures of the event on the company blog or Facebook page and allow guests to tag themselves.

6. Create an Event Bible: You can plan for months and months, but the day-of will almost always be hectic. Put together a simple binder with all of your vendor contracts, extra copies of the floor plan, and a cheat sheet of contact information for easy reference.

7. Have a Plan B for EVERYTHING: Something will be late, something won’t arrive at all, and something will most certainly go very, very wrong. Anticipate which aspects will more significantly affect your event and create backup plans for each.

8. Do a Mental Walk-Through before The Real One: About two weeks before the event, mentally walk through every minute of the event, from set-up to break down. You’ll be surprised how many last minute tasks you catch. Then schedule the final venue walk-through a week before the event, and you’ll be prepared with all the last-minute details.

9. Take Pictures, Pictures and More Pictures: Pictures are the best way to illustrate an event’s success. If there’s budget, hire a photographer and create a specific shot list (a shot of the full room, a focus on branding, etc.). If not, assign a team member to the task and equip them with a high-quality camera. For many clients, if there’s not a picture of it for the recap, it didn’t happen.

10. Send the Recap out ASAP: It’s natural to want to shift down a few gears when the event is over. You’re tired, it’s over and you can finally breathe a sigh of relief. But get in early the next day to put together the post-event brief. Arrange for your photographer to send you a few choice photos that you can upload immediately. While your client is still buzzing from a well-executed event, send them a beautiful recap touting all of the successes. And then once you’ve press send, collapse and sleep for days.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Genna Gaddy | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (10)
May 25 2010

Less Wasted Energy Would Beget a Better Energy Plan

May 25, 2010 – 1:02 am

By Mike Mulvihill

The art of debate has given way to the bully pulpit of the zealous. Red states versus blue states, FOX conservative demagogues versus liberal MSNBC whack jobs and environmentalists versus business. Regardless of the correctness of their premise, zealots have created most of the world’s most serious ills – outside of pandemics – from the Spanish Inquisition to various genocides to most of the world’s wars and violent conflicts.

 Climate change and global warming zealots, while well-meaning, would be more likely to achieve lasting, albeit incremental change in our nation’s carbon footprint if they were to adopt a more pragmatic approach in their battle against CO2 emissions. Here are some suggestions that no one is likely to fall head over heels for, but they could eventually generate more common ground debate than scorched ground diatribe.

  1.  Face It – Prohibition Doesn’t Work.  Americans are addicted to electricity. Widespread access to reliable, affordable electricity is what differentiates the civilized world from the developing world. Our nation’s short-lived experience with alcohol prohibition and our far from stellar success with illegal drug interdiction are lessons that supply will always find a way when demand is in place.  Coal fuels 50 percent of all the electricity generated in the U.S. Rather than exert so much energy on “no new coal-fired power plants,” certain organizations would be better off to propose a shutdown of the most inefficient (aka oldest) coal-fired plants – but only if they can be replaced by newer, more efficient coal-fired power plants.  More than 600 coal-fired power plants in use today were built before 1960.  Surely, if we replaced the most inefficient of these plants with new plants that produce 30 percent less CO2, we could significantly reduce emissions and still provide reliable, affordable electricity.  This would buy us 50 years (the life span of a power plant) to perfect commercially viable (i.e., reliable and affordable) replacement energy sources and phase them into production and into the cost structure.
  2.  Focus Grassroot Efforts on Changing the Demand Culture. The endless hours and energy grassroot organizations spend trying to alter electric supply would generate more results if focused on addressing consumer demand. Most environmental advocacy organizations are masters at grassroots organization and mobilization. That expertise could be channeled into creating peer-to-peer induced changes in energy demand to complement incentives offered by utilities and federal/state governments.  The resulting impact could perhaps approach some of the lofty – and currently unrealistic – goals for energy efficiency, thereby reducing the need to keep adding more electric generation to slake America’s ever growing electron thirst.
  3.  Bring Back the Nuke.  According to the U.S. Dept. of Energy, the last U.S. commercial nuclear reactor to go on-line was the “Watts Bar” plant in Tennessee, which began construction in 1973 and came online in February 7, 1996. Nuclear power is low emission and can create large amounts of electricity well-suited to work with the nation’s existing transmission grid.  While the old USSR developed the first commercial nuclear power plant, the U.S. was the center of nuclear power generation until Three Mile Island.  Today, we generate about 20 percent of all U.S. electricity from nuclear. France produces 80 percent of its electricity with nuclear. (Come on, if the French can make it work safely, why can’t we?) Yes, disposal of spent fuel rods is – and will likely always be – a local containment issue.  (Transporting spent nuclear material from plants to a central repository at Yucca Mountain was perhaps one of the stupidest solutions ever.)  But, it is time for changes in federal policy and government backing of loans to construct nuclear plants (given  the skittishness of Wall Street based on 1970s historic data on defaults and near bankruptcy by utilities building reactors.) More importantly, it is time for American attitudes to change enough to let a new nuclear plant be built in someone’s – not just someone else’s – backyard.
  4.  More Gas, Please.  Natural gas is the cleanest of all fossil fuels used to generate electricity. However, it is not inexpensive – about 350 percent more expensive per Btu output than coal – and it has a track record of price volatility.  While currently trading at the lower end of the historic price range of recent years, oil and gas exploration snafus in the Gulf may create unwarranted baggage and impacts on natural gas future supply and pricing. Regardless, natural gas is a viable component of the nation’s power generation portfolio and should be employed when practical.
  5.  Get Serious About Renewables.  Lastly, no one in the electric utility industry will argue against greater use of renewable energy fuels such as wind and solar, and to a lesser extent biomass, geothermal and hydro. Renewables make a lot of sense –  especially, solar in the Southwest and wind in the Plains — to supplement base load electric generation (i.e., 24/7, 365-day a year generation provided by coal, gas, nuclear and hydro). However, renewable generation needs to access an electric transmission grid that is aging and created for a few major on-ramps from large base load plants not a lot of small output access lanes.  (BTW, building new transmission lines is among the most contentious and time consuming local land use endeavors anyone could possibly undertake.) We also desperately need to advance large scale storage solutions that can turn intermittent power sources into dependable around-the-clock power.  In order to get serious, promised government investments in green technology development and commercialization is needed to leverage or spur private sector investments.  China decided it wanted to own solar panel manufacturing and as a result has tripled its global market share to 25 percent in just the past four years.  We need that kind of focus.

 While many of these recommendations could be considered blasphemy to some of the “combatants” in the battle for our carbon future, an open minded debate on the matters will certainly generate a better outcome, more rapidly than the current state of zero tolerance intransience.  

 Photo credit: a capillary hint of red

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Mike Mulvihill | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)
May 24 2010

Your YouTube Video Won’t Fly High Without Strategic Thinking

May 24, 2010 – 12:19 pm

By Priya Ramesh

YouTube Preview Image

I just got back from Los Angeles last week after meeting with one of our clients, Air New Zealand and I couldn’t help but continue to think about their very successful “Nothing to Hide” video campaign. With video content taking over blogs, Facebook and even traditional employee communications vehicles, it is that much more critical to understand that just creating a video does not guarantee engagement, interaction or search rankings. Air New Zealand’s Nothing to Hide video didn’t go viral without careful planning and placement on the part of the global team both Air New Zealand and CRT/tanaka behind it. This video garnered over 1.2 million views within two weeks of launch followed by placements in the Huffington Post, Fox News and a long list of top tier media publications.

So before I discuss some key ingredients to viral video success let’s look at some industry trends that vouch for increased growth of video content in the coming years. According to the Nielsen third-quarter “Three Screen Report,” online video usage is on the rise, with Internet users watching 53 more minutes of video online in third quarter 2009, a 34.9% increase in viewing time from last year. In addition, the number of people watching mobile video has grown 53% year over year. Videos if rightly done have the tremendous potential to make your viewer want to now share it with the whole wide world making it go viral. Let’s look at some key attributes to what makes a video ripe to be shared by millions of people around the world.

1. Humor and Creativity Drive Virality (I just coined that I think): Speaking to Jules Lloyd, Head of Creative Shop at Air New Zealand last week further emphasized the fact that “thinking way out of the box” is the perfect recipe to viral videos. Jules is the woman behind convincing the Air New Zealand CEO and members of the flight crew to appear body painted in the Nothing to Hide video. I understand not a lot of companies can be edgy and push their limits on creative freedom but at the least THINK DIFFERENT if you truly want to take your video viral.

2. Think Strategic: Yeah there is some careful thinking behind what is that you are trying to convey through your video. Is it just a fun, interactive video with no message? Or do you want to convey something very specific through your video? The Coca Cola Happiness Machine video is a good example of how the beverage manufacturer makes itself appealing to the student community that is known to favor Pepsi more.

3. Market Your Video: Yeah the good old saying of “if you build it they will come” absolutely does not apply to video marketing. There is a lot of outreach activity that happens around a video to ensure the content gets placed on a website, blog or even print publication that enjoys wide readership. It takes a placement in the Huffington Post or the Wall Street Journal to start seeing huge spikes to viewership on your YouTube video. So packaging, pitching and promoting (3Ps) are very integral to jump start a video to take flight online and of course boost search engines rankings.

I want to leave you with the top five viral videos last week shortlisted by Matt Wilstein, founder of Gotcha Media Blog  Huffington Post.

Do you have plans to increase video content in your marketing programs moving forward? Let us know your thoughts on video campaigns.

I am speaking more about viral videos at the PRSA Travel and Tourism conference this week, stop by and say hello if you are in Aspen, CO this week for the conference.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Priya Ramesh | Posted in Digital Marketing, PR Industry Trends | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (6)
May 21 2010

Social Media Is A Commitment

May 21, 2010 – 11:56 am

Last night, I attended #smcrva where @DeanHolmes talked on the topic of “Evaluating Your Content”. He showed how the message should drive the strategy. It’s not about the marketing – it’s all about the content! This is a basic concept, but often forgotten in the rush to adopt the next big trend. So if it’s about the content – how do we continue the trend of impact?

It’s all about commitment. Social media is a commitment. @ComcastCares and @richardatdell proof that social media is a must for engaging to connect with users/audience in a personal method. Keep in mind, it’s not just something else to tack on – it is a full commitment to your brand.

During the QA time, Dean was asked (specifically for twitter) why a brand should follow their followers back. The most effective answer came from a member in the audience, who works as the brand manager for @StrangesGarden (a B2C company): “I want to know what my customers talk about even if it isn’t my keyword or brand – so that I can engage them and increase my brand awareness.” This shows serious commitment of the company to engage with the community even off topic as to build credibility and reputation.

If the audience determines your network participation as a brand shouldn’t the message be tailored to them as well? Jon expanded on this: “Now that you have gathered friends and followers (and want to increase those numbers) you need to truly engage them, not just throw things at them — in short you need to provide value.”

Since social media is a commitment – you need a plan. It is better to have a goal than float through networks at a whim. Especially for a business tool a good plan will identify the audience, the strategy for ongoing content generation, identify frequency of participation and determine the amount of time and resources allocated to managing the strategy. A big part of this plan should also consider “who” will be that interactive face for the brand, the personality and passion of the individual(s) will affect the overall success of the strategy.



A byproduct of social media is the speed at which you will see results to your engagement. It is a good way to experiment with different methods and tactics for short amounts of time without spending large budget. The results should be obvious. If they aren’t, then there is something off target with your strategy or implementation. Try again until you get it right.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Dave McNamara | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (15)
May 20 2010

How Twitter’s Nose for News is Changing the Industry

May 20, 2010 – 8:48 am

Photo courtesy of dane brian

By Jenn Riggle

New research shows that in many ways, Twitter functions as an RSS feed or news service rather than a social networking site.

That’s not to say there isn’t conversation on Twitter, but a lot of people are sharing news and articles with their followers. In many ways, Twitter’s the thinking man’s water cooler.

Twitter followers register to receive updates and often have limited interaction with the person tweeting. By comparison, social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook require people agree to become “friends” before they share information with each other.

It’s interesting to note that Hitwise (a traffic and monitoring service) reports that more people get their news from Facebook and Google than Twitter. According to their research, Twitter represents only 0.14 percent of the traffic to news and media sites, while Facebook drives 3.64 percent and Google News drives 1.27 percent of their traffic.

Twitter may not be driving people to news and media sites because instead, it’s driving them to non-traditional news sources like the Huffington Post and blogs. In addition, the people who go to Google News and Facebook for news probably skew slightly older than Twitter users and are more likely to seek out traditional news sources. Or maybe Twitter users are used to skimming the headlines and only click onto the links that really interest them.

As a news junkie, this research validates why I’ve always felt drawn to Twitter and not to Facebook. It also explains why news stories like the US Airways Flight 1549 landing on the Hudson River (commonly known as the Miracle on the Hudson) spread so rapidly on Twitter and why traditional news media and public relations and marketing folks are drawn to Twitter. Their lives are inextricably linked to what’s happening in the news.

But it also poses a more important question: What does this mean for news media?

If stories break on Twitter first, traditional media can seem redundant. When I watch the 11 p.m. news, it’s often a rehash of stories that broke on Twitter hours before — along footage of the night’s shootings, fires and sports scores.

Rather than try to compete with Twitter, traditional news media needs to find ways to harness its interactivity. CNN has the right idea. At the bottom of the TV screen, they invite people to go to Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation and talk about the issues. Other times, they have a Twitter feed on large plasma screens in the background, which they reference during the show.

The Washington Post published a great article a while back that looks at how TV anchors are using Twitter to give behind the scenes look at shows like “Meet the Press.” But they also solicit questions for their guests from the followers, giving citizen journalist a whole new meaning.

The bigger question is how the newspaper industry, which is already facing huge financial hurdles, can use Twitter. It’s already using Twitter to drive people to stories on their websites. But why not ask people what they think about stories that impact them? Or ask them to report about traffic accidents on the highway? Or maybe have a gardening expert on Twitter who answers readers’ questions about things like why the leaves on their gardenia plants are yellow.

Twitter is a great way to whet people’s appetite for news and direct them to websites for more information. But it won’t stop there – with Twitter scooping stories, traditional media needs to find ways to integrate Twitter’s interactive capabilities and stay relevant.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jenn Riggle | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (1)
May 19 2010

Finding Your Voice: How to Become a Top Wine Tweeter

May 19, 2010 – 3:00 pm

THE BOOZE BIN

By Pia Mara Finkell (@piamara)

clip_image002Social media is challenging to explain to those outside of the “bubble” of communications, most of all Twitter. The first time I tried to explain it to my father, who just signed up for an email account last year, I tried to simplify things for him. “It’s a place where you can, you know, tell people what you’re doing or thinking, or tell people about what other cool people are doing or thinking, or talk with a bunch of strangers who like the same stuff as you.” I realize I just ended up making Twitter sound pretty darn lame at best and kind of creepy at worst.

It was even more challenging to explain Twitter to clients just dipping their toes into the social media realm, in particular wine and food clients. How can a wine region use Twitter to reach their consumer audience and in the end, sell more wine, the ultimate goal of any wine PR, marketing or promotional campaign?

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My advice is to show them the wonderful world of Twitter by giving them a list of the best people in the industry to follow. There are tons of great examples, but in the interest of maintaining the ever-popular list format, here are a dozen of the very best (read: my favorite) wine voices on Twitter, in no particular order, and 5 reasons why they are so successful:

1. @Enobytes: Home of #VinQ wine trivia game & bridging the gap between consumers and wine pros. Eat well, Drink well. Live well.
* Enobytes is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing wine education and appreciation and they are one of the most interesting wine tweeters (twiners?) out there.

2. @dirtysouthwine: Wine Is Meant To Be Crunk!
* Penned by Hardy Wallace, aka “Dirty,” this hilarious tweeter has also been bringing wine to the people via his blog since 2007.

3. @TishWine: I am a recovering wine critic, now devoted to injecting humor and sense into the wine scene. Pairing wine + fun since the 20th century!
* He’s smart (read: went to Harvard), he’s silly (see picture at left) and most importantly, he’s funny. The perfect wine social media trifecta.

4. @KevinZraly: Kevin is the winner of the ’06 Wine Literary Award, European Wine Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and has been featured in the NYTimes, Newsweek and GQ.
* Kevin wrote what many consider to be the authoritative text on wine, “Windows On The World Complete Wine Course” and is one of the most recognizable and approachable wine educators and tweeters.

5. @garyvee: Wine guy, host of Wine Library TV. Video blogger and Businessman that loves people and the hustle.
* Gary Vaynerchuk is without a doubt the most famous and successful wine social media guru. He’s loud, he loves the Jets and he’s made it on Conan. That spells success in my book.

6. @alawine: Drinking wine makes me want to write about it & writing about it makes me want to drink it.
* Ken from @alawine is interesting, informed and very simply, built a cool list of the Top 100 Social Wine Tweeters.

7. @drvino: Author, blogger, educator, all about fermented grape juice, aka wine.
* One of the most interesting wine voices and all-around nice guys, Dr. Tyler Colman teaches me something new almost every day, and has made an appearance on Wine Library TV with Gary V. Not bad for a nice Midwestern boy with a PhD in Poli-Sci!

8. @TheWineWhore: I swallow so you don’t have to spit!
* Who could resist following someone called The Wine Whore? At least he’s upfront about it. He pens a blog, which he describes as “A tell-all wine blog revealing the affairs of Randy Watson as he funds his wine habits by ‘whoring’ himself to the wine industry.”

9. @Catavino: All you ever wanted to know about Spanish and Portuguese wine!
* American expats, Ryan and Gabriella Opaz live and blog together in Spain and are vocal supporters of wine social media, as evidenced by Ryan’s awesome speech at the Wine Future conference in Rioja, Spain.

10. @1WineDude: Musically inclined wine consultant , CSW, bass player, IT pro, and sometimes hiney shaker
* Joe Roberts is witty, smart and one of the most interesting wine writers in the industry. More importantly though, he’s funny.

11. @terroirNY: I’m Terroir Wine Bar And You’re Not
* Funny, tongue in cheek wine and food tweeters behind Terroir Wine Bar in NYC. They are as awesome as Terroir Wine Bar. Enough said.

12. @pmabray: Wine Revolutionary, Chief Strategy Officer
* Paul Mabray, head of the Digital Think Tank for the wine industry VinTank, unleashed a wine social media white paper last May. It’s definitely worth a read.

Top 5 Reasons These Wine Tweeters Made The List:

  1. Keep it Simple Stupid – They use 140 characters to its max, offering up short but interesting sound bites to turn what can inherently be a very dorky, snobbish topic into something fun, functional and inclusive.
  2. Funny as hell – Funny people make everything more entertaining, in the wine world, or any other world for that matter. Perfect example: @TishWine is a wine educator, writer/blogger and all around good guy, but what you might not know is that he’s also a budding stand up comic. His humor and irresistible quirkiness have found their perfect home within social media, and his tweets are just plain entertaining. When I asked him why he believes social media is the wave of the vinofuture, he said “It’s digital word of mouth. Social media is favored by mostly young people who don’t rely on traditional authorities to make their wine selections.” Smart guy, that Tish.
  3. Sniff out the Story – The best wine tweeters have true journalistic spirits and keep their fingers on the heartbeat of the wine industry. They keep their ears and eyes open for interesting stories. @Drvino hit the big time by reporting on the fascinating ethics debate surrounding Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate writers accepting trips.
  4. “Link it Up” – To quote @GaryVee, adding links to interesting blog posts, pictures, etc. brings tweets to life and makes what can be an inherently boring topic a lot more colorful. clip_image007
  5. “Find A Voice” – John Grisham just gave the UNC Chapel Hill commencement speech and offered up some good advice to the new graduates: “Find a Voice.” I believe this advice holds true for people of all ages, especially within the scope of social media. John said it more eloquently than I ever could, so I’ll leave you with his words:

A voice has three essential elements.

The first is clarity. When I was in high school, I discovered the novels of John Steinbeck. He was and is my favorite writer. The Grapes of Wrath is a book I’ve read more than all others. I admire his talent for telling a story, his compassion for the underdog, but what I really admire is his ability to write so clearly. His sentences are often rich in detail and complex, but they flow with a clarity that I still envy. His characters are flawed and tragic, often complicated, but you understand them because they have been so clearly presented.

In life, we tend to ignore those who talk in circles, saying much but saying nothing. We listen to and follow those whose words, and ideas and thoughts and intentions are clear.

The second element is authenticity. Few things I like better in life than getting lost in a good book written by an author who is in full command of his subject matter, either because he has lived the story, or so thoroughly researched it. I read a lot of books written by other lawyers – legal thrillers, as they are called – I read them because I enjoy them, also I have to keep an eye on the competition. I can usually tell by page 3 if the author has actually been in a fight in a courtroom, or whether he’s simply watched too much television.

In life, we tend to discredit those who claim to be what they are not. We respect those who know their subject matter. We long for, and respect credibility.

The third element is veracity. In the past few years, the publishing industry has been scandalized by a handful of writers who wrote very compelling stories of their real-life adventures.  These were good stories, they were well written, the voices were clear and seemingly authentic. They sold for big money, they were marketed aggressively, they were reviewed favorably, and then they were exposed for being what they really were – frauds fabrications, lies. The real-life adventures never happened. The books were pulled from the shelves. The publishers were embarrassed. Lawsuits were filed to retrieve the advances. And the writers’ voices have been forever silenced.

In life, finding a voice is speaking and living the truth.

clip_image008John Grisham’s Commencement Address, “Find a Voice”
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
May 9, 2010

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Pia Mara Finkell | Posted in The Booze Bin, Wine, Food & Nutrition | Tagged , , , | Comments (13)
May 18 2010

Green Energy Claims Too Good to Be True

May 18, 2010 – 12:03 am

 

By Mike Mulvihill

Before the powerful pheromone of green energy seduces the nation into scrapping our existing energy infrastructure, perhaps it would be good to look more closely at those alternative power sources.

 Robert Bryce, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, penned an article in the Washington Post a few weeks back on the myths of green energy.  (Granted, he did so to help promote the release of his fourth book, “Power Hungry: The Myths of ‘Green’ Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future.”)

Bryce addressed several key misconceptions about green energy (and this blog admittedly pulls heavily from his observations to address some misconceptions that are specific to electric generation).  Here are just a few:

Solar and wind will substantially reduced CO2 emissions.

Regulatory agencies require utilities to have power reserve requirements to ensure reliability of the electric power in their respective service territories. Since the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow, utilities still must have nuclear, natural gas or coal-fired power plants online to cover whatever wind and solar can’t generate on a given day. As a result, those power plants can’t go away and, therefore, reductions in carbon dioxide emissions would be minimal at best.

For example, Denmark doubled its production of wind energy between 1999 and 2007.  But the operator of Denmark’s natural gas and electricity grids (Energinet) reports that carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in 2007 was about the same as its 1990 levels. While Denmark has flattened out its overall carbon emissions, the result can be attributed more to stagnant population growth and very high energy taxes than to wind energy.

Going green will reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources.

More accurately, this statement should say going green will transfer and concentrate dependence to fewer foreign countries. For electric power generation, this is especially true in the case of batteries – something desperately needed for solar and wind energy storage. Rare earth elements, essential ingredients in most alternative energy technologies, would increase our dependence on China for elements known as lanthanides. Lanthanum, neodymium, dysprosium and other rare earth elements are used in products from high-capacity batteries and hybrid-electric vehicles to wind turbines and oil refinery catalysts. China controls between 95 and 100 percent of the global market in these elements.

A greener America will create green American jobs.

China has tripled its market share of solar panel manufacturing to 25 percent in just the past four years. Regardless of the industry, America still faces the issue of high domestic labor costs. Wind turbines?  China controls the market for neodymium, a critical ingredient in turbine magnets, along with access to cheap labor.  We can create green jobs by creating a green economy but it will likely require some level of government aid/assistance, and we’ll be creating as many jobs abroad as we do at home.

The United States is a green laggard among developed countries.

As stated in Bryce’s article, “Over the past three decades, the United States has improved its energy efficiency as much as or more than other developed countries. According to data from the Energy Information Administration, average per capita energy consumption in the United States fell by 2.5 percent from 1980 through 2006. That reduction was greater than in any other developed country except Switzerland and Denmark, and the United States achieved it without participating in the Kyoto Protocol or creating an emissions trading system like the one employed in Europe. EIA data also show that the United States has been among the best at reducing the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per $1 of GDP and the amount of energy consumed per $1 of GDP.”

This data is not surprising given that America is increasingly a service-based economy and less a manufacturing-intensive economy. And we are continually achieving increases in productivity in our work force and our production processes. As Bryce said, “The United States will continue going green by simply allowing engineers and entrepreneurs to do what they do best: make products that are faster, cheaper and more efficient than the ones they made the year before.”

Photo courtesy Kevin Dooley

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Mike Mulvihill | Posted in Digital Marketing, PR Industry Trends | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (2)
May 14 2010

Republicans Take PR Initiative…Again

May 14, 2010 – 12:55 am

Tyler Whitley of the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on the latest in a series of public relations winning programs over the years from the Republican side of the Congressional aisle, announced this week by Virginia’s very own Eric Cantor, the Republican Whip.

The “YouCut” project allows voters to select from a selected list of potential cuts our government could make in the bloated federal budget. Each week, they will bring a winner to the floor to see if they can force debate and a vote up or down.

With Cantor’s earlier, complicated think tank approach ”National Council for a New America” dead, according to TPMmuckraker’s Justin Elliott and others, this project is designed for the social media generation – somewhat like an American Idol meets public radio telethon mashup.

It’s a better-than-good move from a public relations perspective. The very politicians who often lament the “Californication” (or is it “Californization”) of America as a right-left issue have suddenly caught the referundum bug and want to abandon this little corner of our representative democracy. The very politicians who lambast the propensity of their opposing “Democrat Party” to poll for everything are now in the midst of a big poll to tell them how to vote. That aside, and my bias with it, it’s a credible public relations move…and lots of Americans will applaud the sense of power they’ll get from texting in their votes.

I’m old enough to remember Newt Gingrich and the Contract, and that, too, was the Republicans outpointing the Dems with a right-leaning populist twist.

As a relatively inventive person, I’m amazed that the Democratic Party is settling for bruising political wins over wins in the court of public opinion, it seems. With just a little bit of effort on the PR front, couldn’t the Dems get a little credit?

The beauty of the Republican’s YouCut program is it’s mostly a no-lose proposition from the political perspective. The Whip and his colleagues get to pick the elements we’ll vote up or down. They then get to try and make it to the floor. They then get to complain about the Democrats for not agreeing, or, when they do agree, they get to take credit along with “the American People.”

From another perspective, Cantor and the gang have a winner in that many will vote; the supporters on the right will be fully energized, and for the rest of us, we’ll be amazed as we always are at the immense waste spread throughout our government. Don’t hold your breath for any of the real big issues coming up in the YouCut process. Huge Social Security, Medicare and other entitlements will not be vying with the massive defense expenditures, most probably. We’re not really that focused on educating citizens, and the somewhat limited sense of having a voice will be enough to gather in a few more votes for a party trying to reposition itself from a spendthrift decade or so under Bush by attacking similar spending under the new regime.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Michael Whitlow | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)