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Should You Use Pinterest (for PR)?

By Elena · Comments (8)
Tuesday, July 31st, 2012
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Pinterest for PRThe social media world is abuzz with its latest darling, Pinterest.

You yourself may have been “pinning” like crazy. Or at the very least, seen your friends’ pins on Facebook.

Even though Pinterest is still by invitation only, its membership has been growing faster than Google Plus or Facebook. As of this writing, it has over 10 million users.

Every time a new potential tool comes up, PR folks wonder, “Should I be using it, too?”

PR in Your Pajamas’ answer:

“It depends.”

Pinterest can be an effective way to get your products out there to the market, get market intelligence, and engage a community of customers or potential customers.

Successful PR on Pinterest depends on a host of factors, which is what we’ll talk about in this post.

But First, A Background

What is Pinterest anyway?

Pinterest describes itself simply as “an online board.” Its tagline is, “Organize and share things you love.”

It’s a website where users can pin photos and videos on virtual pinboards. It’s “visual bookmarking,” in other words.

Beyond bookmarking, however, Pinterest is a  social network. You can follow other Pinterest users, “like” other people’s pins, comment on pins, and repin another person’s pin onto your own board.

People use Pinterest in different ways:

  • to keep things that interest them all in one place (e.g., recipes and hairstyles they want to try)
  • to collect visuals for inspiration (e.g., colors, patterns, designs)
  • to gather stuff they love (e.g., inspirational, touching or motivational images)
  • to research products (e.g., furniture for their home, prom dresses)
  • to share with like-minded people (e.g., knitted items with other knitters)

In short, Pinterest users use it to collect and discover photos and videos.

Discovery can happen through the people you follow. You can also browse pins by category, thus finding boards even by those you don’t follow.

What Pinterest Can Do For PR

Tell your story visually

As you may have surmised by now, Pinterest is all about visuals. If your core marketing and PR message can be told effectively through visuals, then Pinterest is an excellent medium.

Get exposure and referral traffic

PR Newswire recently added a Pin It button on the press releases they host. When a PR giant does this, you know they’re on to something. PR Newswire reported that referral traffic from Pinterest has exceeded combined traffic from LinkedIn, Google Plus, and YouTube.

Pins are highly shareable. Using the Pinterest bookmarket for web browsers, members can pin instantly without logging into their Pinterest accounts. The Like and Repin buttons make it easy to share pins, so you can imagine the potential for pins to reach a wide audience.

Finally, thanks to the ability to post pins on Twitter and Facebook, as well as embed them on a website, the potential for a pin to go viral is high.

Spread customer stories

When customers publish pictures about your product, or create a video review, Pinterest gives you yet another way to spread that customer story.

Create virtual special events

If you want to generate buzz online, Pinterest gives you several options. You could host a contest, for example.

Of course, make sure to pin photos and videos from your live events.

How to Use Pinterest for PR

If you’re now convinced that Pinterest would make a good additional to your social media PR toolbox, heed the following tips:

Make your website images pinnable

Give visitors permission to pin the images on your website (assuming you own the rights to those photos). As I’m writing this, only videos from YouTube and Vimeo are pinnable, so use one of those video sites if you want your videos on Pinterest.

Add a Pin It button

Make it easy peasy for website visitors to pin your image. Add a Pin It button.

Create compelling visuals

If you don’t have visuals, what will your visitors pin? Publish photos, infographics, videos, charts and graphs.

Use relevant images

Make sure the images and videos you do provide are relevant to your product, service or business.

Get social

Don’t open a Pinterest account only to pin your own stuff! Follow others on Pinterest, repin, like, and comment on other people’s pins. Don’t forget to share their pins through your  other social networks. They’re likely to return the good deed.

Remember your keyword strategy

Search engines crawl Pinterest content, so don’t forget your keyword strategy when pinning. Use target keywords when naming your boards and writing pin descriptions and comments. But, as always, don’t go overboard with this! Use target keywords where appropriate and natural.

To Pin Or Not To Pin

So should you use Pinterest for PR or not?

It depends.

If you:

… have a core message that can be told visually

… have visual and video resources, or are willing to develop them

… have the staff time and energy available to interact in an additional social network

… then go for it!

Otherwise, don’t freak out. Keep doing what’s working. If some of your social media PR efforts are not paying off as you expected, then you can try replacing it with Pinterest and see what results you get.

You can also try it on a small scale by focusing on a particular product or event. If you find that Pinterest brings you a targeted, highly motivated (to buy) audience, then you’ve found a valuable new PR tool.

Got questions? Stories to share about how you’ve used Pinterest? Our comment board is open below. I’m also on Twitter and Facebook, if you prefer those platforms.

Comments (8)
Categories : Social Media
Tags : Pinterest for PR, Pinterest tips, what is Pinterest

Do’s and Dont’s of Reaching Out to Bloggers for PR

By Elena · Comments (12)
Thursday, July 26th, 2012
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Blogger Outreach for PRThese days, no PR campaign is complete without a blogger outreach. Bloggers reach targeted audiences and enjoy much more credibility than paid ads. They also tend to have loyal readers who are willing to follow their recommendations. It pays to get on the good side of bloggers.

But for many PR folks, interacting with bloggers is new ground. Bloggers come in all shapes and sizes. Some do it for profit, other for passion. Still others for both. One approach may be welcomed by one blogger, but found offensive by another.

We don’t have any formulas to offer, just a reminder that bloggers are people. They appreciate sincere pitches from companies and PR professionals who offer them something relevant and useful to their audience. And, remember, even bloggers can’t resist a good story.

Get better results from your blogger outreach by following the tips below.

Read More→

Comments (12)
Categories : Social Media, What Is PR and How Do You Get It
Tags : bloggers outreach, pitching to bloggers, what bloggers want

Before You Pitch to Media: A Checklist

By Elena · Comments (3)
Wednesday, July 18th, 2012
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Media Pitch Checklist
If you want media exposure, you have to pitch to journalists, editors, and bloggers. It can be nerve-wracking to approach them with your story idea. After all, you’re setting yourself up for rejection.

Believe it or not, pitching to media gets easier with practice. And being as prepared as possible reduces your stress and increases your chances of success.

Use this checklist to help you prepare for your next pitch to media:

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Comments (3)
Categories : What Is PR and How Do You Get It
Tags : how to pitch to media, how to write a media pitch, media pitch checklist, pitching to media, PR checklist

Summer Reading List for PR Pros

By Elena · Comments (2)
Tuesday, July 10th, 2012
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Public Relations Reading List
Ah, summer!

Whether your business explodes or slows down during the warm months, this season is always a good time to catch up on essential reading.

Below are my recommended books for PR professionals, listed in no particular order. Most of them are fairly new, although I’ve added a handful of “classics” in marketing, PR and entrepreneurship.

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Comments (2)
Categories : PR Resources
Tags : "Smarter, be heard now, Cheaper", crystallizing public opinion, david meerman scott, David Siteman Garland, Faster, happiness project, lee glickstein, likeonomics, malcolm gladwell, marketing reading list, michael gerber, PR reading list, public relations reading list, reputation rules, rohit bhargava, ryan holiday, social media and public relations, the e-myth, the new rules of marketing & pr, the tipping point, trust me i'm lying

PR Lessons From a Kickstarter Launch

By Elena · Comments (4)
Wednesday, July 4th, 2012
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If you’re a startup launching your first product, or looking for funding for a new product, you’ll want to check out Kickstarter.

My friends at MIO Global, who are making the holy grail of strapless, continuous heart rate monitor watches, used Kickstarter to generate its target $100,000 funding for product development.
 

 
Kickstarter is “the world’s largest funding platform for creative projects.” On its website, independent product developers present their projects for funding pledges. In return for rewards, anyone can pledge to support a project. Rewards range from free tips to free product, depending on the amount pledged.

Backers’ credit cards are charged only if the project reaches its funding goal within the set deadline. If the targets aren’t met, backers are not charged.

Liz Dickinson, founder of MIO Global, started looking at Kickstarter when Pebble (an e-paper watch for iPhone and Android) got over $10 million in pledges on the site.

This seriously legitimized Kickstarter as a fundraising vehicle for technical projects.

The most appealing aspect of Kickstarter is that you can raise the funds you need to bring your dream to reality without having to give up personal equity.

Kickstarter is also a great way to develop a community around your product — in other words, it’s great for PR.

About Alpha, the Holy Grail of Heart Rate Monitors

Liz Dickinson MIO Alpha Heart Rate MonitorLiz has worked in high technology for over 20 years, holds six patents and is the inventor of the world’s first finger sense EKG accurate heart rate watch,  MIO.

MIO was revolutionary in the field of heart rate monitors. For people interested in exercising with a heart rate watch, touching the watch was better than having to wear a chest strap.

But athletes wanted more: a heart rate monitor with no chest strap, that was continuous, accurate at high speeds, and didn’t need to be touched.

Liz understood that discovering such a technology would become her company’s ultimate goal. And so, her 11-year journey in search of the “Holy Grail” of heart rate monitor watches began.

Two years ago while visiting Philips Electronics in the Netherlands, Liz saw technology that had the potential to make real her dream of finding the “Holy Grail”. Liz saw substantial promise in their approach and had a great deal of confidence in the research team at Philips. So in a leap of faith she decided to invest.

After a significant personal financial risk and lots of hard work, Liz is near to bringing the Alpha heart rate monitor to market. The business challenge before her was to find the money needed to finish the project.

Goals for the Kickstarter Campaign

Was Kickstarter the right platform for Liz to raise the money she would need to cross the finish line?

To answer this, Liz needed to determine what her capital needs were, and if Kickstarter had the power to attract that amount of money through pledges.

Liz had personally funded Alpha to the prototype stage but still needed another $100K to bring Alpha to market.

The success of the Pebble watch gave Liz comfort that Kickstarter could meet her financial goals.

At the same time, the highly public and social aspect of using Kickstarter to raise pledges allowed her to set other “soft” information goals as well. How would the market react to Alpha? Would men or women buy it?  Would pledges (which are essentially correlated to price) slow down as the limited lower pledge categories sold out?  Would people pledge $200 to get an Alpha?

Since Kickstarter is such a highly visible way of raising funds, there was a unique opportunity to set some PR goals.

Could Kickstarter buzz be used in a way to help build the Alpha brand and awareness in the target market (athletes) and not just the Kickstarter community?

Campaign Challenges

Don’t expect to launch the project and watch the pledges kick in

A Kickstarter project is a living, breathing thing. It needs to be watched, nurtured, updated, and tweaked regularly. You need to communicate with backers regularly.

Don’t underestimate how time and resource intensive a Kickstarter project is

If a person is uncomfortable putting her/himself out there for the whole world to see and judge, Kickstarter is likely not the right funding vehicle. You’ve got to reply to questions promptly.

Set the right reward levels that meet your goals

One of the biggest challenges is to know how to set the reward levels. If offering product as a reward, it is very important to understand all the cost components, including shipping, and the percentages taken by Amazon Payments as well as Kickstarter.

If pledge levels are too low but the funding goal is met, the sad result will be an obligation to create and deliver product at a loss. If you set low “early bird” pledge levels, they will get snapped up from the feeling of urgency.

Create design and aesthetics that entertain

It’s also very important to create a project that meets the aesthetic sensibility of the Kickstarter audience. When reviewing successful Kickstarter submissions, Liz noticed that design is essential, and the submission must be beautiful as well as informative. Many Kickstarters come to the site simply for entertainment (check out the Alpha video above).

Driving traffic and continued interest is essential

Serious thought needs to be given to driving traffic to your project. Kickstarter’s own traffic will result in a certain number of pledges. However, this may not necessarily be your target audience.

Fortunately, Kickstarter offers social sharing tools that make it easy to spread the word about a project. These include Facebook and Twitter share buttons, as well as an embed code for the project video.

 

Lessons Learned

Begin PR efforts well in advance of the Kickstarter launch

When talking with those who had successful campaigns, they all said the same thing:  positive mention in a blog was the best way to get pledges. Before launching a Kickstarter campaign, make sure you know who the most influential bloggers are in your space and send them product to review.

The longest mentions are of those where bloggers got prototypes. First reviews should be lined up ready to coincide with the launch of the Kickstarter campaign. Succeeding blog mentions should come out throughout the life of the campaign.

The communication strategy should be totally buttoned down – who sends what to whom, when and with a clear call to action.

Remember to educate the public

Liz found that many people that came to Kickstarter as a result of her push campaign were not at all familiar with the platform or really understand what was expected of them. Part of your communication plan should include educating your market about what Kickstarter is, and how they can use it to support your project.

Keep messages crisp and consistent, use all forms of social media to their maximum

Spread word about the project and push out the message relentlessly. The Kickstarter  community will generate the initial project interest in your project – but it is up to the entrepreneur to bring in the external traffic and motivate them to pledge.

It’s also important to keep communicating with people after they’ve placed their pledges. Kickstarter gives project owners a space to publish updates on the campaign and the project, complete with photos. Backers can use the Comments section, which is also a great venue for the project owner to interact with backers.

Usage of the Kickstarter supplied backer communication and statistical analyses tools is vital

It cannot be overly stressed how important it is to completely understand all aspects of the platform itself. Kickstarter provides a Dashboard to continually optimize the campaign; amount of money pledged by referring link, number of video plays and was it watched via Kickstarter or offsite, popularity of various pledge levels and ways to communicate with individual and groups of backers.

Results

Alpha was 30% funded after 3 days on Kickstarter…. and as of publication of this post, it has exceeded its $100K funding goal, just 10 days after campaign launch.

Well done, Liz!

PS: Would you like to support the Alpha project? Click here to review the project and make your pledge.

Comments (4)
Categories : PR Case Study
Tags : alpha watch, kickstarter, liz dickinson, mio global

How to Use LinkedIn for PR

By admin · Comments (5)
Tuesday, June 19th, 2012
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How to Use LinkedIn for PR

LinkedIn is known as the social network for professionals and a great place to find jobs or clients, or to discover new talent.

But did you know that LinkedIn is also a great addition to your PR toolbox?

Here are some ways LinkedIn can boost your PR efforts:

  • research journalists before you pitch to them, to discover insights and other background information that will help you make a better pitch
  • get introduced to journalists, editors and bloggers
  • be discoverable by a different audience than you’re already reaching
  • improve your company website’s SEO
  • gather intelligence on your market, audience, and competitors

How exactly can you accomplish all this? The key is to know the different parts of LinkedIn and how to leverage them for PR:

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Comments (5)
Categories : PR Resources
Tags : LinkedIn PR

Media Interview Checklist

By Elena · Comments (5)
Wednesday, May 30th, 2012
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Frontiers 2011 - Smart&App La3 TV

Congratulations! You’ve done your media outreach correctly and now, a journalist wants to interview you.

If you’re like most people, this will be a “happy problem” for you. You’re excited to get exposure, but at the same time, you’re nervous about nailing the interview and appearing in media, especially if it’s a live interview on radio or TV.

To help ease your fears, here is a checklist for your interview:

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Comments (5)
Categories : What Is PR and How Do You Get It
Tags : Cross Border PR, elena verlee, freeconference.com, how to prepare for a media interview, how to prepare for a press interview, media interview checklist, pr firm, press interview checklist

Confronting Your Time Management Excuses

By Elena · Comments (20)
Tuesday, May 8th, 2012
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Time Flies

In today’s guest post, Karen Southall Watts once again forces us to face the truth — no matter how painful — so we can achieve our business and personal goals.

The challenge of time management is not new. Increasing pressure to “do more with less” is the hallmark of modern life. At some point everyone faces issues about how much to do or how to prioritize the items on their to-do-list. And the resources we need are all around us. There’s a wealth of information on the internet (much of it free), thousands of self-help books and CD’s and legions of gurus willing to tell us how to get it all done.

So, what’s the problem?

Often we merely give into our excuses. It’s time to confront those ideas, thrash them and move on.

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Comments (20)
Categories : Time management

Tools to Monitor Your Online Reputation

By Elena · Comments (12)
Tuesday, May 1st, 2012
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Tools to Monitor Your Online ReputationIn a previous post, we talked about the different factors that form your overall online reputation.
In this post, let’s talk about the actual tools you can use to monitor how your online reputation is doing.

By using these tools regularly — daily in fact — you’ll know:

  • what PR, branding and marketing strategies are working
  • what your prospects and clients are saying about you and your competitors online
  • what makes up the current discourse about your market or industry

Think of these tools as your way of keeping your ear to the ground and your finger on the pulse of your industry.

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Comments (12)
Categories : PR Resources
Tags : online reputation management, reputation management

5 Little-Known Factors That Could Affect Your Online Reputation

By admin · Comments (20)
Wednesday, April 18th, 2012
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Factors to Online ReputationMerriam-Webster defines “reputation” as:

“overall quality or character as seen or judged by people in general”

Nowadays that reputation is increasingly informed by what people see online. Use of the yellow pages is going down. Google is way up. People ask for opinions on Twitter before they would pick up the phone to get their best friend’s opinion.

So while you used to invest resources to make sure your business cards, stationery and signage reflected your image and good reputation, now you must use turn your attention to your online reputation as well. Little things online speak loud and clear about the quality and character of your business.

Below are 5 little-known factors that affect your online reputation:

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Comments (20)
Categories : Social Media
Tags : factors to online reputation, online reputation, search engine ranking and reputation, social networking and online reputation
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Elena Verlee
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The Passionate Publicist