Relationships go through a process – attraction, understanding, commitment and finally, the ‘L’ word.

Loyalty.

30-second commercials. Flashy magazine ads. Rubber bracelets. Subliminal messaging. Applications for just about everything. In the modern day of too-many options and decisions, technological advances and competitive prices, what makes a consumer loyal to a brand? And the better question — what can a public relations agency do to provide a company with enough recognition and promotion to ensure an audience of passionate and dedicated consumers?

There are many answers to that question, but lets focus on one: the ability to engage. There is no longer a “courting” stage; as a company, it will take effort to keep the spark. Effort means keeping on top of the your industry’s pulse, listening and personalizing your product for your target consumers, opening up the discussion within social media channels, and being honest with what you can offer. The overarching theme here is communication.

That’s where PR steps in. PR is like the relationship guru that gives your company innovative ways to shake up your advertising routine and work with you to find ways to communicate to your loyal audience. And if you hit a bump in the road, such as a publicity crisis or a product malfunction, PR is there to help secure your brand and image. PR’s goal is to keep your loyal audience by showing them how engaged and loyal you are to them.

Nobody wants to date someone who won’t listen to them. No long-term potential. After all, who wants to end up like this twosome? The Breakup

Mashable reported this week that the AP Stylebook has added 42 new guidelines for social media.

In traditional media relations, AP style is a HUGE part of what we do.  At Zenzi we hold all of our communications and writing to high standards and aim to follow the rules and adhere to AP style for anything that goes to a reporter.  If it has the Zenzi name on it and a reporter is reading it, there are no excuses for anything but the proper style, not to mention correct, grammar, spelling and all that good stuff.

We often cringe when we run across what we perceive to be horrific abbreviations and misused capitalization in social media (think something along the lines of “RU coming 2 hpy Hr 2nyt?” – not really appropriate by professional standards).  It’s terribly common and someone needed to start setting out some rules, so leave it to the good folks at the AP to step up to the plate.  Interestingly, some abbreviations are now considered official, such as “POS” (Parent Over Shoulder, of course), and some Twitter-iffic vocabulary words have been added, including “trending,” “retweet,” and “unfriend.”

And now it’s time for us to all get up to speed and start implementing these basic guidelines in our own social media writing styles.  The new guidelines seem to cover the full spectrum of how journalists interact with social media, from how to refer to digital terminology to abbreviations and rules of thumb for how journalists should use social media, and how to confirm sources used from “blogs, tweets or other forms of social media,” according to Mashable.  I agree with the Mashable newsroom’s sentiments regarding one change in particular that was long overdue — changing the word “Web site” to “website.”  Guess websites are too common now for a formal name, and it just looked odd to me anyway.   Check out Mashable’s article on these changes, below, and visit www.apstylebook.com to get your own copy of what should be every PR professional’s writing bible.

The AP Stylebook has released its new social media guidelines, including the official change from “Web site” to “website” (a move first reported back in April) and 41 other definitions, use cases and rules that journalists should follow.

Read more here.

Before diving into this gold-mine of digital marketing tips and tricks, and depending on how brave you are, click here to take our quiz and we will send you personalized results to find out if your efforts and knowledge add up to classify you as a Digital Daredevil! Then, continue on below for an overview of our recommendations to make you a digital marketing superstar.

DIGITAL MARKETING ESSENTIALS

Don’t attempt to tame the brave world of digital PR and marketing without mastering the basics first. Get your campaigns up to speed with these helpful tips from Zenzi:

Start with a Strategy

Digital marketing offers a multitude of opportunities for businesses to establish immediate and real-time relationships with customers, deepen connection and engagement, drive feedback and positive word of mouth and strengthen your brand.  And just like any other important business initiative, it takes advance planning to define your target audience and business objectives. Study your customers and see how they are behaving and interacting using various social media channels. What are their habits? How can you participate in their conversations in a way that adds value? Before you dive in, you should document your approach, objectives and success metrics for each different medium.

Set Clear Benchmarks

The question of ROI is often top of the list when companies consider investing in social media marketing activities. According to the 2009 Mzinga & Babson Executive Education study, over 80% of professionals do not measure ROI for their company’s social media programs.  Establishing clear performance benchmarks, tracking your efforts, collecting data, and measuring results is critical to fully optimize your marketing initiatives and link them to business outcomes. These will differ for every company, although commonly used metrics include Website visitors and sources of traffic, qualified leads generated, network size (followers, fans, members) and quality of commentary.  Use tools to measure website traffic (Google Analytics, Quantcast), social media buzz (Radian6, Filtrbox, Serph, Trendpedia, Omgili Charts, Hootsuite), and trends (Google Trends, BlogPulse Trends).

Know Your SEO

Optimizing your website and social media for search engines is a ‘must do’ strategy for being known and found online. Start by researching the most relevant, highly searched and competitive keywords for your site and the websites of your primary competition. You should develop a comprehensive, accurate list of keywords from multiple data sources including the Google Keyword Tool, WordTracker.com, Thesaurus.com, The Free Keyword Niche Finder and others. This is one of the most important aspects of SEO, since you will build upon the keywords selected and use them throughout your website, social media, PR and marketing efforts.

Optimize Press Materials

Once you have identified the most relevant keywords, begin organizing them into groups by theme, popularity, relevance, etc. and prioritizing them for specific pages of your site.  Before you distribute an article or press release to media and online sites, make sure that the same keywords are integrated into the headline and body of the information and linked back to the relevant section on your website.

Keep Your Eyes Peeled

With so much happening online, it’s critical to keep your eyes open and continually monitor conversations about your company, competitors, and best practices in your industry. This will help you cut through the clutter and participate in the dialogue in a way that is relevant and meaningful. Keep up with what’s new and notable on the web with search tools such as Technorati, Addict-o-Matic or Google Trends. To assess the strength of your company’s online presence, check out Social Mention.

Target Key Influencers

If used effectively, tools such as Twitter can be a great way to build relationships with key influencers in your industry, create a dialogue and position yourself as a credible expert source.  Before you get started, consider your target market and how you can provide tangible value to that audience. Build your network by creating a list of influencers, media, analysts and potential customers, and follow or link to them.  Keep your tweets/ posts real, to the point and relevant to your audience. Avoid self-promotional information or sales pitches! Continue to build your database by adding social media URLs to your email signature, finding and following contacts online after in-person or phone meetings, and researching Twitter search sites: Twellow.com, Twitterholic.

Engage with Video

A new survey conducted by PR News and Medialink reveals that PR pros aren’t using online video as often as they’re watching it. While 69% of the nearly 300 people who responded to the survey said they’ve watched online video footage for business purposes within the last 10 days, only half have video posted on their corporate Web sites. Video that is optimized with the proper keyword and social media tags can be very beneficial to a company’s SEO efforts, making it a valuable cost effective tool to have in the mix. In addition to producing content from scratch, re-purpose existing video assets that are already available and leverage your ability to attract a targeted audience through a visually compelling means.

Build High Quality Links

Influencing highly trafficked and relevant websites to link to you while adhering to Google’s quality guidelines is the key to successful link building and SEO management. The process starts by developing a list of sites and working to establish relationships and reciprocal links. On an ongoing basis, submit press releases and articles to search sites, directories such as Wikipedia, media, and relevant blogs. Don’t forget to add keywords to your press releases and other marketing materials to ensure your messaging is as consistent and powerful as possible.

Keep Content Fresh

In addition to a PR tool, producing informative, relevant and fresh content for a company blog can help to boost your SEO. By drafting 1-2 articles or blog posts per week rich with keywords, you can build the online reputation of company executives and increase your presence on the first page of Google and other search engines. Once created, the content can be marketed and posted on other websites to drive traffic and search engine attention to your website.

Stay Top of Mind

A customized email newsletter is a great way to establish top of mind awareness with your target audiences and remind them you are a leader in your industry. Keep the content freshly updated by mapping out an editorial plan for articles and asking team members to contribute topics on their areas of expertise. To build your email list for more effective email marketing, consider offering a downloadable e-book, white paper or other promotion. There are many templates to choose from on sites such as Constant Contact and Cooler Email.

Extend Your Reach

If you are working on a tight budget like most marketers today, it’s a no brainer to take advantage of the many free sites to jumpstart your PR efforts. If you are looking to connect with journalists seeking sources, sign up for queries from HARO.com.  Looking for feedback on your media pitch? Go to Your Pitch Sucks for an honest assessment. Search and subscribe to news through Pitch Engine. To boost pickup of your release in search engines, there are many, many sites such PRleap.com and PR.com where you can post press releases for free.

Be Cohesive

Using digital tools together with traditional PR and marketing can pay off with big benefits and increased efficiency, but only if your efforts complement and support each other and your message is consistent. Your brand should communicate with a strong and powerful voice that is authentic and unique. This personality will extend from your Website copy and advertising to social media campaign. Encourage crossover by promoting online specials in a direct mail campaign. And no matter where you are, make it easy for your customers to find and follow you with your Web address and links to sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.

Want to learn more? Call us to inquire about signing up for a “Be Known & Be Found” brainstorming session.

Call 858-523-9020.

Evaluating the value of social media

By Dean Calbreath, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Over the past several years, companies have increasingly spent their advertising and marketing dollars on search engines such as Google or Yahoo and social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

But how much business do they actually bring into a company? And how can companies improve their online presence to generate more sales?

Those questions have dominated the Online Marketing Summit, a four-day conference concluding today at Paradise Point Resort in Mission Bay.

“What’s working in social media is that it’s a great way to engage your customers and have a real dialogue with them,” said Thad Kahlow, chief executive of Business OnLine, a San Diego firm concentrating on Web-based marketing. “What’s not working is the drive to know how much return they’re getting on their investment.” Read on!

Here at Zenzi, we strive for excellence in all areas of the marketing matrix. We pride ourselves on keeping up with every new trend and delivering unprecedented PR results. In an effort to increase the quality of our PR efforts, we have launched the Zenzi SEO PR service.

Zenzi SEO PR is a new service that leverages blogs, online and traditional media, reviews, video search, photo search, events and social media networks to influence and optimize your Website results.

With Zenzi SEO PR, we have expanded the traditional definition and approach for SEO to include both Organic SEO and Universal SEO. Organic SEO is about optimizing your own site. Universal SEO optimizes links from influential sources such as reviews, video sites, social media and directories, which can either positively or negatively impact your website’s level of relevance.

We offer a variety of SEO PR plans to fit your individual needs. Please give us a call for more info!

After seeing Guy Kawasaki (pictured above) speak at two different events in the past few months (San Diego Venture Group and 140| The Twitter Conference LA), I came away pondering what seems to be a rather polarizing question in the Twitter world.  Kawasaki believes that re-broadcasting tweets multiple times throughout the day is the best way to effectively reach your audience.  He definitely has some gutsy philosophies on Twitter and perhaps this approach works for his goals.  I personally don’t agree that this is wise advice for any individual or organization working to achieve a meaningful conversation with followers on Twitter.  But if your goal is quantity over quality, Guy Kawasaki is definitely onto something, as evidenced by his nearly 200,000 followers.  I recently posed this question to the PRSA group on LinkedIn and thought that the ensuing discussion was interesting and worthwhile to share:

Erin Coller

Senior Account Executive at Zenzi Communications

“What is your Twitter philosophy re: frequency/timing of tweets? Is it most effective to broadcast your tweets multiple times throughout the day to catch different audiences or is that overkill?”

Derek DeVries

Communications Technology Manager at Grand Rapids Community College

“It’s tough to say; while I can see some value in trying to use timing to get oneself in front of audiences that might not otherwise encounter your message (and there’s certainly a value if there’s a timely aspect to the message you’re conveying) I try not to script it too much. That thinking only works, however, if one views Twitter through the lens of the traditional mass media.

I tend to lean against timing tweets for a few reasons:

- While Twitter can be used as a synchronous/real-time medium, it can just as easily be used asynchronously and users exert great control over what they see and when – so if the message is of value to them, they’ll find it on their own time (in one sense, the earlier you can post it the better because it will give people more opportunity they have to find it as it’s archived and searchable).

- It’s a little ethereal, but I tend to think that scheduling tweets is antithetical to the spirit of the platform and may ring hollow with readers. Part of the appeal of Twitter (as opposed to other platforms) is its ability to simulate a more organic, stream-of-consciousness dialogue. I could even see it engendering a bit of mistrust because if followers can tell you’re holding back on information – they may hold that against you (and seek out a competitor if one exists). That said, it’s perfectly appropriate in some instances where people expect scheduled delivery (but it would probably have to correlate with scheduling in the “real” world).

If you’re trying to get in front of an audience by capitalizing on a timely/popular topic (by tossing out tweets like an angler casting a fishing line), your product and audience need to fit that scenario (so for example right now Jay-Z is a big topic so if you represent something of interest to Jay-Z fans, you can get away with some scheduling and a higher frequency; but that’s probably not a prescription for a good long-term relationship).

Frequency is another matter. The frequency of your tweets you should shoot for requires a solid understanding of your audience and depends on:

1) how broad your audience is
2) (related to #1) how passionate they are about the topic and
3) how fresh/original/relevant your tweets are

If you have a narrow audience, one that is passionate about a topic, or you have fresh/relevant information – you can get away with a much higher frequency. Regardless of your audience, however, I can think of virtually no instances when it would be okay to re-state something you’ve already said; everything you post should be fresh.”

Dan Keeney, APR

Owner, DPK Public Relations

“Great post, Derek. My view is that relevance and value are far more important than timing. I can’t tell from the original question if you are considering sending the SAME tweet out at various times. My response to that is a firm, “no.” That would be a Twitter don’t. “

Erin Coller

Senior Account Executive at Zenzi Communications

“The question is something that was discussed at 140|The Twitter Conference in L.A. this week. Some speakers think that to reach all audiences, Twitter should be approached in a similar manner to CNN, which broadcasts the same stories repeatedly throughout the day to reach audiences with the same message throughout the day. I happen to agree that re-posting the same tweet over and over portrays a robotic image and lacks the personal touch that followers are looking for. There are a handful of highly successful Twitter users that do re-broadcast their tweets and go for quantity over quality in general but I don’t appreciate it as a follower and will not go in that direction with any of the Twitter accounts that I manage. Thanks for the input, interesting discussion!”

Dan Keeney, APR

Owner, DPK Public Relations

“I wish I could have been there so I could throw tomatoes. Except in the case of a few celebrities, Twitter shouldn’t be seen as a dissemination tool. It is an engagement tool. It isn’t about broadcasting, it is about narrowcasting.”

Richie Escovedo

Director of Media & Communications for Mansfield ISD

“Interesting comments. I respectfully disagree with the notion that Twitter as a tool has rules or restrictions since the conversationalist vs. broadcaster styles seem to work just fine in the space. IMO it’s very much up to subjective use and personal preference.

I agree that for engagement, the tool is highly useful for those who have stakeholders in the space. But, it can meet communication goals by being another in variety of broadcast channels for an organization. To that end, I’ve found 2-3 times a day of similar tweets on a topic, link, or even a RT tends to work and generate traffic (and conversations.) For me it comes down to goals. My $.02

- @vedo “

Sarah Soczka

Account Executive at Boelter + Lincoln

“There’s a lot of great discussion going on here. For what it’s worth, I think it’s important to remember that Twitter is a social network. As a general rule social networks are created to encourage conversation, not to broadcast information. For that reason, I feel it’s important to make sure you are engaging people (@replies, RTing) in addition to sending out your own information.

I usually do not tweet something more than once. However, there are exceptions that prove the rule. For example, if you are encouraging followers to vote for you in an online contest, I believe it’s ok to send the message throughout the voting period. I personally tweet about new blog posts twice (once in the morning, once at night). I do this because I reach very different audiences at those times.

Overall, you have to use your best judgment. Know who your audience is and what you’re trying to accomplish.

@sarahsoczka”

Traditionally, college students are early adopters of social media platforms. Twitter is one notable exception to the rule. Only sixteen percent of Twitter users are under age 25. However, those students who ARE on Twitter may have an advantage over their non-tweeting peers.

Over 30 percent of college professors use Twitter regularly. They use Twitter to post and answer questions from students, effectively expanding the definition of “office hours.” Professors host Twitter study groups that allow students to participate in active and continuous academic discussions from anywhere. Students can also collaborate on group projects via Twitter.

Everyone knows that no matter what you choose to do in life, networking is the way to get there. Twitter is a great networking tool for college students. They can follow professionals in their chosen field and keep up with relevant trends. Starting a conversation with a pro can open doors for the future. On that note, Twitter can be a useful tool for job searching. The ability to respond directly to a job inquiry might give Twitter users the upper hand.

Even though college students are reluctant to join Twitter, I think many will soon realize the benefits. Instant access to news, professors and job opportunities are crucial to every college student’s life.

The first thing I noticed upon entering 140|The Twitter Conference LA was the over-abundance of laptops and mobile devices and the amount of people looking down at their computers while a speaker was in the midst of a presentation — and not just any speaker, but THE Biz Stone (@biz), co-founder of Twitter.  Of course, his feelings weren’t hurt because everyone was furiously posting tweets via his brainchild, Twitter, that were fed into the live stream of information in 140-character bursts being followed around the world through the hashtag #140tc.  To the left-hand side of the stage stood a projector screen with a live feed of the Twitter posts tagged with #140tc, demonstrating the diverse thoughts, opinions and comments happening in the moment all on the same topic, and visually displaying the incredibly fast-moving and immediate nature of Twitter.

(Music panel at 140|The Twitter Conference LA)

With approximately 400 attendees, the conference included an impressive array of Twitter personalities, including celebrities from both the online and entertainment worlds, as well as tech experts, many representing Twitter application developers (aka the people that have really figured out how to make a direct profit from Twitter). I quickly joined the online conversation and learned the power of tweeting in such a high profile event, making incredibly valuable connections both online and offline, with a lot of crossover between the two.  A ton of tips and tricks were available and while I could try to summarize all of it in paragraph format for this blog, I really feel the best way to gain a thorough understanding of this conference is through my own Twitter posts at http://www.twitter.com/erincoller.  Here are a few sample tweets:

• @chamillionaire – applauding the women here – “this is the most women i’ve ever seen at a tech conference before.” – #140tc4:18 PM Sep 22nd from TweetDeck

• If you can’t be funny, focus on being positive and inspirational on Twitter to get a similar response from your audience – Loni Love #140tc1:57 PM Sep 22nd from TweetDeck

• Listening to @mikeprasad share his thoughts on what makes Twitter conversations meaningful and how to best listen to your audience at #140tc10:42 AM Sep 22nd from TweetDeck

(From left to right: Tony Hawk, Levar Burton, iJustine, Tyrese; not  pictured: Dr. Drew & Jason “Mayhem” Miller)

• Interesting case study – @todayshow vs. @theearlyshow – interacting with followers is key to gaining follower quality and quantity #140tc2:04 PM Sep 23rd from TweetDeck

• Can’t believe what you can do with tweetoclock.com – cool and I will use it but a little scary! #140tc1:41 PM Sep 23rd from TweetDeck

• Winnie @WholeFoods says they have 180+ Twitter accounts representing 200 stores; exec mgmt sees value from early success w/ Twitter #140tc12:22 PM Sep 23rd from TweetDeck

• @tonyrobbins – 1 of Twitter’s great gifts is the ability to get new ideas and therefore innovate, a huge key to business success. #140tc11:23 AM Sep 23rd from TweetDeck

One big lesson learned is that there truly is no such thing as an expert in social media.  Regardless of experience or number of followers on Twitter, everyone is learning together and working to stay on top of the latest developments and trends in social media.  I loved seeing how the in-person culture of social media was one of a sharing positive attitude, with everyone wanting to learn and grow together, embracing this new phenomenon and all that it has to offer our society.  The most relevant tip/trick that I learned at this conference was the importance of interaction and engagement on Twitter.  This theme was prevalent throughout the conference by some of the most successful tweeters out there, and by taking this advice seriously and interacting and engaging in my own Twitter world, I made some amazing connections and saw the power of Twitter come to life.  By the end of two days of intense tweeting, learning and networking, I officially had Twitter overload and a Twitter headache but the enthusiasm and passion for Twitter has not gone away and I can not wait to keep learning more and diving even deeper into Twitter moving forward.  On that note, you can find me on Twitter at @erincoller and Zenzi Communications @ZenziBEknown.

Experience Project was recently featured on Playboy Radio with host Tiffany Granath.

Armen Berjikly, CEO of Experience Project, spoke on Playboy Radio and shared his expertise on social networking. His website, ExperienceProject.com has a vast selection of topics including ‘Relationships’ which he discussed with Tiffany.

Visit www.ExperienceProject.com and check out the different discussions happening online and share your stories on the world’s largest anonymous online social networking site!

This was a linkedIn discussion I found really interesting. It was posted by Rick Vargas in the “answers section” on LinkedIn which I have found really useful lately because not only are there great discussions but you can see the resume of the source of information and factor that into how much cred you give the response.

The question posted “Is PR dead?” illustrates widespread confusion about what PR is and why it is so vital to companies and organizations. I was one of about 50 marketing professionals who weighed in with a response.

LinkedIn QUESTION:
Posted by Rick Vargas:
Web 2.0 / Social Networking: Is the death of Public Relations on the horizon? (I have been asked to post this question on behalf of a colleague who wishes to remain anonymous)
Defining PR has always been difficult, and there is no other communications discipline, which encompasses such a wide range of specialisms. There is a tenuous glue which holds the bits of PR together, which is either the fact that it isn’t advertising, or the fact that it operates primarily in non-owned or controlled channels. This isn’t strong glue – especially since operating in a non-owned channel is now where everyone is headed.

There are forces conspiring to dissolve PR. The subject that increasingly comes up whenever PR people are gathered together – eloquently expressed is piece by Matt Shaw – but which could be summarized as the statement that “everyone is a PR agency now”. The advertising agencies and especially the media agencies are now colonizing our patch. But before we develop too sharp a sense of outrage at this fact, it is worth remembering that PR people have no automatic rights of ownership here – you could easily say that the only reason we have ended-up on this patch is because no one else has seen it as desirable real estate.

So the death of PR as a discipline is both good and bad news for those people in it. The skills PR people have will be in increasing demand, but the houses we currently live in will be knocked down and we will have to find new places to live.
ANSWERS:
Cyrus Afzali, President, Astoria Communications

I don’t see where forces are conspiring to dissolve anything. I’ve said repeatedly, but will say again, we get WAY too caught up in the medium that transmits a message and think that the emergence of a new medium to use for communications means something has to die. In reality, all that happens is the way you craft a message has to change to reflect the culture of the new medium.
What does this mean? Quite simply, proficient PR pros will learn how to craft clear, succinct messages communicating a client’s value proposition in the social-media space. Right now, there’s much too much hyping going on, but hopefully this will change.

As far as “everyone’s a PR agency,” my view there is that PR has done such a poor job of branding itself and expressing why it’s valuable that everyone’s always thought they know how to do PR better than those actually in the business. It’s one of the reasons client retention rates are low in comparison to other professional services.

But in the end, all we have is a situation where conventional media outlets are struggling with a new monetization model and social media — while emerging and potentially very powerful — is going to have to find a way to become a permanent part of the mix. Let us not forget that most social media outlets don’t make any profits either.

Successful PR pros know how to use the best parts of all worlds to help their clients succeed. You can do this in the same house and without dramatic change — provided you know how to craft clear, succinct messages.
Amy Selbach, Zenzi, Director of Strategic Planning
PR cannot die. According to PR godfather Edward Bernays, “public relations is a management function which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures and interest of an organization followed by executing a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance.”

It seems this definition is still intact; however, the “program of action” has taken on an unexpected life of its own. In a world where anyone with access to a computer can shape public perception by publishing exactly what they think about you, your company or your product in a status update, blog, a podcast, or a vlog, this “management function” can seem untenable. However, it allows us avenues for segmentation never available to us before and the opportunity to reach fewer but more targeted leads….A la Chris Anderson’s “Long Tail.”

Third party validation will always be a better testament to business than anything else. I think the question we should be asking is: “Is this the death of ethical reporting and who can we trust to tell both sides of the story? Is everything an op-ed?”  Where are the standards for ethics in journalism and citizen reporting and how do we sift through copious amounts of BS? With the profileration of affiliate marketing and unregulated content on blogs and social media, how do we ensure that “Key influencers” in new media are not being paid to promote products.

Erica Friedman, Yurikon LLC Intelligent Business Promotion

PR should always have been about how companies shape responses and communicate with their market. PR became the funnel for downward only communication to the detriment of business.
In my opinion Social Media is a godsend that has revived the critical skills of relating to the public and given a whole new lease on life to an industry that had become little more than product announcements and financial reports.