It’s been a long week, and we’re ready to kick off our shoes, throw on some sweats and sink into our cozy couches. Who’s with us? But before we check out and get lost in what’s ahead, let’s look back at what swept headlines this week (in PR, social media and marketing—because that’s the fun stuff).
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Get your head out of the iClouds and grab a pumpkin spice latte—it’s time to welcome the weekend. Though it was a short work week, it certainly didn’t skimp on major headlines. Let’s take a look at the whirlwinds of the week in PR, content marketing and social media news.
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We did it! Before stepping out for a long weekend full of football, BBQ and beaching it, take a look at this week’s noteworthy PR stories:
Speaking of football, the season got off to a rough start for thousands of die-hard fans who were left beyond irate on Sunday night when the LIVE draft of Yahoo’s fantasy league—the one where people carefully research and plan their top picks for—was completely disabled by technical issues. Of course apologies were flowing freely, but maybe they were too little and too late. This isn’t the first time the Internet giant encountered technical snafus at a crucial time during fantasy football season. Similar issues occurred back in 2012 when the site crashed a few hours before kickoff on a game day, and last-minute trades were shut out. This year’s draft was rescheduled for Monday night, but our guess is there are millions of football fans who will be removing Yahoo from their roster next year.
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Happy Friday! Here’s what you may have missed this week in marketing, public relations and social media news:
We can’t cover the world of marketing and social media from the past week without discussing the ALS ice bucket challenge. While I’m sure many of you are tired of hearing about this social media phenomenon, there are many lessons we as marketers can take from it. As Robert Tuchman explains on Entrepreneur.com, there are several reasons why the challenge took off, including the power of video, the fun aspect, the celebrity appeal, the timing, and the charity angle.
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You take the time to write a compelling press release with a great email subject line to hook the journalist…and nothing happens. Journalists don’t respond to your emails or phone calls, and there’s no sign of a written piece when you search the internet. Sound familiar?
I want to take you inside the mind of a journalist. Outside of my duties at Reputation Ink, I’m a sports business reporter and analyst. As such, I receive dozens of press releases and pitches each day, much like any other journalist. Generally speaking, there’s a lot of noise and not a lot of quality pitches. I always try to keep that in mind when I’m on the other side and am the one drafting and distributing a press release for a client.
Unfortunately, there are times when clients want to send press releases even when we’ve warned them their story might not be newsworthy. It’s understandable – when you’ve worked hard on a transaction, lawsuit, product rollout or other major project, it’s the center of your universe. It can make it hard to understand why it’s not newsworthy to others.
That’s why I thought it would be helpful to let you into the minds of journalists for a moment. The most shocking fact I can tell you is the percentage of press releases and pitches I receive that I end up writing about: five percent.
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Remember the good old days when you would publish a press release to a newswire like PR Newswire or BusinessWire and suddenly your news flooded the Internet? Well, no longer.
I’ve personally never been a big fan of newswires, as I believe a targeted public relations strategy (tailored media pitches sent to specific journalists) is more effective. However, over the years, I often relented and posted stories to newswires due to their search engine optimization (SEO) benefits. A press release posted to a newswire meant high online visibility, and for many clients, that was worth the often $1,000-plus cost per press release distribution (note that I’m not addressing newswires’ role in financial disclosure laws, as that’s another subject).
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If you haven’t gotten your Shark Week fix, it’s time to act fast. Shark Week ends on Saturday, and plenty of savvy marketers have already capitalized on Discovery Channel’s most popular week of the year. However, while those marketers were cooking with gasoline, others seemed intent on only burning themselves and their clients with ill-conceived public relations pitches surrounding the death of comedic legend Robin Williams. Capitalizing on shark week? Great idea. Capitalizing on a tragic celebrity suicide? Terrible idea.
Here’s the best and worst from the world of public relations this week, along with some new research showing public relations is not only a growing field but also an industry full of women.
Cue the Jaws theme…it’s Shark Week! Along with Discovery Channel’s own Shark Week promotions, this week we’ve seen several marketers creatively piggyback on Shark Week. Our very own Heather Kingry tweeted about Shark Week and received a fun and unexpected response. Here was Heather’s tweet:
Love learning new things and getting scared! Addicted to #SharkWeek
— heather kingry (@yrgnik) August 14, 2014
Season Sardines decided to get in on the Shark Week action and respond to Heather:
@yrgnik Here’s something to learn about that is really good for you #SardineWeek pic.twitter.com/cMdeIXSygi
— Season Sardines (@SeasonSardines) August 14, 2014
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I’ve worked in marketing and public relations for nearly two decades now, and the only constant in this field throughout those two decades? Change. And while the speed with which this industry changes has greatly accelerated over the past few years, I’m still surprised at how slow many companies are in adapting their marketing and PR strategies to the rapidly changing environment.
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As wild weather bombards parts of the nation, it’s time for Reputation Ink’s round-up of the week’s wildest stories in PR, marketing and social media. Which companies and tactics weathered the storm? You be the judge:
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Thank goodness it’s Friday! We’ve had an exciting week here at Reputation Ink and are about to have even more fun as we move to a new office this weekend (more details to come). Here is what you might have missed in the world of marketing, public relations and social media this week:
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