Friday, February 20, 2015

FIR Presents Inside PR #400: The Social Media Mob

FIR Presents Inside PRJust a little more than a year after Justine Sacco sent the ill-fated, “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m White!” tweet, The New York Times Magazine wrote an in-depth piece on her (and others who have suffered the social media mob) to see where she is now and how this has affected her livelihood.

There has been a lot of subsequent coverage on the topic:

It’s an interesting look at the social media, whether the crime fits the punishment, and how we might all need to chill.

Jon Ronson, the article’s author, even researched how long it has been since society allowed public shamings in much the same way we ridicule online (the 14th Century).

The conversation turns from the social media mob and online lynchings to how we can use humor in our social media efforts without coming across as clueless and insensitive as the Sacco tweet.

Her point was that the tweet was so ridiculous, she couldn’t imagine anyone taking it seriously. She was making a satirical remark on the bubble we live in in North America. But what she learned is, unless you’re Louis CK or South Park, satire doesn’t work so well in 140 characters.

It’s an interesting world we live in. Many business leaders are scared of what happens when an employee doesn’t think and sends a tweet like this, or when a customer is unhappy and doesn’t get his way. There are, of course, ways to deal with critics, but Joe poses the question, “Does it make sense in some extreme cases to go completely dark?”

Send us an email or an audio comment to insideprcomments@gmail.com, join the FIR Google+ Community, join the Inside PR Google+ Community, join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joseph Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Send us an email or an audio comment to insideprcomments@gmail.com, join the FIR Google+ Community, join the Inside PR Google+ Community, join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joseph Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Get this podcast:

We’d love to hear your thoughts!

FIR Community on Google PlusShare your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also reach Inside PR’s hosts by email at insideprcomments@gmail.com, or join the InsidePR Google Plus community or Facebook group. InsidePR is on Twitter at @Inside_PR. You can send us an instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

Thank you to the people behind Inside PR: Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer. Inside PR is produced by Kristine D’Arbelles and Ashlea LeCompte.

Check the FIR website for information about other FIR podcasts. To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed.

FIR presents Inside PR is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years.

Posted by shel on 02/20 at 04:59 PM
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Thursday, February 19, 2015

FIR Interview: Red E App CEO Jonathan Erwin on employee communication trends and challenges

FIR InterviewsA special report on trends and challenges facing internal communicators drew on the observations of nine internal communications experts, including Peter Shankman, gini Dietrich, Susan Cellura, Steve Kaus, and FIR co-host Shel Holtz. In this FIR interview, The report—available for free from Red E App—a mobile tool that connects employees and organizations across a variety of dimensions—addresses eight distinct problems and six solutions.

In this FIR interview, Shel talks with Red E App co-founder and CEO Jonathan Erwin about the report—Internal Communications 2015—and some of its key findings.

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About our Conversation Partner

Jonathan ErwinJonathan is the co-founder and CEO of Red e App, an enterprise mobile platform that enables businesses to create a private or semi-private mobile network, allowing them to instantly communicate to the mobile device of their audience.

Jonathan has served in strategic sales, marketing and executive roles within the technology marketplace for over 20 years. His experience, coupled with his vision and dedication to service and thoughtful communication has led him to create, develop and bring the Red e App mobile platform to market.

You can reach Jonathan on Twitter at @JonathanCErwin.

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

Check the FIR website for information about other FIR podcasts. To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed.

This FIR Interview is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Podsafe music - On A Podcast Instrumental Mix (MP3, 5Mb) by Cruisebox.

Posted by shel on 02/19 at 05:09 PM
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Media Bullseye Roundtable 2015.01 with Guest Co-Host Jen Phillips

Media Bullseye Roundtable

Jen Phillips of 4L Strategies joins the Roundtable this week to discuss a variety of topics of interest to public relations and communications professionals.  Among the subjects we explore include:

—The FAA’s proposed regulations on drones ... and what that means for the media and communicators.

—The suddenly changing media landscape, including the Brian Williams kerfuffle and what it means about trust.

—The pending departure of Jon Stewart from the Daily Show and who will fill his shoes.


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About Your Host

Chip GriffinChip Griffin serves as CEO of CustomScoop, a media intelligence company he co-founded in 2000. CustomScoop provides a cloud-based subscription service that monitors, measures, and reports on traditional and social media coverage for Fortune 500 companies, non-profit organizations, public relations agencies, and small-to-medium sized enterprises. For two decades, Chip has worked in the public relations arena, including service in public and private sector organizations. He has co-founded more than half a dozen companies, and he writes and speaks frequently about the intersection of technology, media, and communications. He is a graduate of American University where he is President of the Alumni Association and a member of the School of Public Affairs Advisory Council. Chip lives in New Hampshire with his wife and two sons.

FIR Community on Google+

Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed. To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

FIR’s Media Bullseye Roundtable is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by Chip Griffin on 02/19 at 04:49 AM
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Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Thought Leader Life with Mitchell Levy, Episode 60: February 17, 2015

Thought Leader Life with Mitchell LevyOur co-host for the month of February is Lori Ruff (@loriruff) and our guest for February 14 was Paula A. Garcia (@_Paula_Garcia).

In this episode, Mitchell and his co-host for the month of February, Lori Ruff (@loriruff), hang out with Paula A. Garcia (@_Paula_Garcia), the VP for Marketing at the Boston Chapter of ALPFA: Association of Latino Professionals For America in Finance and Accounting (http://www.alpfaboston.org).advantages of being part of a volunteer service organization and how leaders should see the value of professional development and employee empowerment. Lori explains how joining a volunteer service organization like ALPFA: Association of Latino Professionals For America, can bring value to Latino professionals, helping them do their job better. Volunteer service and Lori Ruffprofessional development is investing in yourself, making you worth more to others so they will invest in you, keeping you in the loop and on the playground.  The conversation touches on the Paula notes that some leaders of today take more time to see the value of investing in one’s self. She hastens to add that, as leaders, they are also required to think about what more you can do not just for yourself, but for the world.

Paula GarciaBeing the leader at your own company, it’s important to appreciate the tangible things. All interactions and networking within a volunteer service organization can put you a step ahead. For Paula, the goal of leaders is to find other people who speak that same voice and share your passion. Lori adds that you should surround yourself with people who really invest in their success and lead you to also invest in yourself and develop your leadership more. Both Paula and Lori agree that leaders are typically visionaries and that they should be able to share their stories and struggles of how they got where they are. This is because leaders should “send the elevator back down” for those who need advice and monitoring.

To learn more about Thought Leadership and how it can help you be successful, subscribe to the channel: http://youtube.com/user/thoughtleaderlife.

Here are a couple of aha moments from the episode. See more in the “Aha Moments from Thought Leader Life” eBooks available in the social media-enabled eBook platform, Aha Amplifier: http://AhaAmplifier.com/.

• It’s important to think, “What more can I do not just for myself, but for the world?” @_paula_garcia #TLL
• If you want to be a #ThoughtLeader, an entrepreneur, and to do things, do it today! @happyabout #TLL
• Surround yourself with leaders to develop your leadership even more. @loriruff
• Every opportunity you have to touch & interact with somebody is an opportunity to learn, help & grow. @happyabout #TLL
• Interactions & networking put you a step ahead of what’s going on in the world. @_paula_garcia

Join us 11 am PT / 2 pm ET / 7 pm GMT on Saturday every week. The show blog is Thought Leader Life.

Any comments or suggestions for the show please send them. Thank you for listening and if you like what you hear, please leave a review on iTunes!

This episode was sponsored, in part, by THiNKaha.com, helping experts become thought leaders.

You can connect with Mitchell at MitchellLevy.com, @HappyAbout on Twitter, or join his Thought Leadership Best Practices Group.

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FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed. To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

FIR presents Thought Leaders Life with Mitchell Levy is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by Michael Procopio on 02/17 at 12:37 AM
Thought Leadership • (0) Comments • Permalink

Monday, February 16, 2015

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #795: February 16, 2015

FIRQuick News: Vint Cerf, “Father of the Internet,” warns we may be living in a lost century; eBay-style online courts proposed in the UK to resolve low-value claims; Snapchat Discover chalks up huge early success; France demands that its future leaders must speak English; Ragan promo;

News That Fits: Want to post a comment? You’ll have to pay for that; Dan York’s Tech Report: Ello news, iPad Teleprompter, and more; employee ambassador programs: a case study; the Media Monitoring Minute with CustomScoop; listener Comments in audio, email and in the FIR Podcast Community on Google+; Forbes puts native ad for Fidelity on its print magazine cover - but was there sufficient disclosure?; the past week on the FIR Podcast Network; Igloo Software promo; five reasons to use hashtags in marketing campaigns;

Music from Hot Buttered Rum; and more.

Get FIR:

Messages from our sponsors: FIR is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years, www.ragan.com; Save time with the CustomScoop online clipping service: sign up for your free two-week trial, at www.customscoop.com/fir; Igloo Software, providers of an intranet you’ll actually like, delivered securely with our cloud platform: learn more at www.igloosoftware.com/fir.

For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report for February 16, 2015: An 82-minute podcast recorded live from Concord, California, USA, and Wokingham, Berkshire, England.

Links to websites, blog posts and other content we discuss in the show are posted as Delicious bookmarks to facilitate your connection with the discussions and sharing of that content.

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed. To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

So, until Monday February 23…

Posted by neville on 02/16 at 12:50 PM
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Saturday, February 14, 2015

FIR Presents Inside PR #399: Don’t put a Target on your back

FIR Presents Inside PRTarget Canada got itself into big business trouble in Canada. And it got itself into even bigger reputation trouble with the way it is leaving the country.

It has become commonplace for companies to care about being seen to be responsible corporate citizens. And this involves both doing and being seen to exercise their corporate social responsibility. To make the communities in which they operate better places. To give back as well as to receive.

We expect that corporations will want to be seen to be doing more than the bare minimum they can get away with. And perhaps that’s why Target Canada has garnered so much bad media in the wake of their decision to pull out of the Canadian market. They were perceived as doing as little as the law required them to do in order to get out of the country.

Whether this was justified or not, the company seemed almost to be playing rope a dope, absorbing the blows without attempting to fight back.

Did Target give its employees, its suppliers and its partners a raw deal? Were they inept or calculating in their communications? Will this affect their reputation in the United States?

Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman and I explore these questions on this week’s Inside PR podcast. Give it a listen and make up your own mind. Does Target deserve the target on its back?

Context

Here is a selection of the media coverage and commentary around Target’s retreat from Canada:

Send us an email or an audio comment to insideprcomments@gmail.com, join the FIR Google+ Community, join the Inside PR Google+ Community, join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joseph Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Send us an email or an audio comment to insideprcomments@gmail.com, join the FIR Google+ Community, join the Inside PR Google+ Community, join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joseph Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Get this podcast:

We’d love to hear your thoughts!

FIR Community on Google PlusShare your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also reach Inside PR’s hosts by email at insideprcomments@gmail.com, or join the InsidePR Google Plus community or Facebook group. InsidePR is on Twitter at @Inside_PR. You can send us an instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

Thank you to the people behind Inside PR: Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer. Inside PR is produced by Kristine D’Arbelles and Ashlea LeCompte.

Check the FIR website for information about other FIR podcasts. To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed.

FIR presents Inside PR is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years.

Posted by shel on 02/14 at 12:27 AM
Show Notes • Inside PR • (0) Comments • Permalink

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

FIR on Higher Education #28 – How to Build Your Thought Leadership by Conducting Interviews

Many academics think their sole role from an external communications point of view is to be the interviewee. There are also incredible opportunities to build thought leadership by being the interviewer, as McGill University Professor Karl Moore can attest to.

Professor Moore’s CEO Interview Series is disseminated across various external communications channels. But more importantly, these interviews are leveraged across the institution. Professor Moore has integrated the interviews into the classroom and alumni events. The interviews help Professor Moore in his research. And then the relationships that develop lead the CEO to ask Professor Moore about recruiting students at McGill.

Have a listen to episode 28 of FIR on Higher Education to hear just how Professor Moore does this, and his tips on how you can conduct interviews that connect to personal and institutional goals.

About Karl Moore
Dr. Karl Moore joined McGill’s Faculty of Management in autumn 2000, where he teaches graduate courses in globalization and leadership.  He has taught extensively in executive education and MBA programs with leading universities including: Oxford, LBS, Cambridge, Darden, Cornell, INSEAD, Duke, the Drucker School, the Rotterdam School of Management, IIM Bangalore, Queen’s and McGill.

Since 2007, Karl has been doing a weekly videocast for the Globe and Mail, Canada’s National Newspaper, where he interviews CEOs one week and leading business professors from the top universities in the world. It can be watched at wwww.globeandmail.com In March 2011 he started a weekly blog, Rethinking Leadership, for Forbes, and in the spring 2014 he started a radio show, The CEO Series on CJAD where he interviews a CEO. He is a regular guest in the media and appears on CNN, BBC, CBC, CTV and Global Television. Karl has given over 1200 media interviews in his career. 

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This episode is sponsored in part by Experiential Communications’ Media Training for Academics program.

If you enjoy the For Immediate Release on Higher Education podcast, please considering leaving a review, rating and subscribe at the following link (once at this page, click view in iTunes).

About Your Host
Kevin AnselmoKevin Anselmo is the Founder and Principal of Experiential Communications, a consultancy focused on education. He helps brands within academia - whether individual or corporate - communicate with stakeholders. He also is the creator and instructor of the Media Training for Academics program.

Previously, Kevin was Director of Public Relations for Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and prior to that managed the media relations for IMD Business School in Switzerland. In addition, he was an adjunct communications professor at Nyack College in New York.

Currently based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Kevin lived and worked in Switzerland for eight years and in Germany for two years. He has led public relations initiatives in various countries around the world.

Find Kevin on Twitter: @kevinanselmo.

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed. To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

FIR on Higher Education is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by Kevin Anselmo on 02/11 at 01:54 AM
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Monday, February 09, 2015

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #794: February 9, 2015

FIRQuick News: New podcast ‘Context Matters’ from Brian Solis and Chris Saad, workers want employer perspective on political and public policy issues, Madonna premieres new music video on Snapchat, U.S universities banning smartwatches; Ragan promo;

News That Fits: The Internet of Things and “intimate data”; Michael Netzley’s Asia Report: reflections about communicating in a collectivist culture; future tech today: the hotel in Japan staffed by multi-lingual robots; the Media Monitoring Minute with CustomScoop; listener comments in audio, email and in the FIR Podcast Community on Google+; David Meerman Scott and Paul Chaney offer compelling reasons why SlideShare should be part of your content marketing plan; Dan York’s Tech Report from Singapore; Igloo Software promo; the past week on the FIR Podcast Network; can verified accounts solve the problem of trolls on Twitter?;

Music from Downtown Mystic; and more.

Get FIR:

Messages from our sponsors: FIR is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years, www.ragan.com; Save time with the CustomScoop online clipping service: sign up for your free two-week trial, at www.customscoop.com/fir; Igloo Software, providers of an intranet you’ll actually like, delivered securely with our cloud platform: learn more at www.igloosoftware.com/fir.

For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report for February 9, 2014: A 94-minute podcast recorded live from Wokingham, Berkshire, England, and Concord, California, USA.

Links to websites, blog posts and other content we discuss in the show are posted as Delicious bookmarks to facilitate your connection with the discussions and sharing of that content.

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed. To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

So, until Monday February 16…

Posted by neville on 02/09 at 12:43 PM
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FIR B2B #22: Why B2B Communicators Should Care About Freedom on the Net

FIR B2B
In this episode:

News & Trends

Twitter beat the street on earnings, but subscriber growth is slowing and some people are calling for radical steps to ramp up activity. Did Twitter’s focus on maximizing revenue cause it to lose touch with the unique experience it once gave members? Can current management restore some of Twitter’s early magic? Wired says twitter may becoming the Bing of social media – a capable product whose virtues are only appreciated by a technology-savvy elite.

LinkedIn, on the other hand, is going gangbusters thanks to a clear mission and a willingness to forsake short-term revenue opportunities to maintain trust with its members. The company should be praised for its willingness to forego short-term revenue opportunities in order to keep its eye on long-term growth.

The excellent Buffer Blog analyzes the factors that took the company from 0 to 275,000 Twitter followers in four years. Early outreach to influencers and a commitment to make Twitter a key communication channel with users are a couple of highlights. Buffer’s commitment to transparency even extends to publishing the salaries and stock options of all its employees and the status of its fundraising efforts. The company even has an internal practice of sharing all emails publicly. Not many companies would be comfortable with that level of transparency, but it certainly sets Buffer apart from the pack.

Reputation.com’s Michael Fertik makes a persuasive case why reputation is now more important than money. “I am less afraid of big brother than I am of little brothers, meaning companies that have all this data,” he writes in his new book. In other words, you should worry less about how government uses private information than how private companies can misuse it through practices like profiling.

Special Guest: Madeline Earp, Research Analyst at Freedom House

Freedom House says the Internet is becoming a more dangerous place to express opinions. The nonprofit has just published its annual Freedom on the Net report, which takes a look in depth at 65 countries and their progress on online freedom. The report is not very encouraging. It finds that privacy and free expression are increasingly under assault by governments, even in some well-developed economies. Research Analyst Madeline Earp explains why businesses should care about online freedom and how it may impact their ability to do business overseas.

Madeline Earp (@MadelineEarp) researches Internet freedom throughout Asia for Freedom House’s Freedom on the Net program. She is fluent in Chinese and an expert on restrictions facing new and traditional media in China. She previously worked at the Committee to Protect Journalists and Human Rights in China. She has published considerable research on Chinese press freedom issues. A fluent Mandarin speaker, she received a master’s degree in East Asian studies from Harvard University and a bachelor’s in English literature from Cambridge University.


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About Your Hosts

Paul GillinPaul Gillin is a veteran technology journalist and a thought leader in new media. Since 2005, he has advised marketers and business executives on strategies to optimize their use of social media and online channels to reach buyers cost-effectively. He is the author or co-author of five books, including Social Marketing to the Business Customer (2011), the first book devoted entirely to B2B social media marketing. He is also a social media trainer and coach at Profitecture, a training firm for B2B companies and their channel partners.

Send Paul an email or connect with him on Twitter: @pgillin

Eric Schwartzman is a digital strategist with 15 years of experience selling and leading teams on the agency side in the development and delivery of innovative integrated marketing initiatives for multinational corporations, NGOs, federal government agencies and military commands. He is a frequent speaker at conferences all over the world on the topic of how technology is changing the way organizations communicate and the way people use media and information.

Follow Eric on Twitter at @ericschwartzman.

Eric’s expertise is in digital strategy, digital governance, content marketing, database marketing, user experience design, employee advocacy, education technology, digital multimedia production, B2B lead generation, search engine optimization and social media engagement techniques. He’s also the best-selling co-author of Social Marketing to the Business Customer.

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed. To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

FIR B2B is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications,serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by Paul Gillin on 02/09 at 04:59 AM
FIR B2B • (1) Comments • Permalink

Friday, February 06, 2015

FIR Presents Inside PR #398: Is blogging over or has it morphed into something else?

FIR Presents Inside PRMartin here. On today’s show it’s Joe and me. Gini’s on the road but she’ll be back next week.

Our topic comes from a post by Mathew Ingram about the state of blogging and how it has evolved. We’ve noticed a number of people who were active bloggers have slowed down their output, moved away from the platform or started publishing somewhere else.

So is that a trend? Are we entering a post-blogging landscape?

Joe starts off by mentioning a series like Sherlock that looked edgy and new a few years ago, yet seems a bit dated today. He thinks the same may be true for blogs.

I always considered blogging more of a publishing platform rather than an unedited stream or conversation. And as a PR person who wrote for clients, I found my voice again when I started my blog.

Joe thinks blogging has become more of a place for personal journaling. It hasn’t gone away but now it has a specialized purpose.

Joe also noticed that for a number of years we were fixated on the river of news and that’s not the only way for information to be organized. New apps value content that doesn’t carry as much weight and that the search engines can’t grab and data mine.

It’s a bigger range of content. And it’s about distinctive voices – columnists. In many ways, it always was.

And before we go: I noticed, as I was listening to the episode and writing the notes, that I said, ‘The Snapchat’. Yipes. Honestly, I didn’t mean to. Let’s chalk it up my affinity for the old Triple-W… and (hopefully) leave it at that.

Is blogging simply publishing? Are you moving to something more ephemeral like chat? Do you want your ideas archived or would you like your comments to be delivered and disappear?

Many of you listen to us on iTunes and it would be great if you could leave us a review.

Send us an email or an audio comment to insideprcomments@gmail.com, join the FIR Google+ Community, join the Inside PR Google+ Community, join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joseph Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Send us an email or an audio comment to insideprcomments@gmail.com, join the FIR Google+ Community, join the Inside PR Google+ Community, join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joseph Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Get this podcast:

We’d love to hear your thoughts!

FIR Community on Google PlusShare your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also reach Inside PR’s hosts by email at insideprcomments@gmail.com, or join the InsidePR Google Plus community or Facebook group. InsidePR is on Twitter at @Inside_PR. You can send us an instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

Thank you to the people behind Inside PR: Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer. Inside PR is produced by Kristine D’Arbelles and Ashlea LeCompte.

Check the FIR website for information about other FIR podcasts. To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed.

FIR presents Inside PR is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years.

Posted by shel on 02/06 at 08:13 AM
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Wednesday, February 04, 2015

FIR Presents AMP Up Your Social Media #45: Creating Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns

AMP UP Your Social MediaGareth Goh is the Content Marketing Manager at InsightSquared, an analytics generation company for growing businesses. Academically, he hails from Boston University with a degree in Journalism, but as he saw the evolution towards content emphasis, his employment started focusing on content marketing. With a varied background in both journalism and content marketing, he is an experienced veteran of inbound marketing, SEO, and business intelligence. Gareth recently joined AMP UP Your Social Media’s host Glenn Gaudet to discuss content marketing on social media.

“There is a great deal of opportunity to be more effective, be more efficient, and be both!”

Gareth discusses tips for effective content marketing in social media:

  1. Invest in marketing. This isn’t just financial; Invest the time and effort in hiring as well! Marketing involves commitment - both during success and in the face of failure. Attract results by investing in the commitment on all levels in social media.
  2. Disseminate complicated topics. Your brand may involve technical and complicated topics. There’s a component of having to learn all of the concepts and disseminating those topics into digestible content for the common user. Quality is important, but it’s useless if it’s not connecting with your target audience.
  3. Utilize C-level business partners. Sales leaders and leadership is essential to helping them grow their social media presence. You’ll have a much easier time growing your followings when you have the support of higher-ups, and ‘selling’ the importance of your social media presence may be the most difficult part.
  4. Use GaggleAMP to extend your reach. Salespeople don’t want to do any thinking when it comes to social media, and GaggleAMP does the hard work for you. It’s increased our reach by 4x, and it’s made it easy for our employees to share great content.
  5. Know when to grow your team. And split up the team to best capitalize on a variety of social media aspects. From blogging to long-form content, there are a variety of tasks, and it can get overwhelming if you only have one person doing all  of your content writing. It’s a threshold that will depend on the size and demands of your company!

Gareth would love to hear from you! Connect with him on LinkedIn.

About Gareth Goh

Gareth GohAside from running the blogs at InsightSquared, Gareth spends his free time as the commissioner of many fantasy leagues. He is a die-hard fan of the Phoenix Suns and Liverpool Football club. As a fan of the Game of Thrones series, he feels pride in the saying ‘Valar morghulis’ meaning “all men must die” in High Valyrian.

Douglas would love to hear from you! Chat with him on Twitter or connect with him on LinkedIn



Get this podcast:

Tweet about the show using #AUYSM or Tweet at us @AMPUpSocial. AMP Up Your Social Media is a proud member of the FIR Podcast Network.

FIR Community on Google PlusShare your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

Join the AMP Up Your Social Media Google Plus community or Facebook group. You can send us an instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

Check the FIR website for information about other FIR podcasts. To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed.

AMP UP Your Social Media is sponsored by:

  • GaggleAMP - Empower your employees, partners and resellers to amplify your social media.
  • SafeLinks - Know when your links on social media messages fail before you lose out on the people clicking on them.

The FIR Podcast Network is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide.

Posted by Glenn Gaudet on 02/04 at 09:15 AM
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Tuesday, February 03, 2015

FIR Presents Young PR Pros Episode 97 - PR Emerges from the Shadows

Young PR Pros In Decmber 2014, the Financial Post wrote an article about how PR professionals are stepping out of the shadows that have been cast by advertising and marketing departments and have taken their proper place at the front of business success. And that is where our host Kristine D’Arbelles and Julia Kent begin their conversation.

The author of the Financial Post article says:

The rise of social media coupled with the growing importance of social responsibility are moving public relations professionals from the backroom, crafting press releases and organizing events, to the forefront of brand development and consumer engagement.

This is good news for young PR professionals. Our profession is finally showing its worth. Businesses are realizing the importance of the two-way communications of PR more than the message blasting of advertising.

So what should young professionals do with this news? Kristine and Julia make a few suggestions:

  • Relationships - and we are not talking about networking. When starting a new job think about how you are helping your organization build strong relationships with their clients, customers, stakeholders, etc.
  • Listen - it is great to know how to Tweet and how to post an engaging post on Facebook, but none of that is worth anything if you don’t listen to your followers and respond to their needs/comments/questions.
  • Speed - listening means nothing if you can’t respond in a timely manner. Of course, we don’t expect organizations to respond within 30 seconds, but it shouldn’t take more than 24 hours.

Stay tuned to our next episode where we talk about social media tools - such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc - and how they are best used.

Get this Podcast:

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.
You can also connect with Young PR Pros through their blog our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell, or @kentjulia. You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed. To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

Young PR Pros is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by Kristine on 02/03 at 06:32 PM
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FIR Interview: Steve Rubel on Storytelling in the Age of Social News Consumption

FIR InterviewsAmong the hundreds of thousands of news items distributed online every day, a precious few gain traction and spread across social networks (mostly Facebook, but even including “dark social” channels like messaging apps and email). Journalists are under increasing pressure to produce content people will share, and they are adopting practices they believe can increase the odds that their stories will lead to greater reach and more views. PR practitioners who understand these issues can tailor their outreach to editors and reporters who are being held accountable for the number of clicks their stories generate.

To better understand the characteristics of news that gets shared—and the techniques journalists are employing—Edelman partnered with two journalism-focused firms to study the issue. The 2015 Edelman Media Forecast, Storytelling in the Age of Social News Consumption, found (among other things) that more than 75% of journalists feel pressure to consider their story’s potential to get shared on social platforms, and to support thaat goal, they are infusing their stories with videos and images, brevity, localization, increased use of human voice, and a proximity to trending topics.

In this FIR interview, co-host Shel Holtz talks with longtime FIR friend Steve Rubel, Edelman’s Chief Content Strategist, about early results from the study and their implications for communicators.

Additional resources from this interview:

 

2015 Edelman Media Forecast from Edelman Insights

Get this podcast:

About our Conversation Partner

Steve RubelSteve Rubel is an executive vice president and Chief Content Strategist for Edelman, the world’s largest independent public relations firm. In this role, Steve studies the future of media and works across the firm’s practices and geographies to help clients unify their communications strategies across traditional, emerging, owned, and social channels.

In addition, Steve acts as a highly visible Edelman thought leader and writer on media, technology and digital culture. He speaks dozens of times each year around the world and appears frequently in the press. In addition he actively shares his observations and insights through his blog, his monthly Advertising Age column and on Twitter where he is followed by more than 60,000.

Steve has been named to several prestigious lists, including: PR Week’s 40 Under 40 and The Forbes.com Web Celeb 25.

Prior to joining Edelman in 2006, Steve worked for 15 years in a variety of marketing communications positions in corporate, non-profit and small/mid-sized PR firms.

You can reach Steve on Twitter at @SteveRubel.

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

Check the FIR website for information about other FIR podcasts. To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed.

This FIR Interview is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Podsafe music - On A Podcast Instrumental Mix (MP3, 5Mb) by Cruisebox.

Posted by shel on 02/03 at 11:54 AM
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Monday, February 02, 2015

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #793: February 2, 2015

FIRNominate FIR for 10th Annual People’s Podcast Awards; we could use iTunes reviews, too;
Quick News: People still share most of their content on Facebook, British Army sets up new brigade “to win in the Information Age”, Uber’s pricing model comes to the workplace, Battenhall PR firm launches WhatsApp information service; Ragan promo;

News That Fits: Microchipped employees pros and cons; Dan York’s Tech Report: Markdown language, Internet Society media relations opening, ICANN in Singapore; Seven scientific reasons to use emoticons in your business writing and social media; The Media Monitoring Minute with CustomScoop; Listener comments in audio, email and in the FIR Podcast Community on Google+; Online reputation is becoming more valuable than money or power says Michael Fertik; Igloo Software promo; The past week on the FIR Podcast Network; Is it time for mobile-only instead of mobile-first? A look at Snapchat’s Discover, and more;

Music from Keller Williams; and more.

Get FIR:

Messages from our sponsors: FIR is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years, www.ragan.com; Save time with the CustomScoop online clipping service: sign up for your free two-week trial, at www.customscoop.com/fir; Igloo Software, providers of an intranet you’ll actually like, delivered securely with our cloud platform: learn more at www.igloosoftware.com/fir.

For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report for February 2, 2014: A 96-minute podcast recorded live from Concord, California, USA, and Wokingham, Berkshire, England.

Links to websites, blog posts and other content we discuss in the show are posted as Delicious bookmarks to facilitate your connection with the discussions and sharing of that content.

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed. To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

So, until Monday February 9…

Posted by neville on 02/02 at 12:26 PM
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Saturday, January 31, 2015

FIR Presents Inside PR 397: The boss leaves and where does that leave you?

FIR Presents Inside PRWhat obligation do creative agency founders and owners owe to their employees? Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman and I, all current or past agency owners, discuss this in the wake of a recent high profile creative company closing.

Teehan+Lax recently announced that the partners had accepted jobs at Facebook – and that Teehan would therefore be shutting its doors. Good for them. But what about the employees? Did the fact that dozens of creative people – the people who helped the partners realize their dream – were being left behind detract from the positives of this story? Are creative agencies simply the expressions of their principals? Or are they in fact the product of the entire team? And what does the move of agency principals inside a previously-client company mean about the viability of agencies in the era in which nimbleness must be married to creativity?

Gini, Martin and I kick around our views about the arc of agency life and the types of things that we and agency principals and agency owners should or may not consider when making the next move.

Martin points out that we have become used to employees moving frequently from job to job. Many creative people today base their happiness on the challenge of the projects they are working on today. What they did last week mattered last week, not this week. What their title is isn’t so important. Where they stand in the hierarchy isn’t their motivator. Challenging creative work drives them. And if they can’t get it where they are, they will quickly and without hesitation hop over to another company that offers that to them. And then they will move again after that.

So, should we be surprised if people who are founding and running creative agencies have the same approach to the world? Probably not. So, we shouldn’t be surprised if this isn’t the last time that agency principals proclaim, “We didn’t get into this to build a company to last. We got into it to be challenged. And the challenges are elsewhere. So, we’re shutting down our company to go and do something else.”

And good for them. But that still leaves the first question. What obligation do they have to the employees who believed in them and invested part of their own careers in the success of the founders’ dream?

Gini suggests that an employer’s obligation to the employees is real, but limited. “But you have to make decisions that are good for the business first, and for the founders second. Without the founders, there is no business. So, the founders have to take care of themselves. This is a difficult thing to do, particularly when you want to do what is best for employees.”

This leads to situations in which it is difficult to untangle what really happened in order to discern how an employer has treated employees. We may see the end result – people looking for jobs. But we cannot get the complete picture of the relationships between employer and employee. “There’s always three sides to the story,” says Gini. “Their side. Our side. And the truth somewhere in the middle.”

But at the end of the day, Gini believes, owners are entitled to put their interests ahead of their employees. “Sometimes you have to make a decision that’s not best for the employees. Sometimes you have to make a decision that’s best for you and your family.”

And that’s only half of today’s episode. In the back half, we move on to discuss the importance of communicating these changes clearly, honestly and transparently. We hope that you’ll listen to the episode and find something to think about here.

Context

If you want to get a fuller sense of the Teehan+Lax announcement and the conversation it occasioned, here’s a set of articles that provide an excellent jumping off point.

And Now, For Our Next Act, the Teehan+Lax partners announce that they are joining Facebook and shutting down their agency

David Crow reflects on the announcement and what it means for the partners, the local creative scene and the employees. Read the comments as well as the post to get a sense of the debates that followed in the wake of the announcement.

Brian Krogsgard throws attention on the fact that this isn’t good for everyone. What about the employees?

Jon Lay argues that that innovative design firms can still thrive.

Ev Williams reflects on when and why to sell your company.

Send us an email or an audio comment to insideprcomments@gmail.com, join the FIR Google+ Community, join the Inside PR Google+ Community, join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joseph Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Get this podcast:

We’d love to hear your thoughts!

FIR Community on Google PlusShare your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also reach Inside PR’s hosts by email at insideprcomments@gmail.com, or join the InsidePR Google Plus community or Facebook group. InsidePR is on Twitter at @Inside_PR. You can send us an instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

Thank you to the people behind Inside PR: Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer. Inside PR is produced by Kristine D’Arbelles and Ashlea LeCompte.

Check the FIR website for information about other FIR podcasts. To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed.

FIR presents Inside PR is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years.

Posted by shel on 01/31 at 08:27 AM
Show Notes • Inside PR • (0) Comments • Permalink
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