We’ve just posted two new case studies outlining how we’ve applied social media marketing strategies to help Epson and MSI Computer increase social network visibility, expand brand awareness and improve SEO.  You can check them out here:

Epson Social Media Marketing Case Study

MSI Computer Social Media Marketing Case Study

Enjoy!

George

Titled, “What’s the Ideal Profile for a Modern PR Person?,” the post outlines some of the key capabilities and traits that today’s PR pros should have in light of our ever-evolving, social media-connected, digital communications world.

Among the traits listed were some of the “traditional” ones, including having a significant number of strong, and appropriate, connections on key social media networks, such as Facebook and Twitter. In addition, the post emphasized the importance of being able to effectively analyze social media data as a means to develop new, more effective programs.

The list is a good start, but I believe that there are a couple skills/traits that are missing, and one that requires a much greater emphasis than the others:

1. Strategic – the ability to think, plan and execute strategically is arguably the most important skill for today’s PR pros. Tech PR is a strategic discipline. It’s about analyzing clients’ corporate and technology assets, target markets, competitive issues, and customer needs, and then devising customized strategies to reach their key audiences via the right combination of messaging and delivery vehicles. This encompasses all aspects of the practice, from pitching and writing to determining which social media outlets are most appropriate for a given client (hint: Twitter is not the be-all-end-all for every client or situation).
2. Cross-functional expertise – Today, with much effort centered on driving client search visibility, PR pros must have a basic knowledge about how to maximize SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for all PR campaigns. This includes identifying the ideal keywords and proper ‘keyword density’ when developing outbound PR materials to attract the most qualified search traffic to clients’ Web sites. This also means that they must have a basic understanding of HTML programming. While most blogging engines and social media tools are pretty easy to use, an understanding of basic HTML provides much more power and flexibility — particularly from an SEO perspective.
3. Business knowledge – Today’s tech world is more competitive than ever. As such, a PR/social media practitioner can only go so far unless he/she understands broader marketing/communications strategies, competitive dynamics and clients’ business environments. Understanding her clients’ business goals, opportunities and challenges – and being able to turn this knowledge into strategic, high-impact and measurable communications programs – is what differentiates a good PR person from an exceptional one.

Beyond these skills, it goes without saying that a PR pro must also be intelligent, creative and ethical. And from the client perspective, it also helps if you’re responsive, helpful and easy to work with.

Interested to hear your thoughts.

George

Last week, Pliant announced availability of its Lightning Enterprise Flash Drives (EFDs), a new class of solid state storage devices for data centers and other high-performance computing environments. The dramatic performance, reliability and energy efficiency gains Pliant’s EFDs offered over anything currently available made for a timely and powerful news story.

After developing an arsenal of compelling performance, reliability and green IT messages, we orchestrated an extensive traditional media outreach campaign. This included setting up 50+ briefings with analysts and press covering SSD, enterprise storage, OEM, HPC, data center, and green markets and news.

On the social media front, we briefed a wide range of bloggers and other “non-traditional” media outlets to expand online visibility of the Pliant announcement, including HotHardware, Cleantech, Matter Network, and HPCwire.com.

The launch was an overwhelming success, generating 500+ articles, press release postings and mentions in a range of online/print media outlets, blogs, analysts reports, and social media outlets, including Twitter, Digg and Facebook.

Mentions on Twitter, in particular, were quite impressive, with more than 200 individual Tweets and re-Tweets appearing at launch and in the days following.
The launch was also successful from an SEO/online visibility perspective. Visits to the Pliant web site were up a whopping 794 percent over the previous week, with 85 percent of these coming from new visitors.

As they say, the numbers don’t lie. But personally, I’d have to say that of the coolest success metric of the launch came in the form of anecdotal feedback:  several editors took the time to offer their congratulations on the success of the launch.

George

The continuing decline of traditional print and broadcast media outlets, coupled with the rise of social networking and an increasingly digitally-connected public, are requiring fundamental changes to the way client communications programs are conceived and executed.

And nowhere is this more evident than in the world of technology PR.

Budget-, competition- and eco-minded organizations spanning virtually every technology sector are putting increasing pressure on their PR partners to adapt to this new era, and essentially, do more with less. This means generating more brand visibility, continually devising new and more creative program strategies, and driving more online traffic, in less time, with fewer resources, and often with only limited “news.”

At the end of the day, PR is still about helping a company manage how it interacts with, and is viewed by, it’s public. However as the rules of the game change, so does the tech PR practice as it seeks to keep up with new and unprecedented client and market demands.

Here are 4 fundamental ways in which the tech PR practice is evolving to meet these changing times:

1. Social-centeredness – PR pros are increasingly called upon to help tech clients devise strategies to identify and reach the growing numbers of media, influencers, partners, investors, and customer via a wide range of social networking tools and outlets. And, as no two client social media programs are alike, PR pros must quickly become experienced in a variety of social networks, tools and norms.

   This new social networking focus, by necessity, requires that the PR practitioner truly walk-the-walk. It’s virtually impossible to counsel a client on the nuances of Twitter unless one has used it him- or herself. As a result, many PR pros are blogging, Tweeting and engaging in Facebook, YouTube, Ning and a host of other social networking outlets on their own and on behalf of their agencies to hone their skills.

2. Google trumps ‘ink’ – While a front-page story in the Wall Street Journal may still be the Holy Grail for many tech clients, public relations is increasingly focused on helping a company establish and maintain strong brand visibility and a positive corporate reputation in the social media sphere, and by optimizing programs to help drive organic search visibility. This requires an entirely new set of technology and communications skills that traditional PR pros must learn — and learn fast. As a result, to be successful moving forward, tech PR pros will need to be trained in multiple disciplines, which brings me to the next point…
3. Cross-functional expertise – Traditionally, communications, media and/or journalism was the primary training of the PR pro. Today, with much effort centered on driving client visibility on the Web and via digital media, they must also have a basic knowledge about how to maximize SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for all PR campaigns. This includes identifying the ideal keywords and proper ‘keyword density’ when developing outbound PR materials to attract the most qualified search traffic to clients’ Web sites. Thankfully, there a number of helpful tools available for this purpose, including the Google Keyword Tool and PRNewsire’s SEO tips document and Keyword Density tool.

   Also, given the growing popularity of client blogs as part of an overall PR strategy, it helps to have a basic understanding of HTML programming. While most blogging engines are pretty easy to use and provide plug-ins to enable most of the core functionality, an understanding of basic HTML provides much more power and flexibility — particularly from an SEO perspective.

4. Putting the “public” back in PR – With the growing importance of social media communications, PR today is increasingly about helping clients use new tools to establish authentic, transparent relationships with customers and business partners, in addition to press and analysts. For the PR pro, this requires actively tracking client- and issue-centric discussions, monitoring conversations, and managing relationship-building and content-development strategies. Sometimes, it also means helping clients break through old, well-entrenched corporate cultural norms and biases as a means to build meaningful social media programs.

This is not to say that all traditional PR tactics will cease to have value. For example, there will still be a need for media/analyst relations activities, and press and/or social media releases for the foreseeable future.

However, tech PR is and will always be a strategic discipline. It’s about analyzing clients’ corporate and technology assets, target markets, competitive issues, and customer needs, and then devising customized strategies to reach their key audiences via the right combination of messaging and delivery vehicles.

And, these changing times, new technologies and the increasing pressures require that PR pros apply the same type of strategic process to continue finding new, creative, efficient, and effective ways to help clients achieve tomorrow’s communications and marketing goals.

Interested to hear your feedback.

Geo2

It takes time, energy and a bit of creativity. But once established, a company blog combined with a strategic PR campaign can go a long way toward helping companies build brand recognition, reach existing and potential customers, and support key business and marketing goals.

There are a number of reasons why it makes sense for many tech companies to augment traditional PR and marketing efforts with a blog. Here are the top five:

1. Expand reach — Today, the majority of technology influencers and purchasing decision makers — IT managers, CIOs, integrators, resellers, consumers, media, analysts, etc. — get their news and information online. As such, a compelling and readily searchable company blog provides another avenue to reach ever larger audiences. In fact, with the decline of traditional print media, a blog is quickly becoming a must-have for most, if not all, tech businesses.
2. Level the tech playing field — It is difficult for a start-up tech company with limited financial and personnel resources to compete with a large, well-funded corporate marketing engine. While not a direct substitute, a blog can be a relatively easy way for smaller companies to generate industry visibility and customer leads without breaking the bank.
3. Build brand visibility and customer loyalty — Because a blog enables a company to interact more directly with customers and business partners than other “push” marketing strategies, it can help build strong, enduring brand awareness. And, if executed correctly, it can also help companies forge 1:1 relationships with customers and partners, ultimately resulting in increased brand loyalty.
4. Support/expand social media efforts — Many tech companies are expanding their marketing and communications campaigns to include outreach and interaction via key social media outlets, such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. As such, a blog provides a destination and resource to direct interested parties from these sites who wish to learn more about a company’s expertise, innovation and vision. Also, some social media sites will automatically re-post company blog entries, providing visibility to a potentially larger audience than the blog alone could reach.
5. Improve SEO — Organic search visibility is key for all businesses today, especially for new or small organizations that have yet to establish a following or ‘word of mouth’ credibility. A blog that drives traffic back to the company Web site, covers topics relevant to a company’s areas of expertise and product focus, and includes relevant and searchable keywords and tags, can help increase Google page rankings and improve search visibility.

When it comes to the nuts and bolts of blogging, all client approaches are different. Like all PR strategies, there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. Some clients opt to blog about specific technology developments and/or trends, while others elect to report on executive activities and interests. Still, others do a little of both.

Whatever the focus or aim, a well-planned and executed blog can help all types of technology companies — IT, enterprise, consumer tech, green, etc. — further expanding their reach in an increasingly fragmented and competitive online world.

George Millington (A.K.A. Geo2)