The Tin Shingle Blog

I knew social media had really saturated our country when both of my parents started messaging me on my Facebook wall, and my friend's dog Janet launched her own fan page.  In fact, last week while watching CNN International I heard these interesting facts about Facebook:

* If it were a country Facebook would be the 3rd largest in the world
* Indonesia is the fastest growing country of FB users
* Facebook is rapidly taking the place of social interaction.  Okay I kid that last one was mine, but     sometimes it sure feels that way.

That said, I came across this article today about the 5 Misues of Social Media and I thought I should pass it along!  Though it was written for freelancers I believe many of the rules apply for small businesses and entrepreneurs.  From a PR perspective, the two I come across the most often are Self Promotion Overload (I've hidden so many Facebook feeds in the past few months just to escape these irrelevant promotions) and those who share too little.  Also, though he didn't really delve into it, I feel that at times we can try to be too clever or mysterious on Facebook and end up just confusing the end user.

Sure understanding social media is a work in progress, but while we work to learn how to best use it to our advantage, I encourage you to watch out for the things talked about in THIS ARTICLE! 

Today while going through artcles I deemed a "must read but don't have time right now" from the past week, I sat down to read New York Magazine's coverage of the UBS Media Conference.  One of the hottest topics there was the discussion of the phrase we've heard time and time again "content is king".  This was not only true in traditional media, but seems to ring true ofen in new media/social media as well.

Our own CEO Katie Hellmuth-Martin often reminds me that not only is content king, but it's the perfume that brings many a person/consumer/customer to your website.  

Not only did the conference discuss content, but also the debate over free content vs what users will pay for....As it turned out the websites that nearly all of the young panelists there to discuss media & web surfing habits were turning to favorite (free) sites such as Twitter, ESPN, & Perez Hilton when cruising the web, all of which provide free content.

While these massive corporations work to best decide how content. free content and new/social media fit into their business models, I encourage you to keep that thought in your minds (and business models) as well.  This truly is a new territory for companies big and small, and we're all learning as we go at times!

For more on the UBS story check out New York Magazine's story (free content!) HERE.

Today while going over my long overdue pile of news clippings and articles to read, I came across two bits of information you may have looked over in WWD or other outlets, but that I thought would be relevant to you.  File it away in your "'media news" part of your busy entrepreneur's brain, but also think about how this news will effect your own brand's pr campaign.  I will drop hints as to what my opinion is as well....

Daily Candy eliminates SEVEN daily local newsletters
Daily Candy is eliminating seven local newsletters it was announced this past week.  The newsletters to go will be Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas and Seattle.  This also means the editors who work on those local newsletters will also be let go.  Hopefully some of them will find their way over to Daily Candy's new Sunday Weekly guide.  This guide will reach out to all of their US markets and discuss and recommend things to do for the coming week.  What happens to the people in those local markets that lost their local newsletters?  They're now going to be getting the Daily Candy Everywhere edition.

So what Daily Candy newsletters are left?  New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and London.

What does this mean for me?  For starters, if you are in one of the cities that has eliminated service in terms of their newsletter, it's important to realize you can no longer pitch your local angle.  Those who have local services and restaurants may find it more difficult to land Daily Candy as they are to geographically focused.  What they CAN do however is find a way to spin themselves into a Daily Candy Weekend Guide for their area.  Before you even start pitching Daily Candy, however, be sure you refresh your memory on how to pitch Daily Candy with this piece we wrote earlier this year: Daily Candy Article.

This also means that several editors are out of a job (sad).  If you have relationships with editors at these outlets be sure you reach out (if they have a bounce back they will probably have a forwarding email address).  Send a note and be sure to keep in touch, as you want to continue that relationship wherever they may go next.

T Magazine Launches Redesigned Site

T Magazine (the New York Times magazine) launched a newly redesigned web site last Friday - did you check it out yet?  Do so here.  The editors want the websit to look more like the daily magazine, which means it will include subsections of coverage for categories like fashion, travel, holiday issues and more.   They seem to also be quite concerned with making it much more accessible to advertisers allowing them to customize ad sections and purchase large vertical ads.  The updated site was also redesigned to make it more friendly to search engines.  Finally, it will icnldue updates on a "Moment" blog as well as a live Twitter feed.

What does this mean to you?  If I were you I'd be thinking two things:  it's clear from this article that advertisers are at the front of the New York TImes mind (as they are all over the media world).  They need 'em to pay the bills and they have to keep them happy.  It also means that these companies (who include Bulgari, Louis Vuitton, Bloomingdales and Westin Hotes & Resorts) will be competing with you for editorial coverage and space and have an upper hand because they are shelling out for ad space.  This is always the case in public relations and doesn't change here.  Still, every editor wants to tell a great story or to discover a great product or collection.  So check out the website, familiarize yourself with it, and who writes what sections.  Figure out what areas you could pitch yourself to and how they like to tell their stories.  See if you could ever fit into the Moment blog.  Do your homework and pitch appropriately!  And then stay for the good articles!

    It's Oprah Time!

Unless you've been living under a rock you are aware that The Oprah, Oprah Winfrey herself, announced that she will be ending her show.  While loyal viewers and fans shed tears and all other talk show hosts around the country began spiffing up their media reels, enterpreneurs everywhere went into a panic.  I know it - I received over 15 emails in about a half an hour asking everything from "what does this mean for my brand" to "you NEED to get me on there".  You'd think this would begin to affect me and that I'd be swept up into the Oprah Mania as well, but truth is, if you're a publicist, you've been hearing these things from nearly every brand you encounter from day one.   Tell someone you know someone at Oprah and you get more best friends than a celebrity with an bottomless bank account. 

The truth is I could tell people that yes, Oprah is a great goal and yes, Oprah can change your life but no, you should not make this the end goal of your company or your vision.  I could tell them that being on the Oprah Winfrey Show means much more than insta-fame and fortune.  It means you have to be ready asap when they call, that you have to be able to support national sales and everything that entails (both online and in your shipping center), that you have to be tv ready in appearance and message and know your goals for that appearance (being on Oprah in itself is NOT a goal)....I could tell them all those things but it doesn't matter because everyone still dreams of Oprah all day long. 

I won't lie, I drink my morning coffee from my Oprah mug and work on manifesting amazing stories about Tin Shingle and my clients at Red Branch PR on a daily basis....But I only send pitches when they are both Oprah-prepared and Oprah-ready and Oprah-worthy.  And I never depend solely on Ms. Winfrey to bring my brands success - I work on telling my story, our story, and other stories to multiple outlets in multiple ways.  But nevertheless, this turning over of the hourglass and shortening of time for which one can debut on Oprah is finally here.  There is no longer a limitless amount of shows left on the channel - and not every brand will make it.  

That said, it's time to do a few things now:  

Make Your Story Count:  tell it well, make it relevant, make it Oprah and make it TRUE! 

Share Your Story:  Email it to the show, pitch the correct producer (do your research, watch the show, call the show), send a letter, share your story via their Oprah.com website (they do read those), look at what stories are coming up and see how you would fit into those already planned stories.

Grow your buzz outside of Oprah:  When Oprah finds a great story online or in another magazine, or if her producers read about something big and that everyone is buzzing about, that story has a better chance at getting on the air than one that has never been heard before.  So go out and create buzz about yourself and your brand.  Make it exciting, make a producer WANT to tell your story.  Keep doing what you are doing and doing it well, and the press will find you.  Of course keep sharing great things with them, but make yourself so buzzed about that they can't help but hear about you!

Believe!  Imagine Oprah calling your name, share your story with friends and colleagues and what your goal is, connect via your business with others and do it so well, believe in your mission so much, that others will find that belief infectious and want to help tell your story!

Now go forward with hope for Oprah, yes, but moreso with hope for a great pr campaign, a great story, and a great time making your brand the best it can be and affecting others in a good way as you do it!