It is one of those movie scenes you never forget. The one in Risky Business. Now, not Tom Cruise in the underwear singing Bob Seger. The other one. The one with the interview with the Princeton guy when the party is going on. The one that changes Joel’s life. (click on the box and remember) [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpuAeIEXoAc] Starting and running a small business is all about taking risks. Just the act of starting a business is a risk all to itself. You can manage it conservatively,…
Read MoreInteresting comments from my last post on including social marketing in all of our conversations and proposals moving forward. Here are a few: Moreover, I think that educating clients about the dangers of social media in terms of control or the lack thereof in some cases is paramount. People think that social media is a panacea for all their problems and that is often not the case. Posted by: Debbie Ebalobo | March 26, 2009 at 08:12 AM Debbie, I don’t think I’d frame the…
Read MoreSo here is where I tread into some dangerous territory since I know that some of THP’s clients and new business prospects are readers of this blog. After engaging full force for the last several months into the that squishy place where traditional public relations and social marketing converge, I am more convinced than ever that the use of these platforms to communicate directly to friends and the broader public is here to stay at least for the foreseeable future. As we have introduced these new platforms and…
Read MoreWe lost a Fan today. And given the feedback on the new Facebook and how just about everything posted on Fan Pages ends up in the individual Fan’s stream, I can’t say I blame people for wanted to cut down the chatter and the clutter. We have been experimenting on the THP Fan Page, as I’m guessing others have as well. When every time you post a client’s success ora status update it ends up being blasted to fans, that’s at least one or two posts a…
Read MoreRecord breaking response to my blog post earlier this week about Facebook Fan Pages and how they compare to online newsrooms. The were also a number of comments including from some in the online newsroom business who are friends of THP. In the spirit of providing equal time, here are two of the comments from experts in the online newsroom field. The first is from Eric Schwartzman who created iPressroom. We actually had Eric come to Richmond about a year ago for a social media…
Read MoreIt’s been a week or so since the new Facebook fan page design took hold and as someone who’s agency is spending a tidy some of money with an online newsroom company (and not using it btw), I’m wondering out loud…Can my company’s Facebook Fan Page replace our online newsroom? Don’t get me wrong, a nice online newsroom where the media can find elements easily may still have a place in the world. But, and hear me out here, I have no problem steering a…
Read MoreSome quick thoughts after the latest Wizard launch in Northern Virginia. Amazing how budget cuts have impacted large TV markets like DC. Two reporters were “one-man banding.” Meaning they were acting as videographer and reporter at the same time. Would never happen in the old days. Also amazing how many reporters and editors across the board are blaming lack of manpower as a reason for not covering a story. This will make social marketing even more important as our ability to push out and control…
Read MoreIt’s been hard to find a free minute to breathe never mind blog over the last few days but since this the blog is supposed to be about the journey of “old” to “new” I would not be a good blogger without reporting on the progress of our current project. THP and its partners (client, Virginia’s Community Colleges, Siddall, Inc., Compleo Apps, BVC, Woody Coates,ShaveFX and others too numerous to name) launched Virginia’s Education Wizard on Wednesday. The launch event was nearly flawless and was highlighted…
Read MoreOn Saturday I once again found myself with a group of students (this time of the graduate variety) at VCU’s School of Mass Communications. I could only spend about an hour with them because of family commitments, but I was about to sit in and listen to final presentations on digital or social marketing projects the group had been asked to collaborate on. The interesting thing is that just a month earlier most of these students were just using Facebook to talk amongst themselves and not…
Read MoreLate today a ripple was sent though the social marketing universe as Facebook announced long-awaited changes to both people’s home page design and the design of Fan pages. My initial gut reaction is that more than ever CONTENT is king. On the people side, the Wall will be replaced by a Stream that updates posts from your friends in real time and seems to allow you to interact with them as well. Your status bar now becomes a “publisher” where you can update status and…
Read MoreFirst off, a big thank you to Judy Turk who heads up VCU’s School of Mass Communications. She included our blog post about the visit over there in her latest blog post and school newsletter. After my last post on the future of newspapers, Stacey Brucia, our “Employee #1,” and I were discussing the future of media relations and we noticed two interesting trends. First, she mentioned to me about the increasing number of freelance journalists who were reaching out to her in her work…
Read MoreEvery night this week on the nightly news we’ve seen stories about newspapers laying people off, going bankrupt or about to (Philadelphia Inquirer, San Francisco Chronicle) or even worse just plain ending publication (Rocky Mountain News). So what is the answer, what is the new model? Is it Newsday’s decision to start charging people to view online content? Or is it a different model like the folks at PressDisplay.com tweeted to me this week. In the PressDisplay.com model, you can sign up for daily or…
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