First off, thanks again to the PRSA for asking me to present to their Thursday breakfast meeting. It was a great group of familiar and new faces and hopefully what I talked about was helpful. For those who couldn’t attend, I thought I’d recap here. I will also share my presentation though Slideshare, just click here and you can view and download although you may need to become a Slidshare member to do it. For the presentation I was asked to share my thoughts on “what’s…
Read MoreIs it my imagination or has Facebook recently made it a lot easier to share things, pages, etc. First, if you scroll down a Fan/Like page and look down the left side, they all have “Share” buttons. Don’t remember that, maybe I’m wrong. Second, in the past when you tried to share you first had to select individuals to share with. Now, the first option is to share it with all your friends in your stream all at once. Again, I might be late to…
Read MoreSorry I haven't posted in a couple of days but I've been too busy playing with my iPad. Not quite the truth but it sure feels that way. Contrary to popular belief I'm not an early adopter, especially when it comes to gadgets. But given all the hype and also since I got an iPod Touch (thanks THP folks) for Christmas, I had to get and iPad. My plan was to hold out for the 3G version since based on my Touch experience, the ability…
Read MoreAfter using most of these blog’s posts to focus on the PR and social media worlds and their trends, I’m feeling a little guilty for what now amounts to back-t0-back posts about our company, The Hodges Partnership. Yesterday’s post focused on growth, today’s focuses on some of the work that is fueling that growth. Here’s the latest edition of the THP newsletter, “The Press Box.” (For those sick of the baseball references, again I apologize). We’re hoping that we can begin publishing this e-newsletter on…
Read MoreSorry for the lack of posts in recent days. We’ve been busy…..really busy. As some of you have seen on Twitter, we’ve (THP) added a number of new accounts that we will announce in the coming days. And there may be more coming. We also may have some additional news on a new line of business (I know, I’m teasing, can’t help it) and hope to talk about that soon. This at a time that we’re having discussions with current clients about expanding our relationships….
Read MoreIn the social media world one of the most debated topics is the “personal brand.” This is the brand or personality you “represent” when you are talking to others on social media platforms. In most cases, the words or elements that make up those brands are what you include in the descriptions you are asked to include on those short bios on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. Some people feel like they need to be cutesy or even to “create” a social brand. It is my…
Read MoreOne of the most frequent questions we at THP get is….who is Hodges? The short version is when Josh and I were discussing starting the business eight years ago, we didn’t want it to call it something funky like “Buzz PR” and since his last name is Dare, we didn’t think a PR firm with the word “dare” in it was appropriate. So we searched for some common ground in our lives and found it in the 1969 Mets. Both products of the northeast, we…
Read MoreSo the new “like” of Facebook Fan Pages seems to be the first step. Based on comments made today by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, “Like” and the “Like” symbol will become so much of our daily lives, it may become as universal as the Disney mouse ears or Nike swoosh. Facebook plans to integrate the ability to “like” things and to see what others are liking into all websites even if you and your friends are not signed into the platform. In addition, it plans…
Read MoreOver the next month or so I will be focusing even more on the subject of social media. This ironically comes at a time when THP as a whole is seeing a number of traditional public and media relations opportunities come our way. But as we have discussed before, the lines are blurring and even in within those traditional opportunities clients, both current and prospective, want social and digital media strategies included. We have also discussed that compared to a year ago Richmond (and I think the…
Read MoreWith yesterday’s announcement of sponsored Tweets, Twitter is finally beginning to peel the money-making onion. You have to make a living, right? This first step in the monetization process is the inclusion of “sponsored Tweets” at the top of a Twitter search for specific keywords, thus pushing a brands key message to the top of the results list. For brands and organizations this appears to be an advantage since their key messages will bubble to the top and not get lost in the stream even…
Read MoreFirst thanks to the two “Jeffs” for their guest posts. They represented their sides in an informative and respectful manner and achieved record readership numbers. Hmmmm….. anyway…. Here are some of my thoughts on the Foursquare subject based on their posts and a number of conversations I’ve had on the subject in the last week or so. Foursquare is perhaps the most polarizing social media platform. Period. People either love it or hate it, there is no middle ground. They love it because it’s fun,…
Read MoreEditor's note: If Jeff Kraus had been a little bit bigger, he would be playing football for the Pittsburgh Steelers. If he could skate a little faster, he would be playing hockey for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Instead, Jeff – the VCCS Assistant Vice Chancellor for Public Relations – spent years working as a wire service, radio and award-winning television reporter in Richmond, covering state government and politics. His professional background includes strategic communications, speechwriting, and media relations for three years for Governor Timothy M. Kaine. He is a…
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