Will the Olympics in Canada Make Us Forget NBC’s PR Faux Pas?
‘If you work really, really hard, and you’re kind… Amazing things will happen to you.’ — Conan O’Brien
With grace and dignity, Conan O’Brien left The Tonight Show after just 7 months on the air. Short enough and memorable enough to be re-tweeted, the quote at the top of the post became a trending topic on Twitter. Between speeches like this and his remarkable public statement about not accepting a later time slot, O’Brien won the hearts of many who probably wished they had watched his show more and given him the kind of ratings that could have kept him on the air. Regardless, despite being handed a bitter pill by executives at NBC, Conan either is genuinely that nice or that smart or has really good PR folks giving him advice that he actually follows.
Now, NBC on the other hand, apparently could have used more PR advice or more willingness to listen to any good advice that was given. Facing revolt from affiliates who were losing money hand over fist during their late local newscasts deprived of a good lead-in from the experimental Jay Leno show at 10:00PM, involved in a merger with Comcast, and watching The Tonight Show lose to Late Night with David Letterman, NBC had a crisis on its hands. Wrap all this up with the new media landscape — advertising rates plummeting, profit margins dwindling and the internet further fracturing the viewership that cable cracked in the 80s — and you can see why NBC panicked. But panic never makes for a clear head or the best method to handle a tricky situation.
What happened to Conan O’Brien has been happening to local newscasters for years, and precipitously so in the last few years as media conglomerates own more and more stations. I have known some fine anchors and reporters who worked hard, did a good job and were loved by audiences. But they may have had too much longevity, too high a salary or were taken for granted by a hastily-convened focus group whose answers apparently represented the feelings of everyone in the market. Some of these fine broadcasters are still working in the biz, while others have left for greener pastures and more sane hours.
Regardless, onward come the Olympics — a few weeks of amazing accomplishments, highly-packaged athlete backstories, plus all the glitter and sequins the ice skaters and ice dancers can fit on a few yards of spandex. (Confession: I love ice skating. It’s probably a side effect of growing up in the iceless South.) I cry at least once during the Olympics. I’m just sentimental that way. But what I don’t know is if America’s heartstrings will be played so adeptly that we will forget the underdog we rooted for in Conan O’Brien, the soundbites from NBC execs who called names during the fracas or how we remembered that this wasn’t the first time Jay Leno found himself in a fight over The Tonight Show.
Does time really heal all wounds? Will watching the Olympics take over late night make you less likely to hold a grudge? Or are you just tired of the whole thing and OVER IT already?
How to follow a Twitter chat
Have you ever walked into a room where everyone was talking, engaged in an activity and it seems like everyone knows what’s going on but you? Now imagine they’re talking 90 miles a minute. That’s what attending your first Twitter chat can feel like.
The best way to follow a chat in Twitter is to use a client like Tweetgrid, HootSuite, Tweetdeck or Tweetchat. I’ve found it easiest to follow a chat if I do a search for the hashtag the chat is using, the moderator’s twitter stream, @ replies to my name for starters. I have consistently had the most luck with Tweetgrid, and I recently learned it was developed in my home state of North Carolina — so I’m recommending it to you. One more cool thing about Tweetgrid: you enter the hashtag of your chat and Tweetgrid adds it to all your tweets so you don’t have to re-enter it and the character counter includes it so you don’t go over 140 characters. Here’s a peek at one setup I use a lot.
Using Tweetgrid for #journchat
Now that you’ve seen how I keep up with a chat, here are some tips for participating without annoying regular chatters:
1. Check the moderator’s Twitter stream for preliminary information about how to join in.
Sometimes this is in the steam, sometimes there’s a link to a place where you can read some basic rules about how this chat likes its members to participate.
2. Retweet the moderator’s questions to give everyone participating a chance to see them.
Depending on the speed of the Twitter client other folks are using, they may be answering questions 1 and 2 while your moderator is on 3 or 4. Retweeting the question helps pass along the information.
3. Use Q1, Q2, Q3 etc., when you are answering the question.
Example: Q2 No, the press release isn’t dead, but needs to be rethought.
4. Watch your character count.
If your answers are less than 140 characters, they are easy for fellow chat participants to retweet without changing or with adding a quick comment. Aim to leave 10-15 characters free if you can.
5. When you see a good answer, go ahead and retweet it. Even if you don’t agree with it.
You can mention that you agree, disagree, or spit out your Diet Coke when you read it. Retweeting a comment is a great way to further the dialogue and keep the conversation going.
6. We don’t have to all agree, but we do need to respect other opinions.
There can be some good dialogue going on, but remember it’s a conversation and not an argument.
7. Follow people you find interesting or retweet.
It’s a great way to find new tweeps with a provocative point of view. And if you happen to be pithy and find a lot of new followers after a chat because of your comments, you can follow back, thank them or just engage in a conversation with the new folks you meet.
There are chats ranging from interest in journalism/PR to small businesses, to blogging to personal finances. Meryl K. Evans (@merylkevans) started a list on her blog that has since become a Google spreadsheet updated by many folks. Find a chat you might be interested and mark your calendar. Remember, the comments fly by quickly, and you might need a little practice before you keep up. If you need more time, you can always perform a search using the hashtag after the event to read the comments at your leisure.
For those of you who are old pros at Twitter chats, what advice would you add?
The Power of PR and Twitter
Valeria Maltoni, whose blog Conversation Agent I’ve been following for a few months, posted a list of 100 PR people using Twitter she recommends because they’re helpful. You may recognize a few names, but you probably won’t recognize them all.
Not everyone likes a list like this, but I figure if someone’s gone to the trouble to compile a list, filled with links, that explains the person’s background a little, it’s worth checking out.
As I clicked through the list, checking people out, I found that some people I thought I’d been following had dropped off my Twitter profile. There were some hiccups months ago with people being added and deleted accidentally all over Twitter.
So this list not only allowed me to find some new PR colleagues to follow, but to re-follow people I thought I’d been following in the first place. You follow?
Is there anyone you’d add to the list?
How to "get" Twitter
Twitter's new home page is designed to help newbies figure out the microblogging service.
You’ve probably heard someone say they don’t “get” Twitter. I hear that a lot, especially since I’m pretty active on Twitter and I tell all my colleagues and people I meet about it. I understand the confusion. It can be a lot like attending a huge party, solo, where you don’t know a soul. Everyone’s talking, they’re in a conversation. You could feel overwhelmed. Shy. Not sure which conversation to join, or even if there is a conversation out there that addresses your passion.
So use that party analogy to get your feet wet. You wouldn’t bust into the party and start shouting at the top of your lungs about your company, your product, your newscast, your blog or your children’s accomplishments, right? You’d probably walk around the room, smile on your face, looking for an opportunity to talk about something that interests you, meet some new people, maybe by starting with your neighbor at the bar or buffet line.
So here are some ideas for getting your conversation started on Twitter:
1. Listen. Use the Twitter search tools (there’s a search box right on the home page) to find conversations regarding topics you’re passionate about. You can search with a keyword to start with, like books, public relations, marketing, or health care. You can also search for Twitter users to follow by using sites like Twellow (a yellow pages-type listing), Twitter Grader or by checking out the people your Twitter friends are following. There are even sites that lists journalists who use Twitter, which is handy for my public relations colleagues.
2. Talk transparently. Be human and honest about what you are doing and who you represent. You don’t get all dressed up in a costume to go to the grocery store — you’re yourself there. Be yourself on Twitter.
3. Remember that Twitter is not a broadcast channel for your company, your blog posts or your personal branding efforts. You should be passing along good information that everyone can use. For every one Tweet about your branding/your company/your blog, you should be passing along 4-5 other Tweets about interesting information, responding to other people’s Tweets and otherwise genuinely conversing. I’ve seen some recommend a 10:1 ratio, others say 80/20% or even 30/30/30.
As they say in Pirates of the Caribbean about the Pirate Code … “They’re more of a guideline, really”. So jump in the Twitter pool. The water’s fine. We’re starting a game of Marco Polo in a few minutes and you’re invited.
Waiting for my LinkedIn invitation, Mr. President …
You know how LinkedIn shows you how many people have looked at your profile and how many times you turned up in search results on your home page? It’s a stat I’ve looked at often in the last few months during my job search.
Talking to fill the silence
If you’ve ever been interviewed by a journalist, you may have experienced a tactic designed to keep you talking. You’re answering, you’re answering, you finish — and silence. The other guy doesn’t say anything, doesn’t ask the next question, just looks at you expectantly. So you start answering again. And maybe putting your foot in your mouth.
That’s talking to fill the silence. Don’t fall for it. It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book.
How I wish some folks caught in the media glare would get that: Jon and Kate Gosselin, SC Gov. Mark Sanford, maybe even Katherine Heigl. I’m talking about you. There comes a time when the rest of us just do not need to know anything else about your personal lives.
Honest.
But there may come a time when your company or organization faces this interview tactic. Remember, answer the question and then stop. Here are some other tips for facing the media:
- Don’t blame
- Don’t repeat a negative
- Don’t volunteer tough topics, especially when you don’t really know the answer
To be fair, the Gosselins and Katherine Heigl are considered to be celebrities and their representatives apparently believe in the old adage “There’s no such thing as bad publicity”. Their tendency to spill is most likely less about being caught by an interview trick and more about the quest for fame.
And your organization probably isn’t raising sextuplets and divorcing, mysteriously disappearing from important governmental duties or starring in a summer movie. So you don’t have to talk about those things.
Photo credit:
Guest Post at The BeanCast
My dear little blog, I’ve neglected you shamefully. But today offer you this tidbit: a link to my guest post about social media on The BeanCast.
More soon, I promise.
Mwah,
Steph
Silver Anvil and Silver Lining
I’ve learned a lot about being grateful this year.
It’s been a good news kind of year for me. (Well, with the major exception of having my PR agency position eliminated. That was very bad news.) I earned my APR designation from the Public Relations Society of America in January, won an award from my local PRSA chapter and started doing social media workshops for executives. In February, I gave a presentation about social media for nonprofits as part of the Council of PR Firm’s effort to give back to communities across the country. You can see that slideshow on my LinkedIn profile.
In March, my position was eliminated. Total grey clouds. A sudden tornado or earthquake. Unanticipated. But there was a silver lining. A week later I learned my campaign was a finalist for a Silver Anvil and then a week after that, it was also a finalist for a Silver SABRE award. The SABRE went to another campaign, but the Silver Anvil went to the campaign I led in June. Want to see it? Just click here.
April and May were busy with freelance work. That’s something new for me: being my own boss, having a very tiny commute downstairs and saving all that gas money. So far June has brought the opportunity to visit the beach two weekends in a row. I grew up living near the beach, but hadn’t been back in years. I was too busy at work, remember? Since I’m currently my own boss, I gave myself those vacation days.
I’m job hunting like crazy, but also taking the time to appreciate all the good things in my life. My friends are on the lookout, contacts I’ve made through work, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are giving me leads and great support and there’s a little extra time every day to just be myself and clear out the cobwebs.
So if you are working full time and busy with your career like I was, remember to take a little time for yourself. You might have had layoffs at your office or at another branch and might be feeling scared that your turn is next or trying to do your job plus the additional responsibilities of a former coworker. You might just be running yourself ragged. But do what you can to replenish and recharge. You’ll feel better at work and at home.
When Fame Bites
Is your brand ready for fame? Fame in all its incarnations: from glory to gory? When you put yourself out there you may think that a little fame is exactly what you’re seeking. But as fast as your personal brand and reputation can be built up, it can all come crashing down.
I’m thinking about this as the headlines swoop by for “real” people caught in the reality of a 24/7 news cycle. You’ve probably been reading about them. Jon. Kate (and their Plus 8). Nadya Suleman, now forever known as Octomom. Susan Boyle – the Scottish singing sensation and internet darling. Their backgrounds are different, but the cycles are frighteningly similar.
For Jon and Kate Gosselin, it took a couple of years to ramp up their notoriety. It started with a special on Discovery Health when their twin daughters were about four and their sextuplets (3 boys and 3 girls) were about 18 months old, and then short season episodes until TLC took over the show as ratings climbed. Expanded seasons of their TLC reality show, book tours and appearances on Oprah, Dr. Phil, the morning news shows followed until the huge promotable event (could it really be just last August?) of their renewed wedding vows at a resort in Hawaii. Less than six months later, we have nonstop coverage of alleged infidelity, child labor law complaints and rumors of divorce. There’s a saying that no publicity is bad publicity, but this family might differ.
For Nadya Suleman, it started with a medical miracle: eight babies surviving birth in a California hospital. A story like this is usually slam dunk positive news. But the tide turned quickly, when it was revealed the single mom had six other young children, no job and no real place to live. Now there are reports that Suleman has signed a contract for a reality show. Oh, and there’s an Octomom Vs. Kate Gosselin gossip fight. When did we first hear about Nadya Suleman? Just six months ago. January 2009.
When it comes to Susan Boyle, the cycle turned even more quickly. Her amazing audition for Britain’s Got Talent became an instant hit on YouTube. (Yes, I’m linking you there because it’s still one of the best videos ever.) How’s April 11th strike you? Weeks later, backlash because she got the tiniest of makeovers. And then she was caught on camera cursing paparazzi, and there was even doubt that she’d be able to perform on the final show. But she did, bravely, and came in second — with class. That was Saturday night, May 30th. Now we’re hearing she may have learning disabilities after being admitted to a clinic for exhaustion. That was Sunday, May 31st. Just seven weeks ago, the only people who knew Susan Boyle were her neighbors and friends in Scotland. Seven weeks.
You may think these examples don’t apply to your business or your spokesperson because you don’t represent a reality show. But the speed of the Internet coupled with the word of mouth amplification we’re seeing through social media could make you an overnight sensation — of the good or bad kind.
Remember Motrin Moms? How about the KFC grilled chicken coupon? Burger King’s Facebook “unfriending” campaign? These campaigns hit sour notes within days.
Fame usually comes with positive connotations. When it takes a wrong turn, you’re headed straight for notoriety.
Have you had a brush with fame or notoriety? How did you handle it?
Three reasons to visit Alltop.com
I started following Guy Kawasaki on Twitter months ago, after I had visited his website Alltop, a website that aggregates blogs based on their topics. They call it an online magazine rack. Interested in scrapbooking? Visit scrapbooking.alltop.com. How about personal finance? (personal-finance.alltop.com). Maybe you’re a huge Carolina fan? Unc-chapel-hill.alltop.com is the site for you.
Three reasons to visit the site:
1. There are so many topics, with new ones created all the time. They are updated 24/7 so there’s always something interesting to read. I have found personal and professional inspiration here.
2. You can create your own personal Alltop. Find the blogs on the topics you’re interested in and create your own personal mix of news, chat and comments. Plus it’s really easy to share links and more with your social network. Mine is alltop.com/stephskordas.
3. Inkslinger is now on pr.alltop.com!
I’m sure there are many more reasons you’d visit Alltop. How are you using it to find the best conversations and topics?
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