From WTF To KPI: PR Measurement In Acronyms

A couple of days ago, I had the pleasure of presenting a webinar on measurement aka demonstrating the business value of public relations for PRSA.

I say “pleasure” because it was. It was perfectly organized, I had no trouble with the webinar platform, and it was fun.

And I didn’t have to put on fancy clothes or fancy shoes to go do it.

I love webinars!

Here’s the deck, in case you’re interested. Download/embed away.

Couple things

I was hoping to show the Old Spice video titled “Questions” between slides 20 and 21. That’s why the following slide is titled “Answer.”

Also, there are several recaps of the P&G campaign focusing on its results that use W+K’s video case study, but I couldn’t use that either, because the platform we used for the webinar didn’t support video.

So here it is. And the Digital Buzz Blog has an excellent recap of the entire Old Spice social media campaign (which I did pull from, with all the appropriate credits, in my presentation).

I know what you’re thinking.

“Does she have to keep using acronyms in her presentation titles?”

Image: Phil Shirley, Creative Commons

Well… yea, kinda.

If I’m going to grab you by the collar, sit you down and make you pay attention to something as potentially dry and overwhelming as measurement, I better make it fun.

Right?

Hopefully I did.

Ted Nguyen upped the game by recording an audioBoo (WTF?!) of most of the Q&A of the webinar.

Kewl!

So, there you have it.

Whadja think?

Psst: Can you believe how many images you find when you do a search on Flickr for WTF?!

AWESOME.

Five Things I Didn’t Expect About Alaska

It’s been two weeks since my last blog post?

What in the world have I been up to?

Sorry.

I’ve wanted to write, truly. I just… got caught up with stuff… fell ill… went into my bubble…

I know, I should stop with the excuses. And just try to do better.

What better way to come back from a “dry” spell than to share with you seven five things I didn’t expect to find about Alaska, following my trip there?

It’s incredibly green.

I don’t know why I didn’t expect this.

I suppose it’s all those images of frozen, shimmering skylines I visualize when I think “Arctic” or “sub-Arctic.” Thank you, television.

But, duh, they have summer there too. And it’s gorgeous.

Santa Claus lives there.

Yes and no.

I figured the big man would have some kind of presence in the north pole. What I didn’t expect was to find North Pole in Alaska, and to get to sit on the big guy’s knee, to boot.

See, sometimes it pays to be on the “nice” list (thank you, whoever put me there).

The sun feels very, very close.

I know we’re not really closer to, or further away from, the sun when the seasons change (I suppose you could argue we are/not, depending on how Earth’s axis is tilted… but then you have that whole rotation thing to factor in as well).

But there’s something about the Alaskan sky – particularly in Fairbanks, where this photograph was taken – that makes you feel it’s very close.

Which can lead to some interesting and rambling musings on being. Which I won’t go into now.

You’re welcome.

The Exxon Valdez spill has been memorialized.

This, I definitely did not expect to see at the Anchorage Museum (which is lovely, you should go). It was really interesting, though and again, probably not surprising when you think of how much of Alaska’s economy depends on oil.

I couldn’t help but wonder if Louisiana will ever do the same for BP.

Alaska Baseball League games are more fun than MLB.

This Mat-su Miners game was the first of its kind I’d been to. I loved the casual atmosphere, the absence of hype and hoopla and the focus on the game itself.

Simple is so often much better… and isn’t that one of those life lessons we can apply to PR as well?

I could go on, but I’ll stop here.

Suffice it to say Alaska was everything I thought it would be, and lots of things I didn’t think it would be (you can see all the photographs I took, if you like).

Thanks again, PRSA Alaska!

North to Alaska

In a couple of days, I’ll be heading to what I’ve always thought of one of the most fascinating places on earth: Alaska.

Image: Travis S.’ Flickrstream, Creative Commons

“Alaska?!” you ask.

“Why?!” you sputter, flavoring your morning coffee with a healthy dose of envy, I imagine.

It all began when I met Mary Barber at the 2009 PRSA International Conference. Mary and I had corresponded on Twitter (is it weird to use that word in conjunction with Twitter? I don’t care.) and made a breakfast date to finally meet IRL.

You know what it’s like when you really like someone online and then you meet them in person and you go, “Oh, no…”

Nothing like that.

Mary’s a wonderful person and seasoned PR professional. Since then, we’ve become good friends, chatting often not just on Twitter, but the phone, email and Skype.

Since I love traveling, I’d mentioned to Mary I’d love to come to Alaska… perhaps even to do a presentation to PRSA Alaska on measurement which, you hopefully know by now, is an area of PR I’m committed to.

Next thing I know, I’m booked to speak to PRSA Alaska.

Being energetic, erstwhile and entrepreneurial, Mary did a Skype interview with me on what I plan to share.

In a nutshell: strategy rules, measurement rocks and … um. Oh well, it’s in the video, if you care to take a gander.

Give me a break. I’m 40. I’m allowed a junior moment now and again.

So I head out on Monday for a week, to let Anchorage and Fairbanks take me by storm, which I’m quite looking forward to.

Being supremely organized, Mary and her cohorts have put together quite an itinerary that includes:

• The World Eskimo Indian Olympics opening ceremony, for which I’m told the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company donated tickets
• An Alaska Goldpanners v. Mat Su Miners baseball game, courtesy Flint Hill Resources
• A trip to Santa Claus House in the North Pole (OMG, I’m so excited!)
• A train ride from Fairbanks to Anchorage on the Alaska Railroad, which takes about 12 hours and is supposed to provide breathtakingly beautiful views, courtesy the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation and the self-same Alaska Railroad
• Salmon. Lots of salmon.
• Hopefully, moose. No, not to eat, to see. Seriously, what are you thinking?!

It’s ok. I’d be envious too, if I were you.

I promise to take as many photographs as I can to share, if I’m not overwhelmed by just how gorgeous everything and everyone is.

I can’t thank Mary and everyone at PRSA Alaska and the companies who pitched in to make this a trip of a lifetime enough for this incredible opportunity to meet new people and see a part of the world most of us never will.

(Yes, I know that sounds a little like “it’s an honor to be nominated.” Whatever.)

And I hope those who attend my session see that strategy trumps all when it comes to PR, that measurement really isn’t that difficult and AVE is evil, and, er… oh well, whatever the video said the third thing is.

Hey, I said I’m 40.

I’d love to come to your neck of the woods, if you think you’ll get something out of it. Will you let me know?

DMC10, Twitter and The Blue Ball

Earlier today I presented at the 2010 Digital Media Conference, put on by PotomacTechWire and DigitalMediaWire.

My panel focused on “Twitter and the Media,” and included luminaries such as Rohit Bhargava, Jodi Gersh, Kevin Dando and Chris McGill. If ever a panel made me feel smart…

It was a fun afternoon, for which I prepared by downing copious amounts of the delicious tomato/basil soup on hand. And I hope those who attended got something out of it too.

For me, it was great not just to meet/reconnect with my fellow panelists, but to see folks like Mike Smith, Liz Shea, Ashley Houghton and Stephanie Wonderlick.

We talked, as you might imagine, about various aspects of Twitter. And while I enjoyed all the comments, something Chris said particularly struck home:

Twitter is for everyone… even if all you do is use it to listen.

If you think about it, that’s really true. You can use it to gather intelligence, keep on top of your brand… and you don’t have to be an active user to do that.

Now, if you’re consider Twitter as a marketing tool, then yes, you have to really dive in and not just listen but engage, converse, yada yada yada.

And all that is stuff I say all the time.

But if you’re not ready to do all that, at the very least you can use it to listen.

I do think you should be smart about the social platforms you decide to use, and that’s what yesterday’s webinar/post was about.

If you don’t know what your goals are, you’re going to have a tough time figuring out how to reach them.

But if you’re just getting started… why not just listen for a while?

You might be surprised by what you hear.

The Blue Ball

After the panel was over, the beauteous Jodi (and she really is beauteous) gave me a personal tour of Gannett and USA Today‘s properties in NoVa. Here’s the famous “blue ball:”

Happy weekend!

From “Check” to “Checkmate”

Today I had the pleasure of presenting a webinar for Ragan Communications, on smart communication strategy in the digital age.

This is a topic I speak on pretty often, and the more I do it, the more I’m convinced about something:

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

So now we have social media tools at our disposal. So what? The thinking behind good communication doesn’t – or shouldn’t – change.

If you have your fundamentals right (i.e. goals, measurable objectives, strategy, tactics), then all you really need to do is incorporate social into your overall communication strategy, keeping the focus the same.

And I don’t mean to belittle social by saying, “all you really need to do.” What I’m trying to stress is that you shouldn’t let your awe of the tools get in the way of something you know how to do… and do well.

On the other hand if, in times past, you weren’t focusing on how your communication plan was going to help your business/organization achieve its goals but were doing something because it was cool/your boss wanted you to/, then basically you were flying by the seat of your pants.

Which perhaps took you to climes fairly salubrious on occasion; but, I daresay, more often than not you landed with a thump and wondered WTF went wrong.

Anyway – that’s the point I try to drive home whenever I speak or teach on this topic, and that’s what you’ll find in this deck.

If you already know it – excellent! and you don’t have to bother going through it.

On the other hand, if you don’t, or are new to the communication field, it might help you. And you can always let me know what you think/ask more questions by leaving a comment below or tweeting/emailing me.

Heck, I’d love it if you left a comment below/emailed/tweeted me ANYWAY. What’s life without a little conversation?

On Pontification

Quick heads-up: tomorrow I’m doing a Ragan webinar on social media and strategic communication in the “age of now.” (They didn’t say that last bit, I did.)

Friday, I’ll be at the Potomac TechWire Digital Media Conference East, on a Twitter-related panel with luminaries such as Rohit Bhargava and Jodi Gersh (hashtag #dmc10).

Hey, I can try to pontificate with the best of them. I might not beat ‘em at their game, but you can’t knock a girl for trying, can you?

Hope you see you at one – or both!

Image: Inayaili de León, Creative Commons

Mumbai and Montreal: Connected At The Hip

As you read this, I’ll be dashing to the airport to take off for Montréal.

Wikipedia tells me it’s famous for being one of the “world’s most livable cities” as well as Canada’s cultural capital. I remember it fondly as the home of Cirque du Soleil (a one-time client; image: Naoki Nakashima, Creative Commons) and one of the most charming cities I’ve ever visited… all of eight years ago.

So it’s with a great deal of anticipation that I’m heading there today, to speak at Webcom Montréal.

My cohort is Claude Malaison, with whom I first connected on Twitter during the Mumbai terror attacks.

We’ll be talking about our experience during what must rank as one of the most eye-opening uses of social media (and I don’t mean by us, but by everyone who leaped onto blogs, Twitter, Facebook and the like) to connect across cultures, time zones and languages.

We were bound together by a shared horror of what was happening, coupled with the urge – I believe in most of us – to do whatever we could to help share useful information that might somehow help those on the ground.

Because that’s all we could do from a distance.

I think it’s pretty amazing that Claude and I developed enough of a rapport that he’d ask me to co-present at this conference. See, this is how not to lose a girl with one tweet. I’m really looking forward to meeting him offline.

If you’ll be at Webcom, please do let me know so that we can make a connection as well. Because that’s what it’s all about.

Leaving On A Jet Plane

I have a hectic (for me) period of travel and events coming up. Here’s a quick rundown, in case you’re in the area; I’d love to meet IRL.

May 18 (next Tuesday), I’ll be in Jacksonville, Fla., speaking at PRVille 2010 – Top Shelf Social Media, which is being organized by North Florida PRSA.

I don’t know how “top shelf” I am, but I’m looking forward to meeting, hearing and learning from Mary Henige and Ryan Paul Thomson, not to mention catching up with my buddies Bryan Campbell and Bonnie Upright.

As an aside, whenever I hear “top shelf,” I always – always – think of Phoebe aka Lisa Kudrow’s “top drawer” act in “Friends.” What a great show that was. (Season 9, Episode 7).

May 26 I’ll be in Montréal, speaking at WebCom Montréal 2010, along with my Twitter buddy Claude Malaison. Claude and I first “met” a couple of years ago and I’m really excited to see him IRL, as well as, I hope, many others I haven’t yet had the pleasure of meeting in person.

This is also the first time I’ll be part of a bilingual presentation (guess who won’t be speaking French?).

June 19 is the Women Grow Business Boot Camp, right here in DC. Since we announced it a couple of days ago, registration’s been climbing (W00T!). This is a great opportunity to meet and hear from several dynamic women entrepreneurs, so do sign up quickly if you’d like to attend, since space is limited.

I’ll probably be exhausted by the time all this is over but hey, what’s that compared to meeting and making friends?

Maybe the next time I’ll even get to fly Virgin again.

See you soon, I hope!

Announcing The Women Grow Business Boot Camp

Of dogs, guacamole and groupies

Disclosure, though I hope you already know this: I’m editor of Women Grow Business, a Network Solutions-hosted blog community by, for and of women entrepreneurs. I’m paid to do this, though I was not paid (or asked) to cross-post this announcement. I chose to do so because I think it might be useful for some of my readers.

When I started editing Women Grow Business, I knew it would be a trip and a half, but I don’t think I realized what a wild ride it would be. Seriously, I think WGB has spam groupies who insist on trying to sell men’s shoes. Whaaa… ??

Couldn’t we get a flash mob instead? (Image: Richard Wood, Creative Commons)

But anyway, founding editor Jill Foster came over one afternoon in January to walk me through the ins and outs of it, and afternoon turned to evening, through which we fortified ourselves with wine, olives, chips and guacamole (my dogs were particularly interested in the latter).

As we worked, we chatted about our hopes and dreams for WGB. We already knew what a phenomenal community we had (I give you the terrific contributors as well as the many guest bloggers who bring so much value when they share their thoughts and experiences). Of course, we wanted to grow that (which we’ve been doing slowly, not just on the blog, but on Twitter, LinkedIn and Amplify as well, are you connected to us there?).

What we really wanted to do, though, was take this vibrant, thriving online community and move it offline.

Particularly in a world where so much of our work and interaction is virtual, we’ve all seen how important it is to actually do stuff “IRL.”

Drum roll, please!

So it truly gives me great pleasure to announce (drum roll, please) the first-ever Women Grow Business Boot Camp, which will be held from 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 19, in downtown DC.

If you’re a woman entrepreneur in the DC area (or want to be one), I hope you’ll attend this half-day, FREE workshop where you’ll hear from women business owners, many of whom contribute to and/or have supported Women Grow Business since its inception.

I mean, it’s not every day you get a chance to meet Kathy Korman Frey aka @ChiefHotMomma and our keynote speaker (W00T!), as well as powerhouses like Marissa Levin, Patricia Frame, Shana Glickfield and many, many more.

What you’ll learn

Speakers will share their experiences in growing their businesses, and after the keynote, you’ll split into four breakout groups to learn more about four key areas of growing your business:

Money, Honey: the financial and infrastructural side to your business
Legal Eagle: the legal, IP and related issues we need to be aware of
What’s the Buzz?: marketing your business, including using PR and social media
Are You Being Served?: defining, reaching and retaining your ideal customer

We’re going to repeat these tracks after a short break, so that you can move to another group and learn about another area (and the speakers will change as well).

So by the end of the workshop, you should come away feeling empowered, armed with practical tips, and have done a ton of networking… at least, that’s what we hope you’ll come away with.

It’s on a Saturday, so hopefully that will make it easy for you to carve the time out of your busy schedules. And did I mention it’s FREE? Thank you, sponsors Network Solutions and the Intellectual Property Group and Diversity Committee of Steptoe & Johnson LLP.

Sign up!

You can register here, and do share the word with those you think would be interested… and maybe we can even come up with a flash mob of our own. Whadja say?

Cross-posted from Women Grow Business.

From Personal Relations to Public Relations

I had the good fortune to be a presenter at Social Commerce Camp DC in February, thanks to Shashi Bellamkonda and Kikscore. As I was looking through my deck, it occurred to me it would probably make for a good series of posts on PR best practices for small businesses: