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Throughout April and May, the amount of publicity that Twitter received in mainstream media sky-rocketed. It was featured on the cover of TIME Magazine, for one. And not to mention it seemed like half of Hollywood had signed up for their own account - most notably, Oprah (who hasn’t tweeted since the beginning of June, by the way). I wrote about Hollywood’s use of Twitter back in April, but now the media has been telling a slightly different story - Twitter is leveling off?

I’ve seen multiple blog posts chronicling the decent of Twitter and citing various stats. According to Quantcast, for example, US Twitter usage has gone down from 24.4 million to 21.9 million since May. And HubSpot recently released their annual “State of the Twittersphere” report, which led to a number of blog posts calling attention to the figures of almost 55% of users have never tweeted before and 53% of users don’t have any followers.

But, Twitter (and the community) is still going strong. Looking at the “big picture,” comparing May 2008 to May 2009, Nielsen found in a recent study that Twitter has actually seen the largest gain in total new users compared to other social networks - a 1,448% increase! In addition, Nielsen found that people have actually been spending more time on the site, particularly in recent months - great news for the community!

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Yesterday, we all tied up our sneakers and threw on our running shorts for the annual J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge, a 5K race supporting Camp Harbor View. For each Corporate Challenge entry, J.P. Morgan made a donation to the camp, which serves over 600 inner-city youth ages 11-14.

360PR was able to support the community, exercise, and have fun…all while looking great!  Among a crowd of 12,000 runners Team 360 made a fashionable showing with our Twitter-blue tees. Anyone who was live-tweeting could follow us physically and electronically during the race.

The rain held off long enough for us to have a dry evening to run, walk, and stroll. Although we didn’t win the Corporate Challenge, we still had a post-race celebration at the nearby Globe bar for the stellar PR running team!

Stephanie Shih and Caitlin Melnick model the 2009 Corporate Challenge Tees

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If you thought your High School graduation signified the end of the rat race for popularity, you were mistaken. This week, the focus was on maintaining a “cream of the crop” social media status, whether you’re a blogger, avid Facebook user, or intern relegated to delivering the daily dose of java for the office. Check out some of the following articles for some pointers on excelling in the digital space.

Copyblogger “The Real Secret to Becoming a Popular Blogger” - These days, who doesn’t have a blog? Many infants do. So do some canines. But how many people are actually reading your blog on a regular basis is what really matters. How do you become part of the blogosphere’s inner circle? According to Johnny Truant at Copyblogger, your need to be interesting, smart and relatable. Sound similar to the dating scene to anyone else? C’est la vie.

Mashable “Dunkin Run Automates your Coffee Breaks on the Web and iPhone” - “America Runs on Dunkin.” At least the Northeast does, that is. But when everyone in the office is working on deadline, in a meeting, or on a call, it’s tough to facilitate that mid-afternoon caffeine pick-me-up. With an ingenious new application from Dunkin’ Donuts however, you can collect a list of orders before you head out the door. Coffee’s never tasted so sweet.

AllFacebook “How To Get Your Facebook User Name Back From a Squatter” - After reading our post about Facebook Vanity URLs, and CNET’s article on the same topic, you might’ve scrambled to secure your personalized URL. But if you waited to make your claim, you might be out of luck. Check out this article from AllFacebook before you fret. Note however, that if you can’t prove your URL is your livelihood, it might be time to consider a legal name change.

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I can’t begin to explain how many horror stories I’ve heard about the customer service of cable companies, and being a Bostonian, this means Comcast.  So why would a Comcast customer service representative get a booming ovation at an event on CRM (customer relationship management)?

The answer is simple.  Frank Eliason, or @comcastcares as he’s known on Twitter, is a rock star.  If you haven’t heard about @comcastcares, check out this BusinessWeek article from January. As part of a panel hosted by Radian6 and social media guru Chris Brogan, Eliason and fellow panelists provided insights into why social media is a key component to a customer’s experience with a brand.

“Our job as a company is to figure out what we can do to turn our customers into advocates,” according to Eliason. The panel went on to say that Social CRM, simply put, is getting back to the basics.  Brands need to listen to the conversations that are going on with or without them, and take the necessary steps to engage them.

So, as the lines grow ever-blurrier about who should be leading a brand’s charge into social media, customer service is proving to be an important player. And, in PR, we’re on the front lines, helping brands turn potential customers into actual customers, and existing customers into advocates.

Another key message from the panel that stuck with me is that we all, as marketers, must remember that good service translates into good sales.  Sometimes we need to take a step back and put ourselves in the shoes of the customer and provide the level of customer service that we would expect in return.

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What would Chuck Norris do?  Or, as many of us at 360PR asked on Friday, how would MC Hammer reinvent something, or Donald Trump improve efficiency?

Our agency participated in a hands-on professional development session on Friday (courtesy of The Loeb Group) that focused on “Tools to Boost Our Individual & Collaborative Creativity” — and there were plenty of tactile toys and doohickeys supplied to prime the pump.

PR practitioners are generally quick, creative thinkers. But foosball tables and yoga balance balls aside, creativity is not simply a byproduct of an office’s environment.

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Consumer Marketing, PR Industry | 2 Comments →

Last week can be summed up in one word: ‘cool.’ Not only was the sun all but absent as it rained nearly every day in Boston, the previous week’s digital news reminded us that in order to be ‘cool’ within the social media world, having a Facebook account, Twitter Handle, and blog simply aren’t enough. You also have to be familiar with flash mobs, have good Twitter karma and a Facebook.com/YourFullNameHere page. Two things are now clear - there will be days in June where you’ll need a fleece jacket, and, keeping up with the social media Joneses will keep you on your toes.

CNET “A User’s Guide to Personalizing Your Facebook URL” - 360’s own John LeRoy shared his thoughts on the scramble to claim personalized Facebook URLs last week, but what exactly does Facebook’s latest shake-up mean to you? Should you be concerned if your name isn’t yet claimed? Should you even care? Check out this article from CNET and see what all the fuss is about.

Mashable “TweetDeck Desktop vs. Seesmic Desktop” - Do you TweetDeck or Seesmic? Let Mashable fill you in on the pros and cons of both, then decide for yourself where your Twitter-desktop-application loyalty lies.

MediaPost “‘Touch’ Hammers Home A&E Marketing Campaign” - Imagine, you’re shopping in a regular store, minding your own business, when a surge of men and women in baggy, gold lame pants come rushing in and dancing in coordination to MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This.” Sound like a dream? It was reality for a group of unsuspecting consumers one seemingly normal afternoon in Los Angeles. This relatively new marketing strategy is catching on like wild-fire - watch and see why.

Mashable “Ten Twitter Tools to Organize Your Tweeps” - With Twitter, you have your update stream, replies, direct messages and key word searches. You can even see Facebook status updates with certain applications. So how do you keep it all straight while keeping your sanity? This piece from Mashable tells of the most essential Twitter tools you need to stay in-the-know. But be warned: your Qwitter results may be tough to swallow.

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Food, Inc., the new documentary directed by Robert Kenner and co-produced by Fast Food Nation’s Eric Schlosser, opened nationwide this weekend.  Food Inc. is less about Hollywood and more about a wide-eyed walk down the supermarket aisle – and the imagery utilized to market the foods we put into our carts every week.

My interest in Food Inc. stemmed from our work with Stonyfield Farm, a pioneer in the organic industry, which by the way has grown to $24.5 billion – but still only represents 3.5% of America’s grocery dollars.

You leave Food Inc. thinking, for one, I’ll never eat chicken again (and I haven’t since seeing the premiere a week ago). More important, though, is the understanding that our food is not farmed, but mass-produced. I guess that shouldn’t come as a surprise. But there’s some pretty startling footage in Food Inc. – casting a light on the treatment of farmers, workers and animals, and the chemical exposure of foods most of us eat on a regular basis, like ammonia-treated hamburger filler (in 70% of the hamburgers consumed in the US). I’m no expert, but something tells me Mr. Clean is better on your floors than in your food (though I’m a personally a fan of Seventh Generation and Method)

I also learned that 64% of Americans can now be categorized as obese or overweight, and one in three children growing up today will develop early-onset diabetes.  This last point was driven home in heart-wrenching fashion in the movie, when a young girl shopping with her parents reached for fresh fruit to add to their grocery cart and was told to “put them back, we can’t afford that.” The mother went on to explain that it’s more economical to feed her family at any number of fast-food chains.

The cost of organics is often raised as a barrier when we speak with food media and bloggers. But, as Stonyfield Founder Gary Hirshberg explained in a Q&A after the screening, greater consumer demand will help drive the price of organics down. To that end, Stonyfield recently gained distribution at Wal-Mart.“We need to be Goliath, not David fighting Goliath,” Hirshberg said in his appearance in Food Inc.With regard to Wal-Mart’s increased focus on organics, the chain’s dairy buyer explained, “We look at what the consumer wants and get behind it.”

Stonyfield’s site has a Q&A with Robert Kenner, and 30+ printable coupons for organic brands, including Stonyfield yogurt and more.

For food brands that have a good story to tell, and many do, getting consumers to look beyond imagery to read the label is key. Brands should be as clear as possible about what’s in – and not in – their products. The USDA is helping with its National Organic Program symbol. Motivated consumers are also searching online for ingredients and sources, an opportunity for brands to be part of the discussion in social networks, on blogs and in forums.

No matter what side of the discussion you’re on, Food Inc. is a must-see – just be sure to eat you go. If you miss it in theaters, the DVD should be out right about the same time as the Natural Products Association’s Expo East, coinciding with the Organic Products Expo in Boston September 23-26.

Filed under: Events and Conferences, Food & Beverage PR, Food Industry, Green Marketing, Politics | 3 Comments →

In what seems to be Facebook’s latest move to keep pace with Twitter’s popularity, the social networking giant just unveiled the ability for individuals to own a personalized URL for their profile.

In USA TODAY’s article “Facebook Starts Digital Turf Rush,” it was reported that 500,000 (yes - - half a million) Facebook users had assigned a “name” to their profiles within the first 15 minutes of the new feature’s launch. The change took place at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, which means that at least 500,000 people cleared their social calendars to be close enough to a computer so that they could claim their cyber-territory. Pretty impressive.

Let me start by saying that I was not one of these half a million individuals. Like many people, I figured that I would just sign up for my new Facebook web address whenever I got around to it. Unfortunately, when I got “around to it” two days later, my best option was Facebook.com/jleroy1, or some variation of such. This URL won’t do me much good - it won’t help someone find me in search engines, nor is it something that I would necessarily put in my e-mail signature.

I’m not heartbroken that Facebook.com/JohnLeRoy is taken, but for someone whose business IS their name, hopefully they were one of the 500,000 people that logged in on Saturday! Obama (obviously) was able to snag his name, but can you imagine if his digital team had to settle for Facebook.com/bobama1961?

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The last BIG blow-out E3 Expo was held in 2006. But, in ‘07 and ‘08 the event was downsized significantly and became invite-only for many in the video game industry.  This year, however, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) reinvigorated the E3 of old, leading to a 840% increase in attendance compared to 2008 with 41,000 game industry executives and journalists in attendance….and, it was a blast!

The press was out in full force and ranged from consumer media, to traditional gaming outlets, fan/community websites, podcasters, and TV/video crews. If you google “E3 2009″, you’ll get a mere 25 million results - i.e. lots of buzz.

One of the big stories of E3 included Microsoft’s announcement that Xbox Live will soon integrate with Facebook and Twitter. And the use of Twitter itself surrounding the event was a big deal compared to E3 ‘06, with many attendees and journalists tweeting about the event (#E3). In fact, our gamerDNA client launched a new website last week - TweetMyGaming.com - which aggregates conversations about video games happening on Twitter in real-time.

And, yes, even the “booth babes” were back this year. But, was there anything missing? Yes. Companies were not giving away as much swag to attendees - but I did get a free IGN.comT-shirt, which made me a happy camper

The ESA announced that E3 2010 will take place June 15 - 17 at the Los Angeles Convention Center - hope to see you there!

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The third annual BlogHer Business conference is taking place on July 23 in Chicago. This year, 360PR is proud to sponsor the event, which brings together brand marketers, pr and communications pros, social media consultants and, of course, bloggers. The day-long conference serves as a course in the most effective ways to reach women online - a rapidly growing and extremely influential demographic.

360 has attended in the past and found the sessions to be very valuable and the overall event to be fantastic for networking. The event brings bloggers from across the country together to meet in-person and engage with brands and each other - can’t get much better than that!

We’d love to see you there! To register, visit the BlogHer Business website here.

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This past week, both Dunkin Donuts and Friendly’s restaurants satisfied our collective sweet tooth with free food promotions. What caught my attention was that both companies used social media to help spread the word about the free donut and scoops’ giveaways.  Dunkin’ held a contest to create the next donut menu item, and generated buzz surrounding the event on their Facebook page, and Friendly’s took to Twitter to spread the news of their sweet treat giveaway.

These are just two examples of brands using social media to their advantage - read on to gain some additional insight into some of the past week’s social media news highlights:

Mashable “YouTube Brands: 5 Outstanding Leaders in YouTube Marketing” - YouTube is a tricky medium. Pages leave little room for creativity, and the majority of visitors aren’t brand fans looking for information on their favorite soda or snack food. Certain names are shining on YouTube however. Check out this article to see who beat the odds, and how.

AdWeek “Get Ready to Pay Per Tweet” - Though somewhat disappointing, it’s not surprising that users will soon be paid to use Twitter. “Sponsored Tweets,” will allow individuals to enter into agreements with advertisers to tweet their information for a price. As of now, details are hazy and exact guidelines are unclear, but you might think twice before you RT (re-tweet) information in the future.

eMarketer “Women Who Blog” - More than half of US women participate in social media weekly, and 55% either blog, or read blogs. This piece from eMarketer offers statistics to push anyone in the PR and Marketing worlds to stand up and take notice when it comes to reaching women in the online world.

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I need to start with a disclaimer.  There’s no way around it, this is a self-serving post, but hopefully still of some interest.  360 went 10 for 12 at last night’s New England Publicity Club Bell Ringer Awards.  That’s an enviable batting average even here in Red Sox Nation.

A glance at the list of campaigns by 360 and other award-winners, including our friends at Cone and Kel and Partners, speaks to the awesome national work that’s emanating from Boston.  As traditional media have downsized and shifted more and more to contributors working virtually, and social media has sprung from all corners of the globe, physical proximity has become less relevant.  But that’s a whole other post.

Back to the red carpet and a look at some of our “stars” accepting awards…

Crock-Pot cookers Brittany & Merideth

Team Xenith Caitlin & John

A jubilant Stephanie with a shiny award plaque for Ball Jars and Mike in his WowWee afterglow

360 took home top honors in several categories, reminding us of the great clients and brands we’re fortunate to work with:

Best Consumer Product/Service Publicity Campaign for Ball® jars

Best Special Event Series for Stop & Shop®

Best National Television News Placement for Crock-Pot® slow cookers on The Rachel Ray Show

Best Regional Television News Placement for Xenith’s X1™ football helmet on WBZ-TV/Boston

Best Feature or Commentary Placement for WowWee’s Alive Cubs™ in TIME Magazine

Best Response to Breaking News for WowWee’s FlyTech™ Dragonfly

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Social media can sometimes leave you feeling out of the loop. Sure, it’s easy enough to sign-up and stay active on sites like Facebook and Twitter, to keep in touch with friends, family members and colleagues. But sometimes if you don’t know your old college roomates’ relationship status or you haven’t kept up on the latest trending  topics on Twitter, you can easily feel like an “outsider.” As the saying goes, “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!” Some of these articles may just help us better understand how to make the most of our time in the social media sphere:

TwiTip “How to Make Any Tweet Worth Following” - No one really cares if you’ve haven’t done laundry in a month (except maybe your mother.) So why do you use Twitter? It’s a fantastic tool for quick discourse, but if you’re going to devote time to navigating the Twittersphere, this article suggests why and how to “Think Outside the Tweet.”

Mashable “Facebook Pages Vs. Facebook Groups: What’s the Difference?” - On the surface, Facebook groups and pages seem similar. So, which one should you create? This piece proves that size matters. Groups are smaller, more intimate and great for one-on-one interaction, while pages are the way to go for big brands and big names.

Mashable “Is Social Media Making Corporate Websites Irrelevant?” - Are straightforward websites becoming obsolete with the rise of social media? These days, brands are largely seen as out-of-touch if they don’t have Facebook, Myspace and YouTube pages. This article argues that having both, and having it all, seem to be the keys in reaching an audience.

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Last week, I traveled down to New York for the Gift Guide Show Media Event put on by Propel Media Events.  Editors from some of the top national consumer outlets were out in full-force with eager eyes looking to identify the “latest and greatest” gift ideas for the upcoming holiday season.

While “value” was the name of the game for most media in attendance, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that higher price tags did not necessarily turn-off the media.  This left me wondering - is the recession coming to an end?

Just one year ago it seemed like a gift suggestion of more than $100 was practically a lost cause. But now, perhaps, consumers are ready to push through all of the doom and gloom that the recession has reaped.  In fact, consumer confidence appears to be on the rise - USA Today recently reported that consumer confidence in the month of May is the highest it has been since September 2008!

While we are definitely not out of the recession completely, the good news is that our moods are lifting and consumer goods companies have a positive outlook towards a boost in holiday sales in 2009 - and we as publicists can help keep the positivity coming.

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I got a sneak-peek at Frontline’s Digital Nation:  Life on the Virtual Frontier the other night at WGBH-TV.  There were about 30 or so of us in the audience - a collection of mom and dad bloggers, including MommyBytes, MoreThanMommy, Bostonmamas, ManicMommies and DigitalDads, and educators from Boston Public Schools and beyond.

I think a better title might be Digital World, but “Nation” seems to fit since the documentary is being produced in a city that thinks of itself as a nation, e.g., Red Sox Nation, Patriot Nation, etc.  Back to the preview…

Digital Nation, set to debut in Winter 2010 on PBS, aims to be “a multiplatform exploration of what it means to be human in a wired world.”  Producer Rachel Dretzin, whose credits include the PBS series “Growing Up Online,” which covered cyber-bullying among other topics, started the preview by pointing to Digital Nation’s web site and blog.  One of the cool things about Digital Nation is getting to see it as work in progress. Chapter 2 is currently up online and focuses on the military’s use of digital  media - very cool indeed.  You can also upload your own digital story on Digital Nation’s blog.

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