Press Pass:

Another example of how the way we consume media and information is changing every day. And yes, it’s yet another post about social media and Twitter.

If you are on Twitter, simply look at the top trending topics and click on #iranelection. I noticed this topic trending on Saturday night and have been watching in awe ever since. I’ve found the latest photos, articles, posts and voices from the inside keeping me up-to-date with the events surrounding Iran’s recent election. Accompanying many of those tweets you see hashtags like #CNNfail and frustration with the media’s coverage (or lack thereof) of this event.

Truthfully, as things progressed Saturday night, not much could be found on CNN.com about the unfolding events. Now I’m not suggesting that we, as individuals, replace the formal media, because I don’t want them to go away. I want their credibility, I want their standards, I want to go there to fact check and confirm. I want them to be correct. But can we demand that they be both correct and immediate at the same time? Yes, it’s tough–and we, as information consumers, are making it even tougher on them. However, they’ve got some catching up to do. If they don’t cover it, we will. On our blogs, in our networks, with our tweets–we’ll spread the word.

Where do you look for up-to-the-minute coverage on what’s happening to the world? This weekend I realized how much it had changed for me. Tweet!

People are talking about you . . . are you talking back?

Last winter I complained on Twitter about my blog service, which was taking ages to get back to me on a bug request. I had e-mailed and e-mailed . . . and e-mailed. However, I sent one tweet with the company’s name on it–and that’s all it took. My tweet went something like this:

“Typepad is slaying me! I have had a bug in my admin for weeks–no progress!”

Typepad’s customer service might have been backlogged, but it had someone dedicated to monitoring social networks, and she resolved my issue within the hour. All of the sudden, I received an e-mail with the subject line: “Typepad Woes?” The body read:

Hi Rachael:

I saw your Tweet about having trouble with TypePad. I’m taking a look
through your tickets now–I’ll work on escalating this and see if there
isn’t something more I can do from my side to get you posting again!
–
Ginevra Whalen
TypePad Community Manager
Six Apart

And escalate she did. I was able to post within the hour. Typepad and Ginevra did a couple of things right, and good things followed:

1. It has someone monitoring the networks and engaging with the community.
2. Ginevra stepped in, followed through and actually did something that helped me.
3. The tone of the conversation about Typepad and my experience with the company changed. I went from being disgruntled and ready to shut down the blog and leave (I had been e-mailing about the bug for three weeks) to impressed and excited about how it effectively used social media for customer service.

Another company that shines for its customer service via Twitter is Comcast. To read more about what it is doing and how @comcastcares has been an effective way for the company to help customers, check out this recent blog post from the Wall Street Journal Digits blog.

Sad example of a missed opportunity:
I heart my milkman. But in a very upstanding way.
Once a week, the cooler on my porch is full of fresh milk and fresh-pressed apple juice, and sometimes the poor man has to drag groceries up my long and windy stairs, too. One very early morning I was up feeding the baby, and looked out the window to see my poor milkman hunting around my yard for the cooler that my kids had hidden. He found it, returned it to the right place and filled it. Just a little thing, but I was impressed. I wanted to tweet about it. I searched on Twitter for his company–it was not participating. But people were talking about his company on Twitter–good and bad. Unfortunately, the conversation was one-sided.

If you have a business, you can’t afford not to monitor and engage the social networks your customers are using. Whether you are a blog service or the local dairy with a delivery service, people are talking about you . . . are you talking back?

Brands can benefit in a big way by having solid social media strategies, but they can also be hijacked. The recent Domino’s disaster raises questions about how much control you really have over your brand online. Employers also have to be asking themselves how to monitor their employees’ use of social media in relation to their brand and business.

It also reminds me of the issues that were raised when Tim Russert died and his Wikipedia page was updated before his family was. How do you stop the freight train of “news,” user-generated content and citizen journalism?

I don’t think there is any easy way to make your brand and business bulletproof–but I do think that every company would benefit by setting some social media policies for its staff. This, too, raises interesting questions, such as:

1. What can and cannot be posted about your company by employees?
2. Should employees sign an NDA of sorts regarding specific points and practices?
3. Should you keep employees’ twitter handles on file?
4. Should you friend them on Facebook?
5. What should be considered personal and private information about co-workers?
6. At what point do you encroach upon personal privacy in social media with employees?

I sent a tweet out to the twitterverse asking people if their company had a social media policy. I got a response from someone with OrangeSoda.com. In essence, they’ve had the conversation with their staff, and their rule of thumb for social media is to “use your best judgment.” I agree with that, and I think it’s important to at least have that conversation and set those expectations.

It still doesn’t necessarily solve the Domino’s problem–as the two Domino’s employees obviously didn’t use any common sense. However, I do think that it would be a good preventative for businesses to simply have the conversation. Moreover, I think a basic agreement should be signed outlining the standards that employees agree to abide by both from a customer service and social media perspective.

What is your company doing?

My general rule of thumb when it comes to the naysayers is to let them “naysay” and refrain from jumping in the mud. But I couldn’t resist when I saw Beth Blecherman’s post on SVMoms.com about a story that was seriously “dugg” back in 2007 on Digg.com. This post had 2,612 Diggs and 91 comments when I came across it the other day. Sadly, times have not changed. But how much evolution can one really expect in two years?

The post, “Funniest Sexest Washing Machine Tag Ever,” is brimming with Gen X 13-year-old boyish comments.

We recently launched a new feature on our site that was covered by the WSJ Digits blog. We made it onto Digg and, last time I checked, had 116 Diggs and 14 comments. The comments posted there were equally nasty, if not nastier (browsers beware).

Maybe the boys plaguing Digg’s comment threads should figure out who their mama really is. She’s pretty tech savvy, controls more than 80 percent of household spending and isn’t very likely to marry a boy that wants her to do all his  bidding. And gasp, has more to say about life than “Come home dinner in 10 minutes.”

Kirtsy anyone?

I was on a panel the other night. Generally you get invited to be on a panel to represent a certain area of expertise or a unique demographic. Participating in panels is a great way to get exposure and position yourself as an expert in your field,  as well as a great way to expand your network and gain some credibility in your community.

Here is my problem with being an “expert”–no one knows everything. So it can be intimidating to pitch yourself as an expert. The intro text for the event was a little intimidating: “We have lined up a terrific panel of some of the valley’s social media elite.” I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a social media “elite,” but for a night I could look like one, right? I may not be as seasoned in social media as some of my counterparts on the panel (@comcastcares for heavens sake!), but at the end of it all I still have a unique perspective from a unique demographic that is worth sharing.

We all have something worth sharing. So if you’ve been hesitant to get out there and pitch yourself as an expert in your field–you don’t need to know everything. But know enough to share something genuine and unique from your perspective. And don’t think you need to bluff your way through things. If you don’t know something, admit it. No one will ever fault you for that.

I hesitated to put up this post because I thought it was common knowledge, and many of you will probably scratch your heads and say, “That is so 2008.” However, I went to a conference recently and more than half the people in the room didn’t know about HARO a.k.a. “Help A Reporter Out”–a fabulous free resource for media outlets and for those looking to be covered by the media.

Peter Shankman runs HARO (he can be followed as well on twitter: @skydiver) and sends out up to three e-mails a day with all of the latest inquiries. Another note for Twitter users: You can ask questions directly using #HARO.

TodaysMama.com has gotten coverage from some of these inquiries, and we also are starting to use the service to source content. It’s easy–just subscribe to Shankman’s newsletter and watch for queries that fit your business.

Be aware that there are loads of people who respond to the queries. I think the key to getting noticed is being genuine and to the point. If you’re not a PR pro, don’t pretend to be one. Be real.

We often think that public relations and perception are for the outside world–but we all need a good does of internal PR.

Does your company have a core message, mission and culture? Are you communicating adequately to your employees? It’s time to go above creating a mission statement on the whiteboard.

Here are some things we’ve done at TodaysMama to keep our company communicating and on the same page:

• Quarterly Business Plans and Reviews: Many people save this for once a year; we do it every quarter. This is a great opportunity to review goals, track progress, make sure we are on the same page, get new ideas and show appreciation.

• Company Culture/Company Ethics Document: Because we are a virtual office and we all come from different workplace experiences it was important for us to outline our ethical expectations as well as the goals for creating the culture of our company. Because we are a virtual office it can be hard to have a company culture. But we’ve gone so far as to outline the things that are important to us so that we all know what to expect from each other. For instance–in our company culture document (which is more lighthearted) I spelled out the fact that we are not a CMA business (Cover My A**) and I don’t want us to operate as such. Everyone should feel comfortable raising their hand in a meeting and admitting to a mistake and focusing on a solution. Everyone needs to know what their expectations for interactions are and it helps to actually let them know!

• Annual Message: I also like to kick off the year with an uplifting message to our staff and partners outlining the progress of the previous year and goals for the next. I think it helps set the tone for a new year with a clear message and road map.

• Weekly Time Sheets: What? I’m a Gen Y entrepreneur! Isn’t that micromanagement? No. Because we’re a virtual office it helps me see what everyone is doing on a weekly basis whether she’s full time or hourly. I also leave a blank space at the bottom of the time sheet for people to summarize any outstanding questions they might have for me or needs they have in their position. It’s a great opportunity to keep the communication lines open.

These are just a few of the strategies we’ve implemented to keep communication and messaging clear within our company. What are you doing? How do you keep everyone on the same page? How do your reinforce your internal messaging? Please share.

The 14th Annual Top 10 PR Blunders List, compiled by San Francisco’s Fineman PR

A few of my favorites:

• AIG All-Expense-Paid Retreats . . . Paid By YOU. Their rebound message? “The Party is Over.” I hope so!

• AP to Detroit Three: “Old way of doing business just won’t fly.”

• Letterman asks McCain, “Do you need a ride to the airport?” Ha! Or maybe down the street?

To check out the full list with details click here.

Any good PR blunders to share from the last year?

A good source for quick tips from the perspective of someone who’s being “pitched” all the time: ProPRTips.com by Rafe Needleman.

Tip: Don’t call him Raffi

A few of my favorites:

• The flag on your email says, “Urgent.” My brain says, “Meh.”

• 90 percent of the phone calls I get are people asking if I got the press release they e-mailed. Yes, I got it. Did I read it? Maybe. Do I care? You’d know already.

Oh, wait. Here’s something new and even more annoying: A phone call from a PR person telling me she will be e-mailing me a press release later. Argh! Just send it!

• If your demo tells the story in 10 minutes, don’t drag it out to 30. If your new feature can be described in a one-paragraph e-mail, don’t send two pages of fluff.

• More conference etiquette: Don’t pitch me in the press room. I’m there to write. And you’re not press.

• I really could not care less if you advertise in my publication. Or if, after I write up your company, you stop advertising.

Enjoy!

Thought I’d share our latest press release:

TodaysMama.com Survey Reveals 85 Percent of Moms Plan to Cut Holiday Spending Due to Economic Conditions

Moms indicate they have made cuts to their monthly budgets, and 62 percent will not shop on Black Friday

November 24, 2008–TodaysMama.com today announced the results of its 2008 Holiday Economic Survey, revealing that 85 percent of moms across the United States are trimming their holiday budgets due to concern about the long-term economic outlook. Of those, 14 percent plan to cut holiday spending by an astounding 75percent, and 32 percent will cut holiday spending by 50 percent. The survey, which included 1050 respondents, also found that 62 percent of moms do not plan to shop on Black Friday, and 66 percent believe it will take two to three years for the economy to recover.

“We’ve all read about the economic woes our country is facing, but we wanted to get the mom perspective,” said Rachael Herrscher, co-founder and CEO of TodaysMama.com. “Moms influence budgets and spending habits, and we find it very interesting that they believe the economy is in trouble for years to come. The situation is serious enough to cause them to trim overall family budgets and to drastically reduce holiday spending this year.”

Key findings of the TodaysMama.com 2008 Holiday Economic Survey include:

•  85 percent of Moms surveyed plan to curb their holiday spending this year.

• 14 percent  plan to cut holiday spending by an astonishing 75 percent, 33 percent will cut spending by 50 percent, 23 percent will cut spending by 25 percent, and 15 percent will cut spending by 10 percent.

• Only 9 percent of respondents said they would not be cutting spending at all this year.

• 63 percent of moms indicated they would not be shopping on Black Friday this year.

•   89 percent of survey respondents plan to do at least some of their holiday shopping online this year.

When asked how they would find the best holiday deals, 65 percent of respondents said they would use all of the tactics listed, which include shopping online, holding out for last-minute sales, taking advantage of early sales and offers, and paying close attention to ads and mailers.

• 47 percent of moms have made minor cuts to their current monthly budgets. Twenty-six percent have made major cuts, and 13 percent indicated they are in need of supplemental assistance.

• 45 percent of moms surveyed say their home has lost value due to the current economy.

• 23 percent of moms surveyed said they have returned to work either full- or part-time due to the economy.

• Another 7 percent said they have had to get a second job to make ends meet.

Regarding the effect the incoming administration will have on the economy, 37 percent of survey respondents said they are unsettled since Barack Obama was not their top pick. Twenty-nine percent believe Obama will make a real difference for the economy, and 28 percent believe any change is good.

66 percent of moms believe the economy will take two to three years to recover. Eighteen percent believe things will start to look up in a year, and 13 percent believe “we’re in for it” for the foreseeable future.

“Moms are spending less this year, and they are worried about our economic future,” said Herrscher. “TodaysMama aims to help families find free or inexpensive holiday events to take advantage of in their local communities. Despite a slowing economy, the holidays can be about fun activities, family time, and service.”

TodaysMama.com offers holiday articles, tips and tricks, local calendars, and activities in 18 national markets. To tune into national content, or to find your local TodaysMama.com market, visit www.TodaysMama.com. For complete survey results, email pr@todaysmama.com.