Last Thursday, Facebook launched Facebook Newswire. In partnership with Storyful, a social media content verifier and aggregator, Facebook has entered the business of delivering news to its community. This service is designed to identify hot news topics and articles. It does this based on social media interaction through publicly shared content on Facebook that is then verified by Storyful. The service is also designed as a resource for journalists to help them identify newsworthy stories on which to report.

While not many small businesses generate stories that create enough interaction to be deemed newsworthy, this service does offer the possibility of brand exposure through strategically written blog articles and commentary on trending news. Keep in mind that a user who clicks on a “Trending topic” doesn’t just see one article pertaining to that topic; but rather an aggregation of articles. This opens up opportunities for clever brands to leverage industry-relevant topics that are already being shared and/or trending.

As the program is in its infancy, it’s too early to tell if it will impact public relations or content marketing as a whole. However, PRNewswire offered some tips on how PR professionals and brands can increase the chances of their content being included.

The primary advice that they give is; “if you want pickup on FB Newswire, social interactions are an outcome your PR content MUST generate.” To accomplish this, they suggest that you analyze the content that most resonates with your fans through scrutinizing your Facebook Insights and then creating content designed to interest your fans. PRNewswire adds that “Doing this will ensure the content you post on Facebook is more aligned with your fans’ interests, and increase the likelihood that they will start a cycle of sharing and interaction that will increase the message visibility and traction on social networks.”

They warn against the straight posting of press releases, although there is some opportunity for their exposure when related to a newsworthy article included in the FB Newswire. Public relations professionals and brands can leverage this by following these tips:

• Act fast! When creating unique content or commentary on industry-related events, the sooner you can produce and post it, the better the odds that your article will be included in FB Newswire.
• You don’t have to be writing the news. Many companies and brands aren’t in a position to break stories. You can, however, be on top of what’s going on and be ready to share articles with commentary from an industry point-of-view. Being first to market as far as content sharing is concerned is critical to engagement. Facebook users are more likely to interact with content that relays a news story for the first time, than they are by the time they’ve seen it multiple times.
• PR Newswire suggests the use of public relations techniques in crafting and posting your content including compelling headlines, bullet points and bold fonts, multiple visual images and embedded social sharing buttons.

The basics best practices of both public relations and content marketing obviously still stand. However, this opens up a whole new world of additional chances to gain exposure and position your company as experts in your industry. 

It’s been widely reported by social media experts that organic reach for Facebook pages has plummeted in the past 6 months; from as high as 15%, to the current 1-2%.  As a public company, Facebook has a need to appease its shareholders by monetizing its platform as much as possible. Facebook knows that there is a fine line between delivering relevant content that users want to see, and paid ads.

Many brands are obviously upset with these changes. One in particular has had enough. Last month, Eat24, a popular food site with 70,000 Facebook likes, wrote a public letter to Facebook. The letter accused Facebook of luring brands into using their platform, then slowly reducing these brand’s exposure to fans and making it a ‘pay-to-play’ model. Eat24 argued that their fans want to see their content. And that by withholding content, Facebook is forcing brands to pay for the additional reach. Eat24 then boldly said goodbye and stated that they would be shutting down their Facebook page.

In an unusual move, Facebook’s director of global communications/monetization, Brandon McCormick, went to Eat24’s Facebook page and chose to make a public statement as follows:

“Hey Eat24, this is Brandon over at Facebook. I was bummed to read your letter. The world is much more complicated than when we first met – it has changed. And we used to love your jokes about tacquitos (sp?) and 420 but now they don’t seem so funny. There is some serious stuff happening in the world and one of my best friends just had a baby and another one just took the best photo of his homemade cupcakes and what we have come to realize is people care about those things more than sushi porn (but if we are in the mood for it, we know where to find it Eat24!). So we are sorry that we have to part this way because we think we could still be friends – really we do. But we totally respect you if you need some space.” 

Seeing as the comments have since been deleted, chances are Facebook’s PR team went into red alert. Basically, Facebook’s director of global communications/monetization told a very active Facebook page with over 70,000 likes that their content is irrelevant. And also that their fans don’t really want to see it anyways. If this person really is in charge of monetization of the platform, as his title implies, you’d think that a tad more tact could have been used.

The sad thing is, this could be the general sentiment of Facebook’s view of what users chose to have delivered into their newsfeed. That theory is certainly supported by the reduction in page exposure to almost nil over the past 6 months. The companies this impacts the most are undoubtedly small, local businesses that may have minimal likes. Typically, those likes were built organically by actual customers and supports within their local community. As an example, a page with 500 fans is now reaching 5-10 fans per post. This detracts from the ability to communicate and engage with existing fans, and also decreases the opportunity to acquire new customers. Of course, there is a simple solution to this reduced reach – give Facebook your money.

Facebook is definitely a desirable place in which to interact with your customers and deliver your message through consistent and engaging content. While larger brands will no doubt continue utilizing Facebook’s platform and include paid ads in the mix, smaller businesses may begin to find it’s simply not worth the effort anymore.

That’s exactly what Eat24 did. It has deleted its Facebook page as promised. If you take Mr. McCormick’s response at face value, Facebook doesn’t care about companies and brands that won’t open up their wallets. And that’s certainly not a message that you want your customers to get. Maybe Mr. McCormick reached out to Eat24 personally. Neither party has said. Either way, Eat24 would have been the perfect conquest and prospect. All someone needed to do was put a salesperson’s hat one, but they chose not to. 

It’s been widely reported by social media experts that organic reach for Facebook pages has plummeted in the past 6 months; from as high as 15%, to the current 1-2%.  As a public company, Facebook has a need to appease its shareholders by monetizing its platform as much as possible. Facebook knows that there is a fine line between delivering relevant content that users want to see, and paid ads.

Many brands are obviously upset with these changes. One in particular has had enough. Last month, Eat24, a popular food site with 70,000 Facebook likes, wrote a public letter to Facebook. The letter accused Facebook of luring brands into using their platform, then slowly reducing these brand’s exposure to fans and making it a ‘pay-to-play’ model. Eat24 argued that their fans want to see their content. And that by withholding content, Facebook is forcing brands to pay for the additional reach. Eat24 then boldly said goodbye and stated that they would be shutting down their Facebook page.

In an unusual move, Facebook’s director of global communications/monetization, Brandon McCormick, went to Eat24’s Facebook page and chose to make a public statement as follows:

“Hey Eat24, this is Brandon over at Facebook. I was bummed to read your letter. The world is much more complicated than when we first met – it has changed. And we used to love your jokes about tacquitos (sp?) and 420 but now they don’t seem so funny. There is some serious stuff happening in the world and one of my best friends just had a baby and another one just took the best photo of his homemade cupcakes and what we have come to realize is people care about those things more than sushi porn (but if we are in the mood for it, we know where to find it Eat24!). So we are sorry that we have to part this way because we think we could still be friends – really we do. But we totally respect you if you need some space.” 

Seeing as the comments have since been deleted, chances are Facebook’s PR team went into red alert. Basically, Facebook’s director of global communications/monetization told a very active Facebook page with over 70,000 likes that their content is irrelevant. And also that their fans don’t really want to see it anyways. If this person really is in charge of monetization of the platform, as his title implies, you’d think that a tad more tact could have been used.

The sad thing is, this could be the general sentiment of Facebook’s view of what users chose to have delivered into their newsfeed. That theory is certainly supported by the reduction in page exposure to almost nil over the past 6 months. The companies this impacts the most are undoubtedly small, local businesses that may have minimal likes. Typically, those likes were built organically by actual customers and supports within their local community. As an example, a page with 500 fans is now reaching 5-10 fans per post. This detracts from the ability to communicate and engage with existing fans, and also decreases the opportunity to acquire new customers. Of course, there is a simple solution to this reduced reach – give Facebook your money.

Facebook is definitely a desirable place in which to interact with your customers and deliver your message through consistent and engaging content. While larger brands will no doubt continue utilizing Facebook’s platform and include paid ads in the mix, smaller businesses may begin to find it’s simply not worth the effort anymore.

That’s exactly what Eat24 did. It has deleted its Facebook page as promised. If you take Mr. McCormick’s response at face value, Facebook doesn’t care about companies and brands that won’t open up their wallets. And that’s certainly not a message that you want your customers to get. Maybe Mr. McCormick reached out to Eat24 personally. Neither party has said. Either way, Eat24 would have been the perfect conquest and prospect. All someone needed to do was put a salesperson’s hat one, but they chose not to. 

Unless you’ve been living in a box for the past couple weeks, you’d undoubtedly heard about the now infamous selfie taken by Ellen DeGeneres during the 2014 Academy Awards. Ellen DeGeneres, who hosted the show, took a moment to compose a selfie in the audience with the likes of Jennifer Lawrence, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Bradley Cooper, Kevin Spacey, Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie, amongst others. She then proceeded to ask viewers to retweet it. The results were astounding.

The tweet, taken March 2, has since been retweeted almost 3.5 million times with almost 2 million favorites. It shattered the record for retweets of 780,000 times, which was previously held by President Barak Obama when he tweeted a photo of himself and his wife embracing after being re-elected.

While those numbers are certainly impressive, the bigger story is exactly what that means in terms of exposure. Twitter posted a blog article 3 days after the show detailing the anatomy of a tweet. On March 5, when the article was written, the tweet had only received 2.4 million retweets. That tweet was embedded 13,711 times into websites. Blog and news articles were written about it and 8.1 million people saw the actual tweet itself. In terms of social reach, as of March 5, that single tweet had been viewed a total of 32.8 million times. It has now been retweeted 3.4 million times which, using some simple math, would increase that reach to a whopping 46.4 million times. To put that into perspective, according to the Washington Post, only 43 million people actually watched the Oscars. You must also keep in mind that this social reach only accounts for social reach on Twitter. Who knows how much larger this figure would be when you factor in shares across other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, etc. My guess is that the actual figures are staggering and easily in the hundred of millions.

There were three big winners that night. First, and foremost, Ellen DeGeneres and her show (which is the Twitter account under which she tweeted the selfie) made out like bandits. Second was Samsung. Samsung, a sponsor of the Oscars, denies that Ellen’s use of the Samsung Galaxy S5 was part of their sponsorship agreement. In their statement reported by CNBC, Samsung said, “While we were a sponsor of the Oscars and had an integration with ABC, we were delighted to see Ellen organically incorporate the device into the selfie moment that had everyone talking.” They were so happy, in fact, that they decided to donate $3 million to St. Jude’s and the Humane Society; both of which are supported by DeGeneres. However, due to the fact that, according to CBS News, Ellen was tweeting the whole night from her Apple iPhone, there are some conspiracy theorists who don’t quite believe that her use of the Samsung phone was organic. The final winner was Twitter itself. In a time when they are seeking to monetize their platform through Promoted Accounts and Tweets, there is no better example of the potential for exposure that their platform presents to business.

While most businesses won’t be able to take a selfie as glamorous, or tweet it from an account with so many followers, this most certainly should prove to businesses that social media should have a place in their marketing and public relations strategies. My guess is that record will stand for quite a long time. 

Unless you’ve been living in a box for the past couple weeks, you’d undoubtedly heard about the now infamous selfie taken by Ellen DeGeneres during the 2014 Academy Awards. Ellen DeGeneres, who hosted the show, took a moment to compose a selfie in the audience with the likes of Jennifer Lawrence, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Bradley Cooper, Kevin Spacey, Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie, amongst others. She then proceeded to ask viewers to retweet it. The results were astounding.

The tweet, taken March 2, has since been retweeted almost 3.5 million times with almost 2 million favorites. It shattered the record for retweets of 780,000 times, which was previously held by President Barak Obama when he tweeted a photo of himself and his wife embracing after being re-elected.

While those numbers are certainly impressive, the bigger story is exactly what that means in terms of exposure. Twitter posted a blog article 3 days after the show detailing the anatomy of a tweet. On March 5, when the article was written, the tweet had only received 2.4 million retweets. That tweet was embedded 13,711 times into websites. Blog and news articles were written about it and 8.1 million people saw the actual tweet itself. In terms of social reach, as of March 5, that single tweet had been viewed a total of 32.8 million times. It has now been retweeted 3.4 million times which, using some simple math, would increase that reach to a whopping 46.4 million times. To put that into perspective, according to the Washington Post, only 43 million people actually watched the Oscars. You must also keep in mind that this social reach only accounts for social reach on Twitter. Who knows how much larger this figure would be when you factor in shares across other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, etc. My guess is that the actual figures are staggering and easily in the hundred of millions.

There were three big winners that night. First, and foremost, Ellen DeGeneres and her show (which is the Twitter account under which she tweeted the selfie) made out like bandits. Second was Samsung. Samsung, a sponsor of the Oscars, denies that Ellen’s use of the Samsung Galaxy S5 was part of their sponsorship agreement. In their statement reported by CNBC, Samsung said, “While we were a sponsor of the Oscars and had an integration with ABC, we were delighted to see Ellen organically incorporate the device into the selfie moment that had everyone talking.” They were so happy, in fact, that they decided to donate $3 million to St. Jude’s and the Humane Society; both of which are supported by DeGeneres. However, due to the fact that, according to CBS News, Ellen was tweeting the whole night from her Apple iPhone, there are some conspiracy theorists who don’t quite believe that her use of the Samsung phone was organic. The final winner was Twitter itself. In a time when they are seeking to monetize their platform through Promoted Accounts and Tweets, there is no better example of the potential for exposure that their platform presents to business.

While most businesses won’t be able to take a selfie as glamorous, or tweet it from an account with so many followers, this most certainly should prove to businesses that social media should have a place in their marketing and public relations strategies. My guess is that record will stand for quite a long time. 

The growing importance of content marketing is clear; small businesses that post unique and relevant blogs, videos, press releases and social media on the Internet can gain significant competitive advantage in their industries. Increased web visibility, more visitors to websites, improved SEO rankings and brand recognition as a thought leader are just some of the benefits realized from effective content marketing campaigns.

As a public relations professional, I know the value of compelling content that's designed to work in tandem with targeted marketing campaigns. I also know the effort it takes to develop such content; it takes planning, creativity, discipline, focus and time to produce a continual stream of content that captures customers' attention, draws them to your website and keeps them engaged.

So when I run across content filled with typos and grammar mistakes, I absolutely cringe. Why spend an hour (or two, or three) writing a blog and then not even bother to run it through spellcheck, or have a colleague review it for errors?

Content that contains errors ruins the writer's credibility. Case in point: in his latest blog Duane Forrester, Sr. Product Manager for Bing, went on record to praise and recognize the value of good content, but also to warn of the perils of typos and grammar mistakes. "It's patently obvious… when you encounter a typo, or a sentence just doesn’t read correctly… Most times we simple scan past it and keep reading, but in some cases, it’s a show stopper."

Notice the error? In the last sentence the word "simple" should be "simply." Earlier in the article, Forrester conceded that many companies that produce content have a form of editorial process, but even so, spelling and grammar errors manage to slip past. Apparently that includes even his organization.

But credibility is just one reason to ensure that your company's content deserves more than a cursory review. What was worth noting in Forrester's article was a tidbit he shared about search engine algorithms.  Now your customers are not the only ones who will notice typos; the search engines are paying attention too.

Forrester explains that Bing's algorithms are designed to rank content with errors lower than that of content without errors. "Just as you’re judging others’ writing, so the engines judge yours. If you struggle to get past typos, why would an engine show a page of content with errors higher in the rankings when other pages of error free content exist to serve the searcher,” he says.  “Like it or not, we’re judged by the quality of the results we show. So we are constantly watching the quality of the content we see.”

If your company is making the effort to produce content, establishing a fail proof editorial review process is critical. We are all human and all make mistakes. Even on our best days, a misspelled word can slip through our fingers and be missed by tired eyes. Use spellcheck, double-check your grammar and have a trusted colleague review everything you write. If you've just spent hours writing a blog or press release, take a break so you can view it with fresh eyes and a rested brain before posting. Doesn't your best effort deserve a chance to shine?

The growing importance of content marketing is clear; small businesses that post unique and relevant blogs, videos, press releases and social media on the Internet can gain significant competitive advantage in their industries. Increased web visibility, more visitors to websites, improved SEO rankings and brand recognition as a thought leader are just some of the benefits realized from effective content marketing campaigns.

As a public relations professional, I know the value of compelling content that's designed to work in tandem with targeted marketing campaigns. I also know the effort it takes to develop such content; it takes planning, creativity, discipline, focus and time to produce a continual stream of content that captures customers' attention, draws them to your website and keeps them engaged.

So when I run across content filled with typos and grammar mistakes, I absolutely cringe. Why spend an hour (or two, or three) writing a blog and then not even bother to run it through spellcheck, or have a colleague review it for errors?

Content that contains errors ruins the writer's credibility. Case in point: in his latest blog Duane Forrester, Sr. Product Manager for Bing, went on record to praise and recognize the value of good content, but also to warn of the perils of typos and grammar mistakes. "It's patently obvious… when you encounter a typo, or a sentence just doesn’t read correctly… Most times we simple scan past it and keep reading, but in some cases, it’s a show stopper."

Notice the error? In the last sentence the word "simple" should be "simply." Earlier in the article, Forrester conceded that many companies that produce content have a form of editorial process, but even so, spelling and grammar errors manage to slip past. Apparently that includes even his organization.

But credibility is just one reason to ensure that your company's content deserves more than a cursory review. What was worth noting in Forrester's article was a tidbit he shared about search engine algorithms.  Now your customers are not the only ones who will notice typos; the search engines are paying attention too.

Forrester explains that Bing's algorithms are designed to rank content with errors lower than that of content without errors. "Just as you’re judging others’ writing, so the engines judge yours. If you struggle to get past typos, why would an engine show a page of content with errors higher in the rankings when other pages of error free content exist to serve the searcher,” he says.  “Like it or not, we’re judged by the quality of the results we show. So we are constantly watching the quality of the content we see.”

If your company is making the effort to produce content, establishing a fail proof editorial review process is critical. We are all human and all make mistakes. Even on our best days, a misspelled word can slip through our fingers and be missed by tired eyes. Use spellcheck, double-check your grammar and have a trusted colleague review everything you write. If you've just spent hours writing a blog or press release, take a break so you can view it with fresh eyes and a rested brain before posting. Doesn't your best effort deserve a chance to shine?

Content marketing and exposure are becoming increasingly important in digital marketing and today’s race for eyeballs. In the automotive space, there are many companies that do great jobs marketing and optimizing exposure for dealerships through websites, search engine optimization, social media marketing, pay per click ads, newsletters and more. While these companies do an effective job for their clients, many neglect to market themselves in the dealer space, despite knowing how important it is.

Most vendors have public relations professionals – whether in-house or through an agency – handling press releases, media exposure, product launches and messaging. However, one of the most underutilized services that many PR professionals offer today is assistance in generating exposure through content marketing. The transference of content marketing towards public relations has been occurring for quite some time now. It’s a natural marriage as who better understands your message, products, and audience than your public relations firm? It’s not enough anymore to simply issue press releases. Companies must position themselves as thought leaders in their industry through well-written content targeted to their audiences.

This helps to ensure an integrated and cohesive online personality for your company across all channels, offers brand protection and guarantees delivery of a positive message. Just like social media, a great content marketing initiative involves not only creating helpful articles, but also joining conversations and establishing yourself in the online community in which the content is being published. Having employees and staff write content is a great start, but I think it would be even better to see more key executives of companies sharing the many years of wisdom in their fields directly with their audiences.

Vendors have a wealth of knowledge to offer car dealers and dealers appreciate the sharing of that knowledge. Interaction between a key executive and a dealer is much more powerful than the simple act of creating content. We all know that this industry is built on relationships. With so many vendors seeking to gain a dealer’s attention, it’s very difficult to do so directly. However, integrating yourself into an automotive community and helping dealers overcome challenges that they may be having is one way to connect with dealers without continually trying to be heard over all the solicitous noise overwhelming dealers.

Consider contacting your public relations firm when designing or implementing a content marketing strategy. Our job is to help your company rise above that noise and gain the exposure you seek. By involving your public relations firm in your content marketing, you can better safeguard your brand while maintaining a consistent positive message being delivered to your audience. 

Content marketing and exposure are becoming increasingly important in digital marketing and today’s race for eyeballs. In the automotive space, there are many companies that do great jobs marketing and optimizing exposure for dealerships through websites, search engine optimization, social media marketing, pay per click ads, newsletters and more. While these companies do an effective job for their clients, many neglect to market themselves in the dealer space, despite knowing how important it is.

Most vendors have public relations professionals – whether in-house or through an agency – handling press releases, media exposure, product launches and messaging. However, one of the most underutilized services that many PR professionals offer today is assistance in generating exposure through content marketing. The transference of content marketing towards public relations has been occurring for quite some time now. It’s a natural marriage as who better understands your message, products, and audience than your public relations firm? It’s not enough anymore to simply issue press releases. Companies must position themselves as thought leaders in their industry through well-written content targeted to their audiences.

This helps to ensure an integrated and cohesive online personality for your company across all channels, offers brand protection and guarantees delivery of a positive message. Just like social media, a great content marketing initiative involves not only creating helpful articles, but also joining conversations and establishing yourself in the online community in which the content is being published. Having employees and staff write content is a great start, but I think it would be even better to see more key executives of companies sharing the many years of wisdom in their fields directly with their audiences.

Vendors have a wealth of knowledge to offer car dealers and dealers appreciate the sharing of that knowledge. Interaction between a key executive and a dealer is much more powerful than the simple act of creating content. We all know that this industry is built on relationships. With so many vendors seeking to gain a dealer’s attention, it’s very difficult to do so directly. However, integrating yourself into an automotive community and helping dealers overcome challenges that they may be having is one way to connect with dealers without continually trying to be heard over all the solicitous noise overwhelming dealers.

Consider contacting your public relations firm when designing or implementing a content marketing strategy. Our job is to help your company rise above that noise and gain the exposure you seek. By involving your public relations firm in your content marketing, you can better safeguard your brand while maintaining a consistent positive message being delivered to your audience. 

Target’s massive data breach, which caused an estimated 40 million credit and debit cards to be compromised during the holiday period, will end up costing them more than just headaches. Target first became aware of the breach a week prior to announcing the breach to the public. This slow response time imperiled consumers.

I was personally affected by this breach in that I patronize a store that is located next to a Target. It is therefore extremely convenient for me to run into Target and pick up any household items I may need. Needless to say, I was among the 40 million potential victims of the hackers who may, or may not, have had personal information exposed. What was interesting to watch, however, was how differently companies reacted to this breach.

Target was extremely slow in announcing this breach. A week is a long time for hackers to take this data, create new cards and go on a holiday shopping spree. They’ve admitted that the hackers were able to gain access to actual PIN numbers for debit card information during the breach that is estimated to have lasted from November 27 (Black Friday) until December 15. The Department of Justice has opened an investigation as well. Many consumers are upset that Target took its time revealing the breach. As of December 27, there were at least 40 lawsuits filed by consumers.

In my opinion, Target’s management of the crisis was poorly handled. Other than creating a website explaining what people can do and offering some free credit reporting services, they have been underwhelming in their efforts to assist consumer security. They did, however, create a “shopping day” in which all Target customers received a 10% discount. Certainly someone who just had their credit card information stolen from a retailer would think twice about shopping at that same retailer, even with the 10% discount.

In contrast, however, my credit card company Chase, was quick to respond in efforts to protect and educate me. They offered extended hours and had their branches open on Sunday to help immediately replace cards and to further assist those affected. They informed me of the breach and automatically reduced daily spending and cash withdrawal limits in efforts to minimize potential damage hat could occur.  While this was certainly inconvenient, it was proactive and reinforced my trust, and opinion, of Chase. 

Target’s data breach is considered to be the second largest data breach in U.S. history, according to CBS News. The negative publicity and opinion this retailer has earned will undoubtedly haunt them for years to come. Their handling of the situation – from discovering, to disclosure, to assistance – was certainly insufficient when the scope of the incident is considered. I know that they have lost the trust of many consumers.

Now, to add icing on the cake, Target is reporting problems activating gift cards that were sold during this time period.

Target is going to have a steep hill to climb to regain consumer confidence and trust. Transparency and taking responsibility are extremely important in crisis management… and Target failed in both areas.