Category Archives: Tips

Facebook 101: Simple Facebook Tips for the Beginner Admin

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When submerged in a deep sea of social media, it’s easy to forget that while we’re concerned with engagement analytics and custom apps, the majority of brand page admins still need the nuts and bolts of its capabilities outlined.

It’s important to recap features for our social media 101 students, and it never hurts the “experts” to receive a refresher.

Here are a handful of amenities any Facebook page can implement to maximize its reach, engagement, and overall effectiveness:

  • Pinning and highlighting: Facebook’s Timeline layout isn’t always the most practical for delivering essential call-to-action’s to your audience. Instead of posting to “watch your CEO on the news” or “check out our booth this weekend” multiple times at the risk of decreasing your content’s value, consider using the “Pin to Top” feature that will keep a specific post first in line on your page. Go a step further and “Highlight” the post to stretch across the entire page. These capabilities allow page managers to capitalize on the focal point of a page.

 

  • Rearranging: For the OCD-freak  in us all, two options are key to keep your page looking spiffy. You can reposition photos once they are posted to the Timeline. You know, in case they are crooked (that’s social media humor!).

If you’re a power organizer and want to draw attention to a new app, your events, or number of ‘likes’, you can also rearrange your favorites boxes (they’re underneath the cover photo). Clicking the “down” button to the right will give you the option to rearrange or add boxes. NOTE: The photos box stays in place. But I think that’s a good thing.

 

 

  • Turn it off!: Pages come standard with features that many consider a nuisance. As mangers, we know the benefit but also the major downfall (pain is more like it) of allowing a page to receive messages. To do this, go to “Edit Page” (that’s on your admin panel). Select “Update Info” then “Manage Permissions” and you’ll see the “Messages” option. Simply un-check the box next to the brand to disable the function.

 

There’s more! You can also remove the box that publicly displays “Recent Posts by Others” to your wall. You’ll go to through the same process as described above, but look for “Post Visibility” to remove the feature. This is a great option to clear clutter, but if it’s a page for a product, we recommend keeping them up so potential customers can easily see positive feedback on your products, customer service, etc.

  •  Polls: Don’t make a SurveyMonkey for a quick crowdsource! Use the “Questions” option in the Status Update box (click Offer, Event+ to find it). This is a great way to get feedback, but because it posts to individuals activity feeds when they answer, it can also help garner more fans. Mo’ fans, Mo’ betta. Right?!

 

 

Facebook gives you a plethora of options to utilize your page, but many of them are either buried in the admin platform or easily forgotten.  Hopefully this “refresher” gives you some built-in (that means FREE) tricks that will allow you to utilize the space and content of your page to best target your audience and accomplish your goals.

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Just Say Thank You

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We call them. Send emails. Then follow up emails. Subsequently we write requesting clips or hard-copies of the coverage they’ve kindly bestowed upon us. But the one email (or better yet handwritten note), we as PR pros should get in the habit of sending to reporters is a simple thank-you.

It all boils down to the Golden Rule, “treat others as you’d like to be treated.” Don’t you appreciate when reporters compliment your story idea? Don’t lie, you do.

John Seelmeyer, editor of the Northern Nevada Business Weekly, said that times have not changed as far as common courtesy goes. “My mother taught me that the magic words are ‘please’ and ‘thank-you’ and I think they carry as much magic today as they did when I was an ill-mannered 8 year-old at the kitchen table,” Seelmeyer said. “We all are people in this business, and basic human decency is very valuable.”

In the PR world, having a sense of urgency is like breathing; often times we feel compelled to send a thank you note accompanied by a pitch. While this is fine, it is not necessary. You have their email, you’ve just successfully worked together on a story, and chances are they will respond to you again if you were to pitch them.

Be a gracious loser, if a reporter responds with a “no” (and inevitably they will) thank them before moving on to the next. They’ve taken the time to respond to you and graciously decline, show them the same courtesy.

Many reporters have monetary parameters they must abide by regarding gifts. Some must stay within a $25 limit, others have no bounds. Journalism ethics classes have debated for years if gifts sway reporters to be more inclined to cover a story.

Truthfully, it depends on the reporter; some can be bought for a bottle of wine others wouldn’t dare go near that corked bribe.  So how do we, as PR pros, stay on the ethical side of things?

Here are some gratitude guidelines for PR pros to follow:

  1. Only give gifts to say thank you, and mean it. If you are giving something with hopes of something in return…put it back on the shelf.
  2. Separate your P’s and thank-Q’s. Pitches are pitches and thank-you’s are thank-you’s, try not to combine the two.
  3. Know if their newspaper has monetary limits and respect them.
  4. Dust off those stamps and your stationary and write a personal thank-you note.
  5. Get in the habit of saying thank-you regardless if they’ve done the story.
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The Purse Chronicles: Second Installment

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Welcome to the second installment of The Purse Chronicles! This month we are taking you into the world of Bridget Veltri’s Grey Marc Jacobs “ritzy hobo” satchel. There is no way Bridget could fit her full life in one purse, but she somehow makes do with this roomy chic number. The contents of this purse vary from lady-like (you never know what event might happen after work) to business-like (the random items that get this gal through a work day). You will see that Bridget’s purse is well prepared to get her through any obstacles a day may present.

Benefit Make Up Bag: Because sometimes a little lipstick and gloss make you pitch better.

Floss and Wisps: White teeth = successful meet and greets.

Engraved business card holder:  A college graduation gift.

E-Mergen-C and Ziacam: No time to get sick.

Apple: Hey, a girl’s gotta eat.

Lint roller: Two dogs at home, things can get a little hairy.

iPhone: Everyone has their lifeline.

Q-tips: The better to hear reporters calling.

Car Keys: I’ve had one of these key chains since high school.

Purple Wallet: I’ve always had bright purple or pink wallets.

Green quilted carry case: My aunt made it; it holds my checks (yes I still write checks).

 

 

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Gratitude with Attitude: Things to be thankful for in PR

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November is a reminder to me to give thanks, and I have so much to be thankful for.  Personally and professionally.  Since this is a work blog, I will (obviously) focus my thanks on the professional. The smallest action can make a cloudy day bright, so no action goes unnoticed! In no particular order, here are some of the things that I’m grateful for in the PR world.

  1. When reporters use me as a source, and contact ME for news. (I always have something for them, of course).
  2. When the stars align, and I found the perfect spot for a client in a publication!
  3. (Being paid to) talk on the phone, attend events and read magazines.
  4. When the anchor reads a line straight out of the pitch you wrote. Kudos to cleverness.
  5. Getting to write reporters a thank-you note for a placement. I love showing appreciation (I also love that they wrote about my client).
  6. Because we deal with a variety of clients, we have the opportunity to know a little about a lot of different things.
  7. Getting to watch my clients’ businesses grow as a result of media attention.  I love when clients report back to me saying that someone came and mentioned that they read about them in the paper.
  8. Reporters that write/ call me back (resulting in a seated happy dance at my desk). This includes callbacks that turn down a story…hey, that can lead to a discovery call.
  9. That I get to work “with” my colleagues, not against them (no mean girls here).
  10. The fact that no day, good or bad, is ever the same.

Old Dogs Learning New Tricks

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By Junior Account Executive Bridget Veltri

The days of sending Fido, the family dog, out to fetch the newspaper in the morning may be numbered but newspapers are not dead…just adapting. Continue reading →