Tag Archives: Tom Foremski

Persuasive Picks For Week Of 8/5/13

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google_prGoogle updated its webmaster guidelines that target core PR practices around press releases. Silicon Valley journalist blogger and ZDNET contributor Tom Foremski weighs in on the negative impact this will have for the press release. Check out his take Did Google just kill PR agencies? to find out more on the updated rules on links and keywords in press releases and how they may affect your future release plans.

Facebook Changes News Feed To Bump Up More Relevant Content - Called “Story Bumping,” the changes move up older stories to the top of a user’s News Feed if they missed them during a previous visit to Facebook. Forbes writer Tomio Geron clarifies the changes and shares some initial reactions and results.

29_29NOV_010.jpgAll marketing practitioners are seeking ways to save money and get a bigger bang for their budget buck. How to do that isn’t at all obvious. MarketingProfs‘ Ardi Kolah explains that sometimes the answer can be staring you in the face and offers 10 Ways to Stretch Your Marketing Budget

Social has become a critical component of the overall digital advertising market. As Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others have emerged as social network leaders, they have created powerful new ways for advertising to reach consumers. In fact, some $11 billion will be taken in advertising revenue in social media in the year 2017 - that’s according to this incredible infographic that looks at the rise and rise of ad sales on social sites. A Brief History of Social Advertising via The Next Web.

Does Motivation Matter?

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As an entrepreneur and business owner, one has to keep a certain level of motivation in order to keep the business moving forward. Even during the worst of times - say a recession - and the best of times, an underlying, sincere motivation must exist for long lasting success. You must also learn how to keep others motivated, even when it’s the last feeling you have personally.

Motivation has been on my mind a lot lately for both personal and professional reasons. Why do people stay or leave a company, why do some return after they’ve left, what are the motivating factors for work other than for a paycheck? What is it that drives relationship success? What is the motivation for someone to change when something isn’t going well? There are a myriad of answers that could fit - but only you know the truth behind your own motivation.

Tying into this topic, yesterday, Michael Arrington of Techcrunch disclosed that he has invested in some of the startups that he (or his staff) writes about on his world-famous blog. Arrington’s claim is that he has always provided full disclosure, but that he wanted to reiterate his stance because “the policy has changed,” he has begun actively investing again and that in the past, the accusations of conflicts of interest by TechCrunch competitors became distracting. Seems sensible - he’s being up front and disclosing his interests. Others have questioned his motivation - citing potential damage to the blog and its staff, and claiming a “clear financial gain in this policy” - but admit that “Arrington won’t find much public criticism in the Silicon Valley community because he has a thin skin and he keeps a list.”

So what is the true motivation behind Michael Arrington’s disclosure? Does it matter? How much does someone’s motivation matter to you if the outcome is right? Does a company’s motivation (getting you to spend money) to treat you well make you wary, even if your experience is positive and you willingly spend? Does an employee’s motivation to work harder, better, stronger - right around review time - matter, or are you just happy they are delivering results? Does the motivation behind a friend’s change in behavior matter to you if they are now treating you better than ever (say you caught and confronted their bad behavior and that’s why they’ve changed)?

Do you analyze motivation enough - of your employees, your partners, your customers? Understanding motivation - as much as we can - can help us to be better business owners, friends, leaders and partners. How much does motivation matter to you?

 

Persuasive Picks for the week of 01/11/10

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CokeCoke drops campaign sites in favor of social media
Will Cooper from NewMediaAge explains Coca-Cola’s shift away from creating campaign-based micro-sites to utilizing social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube, in an effort to place their brand where people are - rather than trying to drive people back to their own sites.

 

Social Media Success Means Learning to Let Go
Sean Donahue from MarketingSherpa reminds traditional marketers that when engaging in the social media space, “You have to be comfortable with the idea that you’re no longer in control of the conversation.”

The Killer Pitch? - When PR Agencies Can Do This - Look Out . . .
This post from SiliconValleyWatcher‘s Tom Foremski suggests one way PR agencies might be able to craft the perfect pitch – and mentions our Founder, Christine Perkett. What do you think?

Helping Social Media Mature in 2010
HighTalk blogger George F. Snell III provides three reasons why businesses still aren’t engaging on the social web, along with three ways to change their ways of thinking.

IT must integrate social media tools into business architecture
ComputerWorldUK’s Anh Nguyen advises enterprise organizations to work more closely with IT Management in order to enter the social media space more smoothly.

Tom Foremski Takes a Closer Look at the Changing PR Industry

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A while ago we wrote a post asking readers what they thought the PR industry could be doing better. I’ll be honest, I was a little dissapointed with the return - only a few readers commented. So I’m hoping now that Tom Foremski - veteran business journalist, author of Silicon Valley Watcher and host of Fridays with Foremski - is asking, more business, tech and marketing industry executives will pay attention and speak up.

Tom regularly writes on business, technology and media - including many posts about what the PR industry is doing - both right and wrong. One of his most recent PR musings, “The New Rules in PR - The Old Model is Dead,” reflects on how “the PR industry has run out of road.” This particular post caught my eye because he talks about social media - “there is no such thing as social media” - and what PR agencies are seeing change as a result.

Tom is turning this post into a series over the next couple of weeks, where he’ll taking a closer look at these changes. He says “I’m particularly interested in the extent of ‘social media’ expertise among the PR agencies. I’ll be looking to see who in the agencies is active in blogging, Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube, etc. Is it the senior people or is it junior staff? How often do they update, how much traffic do they get? What’s the quality of their content?”

So please, clients, prospects, partners, readers, industry colleagues - speak up. Let Tom know your opinion and thoughts on the changing PR industry and whether you think these types of activities are important. Are PR firms delivering good content? Do they understand how and where to promote it?  What do you expect from your agency these days? What’s going well, what’s missing? What keeps you up at night when you think about your own PR campaigns?

I’m sure he’d be happy to hear from you - and smart agencies will heed his findings. I know I’ll be paying close attention.