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Greetings!
 I hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend! Our thoughts go out to those who are
protecting our freedom, and to those who have served our country in years past
so that we can enjoy this great American way of life that we sometimes take for
granted. This is such a wonderful time of year. The weather is
beautiful and everyone is looking
forward with excitement to the upcoming summer months. At the Marshall household, we are preparing
for our oldest son Craig's high school graduation on June 5th with bittersweet feelings about how time has
flown since he was born nearly 18 years ago. Our younger son Jamie put up a
badminton net in the back yard and we've been spending time out there while
watching the tulips bloom in the garden. We've built an outdoor campfire pit and we
have been enjoying making s'mores and talking around the campfire at night. This is something that makes me really very happy.  The other evening, a moose walked right through our dooryard.
I was able to grab the camera and get this shot to share with you from our
front step. Luckily our yellow lab was
in the house and did not chase the moose....or get chased by him. Last week, Ross Lasley and I presented a seminar on Social
Media to the members of the Maine Public Relations Council. I have devoted this
issue of The NMC Report to sharing some of the points from our presentation
with you. I would like to thank my friends at the Caliber Group in Tucson, Arizona
for helping me with much of the information in this presentation and article
below. Caliber owners Linda Cohen and Kerry Stratford are great friends and
respected peers in the business of public relations and social media
marketing! Best,  www.marshallpr.com |
 Social
Media: How to apply the latest and greatest social networks
to your PR program
and how to measure the impact! (Part 1)
Social media is part of an overall integrated strategic PR
Program. Many people would argue as to exactly what constitutes social media,
but most think of it broadly in terms of any kind of online interaction, even
e-mail and e-newsletters.
The Big Four
The Big Four social networks are Facebook, MySpace, Twitter
and LinkedIn, although there are many other new communities, games, forums,
apps, blogs, micro-blogs and media sharing programs being developed every day.
They are allowing us to communicate directly with highly targeted audiences. Social
networks build online communities who share interests or want to explore
others' interests. Members create their own online "Profile" with
biographical data, pictures, likes, dislikes and other information. Introduced
in 2002, Friendster was the first social site, followed by MySpace a year
later. Social media is evolving every day. It is likely that within five years
the "Big Four" will be replaced by other big networks of some kind or
other.
Social versus
Traditional Media
Traditional media "pushes" information to its
audience on a delayed schedule. The producer of the information or content has
a one way relationship with the consumer of the content. With social media,
there is a "push and pull" of information and instant updates back
and forth with the producer of the content and back and forth with other
consumers of the content. Relationships have opened up in many ways so
information is flowing freely online.
Why Go Social? There
are so many reasons...
Social media helps build relationships with your targeted
audiences including members of the media. It used to be that when we wanted to
improve our media relationships we would 'do lunch,' or make a phone call.
Today we can stay in touch on a day-to-day basis with our media friends through
networks like Facebook where we can see what they are doing personally and
professionally and get to know them better as a person, which helps strengthen
our relationships.
Another reason to go social is to build a "cult"
or your "tribe" around your brand. In his book, "The Culting of
Brands: When Customers Become True Believers," Douglas Atkin talks about
building the strength of your brand by building a community of believers
through online and in-person relationships and gatherings. Seth Godin calls
this community of "believers" a tribe, and wrote about it in his book
called "Tribes."
One of the big reasons to 'go social' is to distribute
content. In the session with the Maine Public Relations Council, I talked about
how PR people are usually great at producing content, and since content is King
on the internet, we as PR professionals are now the kings and queens of content
creation! This expertise moves us up in the overall marketing food chain
significantly.
There are many, many other reasons to get engaged in social
media, too many to enumerate here and now. One of the members of our audience
brought up the fact that social media allows us to monitor what's being said
online about our brand. That is obviously a very important function of the PR role
in any organization: to monitor and engage with those who are talking about our
organizations online.
In our next issue we will discuss 'how to go social,'
as well as damage control and some final thoughts on social media. As
always, we welcome your comments and thoughts!
Ross Lasley and I plan to present more seminars
and workshops on this subject so please watch for future issues of "The NMC Report" for more information
on dates and locations.
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The Maine Children's
Home for Little Wanderers to be Featured on Time Warner Cable's Maine Street
In
May, our client, The Maine Children's Home for Little Wanderers, announced the
Council on Accreditation (COA) has granted the agency's application for Full
Hague Accreditation. Hague Accreditation attests that the Maine Children's Home
for Little Wanderers is in substantial compliance with the Hague Convention
accreditation standards. Adoption agencies that achieve Hague Accreditation
meet the requirements put forth by the U.S. government. U.S. agencies
conducting international adoption in Hague countries need to either become
accredited, cease adoptions or work through another agency. Pictured (left to right): Caroline Hutchinson, Social Worker/Trainer Consultant at the Maine Children's Home for Little Wanderers talks with Trudy DeBlois, TWC station manager in preparation for her interview on Time Warner Cable's Maine Street.  | Recently,
Mike Edgecomb, host of Maine Street on Time Warner Cable, interviewed Caroline
Hutchinson, Social Worker/Trainer Consultant at the Maine Children's Home about what the accreditation means for the agency. As part of
the interview, he also asked Caroline about the current "Walk for Camp" fundraising program and the agency's brand new website. The
interview will air on Time Warner Cable on Thursday,
June 3, at 7:30 p.m. Time Warner Cable TV is available on Channels 9 or
12 throughout most of Maine and Channel 21 in portions of New Hampshire. Pictured (left to right): Lindsay Bragdon, social worker and Caroline Hutchinson, social worker/trainer consultant from the Maine Children's Home for Little Wanderers in studio with Mike Edgecomb, host of Maine Street, Trudy DeBlois, station manager, and Bob Gilbert, producer from TWC-TV.  | The
Maine Children's Home, a full Hague-accredited adoption program, provides
assistance to families hoping to adopt internationally or domestically. The
Maine Children's Home, founded in 1899, gives children and Maine families hope
for the future and a chance at a better life. In addition to the adoption
program, the agency offers outpatient counseling, the Teen Parent School
Program, The Children's Place early care and education center, a summer camp
scholarship program, and a Christmas Program that provides clothing and toys to
underprivileged Maine children. To learn more, visit www.mainechildrenshome.org. Maine Street is part of Time Warner Cable's TV
newsmagazine programs. The locally produced television show is hosted by Mike
Edgecomb and features stories and people around the state of Maine. |
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