Introducing the world to ArtStarters.org

I’ve been working the past few weeks with my team on bringing a great new website into the world.  As November slips by, we get ever closer to our ‘Hello, World’ moment on ArtStarters.org.  The past two weeks have seen me trying to make some headway on building interest among people who can help us pull in beta users.

So what have I learned?

1. Remember to ask! – Don’t just send notes introducing people to your project.  Make sure you ASK for what you want.  I was surprised and excited to receive a note back from the Editor in Chief of a fairly major online arts magazine saying that she’d be happy to help us gain some visibility for our project.  Asking works!
2. Pull out all the stops.  If you’re a student, tell them you’re a student!  If you have no money for advertising, tell them what you CAN provide.
3. Don’t limit yourself to the traditional – I sought out Facebook Groups and sent notes to the administrators.  I’ve heard back from a few, which is a few more people than I’d have reached if I hadn’t done so.
4. Plan for a fraction.  If you don’t plan on hearing from everyone you reach out to, then you’re not as likely to fall short of your goal.
5. Just do it.  The old Nike slogan still has legs – we covered this point time and time again in our program and it seems so obvious, but it’s probably the hardest thing.  Even if you don’t feel ready, you have to start sometime.  I’m not saying don’t make any preparations, but don’t drag it out.  Prepare the minimum, then put your feet to the pavement, otherwise you’ll find reasons to continue to wait!

Also, I have to confess, I’m loving Twitter lists and Listorious right now.  I think Twitter lists are much more user friendly than Twitter directories like Twellow or WeFollow (though those are great, as well) and are perfect to get started with a new Twitter account.

That’s all for now, but I’ll certainly update again when ArtStarters.org is live encouraging you all to go sign-up and check it out!

Media relations put out to pasture?

Is it time, yet? Can we viably say that as traditional print publications start going the way of the dodo that media relations as the core competency of a public relations practitioner is on its way out, too?

One thing that still makes me upset and frustrated with former colleagues and clients is the inability to move beyond measuring the ‘value’ of a media hit. It’s tempting, I know, because it IS something you can clip and paste – you can make a book and see if it’s thicker than the year before. If it is, good work, you’ve still got a job! Less? Please explain.

Just as Brian Solis has been arguing now for years, it began as PUBLIC relations and to such shall it return. Day by day the PUBLIC are becoming the beacons of information, the central hub of sharing and knowledge. It’s true, we’ll always have to work hard to find the right members of the public, but we can’t rest on the bylines of newspapers and magazines anymore. We have to talk to people, eat our own dogfood, get engaged with the product and it’s consumers!

I’m not in social media because I love the bright shiny new toy. I’m entering social media because I think it’s eventually going to be the ONLY place for someone like me – someone who loves to communicate and build bridges between people in companies and people in streets.

All the (social media) are belong to us

Tonight was my first session of my first class as a graduate student in USC’s Annenberg Program on Online Communities.  As we went around the group (all 11 of us) for introductions, it was quickly apparent that while I’m not the only PR/marketing person in attendance, I might be the only one viewing things the way I am as the theme I heard was less about how to engage and more about how to monetize.

This leads me to a discussion of where I think that corporate involvement with online communities should be placed.  I know that everyone wants a piece of a pie that is decreasing quickly, so I likely won’t get my way, but in a perfect world, this is what I hope for:  building great sites should belong to the people with the vision, whomever they may be, but please leave corporate interaction in these communities to the PR people.

I’m not just saying this because I’m greedy (though to a small part that’s true); I’m saying this because PR has the basic skills for this sort of outreach.  We are story-tellers by trade, we are faced daily with the challenge of researching our clients and finding new things about what they do or what they sell that is interesting and inspiring to the rest of the world.  We are NOT just here to sell a product.  On a fantastic day, I might influence someone to buy a car; on a daily basis, however, I’m just trying to make sure that the people who want to know have the chance to know.  I’m not out to make a sale, I’m here to engage in conversation and that’s what social media are all about.

And just for a little back-up – a fantastic post by Social Media Club co-founder Jason Falls lays out his thoughts on why PR should be the keepers of the social media keys here.

From the mouths of the PR industry reps, a post on how damaging it could be for social media (and companies trying to engage responsibly) if the sales happy few managed to over-saturate the world with their tactics, rather than letting people who care to participate do it the right way.

**Update: January 14 – Todd Defren has written a post about PR people ‘getting it wrong’.  Lends itself well to the discussion here.

It’s not that everyone who talks about monetization is getting it wrong; I just think they’re too quick out of the gate on the corporate end.  Please, those of you BUILDING these communities, continue the good work of figuring out a profit model.  Those of us working in from the outside, however, still have a lot to figure out about joining the community rather than over-running it.

Welcome to my Memory…

Welcome to my brain!  I don’t know if you heard this story some time ago on NPR, but it was all about a type of memory called “Transactive Memory.”  According to Wikipedia -

Transactive memory is the process whereby people remember things in relationships and groups. Each person doesn’t need to remember everything the group needs to know, after all, if each person merely stores in memory information about who is likely to have a particular item in the future. (…)how larger groups and organizations come to develop a “group mind,” a memory system that is more complex and potentially more effective than that of any of the individuals that comprise it.

It turns out that we also remember less as individuals because of all of our tech tools, according to a study done by Prof. Ian Robertson of Trinity College Dublin.  (Read the Telegraph story here.)

So basically, what you’re reading is my attempt to remember, and also share, the wisdom I’ve gained (and hopefully will continue to gain) through my career.  Some things will seem inane, others will be pointed arguments on a certain topic, and on and on.  I hope to have a few friends contribute, too, and enrich us all.

Have fun, and please share!  My PR brain is never big enough.