The Importance of Strategic Content
Public relations is now about creating news (content) and distributing it through multiple channels – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, etc. This is a great slide show on the importance of “strategic” content.
Dell Pioneers Social Media IR
Public companies continue to explore new ways to use social media for disclosure. Dell is a pioneer and leader in using social media for customer relations and sales, and now they are paving the way with ’social’ investor relations for the Internet age. Their Q4 earnings released yesterday employed blogs, Twitter, SlideShare, StockTwits and YouTube (video below). Thanks once again to Dominic Jones of IR Web Report for keeping track of the latest socialization of investor relations.
WHEN Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) reported its Q4 2011 financial results yesterday it broke new ground for online investor relations communications and set the stage for an era where companies and executives can use social media with as much confidence of compliance as traditional disclosure channels.
While many companies have been using services like Twitter and Facebook in parallel to their normal disclosure channels, Dell’s IR and social media team is the first to fully harness the StockTwits financial network to take the company’s message far beyond social media boundaries to reach mainstream financial portals that previously were accessible only via expensive PR wire services. See IR Web Report story by Dominic Jones.
Twitter Warriors Re-Define PR
Cataclysm in Egypt Spells New Dawn for Communications: Are You Ready to Be a Twitter Warrior?
By Mark Rose, Partner, Influence Consulting Group
The cataclysm of the last 16 days in Egypt should cause everybody in public relations, and any communications related field, to stop and reassess what they are doing. Although this story is far from over, in a little over two weeks the central tenet of the unchained Internet has been proven—that the free flow of information, regardless of physical or sociological boundaries, leads to a democratization of information and the liberation of repressive regimes. Twitter is mightier than the gun. We may not know where Egypt is headed, but as President Obama said, it can never go back to the way it was. Read more in CommPro.biz.
Fund Firms Finding Digital Voice
Mutual Funds Get Hip to Social Media 2/6/2011 Mutual fund firms are finally on Twitter and Facebook. WSJ Reporter Emily Glazer discusses why the firms hesitated to join the social media spectrum and how they’re spreading their digital voices.
A growing number of mutual-fund companies are finding their digital voices.
Though they were initially slow to join the social-media party, these firms increasingly are using Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to build brand loyalty, educate investors and help with customer service.
“It’s an initial attempt to plug into what’s happening in society and technology,” says James McGovern, vice president for consulting services at Corporate Insight, which recently reported that some 46% of the asset-management firms it regularly analyzes are now communicating via social media. While Corporate Insight says that’s up from “zero involvement” in 2008, it’s still less than the 76% usage rate reported among the banks and credit-card issuers it tracks. See WSJ story: Fund Firms Cautiously Tweet Their Way Into a New World.
Retail banks have a relatively long, established history using a full suite of social media, especially Twitter. Mutual fund companies are catching up, as are other financial services companies. Social media offers companies added distribution channels to reach constituents, with a positive impact on SEO (search engine optimization).
NYC Marathon 2010 Captured
Photos by Mark Rose, Mile 22, Marcus Garvey Park, Manhattan, NYC Marathon, Nov. 7, 2010
Clients in News: San Jose Mercury News
Clarity Technology Partners, a full-service tech staffing agency based in Palo Alto, is quoted in the San Jose Mercury News story Valley companies fighting for talent. Clarity Technology Partners, a Clarity company, was launched earlier this month, with offices in San Francisco, New York and northern Virginia.
“There is not even nearly enough engineers, developers and research scientists here in the Bay Area,” said Greg Mikulin, co-founder of Clarity Technology Partners in Palo Alto, a staffing agency. “The motivated people who have this pedigree are all working.”
While the hiring frenzy has spawned a seller’s market for top talent, it’s leaving some midlevel technical workers sitting on the sidelines, Mikulin of Clarity said. With the rise of cloud computing — the Internet-based sharing of software and information — some desktop and support positions are disappearing, he noted. “It’s some of the lower level jobs that are starting to go away, unfortunately,” he said.
W. Eugene Smith Grant Awards Wed. 10/20
Frontline Solder with Canteen, June 1944. Photograph by W. Eugene Smith, © W. Eugene Smith Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona.
Influence Consulting client and friend Aaron Schindler is on the Board of the W. Eugene Smith Fund Grant for Humanistic Photography. The annual awards event is this Wednesday night, October 20, at the Asia Society in New York City. It’s free and open to the public. Come see great photography and support a worthy cause. Ann Curry, News Anchor for the “Today” show, will give the keynote.
Fred Ritchin, the photo historian and New York University professor describes Smith’s images, his best known work created in the 1940s, 50s, and early 60s, as imbued with moral fervor and evincing “a clear difference between good and evil, the individual’s ability to transcend his or her circumstances, the inherent goodness (even heroism) in people, and the capacity and willingness of one person to help others (such as the healers in country doctor, nurse-midwife and Albert Schweitzer).”
The intention of this Grant, said Ritchin, has never been to find photographers who replicate Smith’s particular preoccupations or his photographic style. It has been, and continues to be, to find worthy recipients who in their own way will explore and report upon aspects of the contemporary world that are of significant importance. The Grant is given to allow photographers to escape from the increasingly formulaic demands of the mass media. The photography, as it should, will evolve.
Check Out Our Facebook Page
Check out the Influence Consulting Facebook page. In the summer, especially, we find it easier to deliver and comment on news through Facebook. Also, posting pics and linking around the web through Facebook has become ubiquitous – more and more companies are actively using Facebook. In some cases, Facebook has become the primary news source. Anyway, it’s fun to play around with as we enjoy the final taste of summer.
Google Finance Now Offers Options Data
According to feedback collected by Google, options data was among the most requested features users asked for each month. So they’re making options information available to all Google Finance users globally. See Google Finance blog for details. See Google Finance for news, portfolios, stock screener, trends – integrated into your Google account. Shout out to IR Web Report for continuous stream of useful news for communicators involved in finance.
Clients in News: The New York Times
The “Wealth Matters” column in The New York Times today quotes Influence Consulting client Aaron Schindler on investing and managing assets and financial planning for successful artists. Titled How the Rich and Famous Can Stay Rich (if not Famous), Wealth Matters columnist Paul Sullivan speaks to Schindler about the challenges of getting creative people to plan their finances and make adjustments according to age, career arc, shifting goals and dependents, and the type of legacy the artist wants to leave.
Sullivan also speaks to Schindler’s client, Producer Russ Titelman, about becoming involved in managing finances.
The New York Times story: “Aaron Schindler, a managing director at the Wealth Advisory Group who has built his practice serving artists, including Mr. Titelman, said getting his clients to understand the big picture was often the greatest challenge. “It’s a left brain-right brain thing,” he said.”