Social Media Spotlight: Brittany "Barefoot Foodie" Gibbons

We’re at week three of Social Media Spotlight and this week we’re talking to someone brands may not have heard of, but her 131,000 unique visitors last month should get her some attention. And the good folks at Shamable are about to do just that.

Social Media Spotlight: Brittany “Barefoot Foodie” Gibbons

We’re at week three of Social Media Spotlight and this week we’re talking to someone brands may not have heard of, but her 131,000 unique visitors last month should get her some attention. And the good folks at Shamable are about to do just that.

It's Time for Me to Zag

Wayne Gretzky has one of the greatest sayings of all time that has stuck with me since I heard it several years ago. When asked what the difference between a good hockey player and a great hockey player was, he said, “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.”

I’m not comparing myself to the Great One by any stretch of the imagination. However, if you’ve read my blog posts and pay attention to the agency world – and most important, listen to your clients – you know the business is changing fast. A few companies are growing larger and larger while others are starting up, shifting focus or being bought. The lines between advertising, PR and digital agencies has been blurred so badly that it’s difficult to really tell what their differentiation really is. The PR firm has hired digital teams, the ad agencies now have PR folks and the digital shops, well, they claim to be able to do everything the other two can do but better. Which totally makes sense given their long time lines, production-shop mentality and outsourcing. Oh wait — it doesn’t.

I still think PR has the leg up because of their ability to respond quickly with messaging, something the other shops will only see as a “bolt on” solution for clients. “Make this ad (or website) ‘PR-able!'” is a request I’ve heard all too many times from the large players, who are raking in millions of dollars for creative, only to watch it fall flat because the smart sounding British dudes in funky glasses oversold the impact their widget would have. “EVERYONE WILL BE DOWNLOADING YOUR WIDGET!” they’d say. The whole thing has clients heads spinning and this is before you even factor in social media-specific shops, also known as the dodo bird of the agency world.

Back to large agencies for a second: In certain instances, it makes a lot of sense for a multinational business that spans many continents to hire a large agency because they need the scale and as such can negotiate competitive rates. This makes procurement happy because it’s one contract with one holding company and theoretically they’re saving a few bucks. I’ve yet to see this model work flawlessly as typically campaigns are customized and executed differently in local markets, but I digress.

Conversely, there are companies (and marketers) looking to smaller firms that can be nimble, provide senior level thinking and attention on a regular basis to help guide them through the ever changing business and marketing landscape while providing the creativity and speed that their multinational counterparts can’t offer.  I truly believe the agency world is changing and that while for the past several years I’ve worked at the former, it’s time to go where the puck is going. It’s with that that I’m happy to announce that I will be joining an independent, smaller firm next week where I will have control and authority to do some pretty remarkable things beyond what one discipline with a bolt-on solution can offer.

Which one? Well, I’m not going to let the cat out of the bag just yet. Needless to say that after six years and four months with the only agency I’ve ever known it’s going to be a different world for me. I’ve had a lot of great opportunities with MS&L and got to show the world’s largest companies my marketing chops and for that I will be eternally grateful. I’ve worked with some brilliant people and have had access to C-level executives, brand managers, marketing directors and clients that most agencies dream of. The journey has been difficult, long and at times extremely challenging but it’s one that I believe has prepared me for this new opportunity. I’ve played “intrapreneur”, if you will, for years, within a big company — so it will be a lot of fun to build a business again, this time on a much different scale with new partners and clients.

I’ll spill the beans soon on where I’m headed once the time is right. Until then, I’ll continue to zag while everyone else zigs.

It’s Time for Me to Zag

Wayne Gretzky has one of the greatest sayings of all time that has stuck with me since I heard it several years ago. When asked what the difference between a good hockey player and a great hockey player was, he said, “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.”

I’m not comparing myself to the Great One by any stretch of the imagination. However, if you’ve read my blog posts and pay attention to the agency world – and most important, listen to your clients – you know the business is changing fast. A few companies are growing larger and larger while others are starting up, shifting focus or being bought. The lines between advertising, PR and digital agencies has been blurred so badly that it’s difficult to really tell what their differentiation really is. The PR firm has hired digital teams, the ad agencies now have PR folks and the digital shops, well, they claim to be able to do everything the other two can do but better. Which totally makes sense given their long time lines, production-shop mentality and outsourcing. Oh wait — it doesn’t.

I still think PR has the leg up because of their ability to respond quickly with messaging, something the other shops will only see as a “bolt on” solution for clients. “Make this ad (or website) ‘PR-able!'” is a request I’ve heard all too many times from the large players, who are raking in millions of dollars for creative, only to watch it fall flat because the smart sounding British dudes in funky glasses oversold the impact their widget would have. “EVERYONE WILL BE DOWNLOADING YOUR WIDGET!” they’d say. The whole thing has clients heads spinning and this is before you even factor in social media-specific shops, also known as the dodo bird of the agency world.

Back to large agencies for a second: In certain instances, it makes a lot of sense for a multinational business that spans many continents to hire a large agency because they need the scale and as such can negotiate competitive rates. This makes procurement happy because it’s one contract with one holding company and theoretically they’re saving a few bucks. I’ve yet to see this model work flawlessly as typically campaigns are customized and executed differently in local markets, but I digress.

Conversely, there are companies (and marketers) looking to smaller firms that can be nimble, provide senior level thinking and attention on a regular basis to help guide them through the ever changing business and marketing landscape while providing the creativity and speed that their multinational counterparts can’t offer.  I truly believe the agency world is changing and that while for the past several years I’ve worked at the former, it’s time to go where the puck is going. It’s with that that I’m happy to announce that I will be joining an independent, smaller firm next week where I will have control and authority to do some pretty remarkable things beyond what one discipline with a bolt-on solution can offer.

Which one? Well, I’m not going to let the cat out of the bag just yet. Needless to say that after six years and four months with the only agency I’ve ever known it’s going to be a different world for me. I’ve had a lot of great opportunities with MS&L and got to show the world’s largest companies my marketing chops and for that I will be eternally grateful. I’ve worked with some brilliant people and have had access to C-level executives, brand managers, marketing directors and clients that most agencies dream of. The journey has been difficult, long and at times extremely challenging but it’s one that I believe has prepared me for this new opportunity. I’ve played “intrapreneur”, if you will, for years, within a big company — so it will be a lot of fun to build a business again, this time on a much different scale with new partners and clients.

I’ll spill the beans soon on where I’m headed once the time is right. Until then, I’ll continue to zag while everyone else zigs.

Blogger Spotlight: Heather Spohr

Earlier this week I wrote a post about working with bloggers and how brands can find the right one. The Shamable team thought it would be a great idea to start highlighting bloggers from different verticals each week so marketers can meet some of the faces behind the names. This week we’re talking with Heather Spohr from The Spohrs Are Multiplying.

Five Agencies Brands Should Avoid

Yesterday I posted a piece on matchmaking between bloggers and brands that seemed to go over pretty well. Today’s focus is going to shift to the relationship between a brand and their agency. In particular, there seem to be a few tried and true ways of weeding out those who’ll constantly disappoint or, at the very least, annoy the hell out of you.

How To Select A Blogger For Your Brand

I’ve been working online with communities for the past 6 and a half years, a time when message boards and Yahoo Groups (remember those?) were as social as it got. This was an era where blogs were the Wild Wild West and most folks weren’t too keen on the idea of companies talking to them. You had to be extremely selective as to which blogs might want to engage with your clients and which you’d want to align your client’s brand(s) with. Clearly the blogosphere has evolved since 2004 but while some things have changed, some have stayed exactly the same. Here are five tips for PR and ad n00bs and vets alike when selecting which blogs to work with.

A Great Debate on Gaming the System: Social Media Shilling

There’s a good discussion going on Twitter right now about social media shilling, aka “please tweet (blog, lifestream, status update, fan, etc.) this for a client” and the big “what if big agencies did this” en masse. Todd Defren started it off with his post called “Slippery Slope“. Laurel Hart, an adjunct instructor at NYU, asked if it was unethical to impose said coordination across an entire firm. My response is that it’s not unethical for employees to participate in social media on behalf of a client provided they disclose and do it of their own free will. It is unethical if mandated.

The New Breed of PR

Last week I spoke at the Council of PR Firms “Internfest” on a panel about being a “Specialist” in a PR firm. The lovely Melinda Zurich followed up the presentation with a few questions, which I’ve answered below, for their weekly email.

I wanted to write about how this new breed of young PR professionals (digital natives) are changing (or not) the face of the industry through their innate online/social media skills. I wanted to know what some of your thoughts were as a senior-level person working in the industry.

Do you think the new crop has a leg up when working on new media projects?

As it relates to the actual use of technology among their peers and the ability to adapt, I would say “yes”. It doesn’t mean that they all understand how new media can be utilized to target their demographic, but at the very least they are a keen focus group for targeting Gen Y.

Do you think the use and impact of digital/social media in public relations is just another tool, just another fad/trend, or will change the industry forever? Are we making too much of it? Why?

I think it has changed the industry forever, and the PR professional needs to adapt. Will the “big hit” in the NYTimes or on ABC News still matter? Yes, to some. As the Atari generation showed us, digital is not just a fad – it’s become part of life, and with Gen Y it is life. Newspapers and “the news” aren’t how kids consume. The Daily Show was their number one source of news during the last election, if that’s any indication of their consumption.

The reality is that the ability to publish, share, create and comment has turned everyone into a broadcaster. The question is, “Will PR get out of the ‘Top 10’, ‘Billions of impressions’ mindset fast enough to realize that this is about niche and micro?”

Do you see senior-level PR people going to these youngsters for guidance on client-related work because of their new media skills?

They already are doing it. Smart folks listen before speaking, regardless of their seniority, and those with clients targeting people online need to first see what the reality is vs. the aspirational “messaging” that we want to achieve. This isn’t exclusive to PR, as typically we are about conversation whereas advertisers will put forth their creative platforms, developed in brainstorms and behind the iron gate of the “agency”.

The senior PR practitioner still brings the relationship, trust, client, brand and specific industry knowledge to the table, and if you’re up to date, the online knowledge is in there as well.

Other observations

Realistically the medium and expectations have changed drastically for the PR industry from one built on words to one based on real actions. Forget about asking people to deliver “on message”, because that’s aspirational. It also provides brands with the biggest opportunity, which is to take people from reality – how they’re talking now – to the aspirational of “delivering your message”.

The crucial issue is trying to train all PR pros to understand that real measurement for our clients doesn’t lie in delivering messages or happen en masse, at least not at first. If you treat people right, engage and truly understand their wants and needs and speak to them in their own language, you will see a noticeable shift in attitudes, opinions and behaviors.

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A week’s worth of random thoughts

If I thought anyone read Twitter posts (no long tail on this one, folks) I would have thrown these on there. Regardless, here are a few nuggets from the past week or so:

1. The RIAA sued more University of Michigan students last week by IP address. The U issued a response that they were investigating. I’m not saying they shouldn’t protect their copyrights, but I’m not sure going after some of the best and brightest are the long term solution to extending the business model.

2. Q: What happens when an outdated product/company tries to make itself relevant?
A: Pay a few bloggers to write a code for you, then go against their Rules and spam people with it. People said they received spam email from Vocus regarding their “5 Golden Rules For Blogger Relations”. Vocus issued a response. I’m not buying it. You don’t get it, please don’t try to pretend. You paid for your company to become relevant and then botched it. Eat the $$ on this project and start over by bringing people in that get it and let them evangelize.

Bottom line: While their points are dead on, they aren’t anything new. And instead of sending attachments they could’ve sent this:

Subject: Want to work with bloggers?
Body: Use common sense.

If you’ve seen my presentations you’ll know that I’ve given these hints before. Kudos to Vocus for trying to push the standards, but in my opinion you’re a bit late to the game.

3. Finally, I noticed that Gmail has overtaken all mailto: tags. I mentioned earlier that I use Yahoo for all commercial-related emails and Gmail is for bidness… so I’m not exactly thrilled to have this option forced upon me. I understand that they want to push their web mail system on me, but it’s a bit much.

Wow, I feel much better now that I have that off my chest. 😛