FutureForward PR

Pondering the future of public relations, social media & MarComm 

Illinois State University Marketing Campaign Web Pages

Below is a representative sampling of the marketing, promotional and consumer communications/outreach Web pages that I designed and managed while working as as the Director of New Media/Assistant Media Relations Director in the Illinois State Athletics Department from July 2007-April 2009:

Illinois State Athletics "In The News"

http://www.goredbirds.com/ot/ilsu-in-the-news.html

Illinois State Softball Team 2008 Belize International Tour Blog Site

http://www.goredbirds.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/soft-belize-tour-08-blog-main.html

Illinois State Football 2008 Signing Day Fan Page

http://www.goredbirds.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/ilsu-fb-signing-day-central-2009.html

"Through The Eyes Of ..." | Illinois State Student-Athlete Video Profiles

http://www.goredbirds.com/ot/ilsu-through-the-eyes-of.html
http://www.goredbirds.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/031909aaa.html

Illinois State Athletics on Twitter - Fan FAQ

http://www.goredbirds.com/ot/ilsu-twitter-faq.html

Illinois State Athletics Live Stats Fan FAQ

http://www.goredbirds.com/ot/live-stats.html

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MediaBistro Launches Community Lifestream on Posterous

As the needs, wants and desires of the online community continue to evolve, we are seeing more iterations of community-based knowledge systems begin to emerge. First, it was listservs, then message boards (both of which are still very active and influential), followed by blogs with comments (you can actually voice your own opinion ... online!). But for the mainstream media world, none of those social platforms really ever took off - or more likely, none were ever deemed worthy enough of their time, attention and resources.

That's what MediaBistro.com's new Posterous-powered community lifestream is such a great idea. It's taking the best of all worlds - Posterous, an extremely simple-to-use, yet very powerful blogging/lifestreaming platform, along with active community engagement and submissions, mashing it all together and trying to create something where hopefully more good comes as a result. Hey, it can't hurt, and while they are at it, I bet they discover some really cool new ideas, and a few writers, reporters, bloggers, etc., get discovered along the way.

And that's really the beauty of this whole project: It's allowing a community to come together, help shape a common movement (media writing) and discover ideas, trends and insights from each other on a very forward-thinking platform, one that embraces the true nature of what the Web is becoming (if it is not already there), and how we will use the Internet in the coming years - a stream of information, ideas and content.

Via "This is Your Blog" --

"This will be the destination for our community-powered blog. Here you'll be able to submit original work, such as traditional text posts, and multimedia such as videos, photos, and more. It can be educational, it can be artistic, and it can be anything that you think will benefit your media brethren."

What do you think? Is a community-inspired lifestream the next generation of developing and delivering certain niche content to an audience? Or is this just another experiment in the long quest toward finding the next form of media?

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Filed under  //   Community Engagement   Lifestreaming   Media Industry   MediaBistro   Posterous   Social Media   Value of Social Media  

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Beautiful Chicago Waterfront & Skyline Photo

Having previously lived in Illinois with a lot of time in Chicago, this picture brings back so many great memories, and is an incredibly beautiful shot of the Chicago waterfront with the skyline in the background (h/t @rebeccadenison, @saraburton & @LenKendall)

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Filed under  //   Chicago   Chicago Skyline   Navy Pier   Photography  

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Before You Ridicule Each Other, Think of Helping Others

Below is a sample of my first post for the new prbreakfastclub.com. For the time being, I'm going to be posting over there, and sampling bits and pieces of my posts (and some ideas/concepts from some of my other colleagues on the site). Hope you enjoy this post, and let me know your feedback about the new prbreakfastclub.com while you're at it. -- Keith

 PBJ

Maybe it’s the “dog days” of summer still, or the fact that we’re still mired in a major recession that has everyone in a tizzy and seemingly at each other’s throats in the PR business when almost every minor situation that arises. Accidentally blast out an e-mail to thousands of people and forget to use the very helpful—but often misused—BCC function? Boom! You’re facing at least a week of full-on ridicule from your own brethren.  For many of us, it can get to be a bit too much sometimes.

I know for myself, I didn’t get into this business to ridicule colleagues. I actually want to see others in this business succeed, so when a big—or little—slipup happens, I usually try to give my quick two cents, offer some advice on how to move on, and generally stay out of the situation. By no means am I perfect, and I will be the first to admit that I am still eagerly learning as much as I can about PR (I come from a sport management background), so to me, I’d rather focus on the positives.

To read the rest of this post, please click here.

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How many dimensions are there when measuring value in a Twitter conversation?

Note: This is a guest post by Rebecca Denison (Twitter: @RebeccaDenison), a public relations intern at Edelman Chicago. Rebecca is an avid student of the art (and science) of social media and PR measurement. She writes her own excellent blog, One True Sentence, which provides a brief synopsis of the day's best PR and social media blog posts.

As social media continues to evolve, it seems as though there is a constant scramble to find valuable metrics to define associated value.  I’ve seen a few articles about how to define the success of a Twitter campaign, but I’m unconvinced.  One thing seems to be clear, though, and that is conversation is where the true value of Twitter lies.

So how do you measure the value of a Twitter conversation?  How many dimensions are there?  How many numbers do you need?  I don’t pretend to have the answer, but I think I have some valuable thoughts to start the conversation (and yes, I realize the irony of a conversation about the value of conversation).

Let’s consider a corporate announcement; we’ll pretend your company has just announced it will lay-off 500 workers.  Perhaps the story is picked up by a local newspaper and eventually finds its way onto Twitter, but maybe a reporter or employee Tweets about the announcement before the traditional press can print.  Which is of more value to you?  Why?  By what standards?

I think (hope) we can agree that the sheer number of Tweets about your company and its decision should not be used to measure value.  It’s become a common belief that clip count is useless, and similarly, Tweet count should never be the basis for any decision or reaction on its own.

One thing I have observed is that Retweets (RTs) seem to be valued pretty highly, maybe even more so than a direct response (@ reply).  While I understand that these messages rebroadcast to a potentially wider and completely new audience, I cannot help but wonder how valuable a RT really is to a Twitter conversation.  If you believe the true value of social media (particularly Twitter) lies with conversation, what part does the RT play?  I would argue that is important but should not be viewed as a means to measure value but rather as a means to bring conversation to a wider audience. The value of the RT should be based upon its impact on the conversation at large.  That is, only those RTs which bring additional voices into a conversation should be given value when measuring value.

The @ reply, on the other hand, seems to be less revered but far more important.  The more replies you have to a Tweet (or a RT), the better and more rich your conversation will be.  And isn’t that what makes for a valued conversation?  Even if there are few unique users replying, a large number of replies should be valued far greater than a RT.

Besides @ reply and RT, what other ways do you think value should be measured?  Below is a list of other ideas I have but that are no where near fully developed.  What do you think?  What would you add?

1.       It can make a world of difference who is doing the Tweeting – How many followers do they have?  How many are likely to reply and participate in conversation?

2.       Quality vs. quantity of Tweets – Does it matter if there are a lot of participants?  Does it matter more if the conversation is more in-depth or reaches a broader audience?

Of course, I can’t help but think that no matter how you measure value in conversation, it will not be the same way for each project.  I’m curious which measurements will always be of value and which will depend more upon the context?

I know this is very qualitative in nature, but I am very curious to see how conversation measurement and analysis evolves with social media use.  What are your thoughts?

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Filed under  //   Conversations   Measurement   Public Relations   Social Media   Twitter  

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1995 Was a Great Year for Social Media

Note: This post originally appeared on Stuart Foster's and Carla Blumenthal's excellent "The Lost Jacket" blog.

I’m old enough to remember the days before widespread use of the Internet. My favorite part of the early days of the Internet was the insane amount of niche listserves and message boards that covered every random topic one could fathom.

I loved the e-mail listserve. I have to admit, at 10 years old, I was a bit of a nerd (and probably still am if you ask my girlfriend). I was a VW Beetle fanatic and I absolutely loved the things. I would go to classic car shows, read up on VWs and couldn’t get enough of them.

Back then, message boards were the original form of social media. And they were huge! If you were a big-time fan of something – anything – or an expert or key influencer in a field, you were on a message board talking up your passions at all hours of the day.

Even back in 1995, I could see the value of engaging with like-minded people in an open forum. Thinking back on it now, though, I often wonder, why wasn’t a representative from VW on those listserves and message boards, answering our questions and helping to build the company’s engagement efforts?

Simply put, why weren’t we engaging consumers, key influencers and our target audiences all along? If in 1995 it were as simple as becoming an active member of a message board and providing some great, valuable feedback, then why has it taken us until 2009 to even begin to figure this whole social media thing out?

I don’t know the answer, so I’m asking all of you. I would love to hear your comments below. I’ve read much of the commentary from the experts on social media, but I have yet to hear a really good answer as to why we weren’t using social media all along to truly engage with our key influencers and target audiences.

And please don’t tell me it’s because clients never wanted it or asked for that kind of engagement. In my opinion, one of the biggest parts of our jobs in PR, marketing and advertising is to counsel clients on what we believe is best strategies and public outreach initiatives for their company. It still baffles me that company would not want to hear feedback from its customers when the ability to do so is relatively cheap In a service business, our primary focus should not always be on what a client wants. We should give equal consideration to what we would be best for a client’s business.

My point of this post is not to disparage those who were in PR, marketing or advertising in the 1990s. My real point is this: If it’s taken us 15 years to realize, “Hey, this social media stuff really works!”, are we in danger of missing the next big movement? After all, we seemed to have missed the boat when it was staring us right in the face in the 1990s. Who’s to say we won’t miss it again?

We have to constantly be on the lookout for the next big thing in PR, the next big digital movement in advertising or the next movement beyond social media.

After all, that new lifestreaming platform that many have scoffed at (and which I am a big fan of) could be what we are all talking about and trying to sell to our clients 10 or 15 years from now.

But why wait until then? Get out there now and find what you think will be the next big movement to help a company better reach its customers and enhance sales. Experience it to the fullest and figure out how tomorrow’s “next big thing” might help your business reach its customers that much better today.

We can’t afford to wait other 15 years to figure out what the next big thing is. This industry already did that once, and it’s unlikely anyone will allow us to do that again.

So what do you think will be the next big thing in PR, marketing or advertising? What are you doing now that will help propel your clients and their brands in the next 10-15 years? I would love to hear your thoughts below!

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Filed under  //   FutureForward   Geo-location   Public Relations   Social Media   Twitter  

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Jet Blue Delivers More Evidence of Social Media's Value

It's good to finally see more tangible value for brands to maintain an active and vibrant social media presence. @Mashable has a piece out today noting how Jet Blue's All You Can Jet Pass has sold out 36 hours in advance, and Jet Blue, unlike many companies that would say it was all sales' or marketing's efforts, is actually crediting Twitter with the success. Nice!

It's been a long time coming for moments like this. After Dell announced that it earned $3 million in sales last year by effectively using Twitter and engaging its followers, many scoffed that social media could actually increase sales and provide a tangible return for a company's social media investment. Hopefully now, those tides will turn.

What it will ultimately come down to is exactly what is still the No. 1 creator of success in traditional PR: having a strong story to tell that people can latch on to. If you're providing people with a promotion of flying anywhere they want in the US for an ENTIRE month for just $599, yeah, that's a strong story, and people can definitely latch on to that and relate to it, no matter if we're in the worst recessions since you know when, or if we're booming like it's 1999.

Obviously, Jet Blue found key influencers and a terrifically targeted audience in Twitter. Success with social media promotions, and ultimately, ROI from social media, is going to largely stem from finding your target audience, listening to them and seeing what they are asking for and then finding a way to deliver to them that story, product or service in the medium that they want. It's all about fiding the key influencers, and then you give them the power to run with your story and see where they can take it from there. Obviously, you tweak a little here and there and you guide them along the way so your efforts don't go completely off-target or off-message, but a little nurturing in social media can go a very long way.

So what do you think? What will be the next big thing to demonstrate value in social media?

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Filed under  //   Dell   Jet Blue   ROI   Social Media   Value of PR   Value of Social Media  

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Think, Cultivate, Be There for Others in Social Media

My good friend and fellow PR compatriot PRCog (@PRCog) just wrote up a fantastic blog post about a personal situation last week and how a friend came to rescue and was there without even being asked for help. The basic point of the post was you have to be reliable. You have to be there for others in a time when so many people are just looking out for themselves.

When you get a chance, read the post and let me know if you don't feel immediately inspired to put 100% of your time and effort into being the person that you truly want to be - both personally and professionally.

Cog's post got me thinking about a different side of the reliability issue, one regarding how we as PR practitioners in a social media world now view being reliable. Or are we even relaible at all?

In today's social media landscape, we spend so much of our time trying to enhance the brand, the image and overall aura of who we are and what we represent within social media and various communities, but do we ever really step back and take the time to think about and work on actually cultivating those efforts? I would venture to say not neraly as much as we should be doing. And I put myself squarely in that latter category, as well.

I'm pulling this next bit directly from my comment on Cog's post, as I think it really sums up my position on being reliable in a time when so many are looking to build their "personal brand" (what an awful term that is, by the way), but don't really seem to be doing as much as they would in the real world (e.g. with friends, colleagues and acquiantenances you meet in real life):

Those of us in PR and social media talk all the time about getting our clients, our agency or for many, ourselves, out in front of people and key influencers, I really think one of the biggest things that gets lost is the idea and notion of being there for someone – a reporter, client, boss, friend, etc. – when you say you will be, and very often even when it’s not requested of you, and stepping up and doing whatever it is you can to make a situation work.

So many see social media now as a way to quickly attain some buzz and notereity around their brand or persona, but very few take the time to realize that it requires an incredible amount of time, dedication, foresight and honest-to-goodness hard work to make those great results last and progress toward something better. If you’re not willing to do all of that back-end work – to be reliable not only to yourself, but to those you are working so hard for – then really, what is the point of doing it? If it’s to stroke your ego, there are probably better and more illustrious ways to accomplish that.

My point behind all of this: I'd love to see less focus on becoming a "social media expert" or "guru," and more time on becoming a valued member of whatever community you feel like you really belong in and connect with. Social media provides us with so many great ways to instantly connect and build relatinoships with people, but it also has created a sense of "NOW, NOW, NOW!" that may not be helping us in the long run.

So what do you think? Am I off my rocker? Am I sounding a bit too much like one of those old guys ("In my day! ...") or do I have a point here? Let me know.

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Filed under  //   Communities   IRL   Public Relations   Reliability   Social Media  

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How-to: Useful Web Guide for Learning & Loving Posterous

Posterous keeps getting more and more great publicity for being a really innovative and easy-to-use blogging/lifestreaming tool for those of us who aren't looking for all of the bells and whistles of a traditional blog.

TheNextWeb.com has a good post out now about essentially everything you need to know regarding how to use, enjoy and evolve with Posterous. Check out the article above, and keep this quote in mind:

Posterous is a flexible tool that is developing fast. Customisations via themes and premium features for those willing to pay are among the improvements planned for the future.

I'm continuing to enjoy almost everything about Posterous, and with many reports out that the service will provide more customization in the future (please Posterous, make it possible to autopost to LinkedIn!), it looks like the future is very bright for this blogging/lifestreaming service. Give me a week or two more of using this service, posting some more long-form blog-type entries, along with random links and ideas I come across, and then I'll have a good review up for everyone. For now, enjoy the info from TheNextWeb.com!

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Filed under  //   Guides   Lifestreaming   Posterous  

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Facebook Outpaced Twitter in July Growth

UPDATE

The graph above and info below from TechCrunch represents total US growth, NOT worldwide growth (which would put Facebook at about 250 million worldwide users now, and Twitter somewhere in the neighborhood of 45-50 million worldwide users.

Remember a few months ago when everyone and their brother was reporting that Twitter was the fastest growing social network and had like 1,000% growth each month? Well, apparently, the Tide has changed as the graph above from TechCrunch shows.

From TechCrunch:
In the month of July, according to the latest estimates from comScore, Facebook attracted 87.7 million unique visitors in the U.S., which was 14 percent higher than in June, 2009. Twitter, in contrast, only saw 21.2 million unique U.S. visitors to its Website, a 6 percent rise compared to the month before. In absolute terms, Facebook added about ten million new visitors in the month of July versus roughly one million new visitors for Twitter.

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Filed under  //   Facebook   Social Media   Social Networks   Twitter  

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