How long do online empires last?

As more and more social media sites are born and incorporated into our Public Relations strategies, CenturyLinkQuote.com just posted a very interesting infographic on the average length of online sites such as Digg, Altavista, Myspace and Facebook. The average came out to 11 years, with Facebook launching 8 years ago.  

With Facebook’s heavy integration into both our daily personal and business lives, I can see the social networking site easily surpassing this average.

2012 PR New Year’s Resolutions

Taming the inbox

“This year, my New Year’s resolution will be to keep my email inbox tame and highly organized throughout the entire year. Right now it’s like an angry pit bull, but I would rather have it be a happy puppy.” - Ronnie Manning, principal, Mynt Public Relations, @RManning_Mynt

The Importance of Branding Through Social Media

Social media is not a phenomenon that can be ignored. Millions of users every day access various social media platforms, and they tweet or post or share information freely. Companies who are working to thrive in the information age cannot pass these platforms by if they expect to be successful. There are many reasons why social media should play a large role in your branding, and the three biggest are listed here.

Extremely Low Cost of Entry. A single television advertisement or newspaper page can cost a company a tremendous amount of money, and it still only reaches a limited market. A profile on Facebook or humorous videos on YouTube are free and grant you world-wide exposure. The ability to reach so many people at so little cost has never existed before. The interaction and brand-building that can go on through social networking can gain a great deal of revenue for your company. With so little expenditure, it would be foolish to miss this chance to build rapport and relationships with potential customers.

Build Awareness of Your Brand. Where else can you go to reach thousands of people with a single tweet, and thousands more with a single shared video? Social media is where your customers go for information, entertainment, and connections with friends. If your brand is also there, you are getting the kind of incredible exposure that can make your business a success. A simple, memorable branding strategy can take on a life of its own as it is shared through the networks from person to person. In addition, this sharing from peers increases your brand’s credibility – people are much more likely to take something seriously if it comes from a friend, rather than the company itself.

Manage Your Company’s Image. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+, blogs and other platforms lend themselves very easily to positive customer interaction. In addition, if your customer care department sees a complaint shared on a social network, they will be in a position to respond quickly to resolve the complaint, saving the company a lot of negative publicity.

Social media is the current wave of social interaction and information sharing, and that makes it the current wave of marketing. With an extremely low cost of entry and excellent opportunities to build awareness of your brand and manage your company’s image, social media represents one of the most important marketing tools available. If you leverage it correctly, you will be able to grow your revenue and customer loyalty for years to come.

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This article was a guest post from Capterra - With over 300 business software directories, from public relations software to applicant tracking software, Capterra enables you to find and compare any kind of software for your business, filter results based on your needs, and view ratings and peer reviews.

Devicelock Endpoint DLP enables businesses to control Google+ usage on corporate computers.

DeviceLock, Inc., an international leader in endpoint data leak prevention solutions, today announced that its DeviceLock® Endpoint DLP Suite software can now be used by corporate IT to control the use of the Google+ social network on endpoint computers including content filtering of their data exchanges via Google+ services. As Google+ has become one of the fastest growing social networks, its uncontrolled use in corporate environments presents the risk of data leakage for IT security departments in organizations of various sizes and industries.

DeviceLock 7 Endpoint DLP Suite gives IT security administrators the ability to control which users on protected computers are allowed to access, read or post information on the Google+ site, even the days and times access is allowed. If needed, filtering of file and message content flowing between the protected endpoint and Google+ can be enforced to block the posting of unauthorized information. DeviceLock provides a full log of user activities and optional shadow-copying of data transferred for use in compliance auditing and forensic investigations.

“Many of our customers are worried about potential data leakage when employees communicate through Google+ with the outside world from their corporate computers. Even prior to the release of Google+, our customers had access to a recent DeviceLock version that enables them to control which corporate users can access Google+ from protected endpoint computers,” said Vince Schiavo, CEO, DeviceLock, Inc. “DeviceLock controls when and how users can access Google+ and the software can monitor and filter information considered by the organization to be confidential or sensitive. The speed of implementing this unique DLP capability is a tangible confirmation of DeviceLock’s dedication to its mission of providing proactive endpoint data security.”

Prior to the release of Google+, DeviceLock could already control the use of other popular social networks like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Live Journal along with common webmail solutions like Gmail, Live Mail (Hotmail) and Yahoo Mail. In the latest version, DeviceLock’s Endpoint DLP Suite also adds contextual and content-aware controls over several regionally popular social networks and webmail systems, including XING.com, Studivz.de, Meinvz.de, and Schuelervz.net, as well as AOL Mail and Yandex.Mail. User access to mobile versions of social networks and popular webmail applications from endpoint computers is now also controlled by DeviceLock.

23 Smartphone Apps that PR Professionals Can’t Live Without

by Ronnie Manning

At last count, I think there are around 45 billion applications available for our smartphones and tablets.  The first application that everyone probably downloaded was either Facebook, Angry Birds or Pandora (Facebook was mine and I even downloaded a virtual pet, which I forgot about, and sadly, the poor guy went to virtual pet heaven).  But as more business oriented applications are developed and become available, I was curious to know which apps my fellow PR professionals use on a daily basis and can’t live without.  (I should state that I have no affiliation with any of the apps listed, just looking to share some good info)

I received great responses with the most common answers being the most common apps that many of you are probably already using – Facebook, Twitter (TweetDeck, HootSuite), LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Mashable, Google, and Yelp – so I wanted to focus on the applications that fell outside of this common group, some of which were new to me and I have since begun to use.  Most of these applications are multi-platform with Android and iPhone, I have listed which are iPad only. Enjoy!

Location Based Services / Social Productivity Applications

• Around Me - AroundMe allows you to quickly find out information about your surroundings - find ATMs, drug stores, restaurants, coffee shops, etc.

• Ban.jo – Ban.jo is a social discovery service that harnesses social updates happening across multiple networks and delivers them into one integrated view.  

“I work a lot with local venues and restaurants and use the app to see who is physically near; as the app aggregates all of my social media profiles - collecting my friends geotags - and allowing me to see their proximity to mine. When needing to recruit bodies in the door - in real time - you can open up the app to see what friends are near you and invite them to the venue or event within the app by tweeting them, etc.” – Kinsey Shoefield

•  Foursquare – Foursquare is a location-based mobile platform that makes cities easier to use and more interesting to explore.  Clients and brands leverage the foursquare platform by utilizing a wide set of tools to obtain, engage, and retain customers and audiences.

• myBantu – myBantu provides highly personalized assistance in matching desirable travel, entertainment and lifestyle queries based on individual preferences and social network. 

• Plancast – Plancast lets you know about the events your friends and colleagues plan to attend as well as other events in your area.

News and Media Applications

• Flipboard (iPad) – The application turns your Facebook, Twitter and other social content into a digital magazine inspired by the beauty and ease of print media. 

• Pulse – Pulse News that takes your favorite websites and transforms them into a colorful and interactive mosaic.

• Taptu – Taptu lets you add your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the content from your favorite web sites and blogs via RSS and transforms them into visual streams. 

“Since discovering Taptu, I check it even before my emails each day.  I can create custom news streams for any topic and add any feeds or sites that I want to check daily.” Angela Neal

•  Zite (iPad) – Zite scans over half a million web domains to find specific reading material that would be of interest, according to your social network and online reading behavior.

Business and Productivity Applications

• Dropbox – Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily via mobile/desktop. 

“The ability to instantly access, update, save and share files at the touch of a button is a godsend, especially at times when multiple collaborators are working on a single project or presentation.” Mike Lesczinski 

• Evernote - Evernote makes it easy to remember things big and small from your notable life using your computer, phone, and the web. 

“I use Evernote for dictating notes to myself (e.g., if hit with a brainstorm while walking the dog) as well as keeping permanent track of handwritten notes I take in Noteshelf and keyboard entry. Love that it syncs automatically and is available from every device.” Roger Friedensen  

• Harvest - Harvest lets PR professionals track time and send invoices from one integrated application.

• Instagram – Fast, photo sharing and editing.

• JotNot Pro -JotNot uses your smartphones camera to be a multi-page document scanner.  

“We like JotNot Pro for scanning and e-mailing items when we’re on the go. It’s fast and convenient and the resolution is good.” Marisa Vallbona 

• Noteshelf (iPad) - A handwriting app for the iPad that allows you to take notes and export.

• OfficeTime – For Billing on the Go - Office Time is an intuitive and full-featured time tracking application. 

“OfficeTime is great for PR folks who primarily bill by the hour, keeping good track of time and tying that work to specific projects and clients is essential.” Kevin Doel

• Springpad - Springpad makes it easy to save notes, products and places you want to remember – it automatically organizes and enhances what you’ve saved to help you be more productive.

• Square – Square gives businesses the ability to accept credit and debit card purchases anywhere, anytime. 

“Get the free tiny accessory that attaches to the microphone port on your phone and take charge cards with your phone. Nice for events and it’s free—-transaction fee applies but no monthly merchant fees.” Toni Antonetti 

• Teuxdeux – TeuxDeux is a simple and nicely designed to-do list.  

“Teuxdeux is my favorite to-do list app ever, which says a lot because Ive tried out a number of them. . Teuxdeux is by far the cleanest and most simple task management app I’ve used.” Stephanie Stadler 

• Toodledo - a task and note manager that helps organize your to-do list and notes, and make you more productive.

• WorldCard - WorldCard Mobile uses OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology to instantly transfer information from business cards to the your contact list.

• Wunderlist – an integrated task manager, your to-do lists sync automatically over the internet and you can even share your lists with friends and colleagues

Personal Applications

• White Noise - While traveling, use this app in hotel rooms that sometimes can be less soundproof than one would like.

It’s exciting to see the variety of available applications and how they help PR professionals on a daily basis, I look forward what the future brings.  If there are any applications that you use regularly and you would like to add, please feel free to leave in the comment section!

Thank you to all who provided input!

Looking for some new Twitter statistics, facts and figures? Here you go..

Came across this great infographic from the Touch Agency on the latest Twitter statistics, facts and figures. Soak it in!

(Source: holykaw.alltop.com)

Pew Internet - Twitter Update 2011

The Pew Internet and American Life Project recently released its updated statistics on Twitter use.  The report found that as of May 2011, 13% of online adults use the status update service Twitter. That represents a significant increase from the 8% of online adults who identified themselves as Twitter users the first time they were asked a “stand-alone” question about Twitter adoption in November 2010.

Twitter usage by those ages 25-44 has grown significantly since late 2010
Although young adults continue to have relatively high rates of Twitter usage, the number of 30-49 year olds who use the service has doubled since late 2010—from 7% of such users in November to 14% in May 2011. This growth trend is especially pronounced among 25-34 year olds—Twitter use for this cohort roughly doubled between November 2010 and May 2011, from 9% to 19%—although growth in Twitter use among internet users ages 35-44 was notable as well (from 8% in late 2010 to 14% in spring 2011). By contrast, Twitter adoption over the same time period was stable among the youngest adults (those ages 18-24) who were the most likely to use the service in the first survey.

These findings come from national survey findings from a poll conducted on landline and cell phones, in English and Spanish, between April 26 and May 22, 2011 among 2,277 adults (age 18 and older). The margin of error among the internet users is +/- 3.7 percentage points.  To view the entire survey from Pew Internet, please visit here.

Public Relations and Social Media Twitter Chat Schedules

The Social Responsibility blog has published a great list of Twitter Chat Schedules focusing on Public Relations and Social Media.  I have included several listing direct from the schedule below, for the entire list please go here.  

#journchat – Conversation between journalists, bloggers and public relations folks

Monday from 8-9 p.m. EST

#LeadGenChat - A weekly chat on a variety of marketing and lead generation strategies and tactics. Topics may include media strategy, pay per-click, inbound marketing, social media, analytics, conversions, landing page optimization, lead nurturing, marketing automation, content marketing, marketing tools, and more.

Monday from 9-10 p.m. EST

#appchat - First Twitter chat to focus solely on the app market. The goal is to have app market leaders engage with one another in real-time to talk about industry trends, market growth or anything else affecting the current app landscape that drives the sector. As apps expand from our smartphones and into our living rooms, this weekly #appchat will be a place to discuss this shift and what it means for the digital lifestyle.

Tuesday from 10-11 a.m. PST

#measurePR - A bi-weekly chat on everything to do with PR measurement and yes, that includes social media. Featured guests will discuss every aspect - both loved and hated - of the measurement conundrum.

Tuesday from 12-1 p.m. EST (Every other Tuesday)

#pr20chat - Weekly discussion about public relations, social media and how technology is shifting the industry

Tuesday from 8-9 p.m. EST

#smchat -Exploring what’s possible with social media.  A discussion that’s sometimes technical but always lively. Launched innovative weekly Topic Series in 2010 focused on Marketing, Not for Profits, and SM Trends. Guest mod opportunities available. Join us!

Wednesday from 1-2 p.m. EST

To read the entire list - please visit Social Responsibility blog. 

PR hashtags for Twitter

A short list of Public Relations hashtags to follow on Twitter - please add any additional you may have!

• #PR
• #blogchat 
• #journchat 
• #PRpr 
• #PRintern 
• #PRjobs 
• #PRadvice 
• #pr20chat 
• #Solopr 
• #PRTips 
• #prstudchat
• #publicrelations

Follow Mynt PR on Twitter here!

LinkedIn Reaches 100 million members and counting…

Today, LinkedIn announced that the business social networking site has reached 100 million members worldwide.  

I love statistics about membership, growth and trending.  According to this LinkedIn post , they are growing at roughly one million new LinkedIn members every week, the equivalent of a professional joining the site at faster than one member per second.  With 44 million members within the U.S. and 56 outside the U.S.  

See LinkedIn’s infographic below for a breakdown of member status, which includes 74 Elvis Tribute Artists and One ‘Invest in Cheese’ group - which sounds like a good investment to me.

Keep networking and find me on LinkedIn here!

image courtesy of LinkedIn

The Most Socially Networked Cities in America

by Ronnie Manning

As social media becomes more and more intertwined with PR strategy and planning, I found a recent article in Men’s Health listing the Top 100 Most Socially Networked Cities in America of great interest.  Due to the fact that as of late I’m regularly deep in the trenches of social media, I was extremely surprised at some of the findings - especially how low on the list San Diego was listed (#27) and that Silicon Valley wasn’t listed as the number one city.  As social media and networking continues to evolve, I’m sure that we will see cities continue to rotate in lists such as this. 

So how did Men’s Health develop the listing in the first place? According to the magazine – “We started by calculating the number of Facebook and LinkedIn users per capita, followed by overall Twitter usage (NetProspex). Then we looked at traffic generated by the major social networks, including Myspace, Friendster, Reddit, and Digg (analyzed by ad network Chitika). Finally, after factoring in the percentage of households that check out chat rooms and blogs (SimplyMap), we had the results you see below.”

To view the entire listing, please visit http://bit.ly/guo9SE 

The Top 10 (with my old stomping grounds coming in at #1) and some numbers that surprised me are below…

Most socially networked

1 Washington, DC    
2 Atlanta, GA    
3 Denver, CO    
4 Minneapolis, MN    
5 Seattle, WA    
6 San Francisco, CA   
7 Orlando, FL    
8 Austin, TX    
9 Boston, MA    
10 Salt Lake City, UT    

Surprising results

25 Las Vegas, NV
27 San Diego, CA 
33 Los Angeles, CA
36 Miami, FL
39 Chicago, IL 
58 Baltimore, MD
70 New Orleans, LA

And the least socially networked on the list goes to…

100 El Paso, TX

Speaking of being socially networked, feel free to follow me below and help get your city higher on the list!

Foursquare sees 3,400 percent growth in 2010

Foursquare has become an important PR tool for hospitality, social and business connections.  Not surprisingly, the company most recently posted that it saw a 3,400 percent growth in 2010.  Throughout 2010, Foursquare received 381,576,305 check-ins which included one check-in from outer-space (thanks NASA).

For the athletic type, California ranked highest for Gym check-ins at 2.48% - narrowly edging out Illinois, Minnesota, New York and Washington.  

It will be interesting to see how Foursquare’s growth continues in 2011 as more competition, including ‘check-ins’ via Facebook, comes into play.

Check out Foursquare’s 2010 statistics chart below and feel free to follow me at http://foursquare.com/rmanning_mynt

image courtesy of Foursquare

#PR140 - Defining Public Relations in 140 Characters or Less

By Ronnie Manning

It happens often, you tell someone that you work in public relations and it seems that the question that comes back is “So that’s advertising right?” or “That’s interesting, what exactly does that mean?”.  Public Relations can carry a broad definition depending on what types of clients you are working with, the type of campaigns you are executing and the markets that are being targeted.

According to PRSA, “The formal practice of what is now commonly referred to as “public relations” dates to the early 20th century. In the relatively brief period leading up to today, public relations has been defined in many different ways, the definition often evolving alongside public relations’ changing roles and technological advances. The earliest definitions emphasized press agentry and publicity, while more modern definitions incorporate the concepts of “engagement” and “relationship building.”

Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other social media platforms have become major components in today’s PR plans and strategies.  Twitter saw massive growth during 2010 and according to Mashable, Twitter claimed that more than 100 million new accounts were opened in 2010.  Today as PR practitioners, we are speaking in 140 characters or less to cultivate relationships and communicate our clients and/or company messages. 

It’s the combination of the Twitter phenomenon and the constant evolution of PR that I asked my fellow PR professionals and peers “How would you define the practice of Public Relations in 140 characters or less?”  A difficult question with almost every reply being different, but with similarity in the core definitions.  I thank all who provided the great insight below to provide modern definitions to our age old practice.

• “PR is not rocket science! Keep promises, exceed expectations, collaborate w/ team mates AND clients, and have fun!” Teri Morris 
• “Circus poster: Advertising. Put poster on elephant & walk through town: Promotion. Elephant tramples mayor’s rose garden & he laughs: PR.” Brenda Christensen  
• “PR: Being sure of a message, connecting with the right ones, communicating in format received, and being a pit bull about staying on course.” Richard Laermer 
• “Building public/consumer trust in your clients’ brands and/or messages through repeated positive editorial coverage in the media.” Lizzy Shaw
• “Know your stuff. Be relevant. Be timely. Be helpful. Be a human being. Tell good stories. Make relationships real. Don’t be a jerk. Hustle.” Dave Clarke 
• “Your brand is the story of your company, well told. Know your story, tell it well.” Ford Kanzler 
• “Telling your story and sharing your news with internal and external audiences to build trust and ties.” Jason Mudd 
• “A management tool to build positive relationships with constituencies that matter to your business or cause.” Mark Grimm 
• “Awareness. Understanding. Use. Bottom Line. Growing them all!” Jolene Loetscher
• “Bridging the gap between perception and reality. You can’t tell the “Real Story” without Public Relations.” Kevin Mercuri 
• “PR is authentic, ad-free communication to build brands & create awareness. Coupled with social media, PR promotes & manages a company, person or brand image.” Molly Lynch 
• “The art of conveying a brand’s key messages through news, events & communications to establish, enhance or repair the brand’s image.” Laura Crovo 
• “PR is perceived and proven image of a person or business, and ongoing communication to consistently guide opinion & shape attitudes.” Gail Sideman 
• “The space between your brand and its biggest critic/cheerleader.” Erin Schorr 
• “Getting ink, enhancing profiles and when the stars align, increasing a client’s bottom-line.” Robert Martinez 
• “Strengthening relationships!” Taylor White 
• “PR is using strategic communications to engage, educate, inform or persuade different publics utilizing a variety of tactics.” Jason Gerdon 
• “PR is in the midst of a major collision w/digital media; This major paradigm shift challenges communication pros to adapt or fail in 2011.” Ray Young
• “P.R. influences an audience to trust you, your product or your service through truthful statements & reliable testimony.” Jim DeLorenzo 
• “Creating mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and the groups upon which their success or failure depend upon.” Julie Heidelberg 
• And my definition would be  “Increasing brand awareness through communications – maintaining a strong image – building relationships – evolving… not Advertising.”

So the next time someone asks you to define Public Relations, feel free to borrow one of the many definitions above and if you would like to add your own, we would love your comments below!