Sunlight PR

A clever alternative to paid advertising

cecily — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 23:40:26 +0000

The short answer? Ice cream! Two paragraphs of your time to get the scoop.

Software start-up Ideavibes contacted Sunlight PR prior to its 2011 trip to Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco. Competing with hundreds of other software exhibitors, Ideavibes had created a website to collect ideas for improving SF’s transportation and housing woes– as a way to demonstrate its software in action. Now the challenge! How to get people to visit the website and submit an idea? Ideavibes had an advertising budget, and had considered sponsoring a traffic report, handing out fliers or purchasing print ads. But how many people actually take action from these promotions?

SunlightPR approached San Francisco’s trendy, booming ice-cream sensation Humphrey Slocombe, which has a massive 310,000 plus Twitter following– bigger than the weekday circulation of the San Francisco Chronicle. The scoop? Ideavibes pre-purchased 500 ice cream cones, Humphrey Slocombe “tweeted” the offer of free ice-cream to its massive following, for anyone who would submit an idea to improve SF. Ideavibes spent less than its original advertising budget, drove thousands of visitors to its website, and received press coverage about the unique arrangement, it never would have otherwise received.

3 ways to get people to comment on Facebook posts

admin — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 19:34:35 +0000

Everyone on Facebook is scrambling to “engage” their fans. Why? Because unless your fans ‘like’ or ‘comment on your postings, the updates, blogs & links you work so hard to create won’t even show up on your fans’ update streams! That’s right. You may have 10,000 fans and just a portion of them even see your posts. It’s as if you have just 100 fans!

Soooooooo, we are all on Facebook desperately trying to engage:

“Check out this great recipe! What are your favorites?”

“Who do you think should win American Idol?”

“How do you treat your cold symptoms?”

The problem is, when nobody responds…it’s kind of like having a party and nobody shows up. Frankly, it’s embarrassing.

So what to do.

1. Stop asking questions! Desperation can be off putting. Continue to post compelling content and let people respond if they like.
2. Give people an incentive to respond. People like free stuff. If they comment, they might win something free.
3. Create a cabin crew. Get a group of 30 to 50 loyal fans and give them an incentive to regularly comment on your posts. The more comments, the more others are likely to show interest. Again, the popularity game. Nobody wants to be the only one at a party…or rather, the only one replying to a FB post.

Only 4 phone calls after big news story

admin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:55:38 +0000

A client of mine recently published an important study in a reputable journal. He was delighted that the large hospital where he worked while conducting the study pushed a press release through its well-established media network. The result? An L.A. Times story, a segment on TV news, and half-a-dozen articles on medical websites. My client was thrilled.

I phoned him a week later to check-in. I couldn’t wait to hear. How many calls? Four. Just four.

To be sure, media coverage can’t hurt. But clearly it is not the golden ticket it once was. People get their information differently these days, and I’m not talking about Internet vs. print. I’m talking about top-level marketing, vs. grass-roots marketing.

People are so bombarded today, a newspaper article is no longer enough. Not nearly. You have to research to whom your target audience is giving their attention, and reach them there.

Back to my client, what did we do? We took advantage of the news articles. They looked professional, and we sent them to his mailing list and to relevant, local groups. We also used them to showcase his accomplishments for potential speaking engagements.

Now, you ask…how many calls came from this? I will call in two weeks and find out.

(Cecily Ruttenberg provides social media marketing and public relations services to businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area. To stay connected, please click the “like” button, connect with Cecily on LinkedIn, or join the Sunlight PR mailing list.)

Confession of a first-time videographer

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 20:45:39 +0000

By Cecily Ruttenberg

In May, I attended the Social Media Success Summit 2010. The take-home message was unequivocal. Present yourself across differently modalities. And don’t leave out video! YouTube is the third highest traffic website on the Internet.

Given that my business is to advise others on using social media marketing to grow business, I figured I had better take my own advice.

So, over Memorial Day weekend, I made my first business video. I shot the first seven takes Saturday, and the next five Sunday.

By Sunday, my spiel had improved. I had better examples, fewer “ums” and was more relaxed in general. But as I reviewed the takes in my video editor, I noticed a perplexing problem: I looked better in the Saturday shots, but sounded better on Sunday.

Thus the conundrum: In the world of video marketing, is it more important what you say, or how you look? I’m a little embarrassed to admit I chose the latter. Still not sure if I made the right choice.

(Cecily Ruttenberg provides social media marketing and public relations services to small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area. To stay connected, please click the Follow this blog button in blue, to your right, or connect with Cecily on Facebook, Twitter or Linked In.)

Facebook marketing for schools & camps

admin — Wed, 19 May 2010 21:42:29 +0000

Cecily Ruttenberg, Sunlight PR

My last blog post showed how when parents post school-related photos of their kids on Facebook, they inadvertently provide free promotion to their school’s exact desired demographic.

But schools need not cross their fingers in hopes that parents do this. They can do it themselves.

Most schools, camps and religious organizations already present parents with a photo waiver. Simply add the term Facebook and voila.

Next, take lots of great photos, always have the name of the school or camp in the caption, (and visible signage if possible) and upload to the organization’s Facebook page. Then tag the parent of the kid in the photo and chances are, they’ll “share” and promote your group to hundreds of friends with similar aged kids!

If privacy is a concern, you can consider using only first names, group shots or more generalized photo captions.

(Cecily Ruttenberg provides social media marketing and public relations services to small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area. To receive future marketing tips, please click the Follow this blog button in blue, to your right, or connect with Cecily on Facebook, Twitter or Linked In.)

My 9 year-old-son and social media

admin — Fri, 14 May 2010 04:36:33 +0000

Cecily Ruttenberg

Ethan with Emily Reilly after the interview

Today my 9-year-old son Ethan interviewed Emily Reilly, the ex-mayor of Santa Cruz for a “business report” assignment in his third grade class. Ethan chose her because she also happens to own Emily’s Bakery, home to the famous lemon poppy seed muffin. But this is beside the point.

During the interview, like any social media savvy mom, I took photos and shot video, loaded the whole shebang onto Facebook and got lots of instantaneous approval.

And—this is the important part—I also unknowingly (or actually knowingly in my case), gave Ethan’s private K-8 elementary school, the best kind of publicity they could ever get.

Who make up my 200 Facebook friends? Many are 25-50 year old moms in Santa Cruz who just might think, “wow, what a great school. Maybe I should send my kid there.”

I not only promoted the school to new, potential families, I discouraged attrition for existing families. My son’s school also has its own Facebook page and when I uploaded the photo, I tagged the school so other parents could see how cute my kid is. What this also did, is make all the other parents think about how great their kids’ school is.

Last week a fourth grade mom I know posted how quiet her house was with her son on a four day sleepover trip with his class. My comment, “wow, I didn’t know our school takes fourth graders on an overnight trip.” It’s true, I didn’t know.

What is also true is I am considering sending my kids to public school next year. I have an informal pro and con list running in my head. A fourth grade sleep away trip? One more point for the pro column.

My son interviewing the ex-mayor on the school’s Facebook page may have a similar effect on a Kindergarten, first or second grade parent who may be running their own pro and con list.

So here’s my suggestion to schools, religious groups, camps and other kid venues. This is simple stuff. We adore our kids and want to show them off on Facebook. If you give them opportunities to do cool things, and invite us, we will promote you.

(If you found this info helpful, please click the Follow this blog button to your right.)

How to do social media in two words

admin — Tue, 11 May 2010 20:07:18 +0000

By Cecily Ruttenberg

This is me attending the Social Media Success Summit, via my kitchen table.

One week into the Social Media Success Summit, the take away message can be boiled down to two words: Be Seen. If you want to keep your business in other people’s brains, be willing to Be Seen.

It’s not as easy as it sounds. If you don’t naturally seek the spotlight, it can be nerve racking to constantly put yourself onstage. What if your Facebook status updates sound stupid? What if they are too uptight, or, too personal? What if you look horrible in the only good photo from your event? Do you still have to post it? Yes.

In short, don’t be the quiet person at the party who just talks to her friends. Post and tweet and upload videos and post your photos. And try to make what you say online genuine, but not overly personal; smart but not too business uptight. You know, perfect. Just kidding. You don’t have to be perfect to do social media, but you have to be willing to “Be Seen.”

A quick example. I recently met a dentist at a Chamber of Commerce meeting and followed up by “liking” her business on Facebook. Recently she posted a photo of her family at a fellow dentist’s Cinco De Mayo party. I recognized her in the photo, wearing a massive sombrero. Next to her were two small children, hers I assume, also wearing sombreros. I spent a good 30 seconds on this photo. The voyeur in me was interested to see this professional figure in her ‘real’ life. Ultimately, it made me feel a little more comfortable with her, for very little effort on her part. That’s the idea!

(If you found this info helpful or interesting, please consider Following My Blog by clicking on the link to your right under Networked Blogs.)

Does twitter drive revenue?

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:55:31 +0000

Narvi Digital Media says yes.

According to 65% of people who took part in a Narvi Digital Media survey, Twitter does drive business. What an amazing conclusion, but what does it really mean?

It means Twitter’s an amazing communication resource that’s available for every business to use. It also means subscribers to Twitter are willing to part with their cash for the right products and services pitched at the right level.