Digital Marketing, Media, PR Analysis And Insight – The Future Buzz

I’m a big fan of retailers with physical locations integrating social technologies to tell their stories. And not just by adding a “follow us on Twitter” or “like us on Facebook” buttons to their store windows. That’s all well and good (and if you’re doing interesting things in those channels, great). But those initiatives by themselves are hardly creative or worth remarking on – they’re now typical.

The other day I received an email which makes me think I’m doing all the right things. What was that email? Someone sent me a message noting they didn’t like my content, it was too critical and controversial and they were unsubscribing from this blog. Now you’re thinking I’ve lost it – how can I possibly think that means I’m doing things right?

For quite awhile, I was using images in my posts frequently. Almost daily. Enough that stock photography company Shutterstock took notice and we worked together to create a blog outreach program. Images are vital to modern blogs. But images are, in essence, style. Important, but mean nothing without substance.

More than one year ago, I wrote that Matt Cutts is representative of next generation PR. So it was great to see Aaron Wall at SEO Book write a post on the top 10 SEOs and included this bit about Matt:

Matt Cutts is better at public relations than 99% of public relations experts are. He is able to constantly promote Google products and engage in issue shaping while rarely being called out for it. And he rarely makes *any* mistakes on the public relations front…

Mitch Joel over at Six Pixels of Separation wrote a post titled: Unlike Advertising, Social Media Can’t Save A Bad Brand, Product Or Service. I’ve taken issue with Mitch’s content previously (and also agreed with him). I’m going to take issue again today.

I wrote the other week that the idea of time normalization in social media is a fallacy. But it goes further than just time being a fallacy. The marketing industry is obsessed with looking for normalizations everywhere. And other than providing a feel good number for presentations – it’s an exercise in futility. Well, other than the fact that it generates PR for those who come up with the numbers. It’s infotainment at best, misinformation at worst.

If you’re in print media, hemorrhaging revenue and done nothing you still need to rethink your business model. The iPad, DRM or other closed platforms are not your savior. And merely putting your content online is hardly enough.

Recall law 2 of Robert Greene’s 48 laws of power: never put too much trust in friends, learn how to use enemies. The idea of using enemies is something most never even consider, but using enemies as part of your web strategy can be potent.

There’s no such thing as a blanket answer in digital marketing and PR. Just because company X is doing something is not by itself a reason your company should too.

Kendall Winstanley, a North Hastings High School student in Bancroft Ontario asks:

I am a student in grade 12 who is interested in a career in public relations. I am planning on going to Durham College in the fall for PR. Currently, I am doing a report on public relations professionals and how social media is affecting how their job is performed. I read your blog and was hoping that you could give me some more insight into the topic, so I can fully understand it and give the correct information.