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Like the Facebook IPO?

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

By Robin Russo

Don’t get me wrong – I’m a huge proponent of Facebook, but this little thing called an IPO is starting to bug me – a lot. And I doubt I’m alone in this. “Fans” of Facebook – expected to reach a billion this year – can’t possibly “Like” the Facebook IPO, rumored to happen sometime in the next few months. That’s because those of us loyal Facebook users – who helped make Facebook a success – will not have a chance to take part in what is being called the largest public offering – ever (it already is the largest Internet offering).

So who will get to take part in this record breaking IPO – which stands for “initial public offering” – a term that technically might not apply to Facebook, since it’s been heavily traded for some time in the secondary markets where “private” shares are bought and sold (by the big investment firms that push it toward their own big clients, many of which are foreigners)? In addition to these and other investors in the company, Facebook employees who’ve been anxiously awaiting a chance to sell their shares on the open market will also benefit from the IPO. The “public,” the rest of us, won’t have a prayer of getting our hands on this IPO.

Many of these people will become millionaires from this IPO and don’t get me wrong – I’m all for capitalism and I understand that this is the way it’s done. But something smells fishy to me, and it isn’t just that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg went on national TV and said to the world that he had no intentions of going public – I get it. Facebook has just gotten so big that it’s taken on a life of its own and even he can’t stop it from its true potential. And I know I shouldn’t be surprised, that it was inevitable that this multi-billion dollar innovation would become a public company.

Maybe I’m just a bit naïve, but what’s really bothering me is that this IPO was very calculated – it wasn’t just “Oops, we have more than 500 investors now” – the way it’s being reported. If Facebook goes public by the end of May – as is being reported – early shareholders will be able to sell some shares before the end of the year and, notably, before the expiration of tax cuts instituted during the George W. Bush administration. Now isn’t that a coincidence.

Tags: Facebook, Marketing, Social Media, social media PR
Posted in Chit Chatter, Facebook, Talking PR, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Who’s Talking?

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

by Alyson O’Mahoney

Here at RL&A, we are a bit obsessed with social media marketing reporting, tracking, monitoring – ultimately, gauging the daily impact of a conversation started, commented responded to, etc. So when Facebook launched a new interactive marketing metric – “Talking About This” – not so long ago, and made it an incredibly prominent feature directly under a page’s fan number, we were a bit like babies staring a shiny object…mesmerized. However, over time, we have grown a bit disenchanted with this number and by telling you this, we hope you will, too (and ultimately, we hope Facebook does away with it!).

From what I have read, this figure is supposed to gauge the past week of a page’s activity related to conversation and interactions, including:

• liking a brand page
• posting to a page’s wall
• liking, commenting on or sharing a page post (or photos, video or album)
• answering a question on a page’s wall
• RSVPing to an event
• mentioning a page in a post
• tagging a page
• liking or sharing a check-in deal
• checking in at a place.

I don’t see advertising mentioned in this list…..but it seems to be the most influential in raising/lowering this number based on our experience. Here’s our own example: two client pages – one has been around for about six months (red box) and has had nice, ongoing organic daily interaction, growth, etc.; the other is a brand new page (blue box) that has invested a modest amount of spending on CPC social ads for its first week of its launch. You can see the existing page has a much smaller percentage of “Talking About This” compared to the page spending advertising dollars in Facebook. You would think the larger fan base would have a higher “Talking About This” figure, but the fact is, this particular week, that brand, though a much larger fan base, had no CPC spending…so is that the key difference here?

A social network, to us, should be measured mostly by organic interaction…and the success of a true social media marketing campaign should reflect this. Based on our own experience, the “Talking About This” snapshot, frankly, seems to be more of a measure of a brand’s cost-per-click (CPC) paid social ad efforts in Facebook and not really the brand’s social conversation prowess. CPC on a social network is not social media, it is advertising in a social media setting, which we highly recommend, but it should not be a number used and displayed second only in importance to total fan base.

Tags: Facebook, Marketing, PR, Social Media, social media PR
Posted in Chit Chatter, Facebook, Social Networks, Talking PR | No Comments »

Print Placements Still Deliver on Excitement

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

By Nicole Egan

After securing many print placements over the years, I never get tired of seeing the fruits of my labors in major consumer magazines. It’s like unwrapping a shiny present…you’re not quite sure what it will look like. There is an indescribable excitement to seeing the name and/or picture of the products that were pitched. Recently, our client Certain Dri was featured in the September issue of Women’s Health magazine in a beauty article as the WH antiperspirant “pick.” Definitely a surprise that I loved!

Tags: Beauty PR, Marketing, PR, Traditional Media
Posted in Clients in the News, Talking PR | No Comments »

Facebook Fan Abandonment Should Be Considered as Measurement of Success

Friday, August 26th, 2011

Facebook Fan Abandonment Should Be Considered as Measurement of Success

Anyone who has a brand page on Facebook wants to create a robust brand community and watch those “likes” grow, but building a fan base should be a strategic exercise focused on quality not quantity. If you are too focused on a quick spike in fan numbers with flashy giveaways that bribe potential consumers to like your page (to enter a contest with a big prize, get some type of big freebie, etc.) as opposed to maintaining a long-term, engaged fan base, you will end up losing those fans fast when the promo ends. Once you begin to really converse with them about what the page is about…not the contest or the promo…but the brand, many of these new fans will likely leave because they got what they came for (the giveaway). This is called fan abandonment.

In fact, a recent stat from ExactTarget, a targeted email marketing supplier, indicates that 26% of consumers say they have “liked” a company because they were interested in a one-time offer, and then “unliked” the brand after getting what they wanted, which means the brand lost that consumer’s attention for continued conversation. In addition, we have seen fan abandonment rate stats reported upwards of 30%…that means 1/3 of the page fans have cycled out!

Behavior such as this is exactly what RL&A wants to avoid for our client pages. We avoid this by not participating in “like” bribery; instead we give fans, new and old, brand content they can engage with that keeps them at the page. This may grow the page a bit slower than the page with the $1 million offer, but it means we attract fans that are more likely to stick to and with the brand. In fact, our average fan abandonment rate for the approximately 15 Facebook pages we manage is less than 9%…in some cases, less than 5%, which is significantly lower than the industry’s averages. If you are going to invest time and money into creating a community, do so strategically for the long-term…and don’t abandon this approach for the quick spikes, because over the course, these fans will abandon you.

Tags: Beauty PR, Facebook, Marketing, Social Media, social media PR
Posted in Chit Chatter, Facebook, Social Networks, Talking PR | No Comments »

Social Media Spotlight: Twitter For Your Brand

Saturday, April 30th, 2011

By: Brittany Oat

It seems like there’s a new feature on Facebook or Twitter every week. Now, rumor has it that Twitter will soon roll out brand pages similar to those on Facebook. Regardless of whether or not these brand pages come to fruition, there’s already a lot we are doing to build our clients’ brand image on Twitter in efficient ways:

• TwitPics is a Twitter app that let’s us share photos and video on Twitter in real time. Followers appreciate that they have a gallery right on Twitter where they can view a brand’s photos and video without having to leave where they are . It’s come in handy for tweeting where a visual – product shot, video, etc. – is integral in the message, be it to consumers or even media outlets.
• Parties are especially popular among the mom bloggers on Twitter. Often, a brand will fit in perfectly with a themed Twitter Party that some of these bloggers are hosting, or we develop creative parties with them. The product will be discussed during the event, and offered as a giveaway to some participants.
• Hashtags are a great way to make your brand “trendy” on Twitter because people search specifically for these hashtags on Twitter. For example, right now #weneedacurefor is a popular hashtag. We can take advantage of trends like these and include popular hashtags in relevant Tweets from our brands that help cure things from nausea and joint pain, to butt chaffing and chapped lips.
• Conversation…and, frankly, there’s nothing fancy about it…it is just proactively tracking and responding, where appropriate, to people who Tweet about your brand, be it to/on your Twitter page (including your Twitter handle in their Tweet) or on their own pages (without links to yours). You might be surprised to find out how many people are talking about your brand already if you stop to listen….

Posted in Social Networks, Talking PR | No Comments »

ZMOT Supports Social Media Marketing

Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

By Robin Russo

Lately, our most frequent topic of conversation with prospective HBA clients is how to engage consumers through social media — and why it’s so important in today’s app- and search-obsessed world. How can we measure social media results and will social media actually impact sales? In fact, we talk about this so much that sometimes we need a reality check. So I set out to unearth a few little facts to support RL&A’s case for social media marketing in our current world of tight HBA marketing budgets:

 According to Google, consumer searches for beauty and personal care are up 15% — SKU proliferation in the marketplace and more complex product ingredients, additives and benefits (i.e. anti-wrinkle, probiotics, acai, stevia) have given consumers more reason to turn to search engines to help them in the decision-making process.

 And in the blogosphere, the NY Times recently reported that there are now 3.9 million “mom” or “mother” bloggers offering up their views on a host of topics, from parenting to beauty and personal care and OTC health and nutritional products. Some of the top bloggers are even gaining celebrity-like status, showing up as experts on television and talk shows.

 On the healthcare side, 80 percent of internet users search for health information online according to the Pew Research Center in a 2011 report. Two-thirds of internet users search for information on diseases and medical problems and more than half search for treatments/procedures for specific conditions. Looking for health information is the third most popular online activity, the report found.

 Also according to Google, the rise of full internet adoption and increased search engine use often leads to brand interactions taking place between a consumer and a brand before that consumer ever sees a product on a shelf – or what they call the “Zero Moment of Truth”, or ZMOT.

 According to a SymphonyIRI report, 83% of shoppers make their purchase decisions prior to entering a store.

 The SymphonyIRI report also says that consumers are relying more on OTCs and self-treating to save money in our down economy. As a result of taking charge of their healthcare management, they are looking for guidance – NOT from doctors or pharmacists, but from the brands and companies they trust.

 Social media marketing will improve your search engine ranking, when done properly. More importantly, a by-product of social media marketing is organic SEO – which is way more cost-effective than paid search.

Opportunity is knocking…just open the door. Anybody for a lesson on social media 101?

Posted in Facebook, Social Networks, Talking PR | No Comments »

A Bicycle Brand Should Really Capitalize on this PR Opportunity
Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

Posted in Chit Chatter, Picture of The Week, Talking PR | No Comments »

Page One Beauty PR Firm
Friday, March 11th, 2011

As a busy PR/social media agency, we often forgo our own marketing since we are too busy tending to our client’s marketing needs, but occasionally, we try to practice what we preach – namely, that social media, when done properly, can land you on page one of Google. It won’t happen overnight, but within six months of starting an organic social media campaign, you should find yourself – your brand, your company, your website — on “page one” based on using your two or three most important key word phrases in search….the way you believe your consumers might best find you other than putting in your company/brand name.

For us, “beauty PR” or “beauty PR firm” was at the top of our list, since we already come up as the number 1 and 2 for the search term “OTC PR” (what were best known for). However, unlike OTC PR, beauty PR is a tough one, as there are hundreds, if not, thousands of agencies that purport to be beauty PR specialists, many of which are way larger and more famous than little old RL&A. Yet, low and behold, after a bit of social strategy and our own content engagement online, there we are, on page one for “beauty PR” and “beauty PR firm” in just a few months (we are slot 7 and 10, respectively, for these search terms, but with continued marketing as we have been doing, we feel we can move up further).

So for this post, I just wanted to toot our own horn for a change, and not only share our success in getting onto page one of Google, but also on one pretty big accomplishment that makes us “page one Google-worthy” for beauty PR: our FANTASTIC Facebook page for Softlips Lip Balm, which is about to surpass 520,000 “fans” this month – not a small feat. Not only that, but we have some 750-plus blog posts and 90-plus video blog posts (vlogs) for Softlips, all secured by our dedicated RL&A staff. It’s a beautiful thing…so if you are looking to launch or refresh a beauty product in the traditional media or social space, we are at the ready to handle your beauty PR, social media PR and marketing (note the keywords in here??).

Tags: Beauty PR, Facebook, Marketing, PR, Social Media, social media PR, Twitter
Posted in Blog Outreach, Clients in the News, Facebook, Talking PR | No Comments »

When Breaking News Meets PR
Friday, October 15th, 2010

By Brittany Oat

Around the world, people have been glued to their TV stations as all of the Chilean miners emerged safely. While most were focused on this amazing story of survival and heroism, some savvy brands were focusing on some free PR.

Did you see those cool glasses shielding tear-filled eyes of rescued miners? Oakley donated 35 pairs of their special Radar glasses with Black Iridium lenses. The sunglasses retail for about $450 a pair, while the free TV advertising time is worth about $41 million!

NASA also got some much needed good PR. They devised and helped build the rescue capsule dubbed “Phoenix”.

And, let’s not forget brand Chile. President Sebastián Piñera personally greeted each miner coming out of the rescue capsule and is now planning a global tour where, according to the Financial Times, he will sell Chile’s image as Latin America’s best-managed economy. And all this will get another boost when the movie comes out. There’s no question this miracle will be an asset to Chilean business and tourism.

Posted in Talking PR, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

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