It’s human nature. We are our harshest critics. No matter how knowledgeable you are, or how many hours you’ve prepared for a big interview, you’re the first to criticize your performance.  That happened recently with one of my clients, who was interviewed live on a major market radio station. We thought his performance was good. He didn’t like it a bit. We thought his quick responses to questions proved his instant knowledge of the topic. He wanted his on-air persona to be more enthusiastic.

Since I worked closely with the show’s producer, I called to get his feedback and I’m glad I did.  While my client wasn’t at his most colorful best, the producer told me it was obvious he “had opinions and good ideas, he was not tentative and he brought something to the table. He worked out perfect. It was all very good. He’s good.” 

Better yet, I got the highest compliment a media relations pro could ask for — the producer inquired about my other client experts who might appear on his program! 

Lesson learned — don’t be afraid to seek feedback. You’ll get valuable information from the folks you’re trying to serve, and you’ll provide more value to your clients. And in each instant, you’ll deepen your relationships!

Call it the “Oprah Effect” the “Ashton Effect” or the “Ellen Effect.”  With swarms of celebrities staking their plots of real estate on Twitter, the Twitterverse is now mainstream and I’m not crazy about it.

I was lured to Twitter more than a year ago by former CIO Magazine Editor Abbie Lundberg in a blog post on the Business Value of Twitter. I quickly learned that as a business tool Twitter lets you engage with people, learn from and  help others. When done well, Twitter will help you nurture relationships that could inspire you personally, and help you grow professionally.

I emphasize the “done well” part. All Twitter participants benefit from a two-way conversation.  Twitter done well is a 1-to-1 engagement, unearthing common interests and spawning new conversations. It’s relationship building 101 and the value we emphasize in the social media workshops we host for  friends and clients at Pipeline Media Relations.

How can you possibly build relationships when you have 1,299,224 followers, but  follow only 14 (yep, that’s Oprah’s status today). We all know her goal – use another medium to spread brand Oprah. Her intent is not to send a DM to JoAnne from Peoria.

So is Mainstream Twitter ruining it for the rest of us? Do the celebrity citings on Twitter turn off entrepreneurs and other business people who have already questioned whether Twitter is already a big waste of time? I hope not. I’m still finding great value in Twitter and have connected to  folks I never would have dreamed of meeting. How about you?  Would love to hear what you’re telling your clients about Twitter in the mainstream. Write to me at michelle@pipelinemediarelations.com.

You’ve just wrapped up a successful PR campaign and generated numerous stories across national, regional and trade media. Your client is pumped up as you deliver the culmination of your program in the form of a massive clip report. Everyone is happy…right?

I’ve constantly been agitated by the PR industry (for which I’m a part of) and our inability to tie into the most important aspect of our profession – validating the client’s that we serve. There are many different ways for us to measure the effectiveness of our programs. In fact, Katie Paine, founder of KDPaine & Partners is probably one of the very best at designing the measurement programs in our industry. However, I’m not talking about measurement; I’m talking about educating companies about how to effectively “merchandise” these media placements throughout their organization directly to their targeted audiences. Validating their business by hand-delivering such media coverage to these targeted audiences.

Here are just a few of the things you can do to make your PR program an internal success that will have the entire organization (and targeted audiences) singing your praises:

• A Reason to Call or Email - How many times do sales teams bitch and complain about having to make cold calls or never having anything new to take to their clients or prospects? Now they do as a result of your media coverage. Draft a number of communications tools including emails, speaking points, etc. that anyone in your organization can take to their respective audiences directly relating to these stories. They now have a great reason to connect that isn’t self serving or traditional.
• Encourage You Organization to Leverage Social Media – Too many times we hear about companies looking to put restrictions in place for their employees on social media. Bad idea. Instead, encourage and arm your employees with the links, Tweets, and summarized posts about the media coverage on their personal profiles. Besides any employee should be excited about their company being featured in the media.
• Wear it on your Sleeve – Okay, not literally but employees should be proud of such coverage and should let others know via their email signature, on their website, marketing materials, business cards, etc. Everyone appreciates being featured in the media and besides, it will certainly be a great conversation starter.

I could go on and on but would love to hear what you’re doing to “merchandise” your stories. This has become a standard practice for my firm and I hope others will catch on and not move on once the results come in but instead let the games (and outreach) begin!

I continue to be amazed at all of the interactions being had on Twitter with traditional/social media professionals and others. In fact, today’s announcement by Cision introducing their new service called JournalistTweets followed by another amazing conversation tonight on #journchat made me think about something…

Is Twitter becoming a new media platform itself?

I say this for many reasons…not just because of the Twitter hype we’re experiencing today. Let me try and explain with these 3 points:

1 – The News Push – I’ve been able to replace all of my RSS news feeds because most of the major news outlets I traditionally follow are broadcasting their news via Twitter (i.e., here is an amazing list compiled by Sarah Evans – MediaOnTwitter).

2 – The Micro Blog – Most media (journalists and bloggers) are using Twitter to market their stories or blogs to others. Granted, they are only using Twitter to supplement their “story marketing” but there is no doubt that the traffic being created by these tactics are growing rapidly.

3 – The “Conversation” – This is the biggest reason (and most powerful weapon of Twitter) I am so bold to make a statement that this is becoming it’s own media platform – like TV, radio, print, etc. On Twitter journalists are conversing with mass audiences (not just PR/Communications professionals), tapping into general interest and niche expertise alike.  In the same right, these casual conversations are becoming news themselves.

Am I going on a limb here? Perhaps drinking too much Twitter Kool-Aid? Or do you too believe that Twitter has morphed into so much more than just another social media or networking platform. Talk with me!

Back in February I wrote a post entitled Is it Too Late for Traditional Newspapers? – Like many, I believe innovation and adoption of social media and online components will be the downfall of these traditional newspapers.

Today many people continue to ask me why we are now playing in the “social media” space when our firm has been focused on traditional media relations. I always think I have a good answer for such a question, “because as traditional media evolves, organizations will have the unique ability to reach their targeted audiences without using the media as their mouthpiece.” I’ve since realized that this response fails to answer the full picture about why we are involved with social media – because many of these traditional journalists are also playing in this space.

Many others have recently weighed in on this topic including the story yesterday by @woodylewis on Mashable (@mashable) entitled, “5 Ways Traditional Media is Going Social.”

What I like most about Woody’s story is how he talks about the successful approach that John Byrne (@johnabyrne), editor-in-chief of BusinessWeek Online has had leveraging his Twitter profile. In fact, his post “What’s Your News Story Idea” John gives readers a chance to share and submit their story ideas to John and a number of other BusinessWeek editors. This looks great on the surface, but from what I’ve seen, John is truly delivering on this promise since April…2008!

Another great example of the traditional media’s use of social media would be the wiki that PR & social media expert Sarah Evans (@PRSarahEvans) put together called MediaOnTwitter listing out all of the journalists and media outlets currently on Twitter. I love this list and often forward to any PR or marketing colleague who doubts why they should be using Twitter. Not to be pitching per se as John suggests, but to be interacting with these influential journalists and to be reading their respective outlets.

What are some examples you’ve seen of traditional and social media blending together? And to Woody’s point, do you believe his closing comments, “When the economy recovers, those brands that have survived by innovating should benefit from the social media tools they’ve put in place.”? I do.

 We meet many business people  who are intrigued by social media, but wonder how to plan and execute a social media  initiative tailored to their specific goals and needs. One of their most common questions is “How could I use Twitter or Facebook  for my business?”  Here are a few great examples of businesses succeeding in social media. They’re profiled in today’s Minding Your Business  by Chicago Tribune columnist Ann Meyer.

I love Ann’s story, because so much of it resonates with what we at Pipeline Media Relations are telling clients in our Social Media Bootcamps and Twitter Workshops.

1. When it comes to creativity, the sky is the limit.

2. When done correctly, your social media initiative will broaden your reach and generate new business.

3. Business decision-makers have a growing presence on social media networks. The fastest growing demographic is the 35 to 49 year old crowd.

4. The  integrated use of blogs, Twitter and Facebook make a powerful arsenal of business tools.

5. Don’t use social media to pump a hard sell. Have a conversation. Offer to help. Learn about your friends and followers.

6. Before taking the plunge, answer this question, “Am I really ready to this?”  You’ll need to commit a few blocks of time every day or every other day to engage with your followers or those following you.

7. Social media is an investment, mostly of your time. But the pay-off can be great, if you have a plan and executive it properly.

Am I missing anything? Please let me know if you have some additional tips. Also, if you want more information, just give me a shout. I’d be happy to help. Also look for me @MichelleDamico on Twitter.

How many times have you set a goal only to have it come crashing down on you because of any number of reasons: not enough time, unachievable metrics, too many other goals, etc.?  I felt like this about 30 days ago when I learned I had Sphenoid Sinusitis at the peak of training for my first half-marathon, the 41st Drake On-The-Roads on April 25. I can remember my ENT doctor telling me (while reviewing my CT Scan of my sinuses), “Hmmm, that doesn’t look good,” as he went on to explain that my Sphenoid cavity on the left hand side (located in the middle of your head right next to your optic nerve and a major artery) was filled with something. He went on to say, “In fact, it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up to think about having to operate on this.” Always a comforting comment from your doctor:).

Long story short(er) – I was treated with 20 days of antibiotics and about 2 weeks ago I was medically cleared after my final MRI. I tell you this because after 6 months of training, I wasn’t sure if I would get a chance to run in this race…after all the hard work.

I’m happy to say that I ran in the half-marathon yesterday in Des Moines, IA. It was 50 degrees and raining at 8 a.m. The longest I had ever run was 7 miles so this would almost double my longest run, but I was dead focused on accomplishing this goal. The gun shot and…

• I quickly realized I ran the first 3 miles (pure adrenalin) at about a 7 minute pace (much faster than I typically run)
• At mile 5 I watched about 2/3 of the runners make a turn back towards the starting line (they were doing the 8K)…I SO wanted to make that turn with them…but didn’t
• Mile 7.1 I was in virgin territory (for me)
• Mile 8 my cousin (who lives in Des Moines took this picture right in front of her house) I forced a smile:)
• Mile 9 I started losing feeling in my legs but didn’t feel too winded
• Mile 10 I was fortunate to connect with a friend running in the race who gave me some amazing jelly beans for energy (thanks Jelly Belly)
• Mile 13 my feet were numb, my legs were trembling but I did what felt like a sprint…and finished

It’s great to set goals for yourself.  We will all face many hurdles and excuses about why we shouldn’t accomplish them (that’s quite easy). But when you do, it helps you realize that you can accomplish anything you want and inspires you to set and accomplish many more. I hope the same for each of you.

Have you ever accomplished a personal goal in the face of adversity? I’d love to hear about it!

Ever heard your child say, “Can we buy that? Why can’t we get that”?  My children are at that age where they don’t quite grasp the concept of money and where it comes from.  My 5 year old always tells me to “go get money at the ATM mom.”  Where it brings a smile to my face at their innocence, it reminds me how sheltered they really are.

This weekend our family filled food packs for starving children in Zimbabwe.  It was our second year doing this and is eye opening, again.  It was important for me to include my son to help him understand that our standard of living is not the norm but the fortunate.

Feed My Starving Children www.fmsc.org is an organization from Minnesota with a mission to supply nutritional meal packs for starving children to over 60 countries around the world.  Perhaps you have participated in a similar cause.  It’s not only a fantastic way to meet other families but to teach our kids about less fortunate children and helping those in desperate need. 

For my son, he was very emotional.  He saw images of malnourished children, before and after FMSC intervened.  He couldn’t comprehend why they couldn’t get food, why they don’t have grocery stores and why they only eat once a day.  I wanted him to understand that children are hungry year round, not just during the holiday season.

When our shift was over (just 2 hrs) we had packed over 150 boxes which are over 5,400 meal packs.  We were told that will feed 88 children one meal per day for an entire year!  Now my 5 year old still having trouble with the one meal a day, turns to me with an ear to ear grin.  “One whole year…” he says, to him a year is a long time, “…wow!”  So proud of his accomplishment, he asks when he will be invited back to help again.  Then he replies, “Can we go out to eat now?”

Here is an example of taking a negative situation and spinning it into a wonderful positive situation.

I’m sharing with you a post http://tinyurl.com/cpl5hp I read from @NemoHQ.  Nemo, like many other companies, had to layoff nine valuable employees.  What Nemo did, unlike others, was to feel such a deep loss, they took their welfare into consideration.  They turned to Social Media and used the power of Twitter’s community to help them.  Nemo’s goal was to reach out to companies, making them aware of these talented individuals who are looking for work.  The result: overwhelming tweets of well wishes and business owners expressing interest in their former employees.  In fact just days later, many had interviews lined up.

So why is it that other companies can’t do the same?  Do they not feel the same loss that Nemo felt?  Perhaps the people making the layoff decisions have no idea who those employees are, just a name and job title.  I believe that’s the case for large businesses and corporations but that’s still no excuse.

My very dear friend is an HR professional.  She’s been the messenger consistantly since last November.  It’s been extremely stressful and draining on her and she is the one feeling the loss for her company, not senior management.  I shared the Nemo case study to show her the power of community, hoping to diffuse some of that stress.

What companies do you know of who cared enough about their employees welfare and have reached out in other ways to help?  Post a comment, I’d love to hear from you!