Corporateinklings

U Sure U Want to Put that Reporter on Hold?

Sometimes, it’s just not convenient to deal with a reporter or analyst’s call, especially if they’re nosing about a sensitive issue. That’s what happened this week, with mZinga and Forrester social media analyst Jeremiah Owyang.

Rumors were circulating about potential disarray, and Owyang asked for a briefing – which was promised 4 days later. Owyang, who has 36,000 Twitter followers, including his clients, didn’t want to wait, since the news was already rumbling. So he posted on the ‘crowd-sourced’ news (i.e., rumors), and then he heard from the company. mZinga didn’t like it; a mini-tempest ensued, a corrective briefing was arranged, and he apologized for jumping the gun on his blog.

The lesson learned here: You can still influence what’s being said about you. But you’d better know the new rules.

   - Posted by Amy Bermar

Twitter: Direct to the Wall Street Journal – and Buyers

Twitter. Yeah, I am sick of hearing how great it is, too.

The key is cutting through the noise and paying attention to tweeters and tweets that matter to inevitably speak directly to the people you want most to hear you: your prospective buyers.

One of the clients I work with, @FlightView has an iPhone application and has partnered with developer, Ben Kazez (@bkazez) to create FlightTrack, the number one travel application for the iPhone.

The Wall Street Journal’s ‘Middle Seat’ blogger (@MiddleSeat), Scott McCartney, that said, “Do any of you guys have a favorite travel-related iPhone app?”

Many people responded to him, including yours truly and cited FlightTrack as a favorite travel application. I sent along more information as well via e-mail.

In the end, his Twitter poll came to fruition in the shape of a piece entitled, “Five Reader-Approved Travel Apps for the iPhone”… and number one on the list… FlightTrack. He had hyperlinked FlightTrack to go to http://www.approposmobile.com/flight-tracker.php which showed a beautiful FlightView image of a coast-to-coast flight.

Reporters are using social media tools like Twitter to get their information. Moreover, reporters and bloggers that FlightView had previously spoken to in interviews had also weighed in and put FlightTrack at number one on their lists.

So Twitter might seem like talk, talk, talk, but it has real value – when it speaks directly to your buyers.

- By Kristen Waples

Listen UP: Cut the crappy pitches

Show me a PR person who hasn’t written a lousy pitch, and I’ll show you a liar. I’ve certainly written my fare share of pitches that don’t make the fridge. 

But today, with publications folding left and right – there’s no room for bad pitches.    

The sad truth is that there are fewer publications out there today than last week, much less last year.  (Even some of the biggest dailies are now being shopped, and there are plenty of bets on which ones will go dark, maybe this year.) The ones remaining are slashing their print editions; the Boston Globe has eviscerated its travel section, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is about to give up its print edition altogether, making it the first major daily to abandon print for online.

The result?  PR still shows up in Page 1 stories – a lot more often than you might think – but there’s a lot less room for crappy pitches.

It’s amazing, that even in this market, reporters’ #1 beef is that PR people still don’t understand their publications and pitch the ‘wrong’ stories. Like asking Fortune if they run announcements of new hires.

So stop it. Get smart.  Read the darned thing. Follow the reporter. Give ‘em a news hook they can’t resist. Even in this lousy market, reporters are just looking for a good story.

And if you want to see some lousy pitches at a key health pub (one of the few markets still kicking), check this out from HealthLeaders “Say What?”

  - Posted by Lesley Cannata

Video Goes to Wall Street

 If anyone is still wondering whether video is the way to go – the answer came Tuesday, when Thomson Reuters leaked the news of its new searchable video-on-demand service for Wall Street.

The financial news company expects to get out ahead of Bloomberg and Dow Jones with fast access to specific pieces of video, available only to subscribers. This isn’t the fancy stuff – often, it will be stand-up presentations recorded at conferences and hearings. The target:  The 500,000 financial professionals who already have a screen on their desk.

In this new integrated world, which rolls out in June, each video will share the screen with search tools, and a searchable transcript. It’s almost as if the search is more important than the video; it’s extremely fast, and can also compile a video montage linked by key words.

Bare-bones studios in NY, Tokyo and Hong Kong will speed production. No surprise that Thomson Reuters is inviting/expecting its clients to supply video and even create their own channels.

For the rest of us, video is still a little too linear to be really useful for most of us searching for quick data hits. But clearly, producing video – fancy or not – is the way to go. Having rapid, flexible search tools will make it more relevant for anyone searching – and companies producing their own video libraries.

As for why Thomson Reuters invested so much in video right now? Wall Street will be smaller when this is all over, said the CEO of the company’s markets division. The survivors will be younger, and accustomed to instant searches and on-demand information.

Get ready for the new customer.

  - Posted by Amy Bermar