Successful Blog

Be Ready for Your 15 Minutes of Fame!

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A Guest Post by
Rosemary O’Neill

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“Um, Rosemary, Fox & Friends is on line one??”

It’s every entrepreneur and every small business owner’s dream, right? That phone call is awe-inspiring and exciting. But be careful what you wish for. Being in the center of a media scrum, even a friendly one, is stressful and demanding if you’re not ready for it.

Bottom line, if you’re sending out any sort of media communications (formal or informal press releases, or even company information on your website), you need to be ready in case lightning strikes.

Here are some tips for surviving your first bit of media attention.

  • Be camera ready before you do a PR campaign – you never know if your release is going to click with a TV outlet, radio, or online. If you are due for a hair coloring, go do that before you send out the release.
  • Get your talking points ready – you need to have a coherent message across numerous interviews. The best thing is to come up with two sentences that you absolutely want to get into the conversation; don’t bog yourself down, but know what you want to say to the world.

    What to say if they ask “is there anything you’d like to add” – without fail, you will be asked at the end of the interview if you have anything else to say. Make sure you do have something to add, especially if there’s something you wanted to get across that the interviewer didn’t ask you about. Sometimes this tidbit will lead to further coverage or a whole new angle for the story.

  • Be flexible – life on a media schedule is weird. With time zones, deadlines, and breaking news stories, you need to be ready to get up early (the morning shows in NYC are brutal if you’re on the West Coast), give interviews outside your son’s basketball game, or get cancelled at the last minute. That’s the way the cookie crumbles.
  • Follow up with a thank you note – this is a place where I fell down, and I wish someone had shared it with me beforehand. I was thinking that there was some taboo about thanking a journalist, because they are supposed to be impartial. Not true, they appreciate being thanked just like everyone else. You can stand out from the crowd by using your best manners.
  • Press releases are (almost) dead – the two times we received major coverage stemmed from non-press release situations. Like any other small business, we’ve been diligently putting out formal releases for years, with minimal return. Then, a dashed off, two-sentence note to a local blogger turns into two years of media attention, including NPR, Fox & Friends, CNN Headline news, etc.
  • Media coverage has long legs – a year after the initial media scrum, I was contacted by NPR to do a followup radio story. That update sparked a renewed interest by a few new outlets. The internet makes your story live forever.
  • Promote your media on your website – once you’ve gotten some media attention, you should highlight it on your own web presence. You can ask the journalist for a DVD or audio clip of the interview, and you can often find it on the web as well. Putting these on your website gives you instant credibility.
  • Find out topic and setting in advance – if you can do some advance homework for the interview, it will help. What is the topic and format? What color is the set? Who exactly will be conducting the interview?
  • Get media training if you can – we were hit out of the blue, and had no thought of becoming “media ready.” Many of our staff members bravely spoke with the journalists who visited our office, but it would have been nice to have some minimal training beforehand. If you can afford it, and you plan a major PR blitz, it would be good to invest in some basic training. At the very least, do some Googling for tips.
  • Be ready to wait – the journalists you are contacting are on their own crazy schedule. They will leave you a message saying they absolutely, must must must speak with you in the next 10 minutes, and then wait a day before returning your voice mail message. You need to be at peace with this fact, and you do need to return their call as quickly as possible.

    • These are some of the things I wish someone had told me before we got our 15 minutes. Good luck with your own media journeys, and if you have tips to add, please share in the comments!
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    Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out their blog. You can find her on Twitter as @rhogroupee
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    Thank you, Rosemary!

    You’re irresistible!

    ME “Liz” Strauss

Be Still

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A Guest Post by
Rosemary O’Neill

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“Still, still, still…one can hear the falling snow…” That’s the opening of my favorite Christmas carol.

It speaks to something buried deep inside us that craves absolute quiet and solitude. Picture a midnight snowfall, before the footprints. Picture being alone on the beach in the early morning. It doesn’t matter what your spiritual beliefs are, or your religious tradition, we all need to withdraw occasionally from the heat of battle and restore ourselves.

How does this relate to our online selves?

Here are some ideas:

  • White space on the website
  • Pause between questions in the conversation
  • Room to breathe
  • Remove one popup window
  • Say no to animated gifs
  • Clear every single thing off your desk
  • Offer a single button
  • Don’t pitch in every communication
  • Stop keyword stuffing
  • Think for a moment before typing a response
  • Don’t hold yourself to a 5 minute turnaround on all emails
  • Turn off the social alerts for part of the day
  • Cut back on the multitasking

And now that you’ve read this, sit up straight in your chair, close your eyes, and breathe in and out slowly five times. Be still for a moment.
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Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out their blog. You can find her on Twitter as @rhogroupee

First things first; 5 tips for online relationship building

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A Guest Post by
Rosemary O’Neill

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365 Days of Gratitude

Building a lasting online relationship is a lot like building a fire. You must lay down kindling, and shavings, and a little teepee of sticks, and patiently fan the little spark into flames. Then eventually, you can add the big logs, set them aflame, and warm yourself. If you need a fire that will last a long time, you’ll want glowing coals that will produce serious heat. Building that type of fire takes time.

Following this line of thought, do you think it’s a good method to pile up a bunch of briquets, douse them with lighter fluid, and blow your eyebrows off?

That’s the mistake a lot of well-intentioned people make when they enter the social media world. They try to force a relationship out of nothing, from the merest contact, and then they’re disappointed when it explodes in their face or doesn’t ever catch fire.

Here are five tips that will save your eyebrows:

1. Don’t keep asking for the “like.” If they like you, they will “like” you when they’re ready.

2. If someone follows you back on Twitter, don’t go hunt them down on 50 other social networks and follow them immediately. Establish some rapport on the first network, then you can branch out by mutual consent.

3. Stop the auto-reply that demands something from your new visitor (read my blog, visit my Facebook page, buy my new e-book). Instead, give a human welcome.

4. Always read a blog or forum for a week or two before you plunge into commenting; it will give you a sense of the tone and style of the community.

5. Just as in face-to-face relationship building, be interested in order to be interesting. Ask questions, listen, and then focus your replies on the person you’re talking with. Drop the agenda and make a true connection.

If you take the long term approach, your sparks of connection will light up the world.
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Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out their blog. You can find her on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Be Unshakeable

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A Guest Post by
Rosemary O’Neill

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Be unshakeable.

It’s a famous scene in the Saturday morning cartoons: a character goes flying off a cliff, starts flapping, and starts to enjoy flying. Another character holds up a sign saying, “you can’t fly,” and immediately the first character drops like a stone.

You can create valuable content
You can contribute big ideas
You can have fanatically devoted customers
You can give your unique perspective
You can start something exciting
You can change
You can enjoy what you’re doing
You can treat people with respect
You can be recognized for your work
You can write

You can fly.

And if someone comes along with a “you can’t fly” sign, just shoot it with an Acme Slingshot.
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Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work on the Internet. Check out their blog. You can find her on Twitter as @rhogroupee

15 Ways to 365 Days of Gratitude

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A Guest Post by
Rosemary O’Neill

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365 Days of Gratitude

Now that the turkey leftovers are just about gone, it’s tempting to start hanging holiday decorations and move on. But we should cultivate an attitude of gratitude all year long. It’s one of the best ways to separate human-centered businesses from the robot army. Humans care about elevating others; robots only care about processing bits and bytes.

Here are 15 simple (but concrete) ways to show appreciation online.

  1. Give a Klout +K – you can debate whether Klout means anything or not, and CEO Joe Fernandez has said that +Ks don’t directly contribute to a higher score, but it sure feels nice when someone gives you a +K, especially in a relevant topic area.
  2. Facebook Like – an oldie but a goodie, some people obsess over their number of “likes,” so it’s a nice way to give a pat on the back.
  3. Follow or subscribe – following someone on any social network or subscribing to their feed (blog or status updates) means you are interested in what they have to say. What better way to show you care?
  4. RT or Mention on Twitter – the ReTweet is the highest compliment you can give someone on Twitter, and it contributes to their Klout score, so double score! Mentioning someone, in status updates or comments on other networks is like name-dropping. Often the object of the name-drop is notified, and most people enjoy being recognized publicly.
  5. #FollowFriday – this one has had its ups and downs, but done correctly, a nice FollowFriday on Twitter can be a nice perk for someone. I think Gini Dietrich does it best; she picks one person, writes about him/her on her blog, Spin Sucks, and then Tweets it out. It’s meaningful, succinct, and likely to result in more followers.
  6. LinkedIn Recommend – for a business connection, a nice recommendation for the individual or for their products/services is a great way to say thanks. It’s like getting a gold nugget in the mail!
  7. Empire Avenue buy or recommend – if your contact is on Empire Avenue, buying some shares or giving an endorsement or recommendation is a nice recognition.
  8. Google +1 – this is a very important one. When you give a Google +1 to a person’s content, it shows up in search results, and it means that their content is more likely to continue showing up in your search results going forward. That’s power.
  9. Twitter or Klout list – it’s pretty easy to set up lists in Twitter and Klout, and it’s a way to publicly pull the cream of the crop to the forefront. Would you like to be included in a list of “Smart People” or “People Who Inspire?” Yeah, me too.
  10. Paper.li inclusion – this is another service that has supporters and detractors, but I always feel a nice boost when someone includes my feed in a Paper.li or any other of the aggregator services (Storify too).
  11. Comment on their blog – this is where the action is. Offering an intelligent comment that contributes to someone else’s blog is a sincere compliment.
  12. Blog roll – kick it old school; honor someone by including their blog in your “links” list. Ever heard of “link juice?” It’s hard to come by, and a much-appreciated gift.
  13. Thank on Quora – if you participate on Quora (and it’s a great place to get answers directly “from the horse’s mouth”), the best thank you is a “thank you.” When you give a thanks, the person is notified.
  14. Reply to a forum topic – it takes courage to stop lurking and start a topic in a busy forum. When you choose to reply, and add your own thoughts to the conversation, you are supporting the orginal poster and the community itself.
  15. Comment “like” – several blog commenting systems support “likes” now, so you can select particular comments and single them out for praise.

My suggestion is to start every day by handing out a few of these, without any expectation of return. A day that starts with gratitude is already a success.

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Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out their blog. You can find her on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Haven’t You Got Smaller Fish to Fry?

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A Guest Post by
Rosemary O’Neill

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If you’re a small business or a consultant, Fortune 500 clients are a rush. Impressive logos can adorn your sidebar, you can impress your grandma with how successful you are, and credibility is yours. However, it’s very important to treat every customer as if they are your “marquee” client.

And here’s a secret:

The small fry customers aren’t used to being treated like a VIP, so they are easier to delight.

Here are a few more reasons why the small fish deserve TLC:

  • Small fry grow up to be big – that lower-tier administrator you’re dealing with may get a promotion or move to another company and suddenly be the decision-maker.
  • The neighbor effect – the woman who runs that small business could refer you to her neighbor, who is VP of Something Important at a Fortune 500.
  • Large quantities of small fry make a steady revenue stream – if you’re reliant on the good graces of a few big companies for your revenue, you’re in a precarious position.
  • Smaller organizations can be easier to deal with – it’s much easier to get access to the decision-maker at a smaller organization.

Never burn bridges – if you try every day to delight everyone who comes in contact with your business, including the “nobodies” with no money to spend, you are building goodwill equity that comes back to you when you least expect it.

If you pay close attention, your individual small fry will build into a net-bursting haul.

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Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work on the Internet. Check out their blog. You can find her on Twitter as @rhogroupee