Getting the basics right…

I see many businesses getting their feet wet with social media. I guess it is natural for businesses to discover new channels.

As my business partner Steve Seager points out in his blog post “Social Media is a lot like Aikido. Advertising is a lot like Karate”, social media channels are very different to radio, TV & print.

Many businesses I see on Twitter, embrace it as a broadcast channel. Wrong. People don’t care what you’re doing, what your products do or whether or not you have made it to the newspapers.

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The difference between online publicity and online PR…

Once upon a time marketers had two main ways of getting their product or services noticed by consumers: advertising and publicity.

The principle of advertising is based on interruption. In order to get people’s attention you need a large degree of creativity or even humour. This helps people absorb your message and makes it stick.

The principle of publicity is based on getting placement in mass media. To compete in the battle for media inches, your story needs to have good news value.

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