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By: Tiffany Whitaker
Communications Ally
In April our Grand Poobah, Samantha Scott, APR, gave us (me and Alex Fernandez, our Internet Marketing Strategist) the incredible opportunity to attend the 2013 Social Fresh East conference in Tampa, Florida. The event included numerous guest speakers presenting a wide range companies. From JetBlue to ESPN to author and marketer, Chris Brogan, we were inundated with insights, thought provoking concepts and marketing advice from top strategists in the industry. Here of a few highlights from segments and that inspired me:
Don’t worry about content, worry about “Youtility”
In Jay Baer’s segment, Youtility: Why Smart Companies are Helping, not Selling, he talked about a kind of marketing that was so useful, people would pay for it. In a world where everyone is on social (your Mom, your sister, your grandparents, your best friend… and your favorite hang-out), companies are competing for attention. Mr. Baer, a best-selling author, asked, “Are you more interesting than my wife?” That’s the level your content needs to be at!
So, what is “Youtility”? In summary, it’s content that educates, informs, helps the customer… it answers the consumer’s questions. Did you know B2B customers contact a sales representative after more than 70% of the purchase decision is already made? He offered up a great example executed by Hilton Hotels and their activity on Twitter. A customer of Magnolia Hotel, a competitor, on Twitter asked where there were some good local restaurants in the area. Hilton Hotels responded with helpful suggestions. Do you think the chance of that customer checking for a room a Hilton Hotel will increase on their next visit? Most likely.
Remember, Youtility is not a project; it is a process that never ends.
If Content is King, Connection is Queen
Ted Rubin, a leading social media strategist, provided insight into content creation, building relationships, and connecting. In his segment, Content Creation is the Ultimate Fan Advocacy, Mr. Rubin pointed out a common question we (social media advocates) hear from potential clients all the time, “What is the ROI of social? He went on to explain that the answer is… actually another question.
What is the ROI of Trust? Loyalty? Social media is a means of building relationships with your customers and to do that we must provide emotionally connected content! So, how do you connect with people in a way that builds a relationship? Build trust. With interaction as a foundation, a company must be true to their word, authentic, genuine and consistent. He referenced Saks and how they hug their customers instead of just handing them a bag after a purchase. On social media, look to embrace your customers, hear them, and aim for ongoing engagement. “Relationships are the new currency… honor them, invest in them, start measuring your ROR.”
Remember, social is not the relationship itself and just “being on social” is not enough to build relationships.
Don’t be Data Rich and Insight Poor
The Campbell Company’s leader of social media and digital marketing, Adam Kmiec stresses, “Don’t measure data if you’re not going to do something with it!” And you should be doing something with it. Mr. Kmiec’s segment, Building an Insights Driven Social Organization, focused on insights, not data. We must turn data into insights and insights into action or it’s useless.
So, how do you accomplish this? He advises finding the right platform to measure (and we know there are so many that is a feat in itself) is the first step. Decide what you want from the model/platform (part of the planning process we’ve stressed so many times before). Then, choose the one that will get you the right data so that you are capable of gathering the insights you need. Leverage those insights by turning them into action. Simply, capitalize on strengths and improve where weak. Identify missed opportunities and take advantage of them moving forward.
Remember, having the numbers isn’t enough. That’s just the start. Use them to determine what’s working (and what isn’t) and then implement plans to enhance your efforts moving forward.
Hungry for more?
For more insights and advice on maximizing your social media efforts, visit our NEW website , follow us on Facebook, or give us a call at (239) 221-2858.
We’d like to welcome Tiffany Whitaker as our newest team member! Tiffany joins the PTE team as a Communications Ally. She’ll work with clients on public relations projects, reputation management and media relations and her background is predominately in communications in the Southwest Florida.
Tiffany has administrative skills as well as marketing, social media and public relations experience including front-line customer service, public speaking, training and presentations, responding to press inquiries, networking and building strong relationships with partners and vendors.
You can welcome her to the team by emailing her at Tiffany(at)getpushing.com or by calling 239.221.2858.
By: Samantha Scott, APR
Grand Poobah AKA Owner
Today is the day of love, Valentine’s Day, so I thought I’d write in genre. As we grow up we strive to find something that we love that can provide income and sustainability for ourselves as adults – a job or career. It’s my hope that you (reading this) have found that one thing, industry, topic or passion that you love. It’s more likely if you’re an entrepreneur. Take me for example.
My husband and I started this company 7 years ago because we found that we were both good at marketing. I love the process of communications and relationship creation. On the Myers-Briggs scale I’m an ESTJ. Words are my friends and I’m comfortable with new people. What I don’t like is math and numbers, especially balancing a checkbook and calculus. This is important because I do what I love and good at, and leave the other stuff to those who are good at it. I practice public relations and run Pushing the Envelope, but I leave the bookkeeping up to my accountant.
It’s easy to get caught up in running your business. You’re busy and work hard to meet the demands of your clients or customers and your staff. Maybe you could use a little help and as a result, have stopped or stalled your marketing efforts. Don’t let being busy in “season” (for those of you in Southwest Florida) lead to a lack of business or new clients come summertime.
You are good at what you do. You run a successful business, but if we’re being honest, it could always be better, right? It can be hard to ask for help or even realize there is a need. Chance are, you didn’t go to college for marketing or web development. You know you need both for your business to be successful and grow, but aren’t sure where to start or perhaps, what to do next. Why not let us help?
Our skilled team can be your virtual in-house marketing department, help you get social media going (you know that plan you talked about 6 months ago?) and work on updating your website for increased traffic generation – and ultimately leads.
Do what you are good at. Let us help with the rest. Have questions? Give us a call at 239.221.2858 or email info(at)getpushing.com. We’ll be glad to help you do what you love.
We were able to collect 1,178 items for CCMI through the help of our donation locations and generous donors!
It is with great excitement and appreciation that we share the results of our 2nd Annual CAN IT! Campaign. Through the support of our multiple drop off locations and the many donors who contributed we collected
1,178 items for CCMI!
Today we dropped it off! It took three vehicles and a lot of volunteers, but we did it! (pictures here 
)Thank you all for your support! We look forward to collecting even more next year.
From all of us to you and yours, Happy Thanksgiving!
By: Alex Fernandez
Internet Marketing Strategist
I can remember the morning very clearly. It was mid-fall 2011. Samantha walks in 
with a new flavor of Starbucks coffee, and a new idea for a PTE food drive called “CAN IT! Putting Hunger in its Place this Thanksgiving.” The idea was to partner with CCMI of Fort Myers and put heels-to-the-ground, gathering donations through a grassroots effort. Together, the PTE office generated more than 500 can donations for CCMI in just six short weeks.
Well, CAN IT! is back, baby – and better than ever. As the (ehem, braggadocio) REIGNING CHAMP from last year, with 175 food donations, I wanted share what I took away from CAN IT!
A couple of my friends and neighbors really floored me with their generosity and willingness to pay it forward. One of the first neighbors I talked to was a friend of mine that happened to be sitting down next to me for lunch. I told him about our goal of 500 items. He explained that he was hit hard by the recession and really didn’t have any extra food or money to buy food donations. However, he DID help in a big way, by talking to some of the other residents in my condominium building. Spreading the word was just as helpful to the cause as donating.
If you cannot donate, then please be sure to share this blog entry with some of your email or social media contacts! Every share counts!
Another memorable conversation was with the owner of a local sandwich shop. I told him about CAN IT! and how we were trying to collect food donations for CCMI on thanksgiving, and hastily committed to getting a donation ready. The morning of the food donation, he had two cases of cans ready to donate. It’s amazing to see local businesses contribute so selflessly.
Probably most memorable, was one of our “office neighbors” who rallied their entire office and brought well over 30 food donations. The morning before Thanksgiving, he told us about how he and other close to him had experienced hunger first-hand in the past, and how much they approved of the CAN IT! food drive.
Alex at CCMI on drop off day with the more than 500 cans of food!
So for 2012, we have upped our goal. We are hoping to secure at least 1,000 food donations for our local CCMI food kitchen. What’s great about CCMI is that all donations will be dropped off at the local Fort Myers CCMI and taken directly into their facility, where it will be prepared for those in need.
Please visit the CAN IT page on our website, for donation ideas and drop-off points throughout Fort Myers and Estero. As new drop-off locations open up, we will update our website and share on our Facebook page, so be sure to like or subscribe for updates.
With pantries full of food you’ll never eat, BOGO deals at local grocery stores, and a generous and compassionate community to help spread the word, there is no need for hunger this season! If you want to get involved, by either donating OR opening a food donation location, contact us at (239) 221-2858 or info@getpushing.com.
By: Samantha Scott, APR
Grand Poobah / Owner
In honor and celebration of the 4th of July I thought we’d cover 4 Tips for Working with Journalists this week!
- The first thing to keep in mind is that journalists, whether print, TV or even bloggers, are just people – like you and me. For many people unfamiliar with working with media, making a pitch call or coordinating an interview can be nerve wracking. Before you make a call, take a deep breath and try to relax. Think of the call as if you were simply calling a colleague. I promise, they won’t bite.
- Do your homework. One of the biggest pet peeves I’ve heard from journalist colleagues is getting pitches that so off topic from what they cover. Newspapers have a contact list that offers what beat or topic each reporter covers. Most news stations have something similar available or they can send it to you if you ask. Bloggers offer a clear description of what they cover (generally in the blog title) in their about section. Just remember how irritating it is when you get spam mail that has nothing to do with you (i.e. food discount for a restaurant located in another state). That’s how they feel when you send them a news release on something they don’t cover.
- Be respectful – of the person and their time. Journalists, believe it or not, aren’t there to make our lives easier. Their job is to cover news and share important things with their readers and/or viewers. Keep this in mind when you get frustrated when a story you pitched isn’t picked up. Also, consider their time as equally valuable as yours. If you need to call a journalist, the first thing out of your mouth after “hello” should be “do you have a moment to talk?” They could be on deadline or headed into a meeting. If you’re respectful they’ll appreciate it and you can determine a better time to call – when you might actually be able to seal the deal and get your story on their radar.
- Foster relationships! One of the most important parts of working with media is fostering relationships. Going back to point number one, journalists are people. They don’t want to be or feel used – just like you don’t. When a new editor joins your local newspaper, shoot them an email or call them just to welcome them. Be sure it’s clear you don’t want anything. Connect with reporters based on their interests. Say hello when you see them in public or at networking events. The more they see your face and/or your name, the more of a connection you have – which also translates into a higher likelihood that they will review your releases/stories when the come into their inbox.
A little bonus tip: Research journalists who are active in social media – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc. Some prefer to be pitched or communicate that way. Conversely, they sometimes share interview requests/their needs on those platforms.
Working with journalists doesn’t have to be scary or hard. Keep these 4 tips in mind the next time you send a news release or work with media and it should be a bit easier. Best of luck!
If you have questions or need a little help getting your message out, you can always contact us for help.
By: Susan Frantz
Online Communications Assistant
Most people think of Twitter as short bursts of information or tweets. You get 140 characters and that’s it. Both of those ideas are true, but there’s another way to use Twitter – chats.
You may be thinking, Twitter chat, I’ve never heard of that before? That’s okay… Twitter chats can open up a whole new world of possibilities for you in the twitter-sphere and I can’t wait to tell you about them!
First things first, perhaps we should review some background information about Twitter. For those of you who don’t know (where have you been hiding?), Twitter is an online social networking platform that allows users to send “micro blogs” of up to 140 characters, called tweets. As a member of Twitter, or a tweeter, you can follow anyone from Madonna to your mom. You can also follow conversations and trends that people are talking about on Twitter through hashtags. By simply putting a pound sign (#) in front of a word you are joining a conversation about that word, worldwide! For example, one of our favorite hash tags here at PTE is #SWFL. By adding this to our tweets we are joining in on the potentially world wide discussion about all things Southwest Florida.
TIP: Curious if your hashtag is popular or want to find some popular topics? Hashtag.org offers listing of virtually everyone you can think of PLUS a “hashtag trend graph” so you can see what’s hot in real time.
This brings us to the meat and potatoes of this blog, Twitter chats (also known as tweet chats). A Twitter chat is a gathering of people to discuss whatever it is that interests them. All you need to do is search the subject you would like to discuss in Twitter with a hash tag in front of it and voila! All of the tweets that are being posted about that subject are right there before your very eyes. Give it a try, in the twitter search bar type in #dogs and see what everyone in the twitter-sphere has to say about our favorite furry creatures. Want to take out the legwork? Use the live Twitter schedule available in Google docs! It’s open to anyone, anywhere is constantly being updated.
What’s even better is that the smart people of the Internet world have set up sites where you can follow and easily engage in a Twitter chat. One that I’ve become fond of is Tweetchat.com. This site creates a virtual chat room (going old school) based on tweets from people engaged in the chat, using the specific hashtag.
Mashable also offers a number of resources for Twitter chats including a list of chats specifically for social media marketers and some Twitter chat tips.
So there you have it, the mystery of Twitter chats has been solved! Now that you know what a Twitter chat is, have fun with it. Below you will find some links that might help to get you started. Enjoy!
We’ve done it again! The entire team at PTE is excited to share we brought home some gold from the Local Florida Public Relations Association (FPRA) Image Awards today!
Susan, Annette, Samantha and Alex after winning the Award of Distinction
Alex Fernandez and Samantha Scott, APR received an Award of Distinction for their social media efforts on behalf of Cruise Naples. Work included creation of a social media campaign involving a custom-designed blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, Flickr, YouTube and video series, Foursquare and many other online communication efforts. All efforts exceeded campaign goals and showed marked growth in traffic to Cruise Naples’ accounts and website.
The Florida Public Relations Association is a statewide organization designed to promote professional and ethical public relations through professional development and community involvement. For more information about the local chapter, please visit www.fpraswfl.org.
By: Samantha Scott, APR
Having been on a number of non-profit boards and helped many others with public relations, I understand there is a need for information in this industry about 1) what public relations is and 2) how non-profits can use it.
As part of the Southwest Florida Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association, I prepared a presentation outlining these two points. It includes some tips on what YOU can do if you work for a non-profit and some tips for using the resources available to you.
I’m including this presentation for your review. Just click the link to download it. Check it out and see what might apply to your situation. If you have questions, please feel free to leave your comments below!
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