By Barry Lawrence


What do you think about the future of social media spending in 2010? Please take our simple poll on this really cool Twitter-friendly application: twtpoll.


Click here to take the poll.


As a long-time public relations professional, I have always promoted the use of surveys and polls to create news that is reflective of a company’s brand. This is a great way to make news that reporters actually care about and to establish companies as thought leaders in their respective industries.


Now, with tools such as twtpoll, you can make news and engage your community. LinkedIn also has a nice social media application for polling. SurveyMonkey does a nice job with more in-depth online surveys. The trick is to have your survey questions designed by a professional so that questions and answer choices are unbiased, complete, easy to understand and not too long. Tougher than you think.


The important thing to remember is to be honest about the source of your data when sharing with reporters. Some media outlets, such as the Wall Street Journal, are persnickety about online polls. Others are OK with online poll data as long as they can be clear about how the results were derived.


Barry Lawrence is a BrandCottage partner in charge of public relations and social media relations.

By Barry Lawrence


We have all heard of the “4 Ps of Marketing:” Product, Price, Placement and Promotion (many would also add Positioning to this mix). BrandCottage would like to suggest the “7 Ps of Social Media Relations.”


More on each of these 7 Ps of Social Media Relations in the weeks ahead:


Participate: Old media relations meant sending out a press release — a top-down message that the company controlled — and hoping for the best: positive news coverage that gets the word out. Today’s public relations, including social media, means dynamically collaborating with and exchanging ideas with customers. It’s a two-way conversation environment and today’s customers place more value on other consumer comments than on top-down driven company messages.


Pamper: Social media relations is the greatest customer relations tool ever invented, yet few companies are taking advantage of its power. Encourage customers to provide feedback on products and services, give them tools to develop new product features — even marketing strategies. Respond promptly to customer questions, comments and concerns. And reward customers who participate.


Platform: Most of the company social media content we see is only about the company and products and services. In short, boring. While this is important, the most successful social media communities are built around platform or themes that are more attractive to generating audiences and keeping them coming back for more. Support a bigger issue or cause — related to your products and services, of course — if you want to take your social media program to the next level.


Pollinate: Don’t get stuck in the quiet car on the social media train. Social media is also the greatest networking tool ever invented. Reach out to blogs and link to related community content on other social media sites as often as possible. Grow your sphere of influence.


Prime with PR: Media relations isn’t dead. It’s just changed dramatically over the last decade. Media hits are still valuable goals — providing third-party testimonials and serving as powerful vehicles that encourage audiences to seek out more information about your company. Search spiders love media stories that link people to your company Web site and social media properties.


Promote: That’s right, promotion is not a bad word when it comes to social media. Promotion combined with engaging content are powerful duos. In fact, your customer audience will expect promotional rewards in return for their dedicated social media community participation. Of course, promotions should not outweigh the community’s purpose. Strike a good balance.


Prompt: Lack of consistently updated content is a social media killer. As a PR consultant, I’ve talked with many companies who have done a great job of starting a social media program, but somewhere along the line they lost steam and (thank you) they call BrandCottage for help. Social media requires a lot of planning and perseverance. (Two additional Ps, perhaps?).


What Ps do you think are important for a successful social media relations program?


Barry Lawrence is a BrandCottage partner in charge of public relations and social media relations.

by Barry Lawrence


Large brand agencies often have excessive overhead costs that ultimately get passed on to the client. At least that was my experience working at large companies such as Verizon, CareerBuilder, Jobbfox and Siemens.


That means, for every $1 million spent on advertising, $100,000 or more is lost to what we, at BrandCottage, call Monster Agency Administration Fees. It’s for this reason that I am excited to join the BrandCottage team as an expert in social media and public relations.


BrandCottage is structured with minimal administrative costs. So, instead of paying for advertising overhead, BrandCottage clients can put these dollars immediately to work. This means greater marketing return on investment for vital brand and demand generation initiatives.

The reality is [small media agencies] can do things for their clients the big monster shops can’t. With fewer people and less overhead, they offer the nimble and fast approach to problems a lot of nascent brands need.

Advertising Age (March 23, 2009)

In short, our clients pay for smart results — not overhead.


BrandCottage clients not only report administrative cost savings, they also rave about BrandCottage’s senior-level entrepreneurial team of brand and communication experts. BrandCottage never sticks a company with junior-level account managers.


Why? Because we don’t hire junior account managers!

Each member of the BrandCottage team, with locations in New York, Atlanta and Washington, D.C., has more than 15 years of experience across the media landscape, including print, radio, television, digital, direct marketing, guerilla marketing, social media and public relations.

Barry Lawrence is a BrandCottage partner in charge of public relations and social media relations.