Favorite Finds

We love keeping an eye on the news and, as always, found quite a few interesting stories this week!

• PinView: It’s no secret that people love Pinterest – so much so, that there’s a new app called PinView to make your Facebook page look just like it!
• Big Facebook Numbers: Facebook revealed this week that it has 901 million monthly active users – who are uploading 300 million photos and making 3.2 billion likes and comments online every day. 
• Facebook Phone Rumor: We’ve been hearing about it for years – but could the most recent rumor about a mobile phone launch from Facebook be true?
• New LinkedIn App: The Washington Post gives a thumbs up to the new LinkedIn app for the iPad. 
• What’s the Worth? The Daily Beast named journalism as one of the most useless college majors. Naturally, we don’t agree. 
• Where’s the Creativity? According to a benchmark survey from Adobe – only 25 percent of people believe they are living up to their potential to be creative. This fascinating article includes a lot of cultural and geographic data as well!

Have fun uploading Facebook photos this weekend – while making your page look like Pinterest, of course!

Making the Most of a Major Media Placement

Landing a placement in a major media outlet, from a national morning show to a high-circulation magazine, is a major win for any PR pro – but the work isn’t done there.  After you get over the high of earning some great coverage for your client, it’s time to get to work and make that placement do double duty by extending its consumer reach into owned digital assets. 

• Highlight on social media channels.  Tout a brand’s appearance on Facebook and Twitter to add  credibility and give a fresh perspective on the message. Watching a media personality demonstrate a product can be more exciting for consumers than reading about it on the company website.  Case in point – when we placed Eureka’s AirSpeed vacuum on “The Martha Stewart Show,” we posted links to the Eureka Facebook and Twitter pages so fans and followers could see the vacuum being used by Martha herself!
• Give it prime real estate on the brand’s website.  Create a banner for  the brand’s homepage to help consumers who saw the coverage find what they’re looking for. If possible, obtain permission to use the logo. If not, plain text can still highlight the coverage. Our client  Vermont Castings always highlights coverage in the week following a placement, most recently using a banner to trumpet that the product was seen on DIY Network’s “Money Hunters.”
• Tap into current customer base.  Consumer e-newsletters are another great way to highlight major media placements.  This will allow consumers that already know and love the brand to learn about other products – spurring further purchases. When an Electrolux vacuum was on “The Nate Berkus Show,” the company added a link to it in its bi-monthly consumer e-newsletter, as seen here. 

Once you’ve juiced all you can from the placement with consumers, start thinking about how you can use it to excite employees, sales teams and dealer partners.  Read tips on how to do this in Tim’s blog post, “Merchandising PR – How to Make the Most of Strategies and Success.”

In the Mix...Local Flair Key to a Successful Event

In Bensalem, Pa., an event wouldn't be an event without Mayor Joe. Long-time Bensalem Township Mayor Joe DiGirolamo helped our client Everest Institute kick off the grand opening of its new campus in suburban Philadelphia last week, cutting the ribbon with campus President Joe Nimerfroh and emissaries from the local state and federal representatives' offices. Students already enrolled at Everest Bensalem participated, too, and took part in a casual reception, at which Mayor Joe shared words of inspiration with several ambassador students, faculty and staff. LCWA helped Everest secure the attendance of these local officials and helped orchestrate the day's festivities. 

In the Mix…An Earth Day Message from Trex

These days, recycling plastic bags is practically second nature. But when it comes to other types of household plastics, many people remain unaware of what can and cannot be salvaged and reused, causing recyclable items to end up in the garbage can. Our client Trex, one of the largest recyclers of polyethylene plastic in the nation, wanted to spread the word about recyclable household plastics – including sandwich bags, plastic packaging and newspaper sleeves.  We created this short video clip to tell the story of the “other plastic” just in time for Earth Day. The “other plastic” message has also been getting some great buzz from major media outlets, including The Denver Post and Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Favorite Finds

Here is a look at some of the stories we found interesting this week. Coffee consumption, quotes and the Internet itself were among the things that caught my eye.

• More Coffee, Please: Public relations is the second most caffeinated industry in the United States. Surprised? We’re not.
• No More Free Internet? Google founder Sergey Brin believes that the free Internet may become a thing of the past.
• A New Definition of PR: Getting press isn’t the only way to spread the word anymore. With the power of Facebook, Twitter and other social media, a company’s customers are becoming their publicists.
• Inspire Me: Ragan’s PR Daily made a list of 20 quotes to inspire PR professionals regarding crisis communication, body language and everything in between.
• Pinterest Data: HubSpot’s Dan Zarrella collected data from 11,000 pinned images to find information like the most pinned and re-pinned words on social media’s rising star. 

In the Mix...Gearing up for Grilling Season

Vermont Castings helped one happy homeowner create the “best” outdoor living space for his yard this week on the DIY Network’s new show, “Good, Better…Best!”  Highlighted as the “mack daddy” of grills, the built-in Vermont Castings 5-series grill impressed with 5-burners that can go beyond hot dogs and hamburgers to create gourmet meals. As an added bonus, we coordinated this segment to air right when consumers are starting to think about grilling season!

Happy Anniversary PRGN!

The Public Relations Global Network (PRGN), the world’s fourth largest network of independent public relations firms, celebrates its 20^th anniversary this year with a year-long series of events, including the underwriting and building of a house for an impoverished family in Cape Town, South Africa. LCWA joined PRGN ten years ago as the Chicago representative office. The Network has almost doubled in size since that time. Today, PRGN has 41 member firms around the globe. This invitation-only network is made up of independently owned and operated public relations firms in 80 markets. Collectively, PRGN has revenues of more than $110 million (USD) and employs more than 900 people. It has been so much fun to be a part of the growth and development of this vibrant organization!

In the Mix...A Look at (The Admiral at) the Lake

Last week the LCWA team for The Admiral at the Lake dusted off our hard hats and donned reflective vests to get a preview of the newest addition to Chicago’s lakefront skyline. Opening this summer at Lake Shore Drive and Foster Avenue, this 200-unit, 31-story continuing care retirement community will offer unobstructed lakefront and city views, along with top-notch amenities and a commitment to lifecare for Chicago’s seniors. The tour was a fantastic way to continue to get immersed with what the community will have to offer in just a few months. We don’t quite meet the target age demographics, but it was tempting not to put down a deposit after seeing the community up close!

Favorite Finds

Here are some of the stories we found interesting this week! From one-line press releases to the entertaining “Texts from Hillary,” this certainly wasn’t a dull week in the media.

• Friendly Competition: Insights on how Facebook will respond to the growth of Pinterest based on the company’s previous experiences with competition.
• Penny for Your Thoughts: How to measure the monetary value of social media. According to this article, a tweet is only worth a penny!
• Texts from Hillary: Three lessons for social media managers to learn from the latest Tumblr to go viral.
• One-liner: Muck Rack re-launches its one-line press release service. Learn what the service can do for your business or agency.
• Insta-buy: The Washington Post’s take on the biggest social media news of this week – Facebook’s purchase of Instagram.

Don't know about you, but we'll be busy brainstorming the next Instagram this weekend!

In the Mix...The Inside Scoop on Outdoor Living

Interesting statistics and anecdotes can be effective ways to capture media attention. Just in time for outdoor living season, the LCWA Research Group conducted a survey of 1,000 US adults on behalf of our client Trex. This survey explored consumer preferences about outdoor living products and delved into how people like to spend time outside during warm weather. Among the intriguing findings? Fifty-four percent of people say their favorite outdoor living space activity is listening to music– and 38 percent cite insects as the top complaint about their outdoor living spaces. Look for more fun facts from Trex in magazine and newspaper articles throughout the summer!

In the Mix…magicnumber.com to Show “Better Living” on TV

Let’s face it – we’re all busy, and we’re all looking for ways to simplify our lives to live better. Our client magicnumber.com – a site that helps users take control, achieve more and love life – will participate in the “Better Living for Busy Women” satellite media tour this week. Personal health expert Patricia Stark will offer tips on products and services, like magicnumber.com, that can help even the busiest women de-clutter their lives, achieve their goals and live their desired lifestyle. Segments will air in top markets across the country, including St. Louis, Tucson and Raleigh. We look forward to seeing these segments influence site traffic in the coming weeks!

Favorite Finds

We are launching our new feature: “Favorite Finds,”  where we will share some of the interesting, thought provoking or just entertaining PR and social media articles we stumbled across this week. Enjoy!

• How and why to use embeddable tweets. 
• The different “influence” tools and a comparison on which measures what. 
• Cash Mobs – the latest in local retail traffic driving.
• Will all-you-can-consume services finally unlock the key to magazines on tablets? 
• Insights on the “perception gap” between what customers want, and what businesses think they want, on social media. 
• This week’s Katie Couric vs. Sarah Palin showdown, and the New York Times’ take on how the morning shows are using guest hosts as "weapons."

Have a great spring weekend!

LCWA In the Mix…Pergo “Floors” Facebook

LCWA launched the Pergo Facebook page to take advantage of all of the great new Timeline features and highlight the brand’s history as the inventor and innovator of the laminate flooring category. Timeline’s focus on photos is perfect for Pergo’s beautiful lifestyle images that showcase a wide variety of ultra-realistic laminate flooring décors. We look forward to helping Pergo to actively engage their fan base with this vital communication tool! Check it out at www.Facebook.com/Pergo.