Ella Bee Social Media & PR

Last week was wild! Client, model and good friend Dawn Montgomery had to deal with mounting pressure from both national and local media outlets as a result of a controversial ad from Akoo, a clothing line by Atlanta rapper, T.I. In a matter of days, more than 300 news articles were posted online about this issue. Everyone from CNN to Bossip.com were commenting on the story.

The best way to deal with any crisis or controversy is to tackle the issue head on-avoid the “no comment” approach. Having a skilled crisis communications team is not easy and it takes planning BEFORE an unfavorable situation occurs. Any organization, business or public figure not prepared to deal with crisis is constantly at risk. Risk management, issue anticipation and crisis communication programs should be a part of any public relations strategy.

But, let me be clear. Crisis management does not mean that an organization or its public relations team can manage outside influences-but what we can manage is the response.

Anyhow, check out Dawn Montgomery’s response amid this controversial billboard ad for the clothing line, Akoo:
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From time to time, PR pros have to dabble in crisis management in order to protect their client’s best interest to the public. It can be a scary time because a failure in communication can do more harm than good. Don’t you just hate the “no comment” approach?

On yesterday, the blogosphere went nuts over a controversial ad by rapper, T.I.’s clothing brand, Akoo. My client, who is the model in the controversial ad, wanted the best PR approach to deal with this situation in order to protect her career.

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The 41st NAACP Image Awards was held at the Shrine Auditorium on Friday.The event celebrated the achievements and performances of people of color in motion picture, television, recording, and literature.

Special honors were awarded to Tyler Perry, who received the Chairman’s Award for special achievement and public service; and songwriter/musician Wyclef Jean, who was honored with the Vanguard Award for his activism and “passion for social justice.”

Here is client and actor Romeo Brown as he poses in the press room during the 41st NAACP Image awards held at The Shrine Auditorium.

According to BlackVoices.com, the ’41st Annual NAACP Image Awards’ producers have announced actors Hill Harper and Anika Noni Rose as hosts of the ceremony, which will be broadcast live from Los Angeles’ historic Shrine Auditorium on FOX Feb. 26. Client, Romeo Brown, will be attending, so watch out for him on the red carpet!

“Anika Noni Rose and Hill Harper are a part of a new generation of Hollywood that embodies the spirit of the Image Awards,” said NAACP Hollywood Bureau Executive Director Vicangelo Bulluck, who serves as executive producer of the awards telecast. “Their talent and success is inspiring and adds a sophisticated glamour to the evening.”

Start conversations about the things you find interesting. Share updates, photos, videos, and more with Google Buzz.

Horray! A simple and cute video that explains social media in plain English. A key term that was used stresses the importance of communication “over time.” If you are looking for overnight success-keep it moving. Communication should be constant and consistent…okay enough chit-chat, watch the video:

This just in from one of my favorite media blogs, Journalistics

By Jeremy Porter

Reach – a journalist that shares links to their most recent content via an RSS feed, tweets or social bookmarking will get a lot more traffic to their posts than somebody that doesn’t use these tools. If you’re a journalist, and you’re not using Twitter to share links to your content, you’re missing a huge opportunity to engage new readers and ultimately strengthen the value you bring to your organization.

Feedback – whether voluntary through blog comments, thumbs up/thumbs down feedback, or solicited feedback from users, social media gives journalists more insight into how their community is interacting with the content they produce. It’s a two-way communication model that is relatively new to the world of traditional media. If I were a professional journalist today, I would love to have this type of feedback on the content I’m working so hard to produce every day.

Sources – there are literally millions of people using social media today. If I need a source for a story, they’re only a tweet away. You can’t beat this feature of social media. Journalists can dramatically expand the range of sources they can pull from for any story, while significantly reducing the effort required to find a qualified source quickly.

Measurement – some organizations share Web analytics data with their journalists, some don’t. If you use a blog with Google Analytics or an RSS feed like Feedburner, you have instant access to detailed statistics on your content. You can learn how readers are discovering your content, how they are sharing your content, and which articles or posts your readers love or hate the most.

Branding – social media enables journalists to develop their own personal brands. Journalists need to find new and innovative ways to separate themselves from the other journalists in their organization. Everyone is competing in the news environment, and those that leverage social media have a competitive advantage to build their personal brands in association with the outlets they produce content for.

Job Security – in times of trouble, it’s the journalists with the largest and most loyal readership that should be kept on staff. This isn’t always the case, but it can’t hurt to have a huge social media following on top of reader survey data that says your content is the best. Journalists that drive the most traffic and readers enable the media outlet to realize more revenue opportunities. For this reason, social media goes a long way towards promoting job security for journalists – if leveraged to its potential.

By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER- New York Times

SAN FRANCISCO — Three weeks after Curtis Kimball opened his crème brûlée cart in San Francisco, he noticed a stranger among the friends in line for his desserts. How had the man discovered the cart? He had read about it on Twitter.

For Mr. Kimball, who conceded that he “hadn’t really understood the purpose of Twitter,” the beauty of digital word-of-mouth marketing was immediately clear. He signed up for an account and has more than 5,400 followers who wait for him to post the current location of his itinerant cart and list the flavors of the day, like lavender and orange creamsicle.

“I would love to say that I just had a really good idea and strategy, but Twitter has been pretty essential to my success,” he said. He has quit his day job as a carpenter to keep up with the demand.

Much has been made of how big companies like Dell, Starbucks and Comcast use Twitter to promote their products and answer customers’ questions. But today, small businesses outnumber the big ones on the free microblogging service, and in many ways, Twitter is an even more useful tool for them.
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By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Music Writer

LOS ANGELES – From parties to rehearsals to gift suites, Grammy-related activities were taking over L.A.’s weekend scene in advance of Sunday night’s awards show at Staples Center. Here’s a tour around town:
NEVER GETS OLD: Tina Campbell, one half of the Grammy winning gospel duo Mary Mary, says being nominated for music’s highest honor never gets old.

“I think any artist would be telling an untruth to say, ‘Been there, done that,’” she said Friday at the Grammy Styling Studio, where talent for the show can pick out gowns, suits and more for Sunday’s show.
“Receiving the awards and the accolades and the attention and people purchasing your CDs … shows that people like it and enjoy it,” she said. “A Grammy now means, yeah, I’m still doing good work.”
Campbell was at the suite for more than an hour but didn’t find that special outfit for Sunday. She said her search will continue.

SUITE OF SWAG: Leery of looking gauche, some celebrities shy away from having their photo taken when they hit up gifts suites and get free swag.
All-American Rejects singer Tyson Ritter is not among them.
He happily posed for photos Thursday as he visited the Grammy’s official gift suite for talent, put on by Distinctive Assets.
“Who gives a (expletive)? You gotta give something back. Why would you just get something for free?” he said.

Ritter said the gift suites, where celebrities are showered with free goods ranging from beauty products to electronics, are the highlight of awards week.

“It’s the best part, because the people who are doing this … they’re like, here, take this free. I’m like, all right, we both know what we’re doing, we’re both whores. I love it.”

Also in the gift suite Thursday was George Clinton, sporting a multicolored hairstyle, and Grammy nominee Charlie Wilson. He was there with his wife, who shared her input on his choices.

“She gets a chance to tell me what not to get. ‘Don’t get that, that’s ugly. Get that purse, because I want it,’” Wilson said, laughing.

Actress Jazsmin Lewis living the good life, enjoying the luxury pampering suite “Honoring the Women of the Screen Actors Guild Awards.”

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As we approach a new year in business it is crucial to articulate that PR IS NOT SALES. If you are using public relations in substitute for a professional and well-trained sales team you may be sorely disappointed in the long run because the two job duties and responsibilities are night and day. Public Relations can help guide consumers, but it is up to your professional sales team to close the deal. This in from PR Squared:

What PR Cannot Do for Clients

I recently heard a client describe Public Relations as “the softening of the beachhead” for his Sales effort. That struck me as an apt analogy.

Public Relations is not Sales. PR can absolutely help guide the prospect toward a purchase decision, in a measurable way. PR can surround the prospect with thoughtful, candid, compelling conversations and content and references until they think, “Wow, okay, I’ve got to check these guys out.”

But when the prospect gets to the website or picks up the phone or shoots over an email: PR’s work is done.

If the website features a glitchy 1990–style template; if the telesales agent is unintelligible; if the sale rep takes too long to respond to the inquiry — if the sale is lost — that’s not a “quantity/quality of leads” problem; that’s not a PR problem — that’s a Sales problem.

Similarly, the PR team is not the official spokesperson. If the PR agency has set up a slate of dreamy editorial meetings, their “pitches” have worked. It’s now up to the official spokesperson to swing for the home-run articles. If the spokesperson doesn’t bring the customer references they promised, or the product demo flatlines; if they turn green from nerves; if they ignore the PR pro’s advice on how-to improve — if the article is lost — that’s not a PR problem — that’s a problem that the client brought to the field.

PR can set you up for success. It cannot make you a success.

You want to get your company and your brand out there. You want people to know who you are and you want consumers to be influenced through some channel or medium to buy from you and only you. When it comes to directing your spending dollars, you may get stuck wondering, where should we start, with PR or advertising?

This great article from PR Squared provides some thinking points:

In the new era [of media], ADVERTISING COMES LAST.

Advertising comes AFTER the corporation has created an ecosystem for its owned media channels (e.g., a blog, a Twitter handle, a Facebook Fan Page).

Advertising comes AFTER the corporation has an established rapport with its fan base, bloggers, and traditional media contacts.

Advertising comes AFTER relationships.

Tellingly, the “Challenges” regarding Paid Media — “clutter, declining response rates and poor credibility” are all ameliorated if the brand takes the Awareness Scale approach in which Social Media feeds both PR and Advertising, both of which then serve to catalyze fresh brand conversations, amongst people who are predisposed to do so.

With consumer and media relationships in place, the advertisements are not rebuffed but are embraced and carried forward by online enthusiasts. Sayonara, “clutter.” So long, “declining response rates.” Bon voyage, “poor credibility.”

I’ll admit — if I were running an Advertising Agency, I’d be nonplussed by the breezy way in which a Forrester Research analyst essentially downgraded my industry from “foundational” to, let’s face it, a secondary role. But we all have our challenges to face, eh? This one’s not insurmountable!

As you go back into the normal work schedule as the holiday season is finally put to rest, you are probably like most businesses and brands and are planning or restructuring a marketing and public relations strategy for the upcoming year. As you think about budgets and the effectiveness of your marketing and public relations campaigns, consider using these ten Twitter applications to help measure and build success-at least on Twitter. If you are skeptical about Twitter, consider the fact that the company is slated to FINALLY become profitable with more than $25 million in deals according to Business Week.

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