Mistakes that wreck credibility with journalists

Journalists use a very specific writing style. Errors will wreck your credibility.

Here are some of the biggest mistakes people make and how to fix them:

First references always include the title. Obama may be used in a headline, but not in copy. The first reference is "President Obama".

Everyone else needs their full name and complete title: “Rachel Iskow, Sacramento|Yolo Mutual Housing Association Executive Director”.

Another example: “Mary Smith, a Sacramento resident”. The explanation depends on the subject of the story.

After that, use “Iskow”, “Smith” or ”S|YMHA”.

Description: For nonprofits and companies, you also need a sentence that explains what it does. Keep your audience in mind, however.

For trade journals, S|YMHA would be “a multifamily developer”. For mainstream media, it would be “an affordable housing developer” or “a housing developer for modest-income families.”

The most common mistakes are errors of upper and lower case. Use lower case for everything after the first reference: The “executive director” or “the nonprofit”.

Two other common errors:

“Over and “under” are for objects; “more than” and “less than” are for numbers.

“Last” is for the final one. “Past” is for this past week.

If in doubt, use the Associated Press Stylebook.

For more information, call Dell Richards Publicity at (916) 455-4790 or visit us at www.dellrichards.com.

Good article on handling social media crises

Since we recently wrote about a client who was concerned with Internet users posting information about them, even positively, we found this interesting article from LinkedIn on how to deal with social media issues, especially negative ones that apply to all media, including print and broadcast.

Some of the tips from "How to Deal with a Social Media Crisis and Prevent a Catastrophe," by Juan Sanchez, community manager at Waggener Edstrom, were:

Monitor your brand constantly,
Figure out what's going on before you react, but
React within 24 hours using the same medium, and
Have the CEO or someone responsible do it, and
Get the help of influencers.

Also, use SEO to push the good links in other media and, finally,
Think opportunity to engage with your fans.

For the full article, visit http://tinyurl.com/3zpk8ee.

For more information on our services, visit Dell Richards Publicity at www.dellrichards.com.

Give great word-of-mouth

We are currently doing publicity for a local event—pitching stories to editors and producers of print, television and radio as well as handling advertising content and a special supplement for the local weekly.

Due to budget constraints, we chose not to handle the social media, but we are involved with most of the media content.

On Wednesday at 4:15 p.m., a Facebook event page went out to 18 people, who shared it with 2,000 friends.

By 7:05 p.m., we got invited to the event, completing the circle.

On Thursday morning, a little more than 12 hours after, 194 people had responded “yes,” they were attending.

Twenty-four hours later, more than 3,000 people had been contacted with 400 responding “yes” or “maybe”, 114 saying “no” and nearly 2,500 awaiting response.

Less than one week later, the contact numbers were up to 4,000 with more than 1,000 replies.

With a usual event attendance of 8,000, it will be interesting to see what the Facebook numbers are by the event six weeks from now.

When an social media takes off, inviting guests and checking on responses creates word-of-mouth that reinforces interest and excitement.

While Facebook does not necessarily work as well for issues such as credibility, it can be a very useful tool if people get involved.

For more information, call us at 916.455.4790 or visit us online at www.dellrichards.com.

The Internet means interaction

A client recently told us someone posted a video on YouTube of their event without telling them.

While pleased they got the extra mileage, they were wary that they hadn’t been able to control the information.

This brings up two points, tracking and the nature of the Internet.

For tracking with Google, keywords need to be broad enough to include your company when the name isn’t complete.

To filter out unwanted info, negative keywords also can be set up.

That said, companies spend tons of time and money creating platforms to get people involved.

Look at the Ford Motor Co. Facebook page.

People post photos of their cars and trucks—and more than half a million “like” Ford.

Posts about the company on the Internet are what most businesses want.

The only way to control what’s out there is if no one cares—and that’s the last thing anyone wants.

For more information, call Dell Richards Publicity at 916-455-4790 or visit us online at www.dellrichards.com.

Expected to work for free?

I had just written an article on internships when we were asked to volunteer first so the people could “get to know us and our work.”

At the meeting, I had expected to firm up details on a Request for Proposal.

While saying “yes,” I couldn’t help mulling over the irony of seeing the internship article become part of my expectations at this stage of the game.

Then the local paper had an article about a state government agency asking for bids on tech services for free.

While companies sometimes test systems through pilot projects gratis, putting it in an RFP apparently went beyond the pale.

Appalling as it seems, maybe it’s for the best.

In the past, we would have served on boards—strategizing, volunteering our services and raising funds—in hopes of getting public relations work.

At least being asked to volunteer to show our stuff is more direct and, hopefully, more efficient for everyone.

For more information, contact us at (916) 455-4790 or visit us at www.dellrichards.com.