Boardroom Communications’ COO Don Silver longtime Boardroom client Field of Flowers CEO Donn Flipse were featured

in a recent Reuters article about ghost blogging.

Silver commented on the increase in demand for ghost blogging.

“You’ve got to find new platforms to convey your news and messaging,” said Silver, whose South Florida-based public relations firm develops and manages blogs for clients ranging from insurance companies to law and accounting firms to retailers.

Donn Flipse, owner of Field of Flowers, a chain of South Florida floral super stores with locations in Boca Raton, Davie and Kendall, relies on Boardroom to supplement internal posts released under authorship of its fictional nom de plume, Dr. Phil O. Dendron. The character writes about special events taking place at the stores and alerts customers whenever company executives appear in local news.
Silver attributed the rising interest in blogging in part to a decline in opportunities for traditional media coverage and the need to take advantage of the power of social media and search engine marketing.

Why ghost bloggers? Busy executives do not have the time to manage and write frequent blog posts and promote them on social media. Many Florida PR agencies have filled the vacuum and taken over their client’s blogs. How often do you hear, “Where do you find the time to do all of that blogging and social media posts?” Guess who is really doing it?

The article also described a ghost blogger’s job as including a mix of strategic and editorial tasks including: keeping abreast of hot-button issues, developing editorial calendars, penning original posts, as well as enlisting raw copy from a company’s insiders and transforming it into readable text.

visit Reuters.com for full story

By Deborah L. Cohen

(Reuters) – Philip de Souza, founder and president of data security firm Aurora Enterprises, believes in ghosts.

After trying for weeks to persuade his small team of in-house engineers to blog under the company’s fold, de Souza went looking outside for ghost bloggers who could deliver compelling prose on security and related industry issues for his L.A.-based firm.

“Our engineers are dispersed. It’s hard to get them to stop short and sit and blog, although they have a lot of intelligent things to say,” said de Souza, whose 18-year-old business primarily caters to middle-market customers. “We need to be babysat.”

Aurora is not alone. Many small businesses recognize the growing importance of blogging – free-range online commentary that invites response – in the playbook of social media tools used to generate interest from would-be customers.

Limited internal resources, however, call for some to enlist the services of unnamed contractors that can help feed the beast.

“We’re seeing a big increase in demand,” said Don Silver, COO of Boardroom Communications, a Florida-based PR firm that represents a variety of small businesses. He attributes rising interest in blogging in part to a decline in opportunities for traditional media coverage amid newsroom budget cuts.

“You’ve got to find new platforms to convey your news and messaging,” said Silver, whose firm develops blogs for clients ranging from insurance companies to local retailers. “In addition to planned postings, we react to breaking news.”

The ghost blogger’s job can include a mix of strategic and editorial tasks: keeping abreast of hot-button issues, developing editorial calendars, penning original posts, as well as enlisting raw copy from a company’s insiders and transforming it into readable text. Adhering to a strict schedule is a must, said Silver, whose firm is sometimes responsible for all or just component parts of the process.

Field of Flowers, a south Florida chain of three floral stores, relies on Boardroom to supplement internal posts released under authorship of its fictional nom de plume, Dr. Phil O. Dendron. The good doctor writes about special events taking place at the stores and alerts customers whenever company executives appear in local news.

“We thought it would be fun to have a character who is presented as being the person who gives out a lot of information,” said company president Donn Flipse, adding that such a character also makes it easy to present a unified voice from posts created internally and by the agency.

 TALENT FOR HIRE

There is no shortage of scribes ready to take up the anonymous pen for small businesses. In addition to marketing professionals, the ranks include current and former journalists, book authors and a range of others with experience in traditional and new media.

Cynthia MacGregor, an author of more than 50 books under her own name, many on lifestyle topics, advertises her ghost blogging services on Craig’s List. She recently began ghosting on behalf of a small company in the food industry and expects to soon sign a contract with a provider of adult entertainment.

“If someone else gets the credit, that’s okay, I enjoy the process,” said MacGregor, who is based in Palm Springs, Florida. “I respect their right to take full credit and not have me be the shining star.”

Oakland, California-based freelance writer Jessica Swesey said her ghost blogging assignments have grown from her background as a reporter covering the real estate market. She now specializes in the industry, ghosting on behalf of several real estate brokers on hot topics such as the homebuyers’ tax credit. Blog posts require intimate knowledge of a business and its services, she said.

“You want to take on the tone of the company,” said Swesey, who spends significant time up front interviewing company principles about their top-of-mind concerns. “I’ve taken control and offered up ideas,” she said. “They’ve also come to me and said, ‘Hey, this is what we’re thinking.’”

Hiring a ghost blogger doesn’t necessarily mean handing over control. Alternative Reproductive Resources, a Chicago-area firm that has been matching infertile couples with gestational surrogates and egg donors for 18 years, produces its blog, Conception Connections, in close collaboration with its PR agency, Hodge Schindler Integrated Communications.

“It’s very much a team approach,” said Robin von Halle, company founder. “A lot of times we write it and they go over it.”

The blog, whose posts have ranged from “100 questions & answers about infertility” to “Step-by-step: Understanding the surrogacy process”, is responsible for bringing interested clients to ARR’s doors, said von Halle, noting the personal nature of her business is well suited for a medium that targets specialized audiences.

“They’re looking for more information,” said von Halle, whose blog is updated weekly. “It’s very helpful to them.”

Most law firm marketers are all too familiar with the following scenario—attorneys want to have an online presence and to find out how to use social media such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to enhance their online reputation, but when it comes to having them review and edit their bio, it’s like pulling teeth. They are so concerned with the allure and credibility that social media offers that they forget some of the basics. In reality, attorney bios are as essential to an online reputation as most social media sites.

On a law firm web site, attorney bios are arguably the most visited pages by both current and potential clients, referring attorneys and media. An up-to-date and engaging bio is, and should, be viewed as a vital marketing tool—one that can be used as the launching point for other online reputation endeavors. Once an attorney has a thorough bio for marketing purposes, there are many practical applications beyond the law firm web site.

With a compelling bio, attorneys can then link back to the firm web site on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook knowing that the information is accurate and reflects their work positively. Furthermore, attorneys can create multiple bios to position them as experts in different practice areas using the general bio as a starting point.

In addition, many attorney ranking organizations, such as Best Lawyers in America, Florida SuperLawyers and ChambersUSA, require the most robust and up-to-date bios for their web sites and even use these bios when determining rankings.

The attorney bio is a basic tool of marketing that can reap multiple rewards. Once attorneys take ownership of their bio, online reputation management can truly begin.

How to Integrate Social

Media into Your Firm’s

Marketing Strategy

by Julie Talenfeld

President, Boardroom Communications

Law firms find themselves in a much different marketplace than they did just a few years ago. Competition is keen. Rival firms seem to be exploiting every angle, network and connection.

 Add to this new marketing landscape the arrival of social media, and firms are challenged with integrating social media into existing marketing programs. Professional services firms today increasingly are relying on Websites, blogs and social media to help communicate their brand principles, key marketing messaging, and overall firm strengths. Social media, in combination with traditional marketing / publicity outreach, can heighten the firm’s profile, strengthen its outreach, and establish a solid and memorable brand among its target audience.

 Below are some of the social media elements professional services firms are using effectively…

 Weblogs or ‘Blogs’. Law firms that capitalize on Weblogs or “Blogs” heighten their online brand awareness, which can help establish the firm or its principals as leaders in the field. As a point of definition, blogs are content written and posted to the site on a recurring basis. This can be content written specifically for the blog, or content “repurposed” for the blog, like speeches, press releases, articles or other written material. Blogs accomplish several goals. First, blogs establish the firm’s and/or practitioners’ expertise and authority in a given practice area(s). Second, blogs heighten a site’s use of keywords and search terms, which raises its profile among search engines and consumers.

 Social Media / Networking. By creating LinkedIn, a Facebook Fan Page, a Twitter feed or other social media services, the firm increases the “touch points” that reach its audience, heightens its presence across the Internet, and improves search results.

 Audio / Video Posting. A firm also can audio or audio / video record blog posts (as well as speeches or other presentations) for posting to the site, iTunes or YouTube as Podcasts, video broadcasts or other searchable social media.

 An experienced internal social media marketing expert or the right marketing firm can make the difference. The goal would be to supply a continuous stream of strong, keyword-rich, search-engine optimized content targeted specifically to the firm’s audience. Working in a collaborative environment, blogs are written and posted, fed to customized LinkedIn accounts, Facebook Fan Pages and Twitter feeds, and then spread virally to peers and prospects across the Web.

 What is newsworthy in the social media space? The same content found in traditional media. Every time the firm or an attorney earns a legal victory or achieves a professional milestone or award, the news is transmitted from consumer, business and trade media and reposted to the blog, social media and other online media services and destinations. The result: The news is distributed across all media – “traditional,” Web and social media – with each improving the overall impact and reach of the other.

 Julie Talenfeld is the founder and President of Boardroom Communications Inc., a South Florida-based public relations, marketing and social media firm with offices in Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Orlando.

Some of the best content to be shared is that from proven experts in the field. Today’s blogpost comes from just one of those experts. Adam Singer of The Future Buzz is a long-time social media thought-leader and provocateur.

His commentary on social media and public relations is an important read, filled with examples, case studies and thorough explanations as to why social media and P.R. work hand in hand. Give it a read…

(In the interest of full disclosure, this isn’t wanton theft. Adam espouses “stealing” his content. He wants ideas to spread, knows Google knows the difference between new and repurposed content, and knows good sites don’t habitually scrape from others. In this instance, Adam’s stuff was too good to attempt a rewrite…)

“…This week, I’m in Las Vegas giving the opening presentation of MarTech at the LeadingRe Annual Conference and speaking on two other panels during the general sessions.  They’ve prepared an exciting lineup of speakers – including Guy Kawasaki, Scott Murphy, and more.

(more…)

The world of social is media is growing in size and complexity. How can you best make it work for you?

Boardroom Communications develops and executes social media strategies for its clients From what we have learned, we think these are important rules to follow:

1. Decide what you want from social media: information, product awareness, customer feedback, news media coverage? Some combination of the above? You will not know where to look or where to share your information online until you have a goal.
2. Post online where your customers are. If they spend their time on MySpace listening to bands, build a page for your audio messages. If they browse Photobucket or Flickr for photos, make sure your pictures are there, too.
3. Value quality over quantity. Facebook says it has more than 400 million members. Yes, but how many of them are your customers or potential customers? If you sell swimsuits, you may want to spend your time and money promoting your company on social sites for fashion and travel.
4. Value your time, too. You do not have to read every news story, blog post and comment. Filter content so that you get the best information in the shortest period of time.
5. Network through Facebook and Linkedin. You will find your customers – and your competition – there. These social media make it easier to learn what people are thinking and talking about.
6. Increase your presence through LinkedIn, Facebook and other social media. It’s easy to connect the RSS feed from your blog to your LinkedIn profile. The more places your appear, the most active you are in reaching customers.
7. Subscribe to RSS feeds. It’s easy through Gmail and other Web services. You’ll receive constant updates about what people and companies that influence your business are saying and doing. Their comments can be grist for your blog posts, Tweets and Facebook updates.
8. Schedule your Tweets so that you do not forget them. With interruptions from phone calls and e-mails, it’s easy to overlook your Twitter account. And don’t forget to comment on other people’s Tweets. Show that you pay attention.
9. Work efficiently. Online services such as TwitterFeed, HootSuite and Ping.fm allow you to post updates across multiple sites with one (or even no) clicks. TubeMogul.com will post videos across multiple sites with one upload.
10. Don’t censor the conversation. Social media give customers control over what it said about your business and brand. Take the criticism with the compliments and learn from both.

For those interested in an education or career in public relations – whether in South Florida or anywhere, The Future Buzz had an interesting take.

… Kendall Winstanley, a North Hastings High School student in Bancroft Ontario asks:

I am a student in grade 12 who is interested in a career in public relations. I am planning on going to Durham College in the fall for PR. Currently, I am doing a report on public relations professionals and how social media is affecting how their job is performed. I read your blog and was hoping that you could give me some more insight into the topic, so I can fully understand it and give the correct information.

First off, congratulations on choosing PR as your field of choice. You couldn’t have picked a better industry. Not only is it a rewarding and challenging field, there’s data which shows the industry is growing, a nice backup for your decision.

Employment of PR professionals is expected to increase 24% from 2008 to 2018, a much higher growth rate than the average occupation according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

With that said, 18% of respondents to a recent Digital Readiness Report said they have no interest whatsoever in traditional PR. And, for the vast majority of respondents, knowledge of social networks (80%), blogging, podcasting and RSS (87%), and micro-blogging (72%) is either important or very important when it comes to PR and marking hiring.

Further, last year’s PEW survey noted more people rely mostly on the internet for news than cite newspapers, and nearly six-in-ten Americans younger than 30 (59%) say they get most of their national and international news online (an identical percentage cites television).

Taken together it’s clear: Much (if not all) of the increasing demand of PR professionals will come from those fluent in digital skills.

(more…)

For public relations and marketing professionals, former South Florida social media expert Adam Singer is a pioneer for several reasons.

First, he’s a very bright social media strategist keen to show how social media and business marketing converge. He’s also one of those pioneers who’s OK with people re-purposing his content. With that in mind, today, we’re publishing one of Adam’s posts on why companies need to integrate social media into their public relations.

Adam recently was in Las Vegas for MarTech at the LeadingRe Annual Conference; he spoke on two other panels. Among the speakers were Guy Kawasaki and Scott Murphy.

Adam sets the stage: “…The MarTech opening session title is ‘Architecting a Social Web Marketing & P.R. Strategy.’ For this presentation, I’ve decided to dial down most of my content from the deck so that event-goers focus on my words instead of reading slides.  However, to supplement my session and provide the same content to The Future Buzz community, here’s a brief written summary of what I’m presenting.” (more…)

Corporations went to great lengths and expense at Super Bowl XLIV to make the weekend in Miami fun — but not for the fun of it. Participation in events with a global audience can help a company make money, Boardroom Communications COO Don Silver told NBC 6 for a news report that aired on the eve of the big game.

Even though there is a trend to tone down the glitz and spending, companies still look for high-profile opportunities to showcase their products and services. Most important, Silver told a WTVJ reporter, the Super Bowl provides business owners and managers an exciting stage on which to solidify and build relationships with those most important to them: customers, prospects, distributors, vendors and employees.

A company that engages in sports marketing should evaluate whether the rewards justify the costs. If the payoff is there, he said, the public relations and advertising efforts tend to fall into these categories:

• Branding of events and locations, such as the recent renaming of Sun Life Stadium, where the Super Bowl was played
• Gaining paid endorsements from famous athletes like the Indianapolis Colts’ Peyton Manning
• Getting exposure through sponsorships of sports organizations like the NFL
• Hosting of events tied or timed to high-visibility sports competitions such as the Super Bowl

Even if a company has no direct connection to sports, the association with the nation’s most watched sporting event creates a buzz, Silver said. The lucky people invited to a sit in a skybox or go inside the velvet ropes of a VIP event come away with a more positive impression of a company or brand.

To capitalize on the huge audiences that watch the Super Bowl, many makers of consumer products and services think it is a good investment to pay millions of dollars for a 30-second spot to reach hundreds of millions of viewers, Silver said. Those dollars are leveraged through the free exposure that their crazy-funny ads get from news and entertainment media.

The most popular videos get free publicity through social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. This is known as earned media, Silver said.

Super Bowl ads can also support online marketing campaigns that drive people to a company’s Web site, Facebook page or virtual store, he said. And the spots can help young companies and non-profit causes gain national notice from consumers and potential supporters.

Attention, Miami Herald: Use proper grammar. The newspaper received that lesson from an experienced South Florida teacher when it asked her to mark up a recent edition.

The same advice applies when an organization distributes a press release, publishes information on its website, updates a blog, or posts on Facebook: To look professional, follow the rules of grammar.

Elaine Kenzel, who wields a sharp green pen for her publishing clients, found 133 mistakes in just one issue of the Herald. Some involved starting a sentence with “but” or “and.” Others related to sentence construction.

Based on her analysis, here are some recommendations for professional public communications:

• Write simply. Complex sentences can confuse the reader.
• Be careful with commas. Writers tend to use too many.
• Be consistent.  Apply the same style to sentences and lists.
• Read and re-read. Have two or three people proofread a press release or Web post before it is distributed.

Boardroom Communications checks and re-checks press releases and other communications before they are made public. We track changes to ensure that no vital information is lost or misstated. Like newspapers and other news organizations, we have editors. Their job is to double-check spellings, facts and, of course, grammar.

Publicizing your products, services and stories via media relations,  social media, website or collateral materials can all be very effective branding tools — if everything is correct.  Otherwise, a small typo or grammar error may quickly deflate your branding balloon and credibility.