Effectiveness of Multi-Media Content in Social Media Releases

The advantage of the SMPR is that it creates a web-based release from which reporters and bloggers alike can easily pick up your story, your video, your photos, and any other media you want to share for the purpose of promoting your story.

If you’re ready to make a serious shift into the social sphere with your PR efforts, give Again Interactive a call.

According to an article in the Financial Times (and paraphrased at MobileInnovation.org):

“Teenagers do not use Twitter,” Mr. Robson is reported to have written. “They realise that no one is viewing their profile, so their tweets are pointless”. Moreover, he pointed out that teenagers, who typically don’t have flat-rate data plans, don’t want to use their valuable prepaid mobile phone airtime on micro-blogging. His remarks reinforce one of the criticisms sometimes levelled at Twitter – everyone is talking, but few are listening.

So if you’re trying to reach teens, evidently, your efforts are best exerted elsewhere….

Update: Here’s another great article on that 15 year old intern, Matthew Robson.

Of all the social media platforms out there, I’ve always found Twitter to be the most intimidating. It seems so harmless…a few casual lines in cyberspace to shout out to a friend, share your latest blog post.

But you can’t underesitmate the power of Twitter.  While a good “retweet” can double your followers and drive a ton of traffic to your site, a careless post can resonate in the Google archives forever. Successful Twitterers grow their contact databases and riase awareness of their company’s products and services. But some Twitterers are painting their brands as rude, annoying and pushy.

And I’m willing to bet those annoying folks don’t even realize their mistakes they’re making.

That’s why I’m glad Patricio Robles of eConsultancy created this amazing 10 Twitter Commandments.  I’ve been on Twitter for years, and I didn’t realize some of the mistakes I was making.  Read this, and live by it. I’m reposting almost the whole thing because it’s THAT good:

Thou shalt not use DM autoresponders. More often than not, DM autoresponders are used poorly. Unless you have a good reason to use them andknow what you’re doing, consider avoiding them altogether.

Thou shalt not beg for retweets. If your content is good, other Twitter users willretweet it. Asking “pls RT” makes you look desperate.

Thou shalt not autotweet. Unless your followers followed you to get automatic updates (eg. they know your account is tied to a content feed), autotweeting is usually a bad idea.

Thou shalt not tweet in bunches. You know the guy who always sends out a couple dozen tweets in rapid-fire succession? Don’t be that guy. Sending lots of tweets in a short period of time is just downright annoying.

Thou shalt not take your followers on a trip to hashtag hell. Hashtags can be extremely useful but they’re frequently abused by spammers, marketers andapplications. So choose which ones you use wisely. Hint: hashtags relating to body parts, private matters, illegal activities and words you wouldn’t use in the presence of your grandparents are usually the ones to avoid.

Thou shalt not sex up your avatar. Everyone loves a pretty face but when it comes to your Twitter avatar, make sure that pretty face is your own. Using a photo of a beautiful woman or a studly man to attract attention is suitable only for the lowliest of spammers. And don’t forget to keep your clothes on; your rock-hard abs may be worthy of exhibition on the beach but you probably don’t need to show them off in Twitter’s public timeline.


Thou shalt not oversell. This is ‘social‘ media. Just as nobody likes the person who is constantly selling vaccuum cleaners at the cocktail party on Friday, nobody likes the person who is selling via tweet 24×7. So even if you’re using Twitter for business purposes, don’t go overboard with the pitches; providing value with your tweets will do more for your selling efforts than 140 characters of hard pitch.

Thou shalt not overfollow or autofollow. If you have 500 followers but are following 5,000 people, something is wrong. Some people have sophisticated beliefs regarding follower ratios; I don’t. But common sense is in order: there areplenty of reasons not to follow other users and you should only follow people who you find interesting. As it relates to autofollowing, if I told you I was jumping off a cliff, would you follow me over the edge? Hopefully not. Consider applying the same logic when it comes to who you follow on Twitter.

Thou shalt not sell out. Tweeting a message for a company for a chance to win a free laptop may be a good deal for the company but you’d probably ask for more if you were selling your soul and not your Twitter account. Even so, by tweeting marketing messages for compensation (or a chance at compensation), you send the message that you’re easily bought and sold. That’s probably not a message you want to send.

Thou shalt not tweet before thinking. You are what you tweet. So think twice before saying something dumb. From retweeting a fake news story to crudely voicing a opinion that makes you look like a jerk, there are plenty of ways you can put your foot in your mouth in 140 characters. So keep your shoes on and your feet on the ground by thinking before you hit ‘update‘.

Again – all credit to the awesome Patricio Robles.

We’re renovating our space (yes, I’ll post pictures when we’re ready), new desks and chairs arrived this week, and we even have a few new faces to decorate the place:

• Jeff Kemp joined us this week from Tribal DDB NYC. He’s grateful for the shorter commute, and we’re grateful for his expertise in everything from development to social media marketing. And we’re especially grateful for his fine taste in music – and the speakers he’s promised to bring in.
• Tim McNamara is our new VP of Client Strategy, and we couldn’t be happier to have him on board. Tim worked with Fortune 500s at Liquid Marketing and Adverb Media, and is a virtual guru in all things sales, marketing and PR.  Tim says that his approach to developing campaigns mirrors his approach to life – “Be yourself, the world’s already got one of everything else.” Love that.
• Warren Zenna is our new and most excellent Biz Dev Director, just arrived from Adroit, and a veteran of IMC2 and iCrossing.  We’re so happy to have him on board. Not only can he schmooze with the best of them, he’s really an expert in the online marketing space. And he’s got awesome hair.

And we’ve got some more new folks joining soon. But I’ll save that for a later post – gotta make sure I have material for next month!

Again Mobile, a full-service mobile marketing technology and services company, is dedicated to building mobile marketing solutions that deliver measurable results – from strategy through creation and implementation.

“The mobile channel presents an amazing opportunity for brands to reach consumers on a one-to-one basis,” says Dan Lynn, the company’s co-founder and CEO. “We’re dedicated to helping companies extend their brands into the mobile space in ways that are innovative, engaging and effective.”

Again Mobile will help companies realize the benefits of the mobile channel via a broad set of offerings:

Mobile Marketing & Advertising

* Mobile Text Messaging Campaigns
* Mobile Search Placement and Optimization
* Mobile Web Advertising
* Mobile Near-Field Marketing Campaigns including Bluetooth and RFID

Mobile Technology

* iPhone and other Smartphone Application Development
* Mobile Site Development
* Analytics & Reporting Technologies

Again Mobile’s founders are Dan Lynn, Steven Goldthwaite and Carlos Alcala, all of whom previously founded, owned and held executive-level positions at Adverb Media, a digital marketing technology and services company consisting of DigitalGrit, RelevantNoise and Temel. DigitalGrit, the largest of the Adverb Media companies, was among the Society for Human Resource Management’s “Best Small and Medium Companies to Work for in America” in 2006, as well as a “Best Place to Work in New Jersey” in 2005 and 2006, and a Deloitte Technology Fast 50 company in 2006. The trio is as dedicated to building a great company as they are to the promise of effective mobile marketing. “The three of us have worked together in the past to build several highly successful marketing technology companies,” says Goldthwaite. “With Again, we’re committed to not only helping our customers fully leverage the mobile channel, but to growing another great company – for our customers, our employees and our shareholders.”

“Our focus is on building a culture dedicated to innovation, service and excellence,” says Alcala. “We are driven to exceed expectations every time.”

The company’s offices are located in both Flemington and Boonton, New Jersey. The Main Street offices feature Bluetooth servers, 2D barcodes, and a wide array of smartphone devices – but no desk phones. Upon joining the team, every new employee is issued an iPhone to ensure that the full staff is “walking the talk”.