Home for the Holidaze

If you read my other blog, you'll know that this has been a busy summer for me as an artist and photographer.  I apologize for not posting anything here since June, which seems like it was years ago as I gaze at the snow here in Portland Maine.  But I ran across this very good article about using social media for your brand.  It's a hard thing to do, not to toot your own horn these days, but in dealing with social media, I think it's good advice.

Wishing you all a very Happy Holiday and a Bright, Prosperous New Year - with a cherry on top!

What One Thing do Baseball and PR Have in Common?

Today a first for me - writing a headline that is a question and almost sounds like a joke!  But it's not when you think of PR as pitching - which is quite important in baseball as well.  Except when it comes to pitchers duels, those really bore the crap out of me.  But enough of me, what about you when it comes to pitching?  If you're like me, the news release headline is probably the biggest of the pitches I'll use.  But Sarah Skerik begs to differ with us and I think she's got some good points in her article here.  And she is specific as to the WHY being the biggest W in terms of pitching, especially when it comes to social media.

Wave of the Future?

There's nothing like trying to predict the future to catch someone's interest.  I think that's why astrology is still featured in the local fish wraps and right here on the internet.  But what about the evolution of the internet and how we interact with each other?  I'll bet that probably half the folks reading this blog were not on the internet as much five years ago as they are now.  Although the topic isn't strictly PR oriented it does have some bearing on how we get our messages noticed in our brave new world now and five years into the future.  We can thank Josh Miller over at Medium.com for his insights.

More Social Media Rules

Like those magazines that headline 5 Ways to Fill in the Blank or 8 Things You Should Know, we've now got another list of 10 Rules for Attaining Success in Social Media - click here.

However, this time the advice is coming from a worthy source - Guy Kawasaki.  After surviving two stints working for Steve Jobs at Apple, Kawasaki has become a go-to guy about all things Silicon Valley and start ups.  His advise in the article is spot on IMHO.

The only "What???" moment I had was that he tweets the same stuff all day because of the way people jump on and off Twitter.  We used to do that in radio news as well.  We figured the average listener was in the car for a max of 90 minutes, so the first 90 minutes at work was writing all new newscasts.  After that, we would rotate the stories every 90 minutes.  You also find that in TV on CNN - although I think that they rotate every hour....

Special thanks to Joe Nalven at the Digital Art Guild for turning me on to this story!

Centerfold

My Viva Cuba show made the cut for the centerfold for the Portland Press Herald today.  I had a story with legs (not many Mainers have been to Cuba apparently) and submitted the information in the right format and met their deadline for a photo.  And most of all, I was lucky!  PR is such a crap shoot. I don't mind giving Imogen Binnie and Space Gallery a little extra coverage either!

I know I'm kinda cheating here with just re-posting what I had up for my Waiting for the Muse blog, but it shows that perseverance and luck will eventually win out!

Blogs vs. Social Media

If someone were to walk up to you and ask you if social media had more of an influence on you than blogs when it comes to buying something, what would you say?  Off the top of my head, I'd guess that it would be social media.  Mostly because many of my friends hang out in Fakebook. It takes Technorati and the Social Media Examiner blog to prove me WRONG.

Apparently when folks are not hanging out on FB, they are reading and researching blogs!  Go figure.  Of course blogs are in third place as retail sites and brand sites are the top two when it comes to influencing a purchase.  But this does show how important it is to continue (or start) a blog presence in addition to making your company or services known on FB and other social media.

Steal Your Face

OK... that headline only works if you're hip to the Grateful Dead... but at least it got your attention and today's post is about stealing or appropriation as we say in the art world.  Sometimes small businesses should look to the Bigger Ones, especially when it comes to how they are using social media.  While the article here is mostly about marketing since it deals with image building, it's also PR related.  But I think they do make some good points in terms of using social media in a strategic way.

Maybe you've wondered what's been going on in my life as it's been over a month since my last post?  Even if you didn't wonder, I'm going to tell you.  I traveled to Cuba as part of a cultural exchange with other photographers from the Santa Fe Photographic Workshop, led by Elizabeth Opalenik.  If you'd like to know about life in Havana (mostly), click here and then scroll back to the beginning of February. 

Where Does the Time Go

Many apologies gentle readers, what with the holidays and travel, I've got egg all over my face when I see that last post I made here was in the beginning of November.  Hope ya'll had great holidays and that your PR tasks are not too terrible this time of year.  For me, this means gearing up for the Portland Performing Arts Festival - gotta get those magazine news releases out - as well as my on-going consulting for Constellation Gallery in Portland.

I also raised money on US Artists for my next photography project which will shoot in February after I get back from a much anticipated trip to Havanna!  I'll be going on a cultural exchange with the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops led by Elizabeth Opalenik.