Monthly Archives: April 2015

Election 2016: Extra! Extra! Tweet All About It!

Despite its reputation for live real time information distribution, Twitter was recently part of the most pre-promoted announcement of the 2016 election.

On Sunday, April 12, Hillary Clinton formally announced that she is officially jumping into the presidential race. The news was released via a video posted on her website, hillaryclinton.com, and spread through social media channels within minutes.

The choice of social media, rather than the traditional news outlets, was not surprising, given Clinton’s presence on Twitter since leaving the state department. The move also demonstrates the growth of the social media approach since 2008, when President Obama took to Twitter to announce his victory. According to a study conducted at the University of North Carolina, the announcement was retweeted just 157 times, while according to the same study, his 2012 victory tweet was retweeted more than 800,000 times.

Democrats aren’t the only ones embracing social news distribution. A January Washington Post article claimed that “2016 may yet be the first ‘Instagram election’,” citing Jeb Bush’s choice to announce his super PAC via a homemade smartphone video released through the popular app. (Of course, he was criticized for shooting the video vertically – rookie mistake – but when Instagram squared it off, it was somewhat of a non-issue.)

On the other end of the spectrum, no politician is going to compete with the mayhem a celebrity can cause on social media. When pop star Beyoncé released a surprise 14-track album online in December of 2013, every social media channel was jammed with fans clamoring to get in on the news – and the downloads. Followers were virtually scolding each other to stop uploading or downloading anything not-Beyoncé to stop the crowding. Think screaming, crying Beatleseque fans…in cyberspace.

Likely Politicians won’t elicit that kind of emotional response, but at least in the case of Hillary Clinton, campaign managers are hoping for another kind: dollar signs. Through the pre-promotional build up and release of Hillary’s announcement video, hopes are high that the ensuing momentum will help to raise as much as $2.5 billion for her campaign, according to an article in the New York Times.

Social media is as much a part of our news cycle today as the Sunday paper was in generations past. To find out the best way to channel your message out to your target market, call us at (203) 762-8833. We’d love to help you to strategize, target, and release – whether your approach is like that of Hillary, Beyoncé, or anyone in between.

-BML

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Nowhere to Park? Share the Ride.

Successful PR campaigns involve plenty of strategizing, planning and detailed tracking. They also require something many city drivers know a lot about: being in the right place at the right time. Zipcar is just such an example.

During a winter when many cities in the northeast were hammered with snow, urbanites behind the wheel were left with fewer and fewer choices for parking; and those who were lucky enough to find spots weren’t giving them up easily.

Boston was especially hard hit. In a city where “space savers” are very much a part of urban culture – chairs, floor lamps, Elvis busts, whatever keeps a spot reserved for the person who spent hours shoveling it out – this winter brought out the abominable snowman in everyone. By late February, city officials announced that the Boston DPW would be removing space savers, upping the already heated war on parking spots.

Enter Zipcar.

The ride sharing service recently announced a planned increase in its Boston fleet, a move triggered by a new initiative called DriveBoston, whose aim is to promote ride sharing. As part of the DriveBoston plan, the city has pledged to make over 200 parking permits available for ride sharing companies.

In a surprising turn, Car2Go did not submit a bid for the spots. As the largest free-floating car service business in the country, they were expected to jump into the mix. Their absence leaves plenty of room for Boston-based Zipcar, who is currently positioned to take the majority of the permits. Bid winners will be formally announced this summer.

Which means that by next winter, frustrated drivers in Boston may see a significant drop in the number of available parking spots. Not great PR for the city. But, those urbanites who embrace the ride share movement will have a clear choice laid out for them – Zipcar. The PR playing field is wide open for them. One might even go so far as to say they have a space saved.

We are going to keep watch on Zipcar in Boston between this spring and next winter to see how they utilize this key PR opportunity. Studying the moves of creative companies within unique scenarios can provide lessons we can all use as we work to promote our businesses.

Getting a parking spot in any city during the winter takes patience, vigilance, a keen eye, and the instinct to strike when you find yourself in the right place at the right time. In that sense, it is not unlike PR. To find your best opportunities, it can help to have many eyes surveying the landscape. When running a business leaves you with less time than you’d like to keep watch, that’s where we come in. Let us keep the pulse of your target market so that when the next spot opens, it’s yours.

-BML

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Filed under BLOG, PR Tools and Tactics