104 West Partners

Where did everybody go?

From the Desk of Elaine Schoch...
After a brief heart attack on Friday when I checked my Twitter account and those of a few clients and saw a significant decrease in followers, I scrambled onto Mashable to figure out the issue. Once I could breath, I asked a member of our team - Ben Johnson - to write a blog post about where everyone went.

From the Desk of Ben Johnson...
After Thursday’s clean sweep of spammers and inappropriate accounts, many Twitter users feel as though they lost their best friend or a few 100 followers, whichever sounds worse. For many, including the Ashton Kutchers’ and Perez Hiltons’ of the world, the amount of followers represented their importance in the Twittersphere and pop culture. This has made many ask, “where did everybody go?”

The last six months has been a triumphant but learning stage for Twitter. Between the battle of CNN vs. Ashton Kutcher to be the first to hit one million followers to this week’s recent mass deletion of over 1000 spammers it is evident that Twitter is evolving. But into what?

In June 2009, HubSpot released another State of the Twittersphere which divulged the activity that has drastically accelerated Twitter beyond a niche social media platform. Where a year ago 80% of users had specified a bio in their profile this number dropped to almost by 60% to 24.14% having a bio in their profile this year. While popularity played a large part in growth, the lack of profiles showed how joining was important but that engagement was not. While many joined for different reasons, the power players (Ashton Kucher, Perez Hilton, etc.) are seeing the most from Twitter even if just for a daily ego boost of more followers than the day before. But it’s the corporations that are recognizing the largest benefits. Dell reported earning $3 million from Twitter and many others are using the site as a way to engage with customers beyond that of face-to-face and toll free customer service numbers. So beyond the array of benefits to the power users what does Twitter look like to the average user?

Are you an average Twitter user - according to HubSpot?
·      Tweet .97 times per day
·      Have tweeted 119.34 time in total
·      Following-to-follower ratio of .7738.

What does this information mean to you or is it as informative as knowing that the average family has 2.5 children. While this information might give us a statistical overview of Twitter users, we know that everyone is on for a different reason. Maybe to become a thought leader in an industry, a platform in which to follow news that is relevant to your world, or to actually microblog and answer the question: What are you doing?

So today as we post our current state of mind or retweet someone else’s we at least know that our Twittersphere has gained back an ounce of genuineness even if our follower count is still causing bruised egos. 

Let us know your thoughts...

PRSA Colorado recently highlighted a case study our firm won a Gold Pick award for - Tiny Survivors: Colorado's Fight Against Infant Prematurity. Take a look and let us know what you think.

Thoughts - 'Spinning the Web: P.R. in Silicon Valley'

From the desk of Elaine Schoch...

The New York Times did an article Sunday regarding how the PR industry is leveraging social media channels and key social media influencers more to spread the word for its clients rather than traditional media outlets and influencers.

Influencer relations isn’t new – neither is having a social media program – and it’s a program we at 104 West (and many other firms) have leveraged for years for our clients. The point the article was trying to communicate is that the influencers are changing. They’re not the traditional print reporters anymore, but rather social media players with huge Twitter followings, be it analysts like Jeremiah Owyang or Rachel Happe; consultants/bloggers such as Chris Brogan or reporters/bloggers like Pete Cashmore, or even CEO’s such as Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com.

What disturbed me about this article is that it didn’t go into how you have to have an integrated and phased approach to create a successful program, especially for startups. We all know that social media is making the PR industry evolve and at a rapid pace. The information world we knew has changed and the information gatekeepers are changing guard. However, you can’t just rely on social media to do the job, you have to leverage both new and old media to be effective and sustain a presence. While social media can create hype and drive traffic, it alone can’t sustain an ongoing presence among influencers and a brands customers.

Think about it, how are you going to get to my mom who doesn’t have a Facebook page, she doesn’t reads TechCrunch or RWW or even the Wall Street Journal but rather the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and usually catches her local news on NBC each night. However, she would love to play with Wordnik, the site/startup the article referenced (as an ex-English teacher and wannbe crossword puzzle champ this would be the best site for her!). She might be a “nobody” but she is a power player in her little town in TX and can influence buying/user behaviors – not on the scale that Pete Cashmore can, but trust me, she has a big mouth...

The article goes into great detail about hitting the social media influencers and I completely agree but depending on your brand, social media influencers may not be the best ones for you to focus on. You have to know who your influencers are and WHERE they are. They may not be online tweeting or blogging, instead they could be industry analysts who you need to reach to be included in their reports, they may be reporters who write for a weekly industry newsletter. Now granted, more of these players are creating a presence online, particularly in the blogosphere and Twitter but their audience (your customers, i.e. my mom) may be getting the information else where.

While the PR industry is changing and the communication channels are shifting, the industry is still based on forming relationships and telling your clients story to the right people at the right time. It’s our job to know who the right people are and the right timing – that’s never going to change. 

104 West has an app for that

From the desk of Elaine Schoch...

There are only three good ideas in the world, it’s just a matter of who gets to them first. In this case Brad Feld beat me to it (go figure). I had started writing this post regarding some of the teams favorite iPhone applications when I saw his post come through today doing the same. Oh well, I’ll still share...

Meredith recently asked me what my favorite iPhone applications were so she could start building her arsenal of apps. (She FINALLY made the switch from the BlackBerry to the iPhone – yeah!) I compiled my list for her but went a step further and asked the team what theirs were too. Clearly, the main apps the phone came with – email, maps, calendar, Safari, photos, clock, etc. - are some of our most used applications but here is a run down of some cool ones we really like.

Maps: While this is one of the basic apps that comes with the iPhone, we can’t tell you enough how many times it has gotten us places and saved us from being late.

Facebook: We all use it but don’t love it since its interface really isn’t that great. Hopefully the updated version being released will be better.

TweetDeck: This is a newer app and if you use TweetDeck on your desktop you’ll understand how helpful it is. It mirrors the TweetDeck columns so you’re never out of sync.

Twitterific: Why Patrick still likes this one is crazy, but he does... It used to be on my top five list until TweetDeck came out.

YellowPages: Yes, people still use them just not in their traditional form.

iTriage: Full disclosure, they’re a client but they can save your life (according to The New York Times). It helped Patrick get some quick information at a doctor's appointment last month.

At Bat Light: As a baseball fanatic, Patrick uses this app to keep up-to-speed on what’s going on in the world of baseball.

NYC Subway Map: One of our teams essential iPhone applications; we have a few clients in NYC that we regularly visit.

The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and AP Mobile (Associated Press): Duh...

Shazam: Ben and I love this one! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve impressed my know-it-all music husband by rattling off the artists name of a song playing on XM.

OpenTable: This app has been a great help when traveling and making reservations ASAP. We also like Yelp for reviews.

Where: This is an awesome app that helps you locate things around you – restaurants, Starbucks, movie theaters/showings, cheap gas, etc.

Crazy Penguin Catapult and TowerBloxx: These are two of our favorite games by Digital Chocolate, another client. They are also two of the five games Digital Chocolate has produced that went to #1 on the iPhone. We all spend time playing these when there is time to kill or need a mental break.

Recorder: We use this for press briefings, meetings and I personally use it to record my little girl laughing. It helps to listen to when you’re having a bad day.

WeatherChannel: Unlike the weather app that came with the iPhone, this app has a lot more information and provides the forecasts a few days out.

AccuTerra by Intermap: These guys have a few maps (and more coming) that hikers and outdoor enthusiasts will love. Not only can you explore and view maps of national parks like Yosemite, but you can map your hikes in real-time, view elevations, add notes and pictures you took along the way. And then you can SHARE it with your friends. This is my new favorite app (I’ve had a sneak peek at at few maps coming out soon that I’ve been playing with this summer. As a client, we get some perks...) Check out their quick video.

What are some of your favorite apps??