Marybeth from Orca Communications might be an idiot. I’m not saying she is; however, her behavior is certainly in-line with the kind of idiocy that some PR firms are practicing. I know I’m going to sound like a dink here, but there’s a hard truth to face, and it’s that these groups just aren’t “getting it”.

This is how PR firms “do” social media

Yesterday Marybeth sent me an email about Veeple, “a new breakthrough in advertising”. It’s not the first time I’ve received a message about this. Last month Ann (also possibly an idiot) sent me a rather identical and “personalized” message about Veeple. It read like this:

Hi <<First Name>>,

With You Tube and MySpace all the rage – there’s a new breakthrough in advertising that takes advantage of these online videos in a brand new way. Viral marketing has gone high-tech!

I thought you might have interest in a story.

Software geniuses out of Silcone Valley are introducing Veeple – revolutionary software that gives the ability to add interactive “VeeSpots” — in-stream text, web page links, speech, and even thought bubbles — to videos! This opens up a whole new way for advertisers and web publishers to effectively deliver their message to the billions of people who are hooked on viewing and posting videos on the Internet!

Please let me know if you are interested in more information. We have some great examples. We’re also happy to set up an interview with Veeple for more on how this technology works and how it’s poised to shake up the advertising world. Thanks!

http://www.veeple.com/.

Best Regards,
Ann Noder
President
Orca Communications Unlimited, LLC
“America’s PR Firm for Inventors & Entrepreneurs”
Ann@OrcaCommunications.com
(480)248-0012
(480)907-5298 (fax)
http://www.orcacommunications.com/

Now, I suppose that Ann and Marybeth have been successful in a way. I’ve now made reference to their press release (link strength added). I’ve talked about them with some degree of vitriol around our office, and I’ve checked out Veeple’s site. It’s nicely “inspired” by the Surface folks at Microsoft with the addition of YouTube interface embedded within. (As we all know, originality just takes way too much time.)

Why such an asshole?

The other night, one of my students referred to me as an “asshole”. He was smiling when he said it, so I suspect it was all in good fun; nevertheless, I’m the first to admit that I am sometimes just that. That being said, with these alleged “idiots”, I’m not actually trying to be an asshole. It’s just so easy that it’s impossible to resist.

When Ann (the firm’s President) first contacted me, I was a surprised by her inability to actually insert my name. As much as I assumed that <<First Name>> was intended to reference yours truly, I felt it to be rather a faux-pas. I was being sent PR spam, and I didn’t really like it.

As such, I sent a good-hearted, albeit cheeky, response to her:

Hi Ann,

Thanks for the tip! I’m going to pass this on to <<First Name>>, <<First Name>>, and <<First Name>>, who’ll get back to you on this. ;-)

(Could you take me off of this list please?)

Thanks,

Eric

I kind of thought I might receive an “Oops! Sorry about that Eric.” Instead, I received this:

CORRECTED MATERIAL BELOW. DISREGARD PREVIOUS MESSAGE. Thanks!

Eric,

With You Tube and MySpace all the rage – there’s a new breakthrough in advertising that takes advantage of these online videos in a brand new way. Viral marketing has gone high-tech!

I thought you might have interest in a story.

Software geniuses out of Silcone Valley are introducing Veeple – revolutionary software that gives the ability to add interactive “VeeSpots” — in-stream text, web page links, speech, and even thought bubbles — to videos. This opens up a whole new way for advertisers and web publishers to effectively deliver their message to the billions of people who are hooked on viewing and posting videos on the Internet.

Please let me know if you are interested in more information. We have some great examples. We’re also happy to set up an interview with Veeple for more on how this technology works and how it’s poised to shake up the advertising world. Thanks!
http://www.veeple.com/.

Nice; the same message, but this one with my name included. (I have to wonder what these folks bill their clients to tap this keen attention to detail.)

I then became rather crabby and sent one more message:

Do not send me these messages. You are sending spam.

Once again, there were no responses until Marybeth’s email yesterday, which (as I’m sure you can imagine). I was thrilled to receive. I must say they’re pretty smart about time-management. Instead of wasting a moment by changing their message, they just send the same one over and over again.

They really don’t get it

Now, perhaps I’m being a little mean. These folks just have a job to do. They’re trying to spread the word, and this is the best way they know how. They know “press releases” and keep hearing that this social media thing is really, really big. So, they tackle it the only way they know how: they email press releases. Some have been audacious enough to invent a new bollocks term for this. They call it the “social media release.” Right.

Again, the problem is that they’re completely stuck in an old paradigm. First of all they don’t understand what they are selling; honestly, who uses the phrase, “Software geniuses” with a straight face? Moreover, they don’t understand that social media isn’t just a newfangled version of a fax machine. You can’t just chuck the same repetitive crap at people and expect that anyone will pay attention. (Oh, right, footnote here Ann: “Silcone Valley” should have one more “i” and one less “e” in it.)

But, what are all these PR firms to do? After years of doing things the same way, everything’s mixed up. And who’s there to explain this weird social media phenomenon.

Doing it right(ish)

Make no mistake; the future of advertising is PR. It’s just that it’s not the kind of PR that’s being practiced by most today. Currently PR is about “push”; by this I mean simply sending messages. Many bloggers have experienced this first-hand. Daily I receive a handful of emails from companies just like Orca, who think that they’re servicing their clients’ needs by spamming press releases of little or no relevance to their recipients.

Although some may respond differently, I immediately file these messages in the trash bin. I might add that I hit that delete key with a bit of a vengeance. These people are getting paid to fill my inbox with pointless drivel by clients who actually think they’re going to see results. They profit by irritating us, while associating their clients with spam. (In my mind this isn’t the most healthy business model.)

But it will be different. In the future, people like Ann and Marybeth might start to understand it’s all about “pull”. They’ll first do this by researching who they are contacting and actually ensuring that they are sending messages to interested people.

Then they’ll learn to actually engage these people in a dialogue. You know, either Marybeth or Ann could have simply emailed a brief apology to me. In this they might have explained that they had thought that I’d be interested in what they sent. Instead, it seems they were so busy spamming that they had no interest in actually bothering to write even the briefest of responses.

This is a shame, because doing so could have been quite effective for them. It might have even started a dialogue and set the stage for future mentions for their clients. Ann, Marybeth, pay particular attention to this word, “dialogue”. Honestly, it’s no longer about the number of messages you send; instead, concentrate on the actual interaction or engagement that results. Heck, I’ll even throw you a bone here. Read this: A Primer in Social Media. It’s my little helper for people just like you.

On the other hand

Then, we have folks like Darryl, Bill and the crew from Plaid. They are involved in a brilliant little publicity/fun/teambuilding exercise called the Plaid Nation Tour. They wrap a van in the Plaid “look”, and then drive it across parts of the country meeting-up with people they like. Along the way they Twitter about their travels, post video synopses of the day’s events, live-stream from the van, blog, chat, and so on.

Why’s it so smart? Well, to use Seth Godin’s word, it’s kind of “remarkable”. First off, they get to play extensively with the technology that most PR firms only understand from an anecdotal standpoint; additionally, they have a free-pass to visit with any company they want. While there, they show off how pleasant and interesting they are, hand out a bunch of swag, and then carry on. (See their visit to our studio for an example.) Along the way, they have actual fun. How novel.

It’s brilliant PR; I only wish that we would have thought of doing it first.

The important part here is that it’s not business as usual. Things like social media releases signal pure idiocy and leave bloggers like me wanting to punch people. The sensation is similar to opening my front door expecting a friend, and instead finding a burning bag of shit.

So, there you go Orca Communications! Your press releases have resulted in an article at ideasonideas. (I hope it was all you wished it would be.)