Localeze provides the standardization of local search listings needed to create a consistent anchor identity for businesses, including name, address and phone number (NAP), on local search and social platforms, including Twitter. Localeze’s process of managing and enhancing listings allows businesses to directly take control of their online identity by providing a new level of access, governance and consistency.

“Local search business listings are one of the foundational pieces of context adding insight to social media interaction as they give users critical information about nearby places,” said Jeff Beard, president, Localeze. “For exploding social platforms like Twitter, it is essential to share where conversations are taking place so that consumers can fully engage with local businesses.”

To access Twitter Places, users need to enable Twitter’s “tweet with your location” feature and click “add your location.” Selecting the location populates a list of nearby Twitter Places offered by Localeze.

Localeze currently provides 14 million local search business listings, including nearly 600,000 verified and managed by local businesses to more than 90 local search platform and application partners.

About Localeze
Localeze is the largest business listings identity management provider for local search.  As a trusted partner, Localeze maintains direct, authorized relationships with local search platforms, national and regional brands, channel partners and local businesses. The company provides businesses essential tools to verify, manage and enhance the identity of their local listings across the Web. Through these relationships and access to authoritative local business information, Localeze is the largest provider of trusted, enhanced online local business listings in the local search industry. Localeze is a privately held company headquartered in Vienna, Virginia. For more information visit www.localeze.com.

(Editor’s Note: This is one of my favorite blog posts – not just for the comments it generated but for the way it addressed a re-occuring theme: that, somehow, PR is dead and Social Media killed it.  C’mon people.  Get over it.)

I’m going to try and infuse something that’s been missing from this whole “Social Media is killing PR” meme that seems to be sweeping through the Blogosphere/Twitterverse lately. 

A little common sense.

This maelstrom has been whipped up, primarily, by PR’s and journalists/bloggers working in the technology space.  And the echo is practically deafening.

While there have been plenty of valid points raised about the nature of public relations, the profession’s current and future place in the enterprise, the role of blogging and other Web 2.0 apps in brand building, sales and CRM – I’ve come to one major conclusion:

Social media “experts” need to get over themselves and PR people need to stop looking over their shoulder to see who’s trying to do them in.

First, a little history
Thanks to Al Krueger and this post on his Comet Branding blog.  Al was actively pimping his online radio show via Twitter yesterday (listen to it here) by sending out about a dozen tweets to his followers (I’m one of them) including a re-tweet of a pimp from some other Twitterhead shilling the podcast.  While I’m not crazy about Al’s method, I was curious, so I checked out the podcast and an earlier post and podcast, from September, on the same subject (you’ll find the post here and the podcast here).

Al did a good job of linking to several posts by bloggers (Scoble, Calacanis, Ruebel and Arrington) and a journalist (ZDNet’s Jennifer Leggio) raising questions about the value provided by PR people who either don’t know how to pitch a story or, worse still, don’t know how to take “no” for an answer.  Look, it’s not vinyl siding sales folks, it’s public relations – show some discretion and restraint.

How “death” looks to the PR profession
All of these bloggers, journalists, PR folks and social media experts seemed to agree that the profession has some serious issues that need to be addressed.  The conversations on the podcasts seemed to sum up this way:

1. PR – as a “brand” – is going through a crisis of identity.  No one seems to know what it means, anymore.
2. The practice of pitching stories can’t continue today the way it was done years ago as a result of social media effectively removing the PR person as the filter between the journalist and the story.
3. Social media requires its own kind of “professional” in order to be effectively used on behalf of a company or brand.
4. There needs to be more professional education and standards in the PR profession that will help re-establish its credibility.
5. PR pros are often in a “no-win” situation when it comes to dealing with journalists who don’t need them nearly as much as they need the journalists.
6. Start-up companies with a dynamic CEO probably don’t need a PR person’s help.

Now a big part of the problem with this entire discussion is that most of the offending PR folks, complaining journalists and put-out bloggers deal in the tech industry.  This is an industry that adopts technologies (like social media) early and falls in and out of love with digital solutions in a never-ending quest to find the “next big thing.”  It’s not the real world.  It’s the echo-chamber of the tech world.

That’s why I was glad to see level-headed analysis from bloggers in the space like Jeremy Pepper get back to the basics of PR, discuss the value of social media as a tool for media relations and offer some basic rules for its use.

The report of PR’s death is an exaggeration (with apologies to Mark Twain)
Let’s take a look at each of these mortal symptoms and evaluate them in a little more detail. 

But before we do, it’s important to make one significant distinction between this screed and many (if not most) of the others you’ll read online: my perspective is that of a person who works with clients almost entirely outside of the technology space.  That’s where most of the people in this world live and work today and it’s to those businesses this blog (and this post) is directed.

First, PR’s identity crisis.  It’s nothing new.  If you’ve worked with PR people in the past you know the good ones are always a little paranoid – always worried about what other people think and if they’re doing everything they can to ensure a positive outcome.  That’s good. That’s what you want in a PR person.  Unfortunately, that trait also leads to a perpetual, professional self-esteem issue that’s maddening.

It’s this constant self-questioning of PR’s value as a discipline that leads the profession into episodes of mental masturbation over “advertising equivalency values” for story placements or obssesive arts and crafts projects that result in massive, three-ring binders full of clips.  I attended a presentation once where a senior PR person said “all we do is generate oceans of ink for our clients.” 

Yuk.

PR is more than that.  PR is about helping clients get their “story” right so it accurately conveys the essential qualities of their brand in a meaningful and engaging way.  And that story has to be told to several “publics” (hence the name Public Relations) which include employees, customers, shareholders, communities and other groups of vital interest to the client in addition to the press.

Second, the process of pitching stories has got to change.  I don’t disagree with that at all.  But the focus shouldn’t be on the pitching process (the number of calls made or the tools used) but rather on the quality and relevance of the story itself.  Not only are PR pro’s often guilty of being lazy and not finding the best angle to present to a reporter, blogger or editor – those same journalists are often unable or unwilling to consider well-crafted stories from brands they’ve never heard of or PR’s they don’t know.

If there’s a reason to take a closer look at the impact of social media, this is it.  Social media can put a journalist in direct contact with a source and eliminate the PR “filter” – there’s no arguing that.  But that same media channel can put the brand in direct contact with the consumer and eliminate the need for the journalist.

It’s already happening.  They’re called “bloggers” – maybe you’ve heard of them.

Many bloggers wear dual hats of journalistic hack and PR flack.  The debate of exactly who or what social media is killing should probably be expanded.

This gets me to the third point about the need for a social media “expert” or “professional” to effectively use the channel.  I don’t get this.  It seems that “social media” by its very definition should be usable by “society” – right?  Having to hire a social media expert seems a bit like having to hire a professional cocktail party gadfly to flit about telling people what needs to be told.

But who decides what needs to be told?  That’s where the value in the profesional relationship is, isn’t it.  Whether that’s the domain of a public relations professional, a marketing consultant, a wise dutch uncle or your consigliere – that’s a call made by the business, not by some professional standards board or association.

Which leads into our next item – and PR folks are famous for this – when all else fails, make a call for more professional standards training and pseudo-academic credentials.  Whether it’s an IABC credential or certification from PRSA, the only thing that establishes credibility is performance.  CPA, JD, MD, PhD after a name may mean something to some people.  But when your accountant, lawyer, doctor or professor screw up, you find another one and make the change.  Your opinion of that one “bad apple” doesn’t spoil the reputation of the entire profession.  Unless, of course, he’s a lawyer.

The fifth point is part of the age-old pity party PR folks throw for themselves when it comes to their relationship with journalists.  Social media (or its absence) won’t change that.  If PR folks do their real job (not just pitch stories willy-nilly), they’ll quickly realize their value with their client exists before they ever pick up a phone or send an e-mail to a journalist.  That self-confidence (and a well-crafted pitch) make the roller coaster ride of rejection and eventual acceptance by journalists easier to take.

PR flacks are going to get told “no” a lot.  They’ll get lied to frequently.  They won’t get their messages returned and they’ll occassionally get a scolding.  Deal with it.  It’s the job.

And finally, some companies don’t need a PR person or firm to help them.  A lot more think they don’t need a PR person or firm to help them.  Whether they’re right or wrong, it doesn’t matter.  You see, they’re the client and it’s their money and their problem.

PR people should work with clients who want to work with them.  This doesn’t mean these clients will understand what PR is, how it works for their business or what a PR person does.  But if the interest is there, that’s something you can work with.

And it won’t kill you.

I had an opportunity to interview with Matt Mickiewizc, the US representative for 99designs.  The site, a spinoff from Sitepoint, puts clients in direct contact with graphic designers from around the world.

Over 22,000 graphic designers from over 100 countries.

And the results can be pretty amazing.  So far, 99designs has helped broker over 14,000 projects, soliciting creative ideas from places like Africa, South America, Asia and all over Europe and North America.  Each project is presented as a “contest,” complete with prize money and a creative brief to provide direction. Each entry submitted by a designer is posted for public display (check out examples of contests here, here and here).

Once a contest is completed, 99designs serves as a kind of “creative escrow agent” allowing each designer to hold the copyright to his or her work until payment has been received from the client (the “award” for winning the contest).  At that point, 99designs and the designer release the files and the rights to the work to the sponsor of the contest.

I asked Matt about potential intellectual property concerns. He pointed out that by keeping all of the contest entries public, the designers police themselves and flag work that is ripped off or obviously derivative.  “The community is self-policing,” he explained.  “We remove flagged work within twenty-four hours of receiving notice.”

A resource for agencies
According to Matt, 99designs is a resource for agencies that need additional bandwidth or are just looking for a fresh approach for a client.  “About twenty percent of the contest held on 99designs are sponsored by agencies or design shops looking to outsource work,” he said.  “These are often held as private contests that are viewable only by the designers and the contest sponsor.” The security shields the agency’s clients from the prying eyes of a competitor or wandering client.

The volume of contributions a soliciation can generate is impressive.  In the bygone era of creative sessions involving too much coffee, donuts, squeaky pens and pads of paper, a creative team would be tasked with the responsibility of “filling the walls” with concepts, headlines and comps.  Account executives and creative directors struggling to impress a client with their agency’s creative abilities would often present a “rustle pile” of tissue comps in an effort to “throw it against the wall and see what sticks.”

The “rustle pile” of ideas on scraps of paper can now be replaced with an online gallery of nearly printer-ready comps. 

One contest for Anthill Magazine in Australia generated over 270 comps for a magazine cover.  The gallery for this old contest still has over 240 of the proposed concepts online for review.  (99designs allows designers to remove their submissions once a contest has closed.)  A brief for the contest can be viewed here.

A concept for every occassion
I had to ask Matt about the most unusual design assignment posted to 99designs.  After thinking it over for a moment, he mentioned a recent contest to design a marriage invitation to be printed on a picnic blanket.  The blanket was to be unfolded, revealing the proposal, at just the right time.

“We heard back that the proposal was accepted, so it must have been a good design,” said Matt.

Chalk up another contest winner at 99designs.

Special thanks to Katie Lister at Vantage Communications for putting me in touch with Matt and 99 Designs.

Nope.  Probably not.

Fun parody, though.

It started off inocently enough.  But Beth Brody from BrodyPR made a simple mistake.  She e-mailed the same pitch to a big list of contacts and included that contact list in the CC field which ignited a series of “Reply All” responses that, in tun, went to the same distribution list.

Over and over again.

It’s sort of like the media relations equivalent of being at a rock concert and the audience gets more caught up in keeping that damn beachball bouncing around in the crowd than they do in what’s going on onstage.  Then, the next thing you know, the grumpy musical purists start yelling for people to sit down and the kids start complaining that nobody ever lets them have any fun anymore …

Lucky for me (I guess) that I was at a client meeting while all this was going on and I just walked in on the carnage afterward.  Today there’s been a virtual pile-up on the social news media highway – and I’m viewing it as a first responder.

Maybe “pile up” isn’t nearly as accurate as “pile on” when you see how other PR professionals took advantage of Beth Brody’s lapse in judgement to cast dispersions, fluff up their own reputation and build blog traffic.

Here’s what looks to have happened:

• Beth Brody sent out her pitch in the morning (7:45 am CDT).
• Approximately 17 minutes later, Donna Maria Coles Johnson of Monroe, NC “Replied All” in response and the die was cast.  Everyone on the first distribution of the release received Donna Maries response.
• A half hour later, Shel Isreal replied back to Donna Maria – again using the “Reply All” function.
• Within minutes, folks were starting to “Reply All” to let everyone know not to use “Reply All” to reply.
• People started getting a little snarky shortly after that and the sniping started.
• Ken Wheaton, of AdAge, weighed in at 11:19 am CDT and threatened to expose those perpetuating the email chain reaction.  Although Ken didn’t follow through with his threat (entirely), he did write about it on the AdAge web site.
• Not to be outdone by AdAge, John Capone of MediaPost offerred up a stoning at an OMMA conference to offending PR’s.
• By a little before lunch, things went from snarky to mean-spirited with people insisting they be taken “off this fucking list” and moving to have BrodyPR put on a blacklist of PR firms who spam.

By the time the email “spamalanche” was over, things were just starting to heat up on Twitter.

• In three hours, there were nearly 100 tweets about BrodyPR and the entire kerfuffle.
• A few PR’s dominated the online tar-and-feathering; most notably serial-tweeter Chris Abraham (@chrisabraham) with nearly 20 tweets on the subject.
• Others were tweeting and blogging about the event and there were those (including yours truly) who were blogging about the blogs and the tweets about the event.

So, what does all this tell us? 

First off, some people must have too much time on their hands. Honestly, the entire number of additional emails in my Inbox due to Beth Brody’s foul up and everyone else’s over-reaction to it totalled about 30 emails.  If I had been really put out by the entire matter, I could have set up a rule in outlook to delete anything with the subject header and I never would have seen any more emails past the first four or five.  (Read your Outlook owner’s manual, people!)

The second lesson is that the irony of fouling up an email pitch for a book on using social media for small business is more likely to hurt Beth and her client than all the pundit arm waving and chest beating.  Shel Isreal responding with a “Reply All” email to Donna Maria’s request is either blatant astroturfing or a huge blow to Shel’s credibility as an expert.  Neither is a good thing to have happen to your PR client.

Publishing your “great, American novel” just got easier.

Gone are the days of sitting in a little cottage overlooking a pond in the back yard.  Authors everywhere can now come out of seclusion (at least in a virtual sense) and get their work published much easier than ever before.  A press release from Fast Pencil (www.fastpencil.com) explains how the free service (for writers) now integrates social media into the mix.

***Press Release:

FastPencil Introduces New Facebook, Twitter Features and Enhanced Writing Functionality Facebook Connect, Twitter Integration, E-Book Distribution and New Templates Simplify Book-Writing Process

CAMPBELL, Calif. – August 18, 2009 – FastPencil today announced a robust feature update to their free social self-publishing platform that allows authors to easily write, share, publish and sell their books. FastPencil (www.fastpencil.com) now offers additional book templates, Facebook Connect, Twitter updates and distribution of e-books through Barnes & Nobile and Amazon, including iPhone reader and Kindle support.

FastPencil is now integrated with both Facebook Connect and Twitter to provide a new level of communication and collaboration. Facebook Connect enables users to connect directly to their Facebook network through FastPencil. A “scribble, tweet or share” feature in FastPencil now automatically updates Twitter, making it easier to share your thoughts and activities with your community.

“Our number one goal is to make the book-writing process simple and fun no matter who you are, what the topic is or what your experience level may be,” said Steve Wilson, FastPencil Co-Founder and CEO. “FastPencil strips out the complexity of the publishing process allowing anyone to write a book, have it published and delivered to their doorstep for under $10. By integrating with Facebook and Twitter we are making it easier for you to work with your established network of friends, colleagues and followers.”

New features also include new book templates, such as Personal Memoir, Great American Novel and Blog to Book. After deciding on a template, writers have the option to start a book from scratch or upload a completed piece of work to publish. The new distribution functionality then allows writers to sell their books and e-books on Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

With FastPencil aspiring writers have access to an end-to-end solution that enables them to write a book, share their work and publish traditionally bound books or paperless e-books instantly. Once the book is complete, the FastPencil self-publishing wizard steps authors through the process of formatting for books or e-books.

FastPencil Features:

• Connect with trusted friends through Facebook, Gmail, AOL, Yahoo and MSN
• Integration with Twitter makes sharing easy
• New site navigation
• Select from a variety of book templates: Personal Memoir, Great American Novel, Blog to Book
• Publish to e-book formats with iPhone reader and Kindle support
• E-book distribution at online retailers such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble
• New writing tools, such as spell check and indent
• Portfolio page and personal profile
• Enhance chapters and front and back covers with images
• Author services including consulting, design services and formatting
• Integrated self-publishing wizard for step-by-step assistance
• FastPencil Classics: access to many royalty free titles including Tarzan of the Apes and Cinderella

Pricing and Availability
The FastPencil self-publishing platform beta is now available at http://www.FastPencil.com.  

The FastPencil Basic service is free and includes book templates, writing platform and ability to connect with the community. Additional publishing packages are available at Silver and Gold levels and include consulting, author and editorial services, custom formatting and distribution. For more information on publishing services visit www.fastpencil.com/company/packages.  

About FastPencil
Silicon Valley-based FastPencil takes the pain out of the entire book-writing process from concept to finished product. The FastPencil self-publishing platform enables writers to create their books online, share their work with a trusted network of friends and professionals, and publish their books on demand either as bound books or e-books.

For regular FastPencil updates follow us at www.Twitter.com/FastPencil, become a Fan on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/FastPencil and for more information, please visit www.FastPencil.com.  

###

FastPencil is a registered trademark of FastPencil, Inc. All other registered or unregistered trademarks are the sole property of their respective owners.

ReadWriteWeb had this great piece about how to improve your Facebook persona and author Richard MacManus boiled it down to five tips:

1. Update your status regularly.  I try to do it once a day, but Richard says even just once every few day is enough – just keep it up to date and interesting.
2. Use groups.  This is like inviting all your Facebook friends to a party and keeping the ones that know each other in the same rooms.  By grouping your friends, you can keep your focus on the conversations in each room rather than trying to hear one or another over the din of everyone else.
3. Add content from other sources.  But be careful how you do it. 
4. Brighten up your profile with pictures and videos.  Adding multimedia makes your Facebook profile interesting.

Search out the best Facebook applications.  Thousands of apps have been built over the last year and a half.  Searching through the app directory should help you identify apps you can add to your profile that helps keep your online persona focused and useful.

You can read the full text of Richard’s article here.

To read Richard’s article on how to make Facebook useful again (yes, truly useful), click here.

I received a queery from the folks at Trackle.com last week and have to say, it looks interesting.

The site purports to be a service like Google Alerts – but with lots of added features.  Here’s some of the info sent ahead to me:

A free Web app that acts as a standing search engine, Trackle searches the Internet for you, updating you on the news and events you want to know about. Unlike similar services, such as Google Alerts, Trackle doesn’t just search for keywords. It incorporates change into the keywords and provides real-time alerts on the subjects you choose – as often as you choose, and all in one place.

For example, if you see something on Amazon.com you’d like to buy, but only want to spend $50, Trackle can monitor the item and let you know when it reaches that designated price. You can also track things relevant to your location by inputting your address. Trackle will show you local activities, neighborhood crime and even home values.

Keyword searches make it easy to search any subject of interest to you, existing category searches also include: video games, social media, movie releases, politics, sports, health, travel and personal finance, among many others.

Trackle keeps all results on your personalized site, and sends you a daily email with new information, but you can also choose to receive real-time alerts via email, SMS text or RSS feed. Updates can also be shared on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

Now, does it do everything it claims?  I don’t know.  I’m going to use it and report back.  In the meantime, if anyone else uses Trackle, hit me up off-blog and let me know about your experiences.

On Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Anheuser-Busch InBev NV is trying to reverse a slide in market share for Bud Light by ginning up another 15 ads for the brand. All this in response to the first drop in market share for Bud’s younger sibling in over 25 years.

The ads are set to break when the NFL football season kicks off.  The ads will continue to make people laugh, concentrating on bringing back the humor associated with the brand over the past generation.  What does this mean for the often-lame “Drinkability” campaign?  According to the article, it sounds like DDB is planning on sticking with the theme but will freshen things up a bit.

The ads will refine the company’s “Drinkability” campaign — which sought to persuade drinkers that Bud Light is neither too heavy nor too light in taste — that began last year and has struggled to gain traction.

Some creative executives at Omnicom Group‘s DDB Worldwide, an ad agency working on Bud Light, struggled with the “Drinkability” strategy while creating this year’s Super Bowl commercials, finding it difficult to fit in the “Drinkability” message without sacrificing humor, according to a person familiar with the matter.

So, don’t plan on the return of Spuds McKenzie – but for those of you who are jonesing for some classic Bud Light moments, check out this link.