PATRON SAINT PRODUCTIONS, INC. ~ CHAT TRANSCRIPT ~ Patron Saint Productions, Inc. Online Publicity Chat Series Topic: Session #4: Online Content Syndication Guest: Gwendolynn Gawlick, President of PR Diva, substituting for Steve O'Keefe, author of Complete Guide to Internet Publicity Date: October 1, 2002 SPECIAL NOTE: The very beginning of the following transcript is missing. Steve O'Keefe was not able to teach this session, and substituting for him is Gwendolynn Gawlick. Gwendolynn is a seasoned publicist who studied with Steve O'Keefe for over a year before opening her own firm, PR Diva , which specializes in the promotion of books and authors. I'm interested in all types of syndication -- print and online. I'm a gift basket and general business expert. I am sorry what is the Tulane class? Steve O'Keefe teaches a class at Tulane University, and many of the students come to this chat for instruction and insight. :) I am new to this so I had no idea. I'm not a part of the class. I'm located in northern NJ. Great - it's great to have people from all over, who do all sorts of different things. What I'd like to do is run a "Protocol" so, if you have a question, please type a "?" and I'll call on you in order. If anyone has any questions to start, let me know. Otherwise, I'll talk a little about syndication. Like many things about the web, concepts that are familiar in other types of media seem to be counter intuitive to the web. Syndication is one of these, in the sense that people tend to want to drive traffic to their own web sites. This happens everywhere -- from big book publishers to small information sites etc. The entire theory behind syndication is essentially the same as it is in print, radio or TV. Get a big media power to send your message. Rather than sending your message (i.e. your new diet plan book for example) to all your friends, and hoping that they spread the word and your book becomes a bestseller, why not let Oprah spread the word to HER audience? That makes sense on TV, but it's a theory that tends to be resisted on the web. Rather than try to build up traffic to your own web site in order to send your message, why not use a web site like MSNBC, or Yahoo! or Lycos? That's what syndication is all about. Any questions? How do you do that? Well, that's the big question :) any other questions on the concept of syndication before I talk about methods? we'll talk about methods for doing it in a moment Michele. Okay, who does that (use a Web site like MSNBC, etc.)? What this means is that you try to partner with a big media power (in this case, a web site with a large audience), and get them to host your information in some way. That way can be by - for example - sending a press release that they post on their site - as news syndicates do - like Reuters or the AP. Or, many other ways of getting a web site to host your information - such as online chats, online bookstores displays, articles by experts that you give them for free which promote your idea or product.... that sort of thing - we can go into how we ask them to do this in a moment if you like. How do you select the right big guy for you? That's a great question. Again, taking lessons from traditional media, the first thing is to know your media. Have a look at web sites that address your issues... Let's say you have written a parenting book. Go research all the major women's web sites, parenting web sites, etc. Find out what's on them. Find out if your information, your product or service or expertise fits with their current audience. If so, then their target is the same as yours, and they should be a good fit for partnering. Make sense? For example, I wouldn't pitch ESPN.com on a parenting issue... unless it was sports and children. The same as not pitching Architectural Digest for a cooking article. Any questions? Okay, onward. So, let's say that you have some expertise. I'll use the example of.... what... You have written a book on bullying and children and parenting. Do you want to use an example that's more pertinent to any of your work? any suggestions? Detective novel, book on depression, book on reincarnation ... Okay, good. Let's say you've written a book on combating depression with food. Good? OK Now, one of the ways you can create great publicity and exposure for yourself and your book is by content syndication. Let's take the first tack. You create a short article taken from the book about the "top ten foods to combat depression." Now, what you want to do is create a document that can be used by a variety of web sites for free. You'll want to include an author bio, any pertinent web links -- to your site, your book's site, Amazon buying, etc. You'll format the article in several ways for delivery to web sites in whatever form they prefer. Then, you will contact several web sites that would have an audience and an interest in your topic. You give them information about yourself, establishing your credibility -- to show them that the content you are willing to provide to them is valuable. Then, your hope is that Women.com, or depression.com, or modernfoods.com or some such site will put your article on the front page, where they get 10,000 page views a week. That's one straightforward and simple way to syndicate your content or your expertise. Questions? (This is very similar to newspaper syndication.) You actually send them the article in its entirety? Yes, but not before you query them. First, you send a letter, telling them who you are, what your 'content' contains, and how/where you would like to see it on their site. Then, when they have either expressed interest, or agreed, you send them the article. Do you need to customize the article for the specific site? You can. That depends entirely on how much time/energy you have. The most time effective way is to create something that would fit well on a variety of sites. Note: for newcomers -- we are discussing online content syndication. Is it always clearly marked on those sites as to who the contact person might be? no. lol. that's part of the hard part Michele. :) Once you've targeted your web sites, then you have to make contact. Making the right contacts can be one of the hardest parts of your job! The bigger the web site, usually, the more difficult this task is. First, look for the obvious -- go to the contact tab. Then, search for "editors" if it's a big, content-filled site. A site like women.com or oxygen.com has editors for various areas of content, just like a magazine does. Avoid contacting the webmaster, as most larger sites have a webmaster that has nothing to do with content. If you strike out in editors, writers, or other contacts, you can try the "press room" or the advertising contacts to get a name and e-mail address or phone number. Then, from there, ask those people who you talk to about content. What about asking them a question, advice, and then turning that into something? Not sure I understand what you mean. Asking the editor a question or advice? Well, back to depression - ask about food availability from food.com and then expand on why. Hmmm. Well, my instinct is to keep to business. You want to appear to be a professional "expert" on your topic in this case. You know their 'publication', you know your information is valuable, and you are offering it to them as a valuable contribution to their site in exchange for exposure. Editors are not question answerers. They edit copy. And they can be quite snarly if they think you are wasting their time. OK You need to know what food.com's audience is. Is that audience going to be interested in your article? If so, then it's value for their web site. Another advantage to placing your information around the web like this -- seeding it, as is it sometimes called -- is that everywhere you are linked. You come up on Google again and again. This can then lead to your web site. You may actually increase traffic to your own site more this way than simply putting up info on your own site. Is it okay to offer the same article to different web sites? Absolutely. Simply make sure they know that they do not have an exclusive on the article. Some other ideas in the vein of syndication. Newsletters are a big deal online these days. Many big newsletters look for fresh content. Back to seeding -- you mean META tagging what you write? No. META tags are not going to have any effect with a text file that someone else loads. How then? What I mean by seeding, is getting your name, your message, your site, your whatever out all over the web. Like spreading seeds of yourself all over the internet, which can be more effective than trying to "broadcast" from your own web site, which has limited viewership. Did that answer your question Valda? OK Is there some sort of directory of the top web sites -- good sites to approach, along with who to contact? Something like the Bacon's directories? Well, there is -- but they are all essentially less useful than an hour or two of your own research. For example, what I mean by that is that the biggest portal sites are now so few that I can name them for you on two hands. And, the big portal sites are so large that they are very difficult to get on. They tend, these days to be very celebrity driven. The smaller sites, which are still sometimes HUGE, are more niche, more subject driven, and that's probably where you'll want to look. An hour of research will likely show you who the players are in your area of interest. Sounds like the same as targeting trade pubs instead of going after the Wall Street Journal! Precisely. Web marketing and PR is simply not that different in theory from traditional PR. The same rules apply, it's just another kind of media. On the Radio, it doesn't matter what you wear. Different media have different requirements. So then it sounds like once you find the right contact, you need to come up with a great query letter. Do you have an example that we can look at? Hmmm. I don't have a query letter here that you can look at, but that's a very good question. Steve O'Keefe's book, The Complete Guide to Internet Publicity, has a query letter or two as examples in it. Yes, it would be really great to see a query letter that got great results. Well, my advice on that score is ... a) keep it simple b) keep it professional c) remember you're talking to an editor-type, so go easy on the 'sales' copy d) keep it short - they won't read past 2 scrolls anyway e) put all the info they need in it - don't tell them, hey go to my web site and look around (that's a sure way to get a cold shoulder). f) don't attach a file g) avoid using html h) don't forget to tell them what it is you want - why you are writing, don't make them guess. How's that? Questions on that? Not on that, but ? It's true, writing good query letters (also known as pitches) is an art... :) go ahead Shirley. Also: make your query letters personal. Don't say "to whom it may concern." Is it still true that certain media, such as newspapers, still want to know that for syndication, you have several (6 months worth, etc.) articles available? Well, yes and no. What you're talking about is traditional newspaper syndication of columns. You can also do this online, which is GREAT if you want to do the work or if you happen to have the articles available. But, most web sites are perfectly fine with taking one article. After all -- most of the newspaper is articles, not columns... same with magazines. Make sense? Yes. Thank you. How often do sites change their articles? Totally depends on the site. CNN changes their front page by the hour. Some sites have scrolling news from a news service. Some sites change by the month. You simply have to know your targets. Other questions? Some of you are very quiet... Back to depression - a subject that has medical overtones - how tricky is it to approach mainly medical sites? As a layman That's a good question. I think the 'tricky' part has to do with whether you are a confirmed expert or not. What's your credibility. A medical site is much less likely I'd think to take an article by Joe Schmoe on depression that they would be from Dr. Joe, Ph.D. blah blah. Yes? However, a women's magazine - might be less sticky about credentials. I understand how MSNBC would be a good site to approach for placing content, but you also mentioned Yahoo and Lycos. I thought they were just search engines. Nope. Go have a look. guess I should:-) Yahoo and Lycos are two of the biggest portals on the web. They have clubs, they have news, weather, dating, EVERYTHING. :) lol. On Yahoo - I find those &^%& windows exasperating - - might that not turn people off? Well, they drive me crazy too. I don't know what to tell you on that. Sure, they drive us crazy, but, we still go to Yahoo and use all its services. I don't think the window effect would transfer to your image, but that's my call. You might want to make that call for yourself. It's a very good point you make here -- that the site you work with will have some effect on your image as well. So you want to choose your partners carefully in that regard. OK Do sites have editorial calendars? Susan - yes! Great point - many of them do. In fact, there are a few sites if I recall, that actually list editorial calendars for many print and online magazines. search Google for something like "lists of editorial calendars" There are also lots of other sites, such as "guest" sites where you can be a visiting expert on a topic. There are lots of ways to use the concept of syndication to your benefit. Your content doesn't have to be an article. It can be a quiz, maybe a contest of some kind, a "do it yourself" piece... all sorts of things. Questions? I've found that people love tips! Absolutely Susan. Tips and tricks are like T- shirts. They never go out of style. And they are well suited to the reading habits of the web. What about offering giveaways - bookmarks with tips, etc.? Giveaways are popular, but keep in mind the difficulty of the follow through. Do you have to collect addresses and mail things out? Or is there an easier way? But you get an address. I have often given away an author's books at an online author chat.... people love it - but I also often make the other web site do it! :) What's the etiquette for bylines on web sites? The etiquette - not sure what you mean, except that if you wrote it, you should get the byline. People "steal" content on the web all the time -- articles I've written have appeared all over the place without my permission, but as long as they have my byline and a link to me on them, I don't mind a bit. It's almost like someone else doing my promotion for me. Some sites may have a problem with providing a link, but most don't. Would they print my web site? What do you do otherwise (if the byline is missing)? If they've taken something without permission and deleted my byline, I'd write them a letter and politely ask them to put the byline back on. Any other questions on the idea of syndication? It's a pretty big subject. And a very powerful one. Is most syndication paid for (can we expect a check in the mail)? Well, Shirley, in this case, what we're talking about is PR -- and Publicity -- which means that no money is changing hands. You're providing content in exchange for promotion and exposure. I think that if you receive money for your articles, then you are functioning as a freelance writer. Which is also great! :) I "hear" you. And maybe sometimes you can do both at the same time, which is the best possible deal. You get your name out there, you expand your credibility and you get paid to do it. However, in most cases, the person (or client's) primary work or goal prevents them from having time to do all the work it takes to do freelance writing too. Hence the advantage of creating a document or file that will fit on a variety of venues. Any other questions? Don't forget that if you get yourself a great partner in some kind of syndication deal, then you'll want to promote the syndication as well. How about mixed expertise -- e.g. cats & depression? Uh -- you mean, like depressed cats? lol. no but that too Well, it sounds like they are two areas of interest or expertise, not 'mixed'. Is that right? If that's correct, then I'd keep them separate, so as not to dilute your credibility. Yes - but depression may be helped by having a pet Yes! Well, write an article on that. Sell it to the depression/health/women's sites and the pet sites. and the SPCA site. and .... see where I'm going with that? I think that's a great topic. yup But, always keep in mind what your primary goal actually is. One can get carried away with the idea of syndication and partnering. The most important thing is to define your goals first. What do you want to do? Sell books? Get on Oprah? Sell your cat? Cure the world of depression? All your efforts need to address your primary goal. So, when it doubt, look backward, and ask if what you're doing is actually going to further your main goal. Any last questions? Was this helpful for anyone/everyone? Yes. Thank you! Thank you, Gwendolynn. Great chat; very helpful. Thanks Yes, thank you. Very helpful. Thanks. Thanks a lot for all the great ideas! Not at all - it's great fun. :) Fascinating topic, isn't it? Very much so. Great - I hope I answered some of your questions. Same time next week :) Steve should be back next week to talk. Thanks everyone -- Have a great afternoon, and take care. __________________________________________________ ABOUT THE BOOK Complete Guide to Internet Publicity: Creating and Launching Successful Online Campaigns by Steve O'Keefe Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2002, ISBN 0-471-10580-5, 436 pages, softcover, $34.95) Available in most bookstores online and off. "Nobody knows more about making a splash on the Internet than Steve O'Keefe. And no book reveals better how to do it than this one." -- Fraser P. Seitel, Author of "The Principles of Public Relations" "Steve O'Keefe's book is, by far, the most comprehensive Internet publicity book available. It's a tool that any business owner or publicist needs to read to conduct an effective online PR campaign." -- Lorilyn Bailey, CEO, NewsBuzz.com "Complete Guide to Internet Publicity" is the bedrock reference book for designing and implementing online publicity campaigns. The book takes a "how-to" approach, with detailed instructions for planning the campaigns, creating the materials needed, launching the campaigns, dealing with any problems, and measuring the results. The instructions are highlighted with anecdotes culled from hundreds of campaigns conducted by the author and other Internet publicity professionals. Chapters include: 1. The Power of Internet Publicity 2. E-Mail News Releases 3. Online News Rooms 4. Discussion Group Postings 5. Newsletters and Direct Marketing 6. Chat Tours 7. Online Seminars and Workshops 8. Web Site Registration and Linkage 9. Contests and Other Fancy Promotions 10. Syndicating Your Promotions 11. Building an Online Publicity Operation "Complete Guide to Internet Publicity" is a goldmine for those people responsible for online publicity operations, whether as managers, professionals, instructors or students, including such professions as marketing, advertising, web site design & construction, e-commerce, direct marketing, and customer service. The book and companion web site both include templates for all the campaign materials described, and time-saving resources to help locate target audiences online. This book is essential to anyone charged with promoting a product, service, company, person, or web site. Order your copy today. Please join Steve O'Keefe for a free, open chat program about online publicity techniques. Chats are held every Tuesday afternoon from 4-5 p.m. Eastern Time at the Patron Saints Productions web site, http://www.patronsaintpr.com. __________________________________________________ Copyright ©2002 by Patron Saint Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Please request permission before duplicating or distributing this document. For reprint permission, send mailto:permissions@patronsaintpr.com. Thank you. Chat Transcript Page 13 of 13 Copyright © 2002 ~ PATRON SAINT PRODUCTIONS, INC. ~ All Rights Reserved 741 Saint Philip St. #241 ~ New Orleans, LA 70116 U.S.A. ~ http://www.patronsaintpr.com Voice: (504) 586-9517 ~ mailto:info@patronsaintpr.com ~ Fax: (504) 586-9518 Copyright © 2002 ~ PATRON SAINT PRODUCTIONS, INC. ~ All Rights Reserved 741 Saint Philip St. #241 ~ New Orleans, LA 70116 U.S.A. ~ http://www.patronsaintpr.com Voice: (504) 586-9517 ~ mailto:info@patronsaintpr.com ~ Fax: (504) 586-9518