PATRON SAINT PRODUCTIONS, INC. ~ CHAT TRANSCRIPT ~ Patron Saint Productions, Inc. Online Publicity Chat Series Topic: Session #4: Online Content Syndication Guest: Steve O'Keefe, author of "Complete Guide to Internet Publicity" Date: February 5, 2004 Valda, you beat me here! With my apologies for having an insurance emergency last week! Glad to be back. Welcome, Michael. We'll be starting in just a few minutes. I got here a little late. Let's give the other latecomers a chance. While we are waiting for a few more folks, can I answer any questions? Or do you want to talk weather? We had a nasty hailstorm in Nawlins last night -- tore up my geraniums. Of course, I'm delighted to have geraniums blooming in February! I did look up some of your archive notes from last year's session, and saw that you recommended never including a graphic banner for link request. Is that always true, or still true? Michael, you should never include a graphic IN a link request -- that is, as a file attachment or embedded in the e-mail itself. Plain text e-mail for the pitch. Then, if someone asks for the button, you reply with a file attachment. But you should only send file attachments *after* they've been requested. OK, thanks. Welcome, Jim. I'm taking a few questions before we launch into today's lesson. Welcome, Michele. One "l" Michele? Okay, let's get started with today's topic. Welcome to the Online Public Relations Chats with Steve O'Keefe. Today's topic is Online Content Syndication. Let me begin by listing a few of the things you can syndicate online -- some are rather new and novel. The old stand-bys are: op-ed articles, book excerpts, tip sheets, and other helpful documents. You can also syndicate news releases, newsletters, and news itself (news wire service). Then there are online presentations (PowerPoint files), seminars and workshops, multimedia programming, chat programming, contests, games, animations, graphics, and stupid web tricks. Wow, that is a lot of content. Any one of these items can be used to spread your marketing message far and wide -- as long as it is attached to content of some value to the online audience. What I mean by syndication is that you prepare content that is attractive to other sites. Then you go out and solicit placements for it. You create a trap-line of "Web Sites That Matter" to your target audience. And you check that trap line once a month or once a year, offering new content or refreshing old content. How do you actually syndicate these things? Michael, before I get to how to syndicate, let me talk a little more about choosing good content. Or back up even a step further and remind people that ONE article on a top web site for your target audience could be more valuable than all of your search engine efforts, directory listings, catalog listings combined. This week, I got a client on the front page of the Women's Issues forum at About.com with an article about Valentine's Day Tips. That article will get more traffic in the next two weeks than her site got all of last year. So, now that I have your attention concerning the value of these placements let's further explore how to get them. Good content is *valuable* to the target audience. It's usually *content* -- not an ad or even news (though news can sometimes be syndicated -- we'll get to that). This content is suitable for online delivery. For example, it's hard to communicate the value of DVDs or CDs using the net because the images just won't look as good over the net as they do on a computer. If the audience thinks what they see online is a reflection of the quality of the product, they won't buy it. So you can't share DVDs and the like effectively. Rather, you have to share something like documents about the DVDs. It's good if the content somehow demonstrates the value proposition of what you are selling. So, for example, an article about new wrinkles in virus transmission might be a good syndicated piece for a company that sells virus remedies. It's informative -- not just an ad -- but people who read it are more likely to want your product. Also, when selecting content, please be considerate of copyright law. Many times, I have seen promotions that used music that was copyrighted, or artwork or images owned by others. Just because it's online doesn't mean it's free for the taking. Let me add a note about formatting. Typically, you want to reach as many people as possible, or, another way to put it is, you don't want to lock anyone out. The easiest way to accomplish this is to offer multiple format choices. If you are syndicating documents, prepare versions in Word, text, html, and PDF. Then give people a choice. If you're syndicating multimedia, offer WindowsMedia, RealMedia, and maybe QuickTime. For audio, there are a variety of file formats, including MP3, Real, Windows. And many companies offer multimedia products at a variety of streaming speeds: at least 56k and broadband. Is MM Flash appropriate? Michael, I don't have a lot of experience with Flash. Anyone who's visited my web site knows I'm graphically challenged. But I would say, if your target audience goes to sites that use Flash, offering something in Flash is a good idea. I got an e-mail recently with "25 Best Adventure Books" -- very interesting, but I don't know the original compiler - - is this legal/acceptable content? Jim, was the e-mail offering to sell you these 25 books? In what format? No, it was just a literary "favorites" -- but quite scholarly. Other readers would be interested to see the list, I think. Jim, so you're talking about a list of titles someone liked. Yes. It's perfectly acceptable to distribute a list of favorites without permission. Yippee. Unless, of course, it's the winners of an awards program, and you don't have permission from the awards folks. Or, more precisely, if the descriptions of the favorites are copyrighted, it's not legal to distribute them. Did you know that using a pithy quote in your sig file in e- mail is actually a copyright violation? True. And the New York Times sued a restaurant for blowing up a review of the restaurant and posting it out front. And the NY Times *won* that suit. Even if it's attributed? Yes, Michael -- even attributed quotations are copyright violations unless they are used in a critical analysis of some sort. Are there many (like me) who avoid using RealAnything? Valda, there are many people who don't have connection speeds that enable them to enjoy multimedia. However, lots of folks use RealMedia and WindowsMedia and QuickTime. Beyond those three, I'm not sure about the popular formats. That's why, if you can offer a text alternative, it's great. I think it's less about the connections speeds than the poor quality of most Real players. I did a promotion in 1997 where Playboy's web site agreed to take an excerpt from a William Gibson book. This is a perfect example of "syndication." They decided to do an audio interview with the author, and stream it on their site. I begged them to offer a text transcription, and they did -- only because I requested it. The text version got far more traffic than the audio stream. Always try to offer multiple formats. Okay, let me move on to HOW TO SYNDICATE. The first thing I do is prepare the content -- in a variety of formats -- whatever I think the target sites will want. Let me use a concrete example to make this clearer: The Valentine's Day Tips articles. I prepared it in Word first, then saved a text-only version, then made an html version for the web. Oops -- I made TWO Word versions, one with graphics, one without. Then I place the html version on my web site, and I use it to pitch other sites. Then I create a pitch letter. It says, "You have a great collection of articles about LOVE on your site. Would you consider adding my article of Valentine's Day tips? It's at the following URL -- formatted in HTML for your convenience: INSERT URL HERE. It would work well on your [NAME] page: INSERT URL OF PAGE HERE. Feel free to grab the source and install it on your site. Let me know if you need a different format, such as Word or text. Thanks for your consideration, name and phone number." This pitch letter is an e-mail template, and it follows the pattern of most other pitch letters I use: 1. STROKE: Say something nice about their site. Show you know them, it's not spam. 2. PITCH: Tell them what you want them to do: Install this content on your site. I even tell them WHERE to install it -- to prove I visited their site, and to make it easy for them. 3. CREDENTIALS: I left this out, above, but I have to say why this article is good, or my authors are qualified. 4. ACTION ALTERNATIVES: In this case, format alternatives. I include my phone number because most spammers don't. It helps make it clearer this isn't spam. Okay, so what happened next. This week, my employee, Lew, approached 20 top-traffic women's sites with that pitch. Five of them installed the article. That's about average: 25 percent of quality pitches will result in placements. When I say "quality pitch," I mean the site you pitch is being maintained regularly and has a natural place to put the content. Are there concerns about copyright infringements of YOUR content, by others, later pulling and using it without credit/linkage? Would you even copyright such things? Could it become overexposed if more sites picked it up? Jim, excellent question. Over-exposure seems to be the theme this week. Yes, some sites will want an exclusive and would complain if the content is on a lot of sites. But, for the most part, companies want exposure, and web sites don't complain if the content is on multiple sites. Remember the Dancing Baby? That had to be one of the fastest syndications in history. That graphic was all over the web in a matter of months. Literally millions of installations. If you're the marketing director for Pampers, wouldn't you want that sweetheart wearing your logo? You bet! Steve, we recently changed our site, and have added a "world events" section. We don't have a link to the AP stories, just a page with the stories and we're showing the copyright. Is this illegal? Rachel, if you're showing AP stories without permission, it's copyright infringement. You can link to the stories or, more importantly, rephrase them in your own words, and those are not violations. A very successful news syndicate is Publishers Lunch. Michael Cader takes the top publishing stories of the day, gleaned from other news sources, he rephrases them in his own words, then sends out the days news: Paragraph summaries with links to full stories. And the content of his daily news summary IS copyrighted by him -- other folks can't use his summaries without permission. That's a neat trick! Thank you, Steve, it settled a "discussion" from yesterday. I'm meeting with a client tomorrow who specializes in keyword-buying for big consumer retailers. He wants more publicity. I'm thinking he needs to syndicate a monthly column about trends in online shopping. Because of his work, he has access to vast data on the subject. Other sites, newsletters, e-zines, discussion groups, etc., would gladly reprint his stories -- with credit to him, of course. At first, I wanted him to syndicate "case histories" because that can be very compelling content: People love stories. But due to confidentiality, he can't do that. So the "online shopping trends news wire" is a great alternative. He will become known as the "go to" guy on this subject. Isn't there a danger of political disagreement (venom) with news content anyhow? Backfiring? Valda, good question. Actually, in online newsletters, the more venom, the more people read. We'll talk more about that when we cover online newsletters in a few weeks, but bland is bad when it comes to online reading. Okay, let me just illustrate some of these concepts with some old campaigns from the vault. Wiley had a CD-ROM of an architectural tool they wanted to sell online. But the web site example didn't work or look nearly as good as the real thing. In fact, the more people had visited the web site, the more sales it would lose! So, I said, you can't show them how it works online. Instead, let's take an architectural expert on a chat tour, and tell people how using this product has helped her business. We sold the sizzle, not the steak, and it worked. Also, they were willing to give away a free demo CD. People using the demo *did* get an accurate impression of how the product works and looks. So, instead of trying to show the product online, we used the net to offer demo CDs, so people could try the product out for real. During another campaign, we syndicated articles about workplace issues for a career portal. Hoover's took an article on their site. Next month, we went back with a new article. Hoover's took that one, too. After about five months, we cut a deal with Hoover's to provide content every month in exchange for promotion. You run a little trap line, and you keep working with the sites that work with you. If you're promoting a band, you need to get a sample song out to where your target audience hangs out. I have a student who is preparing a campaign for a siding contractor. She's thinking of doing an "ugly house" contest. People send pictures of ugly houses, and the worst house wins something. We'll talk about good contest prizes later. But this contest could easily be syndicated online. Thousands of pictures would probably flood in from dozens of placements. That's the power of syndication. Next week, we'll be talking about online discussion group postings. This is a delicate art. Postings can account for serious spam complaints. You'll want to tune in and find out how to use netiquette to cut down complaints and what to do if you get complaints. I have a question about AOL, specifically. I can get to a certain point, and then there is a wall up to get to the content editors. How do we get past the wall in a large online organization? Rachel, great question. It's hell trying to find chat coordinators at certain sites. First, of course, I cruise all the normal contact info: About us, forum hosts, etc. Usually, they contain nothing for big sites. So, then I'll try the "advertise with us" button -- someone always opens that e-mail, at least. Even if I'm not offering to pay, I'll ask the ad people whom to contact about hosting a chat, or getting an article on the site. Believe it or not, they will often give me the magic name or address. If you have a name, but no e-mail address, try Googling the person. Someone at iVillage recently told me I had to contact So-and-So. I Googled So- and-So, and found his direct phone line in a news release at another site: Bingo! Other good choices: Check chat transcripts -- the powers that be often reveal enough info to find their phone numbers or e-mail addresses. Check message boards on the site and look for someone who sounds like a boss: Often times you can tell from their forum names: CL Suzie is "Community Leader" Suzie, etc. Keep pushing -- if anyone is at home, you'll find them eventually. Thanks, Steve, that helps a lot Thank you all for coming. Thanks Steve! Goodbye, all! Hope to see you next week! __________________________________________________ ABOUT THE GUEST STEVE O'KEEFE is the author of the outdated classic, "Publicity on the Internet" (Wiley, 1997), and the updated new book, "Complete Guide to Internet Publicity" (Wiley, 2002) -- based on over 1000 online campaigns. Steve pioneered many online marketing techniques which are now considered standard practice. Steve's writing has appeared in over 100 publications including The Wall Street Journal, Harper's, Internet World, PR News, Outside, Small Press, Salon, Curio, NetWorth, and HotWired. Steve is a member of the adjunct faculty at Tulane University where he teaches online public relations. He is Executive Director of Patron Saint Productions, Inc., a publishing consultancy specializing in online marketing strategy, campaigns, and training. __________________________________________________ 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. __________________________________________________ Copyright ©2004 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.