BuzzTart

The two top press releases of the week — judged by an independent panel of readers and tweeters — show that we continue to move as a pack.

Both press releases featured the big tech trends of the day – location-based business intelligence and advice on using iAds for iPad.

In first place:
Map Intelligence Embeds Google Maps and Google Earth into US Army’s Business Reporting Environment

Sydney firm Integeo edged out:

Insight into iAds – The New Way of Mobile Advertising

The story about the way the US Army is using Google Earth and Maps in its business intelligence system has already had several hundred thousand views on NewsMaker, LinkedIn, Twitter and DIGG. Best of all, the webinar has had a record number of registrations.

Coverage includes three of the biggest media titles in the GIS industry:

Geospatial Industry News – GIS Lounge

My Industry: Business Intelligence – Directions Magazine

IMSpatial

admin ALTV

At just turned 17, Grace Bawden is an extraordinary vocalist from Adelaide, South Australia, and now we all have a chance to help her become a household name worldwide. She is currently placed third in an innovative new international competition on YouTube: That’s Opera Talent.

To vote, you need to scroll below the intro video and click the words “”Ultimi Video Caricati” (tutto = all, you can also filter to Sopranos)

Grace is pictured with her hair down, in a black dress with silver beading on the waistline…She is 4th row down on the left column.

http://www.youtube.com/user/thatsoperatalent

Please have a listen and vote for Grace! Bring it home for Australia! But not just that, we want everyone to know about Grace Bawden – talent like this doesn’t come along every day.

admin ALTV

Re Cameron England’s story in the Adelaide Advertiser this morning

I’m not surprised that 75% or more of local businesses don’t use social media, as reported in PPR’s report quoted in the article!

Twitter for small business use is under threat because, in the flood of messages, each user has only limited capacity to spend their day chatting up a whole bunch of people who will never become ‘sales leads’. A business needs to know who they’re talking to – you follow for research or amusement but it’s who follows your words of wisdom that’s really important. Is anybody listening or are they just counting scalps?

Further, the trend for some businesses to offshore their tweeting will surely kill Twitter stone dead. Of course I could just unfollow when I see this happening!

admin Adelaide, public relations, social media Adelaide Advertiser, business use of social media, social media, social media guru

Here’s our latest user guide to help speed the process of distributing your press releases. We are proud to say that NewsMaker Press Release key word search results now appear on Page 1 Google organic search and Google News, so well worth using if you are keen to lift your general visibility and SEO rankings.

Press Release Services Guide – NewsMaker – Presentation Transcript

1. A Step by Step Guide to Publishing and Distributing Your Press Release
2. First….Login or Sign Up
You need to be a Member to use NewsMaker.
Login here
Click link to NewsMaker sign up page to join
3. Start here
Use our easy Press Release Wizard to submit your Press Release…
To continue working on a draft Press Release you have already saved in the system, click “My Press Releases”
4. Select Service Level
Welcome to the Press Release Wizard. First, select the service level. Premium Online is preselected.
Premium = Online, Search and Social Distribution
PR Pro Email = Targeted email distribution to selected journalists. No online presence.
PR Pro Media = Online, Search and Social Distribution + targeted email distribution to selected journalists.
Basic = Online only. No report, sharing, video or distribution.
5. Enter Your Copy
Enter your headline here; about 10 words.
Enter the key words for your Press Release, such as topics, news, company etc. This is for online search purposes.
Enter the body of your Press Release here. It will be stripped of formatting at this step but you can reformat your copy at the next step.
Text cut and pasted from Word or other programs may include formatting and hidden code that is visible once emailed. It is preferable to copy from notepad / workpad / text edit
6. Who are you writing about?
Provide a summary profile about the company. You may provide primary and secondary contact details. The profile/s will appear at the foot of your Press Release online and in your emailed release.
Enter the primary company in the Press Release here. This should be the company name ONLY, with no description.
Enter the short profile for your company or the company you are discussing in the Press Release here, as background material.
7. Provide 1 or 2 Contact Points
Enter the name of your primary Media Contact
Enter a working telephone number so people can contact you. If your primary contact is a mobile number, there is no need to enter the same number in the Mobile/Cell field.
Must be a working email address. This is masked to protect it from spam bots. NOTE: There must be no spaces at either beginning or end of your email address.
Please provide the site that is most relevant to your Press Release. Don’t forget ‘http://’ and remove spacing before and after the URL.
8. Preview Your Release
Click here to preview your Press Release and move on to the next step.
Don’t forget to check spelling, grammar, format and layout on your preview page.
A picture and/or video clip makes your release much more attractive when shared in social media. You can add a YouTube clip by pasting the URL in at the bottom of the wizard. You can add images and documents at bottom right of the preview Press Release page.
9. Preview Page
Proofread your Press Release and check the layout and spacing – click “Edit/Format” to return to the Wizard and make further changes.
Upload images and documents – size limitation 2MB
10. Ready to go – online service levels
You can now publish your Press Release and move to next step, or continue editing.
11. Premium Online Service
Premium and PR Pro Press Releases are emailed to our Media Alert subscribers and distributed across our extensive social and business networks.
Categories are grouped for ease of use. Click a Group heading to view a drop down menu.
Select up to 10 Media Categories from any or all Groups.
Click Publish. Your Press Release will be reviewed by our editors and verified.
12. PayPal or Prepay
At this point, if you do not have a Prepaid Subscription, you will be redirected to the PayPal Gateway. You may pay by invoice or credit card by contacting editor@newsmaker.com.au. You can save more than 50% by purchasing a prepaid pack: Review our Pricing here:

http://www.newsmaker.com.au/pages/22-pricing

13. Premium Press Release Online Reach
* Published on the NewsMaker homepage and on a unique page on our website, tagged with keywords and links, including video, documents and images
* Emailed to subscribers, including PR Members and Media
* Distributed across our extensive, targeted social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Digg and Linked-in Groups
* Indexed by leading online search engines and search news sites such as Google News and WotNews (please note that if the Press Release has been published verbatim elsewhere first it may not be picked up by Google instantly – but this can be averted by changing the wording in the headline and first paragraph slightly)
* Online search engine visibility improves through being published on our highly ranked and trusted site – please include links to both your client’s and your own websites (if desired)
* Social Media Activity Report provides data for client reporting
14. PR Pro Distribution
For Email Only and PR Pro:Send yourself a test email to view your Press Release as it will look when the journalist receives it.
Now select your Media List. Choose from our Media Category lists to target the audience you want to reach and send emails direct to journalists.
15. PR Pro: Build Your Media List
Up to 3 Media Lists may be saved for future use.
To create a new list simply click on ‘Create List’. If you have already created 3 lists, you will need to delete one first.
If you already have saved lists, you can edit them here.
16. Select Media Categories
Click on the group name – a drop down menu will appear, providing a list of Media Categories.
Select the categories you want to target.
Target your Press Release carefully. A more targeted Press Release is always more successful.
Save your selection here to proceed to next step.
17. Select Media Types and Regions
Choose the Media Types you want to target, listed by State/Territory and National. Note that “National” indicates nationally distributed media outlets such as The Australian and Australian Financial Review.
Give your Media List a name that you can identify for future use.
Click here to save your choice
18. Refine Your Media List
Each outlet may include one or more journalist. Uncheck irrelevant outlets – this is important as media may unsubscribe from your future Press Releases if they receive irrelevant emails.
When finished, click on ‘Verify and save your Media List’ at the bottom of your screen.
19. Your Media List is saved for future use
Select your Media List name and, when you are ready to distribute, click ‘Email Press Release to My List’. If you do not want to send your Press Release immediately, you can close the window at any time and your Press Release and Media List are saved. Click “My Press Releases” to retrieve your Press Release and select your pre-saved Media List.
20. Validate: Prepaid Subscriptions
Click Publish & Distribute. Your Press Release will be sent to our editors for verification and distribution. NOTE: We do not proof-read your release. Should you require input to maximise the impact of your press release, please email editor@newsmaker.com.au
21. Payment Screen
At this point, you will be redirected to the PayPal Gateway. You may pay by invoice or credit card by contacting editor@newsmaker.com.au. You can save more than 50% by purchasing a prepaid pack: Review our Pricing here:

http://www.newsmaker.com.au/pages/22-pricing

22. PR Pro Reach
Your press release is distributed via email to hundreds of selected journalists including:
* Local, Regional, State, National and International media outlets
* Australia, UK, USA and Asia with more contacts continually being added
* Newspapers (local, regional and national), Magazines, Trade publications, Online publications, blogs, news services, TV and radio.
* Your press release is sent directly, personalised for each media contact through our efficient distribution system.
* Take advantage of our personal media relationships built up over 20+ years of journalist and PR experience.
* Your contact details are included in each email
* You benefit from Premium Online Reach
23. www.news.google.com
NewsMaker Press Releases are indexed by Google News and
emailed as Google News Alerts. Google Alerts provide a form
of online media monitoring for keywords and brands.
24. wotnews.com.au
WotNews, like Google News, publishes and distributes NewsMaker stories.
25. Twitter@newsmaker2
NewsMaker’s Twitter stream
is followed by hundreds of
media and communication
professionals. Retweet to increase
your visibility and influence.
26. Facebook
Our Facebook Page
provides a great source
for you to spread the news
to your own followers.
27. DIGG.com
Search for and ‘Favorite’ Your NewsMaker Press Releases on
DIGG and watch your news soar through the search engine ranks.
28. LinkedIn Group Email
29. Press Release Rules
We have a simple set of Press Release rules to ensure we deliver high quality Press Releases and continue to be recognised as the strongest Australian offline and online distribution service.
To ensure our professional PR Members benefit from being a part of the NewsMaker community, we reserve the right not to publish any Press Release for any reason.
NewsMaker rejects Press Releases that are not written to adequate standards or contain profanity or may be defamatory: facts, spelling, grammar and format are the Member’s responsibility.
Press Releases will be distributed on day of submission. However, NewsMaker reserves the right to hold a submission for distribution to media until the following day to maximise impact.
For more information on our Terms and Conditions, please visit our ‘Conditions of Use page’ http://newsmaker.com.au/pages/5-terms__conditions_of_use
30. Please don’t hesitate to email your questions to:
editor@newsmaker.com.au

admin ALTV

It’s no surprise that NewsMaker’s top story of the month is this one: ‘Melbourne Storm Brand dead’ – leading image consultant

The story provides a few valuable lessons for anyone writing a press release:
1. Keep Up With Current News
The press release is about the most significant topic in the Australian news for that day – and therefore is sure to result in more interest. Read, view and listen to the news and be proactive in meeting the needs of the media by providing new angles to their story.

2. Time Your Press Release for Media Needs
Image Group International was quick off the mark, writing their press release for release on the same day the story broke. This means they had the information ready at the exact time journalists are looking for comments – and when the public is searching for “Melbourne Storm” related topics in Google Search and Google News. In both cases the NewsMaker story showed up on page 1 in both media, even when competing with literally thousands of other stories mentioning the Storm.

3. Write a Great Headline
The headine is a grabber – sure to appeal as it is controversial and courageous. Plus it reflects that it is an expert opinion – a well known image consultant has this point of view. Journalists chasing down stories are looking for strong opinions.

This is a great press release example and media campaign case study, featuring high in Google and in the professional media, and leading to a pronounced spike in website visitation for Image Group International.

Image Group's Melbourne Storm press release features at No 1 spot.

admin public relations

The NewsMaker PR Services team has been working hard to build new media contact lists for our Members’ press release distribution. We’ve already added 7 new categories for media in the US, UK and Asia and will be adding new contacts and categories in these regions over time. So if you have a specific need, don’t hesitate to let us know so we can fast-track your request. Email editor@newsmaker.com.au

NEW LISTS:

* Asian Media
Japan – Motoring
Asia – Health, Medicine, Pharmacy Industry

* US Media:
US Motoring
US Computers & IT Business
US Gaming
US Logistics, Export, International Trade

* UK Media:
Motoring

admin ALTV

Will Goodings and Tineka Everaardt from ALTV.

Hi All – welcome to my new blog, all thanks to Rick and Nikki at e-nova!

Last week I had another great interview with Rick and Tineka down at Australia Live TV (ALTV) for the YourBusiness 2.0 show (Rick’s  baby). Everyone knew video would take over our lives, but look how quickly it’s happening – now we all have to get it together to have a screen presence.   I have to say I’m ultra-happy that reality TV has prepared us for the deluge of ordinary people on the small screen -  we no longer have the expectation that you have to be perfect-pie to be on camera!

There are so many things I love about ALTV.  One is the studio itself, which is an old chapel that’s been beautifully converted – in a previous life it was a music studio so there’s lots of funky memorabilia lying around.   The staff, like Paul Rugala and Tineka, who are so professional and determined to produce a high quality product – even with people like me who have no telly experience! They have been specialising in live sport talk shows but now they’ve really spread their wings into business and entertainment.

I also love that you can start to be very creative with the content – you can show off products on TV, which is so difficult to do with words in a press release.  We’ll be using YourBusiness 2.0 in combination with Newsmaker soon, which is an exciting development.  Combining video with online press releases is a natural match – you can back up the visual story with the written version for more detail and have your story listed in search and the world’s largest news source, Google News, at the same time. Talk about bang for your buck!

admin ALTV

I’ve had a few heated discussions with my marketing mates down the pub about social media. Some say it’s all meaningless BS and I quote, “Nobody I want to sell to wastes their time on Twitter”…. puleease……

That’s not how I see it – I get more hardcore, relevant information that I need by listening and contributing on Twitter and linkedin than anywhere else. I hardly bother with my old corporate email address any more because it’s so much easier to Skype. I can find all the leads I can handle and I can’t imagine not being part of this many-headed Hydra (now, now, no comments about which head i am….or was that medusa?)

I’m interested to find out other opinions – from diehard social media addicts and those who simply loiter.

admin social media ROI, Social Media Strategy, social networking

The PR industry continues to look for a reliable way to measure ROI on social media – they know they have to be there but where do all the hours go and was it all worth it?

One clearcut metric is viewer stats (of tweets, video, press releases, diggs, etc) – they are a surefire indicator of the popularity of a topic. But even without a lot of ‘thumbs-up’ on DIGG.com, you can still get to the top of Google Search for major, ‘expensive’ keywords. So views on a single website don’t tell anything like the whole story.

A large percentage of tweets (more than 60%) contain brand names so you can also begin to measure online reputation and impact: analyse positive, negative and neutral mentions.

Here’s a handy checklist from Ogilvy PR that might help you put together an ROI chart:

• Blogs & Microblogs
– Number of inbound links
– Frequency/timeliness of posts
– Foll owers & subscribers
– Number and content of comments
– Affiliation of author
– Search engine visibility
– Traffic
– RSS feed subscriptions

• Videos & Photo Communities
– Number of views and downloads
– Number and content of comments
– Ratings/peer assessment
– Relevant groups
– Number of subscribers
– Number of inbound links

• Message Boards & Forums
– Breadth of boards
– Quantity and timeliness of activity
– Search engine visibility
– Affiliation
– Membership numbers
– Traffic

• Social Networks
– Membership numbers
– Types of community features present
(eg, profiles, blogs, video, message boards)
– Activity level on features
– Affiliation
– Search engine visibility
Hope this helps – let me know what you use to measure success!

admin measuring ROI, PR metrics, social media metrics

Proud to say the Newsmaker helped inform newspapers across Australia about the passing of Jack Evans, founder of the Australian Democrats.
http://news.google.com.au/news/story?pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&ncl=dRd0cHKsyhll0KMAhN5xLvrkmxS0M&cf=all&scoring=d

admin Australian politics, democrats, federal parliament