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Reputation Repair, Social Media and Kanye West

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Wellons team

Kanye West, at the MTV Video Music Awards, was nominated for one award, but his performance was his high point. --Mike Blake/Reuters

For the second year in a row, Kanye West stole the show at last night’s MTV Video Music Awards.

Last year, the performer snatched the microphone from Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech, to tell the world that Beyonce’s video was better. This year West capped the show as only he can — with music and light shows and strong language.

Kanye ended the show with a song that was equal parts apology and frustrated battle cry. When he walked offstage the audience was chanting his name.

Although I’m not sure I’d ever use Kanye West’s methods, he certainly can teach us a few things about reputation destruction and reputation repair.

Consider how well Kanye used modern media in just the past week.

First, he turned to Twitter. He wrote 72 Tweets referring to last year’s incident, and the fallout he has experienced since.

He apologized to Ms. Swift, and called out the media and those who have criticized him. He also expressed contrition, Kanye-style (grammar his):

“I’ve hurt, I’ve bled, I’ve learned. I only want to do good. I am passionate I am human I am real. I wish I could meet every hater I wish I could talk to every hater face to face and change there a opinion of me one conversation at a time.”

This put Kanye West’s name front and center just days before the MTV awards show that he imploded on a year ago.

West has received plenty of good press from his activities on the social media microblog – after all, he follows no one, but has more than 1.1 million followers.

But that was just groundwork.

When Kanye West appeared on the VMAs, he was all about moving forward, singing a song from a new CD and showing clips from a new film he produced, all for a national TV audience.

In both cases, Kanye used the digital media and the legacy broadcast media to get out his message without interruption, control negative reaction, and redefine his reputation.

Taylor Swift, meanwhile, sang a pretty song in the middle of the show about innocence and regret, which was pretty much forgotten by the evening’s end.

Well done, Kanye – somehow your bad-boy message overshadowed the pretty blonde again.

Unlocking the PR Power of #Twitter

Posted on August 12, 2010 by Wellons team

From your mood to the movement of your favorite rapper, there’s a lot we can learn from Twitter.

For one, the U.S. West Coast is happier than the East Coast—or so say Northeastern and Harvard researchers, who mapped out a way to quantify and visualize happiness all based on real-time Twitter comments (although I’m happy to say—and Tweet—that the map shows we’re pretty content here in Central Florida).

Then, there’s rapper Kanye West. He joined the popular social media site after a visit to its headquarters—and received instant coverage. Then, a few weeks later, Stephen Homes, a Twitter user from England, became a minor celebrity when he tweeted West to ask what kind of toothpaste he used on his diamond teeth. That question made Holmes the only person West himself chose to follow—and earned him a mention on NPR.

It goes to show you: social media’s pull is strong when it comes to media coverage and public awareness, and it should be an integral part of your overall strategic public relations campaign. So how do you build your brand on Twitter? Here are a few social media starter tips:

Decide how you want to brand your company: Fill out your entire profile and design your background—this makes your page look legitimate and extends your brand image onto Twitter.
Become known as an expert/resource: Mashable writes that Twitter is a shorter and more viral form of blogging, so the same rules still apply.
Establish a Twitter marketing plan: This includes adding Twitter links to e-mail signatures, Web sites, newsletters, presentations, business cards, promotion products, etc. Just like with any social network or blog, the more people who follow you, the easier it is to grow your already existing community.
RT and Hashtags: Retweets, hashtags and following other people are essential ways to get new followers (What are hashtags? They’re the # signs placed in front of key search terms).

Ad Age calls promotion and public relations through Twitter “a souped-up word of mouth.” So start talking—140 characters at a time—and begin to unlock the PR power of Twitter.

For more social media and public relations advice, contact Wellons Communications at 407-339-0879. And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @Wellons_PR.

Death of the Internet? I think not.

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Wellons team

Prince: “The Internet’s like MTV. At one time, MTV was hip, and suddenly it became outdated.”

Prince is getting a lot of headlines for proclaiming the Internet is outdated. “The Internet’s like MTV,” he said to a reporter from The Mirror. “At one time, MTV was hip, and suddenly it became outdated.”

He should probably take that back – along with The Black Album. Sorry Prince, the Internet will be dead when pigs fly – or doves cry.

This is especially true for people who work in public relations. Online media provides some of the most valuable targets for media relations and PR campaigns – despite being undervalued in the eyes of some clients, who think it’s all about TV and daily papers.

Online media opportunities continue to grow as the traditional media continue to deal with shrinking space and cuts in staff and budget. Internet media offers so many terrific opportunities, probably 1999 or more, including:

· Connecting directly with customers through social media: Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Tumblr, Yelp, LinkedIn, etc.

· Reaching out to a targeted, niche audience through blogs (some of which have tremendous followings)

· Generating brand buzz and awareness through online video: YouTube, etc.

· Posting company news through online press releases (all while building SEO)

· Promoting events through community and national calendars

· Garnering the benefits of user-generated content

Who knows what the future will bring with the explosion of smart phones, iPads and the next big thing being cooked up by Apple and Google.

The (purple) reign of the Internet will last for a long time. Make sure to seize the many PR opportunities it offers.

The only thing that’s outdated for sure is this:

Florio Flourishes in NFL: Even though he never played a down

Posted on November 29, 2009 by Wellons team

Want a great blog? Be sure and order a huge dose of passion.

The best blogs are passionate about their subject. And often they are relentless in their dedication to their subject matter.

Take Mike Florio. He was a lawyer from Bridgeport, West Virginia. He started a blog about the NFL, as a sidelight to his law business.

Today he is one of the most trusted bloggers about the NFL. He has Super Bowl credentials. He has a spot on national television.

Why? Because he is absolutely unyielding about his coverage of the NFL, all issues NFL, and all issues pro football.

His blog, ProFootballTalk.com, is a compendium of short articles from leading sources in the NFL.

Florio was interviewed recently in the Saturday New York Times. He told the Times “I’m always on duty. My wife tells me I work harder now than I did when I was practicing law full time and doing this on the side. But that’s the nature of it. It’s grown, it’s successful, we expand, and expectations are higher.”

Certainly expectations are higher. Mike Florio has signed a deal with NBC, and ProFootballTalk.com holds a prominent position on NBC’s sports web site. The unique visitors to the site were 2.9 million in October, tripling from the same month a year ago.

A spokesman for the NFL called Florio a must-read. Why? – Because he works tirelessly to get information and new content to his blog. He knows his blog and his business better than anyone.

What is the correlation for your business? Same thing.

Who knows your business better than you? Who can describe what is important better than you? Maybe you can’t work 24/7 on your blog, but your knowledge and your desire to succeed is what will make any business blog the best it can be.