Posts

PeoplesBank ‘Record Number’ PR Campaign Success Based on More Than a Number

PR pros know that success often lies well beyond the numbers. Data is fine, but it is barely digestible for most people. The difference between getting media coverage and engagement clearly is in the story that is told.

So, what was the “Record Number” campaign story? Well, the last chapter certainly was about the numbers. For the second year in a row, the GCAi PR team worked with PeoplesBank to celebrate another big year for charitable contributions. But in fact, the Record Number campaign was based on a celebration that started at the beginning of the year. PeoplesBank wanted to recognize and promote the charitable and civic causes that they supported across two states.

Through videos produced for digital dissemination, PeoplesBank gave several nonprofits in Massachusetts and Connecticut a chance to tell their story. The engagement numbers for those campaigns were off the charts, but beyond the KPIs measured was the human element – the outpouring of comments acknowledging the critical importance of the nonprofits highlighted but also an acknowledgment of and thanks for the bank supporting them.

PeoplesBank is regularly named the “Top Corporate Charitable Contributor” amongst community banks in western Mass by the Boston Business Journal. That’s not really a surprise when they set impressive records like $2.3 million donated in 2022 – which is a cool million more than the previous year. That, as PeoplesBank CEO Tom Senecal often says, is the power of a mutual bank.

Now it was time to celebrate, and GCAi’s LA office designed and implemented a digital public relations campaign that was based on the voices of all those nonprofits. The results were incredible. Every media outlet approached, over two states, covered it. Amazingly, the reporters and editors of The Republican not only reported the record number, but they also did a separate editorial [LINK] on it the next day, celebrating PeoplesBank by noting, “Advertisement for financial institutions uniformly emphasize their connection and partnership with the community. It’s important that they follow up on that credo, and they have been doing that, with PeoplesBank just one of many at the forefront.”

Digital dissemination extended the reach of media coverage well beyond the readership of those publications. Here the numbers do tell an impressive story: more than 1 million super impressions – impressions powered by close to 300,000 engagement actions, supported by nearly 100,000 video views, which generated more than 4,000 link clicks.

There is no other way to achieve this kind of engagement. Telling stories through digital PR that engages both media and audience is the way, in the end, to get lead audience members to exclaim to their friends and the rest of the digital audience, “I’m a proud customer!”

Creating Cool Social Media Content With Search Stories

Ever thought that your Google search could tell a story?  Well, leave it to the creative minds at Google to give you that opportunity through yet another free tool called Search Stories. Way back two Super Bowls ago (Colts v. Saints), Google dropped what must have been some serious cash on a 60 second ad that was created with a few simple searches. Because of the positive response to the ad, including numerous parodies, they launched Search Stories about two months later.  While the tool has flown under the radar screen in the interim, it recently has begun to get renewed attention – we figure because it is fun…and provides the opportunity to release a big burst of creativity.  Basically, a Search Story is a 30 second video. It captures the screenshots of a particular search series that you create.  Add a template music bed, upload – and you’re done.

GCAI and Western New England University recently co-hosted a Google small business seminar and we thought it would be a great place to debut our first Search Story for our client FieldEddy Insurance.  Created by GCAI Social Media Assistant Kaitlyn Bigica, the FieldEddy Search Story takes the viewer through a calamity of sorts and finally arrives at the obvious solution. We did not expect it to set the world on fire, and it didn’t, but it did prove to be a useful case study of sorts on how to use this fun, and important, tool.

The only limits on Search Stories are your creativity, the available music beds, and 30 seconds.  Small businesses can use the tool to promote services, locations, good news…just about anything – again, the biggest limit is your creativity!  Once you have the video, the link becomes your method to share it on the platforms you wish.  Try the tool and play around with it, draw from personal experiences and you can have your very own Google Search Story in minutes.

Care to see our GCAI Search Story?  Click here.

Here is the FieldEddy Insurance Google Search Story we debuted at the Western New England University Google Day.

 

“Media and Marketing for Middle School” Goes Digital

On January 10th, GCAI kicked off the seventh year of “Media and Marketing for Middle School,” a vocational mentoring program at the Zanetti School in Springfield, MA. The program was started by Holly Barden-Lopez, an English Language Learners teacher at the school and John Garvey in order to introduce students to the marketing field and all of the writing that it entails.  At that time, Holly had requested that we meet with a small group of her students to discuss the pamphlets they were working on. We  decided to built on that idea and introduce them to the entire print production process – from concept and copy to inks and printing. Since Zanetti was our neighbor at the time, we were able to take them on a variety of tours including  James Langone’s Photography Studio, The Republican, CBS3 Springfield and our office on the 24th floor of Tower Square. John was not offended when students remarked that the best part of the office tour was looking out the window as opposed to his comments.

When the school moved out of their 100 year old building and into a new facility a couple of miles away, GCAI brought the program to them – with some new twists. While traditional media remains a big part of the program, digital marketing is increasingly playing a bigger role in the presentations.  Television, radio, and print news will all be covered, but so will the mobile wave, social media, and online advertising.  Most of the eighth grade students participating have Internet access in their home and are active on Facebook. Many of them already have Smartphones and all of them have iPads, thanks to a grant written by their teachers Tonya Claiborne and Wendi Meunier.

Along with John’s introductory presentation, the 2012 speaker lineup is as follows:

1/17 – Brenda McGiverin, Digital Sales Director, WWLP.com

1/31 – Elysia Rodriquez, Anchor/Reporter, WWLP 22News

2/7 – Craig Swimm, General Manager, WMAS 94.7 FM and  “The Hall” 1450 AM

2/14 – Elizabeth Romàn, Reporter, The Republican

2/21 – Mary Fallon, Media Director, GCAI

Thank you to all our speakers and stay tuned for more reports from the classroom!

Google, Google, Gone – Few Seats Left At Free Google For Business Seminar

Western New England University and Garvey Communication Associates Inc. will host a free seminar for small businesses, presented by Google.

The seminar will introduce Google’s free tools for improving business operations and sales. Google product experts will also talk about what is new in online and mobile advertising.

Join us to learn how to create an effective standard and mobile web presence for your company as well as track your efforts through advanced analytics.

You will learn about:

Google Apps: A web-based hosted solution. Access anytime, anywhere you have an Internet connection.

Google AdWords: Allows users to advertise their businesses, products, and services online.

Google Analytics: This free enterprise-class web analytics solution gives you rich insights into your website traffic and marketing effectiveness.

Google Places: Update and manage your physical business location and information online.

January 24, 2012

1:00 – 4:00 p.m. Interactive presentation

Western New England University

 

Rivers Memorial Hall, 1219 Wilbraham Road, Springfield
Parking: Free parking next to Rivers Hall

The seminar is free, but attendance is limited to 125 professionals and 75 students. To register, visit Eventbrite. After registering, print and bring your ticket to the event.

Don’t pass up this opportunity to learn about how Google can help your small business by making great use of their free online services!

GCAI Thanks Laura Chechette

Laura Chechette, former Public Relations Analyst for GCAISaying goodbye is never easy, yet reluctantly we say that to Laura Chechette, our Public Relations Analyst. Laura came to us just over a year ago, having served in public relations as well as a variety of other roles. She attacked the emergent discipline of Online Reputation Management (ORM) with gusto and quickly became one of a few national experts in using it for Search Engine Optimized (SEO) purposes. That’s a bold statement – but anyone who has the patience and discipline to review over 40 different ORM platforms, participate in a weekly Twitter chat with other thought leaders, and present at PR and Social Media conferences on the subject (which was held at a national university) deserves that title.

We’ll miss her for sure, but are proud of her accomplishments in such a short time and the fact that she could take a daily drubbing on her lack of height from her boss (JG is lucky that vertically challenged individuals are not a protected federal class). Laura always wanted to continue her formal education in the field and was recently accepted as a graduate fellow at the Emerson College School of Communications Management in Boston, MA. Congratulations and best of luck Laura!!

What GCAI is Thankful for This Thanksgiving

For this week’s edition of GCAI’s social media news we wanted to switch it up and in honor of Thanksgiving we each listed what we are thankful for. Enjoy!

Screenshot of Google Turkey

John:

Two things that immediately come to mind…starting with the most important – I am most thankful for the creativity and determination of my peers here at GCAI. Mary Fallon, Laura Chechette, Kaitlyn Bigica, and Michelle Wolters are what makes our business a success .  Without them, I would be just another guy with a good idea and a dining room table.

From a technology standpoint – I am thankful for all things Apple.  Our iPhones, iPad, and MacBooks have transformed the way we conduct SEO PR and digital marketing.

Mary:

I am is thankful for the opportunity to present and discuss GCAI’s SEO/SMO/ORM approach with college students because I love my job and hope to inspire others to pursue a career in marketing and communications.

Laura:

I am thankful for social media tools like HootSuite and TweetDeck because they allow me to schedule Facebook and Twitter posts for GCAI’s clients on Thanksgiving while I am enjoying my turkey and mashed potatoes. I am also thankful for Kaitlyn Bigica who helped me create and schedule all of those Facebook and Twitter posts.

Business and Brand Pages Now Allowed on Google+

On Monday, Google+ opened the flood gates and allowed businesses to create pages on the social network. Organizations such as Pepsi, Fox News and The New England Patriots have already created Google+ Brand Pages.

This video from Google shows how a business can use Google+ Pages to create a community online.

If you are wondering if your business should create a page on Google+ this e-book, How To Use Google+ For Business, from Hubspot explains how a Google+ Page can benefit your business.

If you are ready to create your own business or brand page on Google+ this article, How to Set Up a Google+ Brand Page, from Mashable explains the process in 6 simple steps.

Have you set up a Google+ Page yet? If so, what are your initial thoughts? If not, what are your reasons for passing on this network?

Key Takeaways from the PR + Social Media Summit

Last week the GCAI team traveled to Milwaukee, WI to attend the PR + Social Media Summit at Marquette University. I presented during the panel discussion, Online Reputation Management: Tools, Tactics, and Tips from Experts on the Front Lines while John moderated the panel. Mary also moderated the panel, Engaging with Social Media Communities for the Right Reasons and the Right Outcomes.

When not busy presenting, we attended multiple breakout sessions and also listened to keynotes from George G Smith Jr., Sr. Manager, Social Activation Strategy and Execution at PepsiCo, and Jennifer McTighe, Director for External Relations at IBM Research. We learned a lot at the summit and wanted to share some of our takeaways from the event with you!

John Garvey and George G Smith Jr. at the PR + Social Media Summit

George G. Smith Jr. and John Garvey presenting at the PR + Social Media Summit.

John’s Takeaways:

  • How advanced Marquette University is; students’ questions, participation, MU greeted me on Twitter when I arrived.
  • Social media has arrived for major brands – it is not “new”, “an after-thought”, something for kids – or interns…
  • Strategy is all important – know where you are going and what to measure.
  • Concentrating on building fans is so yesterday.

Mary’s Takeaways:

  • Social media isn’t about promoting new products/services; it’s a virtual culture for your brand.
  • The future of social media is moving toward radical transparency.

Laura’s Takeaways:

  • Redefine influence. Always remember that small communities online matter just as much as the larger ones.
  • Don’t complain about changes to social media platforms. The platforms have to change to survive.
  • Focus on engagement with your communities, not the number of fans or followers you have.

Were you at the PR + Social Media Summit? Anything you would like to add? Please feel free to email me. Thanks! – Laura

 

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Requires Radical PR Tactics

Back in the day (like five years ago), GCAI provided pro-bono Public Relations services to  Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity’s blitz builds, so the concept of rallying volunteers, supplies and donations to build a house was not a new thing to us.  Then, along came the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (EMHE) Springfield build.

For those who have not followed the show since its inception in 2003, basically its star Ty Pennington and his design crew roll into town, partner with a local builder and then build a new home for a deserving family in about a week. Although there is undoubtedly a lot of background work that takes place over the months preceding the build, the local builder and supporting volunteers (insert PR agency here), complete their work in about five weeks.

What made this build quite interesting for GCAI, was the fact that it would help the family of Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, who committed suicide at the age of 11 after being subjected to relentless bullying at school. We have provided pro-bono PR services to a foundation in his memory for the past two year and were preparing to launch their second annual race/walk to raise money to support anti-bullying efforts.

By agreeing to take on EMHE, we would have two significant pro-bono efforts going on at the same time. Not the smartest business strategy, but our hearts were committed!

Unlike our previous Habitat blitz build efforts, GCAI would bring its full tool box of digital marketing strategies to the EMHE effort.  That would include starting and managing  of an online community that experience explosive growth, Search Engine Optimized PR, and online management using iPhones in the field, Sponsored Posts advertisement on Facebook and more. Our objectives were simple: develop volunteer support, media coverage, and donations. The response to our efforts was stunning!

In just under five weeks, the Facebook community we started for EMHE grew to over 7,000 members (see example A).  With management activity that just about matched the 24 hour a day demands of the build itself, this community thrived. It solved problems, answered questions, chased off trolls and spammers, donated supplies and money and volunteers, and – in doing so – exceeded our wildest expectations.

Facebook Insight: Screen Shot for Total Facebook Likes

Example A

 

Using Facebook Insights, we were able to determine that the EMHE Springfield page received over 1 million impressions and engagement occurrences (fans interacting with a post) which reached 8,000.  Active and live community management ensured that engagement spiked at key points during the event, in this case, the 9/11 “Door Knock Day” and 9/18 “Reveal Day” (see example B).  We chose not to use scheduled posts very much during the five week event due to concerns about Facebook relevancy scoring (diminished impressions due to using a third-party app to scheduled post). At the Online News Conference in Boston MA recently, Facebook presenter Vadim Lavrusik suggested that this was not the case. Still, GCAI would recommend live community management for events like EMHE even though it is extremely labor intensive.

Facebook Insight: Facebook Fan Interaction

Example B

Despite the lack of advanced planning time, our available technology – critical to SEO PR and real time community management – worked quite well.  As previously mentioned, iPhones and certain apps were key to these efforts.  Rather than use embargoed releases, we chose to disseminate from the field using the iPhones.  We were also able to take pictures and capture video which – upon approval from the show – could be posted right to the Facebook Fan page.  The phones provided a means to communicate with media (by text and email) – who were traveling up to an hour and a half to cover the event. We were also able to call in interviews to 94.7 FM WMAS who provided daily coverage of the event.  Media also posted extensively about the event on Facebook and Twitter. Using the iPhones, we could Like or RT these mentions – thus giving them extra SEO value.  The result was fans would could not attend events, where therefore able to enjoy all the excitement through the fan page.  Community management was live and instantaneous (see example C)

Facebook Insights: Real Time Dissemination

Example C

We did discover the outer limit of SEO PR conducted from the field, however.  That limit is battery power and we are currently researching several battery backup solutions for our next effort.

Interestingly, the local Twitter community did not respond to this effort at all.  The EMHE profile was used for PR dissemination, but generated very little by way of followers and engagement (See example D). Hashtag use was encouraged and used, but again, in very low numbers.  GCAI generally has found that the local Twitter community is not responsive to charitable or civic efforts in terms of engagement (RTs, mentions, offers of support).

Twitter Followers

Example D

Finally, we were monitoring and searching for multiple keywords as part of our online reputation management strategy. There was a relatively low response because the majority of the conversation stayed within the Facebook community that we had created. We did find a few negative posts within the comments section of online newspaper articles. Those responsible for the negative posts, trolls or spammers as we like to call them, were forced out of the community by other commenters. The negative posts were often marked as spam or inappropriate by members of the online newspaper community to prevent further posting.

If you have suggestions for future Social Media News posts, want to be a guest blogger, ask questions or share thoughts, please feel free to email me. Thanks! – Laura

Facebook Changes: Subscribe, Lists, Ticker and More!

If you logged on to Facebook this morning then you know the whole layout of the site has been redesigned. We all know that Facebook changes on a regular basis, but this recent update is only the first of many to come according to this article from Mashable, Facebook to Launch “Major” Profile Redesign at f8. f8 is a conference taking place today in San Francisco for developers and innovators who are meeting to discuss Facebook. Parts of the event will be streaming live.

This video explains in simple terms a few of the most recent modifications to the site.

If you are interested in learning more about the subscribe feature, this article Facebook Subscribe Button: What it Means for Each Type of User from Mashable, breaks down the changes and how it may affect users. So whether you’re a Facebook “super user” or a grandmother trying to log on to see photos of your grandkids, the ability to “subscribe,” instead of “friend” may change the way you use Facebook.

Last but not least, earlier this month Facebook made life a lot easier for people creating a Facebook Page. According to AllFacebook.com You No Longer Need 25 Fans to Get a Custom URL. So instead of having a URL like this www.facebook.com/pages/Make-It_Happen-City/207334002619825 which no one can remember, it can become www.facebook.com/MakeItHappenCity even though the page has less than 25 fans.

What do you think of the new Facebook redesign and subscribe feature? Let us know in the comments section.

If you have suggestions for future Social Media News posts, want to be a guest blogger, ask questions or share thoughts, please feel free to email me. Thanks! – Laura