On Friday afternoon I came across a great NYTimes article on the now common practice of paying Mechanical Turks to post positive reviews for hotels, venues and restaurants. The article goes on to cite a new Cornell study that roots out “deceptive opinion spam” at 90 percent accuracy simply by using computational linguistic analysis. While this would help with fictitious opinions, it doesn’t solve the fact that there’s a clear shadow economy for the larger review-driven landscape.
In as early as 2009, The East Bay Express accused Yelp of offering to hide negative user reviews for a price. While Yelp wasn’t accused of offering to post fraudulent reviews, the company was suspected of hiding the whole truth. For an organization whose slogan is “real people, real reviews”, that felt like a betrayal.
But even when review sites aren’t accused of slippery dealings, there’s little we can do to police real reviews, because quite honestly, sometimes real people suck. Really. Grifters gonna grift. If people are naive enough to buy the old pig in a poke without doing some research, inspecting the merchandise and using a traceable payment system, then perhaps there should be a Turing test for basic common sense.
While I don’t condone grifting by any means, I do quite like ye olde-timey language of the glim-dropper, the melon drop and the badger game. This new fandangled “social engineering” scam game lacks the same panache. To protect yourself against the pitfalls of the common grift, Wikipedia has an extensive list of confidence tricks. Nevertheless, I find watching the Gangs of New York while simultaneously thumbing through my favorite tome, The Wordsworth Reference Dictionary of Pirates to be an excellent starter.
What the heck is reverse PR? Well, if regular PR/media relations is where a company pitches hundreds of journalists then I’m doing the opposite. I’m pitching 200+ technology bloggers and publishers in the IT, mobile and consumer electronics hardware space to companies. Late last week I wrote an article about it for my NetShelter company blog letting publishers know what I’m starting on. This post is for PR people, conference organizers, syndicators and those people who’ll be on the other end of my pitch.
YOU ARE A GATEKEEPER
Journalists aren’t the only gatekeepers in the tech media landscape. Conference organizers, PR people and agencies often hold the keys to the breaking news as it’s coming out of major events and companies.
While I’m not trying to replace those relationships you’ve already forged with our publishers, I do want to help increase access to the products, companies and content that matters in the tech landscape. I’m a firm believer that influencers stay ahead of the news and and it’s clear that you’re a part of that content distribution chain.
Let’s be clear here though — this isn’t advertising. It’s editorial and as such, once we’ve passed anything to our publishers, there is no promise that you’ll get a positive review or in fact any review written about your product, service or executives. That being said, if you work for an event, agency or company that deals in household tech brand names, I CAN promise that I’ll pass your info to some of the top tech publishers in the world.
EMAIL US IF YOU:
- Represent a top consumer electronics, mobile or IT hardware brand. Some of those brands include Toshiba, Intel, Sony, Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, Cisco, D-Link, Acer, Amazon, AT&T, Nokia, Cannon, Comcast, Citrix, Dell, Lenovo, Epson, Fuji, GE, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Kodak, LG, RIM, Sprint, Google, T-Mobile, Verizon, Asus, Netgear, Buffalo, Iomega, Seagate, Belkin and Buffalo. (*NOTE: We’re looking for awesome new products and major news, not incremental releases or what might be considered business tech news and promo campaigns. Sorry, I’m just one lady sorting through all this, so I can’t answer every email.)
- Organize a top consumer electronics, mobile or IT conference, hackday or special event. Some of these might include IntelAppUp, IDF, Mobile World Congress, CTIA, CES, Google I/O, E3, iOS HackDay, Computex, IFA, CeBit, Enterprise 2.0, Social Loco, SXSW, Re:Publica, Interop, FailCon, SFMusic Tech Day, Music Hack Day, AppNation, Uplinq, WWDC or CeDIA.
SPECIFIC REQUESTS TO MAKE:
- You want to ping a specific group of our publishers about breaking news, a major event, or a new release.
- You want to do a NetShelter exclusive teleconference briefing between your CEO, top executives and a specific group of our publishers.
- You want me to ping potential moderators, panelists or presenters for your event and you’ve already got a session idea in mind.
- You need a TV correspondent, want to syndicate content to an established audience, or something comparable.
- You want me to offer a travel stipend, review product or closed program to our publishers.
- You want me to list your party or press conference in our internal network calendar.
Email me at updates@netshelter.com if this sounds like you.
I’m speaking at the PR Summit today about messaging media and consumers on emerging technology and devices. Naturally, my outrageously professional moderator Cassie Philipps asked each speaker for a few questions. The one I asked was less about messaging and more about looking at the root of some of the problem.
How are PR and media measured differently and how can a good story help both?
PR Metrics
PR agencies tend to secure a monthly retainer from their client. From there, media relations people keep a log of billable hours and in some cases get paid out a bonus for hitting their targeted list of contacts. So basically:
- Reputation: People who pitch great stories, get more stories written and forge better contacts with publishers. In other words, you get your emails answered and name gets picked out of a pile of emails.
- Placements:Media relations people are measured by the number and quality of stories received in top tier publications; and,
Bloggers Metrics
Clearly I can’t speak for everyone, but I’ve been measured on:
- Traffic: Some writers get paid a traffic bonus for writing a super viral post and are reprimanded for writing too many unpopular stories;
- Reputation: Those who break stories or write well-researched stories are rewarded in links from the elite techies, invites to panels and closed events, greater access to upcoming stories, and greater voice in the larger tech community;
- Engagement: Links, comments, shares and bookmarks increase distribution amongst an audience and can lead to increased reputation through metrics like Google Page Rank. Social links also add a layer of traceable distribution which increase socially-driven page views and in turn, all that data will also help organic search traffic.
What the Heck Does it All Mean?
Perhaps the disconnect here is that where media relations metrics end, blogger metrics begin.
Writers need to appreciate the work and research that goes into reaching them, and media relations people need to look at the entire lifecycle of the post.
Most news stories get their peak traffic and engagement in the first 3 hours of publishing. Those are the hours you can see when the story will hit Techmeme or HackerNews front page, whether it’ll get retweeted or Facebook liked by influential community members, and whether the community generally respects the work. A great story isn’t just a client placement or a traffic driver, but a giant burning ball of conversation. The more we all contribute to this, the easier it is for us to coexist and feed ourselves.
Messaging and Writing Sticky Stories
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:
If bloggers can find a way to relate the story to an existing celebrity (with a large audience), connect it to a major and timely event, incorporate a narrative that affects millions, demonstrate popular and conflicting opinions, is regionally significant, or brings a unique point of view to light, they’re more likely to have a popular story on their hands.
In addition to all of these points on newsworthiness, bloggers and media relations people need to acknowledge the strengths and weaknesses of a competitive market. Clearly a story’s unique angle can’t be the same angle as a pitch that was written about yesterday. A list of key features, high-profile executive and demonstrable differentiators can also help build the story.
