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Free Teleclass Tuesday Sept 28 – 12CST – Highspot Inc and ME!

Nettie Hartsock — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 18:36:02 +0000

Promote Your Book With Social Media

Teleclass :: September 28, 2010

Teleclass Guest: Nettie Hartsock, The Hartsock Agency

As an author, you know you could be using social media to promote your book. But which tools do you use? How often do you use them? What exactly is the best way to get noticed? Join us as we chat with PR strategist Nettie Hartsock about using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogging to attract media attention.

Register now! The first 10 people to register will receive a free hard copy edition of Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman.

Format

1-hour teleclass
Sep 28, 2010 :: 1 – 2pm ET

Price

FREE

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Age of Conversation 3: It’s Time To Get Busy

Nettie Hartsock — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 16:38:06 +0000

So grateful to be included in the “Age of Conversation 3: It’s Time To Get Busy” book.

This book is an incredible tome of leading marketers, writers, PR folks and others on the Web. Hope you’ll take time to check it out. And below are all the fantastic folks who contributed to the book itself.

Adam Joseph	Priyanka Sachar	Mark Earls
Cory Coley-Christakos	Stefan Erschwendner	Paul Hebert
Jeff De Cagna	Thomas Clifford	Phil Gerbyshak
Jon Burg	Toby Bloomberg	Shambhu Neil Vineberg
Joseph Jaffe	Uwe Hook	Steve Roesler
Michael E. Rubin	anibal casso	Steve Woodruff
Steve Sponder	Becky Carroll	Tim Tyler
Chris Wilson	Beth Harte	Tinu Abayomi-Paul
Dan Schawbel	Carol Bodensteiner	Trey Pennington
David Weinfeld	Dan Sitter	Vanessa DiMauro
Ed Brenegar	David Zinger	Brett T. T. Macfarlane
Efrain Mendicuti	Deb Brown	Brian Reich
Gaurav Mishra	Dennis Deery	C.B. Whittemore
Gordon Whitehead	Heather Rast	Cam Beck
Hajj E. Flemings	Joan Endicott	Cathryn Hrudicka
Jeroen Verkroost	Karen D. Swim	Christopher Morris
Joe Pulizzi	Leah Otto	Corentin Monot
Karalee Evans	Leigh Durst	David Berkowitz
Kevin Jessop	Lesley Lambert	Duane Brown
Peter Korchnak	Mark Price	Dustin Jacobsen
Piet Wulleman	Mike Maddaloni	Ernie Mosteller
Scott Townsend	Nick Burcher	Frank Stiefler
Steve Olenski	Rich Nadworny	John Rosen
Tim Jackson	Suzanne Hull	Len Kendall
Amber Naslund	Wayne Buckhanan	Mark McGuinness
Caroline Melberg	Andy Drish	Oleksandr Skorokhod
Claire Grinton	Angela Maiers	Paul Williams
Gary Cohen	Armando Alves	Sam Ismail
Gautam Ramdurai	B.J. Smith	Tamera Kremer
Eaon Pritchard	Brendan Tripp	Adelino de Almeida
Jacob Morgan	Casey Hibbard	Andy Hunter
Julian Cole	Debra Helwig	Anjali Ramachandran
Jye Smith	Drew McLellan	Craig Wilson
Karin Hermans	Emily Reed	David Petherick
Katie Harris	Gavin Heaton	Dennis Price
Mark Levy	George Jenkins	Doug Mitchell
Mark W. Schaefer	Helge Tenno	Douglas Hanna
Marshall Sponder	James Stevens	Ian Lurie
Ryan Hanser	Jenny Meade	Jeff Larche
Sacha Tueni and Katherine Maher	David Svet	Jessica Hagy
Simon Payn	Joanne Austin-Olsen	Mark Avnet
Stanley Johnson	Marilyn Pratt	Mark Hancock
Steve Kellogg	Michelle Beckham-Corbin	Michelle Chmielewski
Amy Mengel	Veronique Rabuteau	Peter Komendowski
Andrea Vascellari	Timothy L Johnson	Phil Osborne
Beth Wampler	Amy Jussel	Rick Liebling
Eric Brody	Arun Rajagopal	Dr Letitia Wright
Hugh de Winton	David Koopmans	Aki Spicer
Jeff Wallace	Don Frederiksen	Charles Sipe
Katie McIntyre	James G Lindberg & Sandra Renshaw	David Reich
Lynae Johnson	Jasmin Tragas	Deborah Chaddock Brown
Mike O’Toole	Jeanne Dininni	Iqbal Mohammed
Morriss M. Partee	Katie Chatfield	Jeff Cutler
Pete Jones	Riku Vassinen	Jeff Garrison
Kevin Dugan	Tiphereth Gloria	Mike Sansone
Lori Magno	Valerie Simon	Nettie Hartsock
Mark Goren		Peter Salvitti

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Boo-hoo, I can’t find a radio station to pitch myself to…

Nettie Hartsock — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 03:44:42 +0000

Or can you? Simply hit this link and compile a list for yourself.

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PR, Mommy Bloggers

Nettie Hartsock — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:21:24 +0000

I wanted to post this wonderful thread of comments on the whole topic of PR and Mommy bloggers that relates to the original post I did here.

The post that I was responding to is here and was written by Jessica Smith (who works for Fleshman-Hillard). And then Jessica commented on my post and the comments that follow are the back and forth. I also urge you to go and read the comments that Boston Mamas wrote on Jessica’s original post – they are valuable. So is the Mom101 comment.

As evidenced by the posts/comments there is a very diverse view of PR, bloggers and social media marketing.

Jessica Smith 07.18.09 at 10:58 am

Thanks for engaging in the conversation with me. I am not saying you shouldn’t share who the client is or the general idea behind the campaign.

Case in point: When EA SPORTS approached me and asked if I was interested in working with them for their launch of the Wii virtual fitness game EA SPORTS Active, I said yes, thinking that I was going to get an advance copy of the game to review.

It was after this initial engagement and commitment that I then found out I would be attending a blogger trip with the other challengers involved in Santa Barbara with Alison Sweeney and Bob Greene.

My point is…if it had been shared with some bloggers that this major trip was involved from the get-go, do you think some would have just said yes for the trip and the celebrities involved?

Nettie Hartsock 07.18.09 at 6:04 pm

Hi Jessica,
Thanks for your comment. I just have an issue with the post itself and the old way that PR views bloggers. This seems particularly to be the case when it comes to “mommy bloggers.” I count myself as one by the way because I’m a mom and have been on the Web since 1995 and have blogged since 2004. I think too often the “mommy bloggers” term is getting quantified in a disparaging way among PR people. And it seems there is a tone that mommy bloggers are just sheep for brands, when quite the opposite is true. Many of them are blogging because they’ve chosen to stay home after career-mid-career-college-degrees etc. but are highly attuned to what they want in the world and manage to blog about it as well.

There should be complete transparency in engaging any blogger on behalf of any event, or brand collaboration. In your comment it sounds like you are thinking it’s ok to leave out information to bloggers. I don’t think that is respectful of them and don’t think that starts out a good collaboration. And honestly, I think the bigger question is not, “Do you think some would have just said yes for the trip and the celebrities involved?” but rather, “Why it is that PR people seem to think that if you just throw some freebies at bloggers they should be happy to do your bidding however you feel is best.?”

I don’t think this takes into account that bloggers are by all rights driving the brands to their readers, not because the majority of them hope to get to go to some celebrity trip, but rather because they want to feature the best things for their readership. Bloggers will be here long after some of these brands implode and the readership depends on them to be as honest and authentic as possible.

Also, more and more people don’t look to “sponsored bloggers” to find out the real scoop on B2C products, because that blogger might not be as unobjective as another one who is not being sponsored or going on a celeb trip.

Looking at bloggers as simply a “mass of messengers” waiting for PR firms to come and discover them and then help them get more visibility by selling an associated brand or product, I think is a very small-minded way to view them. I also think bloggers if they so choose to help a company get a brand out across the Web should have the ability to get paid, and have the right for anyone engaging them to be upfront and honest about the possibilities.

Again, it should all be done in an honest, forthright manner at the onset.

Boston Mamas 07.19.09 at 2:41 pm

Hi Nettie, I just left a long comment over at the original Jessica Knows post if you’d like to check it out – it links over to a post I wrote following a very troubling thread re: PR and blogger relations and this so called mystery element.

best, Christine

Mom101 07.19.09 at 7:23 pm

“why it is that PR people seem to think that if you just throw some freebies at bloggers they should be happy to do your bidding however you feel is best.”

Lord woman, I want to kiss you right now. I think there’s a challenge right now in that PR isn’t sure how they want to engage with bloggers – are they press? Evangelists? Consultants? The lines are blurred and everyone is confused which is what leads to dashed expectations and probably, “mystery” outreach.

You should edit your post to add your excellent comments.

Nettie Hartsock 07.21.09 at 11:29 am

Hey Mom 101!

That means the world to me. Thank you so much – I’m so glad it was valuable and I love your comments!

Nettie

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The Best Speeches Are All About Content: Tips for Empowering Your “Speechability”

Nettie Hartsock — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:46:48 +0000

I love writing speeches for folks and one of the musts in speeches for business audiences is the ability to both engage and inspire during the speech.

One of the best speeches I’ve seen in the past couple of years was the one that Al Gore delivered at Disney during a business conference I was covering. His opening line was, “Hello, I’m Al Gore and I’m a recovering politician.” With that singular line he held the audience’s rapt attention.

Self-deprecation is a surprisingly good tool in the current economic stratus because we all need a bit of a lift when it comes to surviving these challenging times.

Gore’s past speechwriter and best-selling author, Daniel Pink, noted three important elements in speeches, during an interview with Tim Ferriss who asked, “What are the necessary ingredients of a good speech?”

Pink said, “I’ve said many times that the three essential ingredients in any good speech are brevity, levity, and repetition.”

(To see the full Ferris interview.)

Effective speech giving is being able to naturally and authentically incorporate the real you into the speech. We all long for true connection especially in these days of Web 2.0, 3.0, 80.0 and beyond, we still want to be inspired and genuinely touched.

When I interviewed Doris Kearns Goodwin, I asked, “What is the most rewarding thing about being a historian?” and her response was, “It is a great gift to really get to know people through their letters and speeches because that is often where you will find the real person behind the historical persona.”

One of the best things you can do when you prepare a speech is to be a real person.

A stunning and still inspiring speech was Pierre Omidyar’s keynote speech, in that speech Omidyar says,

“Build a platform – prepare for the unexpected… … And you’ll know you’re successful when the platform you’ve built serves you in unexpected ways. That’s certainly true of the lessons I’ve learned in the process of building eBay. Because in the deepest sense, eBay wasn’t a hobby. And it wasn’t a business. It was – and is – a community: An organic, evolving, self-organizing web of individual relationships, formed around shared interests.”

Reread the last line. Isn’t Omidyar really describing what social media is today? “An organic, evolving, self-organizing web of individual relationships, formed around shared interests.”

Go to this link where 100 of the top speeches are compiled and listen to them for similarities in the speeches.

It’s surprising how many speeches on the top 100 list and others come directly from the heart and search to connect with the audience’s heart. Omidyar’s speech is an example of that, as is Dr. Pausch’s stunning Last Lecture, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.”

(Go to this link for the full transcript of Dr. Pausch’s speech.)

One of my favorite quotes from Pausch’s speech is, “Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome.”

It aptly describes how one must come prepared to inspire the audience. Too often, CEO’s assume that their title or place as the head of a company entitles them to rapt attention and that alone should inspire.

In reality, having a CXO title only means you can demand an audience, but it does not mean you can capture their hearts.

As mentioned previously, Pink notes these three elements: brevity, levity and repetition. (See how I repeated his tips, did so briefly, and with levity?)

And there are four other elements you must try to include in a speech:
• Imagery
• Metaphor
• Humor
• Honesty

If you take the time to listen to or read inspiring speeches, you’ll be amazed at how you can quickly identify and nurture the best practices for your speeches as well.

Over the holidays I while I was working on this article, I was sent this tweet, “

encouragement4u @NettieHartsock N.E.T.T.I.E. means Nurture Every Thought To Inspire Everyone 4:17 PM Nov 24th from web in reply to NettieHartsock

It’s interesting to have received it because I think it sums up what you want to do in speeches as well, “Nurture every thought to inspire everyone.”

Here are three resources to kick-start your “speech-listening” research:

1. Search YouTube for “CEO speeches” you’ll find over 600 available.

2. Check out the Carnegie Mellon’s “Last Lecture” series. This includes Dr. Randy Pausch’s which has a viewing of over 7 million and counting.

3. See all the TED speeches . Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s speech is extraordinary and so is George Smoot’s.

P.S. (Do you remember the speech attributed to Vonnegut’s MIT commencement speech which made the rounds on the Internet and proved to be false? It was actually a column written by Chicago Tribune journalist Mary Schmich titled, “Wear Sunscreen.” Either way it’s a wonderful speech to read and to listen to it you can go here.)

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Twitter, Social Media Explained

Nettie Hartsock — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:02:50 +0000

I’ve referred many a potential client to these two YouTube vids produced by the folks at CommonCraft.com , so wanted to share them with folks who might read my blog as well.

The first is “Social Media in Plain English,” and the second is “Twitter in Plain English,” you can hit both and get a good basic idea of how social media works and how to use Twitter.

Also, it’s the first week of December which means you should be actively coming up with a tips-focused article, blog post or press release that gives your top five tips for the New Year in your business arena. If you’re a book author and you’ve penned a book on networking, then why not do a release on PRWeb.com or Marketwire.com titled, “Five Ways to Boost Your Networking for the New Year.”

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PR and Marketing 2.0 Is Here to Stay

Nettie Hartsock — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:20:15 +0000

Great article today in BullDog Reporter on the importance of companies being a part of social media initiatives in terms of marketing and PR. Brian Pittman is a fantastic interviewer and this article is very insightful.

Speaking of 2.0 initiatives:

1. Does your company or CEO have a blog? If not, why not?

2. Is your company twittering? If not, why not?

3. Does your company have a Facebook presence? If not, why not?

And remember with all three things above, that having those is only the start. It’s a marathon on this “long tail” 2.0 race and you need to be ready to stay in the race for the duration.

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Companies Using Social Media

Nettie Hartsock — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:39:21 +0000

Still don’t think you or your company need social media?

Check out Peter Kim’s great list (via Sally Falkow’s post in Daily Dog) that has a plethora of companies doing all the right things in the social media world.

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Gartner, Corporations and Social Media

Nettie Hartsock — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 05:19:12 +0000

Sally Falkow is a brilliant guru of all things PR and here’s a very interesting post she did on her blog about corporations and social media.

Excerpt, “75 percent of Fortune 1000 companies are eager to get involved in social-networking initiatives for marketing or customer relations purposes, but 50 percent of those campaigns will be classified as failures, predicts Sarner. What are they doing wrong?

“(Businesses) will rush to the community and try to connect, but essentially they won’t have a mutual purpose, and they’ll fail,” Sarner said.”

Sally is in the Daily Dog and her column is just extraordinary in its coverage and anyone who is on the corporate side needs to read her take and Gartner’s results on social media.

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Public Relations or Public Relationships

Nettie Hartsock — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:40:45 +0000

Great post on how PR should evolve from public relations to public relationships by Jerry Michaelski.

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What PR is NOT….

Nettie Hartsock — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:39:20 +0000

I had a tough week last week and while in a meeting with a very respected PR practitioner whose been in it for more than twenty years, we came up with a list of what PR can and cannot do. I thought some of those might be good to share.

1. PR is not guaranteed coverage. Hiring a publicist means they will do their best on outreach to a certain number of designated sites agreed on by both parties. It does not guarantee in any shape, form or fashion coverage for those sites.

2. PR is not easy.

3. Generating a press release does not mean the press release will get coverage.

4. PR is not pay for play. Espescially in terms of reaching out to bloggers, each blog list is customized and it is completely up to the bloggers as to whether they choose to cover your book, event or news.

5. PR is arduous and good PR does not happen overnight. Again, in terms of reaching out to bloggers they actually READ the books they are sent, so getting a mention on a blog site from the initial outreach can oftentimes be a lengthy (but well worth it) delayed posting. In terms of bloggers you also have a great opportunity to actually connect with someone who truly is vested in covering what their readership wants to read about. It’s a wonderful thing that bloggers READ the books they are sent, so be patient instead of impatient when it comes to them possibly posting about your book.

6. Bloggers do not exist to be marketing entities for your next book, project or venture. They truly are citizen journalists and should be respected on the same level. That means they decide when, if and what they will cover in terms of your book, news or event.

7. PR is public relations not marketing, not fluff without a news hook, not advertising relations. It is public relations.

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