Wow – so Virgin Atlantic has made the decision to allow cell phone use on its planes.

And how did I find out?

From about three nationally known Twitter personalities linking to the story with comments akin to: “Why I will never fly on Atlantic again.”

When I first looked at the story – I drooled over emailing, Facebooking and Tweeting from my phone while scrunched in the middle seat of a plane. Anyone who has been in that middle seat knows a computer is not a great fit (and I don’t have an iPad!).

But then, horror poured over me as I imagined my sister on the phone with a boyfriend for an entire flight – or worse, my mom jibber-jabbing on a three-hour flight.

So – my question to you…

Cell phone use on plane – YAY or NAY?

Cell No! originally appeared on HMA Public Relations, Phoenix AZ, Full-Service PR Firm on May 16, 2012.

HMA intern Katie here, bringing you more exciting bits from Scott’s recent Public Relations Global Network Conference trip to South Africa. As many of you know, Scott just returned to us at HMA after his two-week trip. What you may not know is that not all the trip was spent in business meetings, sight-seeing and on safaris. One day Scott and the other PRGN members joined a team of volunteers from the Niall Mellon Township Trust to improve the lives and living conditions in the Townships of South Africa. Touched by the experience, Scott approached me with the opportunity to learn more about the organization and share the good things they are doing to help impoverished families in Cape Town, South Africa.

In 2002, The Niall Mellon Township Trust was created after Niall Mellon witnessed the impoverished lives of those living in South Africa. Since then, the organization has grown immensely thanks to strong partnerships with the African government and local communities and volunteering by individuals and groups like PRGN.

Their Building Blitz initiative has helped improve the living conditions of 80,000 people in the Townships of South Africa. They continue to improve the health, education and living conditions of families through training, sustainability and improvements made to sanitation. Through the various initiatives and programs The Niall Mellon Township Trust empowers the poor within these communities to have more control over their own development as well as that of their community.

Thanks to organizations like the Niall Mellon Township Trust, the residents living in poverty and who lack access to basic social facilities are given the opportunity to live a better life.

Check out what the Niall Mellon Township Trust is doing in Cape Town, South Africa.

You may also be interested to learn what a couple others from the PRGN who volunteered had to say about their experience: Sandy Lish, Castle Group, Boston and Ramonna Robinson, GroundFloor Media, Denver.

“What is…” Wednesday – What is the Niall Mellon Township Trust? originally appeared on HMA Public Relations, Phoenix AZ, Full-Service PR Firm on May 16, 2012.

While normally our #MM category signifies a #MediaMonday, this time it’s for “Magazine Media,” the theme of this month’s PRSA Media Breakfast.

Taking place this Thursday, May 17 at Maizie’s Café and Bistro, today is the last day to pre-register (walk-ins welcome) for a glimpse at the preferred pitching style, upcoming stories and tricks of the magazine trade from editors throughout the Valley.

The four panelists include:

Tishin Donkersley (@TishinD), editor of Green Living Magazine

Michelle Glicksman (@MGlicksman), editor of So Scottsdale!, Scottsdale Health and Go Gilbert

RaeAnne Marsh (@inbusinessmag), editor of In Business Magazine

Ed Martinez (@MyLIFEEd), editor-in-chief of MyLIFE Magazine

Register today for the discount or pay $20 for members at the door, $25 for non-members at the door. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at kschultz@hmapr.com and Beth Cochran at beth@wiredprgroup.com.

See you Thursday!

Magazine Media originally appeared on HMA Public Relations, Phoenix AZ, Full-Service PR Firm on May 15, 2012.

Most of us know (and love) Eva Bowen from her many years at the helm of ABC 15’s Sonoran Living Live. Today, she has taken on a new role away from the cameras but still within the media as producer of Outreach Today, an internet-based radio talk show on VoiceAmerica.

We welcome Eva here to #MediaMonday and ask…

So, Eva, what do you want to tell the blogosphere today?

Well hello there folks. My name is Eva – and no I’m not a Diva, and you don’t have to be delivered from me (a nod to Deliver Us From Eva starring Gabrielle Union) J   I am a real outgoing person and most people who know me know that I have a big heart, and I’m a very transparent about my life. I have lived in the Valley since I was 10-years=old. Which means 36 years because I am now 46 and happy to see each and every day on this Earth. I am originally from Michigan. My parents left the snow and came to heat!  Go figure the freezer into the frying pan.

I graduated from Arizona State University with both my Master’s and Bachelor’s Degrees in Broadcast Journalism.  I am also looking into  attending ASU to complete my Doctorate.  I went to ASU on a full-ride basketball scholarship. I was also involved in my sorority and several honorary organizations such as Leadership Scholarship, Devils Advocates and Student Foundation. While at ASU, I was selected as the first runner-up to Homecoming Queen and named the First Miss Black ASU.

I have always been a fan of beauty pageants on TV. I would watch them, pick my favorites, pick my top 10 and then sit there nervous as heck waiting to see who would win and if the judges picks would line up with my own. This is probably why I was involved in pageants while in high school  and college.  Funny, huh?  This has also led me to a professional modeling career. I am signed with Ford Robert Black. I haven’t done a show in a while, mainly because I’m so busy. But I love fashion shows and walking the runway.

I am a huge basketball fan. I have a cousin who plays for the Orlando Magic, and my brother used to play overseas. I loved it when I was able to attend most of the home games when Jason played with the Phoenix Suns.  I’m also a basketball mom. My son is currently on the best AAU 11U team on the West Coast. So most weekends you can usually find me in the gym.  We are a traveling team so usually two times a month we are out-of-town at tournaments.

For the past four months I have also been mothering a little girl I met. She’s six and a handful! Her mother is not in her life and hasn’t been for four years. I enjoy picking her up on weekends and doing girl stuff. I don’t enjoy maneuvering through the rivalry that has developed between she and my son. They have a love-dislike relationship. I guess both were only children, now forced into having a part-time sibling. Such is life; you have to take the good with the challenging wouldn’t you agree?

In my spare time I volunteer with the Fiesta Bowl Ambassadors, formerly the Women’s Committee. We volunteer at many events throughout the bowl season. I am enjoying this experience working with the leadership of the Fiesta Bowl and truly have loved the organization since my experience on the Court in college.

Spring 2012, I fulfilled a dream of teaching. I am an adjunct professor at ASU teaching sophomore journalism students how to write in the broadcast style. These students are extremely fortunate. The Walter Cronkite School in downtown Phoenix is so beautiful. A far cry from Stauffer Hall 20 years ago when I attended ASU (Alison agrees!).  It has been an amazing experience and I am looking forward to my classes in the fall. I love being able to help shape the minds of future journalists. I believe that I can teach so much more than what’s in the books. I love instilling life skills with my J Tips (journalism tips) to help them become better human beings.

Work wise I have been a journalist for more than 20 years. First starting out at KPNX-TV 12, then moving to an ABC affiliate in Texas, then back to Phoenix at KNXV-TV 15 for 11 years. All those jobs as a news producer. For the first three or four years at ABC 15 I was a news producer.  Then I moved into a position at Sonoran Living Live, first as senior producer then as the executive producer from 2005-2010. I love producing. It fits so well with my creative side. Not to brag, but I am naturally very good at it. I love the entire creation process of producing a show.

That brings me to my current job. I am working for Outreach Today, an internet-based radio talk show on the VoiceAmerica Variety Channel. I love it! I enjoy not having to worry about cameras and props and teleprompters!   I am a true one-man band at Outreach Today. I book all the guests, produce all the elements for the show, marketing, social media, public relations, graphic artist, picture taker, host, development consultant, fill-in on-air contributor, event planner, blogger…I do it all.  It keeps me very very busy.

When we are not taping the live shows in the studio, I am working from home. THIS has been a challenge! If you work from home, I am sure you aware it can get lonely at times and I have to force myself to get out of the house and be around people. When I pick my son up from school, I ask him 20 questions. He’s like “Momma can you quit it with all the questions.” Ha!  I haven’t talked to a human being face-to-face all day…talk to me son! Lol. I’m sure there are some books I can pick up to give me some tips on maximizing my work-from-home experience. Luckily my position at ASU has allowed me the outlet to get out and about and talk to people. I enjoy being around people, communicating and interacting with them. If any of you have any ideas feel free to send them my way about working from home.

Minus the isolation it’s great. One other challenge I have is while at ABC 15, all the people who wanted to be on SL or the news came to us. Now I have to start from scratch, building up my contacts to look for local/national guests to come on our show. Ideas wanted in this area as well. I have joined a couple of PR groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.

I guess it would help learning about the show. Outreach Today is a one-hour program that airs live on Wednesdays at 10am Pacific. We usually have one main topic withthree guests on to talk about it..Local guests are asked to come down to our studios if they can and national guests either call in from a land line or use Skype. Topics on the show range from Sex & Relationships, Elder Abuse, Homelessness, Health & Fitness, Teens & Prescription Drug Abuse, Early Intervention of Delinquent Behavior, Veterans on the Road Home, Caring Citizens and Real World Experience. Typically a guest will be on the show for 15-20 minutes. We have all the guests talk individually to our hosts.  So if you have a media-savvy client send a pitch my way. I am always looking for great guests! Here is a link to our show page.

Other than that I love to read!  James Patterson and self-help books are my favorite. I tore through the “Hunger Games” trilogy and I’m kind of looking forward to seeing what all the hoopla is about with the “Fifty Shades of Grey” trilogy. I’m hearing some very interesting things.  So there you have it – have a good one folks!  EvaBowen29@yahoo.com.

#MediaMonday – Eva Bowen originally appeared on HMA Public Relations, Phoenix AZ, Full-Service PR Firm on May 14, 2012.

Part 2 of Stephanie’s Social Media Success Summit Series. Read Part 1 here.

Greetings again from the 2012 Social Media Success Summit! It has only been a week since I last touched base, but already I am well on my way to social media enlightenment. Ohmmm.

Before one can truly reach social media enlightenment, one must let go of preconceived notions. While I like to think of myself open-minded and willing to adapt to the rapidly changing social media landscape, I was a bit skeptical when I heard I could perform social media magic.

Magic, you say? If you call making something out nothing magic, then yes.

Here’s the trick: Creating engaging social media channels without content.

I know, right? No content? I am a firm believer and big fan of content – in fact, sometimes I have so much content my blogs runnith over. What is there if there is no content? Being the good sport I am, I decided to find out.

As it turns out, you do need content, but don’t always have post-worthy ideas. Rather than commenting on the weather or reposting a dry news release, create the content magically organically through the tools you already have.

Act 1: Google+

Full disclosure: I really like G+. I have said before that G+ has the potential to take over Facebook, that was, until I became enamored with Facebook’s timeline. Since its launch, my Google+ devotion has faltered.

Thanks to Chris Brogan, I have been reminded why it is we should be paying more attention to this social media platform. Quite simpley put: IT’S GOOGLE. It pretty much owns the web. I could go into detail about the benefits of having all the Google-y features at your disposal, and don’t even get me started on how it can help your search optimization, but all that talk just enhances the point that Google is number one everything.

While the social aspect of G+ is a tea party to Facebook’s kegger, Chris did point out an interesting fact about the difference in creating content. Those engaging on G+ are doing so through meaningful posts. The conversations are rich and more thorough than other more popular social sites. If you are lacking content, this is the place you can really bounce ideas off your customers, fans and colleagues to get feedback that matters.

Act 2:YouTube

Really this should be 1.5 since it is technically part of Google. But like I said, Google pretty much owns the web.

Anyway, this is where the real tricks come into play. Paul Colligan’s presentation “No Camera, Content or Audience? No Problem!” caught my eye when I first looked over the SMSS schedule. He assured us that even if you have no camera, content or audience, you can make an excellent video. Or Super Bowl commercial.

How can this be? Well first of all, who really needs a video camera with smart phones in every pocket and computers equipped with lenses? Heck, the example went a step further and just used a series of screenshots. Google laughs at the notion of video camera.

As far as audience, if you YouTube it, they will come. Utilize key words and tags to drive the millions of YouTubers to your video. After posting a video, do as much promoting as possible in the first 30 minutes. Like, Tweet, +1 right from YouTube, embed into your blog, email your subscribers (when appropriate).

In many ways building content here is similar to that of G+, minus the high quality of comments. YouTube users rarely make engaging conversation, but what they do do is share.

Which leads to clicks.

Which leads to more money for Google.

Which leads your video up the search result ranks.

Which leads to more money for you.

Everyone is happy.

Act 3: Facebook 

It sounds kind of funny calling Facebook a tool; sometimes it seems like the whole workshop.  But it is a tool and a very handy one at that, with many smaller bits and pieces that you can work to your favor. Mari Smith, social media expert speaker and third party app extraordinaire, shared how to use the new Facebook timeline to keep the content fresh.

Change your cover photo often and make them beautiful, like Verizon. This is important and the most exciting new feature. Your cover photo is what is going to draw in your audience.

Add milestones from the past at times when your posts are thin (but do not add all milestones the second you set up a page.) Older companies can spend days upon days recapping the pre-Facebook page days so choose wisely.

Use you status to ask your customers engaging questions and let them create the content, something Walgreens does a great job of. Just be sure to monitor their responses and guide the conversation to stay on topic.

So there you have it: Google+, YouTube and Facebook. Not exactly well-kept secrets, but it is remarkable how much more useful these already handy social media channels can become when you know their full potential

It’s almost magical.

Move over Gurus, I’m a Social Media Magician! #SMSS12 originally appeared on HMA Public Relations, Phoenix AZ, Full-Service PR Firm on May 9, 2012.

Cause you’ve got…personality!
Walk…personality!
Talk…personality!
Smile…personality!
Charm…personality!

Brand…personality?

Yes, it is possible for your brand – any brand – to have a real personality. But it goes beyond a clever mascot, well-placed advertising or even a viral video here and there.

Find out why and how to give your brand a face, name and voice from this great article on Ragan! Lots of things to think about – are they missing anything?

A Tip for Tuesday – Find Your Brandsonality! originally appeared on HMA Public Relations, Phoenix AZ, Full-Service PR Firm on May 8, 2012.

Today, HMA’s own intern extraordinaire, Katie Snyder, gives her take on both her first #Buzzcation and its exclusive movie screening, Twittamentary. Take it away, Katie!

Well hello again! I am back and excited to share with you my take on the big Twittamentary screening at the Arizona Biltmore Buzzcation event. It was quite the experience having the opportunity to mingle with public relations professionals and fellow social media/ Twitter geeks. What made this event most interesting weren’t the free bags of kettle corn and chocolate covered pretzels, but the screen that allows viewers to actively participate in the screening through tweets. Viewers were encouraged to NOT turn their phones off but instead “tweet” it up during the film, making comments about anything and everything via the #twittamentary hashtag.

Pair that with a few drinks – talk about a happy distraction!

The documentary looked at the social space, which was created in 2006, and what it has evolved into 140 characters at a time- twitterverse. Today it is a platform that has allowed complete strangers to connect with others virtually to form a community, sharing experiences in real time.

Tan Siok Siok, a documentary filmmaker from Singapore, gave stellar examples of how social media, more specifically Twitter, has been used to impact people’s lives around the world. The documentary dives into the lives of individuals across different cultures and different backgrounds each touched in a different way. We met Janis Krums, @jkrums, who put Twitter on the map after tweeting a picture of a US Airways plane shortly after it had plunged into the Hudson River. In fact, HMA is one of the on-call teams for the airlines and assisted them with the media relations efforts surrounding this incident.

In other examples from the documentary, Twitter was used to voice everything from customer service complaints, raising money and even to get directions.

While the documentary was interesting, the Twitter feed became somewhat more appealing as people began using it to post questions, answers and even challenges for other views. HMA’s own Stephanie Lough, @StephLough, took it upon herself to be the comedian of the night posting things like “Everyone say “woooo” at 7:40, iPhone time”. Despite all the distractions of posting my own tweets and reading others tweets via the feed, I did enjoy the documentary and thought the end result was an honest portrait of human relationships in the digital age.

The Buzz(cation) on Twittamentary originally appeared on HMA Public Relations, Phoenix AZ, Full-Service PR Firm on May 7, 2012.

 Last week brought another fabulous PRSA New Pros event in which some of the Valley’s brightest young PR professionals came together to pick the brains of local business reporters.

And by “local business reporters” I mean people that New Pros want as their new BFFs, especially those with finance, healthcare, law and other professional industries we at HMA call “boy clients.” (Although I’d like to state that many of our “boy clients” are led by females. Girl power!)

The panel included legendary Phoenix Business Journal healthcare columnist Angela Gonzales, Arizona Business Gazette contributor and freelancer Georgann Yara (who wrote this awesome story), and, although not physically present but there in spirit (in the form of a handy-dandy tip guide), Michael Gossie of AZ Big Media.

Now, understand that PRSA New Pros is pretty much the same thing as Fight Club so I really shouldn’t be giving out this coveted information.  But, it is also a PR networking group and PR folks are not ones to keep secrets, just embargoes, so I’ll share only some pointers the panelist shared.

Background:

It’s always helpful to know a little about a reporter past their regular beats. It may surprise you what you find out. For example, did you know that Angela originally studied PR to become a jingle writer? I’m not saying you should craft a little ditty for your client instead of a pitch, but you never know when factoids like these come in handy.

Do a Google search to see if they cover additional beats or write for other publications. Also research the pub so you are familiar with its sections, competitors and sister pubs. Nowadays with so much cross-posting and shared content, chances are you are sending the same pitch to the same people multiple times. For example, if you pitch Michael, you are pitching to potentially eight publications (still do a bit of research as to which publication you think your story is best suited for).

Trends:

What use to be “new, new, new” is now “what has improved?”  Most wanted businesses stories are those that have changed in light of the economy or businesses that have found success by making the recession work for them. As far as start-ups, the business angle would have to be a compelling story of where the business got its funding.

Pitching:

If ABG is not interested in story, try the community sections of the Republic where the news is happening.

Keep your pitches brief. Give the reporter enough so they have the idea, then let them ask for details.

Press conferences are not usually for print journalists, unless something huge like a medical marijuana announcement is happening or we are striving to “break” the news. Please, no more shovel photos! No more giant scissors! (Unless being used for something other than a ribbon cutting, in which case would be really weird and probably news worthy.)

Realize the power of your press release. Lots of times a PR rep will send a general press release out to several pubs, but only pitch an angle for a larger story to a single publication. Make sure that the original release didn’t turn into a huge story (without any reporter notification or questions) by the competing media outlet. It’s happened before!

Start your pitches with “NAME, I have a story that is perfect for your REGULAR SECTION.” Then tell the story.

Deadlines:

KNOW DEADLINE DATES! DON’T PITCH ON THEM! THANK YOU!

When pitching an interview, don’t ask the reporter what time works best for him. Give the reporter a few windows to work with as their schedule is much more irregular than the average Joe’s.

PR pros have their own deadlines and quotas to fulfill. If in a pinch, the web is your best bet. Let the reporter know this as most big publications have a person ready and willing to post to the blog…but don’t do this on the reporters’ deadlines.

Gripes:

The “It’s _____ Month” rarely works for business stories.

A high-resolution photo is a .jpg 300dpi, 5 x 7inch, not a headshot you pulled from LinkedIn.

Don’t pitch fast-food clients to Arizona Business Magazine.

The other things – like the secret code word needed in the subject line so your pitch isn’t immediately deleted– are, well, just too valuable to be posted on a high-trafficked blog such as this one.

Think that code word bit is true? You’ll have to join PRSA New Pros (or the PRSA Phoenix Chapter if you are an Old Pro) to find out!

Basics of Ballyhooing for Businesses originally appeared on HMA Public Relations, Phoenix AZ, Full-Service PR Firm on May 4, 2012.

The past few weeks have been crazy here at HMA; from the PRGN Conference to out-of-town client meetings, networking events and even a few vacations, there was barely a single day that everyone was in the office. So it was only natural that I assumed I’d be packing my bags when Abbie asked me to attend the 2012 Social Media Success Summit, a conference designed to help business owners and markets “quickly achieve social media success” put on by the popular Michael Steilner and the Social Media Examiner.

Presenting at this year’s conference, which is expecting more than 2,300 individuals, include industry leaders Chris Brogan, Mari Smith, Brain Solis, Jason Falls and Jay Baer, just to name a few.

Alas, the great thing about social media is that it is more omnipresent than Wi-Fi, so I will be attending the Social Media Success Summit from the comfort of HMA World headquarters.

While I may be a bit disappointed that I didn’t hop the next flight to Silicon Valley, I am looking forward to learning from some of the brightest and best in the industry. (Besides, as the Mayor, my office needs me.)

The webinar series is made up of 20 different sections, highlights of which I will document on this very blog throughout the month of May.

The Summit kicked off last night with “What Businesses Need to Know” presented by Jeremiah Owyang, partner of customer strategy at Altimeter Group and creator of Web Strategy, a top analyst blog.

Owyang described the hierarchy of social media for businesses – a pyramid explaining the structure of a successful social media presence for businesses. The five levels, starting from the base of the pyramid, are:

Foundation: Objective, Policies, Education, Access

• Develop a business plan and put governance in place.

Safety: Dedicated Team, Workflow, Crises Preparedness

• Get organized by anointing a team and process to deal with a crises

Formation: Asset inventory, Best Practices Sharing, Center of Excellence

•  Connect business units to increase coordination and reduce duplication

Enablement: Empowerment, Cross-learning, Measurement

• Grow by letting go: Let the employees prosper – give business units the support and flexibility to reach goals

Enlightenment: Holistic, Real-time Predictive

•  Weave real-time marker response fueling the predictive business. (Doesn’t quite exist yet, but predictive systems are being developed.)

Owyang goes into great detail about each of these levels supplemented with rich examples from well-known businesses, but I can’t reveal all his nuggets of wisdom. You can see his other similar presentations here.

Join me next time for Part II, same blog address, same blogger.

Stephanie Starts Social Success Summit Series #SMSS12 originally appeared on HMA Public Relations, Phoenix AZ, Full-Service PR Firm on May 2, 2012.

I found a couple of ways, recently, where airlines proved they want me to be their customer.

I was flying KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, from Amsterdam to New York.  At the waiting area near the gate was a huge whiteboard, KLM’s wall of inspiration, with a heading “Things to do in New York.”  The flight crew was there, encouraging all passengers to participate by writing what they should do in the Big Apple.

The entire crew, other than the pilots, was there to interact with the passengers before the flight and engage them in an inspirational activity related to their pending destination. They even took a Polaroid picture of me writing on the big board and handed it to me with a “Thank you for your inspiration!” card.

I had never flown KLM before – but would certainly look for an opportunity to do it again.

Then, once I got home and was going through a couple weeks of mail, I came upon a piece from Southwest Airlines, celebrating my “Cardmember Anniversary.”  I didn’t even know there was such a thing, even though I’ve been a Rapid Rewards member since 1997.   Come to think of it, I also get an annual birthday card from Southwest.

It’s fair to say Southwest and KLM made me feel special and proves that it’s much easier to keep a customer than to find a new one.  I’m sure there are other things companies are doing to have fun with and thank their customers without being too over the top.

A Tip for Tuesday – Fly the Friendly Skies originally appeared on HMA Public Relations, Phoenix AZ, Full-Service PR Firm on May 1, 2012.