EPPS Archives - Jimbolaya

Graphic by Grapplica via Flickr

Had the opportunity for Jim Arnold Communications to attend the EPPS (Entertainment Publicists Professional Society) One Day Conference in conjunction with Digital Hollywood a while back (May, 2011) at the Ritz-Carlton in Marina del Rey.

Most of the panels I attended were on the how-to of social media marketing for entertainment products, to which I add the book category, because they are definitely entertaining!

Here are a few tips I gleaned from my day in Marina del Rey, in no particular order, re-posted from prior Jim Arnold Communications blog (and still very applicable one year later):

1) TIP: Many, if not most – or all – journalists are on Facebook and Twitter. Friend them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter. Good way to build a social media “media” list.

2) TIP: Use Twitter to find niche audiences – even more effective than Google – using hashtag (#) searches to find interests.

3) TIP: sometimes you can invite controversy on the web. For instance, if you know that there is some opposition to your book (or whatever product it is) this can be a good thing, as it stimulates a conversation, and as such, publicity.

4) TIP: Making your video go viral – what helps, though there is no universal formula – is the definite WTF factor. Also, when you need to bump up numbers a quick and sure way is to find something with cute, furry little animals (a winner every time!)

5) TRANSMEDIA definition: this is storytelling across different media – with each media type giving up something different – different information, different twist – about the story. If it’s the same message just going out on different media, that’s defined as MULTIMEDIA. The TV show “Lost” is a great example of an entertainment property that used Transmedia very successfully.

6) TIP: People are using Twitter for Customer Service requests, complaints, and recommendations – as in, trying to avoid phone trees and automated systems, people have found they get better and quicker results Tweeting about the problem.

7) OTHER GENERIC TIPS for Social Media:

Have a demographic you are trying to reach, rather than “everyone”
Think about the words you use in blog titles and tweets, as they show up in key word searches
Do optimize your links – that means, use links that are reputable and popular
Do have a strategy for your social media
For Twitter and Facebook, use separate accounts for business and for personal
Social media is about a conversation. Therefore, comment on replies/posts to your Facebook pages and respond to your tweets
Social media is also all about sharing information, so encourage it
Limit yourself to a single call for action in any particular post or tweet

I hope these are helpful. I’m going to incorporate most of these into my own work ASAP! What are your best-working tips? Add them to the list in the comments.

New to SEO? Another good link.

(from October 20, 2011 – this is a reposting from the Jim Arnold Communications blog, which as been combined with Jimbolaya. I have several columns to repost over the next couple of weeks.)

This morning I attended the monthly Entertainment Publicists Professional Society’s Hollywood meeting, where the panel topic was ” The Integration of Social Media into PR Campaigns.”

Panelists included Todd Beck, Beth Braen, Jenny Connelly, Tracy St. Pierre, Andrew Stachler, Laurel Whitcomb and Dawn Wilcox – all moderated by Rosalind Jarrett, here at the podium standing behind the “E.”

They discussed how their various companies – including NBC, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Allison & Partners, NATPE, Beck Media & Marketing, SAG and Warner Bros. – worked with the various social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube were the most talked about) to make use of their continually changing nature.

A couple of instructional takeaways:

roles and goals – as in, (at a company or even solo) define first what it is you want from social media and who is going to handle the day-to-day jobs of posting, monitoring, measuring, etc. Like with all PR, a strategy is essential.
Facebook for conversations, Twitter for announcements (or for the first place an announcement shows up) – can be a rule of thumb.
Social Media strategy is not static, ever – it evolves. I think all the companies presenting this morning had war stories to tell about how they’ve adapted as these platforms have matured and people have figured out how to best use them.

All of this, of course, is applicable to book publishing or to an author’s fan page or twitter account. Like with so much in life, it’s the commitment and perseverance that counts.

What have you done that’s been successful? Have you tried something with social media that fell flat, or that on second thought, you would have changed?