Category Archives: Fletcher Prince News
4 Ways to Build Storytelling into Press Releases
Assuming that you need to stick to dry language and a certain format when drafting a press release can limit the appeal (and ultimately the success) of your message. Press releases have the potential to reach huge audiences, and constituents of every stripe.
“We’re kind of stuck on making an old format meet a new purpose,” notes Jeff Domansky, CEO of Peak Communications and author of the popular public relations blog, …
Demographics of Social Media Users
A comprehensive social media survey by the Pew Research Center conducted over several years to evaluate who uses social media and which platforms has been released.
Among adults, Facebook gets the most use. Percentage of adults preferring social networks are:
- Facebook, 67%
- LinkedIn, 20%
- Twitter, 16%
- Pinterest, 15%
- Instagram, 13%
- Tumblr, 6%
Women use social media 9% more than men do.
4 Reasons Brands Shouldn't Rely Solely on Social Media to Communicate
I wasn’t the only social media denizen who scratched their head and said “Really?” in response to the SEC’s ruling a few days ago that cleared the way for public companies to disclose material news via social networks. It turns out I was in good company, as many others looked in askance at the ruling too, including Fortune’s Dan Primack (“
Remember, direct mail and email still beat the pants off social media when it comes to ROI. As much as I love social media, I strongly suggest brands and nonprofits continue to use direct mail; print, broadcast, and online advertising; print collateral (don't neglect your signage!); and email marketing, along with good, old-fashioned PR to keep front and center with your target audiences. And don't forget to update those websites and YouTube channels! All these work together, folks...
A birthday interview with Mary Fletcher Jones
Mary Fletcher Jones
Happy Birthday to moi!
I probably won’t be profiled in Washington Business Journal anytime soon. Doesn’t mean I can’t answer the questions. You can do practically anything you want on your birthday…
What do you really want for your birthday? I want to be told “Happy Birthday” 48 times. I hope I get Lana del Rey’s Born to Die CD, the Paradise edition.
What was your first job? I was a child actress. I got my first paycheck when I was six years old.
What’s the biggest misconception you deal with in your work? That Fletcher Prince is a large firm with a lot of employees. So, I get a lot of sales calls for stuff I don’t need.
Best business decision? Creating a short business name everyone can remember that doesn’t have too many characters to fit into social media profiles.
Your most interesting work project? My video interview program, Conversations in Public Relations.
Client you want to have? A ballet company.
How do you recover from failure? I go out for ice cream.
Guilty pleasure? Shopping at Claire’s for clip-on earrings because I don’t have pierced ears.
If you could trade places with a person for a day, who would it be? The President.
Favorite restaurant for business or pleasure? For business, Clyde’s; for pleasure, RT’s in Alexandria.
Favorite hobbies? Blogging and road trips.
Favorite place outside of the office? Dinosaur Land.
Pet peeve? Men who don’t take their hats off indoors. It should be a punishable offense.
What’s on your iPod? Keane, Al Green, Metric, Watson Twins, Bryan Ferry, Florence + the Machine, Zero 7, Linda Ronstadt, Adele, and so many others.
Ideas to while away a snow day
Snow day! If you’re anywhere in the Washington, DC area, you’re probably snowed in today. Maybe you’re still in your pajamas, drinking hot chocolate, and catching up on emails and blog posts.
You have my permission to be lazy all day if you want to. I am sure you deserve some down time. But if you find yourself catching cabin fever, here are some fun and constructive ways to employ your time. Some of them are even quasi-related to marketing and PR 
1. Just stay home. It’s not really safe to go out, so if you don’t have to… When you drive on roads before they’re plowed, they get packed down and icy. That’s not good. Here are some ideas to work off all that nervous energy from Fairfax County
2. Learn how to get started with podcasting. Watch Ray’s Social Media Week DC session .
3. Order the nail polish inspired by the Pantone color of the year, Emerald from Sephora, $10. Inspire a conversation on design! How groovy would this be on toes? And just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, too!
4. Check out Marie Dauenheimer’s blog post on Cezanne’s studio and be transported for a moment to the warm and sunny south of France.
5. Register for a year’s worth of monthly networking lunches in the Washington, DC area. Because I really would like to meet you in person, and repeatedly so. While you have your datebook out, make two notes for March: 1. My birthday is on March 16 and 2. Cherry Blossoms are supposed to peak between March 26-30 in DC this year.
6. Catch up on the latest episodes of SCANDAL, the dramatic series about a DC area kind-0f-PR-agency. Oh, who are we kidding? It’s not even remotely related to PR! But it IS fun to watch…
7. Discover your blogging style and persona in my Social Media Week DC session on YouTube.
8. Sing out loud to something really fun and intense, like Florence + the Machine (why do I never get invited to any wild parties like this?)
and give it everything like you’ve got, like Anna Netrebko at 2:29
Come to think of it, give EVERYTHING everything you’ve got like Anna Netrebko does at 2:29
9. Make a snow logo and tweet the photo, or put it on your company Facebook Page. Bonus if you color it in, too (try food color and water in a spray bottle).
10. Warm up for 10 minutes (dance, maybe, Pandora is playing your song!) and then get out your weights and do four reps each: 12 biceps curls, 12 arm raises, 12 sit-ups, 12 outer leg lifts, 12 inner leg lifts, 12 donkey kickbacks, 12 triceps kickbacks, 12 calf raises, 12 squats/plies. Stretch.
Then call me and bug me to see if I have done them yet.
11. Write a LinkedIn recommendation for David Hyson. He is FAR too modest to ever ask for one himself, but if he has worked for you, you know he is terrific, and deserving of praise.
12. Do a Google + Hangout with friends and brain storm video and blog ideas.
13. Register for WWPR’s Brown Bag lunch on evaluation and measurement on Wednesday, March 20 (free for members $15 for non-members).
14. Follow PRofessional Solutions, LLC on Pinterest and get some ideas for your PR career wardrobe.
15. Plan your spring break. Where will you go? What will you do?
16. Leave a comment on this blog with a super idea of how to constructively use your down time.
Short Videos with Vine
Twitter's Vine app lets you capture a six-second video that loops continuously. The app is simple to set up if you already have a Twitter account—although it is not a requirement—and videos can be shared with Twitter followers, Facebook friends, and the Vine audience.
Twitter offers a brief tutorial.
Vine makes videos on Twitter easy. At six-seconds, people don’t have time to stop it before they’ve seen the whole thing.
The future is looking brighter…
I thought 2013 might be better! As we laughed with the ending of 2012, it certainly couldn’t be worse. Oh, my goodness. I was never so happy at the stroke of midnight on December 31 as in recent memory. Good BYE, 2012. Don’t let the screen door hit you on the way out.
Sure there were good things that happened in 2012, but wow. Consumer confidence and fiscal cliffs notwithstanding, 2013 is already showing up to be a whole lot better. I don’t think any of us could say the economy has recovered completely, not by a long shot, but just from a personal standpoint, things seem to be improving. There are promising glimmers…
- My sister, who works for a large firm, has already made 27% of her 2013 annual sales goal by the end of January, after a really harrowing 2012.
- A quick walk around Tysons II last week showed lots of shoppers buying VERY expensive things, and all the storefronts contained retail and service businesses. I can remember a couple of years ago seeing lots of empty store fronts in malls.
- The stock market could be better, but it has a couple of nice recent rallies.
- And we are, all of a sudden, very busy, providing services to existing clients and working with new ones, including our latest client, the creative documentary production company, Spark Media.
Not to mention we have 75 people now signed up for our Social Media Week DC session on blogging and podcasting! And my son is having his best year, ever. Honor roll all the way. Woo hoo!
Way to go, 2013! It makes me very hopeful that things are turning around, for all of us. And let’s all hope it continues, right?
I would just like to thank all of you for your continuing support, your wonderful ideas and contributions, and the kind referrals. Let me know if we can help your 2013 be even more successful. Please join us for our February Network-and-Lunch for Mardi Gras. Let’s do a little celebrating. I’ll bring the sunglasses
Social Media Use in the US
According to Nielsen’s new U.S. Consumer Usage Report 2012, the number of social media users continues to increase across all platforms as consumers use social networking as a vehicle to navigate the media universe.
The personal computer is still at the center of the social networking experience, but consumers are increasingly looking to other devices to connect on social media.
Social Media Stats
Here are some of the latest stats and facts for social media.
- 1 billion monthly active users
- 80 percent of monthly active users are outside the U.S. and Canada
- 584 million daily active users
- 604 million monthly active users on mobile
Source: Facebook
foursquare
- 25 million users
- 3 billion check-ins
- 1 million members use the Merchant Platform
Source: foursquare…
