Archive for Baltimore Business Journal
Baltimore PR Firms Share Social Media Tips
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Thanks to everyone who came out to the Baltimore Business Journal‘s “Crash Course in Social Media” event yesterday at Sheppard Pratt in Towson. Attendees were treated to a half day of solid content from some of the top PR and social media companies in Baltimore. Here are links to the tools I mentioned during my presentation:
Dashboard for monitoring social media accounts: HootSuite; daily emails with mentions on Twitter: Twilert; instant alerts from across the web: Google Alerts; advanced monitoring and analytics: Radian6
For social media policies, the policies by Southwest Airlines and Ford are good examples. For a searchable database, check out Social Media Governance.
For examples of crisis situations, search for Domino’s Pizza and Chrysler. The new book I mentioned is #FAIL: The 50 Greatest Social Media Screw-Ups by Bernhard Warner.
Finally, here is my slide on steps to take to protect your reputation:
Sawmill Partner Invited to Speak at BBJ Social Media Event
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Sawmill Partner Jeff Davis has been invited to speak on “How to Utilize Social Media to Protect Your Reputation” during a half-day session May 18 at The Conference Center at Sheppard Pratt in Towson, Md. ($69 registration includes a one-year subscription).
The event is hosted by the Baltimore Business Journal, which says, “This morning event will leave you with the information you need to take your social media marketing to the next level. Hear some of Baltimore’s top social media experts as they give you insights on how to take full advantage of today’s social media.”
For additional information and to register, follow this link.
This week’s Baltimore Business Journal showcases @contactjeff as a Twitter account worth following.
The item in “Smart Strategies” notes that PR firms and advertising folks were among the first to use Twitter to promote clients and engage in dialogue with the media. “One of the early adopters in this field was Jeff Davis, a partner with Sawmill Marketing Public Relations.”
“His tweets offer a nice mix of the personal and the professional — and some are quite funny,” the BBJ says. At least that’s their opinion!
In fact, the BBJ was the first to cover Sawmill’s push into social media in 2007, and then in 2008 under the headline: “What Are You Doing? PR firms answer that question and more via social networking phenomenon Twitter”
Once again, Sawmill Marketing Public Relations was the subject of a feature story on social media/social networking phenom Twitter, this time in the current issue of the Washington Business Journal.
We’re thrilled with the coverage, but equally impressed with how such a story came about. (Hint: no press releases were used in the making of this story!)
It all started back in March during a routine update lunch with Baltimore Business Journal advertising & marketing reporter Julekha Dash when, among other topics, we talked about Twitter and social media. A month later, sister publication Boston Business Journal published a Twitter story which later prompted a call from Rob Terry, associate editor of the BBJ, who was working on localizing the Boston story for use in Baltimore (and learned via Julekha about our expertise). The BBJ article appeared in June as the lead item in their Advertising & Marketing edition. Then, the Washington Business Journal article appeared this week, in the September 5 issue. We can’t wait to learn what’s next.
The secret to landing this kind of coverage? Call it a mix of expertise, having the right contacts, a bit of being in the right place at the right time and, most of all, patience.
Maryland PR Firm Partner Quoted on PR Strategy
Posted by: | CommentsBALTIMORE, Md. – The current issue of the Baltimore Business Journal quotes Sawmill Marketing Public Relations partner Jeffrey A. Davis on the current PR strategy of Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon. Davis, a former newspaper reporter, said the mayor has handled herself well as she faces an investigation by the prosecutor’s office.
“One rule in crisis public relations is to announce the bad news yourself as quickly as possible,” Davis is quoted as saying in the Maryland business newspaper.
If you don’t announce bad news yourself, the media will find someone who will say something, and that source will not likely know all the facts or properly communicate your point of view, the Baltimore PR firm partner says.
The mayor recently employed a unique strategy by showing up unannounced at a happy hour function attended by members of the Baltimore media. See the PR Buzzsaw account of this crisis communications strategy here.
Sawmill Marketing Public Relations, headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, is a Baltimore PR firm established in 1995 specializing in the development and execution of marketing public relations programs as business development strategies for business-to-business, business-to-consumer and professional services clients. The Maryland PR firm specializes in media relations, media training, crisis communications and social media.
“Jeff Davis has a PR alter ego – “contactjeff.”
That’s how an article in the current issue of the Baltimore Business Journal begins. 
The story takes a look at how Twitter is being used by PR professionals in Baltimore and Boston, under the headline “What are you doing? PR firms answer that question and more via social networking phenomenon Twitter” Check it out, here.
BBJ Associate Editor Rob Terry weaved some of my 140-character “tweets” into the article, including this one that conveys the essence of Sawmill’s take on social media:
“Cruising along with PR plan for client – not all traditional media, not all social media. A nice integrated mix to reach the target audience.”
While we believe we’re ahead of the curve when it comes to social media and its uses within a PR program, Sawmill has by no means lost touch with the power and techniques of traditional PR. We realize people continue to read newspapers, watch TV and listen to the radio, so we’re just as likely to recommend a “traditional” PR approach as we are a blog or Twitter campaign. Ideally, our recommendations are an integration of all of these options.
- Jeff Davis (aka @contactjeff on Twitter)
