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"The Power of M"
This year may have marked Engage PR's first Metaswitch Forum, but it was our client's eighth annual event. Nearly 900 Metaswitch customers and partners converged on Las Vegas to explore the "Power of M," a concept that helps operators understand how to modernize, monetize and mobilize telecom networks.
In preparing for the event, Engage was the point of contact for all Metaswitch partners and executives interested in making press announcements or setting up media and analyst meetings at the event. The Engage team worked with Joe Braue (Light Reading), Bernie Arnason (Telecompetitor), Gary Kim (Carrier Evolution), Doug Mohney (HD Voice), Joe McGarvey (Current Analysis), Deb Kish (Gartner), Diane Myers (Infonetics) and Jon Arnold (J. Arnold & Associates) to schedule briefings for Metaswitch executives, partners and customers.
Coverage from the Forum included Metaswitch Forum - Wrap-up and Takeaways (Jon Arnold Analyst 2.0 Blog), Building Business IP Communications Applications on Metaswitch (Unified Messaging on TMCnet) and Metaswitch in Five to 10 Years (Carrier Evolution).
Using Social Media to Build Thought Leadership
Engage PR recently presented a webinar about how to create thought leadership with the use of social media. Engage client Sustainable Silicon Valley and journalist Leon Kaye also offered insights from their social media experiences.
Agency owner Jeannette Bitz educated the audience about how to achieve thought leadership in the media, explaining how companies can integrate social media with its planned marketing initiatives to create a complete program. She offered five steps to achieving success in this way:
1. Develop your strategy: Determine your message, balance depth and breadth and establish a communications process.
2. Let your audience lead: Know or research your audience, evaluate your competitors, expand your circle of influence and determine which social media outlets match your goals.
3. Assemble your team, along with your social assets and vehicles: C-level participation is critical; share the load with a group, build content and vehicles together.
4. Follow, listen, respond and participate: Take off your marketing hat and be a resource; initiate dialogue on industry trends; be a thought leader.
5. Measure and evaluate: Measure what matters, evaluate based on influence and other factors.
For a copy of the presentation, visit Engage PR's website.
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Into the Looking Glass – Engage PR's 2012 Predictions
 The tumultuous media landscape will continue, offering new challenges and opportunities to businesses looking to get their name in the news. Check out a few trends you can expect to have an impact in 2012:
- Always-on and TV Everywhere: Netflix's second half tailspin notwithstanding, Americans are looking to services that deliver seamless viewing of premium video content from their mobile phones to tablets to HDTVs and back again. Cable operators are looking for ways to monetize the many over-the-top services that have been clogging up their networks. Watch for innovative service and pricing structures to meet this demand in 2012.
- Picture This: Companies and media alike will continue to turn to data visualizations and infographics to tell complex stories in an easy-todigest way. As readership on tablet platforms grow, services that facilitate the development of interactive content, like Visual.ly, will find a larger audience.
- Paid Content: Like the times, the publishing world's business models are a-changin'. In the latter half of 2011, we've noted that some publications' flexibility to host contributed content is falling prey to the need for media partnerships and ad deals. Expect even more competition to place news in outlets still accepting guest-penned content.
- Editorial Shakeups: As the evolution of media outlets stumbles on, editorial fallout from mergers and acquisitions will continue. A prime example was the exit of Michael Arrington from TechCrunch after a public spat with AOL, who acquired the blog in 2010. AOL in particular seems to struggle in managing their tech news properties, as evidenced by the mass exodus of Engadget leadership earlier this year.
- Clarifying the Cloud: Companies creating, selling, outsourcing and moving to the cloud have dominated conversation in 2011, but it's swiftly becoming apparent that security, standardization and a defined set of best practices will be required moving forward. From terminology to security protocols, cloud providers will need to offer solutions for those that see the benefit of reducing their investment in data centers, but need to keep their information secure.
The Rear View Mirror – 2011 Media Predictions
They say hindsight is 20/20, so at Engage PR, we decided to look back on last year's predictions for 2011 to assess how accurately we could "see" the future.
- The Content Compromise – Reporters and vendors will have an equal voice in content: In our humble estimation, this prediction was spot on. With publication staffs thinning, industry thought leaders have taken a more prominent role in generating content for publications. Now the question becomes – does having a more "diverse" pool of writers compromise the quality of the content? Only time will tell.
- The Blog is Boss – Reporters will flock to the digital world: According to Blogpulse, a site that tracks the growth and development of the blogosphere, there are over 175 million blogs, with a daily growth of over 40 thousand new blogs and 1 million daily entries. The allure of the blogosphere continues to draw individuals from all walks of life; reporters are certainly no exception. Long-standing Connected Planet reporter Kevin Fitchard recently left the publication for the ever-growing blog GigaOm. The question remains – can publications survive, or will they too undergo metamorphosis into something more "blog-like"?
- Say it With Pictures – More pictures, fewer words: With the rise of Infographics, this trend is already well underway. A quick check of Google indicates that over 500,000 Infographics currently are being used on the web. With more than 65 percent of the population determined to be "visual learners," it makes sense that news articles and blogs would rely more heavily on images.
- Higher Bar for New Products – Coverage limited to products considered to be "game changers": Whereas the age of "Slideware" and "Marchitecture" is thankfully mostly behind us, companies must realize that the bar is considerably higher for garnering coverage on "product launches." Besides speeds and feeds, reporters want customers, videos, images – oh and working products.
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