ALM (or aLine Media) is a new media first PR firm that is looking at social media celebrities to be the fashion spokeswomen of tomorrow. Coming in at #2 on our list of most popular public relations firms on social media, ALM has used partnerships with the biggest influencers on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to give its clients the most exposure across the web. Here’s how Kenn Henman, the President of aLine Media told me they do it:

For your clients, which social networks have been the most effective for PR?

YouTube, Facebook and Instagram

How do you go about handling a social media PR campaign? Do you guide your client or take control and run their accounts?

We manage all aspects of their social media, however we emphasize the importance to our clients to post as well (especially Instagram).

What advice would you give to potential clients or other PR professionals when it comes to using social media for a public relations campaign?

Have a plan. We outline 90 day strategies and update every new quarter.

Do you have any social media success stories you’d like to share?

One of aLine’s clients is Heart Defensor, whose YouTube name is ThatsHeart. With a total social reach of more than 1 million, she was recently sponsored to attend New York Fashion Week by cosmetics giant Maybelline and attended the shows of BCBGMaxAzria, Mara Hoffman, Richard Chai, Hervé Léger and Elle Fashion Next. For the latter, she conducted red-carpet interviews with Elle magazine Editor-in-Chief Robbie Myers and Creative Director Joe Zee, as well as fashion journalist Louise Roe.

“As we all know, there are only so many chairs they can line up along the runway, and now these girls are squeezing the traditional fashion matrons out,” says Kenn Henman. “The fashion perspective is changing; the shoppers of today and tomorrow are looking for a fresh look and up-to-the-minute style, and the social-media influencers are the ones delivering.” – Excerpt from a blog post by Sarah Humphreys

If you know a PR firm who would like to offer their social media advice to other professionals, leave a comment or contact info@uwire.com to let us hear about it.

As social media has become an increasingly important part of public relations, most of the best firms out there have learned to adjust. NKPR is no exception, and that’s probably why they landed at number 15 on our list of the top PR firms on social media this year. We asked Natasha Koifman and her team at NKPR to let us hear how they do social media, and what sets them apart as a brand.

For your clients, which social networks have been the most effective for PR?

At NKPR, we develop tailored strategies for each client that we represent from lifestyle to non-profit and corporate sectors. Based on their objectives and target audience, we recommend the social networks and programs that can best move their brand forward and tell their stories!

With that in mind, some of the best social tools out there right now include:

Twitter: We love Twitter because it allows us to create ongoing conversations with consumers, media and influencers alike. With daily trending topics, brands have the opportunity to form a lifestyle portal, contributing to discussions that are authentic to who they are and what they represent. The best brand messages are short, sweet and to the point and Twitter challenges us to stay true to that in 140 characters.

Facebook: With 1.5 billion users, Facebook still remains the social outlet with the largest audience and potential brand reach! For large-scale campaigns, Facebook offers an extensive range of customizable apps and advertising opportunities to really make a strong impact.

Instagram: With high engagement and a strong visual component, brands with a younger target demographic can build buzz and gain a strong following on Instagram. The mobile platform has been growing rapidly and shows no signs of slowing down, especially now with the introduction of video content.

How do you go about handling a social media PR campaign?

At NKPR, we have a unique approach. We always start off by asking our clients “What does success look like?”. Based on this, we build our social strategy and recommendations to align with those measures.

We provide a variety of social media services for our clients from social media audits that help to guide and evaluate their internal campaigns to full-scale community management and campaign development.

What advice would you give when it comes to using social media for a public relations campaign?

• Take a 360-approach to the campaign, always looking at how social can push the envelope further
• Know your audience and target them accordingly with the right message and social platform
• Content is king and well-thought out creative campaigns will make a stronger impact then content for the sake of content
• Establish an authentic brand voice, your social accounts should be a lifestyle portal and not overly promotional. Stay consistent

How would you recommend that a client handles a screw up on social media?

• Be honest and forthcoming
• Acknowledge the issue and present a solution
• Make a quick and genuine apology, taking responsibility for the error
• Address what went wrong and the steps your brand will take to ensure it doesn’t happen again

Do you have any social media success stories you’d like to share?

NKPR integrated a digital division ahead of the curve. We saw the PR landscape changing rapidly with the introduction of social networks like Facebook and Twitter and we wanted to be at the forefront for our clients.

We love that social media gives us the chance to connect with the public directly, something that happened primarily through media relations in the past. As a PR agency, we have built a following of 9000+ highly engaged users on Twitter and many more on our NKPR blog, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and more.

As an agency, we’ve established a strong and authentic brand voice on social media. Many of our new business now comes to us from social referrals and when we tweet or post about a product we love, our followers take notice. As a PR agency, we are now our own media outlet .

What do you think sets your company apart from your competitors?

• Authenticity – Our brand voice and personality is at the core of everything we do and who we are as agency. When we say something on social, It is always authentic to our brand voice
• Engagement – We have built a loyal following online over the years and engagement is very high. This means our posts can have a strong impact for our clients

Photo by Alexander Richter, used with permission from Audible Treats

The music industry has embraced social media more than almost any other, so it should come as no surprise that Audible Treats has a worthy presence on social media. In fact, they came in at #11 on our list of the top PR firms on social media this year, so  we got their perspective on what makes a social media campaign work. The following answers come from co-founder and president, Michelle McDevitt:

For your clients, which social networks have been the most effective for PR?

For my clients, most of whom are musicians, producers, rappers, singers, performers, Twitter and Facebook have proven been the most effective networks. Both Twitter and FB are easy for them to manage and update on their own and through them, they can extend their persona and brand with fans easily. More recently, Instagram and depending on their personality, Vine too, have become great tools for them too. Soundcloud and YouTube aren’t social media platforms but they have a similar metrics measuring component to them and they have proven to be indispensable to measure the efficacy of our campaigns.

How do you go about handling a social media PR campaign?

It depends from client to client. To be honest, most of our clients have a pretty good grasp on how to use social media so we usually only do light consulting in the form of passing along good press hits to share with fans, making sure they tag media publications when they tweet about their press hits, making sure their accounts aren’t auto-updating/syndicating across platforms (it’s lazy and can turn people off) teaching them the basics do’s and don’ts, etc. We sometimes come up with creative social media-driven contest and activation ideas to incentivize fans to become more involved and help spread the gospel too.

What advice would you give when it comes to using social media for a public relations campaign?

Don’t rely solely on social media to raise awareness and likewise, don’t ignore it. I consider social media to be complementary to a traditional PR campaign. There’s hundreds of blogs dedicated to “best practices” – read those and choose which ones apply best to your industry.

How would you recommend that a client handles a big screw up on social media?

Owning up to mistakes and apologizing for gaffes is usually the best way to handle them. I would also suggest a more extensive apology on the company blog or doing an interview after extensive media training.

Do you have any social media success stories you’d like to share?

Several of our clients have been trending topics on Twitter, Facebook Likes have doubled or even tripled within a month, we’ve launched several clients’ first interactive campaigns on their social media platforms that have resulted in increased sales, awareness, and an uptick in ancillary areas, such as new show bookings, getting higher profile mangers, getting record deals, etc.

What do you think sets your company apart from your competitors?

We get results in a variety of media platforms and clients can tell that we’re personally invested in our projects. We consult on everything from image to branding to asset roll-out and we have honest conversations with a client if something isn’t up to par and will ultimately hurt the campaign.

If you know a PR firm who would like to offer their social media advice to other professionals, leave a comment or contact info@uwire.com to let us hear about it.

Okay, I have to admit, I’ve been watching a fair amount of Star Trek lately. Every time a new movie comes out, I get inspired to go back and watch some of my favorite episodes in the original series, the Next Generation, and Voyager. Call me a throwback, but there are some really great stories in those old TV series, and some valuable PR lessons as well. Hopefully some of my fellow Trekkies (or is it Trekkers?) can relate:

1. Do your homework before you get started

Every time the Enterprise’s crew comes up against an enemy that’s an especially tough one, it’s because they didn’t know enough about them before the encounter. As a PR professional, the same lesson holds true: know your target audience and know them well. If you don’t, you risk alienating them from your message.

2. Celebrate the diversity of your audience

One of the first things that struck me about Star Trek when I was a kid was the crew’s willingness to learn about and accept alien species with totally different customs from their own. Similarly, one of the most important things to remember in PR is that in most cases, the audience you are attempting to reach is culturally, ethnically, and racially different. Take time to learn about other cultures before you dismiss them from your target market.

3. Don’t be afraid to stand out from the crowd

The Borg are one of the most dangerous and frightening villains in the Star Trek series, partly because they act as one giant entity rather than individuals. A lot of people look at companies like they do the Borg; big, scary, single-minded behemoths who can’t identify with them. As a PR professional, you should make it your mission to stand out from the crowd and capture your audience’s attention.

4. Hold yourself to a higher standard

If you’ve ever watched Star Trek, you know about the “Prime Directive” which forbids Star Fleet’s Crew from interfering with the development of alien societies. This binding rule holds Star Fleet’s members to a high standard of integrity and excellence, and keeps their intentions clear. If you’re in PR, you’ve probably met a few people with a high level of integrity like this, and some who lack it. Make a commitment to yourself and your employer that you will be honest and you’re more likely to be happy in your career.

5. Remember that technology could fail you at any time

Sometimes it’s a bit of a weak plot device, but on a ship the size of Enterprise, it makes sense that there would be some mechanical and technical failures. The same can happen at any time in your PR career, so don’t rely too much on untested or uncertain technological crazes. Just look at all the people who jumped on the SEO-optimized anchor text bandwagon who are now getting burned by Google’s latest updates. It’s best to always have a backup plan.

Even experienced public relations professionals may struggle when trying to connect with younger readers. College students are a special case; they’re smart, social, and very savvy to “trickery,” which makes it even tougher to connect with them through a press release. That said, they are curious and often willing to try new products or services if the value proposition makes sense. Here are four tips for writing college press release titles:

1. Put Yourself in College Students’ Shoes

First of all, think about the things that a college student needs:

1. Food
2. Money
3. Grades
4. Friends

If your product or service relates to improving any of the above areas of the student’s life, you’ve got a potential winner. The challenge now is to offer it clearly and succinctly.

2. Get to the Point

Students are busy. Between classes, seeing friends, keeping up with their favorite TV shows, working, and trying to stay in shape, they are constantly browsing the internet for interesting tidbits of information. The problem is that they don’t spend much time with any one source, so you’ve got to hit them quickly and often if you want to get noticed. The title of your release should be short (one sentence or less), and it should tell the reader what you’re offering and why it appeals to one of the above “college student needs.”

3. Don’t Demean or Deceive

A title is like a promise, so it’s really only half the battle when writing your press release. Even if you have a very appealing title for your college press release, it won’t mean a thing if the content in your release doesn’t measure up. College students are constantly bombarded with ads and the increasing number of deceptive marketers out there tends to make them wary. It helps if you include some social proof in either your release title or content.

4. Think about Share-ability

Social media is the channel of this generation. Newspapers, blogs, and even search engines are continually being set aside as students spend more time sharing and consuming media on social networks. For press releases, this means that your title has to be “click-worthy,” and “share-worthy.” Here are some great things to consider (via Moz.com):

“Assuming all other factors neutral for the moment, let’s look at what I think are 7 most important ingredients of your titles;

1. Curiosity
2. Benefit
3. Emotion
4. Tangible
5. Appearance
6. Sound
7. Expectation”

Do you have your own tips for writing college press release titles? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.