Clients and prospects often ask us how to create a viral campaign. It’s a tough question to answer because as soon as you start “trying” to be viral you’ve likely done just the opposite. Some of the best viral videos were never intended to be as big as they became. Think about the wedding entrance that made its way into the storyline of The Office or the Mentos and Diet Coke “experiments.”

There’s a new video making its way around the Web today from a company called Grasshopper, which markets virtual phone systems for entrepreneurs. I found out about it when a friend of mine (who’s also a reporter at Fast Company) posted it on Facebook. I subsequently saw that it’s been featured on The Huffington Post.

In one day, the video has garnered nearly 200,000 views on YouTube. It seems well on its way to going viral. Why does it work? A spoof of Jay-Z and Alicia Key’s wildly popular “Empire State of Mind,” it pays tribute to the New Dork instead of New York. It’s well produced, clever and speaks directly to what makes entrepreneurs tick (in this case, I am their target audience).

This is the kind of “advertising” that people are responding to in 2010 – Grasshopper has shown through this video that they get the world I’m living in and they want to entertain me as much as they want to inform me. I may just give them a call.

In journalism school, I was taught to never use words that are subjective in an editorial context. As a PR person, I often counsel clients that terms like “state-of-the-art” and “best-in-class” should generally be reserved for sales pitches. Sure, you can put those words and phrases in news releases. Best-case scenario is a journalist cuts them from the story. Worst (and more likely) case, they write your story off as puffery.

I was reminded of the importance of word choice this week when my journalist husband sent me this video, which pokes fun at the word “revolutionary” and PR people who take themselves too seriously.

There is definitely a place for superlatives in public relations – as there is for embargoed news releases and exclusives. And I do believe you often need to shout from the proverbial mountaintop to be heard. But if engaging with third-party influencers (i.e. journalists and bloggers) is part of your strategy, it’s critical to remember that they cover news.

While (I hope) this video is intended to be a parody, I am afraid it’s not too far from reality. Several years ago, in one week’s time, I had three clients in three different businesses tell me they’d come up with the same positioning statement: “We get the right information to the right people at the right time.”

A recent article in The Daily News calls the select journalists who attended Tiger Woods’ apology “stooges.” The reporter suggests their agreeing to attend a press briefing during which they’d be allowed to ask zero questions should have earned them “T-shirts reading: ‘2-19-10. I attended Tiger Woods’ Bootlicker’s Ball.’”

The article goes on to say, “There was a time when reporters would not genuflect, not bow down, not adhere to rules set by some celebrity-punk looking to control them. Nor would they listen to some shifty PR flacks or enabling agents, like the ones who look the other way as their married clients morph into womanizing, cheating creeps.”

In the spirit of full disclosure, I know personally one of the three reporters who agreed to attend the “Bootlicker’s Ball.” All journalists are in the business of breaking news. My colleague, who works at Bloomberg News, was the first to write about the apology with this article that scooped his biggest competitors.

Not only was he first with the story, but the piece led to his being interviewed by dozens of other media outlets, including CNN Headline News and Good Morning America. The coverage was great exposure for him and his employer. Plus, he didn’t simply publish Tiger’s statement. He found other people to fill in the gaps for the story he wrote after he attended the event. A stooge? Hardly.

Is the idea that someone in power put restrictions on the media really new? Sure, there are circumstances where reporters won’t acquiesce to the demands of their sources (e.g. they can get the info elsewhere or they know the source needs them more than they need the source). It’s impressive that the Golf Writers Association of America boycotted the event. But, in the era of citizen journalism, Tiger Woods would have found a way to get his story out even if the others had followed suit.

I appreciate the idealistic notion that media should be able to report a story the way they see fit. But I don’t subscribe to the idea that journalists are more easily influenced by people in power today than in the past.   

The new director of global news at BBC recently told the organization’s journalists that they either need to embrace social media channels or find jobs elsewhere (good luck with that, Luddites). In an in-house publication, Peter Horrocks said, “This isn’t just a kind of fad…I’m afraid you’re not doing your job if you can’t do those things. It’s not discretionary.” It may sound harsh (particularly if spoken with a British accent), but he must have sensed resistance and deemed a mandate necessary.

It’s not news that many journalists and publications are using social media channels to broaden their reach. We recently met with an executive from Meredith Publishing (Better Homes & Gardens and Ladies Home Journal are among their many titles) who told us their Twitter feeds are often the top drivers of traffic to their destination sites. I believe the line between “traditional” journalism and social media will continue to blur to the point of non-existence. There are a lot of hungry journalists out there and it seems those who understand the need to diversify the distribution of their content (not to mention better communicate with their sources, peers and audiences) will endure.

Of course, we still need to resolve how media outlets will make money going forward. Or there will be no journalists to fire.

A recent post on Ad Age’s Small Agency Diary griped about how marketers are behaving badly in the RFP process. The author, Jennifer Modarelli of White Horse (a digital marketing agency), compared the dynamic between hungry agencies and prospective clients to bad dating practices. Last-minute invitations, late arrivals, inexplicable stand-ups or, worse, total blow-offs. While I’m not one to publicly complain about the very companies that enable our existence, I’ll concur that we’ve seen a lot of this behavior of late.

I think the worst offender was a company that makes a product I love. I wrote a passionate letter to the founder. He responded immediately, thanked me for my advocacy and agreed to engage in a conversation about how we might help them build their profile. He introduced me to their head of marketing over email who asked if we could set up a time to talk via phone. First, he wanted to see our initial ideas. We don’t typically like to generate ideas without some strategic insight from the client. But I know this product line intimately and we’ve marketed many products to this audience: moms. So my team got together and came up with a series of creative ideas. The prospect acknowledged receipt and promised to set up a meeting the following week. Long story short, I never heard from them again. I’ve watched them implement several of the ideas we proposed on their own. And I just discovered (several months later) they hired another firm. All’s fair in love and business, but a little common courtesy goes a long way. I’ll stop short of exposing their bad behavior in any public way. But, you can be sure I won’t use or actively endorse their products again. In the end, a botched business communication is bad PR.

Of course, prospective clients aren’t the only ones to blame. Anyone looking to hire a “vendor” should consider the time and energy prospective companies put into winning their business. It won’t always be a buyers’ market and you never know when you might need to cross back over that bridge.

I was invited to attend Sidoti & Company’s (Wall Street’s largest independent small-cap equity research boutique) Second Annual Business Services Conference on February 2. Hosted by one of their senior equity analysts, David Gold, the day was filled with presentations on topics ranging from litigation trends to the outlook for commercial real estate.

Among the presenters was Patrick Carroll, Securities & Commodities Fraud Supervisory Special Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) New York office. He gave an inside (as inside as the FBI will go) look into how the agency tackles securities fraud in our nation. The crimes they pursue include corporate fraud, Ponzi schemes, market manipulation, insider trading and wire/mail fraud. He’s currently working on the Madoff case, for example.

Interestingly, he talked several times about the role a company’s brand – and media coverage in particular – plays in preventing or prosecuting fraud. The FBI relies on a number of information sources to uncover new cases. High on Agent Carroll’s list was what he called “open sources.” He noted that journalists were very good at uncovering fraud and that broadcast and print coverage often lead to investigations. He also joked that he watches both Fox News and CNN to ensure unbiased research.

Some of the recent trends the FBI is seeing are tied to the subprime crisis, bail-out schemes and alternative investments, such as hedge funds and private equity. He urged attendees (who were largely analysts and investors) to “scrub down” the source of funds before getting involved even if they’ve done business with the individual or company in the past. He suggested they ask themselves, “Is the risk worth the impact on my brand?” One other area of concern is “con men” that target hedge funds and private equity firms. He said they often get away with their schemes because they assume their victims won’t turn them in to authorities. Most organizations don’t want to admit they bought into a con man’s pitch, let alone see their naiveté played out in the media.

Call it a “scrub-down” or call it due diligence, the message was clear: The impact of an investment to your brand should be considered alongside its financial return.

Yesterday, I attended a Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) seminar titled, “Regulatory Scrutiny of Social Media.” The speakers were attorney Michael Lasky of Davis & Gilbert LLP and Tricia Geoghegan, who oversees several social media initiatives for Johnson & Johnson.

Lasky provided a quick overview of the recently enacted Federal Trade Commission guidelines on testimonials and endorsements. The harsh reality is that marketers (including their agencies) can now be held liable for a blogger’s unsubstantiated or misleading claims. A blogger can be defined as anyone posting information on a social media channel. Geoghegan noted that brands considering their social media strategies should factor in both the marketing opportunity and their responsibility to community. While this is particularly true for a consumer healthcare company, I think all businesses can benefit by thinking in those terms.

Lasky offered tips to the audience to avoid a run-in with the law. Here’s my condensed version:

1. Encourage bloggers to disclose any material connections (including the acceptance of free products!).
2. Monitor blogs to ensure statements about your products/services aren’t misleading.
3. If you’re posting about your own company (or your client’s), be transparent about your connection.
4. “Street team” members and celebrity endorsers should also make their relationship to the marketer clear.
5. Develop written policies and procedures for employees who participate in social media.
6. Add the subject of disclosure to your media training process.
7. Ask yourself if your social media practices are likely to deceive the average consumer.
8. Seek legal counsel on new initiatives (can’t blame the guy for including a plug!).

I am not alone. The end of a year compels many people to reflect on the passage of time and consider or even predict what will happen in the coming 12 months. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: 2009 presented a number of challenges for our industry as it did elsewhere.

Not only did we face the worst economic crisis in recent history, but journalism — the very profession upon which so much of what we do depends — continued its downward spiral. According to a story earlier this week in the Los Angeles Times, the presses stopped at nearly 150 newspapers this year alone. But, as the cliché goes, challenges are opportunities in disguise. We believe the field of public relations is well positioned in this new era of anyone-can-influence, authentic, two-way, direct-to-customer communication. Those principles have guided those in our profession since its inception.

To that end, we have lots of ideas about what’s coming in 2010. Our three top PR predictions for 2010:

1) Testing, testing: Media executives will stop talking about the downside of making most Web content free and analyzing the few paid subscription models that work (WSJ.com, ConsumerReports.org, et al.), and start testing new business models to see if and how much they can charge. Consumers will begin to face the reality that they either have to pay for content or consume the advertising that supports it. Publishers and advertisers will get smarter about how to reach consumers in a way the target audience won’t immediately reject. When real solutions are explored and not just discussed, we can get to the task of preserving quality journalism.

2) Taming the social media beast: The Wild, Wild West will become less wild as social media sites, professional organizations and corporations create rules and ethical guidelines. Facebook has already developed new, relatively restrictive rules about fan page promotions. The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) plans to publish a new Guide to Social Media Disclosurein early 2010. It reflects new regulations created by the Federal Trade Commission that require any online influencer to reveal if they received sponsorship money or free products from companies about which they write. (Disclosure: We’re card-carrying members of WOMMA.) Expect several more social media blunders (ala Domino’s and Motrin) as all this gets sorted out.

3) Keeping it real: American consumers will continue to live a more grounded existence as a result of the recession. This coupled with the green movement creates the perfect storm for consumer change. Reusing is not only good for the bottom line; it’s better for the environment. Handmade gifts, home-cooked meals and swap meets will remain popular. And brands will work hard to stay relevant in this context while also attempting to preserve their margins. At the beginning of the decade, the casual dining concept took off because people wanted the convenience of eating out without the guilt of fast food. Just this week, Kraft announced it’s introducing a line of restaurant-inspired foods because people now want to create the dining-out experience at home. Stay tuned for more product introductions and marketing campaigns like Kraft’s.

We’d love to hear your predictions. Best wishes for a joyous, prosperous 2010!

Considering a promotion to drive fan traffic on Facebook? Not so fast. Facebook recently updated its promotion guidelines and it’s not as straight-forward as you might think.

Thousands of brands, celebrities, sports teams, musicians and other entities have launched fan pages on Facebook. And Facebook is wisely doing everything it can to monetize fan page traffic (for example, last week it announced advertisers can target friends of their fans) and protect itself against any liabilities from the promotions fan pages are hosting.

Most of the guidelines are intuitive – like you can’t offer prizes to people who are under 18 or require a purchase to enter. Section 3/Administering a Promotion through the Facebook Platform, though, was more than a tad surprising. If you are planning a promotion through Facebook, you must receive written approval from Facebook to do so. And, you must administer the promotion through an application (i.e. not via status updates).

Facebook has been a boon for small and mid-size businesses looking for cost effective ways to engage their customers. I haven’t tried to reach a Facebook representative to get approval for a promotion yet. But something tells me these kinds of restrictions are going to make it difficult for the vast majority of organizations that don’t have endless resources to optimize their presence on Facebook.

Fortunately these rules don’t apply if you’re promoting a contest you’re administering outside of Facebook. When we hosted a Twitter scavenger hunt earlier this week for the Radio City Rockettes, we posted these rules on the company website and only used Facebook status updates to alert fans to the opportunity.

Stay tuned as the rules are likely to change again. In the words of Section 6/Facebook Rights, “We may modify these Promotion Guidelines at any time without notice to you. You will subject to the most current version of these Promotion Guidelines then in effect.”

Recently we were asked to include social media best practices in a proposal. To follow is our list. As Peter Shankman and Sarah Evans wrote on their blog post, very few people can call themselves social media experts. To that end and given the dynamic nature of the practice, any suggested changes, contributions are welcomed!

1. Social networking channels, such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, require a degree of authenticity and transparency not always evident in traditional forms of marketing
2. Organizations that create a presence on social media channels must be willing to engage in a two-way dialogue with their target audiences and recognize it’s about human-to-human contact
3. It is critical to determine the role(s) – customer service, informer, reputation management – an organization wants to play before setting up a social media account
4. An organization should only share information via social networks that is easy (and desirable!) for others to share
5. A mix of social media channels can optimize an organization’s ability to participate in social media, as each tends to offer its own unique attribute and/or audience
6. The real-time nature of social media combined with its virtually unregulated content makes it imperative to monitor — and respond where appropriate – on a very frequent basis
7. Organizations should develop and utilize social media guidelines for their employees that outline how individuals characterize their affiliation