John Sternal's Pinterest Board

Pinterest is one of the hottest new trends in social media, and millions of people have quickly jumped on the bandwagon. How can you use Pinterest for PR purposes? Below are 15 tips and guidelines that will help you get started. Often times small business owners are in fact eager to jump in the social media PR pool but they just aren’t sure how to get started. Read through these tips on how to use Pinterest for PR and before long you will be pinning all kinds of exciting items to your Pinterest page:

1: With Pinterest you must think visual first, which is great when you have stories and angles that have a heavy and compelling visual element. Pin items that help you create exposure for the angle you are trying to illustrate and communicate.

2: You can’t be blatantly promotional on Pinterest. This is a good thing because social media PR is not about promotion, it is about telling a story.

3: What is visual about your customer’s stories? Be sure to pin them up on your Pinterest boards. In fact, ask your customers to share interesting items and have them contribute by pinning it up on your board.

4: What are some interesting issues happening in your industry? Can you find the visual element that illustrates these issues?

5: Have you done any publicity stunts lately? Document them and pin them up on your board. Also, if you see really cool publicity stunts from other businesses be sure to pin them up, too.

6: Add the Pinterest “pin it” button on your website so visitors can pin things on their boards.

7: Pinterest is not just for pictures. You can pin videos as well. Find interesting videos that tell your company’s story or address industry issues and pin them up.

8: If you get a great social media PR story in the news or on television, be sure to pin it so your followers can see and view.

9: Encourage your employees to create their own board on the company Pinterest page. Your customers fall in love with the people behind your company, not just the products and services. This is another great way to connect with customers when utilizing Pinterest for PR.

10: Remember, it’s not all about you. Play nice with others and be sure to contribute, like and share other Pinterest users’ boards and items.

11: Make sure you understand Pinterest best practices. It’s one thing to learn all the great tips but it is equally important to learn from the mistakes others have made.

12: Have you developed relationships with key reporters? Find their stories and publications and pin them up on your board.

13: Are you attending any trade shows or conferences? Be sure to document it by taking pictures/videos and pinning them during and after the event. Remember, these images and videos should not always be about you and your company. Include others you interact with at the show.

14: Are you planning on unveiling a new design for one of your products? You might want to consider having a Pinterest Launch Party, where you direct all of your fans and customers to a special board designed to showcase the new look or product. Include a link to the board in any small business press releases you send out.

15: Focus on branding in your Pinterest board. Make sure you add a link to your website in the description of each of your pins and be sure to have your brand displayed in your avatar. This is a great way for non-profit organizations to use Pinterest.

Remember, the key with Pinterest for PR, as with all social media PR, is to find balance. It cannot always be about you. If there is something exciting taking place at your company be sure to document it and show/tell the world. Just be sure to pin other cool and interesting items that do not really have anything to do with your products. You do not want your followers to think they will only find items that promote you on your Pinterest page.

John Sternal is President of Sternal Communications, a PR and marketing consultancy helping businesses get noticed through publicity in the media. He is the author of the PR Toolkit for Small Business and currently authoring a book about DIY public relations for small business owners. For questions email John Sternal or connect with him @SternalPR.

photo credit: Miami New Times

How To Get Food Truck PR

Over the last five years food trucks have been highly successful in just about every corner of the U.S. In every major city, you can find a food truck downtown at lunch on almost every day of the week, serving up delectable orders that span all kinds of tastes. From an operator’s standpoint, the million-dollar question is how to get food truck PR.

Below is a Q&A with Jim Heins of the popular food truck, @LatinBurger. Jim was recently featured on The Food Network and he talks about how he gets a lot of his food truck PR coverage. Following Jim’s Q&A are a few tips on how to get food truck PR.

How do you get your PR?

The Food Network contacted me largely because of our great food and the personality I’ve become known for through social media. I’m fortunate that I was in the right place at the right time. I started in the food truck industry and when something big happens I’m contacted by everyone in the media. We are relentless in the pursuit of perfection and that goes for food and our use of social media pr. They contact me because I’m one of the most recognized players in the food truck business. In fact, a lot of these production companies now contact me about doing other videos, too.

What was it like early on?

We kind of burst on to the scene. Urban Daddy and other bloggers picked us up and that was great help in putting us on the map. My situation is unique in that I’ve never had to make a phone call to get press. It’s hard to explain sometimes. I do all the press interviews myself and we’ve been able to survive without having to hire a really expensive food truck PR company. I would attribute all of our exposure to Twitter and social media. My entire being in this company is through social media.

How do you approach your social media strategy?

I’m really focusing more again on social media and different ways of freshening our approach. You can tell when it becomes a bit stagnant. I’ve been fortunate to kind of predict the industry and what’s happening around me. There’s just not enough people to support 30-40 food trucks at one time, but the big trucks that have made a serious effort to offer a great product and establish their brand will certainly survive. I work really hard to maintain my customer base.

Do you go to a lot of events?

When I first started it was a lot of the red velvet rope thing, ‘find @LatinBurger today.’ We would move around and be mysterious. But today I can’t be as mysterious and we have to be at more events and other public places. We’re even working with bigger events all the time and a lot of that is because they now contact me because they know I’ll bring in some traffic to the event. Businesses will also contact me because they see more value in having me out front than paying for a local radio station to have a van there. I promote their business through my social media and it gives people a reason to come by.

How do you differentiate yourself?

We’ve never gone down a different path with our food and we work diligently to make the best food we possibly can. I’m seeing some food trucks do things like fried Snickers and Oreos, as well other gimmicks. When we started the food truck we didn’t have that vision of being a gimmick because it’s not about frying a shoelace.

Was it always about having a food truck for you?

I always wanted to be in the restaurant industry, but the end goal of the @LatinBurger was to just see if it would work. We originally looked at a restaurant but it was such a capital expense. The food truck route was a better entry point for me and it has absolutely worked. Early on our brand was very strong. A lot of people were doing hamburgers and I saw a small window to take advantage of putting my own spin on it.

How has Twitter been for you?

I stay true to my followers when I’m speaking to them. I’m followed on Twitter in 50 different countries. At a certain point depending on how we grow, which may even include a restaurant location, we’ll have to be more conscientious about how we get more national exposure. USA Today, Boston Globe and many other newspapers have covered us primarily because this is just a good story right now.

What’s the business climate like today?

The business is definitely slowing down right now. In typical South Florida fashion they built eight million condos for four and a half million people. In our industry we had about 125 food trucks when we started, which was about 100 too many. What makes it tough is that a lot of the event promoters want to just cram every food truck they can because they get a cut of all sales.

What’s your key?

You have to let your personality come out. I do inspirational quotes for each day and that is all me. When I write a blog I believe in my product, I’m proud of it and I parlay that into the way I approach social media. A lot of people think we’re too big but we’re still mom and pop size. I’ve had to overcome this because people think we’re too big and unapproachable. We’re just Big Jim’s LatinBurger.

Great insight from Jim Heins of @LatinBurger. While LatinBurger’s PR success has come from a lot of social media, the industry could actually benefit from a lot of traditional tactics to get food truck PR. Here are four ways to get food truck PR through “old school” PR methods:

Write a press release. Yes, I said it. For an industry that prides itself on being social, food trucks might get even more food truck PR coverage if they actually write a press release or two. Like it or not, reporters still rely on the press release. It absolutely serves a purpose, even when all the cool kids are just blogging and tweeting. Use some creativity to come up with some new trends, do a survey and publicize the results or even make an announcement of something that’s changing within your food truck. Sending out a formal press release won’t eliminate the coolness factor of your food truck but it will make you look like an even more established business.

Pitch a story. LatinBurger found success because they were good, different, and early. The owner having a terrific personality doesn’t hurt, either. Many other food trucks don’t have one or more of these elements working in their favor. Try being proactive with the media to pitch a story and you might be surprised at the results and coverage. Download the PR Toolkit For Small Business to learn more about pitching a story to the media.

Do a publicity stunt. Don’t just show up and serve food. Be creative and even a little crazy (within the confines of the law, of course) in order to get attention. Organize a food truck PR parade; Make the world’s largest pancake; Break a Guiness World Record in any of the food categories. Think outside the box and let the word know about it (ahem, through a press release in addition to social media).

Find a community cause or issue, take a side and be vocal about it. Is there a piece of legislation that impacts your business? Hot Dog Mike (@hotdog_mike) had to deal with certain ordinances that prevented him from parking in certain locations within the city. Find something that impacts your business, get people behind you, develop some impactful talking points and approach the editorial board of your local daily newspaper. Getting an editorial in the newspaper can be great for your food truck PR. You’ll be seen as a local business person, not just a food truck operator.

John Sternal is co-founder of Sternal Communications, a PR and marketing consultancy helping businesses get noticed through publicity in the media. He is the author of the PR Toolkit for Small Business and currently authoring a book about DIY public relations for small business owners. For questions email John Sternal or connect with him @SternalPR.

1: Connect With Reporters - Social media PR is highly effective when the laws of social media are applied. This means you have to follow key reporters in order to build effective relationships with them. You can’t engage with people who aren’t in your network.

2: Openly Pitch Reporters - Once you’ve started following those reporters, it’s important to focus on building the relationship. This means chatting up interesting conversation and commenting on the things they are talking about. What you don’t want to do is pitch them a story idea because it’s very difficult to explain your full story in 140 characters and, more importantly, other competitors and reporters can see who you’re pitching.

3: All Business, No Personality - The last thing reporters want to see from you is ONLY business. If all your Facebook updates and Tweets are simply promotions about your company, they will tune you out. In fact, who can blame them, you’re showing them you’re a computer and not a human.

4: Not Integrating Other Social Platforms - Social media works the best when you connect all your platforms together. Let it be known that you’re on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Flickr. Reporters like to have access to background on you, whether it’s the social side, business side, video side or photo side.

5: Not Seeing Real-Time News - From the fall of Libya to the death of Michael Jackson, social media PR starts with breaking news. Whether the major networks like it or not, Twitter and Facebook are excellent sources of major breaking news. If you’re early in the know, you have the ability to fire off an email pitch to a newsroom offering you up as a subject-matter expert.

6: You Only Want Profile Stories - Don’t be like that. Don’t be the person who says it’s a waste of your time unless a reporter will do a cover story on your business. Stop it because those days, for the most part, are over. It’s still possible to land a profile story but for the most part reporters are shying away from them. Today’s news is all about the issue, not the company (unless you truly have a product that no one else has). Your goal with social media PR is to become a story source by using all of today’s social tools for pr.

7: Not A Product Resource - If you DO have a product that lots of people would like, be sure to offer up samples to key reporters you meet in social settings. This is a great way to build some excitement and rapport with them. Assuming they like your product they will also talk about it with their friends and go to you for questions – all in front of their network of fans, friends and followers.

8: Sharing Cool Stuff - This is where social media PR and viral marketing cross paths. If you are a part of a really cool video, be sure to share it with reporters who like to see that kind of stuff. You never know when Headline News will play your video simply because you tipped them off to it. Keep in mind this is different than #2 openly pitching reporters. You’re not pitching them a story here. You’re sharing cool content with them.

9: Looking For Influencers - The popular kids are all over social networks, and engaging with them can make for great social media PR. Find them. Get to know them. Make sure they know who you are.

10: Looking For Trending Topics - As a follow up to #9, all the cool topics can be found on social networks, too. Find out what’s hot and being talked about the most. Those are the popular conversations. How does your company and brand mesh with those topics? Join the conversation and formulate pitches that can be emailed to reporters.

11: Listening - Stop talking for a moment. Just listen to what people are telling you on Twitter and Facebook. If you’re doing it the right way, a lot of your customers are communicating to you. Good social media PR is not just about you getting your story out; it’s also about listening to what others have to say and making sure all’s right with your brand.

12: Collecting Customer Stories - Speaking of your customers, focus on them a lot. Most of the time customers will engage with you in social networks because they want to share some really cool way they used your product or service. Often times this can lead to a really cool social media PR story pitch. Reporters love it when you get a customer involved. We talk more about customer stories in the PR Toolkit for Small Business.

13: Harnessing Hashtags - Hashtags make it so that millions of people can be a part of a conversation. The social media PR opportunity here is infinite. If you’re a camping gear business and you create a video on the worst ways to camp (and make it a little humorous) and you tweet it using the hashtag everyone is using during the premier of “Survivor,” do you realize how many millions of people could potentially see your video?

14: Learning From Others - If you don’t really know what you’re doing in the areas of social media PR, there are lots of others that do and you can find them on social networking platforms. Get to know some popular PR people (I’m @sternalpr). We’re actually friendly people and will answer some questions here and there about how we do things. I may not give you every secret I’ve ever learned, but I’m a nice guy and will try to help out as much as possible.

15: Using Your Blog - Social media isn’t just Twitter and Facebook. Blogs are also part of the social media world. Your blog can be a valuable tool in getting your social media PR message out, either directly to customers or to reporters who follow you. Mom Bloggers have become legendary for this format.

16: Linking To Virtual Press Room - Use your social media networks to link over to your virtual press room so reporters can have access to a wealth of background articles, social media press releases, images and publicity videos of you, your company and products.

17: Branding Your Social Media Networks - I’m sure that new tattoo is really cool to a small circle of your friends, but don’t make it as your avatar on Twitter if you also use that space to talk about your business. Put up either a professional-looking photo of you or your company’s logo.

18: Relying Only On Social Media - Lastly, social media PR isn’t just about the social networks as a way to connect with reporters. The goal is a better relationship with reporters. It may start with a tweet but it may end with a phone call and in-person interview, two things that are considered “old-school” in the world of PR.

Have I missed anything? As always I’d love some feedback. It’s a great way for me to learn, as well as others in the UnderstandingMarkting.com community. Hopefully after reading this you won’t be suffering from one of the 18 ways why your social media PR is failing.

You may also want to read Why Your Small Business PR Isn’t Driving Sales.

John Sternal is co-founder of Sternal Communications, a PR and marketing consultancy helping businesses get noticed through publicity in the media. He is the author of the PR Toolkit for Small Business and currently authoring a book about DIY public relations for small business owners. For questions email John Sternal or connect with him @SternalPR.

Clearly, this was false. FOX News removed the posts later in the day and is currently investigating the incident.

While most small businesses won’t face the possibility of having their Twitter stream hacked with similarly malicious content, we should stop and reflect on the seriousness posed by a small business or entrepreneur having his or her Twitter stream hacked into. Do you have a disaster plan ready in case someone Tweets disparaging comments from you? Do you regularly change or update your social media and social networking passwords to reduce your chances of getting hacked into?

Did you see the tweets made on @foxnewspolitics and what did you think of them? We’d like to know if you have anything to share with the small business community here addressing Twitter security. Please leave a comment below.

But it is, and they do.

The problem is, it turns out few small businesses have a lot of time to dedicate towards nurturing their social networking platforms and accounts. I’m not saying this is the right way to go. But I am saying it’s reality.

Postling.com might actually have an interesting solution and one that should be looked into. Let’s face it, there are many wonderful aspects of social media. If there’s one part that serves as a turn-off to many small business owners, it’s all the “excess noise” that comes with social networking; all the outside chatter. Being a part of the virtual cocktail party is wonderful because you are exposed to many different conversations and voices. But some of those have little to do with you or your business.

Some people jump into social media and become rock stars. But others (like small businesses) want to dip their toes in the pool. They can’t jump in all the way because running a business means they have 150 different pools to visit each day and they just can’t spend all day swimming in one pool.

Postling is an easy way for entrepreneurs and small businesses to manage many of their social media accounts, schedule updates, email alerts and even track their online reputation. It only takes a few minutes throughout the day and small businesses only get the alerts, messages and updates that are relevant and important to them and their business.

Check out this video review by Denise O’Berry:

Entrepreneurs can connect all of their social media accounts from popular sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Yelp, CitySearch, etc.). A daily email alert will also provide small businesses with the updates that matter only to them. Here are some features:

–Dashboard shows small business owners their most recent comments, reviews and web-tracking results.
–Scheduling makes it easy to manage multiple social media platforms with one click.
–Sleep better knowing you will wake up with an email recapping activity over the past 24 hours.
–Respond seamlessly right from your email alerts so you don’t need to log-in to any specific platforms.
–Track your online reputation from Yelp and CitySearch with the click of a button.

What are your thoughts? Would a service like Postling help your small business manage its social media strategies? Please leave a comment below.

Chrisanne Sternal is the CEO and founder of Sternal Consulting, helping businesses and entrepreneurs develop and implement effective marketing and PR programs that increase traffic and sales. For questions email chrisanne [at] sternalconsulting dot com.