When we started the Fresh Content experiment several months ago, we established more than a dozen criteria for picking what the daily fresh content picks might look like. One of the criteria was simple enough. The authors had to be right. I don't mean right as in "everybody agrees." I mean right in that their take on the subject transcends popularity and strikes at the truth. You see, topic popularity has very little to do with reality. For example, if you surveyed the masses to determine the shape of the planet several hundred years ago, the most common consensus would be that the Earth is flat. Um, it's not flat.
Best Fresh Content In Review, Week of April 26
• 4 Reasons PR Agencies Are Failing in Social Media.
Ever wonder why some public relations firms aren't finding peak performance with social media? Valeria Maltoni provides the four most common challenges facing public relations firms, including: too much reliance on the pitch, learning the client's business, measurement models, and ever-present reliance on media. As a fifth reason, Maltoni suggests that another problem is that many public relations firms believe social media always needs to be handled in house, by the client. She's right.
• Warning: Your Internet Marketing System Will Fail.
Ian Lurie suggests that most Internet marketing systems are developed using an invent-and-impose route rather than an observe-and-clarify route. What he means is that most professionals are launching a network presence, collect followers, and then yell at them until they submit. He's right and it does work. He suggests a different approach, attributed to Albert Einstein. Rather than impose an idea, he suggests understanding what exists and then clarifying a position. He's right.
• A Better Brain in Four Days.
Unless you missed several decades of marketing research, it's apparent that psychology and sociology play a leading role in communication study. But psychology and sociology aren't tools to simply be transposed upon audiences. Professional communicators can use them too. One recent standout example, backed by a study, comes from Roger Dooley. Remarkable new research shows that just four days of meditating for 20 minutes per day produced significant benefits as measured by a battery of tests of cognition. He's right.
• The Social Media News Release Isn’t Dead – The Audience Is.
Ike Pigott fails at staying out of the press release must die meme for the benefit of everyone. The debate is wrong, he says. The format of the communication is not as critical as the audience who is reading that communication and, probably, the quality of the information contained in that format. Given that we frequently find the best written releases — those that rely on news over pitch marketing nonsense — still have traction, we can't argue. He's right.
• More Proof The Echo Chamber And Reality Aren’t Related.
There have been many days that we've sat back and wondered if Jason Falls had fallen so deep into the echo chamber, we'd never get him back. And then within a single week, he surprised us not once but twice with posts that point to the most obvious conclusion: most social media experts believe things that are wrong. Edison Research, Arbitron, and Citibank are right. Social media is not the end all to communication. Far from it. It's only another beginning. Falls escapes the echo chamber and comes up right.
