Stage Two Communications is looking to add a new member to its team to help manage award-winning clients

There are some exciting new happenings here at Stage Two: three of our clients have won three of the most prestigious awards at CES 2012. While we’re busy earning massive amounts of coverage and winning awards for our clients, we continue to add new clients and grow the firm. As a result, we are looking to add new team members to help us keep up with the agency growth.

We are looking for a PR Account Manager with four to six years of media-relations experience to join our hip, fun, experienced and dedicated team of tech marketing and PR professionals. The best candidate will be someone who knows both tech bloggers and tech lifestyle journalists who cover the consumer electronics and consumer web space. A knowledge of apps and the mobile tech space is also a big plus!

Who we are:

Stage Two is a cutting-edge consumer electronics PR and marketing firm. It’s our job to make consumer products popular. From gadgets, to apps, to connected TV, we represent some of the best products and startups in tech. We have fun, but are hard working above all else. Meanwhile, our office is just… well… cooler than yours. When we find some time away from our keyboards, we’re enjoying some drinks, some X-Box, free movies and occasionally Pepper, our official canine Stage Two mascot.

Job description:

As an Account Manager you will be serving several accounts, liaising with clients, launching products, creating and implementing press strategies on behalf of the clients and working closely with journalists from leading publications to niche tech blogs.

What we are looking for in a candidate:

• Were are a dynamic start-up environment, you need to be able to keep up
• You are a fast learner and a self-starter with impeccable organizational skills
• You are also very reliable and a team player
• You are able to manage and prioritize the needs of multiple client relationships simultaneously
• You have extremely strong communications skills, especially written. We expect “Pulitzer-worthy” writing samples. (Ok, Ok, that was a bit too much, but you MUST have solid writing skills.)
• You have good understanding of consumer technology (video, mobile, etc) with a genuine interest in new trends in tech, media, and culture
• You bring to the table decent grasp of new media, including some contacts with bloggers and social network influencers
• You must be good at distilling complex tech talk into compelling stories
• In addition, the right candidate must be confident, articulate and brilliantly creative

Responsibilities:

• See above, and…
• Coordination of media lists and event logistics
• Monitoring of client and industry press
• Development, implementation and evaluation of the influencer-marketing strategies for clients
• Media relations: building and nurturing relationships with key bloggers, industry influencers, press/media, analysts
• New media outreach and traditional PR for new stories, company launches, product launches, etc.
• Strategic counsel: understand and explain consumer behaviors to clients. Suggest best marketing, web and pr strategies to enable clients achieve their ambitious business objectives
• Research and evaluate event participation opportunities (speaking, booths, panels, etc.) for clients
• Attend local industry networking events

We are located in the Financial District. There are many restaurants, bars and “cool spots” in the neighborhood.

If you’re interested in this job opportunity, please send the following to jobs(at)stagetwo(dot)com:

1. A resume (preferably a hard copy and a link to an online one)
2. A short bio
3. Your salary requirements
4. Why you think this agency is a perfect fit for you
5. Which of our clients excite you the most, and why

Any emails without all 5 of the above will be ignored, and probably marked as spam. Feel free to let us know if you have any questions. Otherwise, we look forward to hearing from you!

Is a Tweet Worth More Than A Facebook Like?

Social Media Today has an interesting post up that looks at the monetary value of a Tweet vs. a Facebook like.

It is interesting to see these social media studies assign monetary value to online actions. It is clear that brand awareness and brand loyalty are bolstered through social interactions online.

For more information, the Social Action Value Study can be found here: http://www.chompon.com/chompon_social_action_value.pdf

Twitter is Either Worth 10 Billion Dollars or Nothing

There are a lot of discussions in the tech world regarding the 8 – 10 Billion dollar valuation assigned to Twitter. Both Facebook and Google are purportedly in talks with the micro blogging service. The question then becomes, is Twitter really worth that much? The answer is complicated. It could be – or it could be worth next to nothing.

Both Twitter Co-Founder Biz Stone and Chief Executive Officer Dick Costolo have gone on the record to pour cold water on the Twitter acquisition rumors, as well as deflate the 10 billion dollar number.

Quoting Stone’s recent NPR interview:

“We’re not valued at $10 billion dollars. That’s just what people are writing in the newspapers, which unfortunately has the negative impact of my friends thinking I must have $10 billion dollars.”

Recently, Twitter was valued at $3.7 Billion, but the very nature of the micro-blogging service makes assigning any number to the company a difficult proposition. Twitter is like a rare baseball card, in that it has perceived worth but no inherent value. (Value here is defined as having usefulness, “utility or merit” and worth refers to the price something commands on the market). Even the rarest baseball card has little value in the real world . After all, it is only made up of cardboard, which isn’t all that valuable. The card is only worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it at a given time. To further differentiate worth from value, it helps to envision a car. A car always has value, no matter the make or model. After all, a car provides utility and serves a function. The raw materials of any car are valuable. Even when it isn’t running, an automobile’s parts can be stripped and sold.

And that is the problem with Twitter. It can’t be stripped for parts or take companies where they want to go online (to stretch the image a bit). Twitter is a platform, much like email and HTML. Each of these platforms has revolutionized the way people share information, but there is no money to be made at that level. We have yet to see someone successfully monetize a communications platform.

So how could one make money off a platform? The most viable option (and we hate it) is to close it down. We are not suggesting that Twitter create a closed ecosystem – in fact we like that they are so open (well, sort of open). They could lock down their API, and own all of the apps and services that are powered by Twitter. Of course there are risks associated with this plan, but selling user data to Google or Facebook could also backfire.

Twitter is either worth 10 billion dollars or far, far less. Ultimately Twitter is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. But the value of the company is questionable at this time.

The 10 Commandments of Tech PR

It seems like only yesterday that Moses came down from the mountain with 15 10 Commandments for righteous living.

Like Moses, we have received 10 unbreakable laws. Unlike Moses, our list only covers Tech PR and Social Media Best Practices. These rules will give you moral clarity whether you are working with enterprise level technologies or lifestyle electronics; cloud computing or home networking; gadgets or accessories.

Without further preamble, we present the 10 Commandments of Tech PR.

1. Thou Shalt Not Spam

If your “pitches” are mass emails to outdated and/or irrelevant media lists then they are not outreach. They are spam. Be sure to keep your media lists current and tailor them to best meet the needs of your client. Unless you are pitching a maritime gadget, you probably shouldn’t contact Sport Fishing Magazine.

2. Thou Shall Only Pitch News

Don’t pitch a story because your client said to. Don’t pitch a story in order to tell the client you pitched a story. Don’t pitch a story you know is forgettable. Don’t pitch a story that looks like an ad. Don’t pitch a story that looks like the intern wrote it. It sounds simple, but many tech PR professionals forget this Commandment. Only Pitch News.

3. Thou Shalt Be Aware of Current Trends

Read everything you can get your hands on. Understand how your client relates to current media and technology trends and pitch accordingly.

4. Thou Shalt Not Pitch Products You Don’t Believe In.

It is best to work for companies whose work you believe in. When you represent amazing products, you can speak with integrity and authority.

Great products make great PR.

When Tech PR people are passionate about the products and services they pitch, the result is usually better outreach, more coverage and increased buzz.

If you are pitching a bad product that you don’t care about, it will probably show in your work. Even if you create “professional” releases for sub-par products, word will get out that you and your firm work with second tier clients. That is a reputation no PR professional wants to have.

5. Honor the Exclusive and Embargoed Release

Never leak your own rumors anonymously to the internet just to drum up interest in your client. If you ensure your pitches are newsworthy, relevant, interesting and aligned with current trends, the buzz will take care of itself.

6. Thou Shalt Not Pitch Products You Don’t Understand

If you don’t know how the gadget works or what the device does you should not be pitching it. If you look at the specs and can’t grok what they mean, then you should not be pitching that product. If you don’t have a deep understanding of the technology you are pitching, you need to stop pitching that technology.

7. Thou Shalt Not Guarantee Coverage

It’s impossible to guarantee coverage. Don’t do it.

8. Thou Shall Speak English

You would think that speaking in technical jargon would only occur in the enterprise space. You would be wrong. Speak English. Avoid Specs and Jargon at all costs. No one cares that the processing power of your pocket popcorn popper increased 20%. People care about benefits, not features. Do not blog like a calculator. Be sure to use spell check and make sure your work has perfect punctuation.

9. Thou Shall Not Bear False Witness Against Your Client

Never lie to the press. Ever. Not even a little bit. It is immoral. It is also bad for your clients and your own reputation. When people know that your word is your bond, they will grow to trust and respect your  pitches. Ethical business is good business.

10. Thou Shall Be Creative

Most tech press releases go unread. Don’t be afraid to get creative when reaching out to the media. Instead of a press release, how about hosting an event? The secret to coverage isn’t free booze – it’s positioning great technology in creative and relevant ways.

If you have any more Tech PR Commandments, be sure to inscribe them in the comments section below.

Get Your Twit Together

Twitter is awesome.

Before Twitter, I had to use fan forums, illegal wiretaps and high powered telescopes to keep up with the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. After Twitter came along, I can stay up to date on all my Brent Spiner news without getting charged with stalking.

The micro blogging platform has changed the way we communicate with one another. And not just because the Reading Rainbow Host is in my twitter stream.  Twitter has emboldened citizen journalists and social spammers brand evangelists. It has connected bloggers and helped people “tweet up.” Never mind the new neologisms and political activism the service created.

Despite the social media advances the service engendered, there are places where Twitter can improve. As 2011 approaches, it’s time for Twitter to grow up and get its twit together.

Kill the Fail Whale

It seems like I see the fail whale more than I see my siblings. Technical issues are expected for internet service companies – even Google hiccups once in a while – but in order to grow, scale and mature as a messaging platform, twitter needs to deliver a web page that works flawlessly for new and existing users. After a recent $200 million dollar round of funding, it’s time to pay for servers that work all the time.

Don’t Count Usernames and URLs as Characters

It’s microblogging. I get it. But for the love of fun, be reasonable twitter. Your strict adherence to the 140 character dogma is proving you to be a techno-philistine. Surely we can agree to a new (better) set of standards where usernames and URLs don’t count toward the 140 character limit.

Won’t spammers abuse this with an endless stream of links and hashtags and callouts?

Yes, but people are smart enough to ostracize those accounts. The system will self-correct. For every eastern european spam bot that would tear up the relaxed rules there would be (at least) one real user who benefits from character counting changes.

Auto shorten my incredibly long URL.

It’s time for twitter to automatically shorten long URLs and, like bit.ly,  provide some basic metrics on the links people share within the site proper.

Make Money

Time for Twitter to sell out ads. Sponsored tweets, banner ads and commercials are coming. With the number of creative professionals using the service, look for innovative social campaigns in the coming months.

Drop the 140 character limit

The 140 character limit made sense when the service launched. Most people were using SMS messages that capped character counts. Now with smart devices and twitter apps, the technology allows for longer posts. I’m not suggesting that people be able to post War and Peace to their tweeple, but something like 250 characters seems more reasonable.

Stage Two Announces New Client Vualla

We are pleased to announce Vualla (pronounced Voila) as a new client. Vualla is a new start up with a vision for creating an amazing social TV experience.

Vualla recently created the Vualla Guide, a Social TV Companion that allows users to find and share shows using their iPads. The Vualla Guide incorporates Twitter streams and Facebook updates into the TV watching experience and alerts people when shows they are interested in are about to air. Rather than placing social content on the big screen, Vualla moves conversations to the iPad’s second screen, creating a harmonious Social Television experience. Users can also comment on specific shows and customize search results based on their location and individual preferences.

Stage Two has a passion for smart TVs and social television. We’ve been thinking about this space since 1999. No, seriously. We want to push the boundaries of convergence to deliver cutting edge media devices to market. We are pleased to work with the Vualla team and their mobi-social television companion.

We are currently developing an improved product experience for the Vualla iPad App, including detailed UI / UX work. Stage Two is also creating a positioning and messaging strategy for the growing firm and handling all Public and Media relations.

As broadband, cloud and mobile computing gain traction, people will increasingly look for elegant, powerful and fun solutions to deliver meaningful information. Vualla has created a TV centric social media hub that lets fans connect with content and each other.

New York Times Eliminating Social Media Editor

Poynter has a great post that spotlights the New York Times and social media.

It seems that as of 2011, the gray lady will no longer have a social media editor. Jennifer Preston who currently oversees facebook, twitter and other online networks for the Times will return to reporting on social media. But that’s a good thing.

As reporters increase their social media literacy, the need for a single job to oversee online communities for the newspaper diminishes.

Quoting from the article:

Hiring a social media editor is an important first step for newsrooms, Preston said. But she sees the social media editor as more of a temporary role than a permanent one. It becomes less necessary, she said, once more people in the newsroom start regularly using social media.

Under Preston’s tenure, reporters have leveraged social tools to find sources, gather information for breaking news and engage readers. As newsrooms embrace online tools, their social media teams will continue to evolve.

Social Remote Control Ties Twitter to TV

We found this great Fast Company Design article that profiles a twitter powered remote control from KDDI R&D Labs. Quoting from the piece:

KDDI’s basic insight — put apps on the remote, not the TV screen itself — zigs where Boxee, Roku, and everyone else has zagged.

But the real smarts in KDDI’s social remote comes from its Twitter integration. Using hashtags, profile data, and tweet content, the app mines Twitter for intel about what’s on, what’s worth watching, and who’s doing the watching. You can slice and dice this realtime feedback in a variety of ways to zero in on something you like. Then (according to KDDI) you just tap it and poof: the content cues up on your TV. As shown below, the app also offers voting and rating features so that you can feed the hivemind yourself.

The video below shows more of the action.

Expect more second screen innovation as digital living rooms continue to evolve.

Stage Two’s Marie Domingo Attends Spuler Media Ethics Symposium

Recently, Stage Two’s Vice President of Public Relations Marie Domingo spoke on a panel at the 3rd Annual Spuler Media Ethics Symposium. The event, held at San Jose State University, covered Social Media and PR Ethics and also included Q and A from audience members. Other panel speakers included Jonathan Hirshon, Shel Holtz and Ellen Leanse.

PR and Journalism students mainly attended the function where industry veterans discussed honesty, transparency and social media ethics. The panel spoke candidly about their careers in PR and brought up some of the more difficult decisions they have had to make in the past.

Marie Domingo Knows Media Ethics

Marie Domingo stressed the need for honesty and transparency in all interactions for PR professionals.

“Sometimes clients will ask you to do things that you may not agree with,” she said after the panel discussion. “Trust your instincts. Ask for guidance if you feel conflicted. As you work your way up the ladder there will be critical decisions at times.”

Domingo also highlighted personal integrity: “Ethics is a personal thing. When it comes to PR, it is what separates you from the others in the pack. Having integrity is good for business and your own career. It is how you build your reputation. Be honest about who your clients are and who you are. Online and off.”

One of the thornier questions that came up was if the ends ever justified the means. Domingo mentioned Greenpeace and PETA as examples of companies who wanted to do good but sometimes engaged in questionable acts to achieve noble goals.

She also spoke to building a personal and corporate reputation through a solid work ethic and top tier client list.

“There will always be bad apples in this industry,” Domingo said. “There will be bad companies and unethical PR firms. The key to building a reputation for excellence in tech PR is to only work with the best and the brightest. It’s a cliche, but good companies shouldn’t work with shady Media Relations Outfits and good PR agencies should strive to work with reputable clients. It makes a difference. Word will get out if you lay down with spammy folks.”

When Social Media came up, she was quick to point out the need for honesty online. “There is sometimes a tendency to game the system. Especially on the internet when people can comment and post links anonymously. Stating what your interests are when posting is key. The internet is smart. You can’t trick it. Keeping your conduct above reproach is more effective in the long run, anyway.”

Stage Two is committed to ethical Public Relations and Social Media Outreach. We are pleased to have Marie leading all of our PR efforts in an honest and transparent manner.

The First (and Only) Law of Social Media

Not a day goes by without someone on the internet publishing a top XX list of social media “rules” (as high as 42 as far as we’ve found!). We at Stage Two think that these lists contain quite a few rules too many.

The first and only rule for social media is that the internet will air your dirty laundry in a very public way.

Instead of a million monkeys with a million typewriters, we have a couple of billion Internet users with connected phones, scanners, cameras, using social networks, anonymous posting boards, discussion forums, twitter, blogs and more.  Layer the above with incredibly powerful search tools and you have the ultimate crowdsourced distributed whistleblower facility mankind has ever seen.  It doesn’t matter if you are a potential employee (remember the Cisco Fatty debacle?) or a major brand. If you have a skeleton in your closet, it will be found.

This impacts corporations…

Take a minute to Google Social Media blunders. Go ahead. We’ll wait. It doesn’t matter what industry your company does business in. It doesn’t matter if you are a Fortune 500 company or a scrappy start up. The internet doesn’t care what country you live in. Any business, anywhere will have it’s secrets spread across the series of tubes.

Look at Nestle’s infamous Facebook debacle. In this case a snippy, arrogant tone on a facebook page and overly aggressive legal team destroyed brand loyalty in an instant.

Sony caught flak for an aggressive DRM that was inserted into digital media. Splenda purchased hundreds of negative domain names and had to face the music when the internet found out. Comcast tried to influence an FCC meeting on net neutrality. The internet found out about it. Toyota faced a global PR disaster after a controversial Yaris spot went viral for all the wrong reasons. Rosie Chickens are “free range” poultry from a Petaluma farm. If you google them you will find that many of their practices are deceptive and misleading. All of these companies had their worst practices exposed thanks to social media.

Even brands with amazing reputations are subject to the digital airing of grievances. Apple, Google and other major firms are susceptible to major social media misfires. It only takes one disgruntled employee; one dissatisfied customer or one person with a camera phone to spread digital dirt all over the interwebs.

And individuals too…

• In the 80’s, David Hasslehoff could eat as many cheeseburgers as he wanted off the bathroom floor and no one would be the wiser. In the digital age, his drunken meal is now the stuff of internet legend.
• How about the anonymous cat torturing teenager who posted his awful deeds on youtube, was hunted down by 4Chan users and revealed to be Kenny Glenn.
• And that woman who posted video of tossing dogs into an icy river? Also identified by 4Chan.

Executives, celebrities, products and services must come to terms with end of 20th century privacy and embrace a new era of digital transparency. Of the many changes ushered in by the social media revolution, the most significant is the end of secrets.

So what are the implications of this?

This increased transparency must be embraced in order to thrive in a wired world. Products must perform perfectly or risk instant ridicule from dissatisfied users. One possible upside for this new paradigm is increased authenticity. A new level of truth from brands, products, marketers and individuals. If everyone conducts business in a digital panopticon, then hopefully people and products hold themselves to higher standards.

How on Earth can we possibly cope!?!

Remember that in the social space the only law is truth. Complete, absolute truth.  Which is basically a biblical type of thing, and impossible to attain.  Seriously, there is no way any company can possibly be expected to be utterly perfect and that every employee act utterly perfectly.  But at least understanding how high that bar is set is something that should be universally communicated within any organization.

Next week we’ll add a follow-up post with some more specific guidelines on how to prudently run a business, yet operate as transparently as possible.