From PR Daily: 4 listening styles communicators should know

 Hearing is the practical, and listening is the strategy. And as with most things strategic, there's more than one way to listen.

As a communicator, you should know which type of listening to use in every situation, as well as how to use those skills to your advantage. Here are four (of many) types of listening:

1. Appreciative listening

Appreciative listening is exactly what the name implies — listening to enjoy the story, music or information you hear.

The American Society for Training and Development recommends that, to truly embark in appreciative listening, you should avoid engaging in other communications and focus solely on the sounds or words.

So, when someone is speaking to you, put your phone down!

2. Critical listening

Critical listening involves hearing what someone says, identifying key points and/or arguments and solidifying your opinion. Think of a debate, or how you feel when you listen to a politician speak.

When you engage in critical listening, your goal is to analyze what the speaker is saying and determine his agenda.

3. Relationship listening

Relationship listening is one of the most important skills to have when dealing with people. Relationship listening is also known as therapeutic or empathetic listening.

You would use relationship listening to help a friend through a problem, solve a conflict between co-workers or prompt people to open up through support and honesty.

4. Discriminative listening

Discriminative listening is when you look past the words you hear to detect the underlying message. It might be one of the most important types of listening for online marketers.

This works best in person, as you can look to body language, tone changes and volume to determine what the speaker really thinks and feels.

However, these days we're not often face-to-face with clients or customers. We need to adapt to become better online discriminative listeners as we engage more and more via texts, Facebook comments and snappy tweets.

Understanding the difference between hearing and listening is a vital skill, whether you deal with people in the boardroom or through comments on your brand's blog.

Which types of listening do you practice most?

Lindsay Bell is the content director at Arment Dietrich. A version of this article originally appeared on the Feedblitz blog.

EVENT: TRADERSBALL SOCIAL MEDIA TRAINING

The battleship is a full social media training practical class, where you will be taking into the world of social media brand marketing. 

You will know how it works, and why it works that way. Also with this training you will be able to attract major clients to your company and understand how social media trend moves plus how to do social media analysis, competitive and more.

For registration

Call: 08179852082 or 08023227775
Pin: 29AC98A8 or 27FCC0F2
or send a form request mail to info@tradersball.

Date: Sunday, December 1, 2013 from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Venue: LCCI Conference And Exhibition Centre ikeja

{Behind M.K.O Abiola Gardens, 
parallel to Lagos-Ibadan Expressway}

ANNOUNCEMENT!!

Attend The Social Media‬ Plus December Edition | December 04 2013 In Lagos Nigeria.

With Just N2,000 You Get A Pass + FREE e-Book. Register Online Here: http://goo.gl/iZozgG

BEVERLY OSU & PRESTIGE COSMETICS! - The Celebrity Influence

 It's a known fact that celebrities are used to promote sales of beauty products, and brands connect with the rich and famous, sending them free samples, hoping for a mention on social media. all aimed at getting media attention for their brand.

Prestige Cosmetics is a relatively new cosmetics company, and Beverly Osu has been unveiled as the "Face" of the brand.

So far so good anyway. they're beginning to get online media attention, thanks to Beverly. Will this sudden media attention yield good returns in sales? that remains to be seen.

Expectations of a brand's social media manager

When I see brands on social media, I have expectations. 

I expect that if I tweet something to a brand, someone will respond. It doesn’t have to be within two minutes—I am overjoyed when it is—but I do expect a response. 

Today, everything is done online, frequently through social media. I honestly don’t remember the last time I called a hotline or an 1-800 number and sat on hold for 10 minutes. Instead, I can Google a company or agency and find out everything I need within 90 seconds. The way people access information has changed; social media plays a big role. 

I expect that brands will have an updated page where I can find the latest information. If I “like” a brand’s page, “follow” them, repin their pictures, or give them +1′s, it’s because a company is branding itself in a positive light. 

If the well-represented brand has a product, I will buy it and tell people about it. If it does not have a product or service to buy, I will still talk positively about the brand. I dislike a social media presence that is careless and not updated. Social media is essential for brands and requires a designated staffer to keep the brand’s presence current. That person must be witty and precise, have excellent writing skills, and be convincing without resorting to the hard sell. 

Community managers must post high-quality content in a timely manner. Because social media never sleeps, a community manager must continually watch for online conversations about the brand, monitoring positive and negative comments. Don’t delete the negative, though; respond in a positive way, reinforcing brand loyalty and appeasing the consumer. 

The role of community manager is a high-stakes job with high rewards. One negative tweet or post can ruin a brand’s identity. It’s said that when a brand does something great, a person will tell a friend. When a brand does something bad, a person will tell everyone who will listen. 

I encourage my staff to think strategically. Think of great content that keeps consumers coming back to the site. Think what we can do to stand out. Think how we can get more engagement on the site and develop a new revenue stream. 

Most of all, I want them to think before they post anything. 

Written By: Christopher Kerney

Christopher Kerney is a digital media professional from the greater New York City area, as well as a proud Penn State alum. A version of this story originally appeared on the his blog.

#MusicWeApprove - MEKA : When A Man Cries

His name is MEKA and I've heard him sing several times and believe me when i say he's really talented. plus he plays the guitar too! (You know I'm  sucker for that right?)

Anyway, here is his new song, produced by Kraftmatics. You're gonna love it!

DJ SPINALL AND HIS CAP

DJ SPINALL

Anyone familiar with Nigeria's entertainment industry will definitely know DJ Spinall.  He's young, fresh, looks good and is successful.

And of course, when you see DJ Spinall, you see his ever present cap. over the years, Spinall has created a brand with THE CAP, and i dare say that the idea is genius.

THE CAP has grown to be a money spinning outlet, with distinctive CAP branded outfits and THE CAP mix tapes.

According to DJ Spinall  "One Of My Ways Of Supporting The African Music Industry Is Via TheCAP Mix Series."

And i dare say the guy is balling! DJ Spinall is often referred to in media articles as "THE CAP".

Bottom line, I like THE CAP and i think as a brand identity, it absolutely rocks!

Letter Of Apology to Victoria Kimani & BlackMagic by iCirculate

 And the twitter drama that ensured earlier today, prompting my earlier blog post here,  has finally been handled by all parties concerened. Here is an apology letter from  iCirculate PR on behalf of their client. 

5 Tips to Maximize Twitter Engagement

Found this very enlightening article by  Caysey Welton and i think i should share it.

Twitter debuted on the New York Stock Exchange today, and is performing exceptionally well (so far up more than 20% on its initial ask).

Now that the social network is a public company, new tools designed for brand marketers are probably on their way too. After all, the company will need to spike its revenue and keep investors happy.

Still, there are several ways now optimize your brand’s Twitter presence now, especially when it comes to engagement. Here are 5 tips on how to do that, compliments of Alexandra Kirsch, digital managing associate at Finn Partners.

1. Position dialogue around your followers, not your brand. All too often brands use Twitter as a platform for promotion. That's fine sometimes, but social media is just as much a platform for relationship building as it is spreading the word about your brand. Therefore, it is to deliver content and messaging that has your audience in mind.
   
2. If you want your content to be shared, then share other’s content. One of the best things about social media is it enables users to share content with their social circles, which is great for brands because word of mouth advertising has proven to be extremely effective for generations. Just remember: it’s not all about you; Twitter is about give and take.

Read The Rest here: http://www.prnewsonline.com/water-cooler/2013/11/07/5-tips-to-maximize-twitter-engagement/

When publicists need to gag their clients: THE SAEON EXAMPLE

It started as a rather boring day full of the usual chatter and banter on twitter, or so I thought, until emerging singer, SAEON decided it was time to stir up a little dust and get some attention.

SAEON

After launching into a tirade against fellow singer and Chocolate City artiste, Victoria Kimani, calling her mix tape a “fail”, she went further to throw words at fans who cautioned her, bloggers who challenged her and any other person who dared say anything uncomplimentary.

I thought it was over until she went further to launch accusations against another artiste, BLACK MAGIC and at that point, I was wondering where her publicist was and why no one from iCirculate MEDIA (The firm that handles her PR) haven’t shut her up already.

I have absolutely nothing to say to SAEON. She’s an artiste. As a publicist and long time media professional, I have dealt with several artistes for me to realize they are like four year olds. They always need watching and they can’t be trusted to handle themselves 90% of the time.

That being said, I wonder why her PR team hasn’t gone into crisis mode already.  Remember when a publicist was called a “press agent”?  Now, to quote the legendary Hollywood publicist Pat Kingsley, “suppress agent” might be a better term.

In this era of social media, any client with a half-baked idea and a cellphone — can quickly undo a publicist’s months or years of careful image crafting.

It’s high time as publicists, we demand that clients refrain not only from talking to journalists, but also from posting anything on personal social media accounts or blogs that could jeopardize their projects. (Preferably get this done in writing, with consequences)

If your client does not understand the value of a public image that has to be managed or considered, it’s your duty as a publicist to school them.  For the simple reason that it will make your job easier.

They need to know how they should handle interviews or manage the stress of fame, and importantly, they need lessons on Internet privacy. Lessons should include why a nude photo should never find its way online (Mo-Chedda could have used this lesson) and how lashing out on Twitter can backfire.

The problem with the Internet is not only the potential for overexposure, but also the quickness of the medium to disperse false or easily misinterpreted information. One comment can become a fiasco in 10 seconds.  Social media gives our clients many new opportunities to screw up, and this is not the time to be sloppy.

 After all, you’re still going to clean up after them.  So be on the look-out and be ready to gag that baby of yours when necessary ok?

REMINISCE’s Album Art. Branding Hit or Miss?

I Absolutely love this! and i believe it represents his image, his rough edges, his music and his personality. This art makes me anticipate the album.

What do you think?

Has social media replaced traditional means of publicity?

There is no doubt that Social media has helped make the work of publicists quite easy. But we need to ask if the easy two-way conversation and quick content sharing on social media has replaced the time tested and trusted press releases and media manipulations of the local publicist.

Some PR practitioners still use social media like they use traditional media. They use it as virtual notice boards, posting messages with little interaction and little feed-back.

However, for clients who have access and total control over their social media accounts, like twitter, the job of the publicist on social media can be a little dicey.  Print journalists, other media outfits are all on social media with direct access to the clients.  What this means is a direct news source without waiting to be issued a formal press release by a publicist.

The Nigerian music industry has shown how this works in very plain light.  News bloggers and newspaper editors are quick to monitor tweets from musicians and stories are written most times without questions asked or comments received from the artiste’s spokesperson.

Controversies have been generated, and its embers fanned on social media, from artistes making unguarded comments or deliberate aggressive tweets, while the publicist is left to clean up the mess and make it all magically go away by issuing lukewarm press releases.

So what do we do as publicists?  How do we contain our clients and maintain relevance in this fast growing business of Public relations?

We need to understand that social media is not the enemy. In fact it is complimentary and it should be studied and applied to make publicity easier. 

We use social media to quickly share information with our target audience, gather real-time intelligence and feedback, and build relationships with customers, partners and influential people.