Left to right: Sean Flax from One on 1 with Budd Mishkin, David Goodman from The John Batchelor Show, Rena Popp from The Wendy Williams Show, Todd Polkes from The Joy Behar Show
What does it take to be a producer for The Joy Behar Show or The Wendy Williams Show? If you wanted to get your book or your author on The John Batchelor show, how would you go about it? I attended a CENCOM panel, “Celebrity Wranglers: Getting the Guest,” that provided insight into the skills and sources producers use to get ideas and guests for their show.
The panel included:
- Todd Polkes, Senior Producer for The Joy Behar Show
- David Goodman, Associate Producer for The John Batchelor Show
- Sean Flax, Associate Producer for One on 1 with Budd Mishkin
- Rena Popp, Senior Producer for The Wendy Williams Show
Todd Polke, Senior Producer for The Joy Behar Show has used some unconventional methods for getting guests when he was working on The Larry King Show and trying to book LaToya Jackson during the Michael Jackson trial. After many unsuccessful attempts, he heard that LaToya was ill with a cold so he sent her chicken soup from Larry King’s favorite restaurant. LaToya appreciated the gesture and appeared on the show. According to Polke, your role as a producer means that you have to relay to your potential guest (if they appeared on the show), what is the benefit for that guest? With the appearance the guest will have the opportunity to tell his/her story. In researching guests and topics Todd reads Drudge Report, Huffington Post, and thirty other magazines a week. Was there ever a time when a guest walked out on a show? Todd spoke about the Gene Simmons/Shannon Tweed appearance on Joy Baer when Shannon walked off the set as well as when Jan Adams walked off from a Larry King interview.
To be a talented segment producer David Goodman, Associate Producer for The John Batchelor Show feels you must be aggressive and persistent in tracking down a guest which he revealed his method: researching the guest online via LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. A great source in selecting guests and ideas for David is seeing which new books will be released over the upcoming months since those guests will be booked by the time their book is out so best to contact and book them in advance when they will be promoting the new book. As for a backup plan in the event of breaking news and an expert is needed to discuss the specifics of that news event (hostage situation, bomb, national security event) have a roster of people that you can get on short notice/last minute when the event happens.
For Sean Flax, Associate Producer for One on 1 with Budd Mishkin, a talented segment producer needs to find an angle. Since One on 1 with Budd Mishkin is a weekly New York series, it provides an open forum for guests to discuss causes he/she may be involved in so that guest can push their cause and provide more exposure to it and you get a different perspective of that person. As for guests and topics for the show Sean reads all New York newspapers, New York themed blogs, and looks for trends via blogs and Facebook to see what people are talking about.
Rena Popp, Senior Producer for The Wendy Williams Show felt that a key producer skill is researching your guests, and providing insight to the host about what topics/facts will be of interest. To keep up with news, topics, and ideas Rena reads the tabloids as she is looking for stories/events/topics that will be timely, funny, and create discussion. Reana also shared that if you make your guest look good following the show, you will be able to get access to other guests represented by that manager/publicist.
You may also be interested in these posts:
How to Get Your Guest or Book on Rachel Ray, Piers Morgan Tonight, CBS This Morning Saturday
How to Get Your Sports Story or Guest on ESPN, Boomer and Carton, and USA Today
How to Get Your Story/Event/Guest on Bloomberg News
How to Get Your Story or Event on New York News Shows
Get Your Product, Book, Movie On Television and Radio Shows – PRSANY Panel
Get Your Products and Stories Featured in Mainstream Magazines – PRSANY Panel
How to Reach and Foster Relationships with Mommy Bloggers
Smartphone users must be price conscience when shopping according to eMarketer as checking prices is the top activity for smartphone users. Read a review or look up specs came in second. Maybe a video or QR code will move up in the rankings as more retailers make use of video and QR codes on the shelves for their products.
Photo via John Martinez Pavliga
You have just the right story/client to pitch to ESPN.com or WFAN, SNY, or USA Today, but just who is the correct person to contact and what is the best way to reach that person? These questions and other issues were covered at the New York Chapter of the Public Relations Society panel that featured influential sports media representatives from ESPN.COM, SNY and WFAN-AM, and others as they gave an inside look at their sports beats and how to best work with them.
Panelists:
Al Dukes, Producer for the “Boomer and Carton in the Morning” sports radio show on 660 WFAN-AM
Jeane Willis, SNYS
Michael McCarthy, Game On! Blogger, Sports Business Reporter/TV Sports Columnist – USA Today
Jim O’Connell, Associated Press
Before you approach Lynn Hoppes of ESPN.com page 2 with your pitch it is best to think, “What will be the benefit to ESPN.com page 2 with my story/guest?” Lynn wants exclusives (not a satellite feed) where he can frame the story/news/feature to his audience. Since there are limited staff and time resources Lynn cannot be everywhere, so he won’t cover the same stories everyone else is covering. To get his attention when sending an email make sure you have the right person/show that would be best for your guest/story at ESPN. Provide all the facts and specifics of your event, and finally, if you are following up with Lynn don’t ask him when your story is going to run as he may not have control of the lineup of the show. You can follow Lynn on Twitter @lhoppes.
Al Dukes, producer of the “Boomer and Carton in the Morning” sports radio show on 660 WFAN-AM will take your call/email and book your guest if you have someone such as Joe Montana (or a current/former NFL player or hall of famer). For story sources Al looks at sports blogs as well as what WFAN listeners are saying on Twitter and Facebook. The odd thing Al finds is the perception of the audience reach of the radio show: He finds that guests will pass on Boomer and Carton and prefer to do television even though some of the television shows are in a small market with a smaller audience and “Boomer and Carton in the Morning” is in the number one market in the country.
Jeanne Willis of SNY felt that email is the best way a PR person can approach her with ideas by showing your knowledge of SNY programming, who is on those programs and why your story/guest would be a great fit. To have your email get her attention include in the subject line: who you have, what they are plugging, and when they are available. A recurring pet peeve for Jeanne lately has been when interviews are done via satellite, and backgrounds of these feeds are filled with the sponsors name/logo. Unless you are advertising on SNY, the interview segment will not be used. Jeanne suggests a one week lead time and specific days/times your guest will be available. When following up with Jeanne, if you do not hear from her after the second e-mail she is most likely not interested in your pitch.
Barry Janoff of Big Lead Sports covers the business of sports such as marketing deals with sports teams, stadium naming rights, etc. For Barry to break a big story it would be something such as the Farmers Insurance $400 million deal. The best way that a PR person to approach him is to know what he covers for Big Lead Sports, and Barry would like an interview with your sports clients, not just covering an appearance. For story ideas Barry uses Twitter, and you can follow Barry: @barryjanoff.
For Michael McCarthy, Sports Business Reporter/Sports Columnist – USA Today, the best way for a PR person to approach him is via e-mail and follow up with a phone call. Mike prefers exclusives and as with many other newspapers, being able to interview athletes which the video is posted on the USA Today website. He gets story sources from Twitter. It helps to let Mike know in advance if you will allow/not allow access to athletes/coaches as he does not have the time and resources to cover every event. You can follow Michael McCarthy on Twitter: @MMcCarthyUSAT.
For a veteran in the business Jim O’Connell of Associated Press noted that information/news goes out instantly today when only a few years prior to the internet he was able to hold on to a news story for a week but now can no longer do that since someone else may get the story out before him. As a sports correspondant for the Associated Press Jim tells a prospective coach/athlete when they give access to Jim, his/her story/interview will be going out to 1300 newspapers and access to a large nationwide audience. Jim also spoke about his time covering the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and having to get more details after a bomb exploded. After running around all night and coming up with nothing, he stopped to take a break near a restaurant when police cars descended on a bank of phones and police officers roped off the area. After speaking with the police it was discovered that this bank of phones were used to call in the bomb, and he broke that story for AP.
You may also be interested in these posts:
How to Get Your Guest or Book on Rachel Ray, Piers Morgan Tonight, CBS This Morning Saturday
Skills that Get the Guest for Your Television and Radio Show
How to Get Your Story/Event/Guest on Bloomberg News
How to Get Your Story or Event on New York News Shows
Get Your Product, Book, Movie On Television and Radio Shows – PRSANY Panel
Get Your Products and Stories Featured in Mainstream Magazines
How to Reach and Foster Relationships with Mommy Bloggers
CENCOM Social Media: Market Like a Pro panel (left to right) Mark Gnuhneim, Lisa Hsia, Jon Bond.
It is essential for any business, big or small, to engage others using social media to share ideas, opinions and products that will captivate a target audience and generate revenue. But what skills and tools will you and your company need to create a foolproof strategy to market yourself, your brand, or your company? To answer that The Center for Communication held a panel, “Social Media: Market Like a Pro that included:
- Mark Ghuneim, CEO of Wiredset
- Lisa Hsia, Executive Vice President at Bravo Digital Media
- Jon Bond, CEO of Big Fuel Communications
Mark Ghuneim, CEO of Wiredset felt that social media is best for listening to what is going on, and helps you understand what people are saying about your product or company. His social media strategy advice? Begin with the end in mind – How will you define success of your project? Mark believes that the value of using social media lies in the traditional means of any company’s intent: Do you want to make money? Do you want to save money? Do you want to build and expand the brand? As for the next big thing Mark thinks connecting the knowledge of the social network providing expert answers such as Quora, and LinkedIn. Follow Mark on Twitter: @markgnhumeim.
In starting down the path of social media Lisa Hsia of Bravo Digital Media suggests that you just get out and do it to learn all you can to find out what will and won’t work for you and your company. Gradually as the Bravo digital media team did certain things they would brainstorm in the hallway as there was no road map, and no idea what the reaction was going to be when they did certain social media initiatives. Lisa uses Facebook as a forum for feedback that allows discussions of all the Bravo programs and to has secured Toyota as a sponsor to carry out a Twitter track for a new initiative Bravo is doing for Top Chef this season. You can follow Lisa on Twitter: @lisahsia.
Jon Bond of Big Fuel Communications felt as more new technologies emerge you will find that the shiny new object does not stay shiny for long, and social media is like a growing octopus using up more of your time and resources. But Jon feels that social media can identify influencers where these people can use and exhibit their influence level relative to a brand, and influence more users to make the same purchase. Jon also felt that with a lot of the social media platforms in respect to television ratings, you get more and better viewers for the same price. For social media tools Jon suggests corporate users would feel comfortable using Buddy media. You can follow Jon on Twitter: @JonBond 57.
You may also be interested in these posts:
Allison Fine and Beth Kanter The Networked Nonprofit: Connecting with Social Media to Drive Change
Gary Vaynerchuk and The Thank You Economy
Gary Vaynerchuk and Robert Scoble Discuss Business and Social Media
Ray Jordan on Johnson & Johnson’s Social Media Strategy
JetBlue’s Social Media Strategy with Jenny Dervin
David Meerman Scott, Author of Real-Time Marketing and PR
John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing and The Referral Engine
The New York Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators held a panel providing insight on Google+ called, “Beyond Google+: How the Best Brands Are Using Social Media to Enhance Corporate Reputation and Grow their Business.”
Panelists included:
- David Stark, Program Manager, Social Business Services, IBM
- Jeffrey Hayzlett, The Hayzlett Group; Former CMO, VP, Eastman Kodak
- Esteban Contreras, Social Media Manager, Samsung
David Stark, Program Manager for Social Business Services at IBM believes that social media is an important component of your company/organization’s strategy and makes your organization transparent, but there comes a point of social overload: How many networks can you really use or have the time to use? To answer that question you should see which social media marketing channel benefits you and your company best.
But before you even start you must ask the following questions:
– Are your customers in that area?
– What activity and leads are you generating from one all the time?
– Do you understand your data?
– Are you able to measure your data?
– Is the data real-time or two weeks after it all happens?
The best strategy may be what you have already been doing successfully applied through Twitter, YouTube, and/or Facebook. In moving the brand forward David believes that social media has been best used whem previously customers may have failed with a customer service rep and now that customer can go on Twitter and ask for help and resolve any problems quickly as those same customer service reps are now engaging customers on Twitter. You can follow David on Twitter @davidastark.
Jeffrey Hayzlett of The Hayzlett Group started off by providing some figures:
– Google+ has 25 million users
– LinkedIn has 120 million users
– Twitter has 145 million users
– Facebook has 750 million users
Jeffrey’s take on Google plus is that he sees other sites like Facebook and Twitter being influenced by Google+ where Facebook and Twitter are making similar offerings. Jeffrey suggested to think about the following before approaching your social media strategy:
– How can you measure things online that drive sales and drive customer satisfaction?
– Who should blog for the company?
To get the most out of these Jeff believes you have to provide a social media policy/guide for your employees. It is best to educate your employees, and when Jeff was at Kodak they named an employee as chief listening officer where his role served that similar to an air traffic controller: routing issues to specific departments/people in the right area to address those issues in the company. Jeff also stated that you hear a lot of, “What is the return on investment in social media?” but he feels the bigger issue is, “What is the return on ignoring?” The conversations will go on with or without your organization/company’s participation and you do not want to ignore those online conversations. You can follow Jeffrey on Twitter @jeffreyhayzlett.
Esteban Contreras, Social Media Manager for Samsung USA also began with a question your organization may want to ask before you jump into a social media strategy: Do you have the resources to handle Google+? Your staff must be ready to engage with those customers that decide to follow you in this social media channel. As for which social media channel works best you need to count circles, see and understand the metrics. In the current workplace employees must always be connected to post content, respond to people at all times, and demonstrate that we are listening to our customers. Esteban also sees many benefits of Google+ including enabling users with added search that you cannot do on Facebook. Esteban blogs and podcasts about technology + marketing + social media at socialnerdia.com. Follow him @socialnerdia and @samsungesteban, and learn more at estebancontreras.com.
You may also be interested in these posts:
Allison Fine and Beth Kanter The Networked Nonprofit: Connecting with Social Media to Drive Change
Gary Vaynerchuk and The Thank You Economy
Gary Vaynerchuk and Robert Scoble Discuss Business and Social Media
Ray Jordan on Johnson & Johnson’s Social Media Strategy
JetBlue’s Social Media Strategy with Jenny Dervin
David Meerman Scott, Author of Real-Time Marketing and PR
John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing and The Referral Engine
The Mike Johnson Blog 
