Remember that company Vitrue? I\u2019ll jog your memory \u2013 they\u2019re the ones who made the hilariously inaccurate\u00a0Facebook ROI calculator. They\u2019re also the ones to\u00a0proclaim a no-better-than-random\u00a0valuation of a fan\u00a0on social channels.\u00a0Despite making social media management software I still don\u2019t think they get social.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s continuing example of their misunderstanding social comes courtesy of their PR firm. Jennifer Jones at Porter Novelli sent me a ping sharing a list Vitrue has drawn up on the \u201ctop social media brands of 2010.\u201d Here\u2019s the pitch sent:<\/p>\n
Hi Adam \u2013<\/p>\n
The Vitrue 100 list has just been released detailing the top social media brands of 2010.<\/p>\n
We created this video to help demonstrate the findings.\u00a0http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=crR9Ve6TdU4<\/p>\n
Here is a link to the press release: \u00a0http:\/\/www.businesswire.com\/news\/home\/20110107005993\/en\/iPhone-Continues-Three-Year-Reign-Consumer-Electronics-Dominate<\/p>\n
I also have an infographic if you\u2019d like that as well.<\/p>\n
Best,
\nJennifer<\/p>\nJENNIFER A. JONES
\n<\/strong>Senior\u00a0Vice President
\nDigital Communications Group
\n<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nThis being a blog for communications pros, I\u00a0frequently share\u00a0pitches verbatim to highlight everything you do is\u00a0potentially<\/em>\u00a0social, plus continue to share my perspective being on both sides of the media and marketing fence.<\/p>\n
Anyway, couple things about this pitch:<\/strong><\/p>\n
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- If Jennifer researched my blog (or has been a reader for awhile) she is very brave to pitch on Vitrue as she\u00a0knows\u00a0<\/em>how I feel about this brand (if this is the case, she wins today because I\u2019m blogging about them).<\/li>\n
- If she didn\u2019t know about my history of sharing thoughts on Vitrue, thinking I\u2019m going to care about the YouTube video and press release links is a bit\u00a0presumptive.\u00a0It\u2019s like trying to go all the way on the first date \u2013 I\u2019ve never\u00a0received\u00a0an email from Jennifer or Vitrue personally. If they build a relationship with me first I would be a heck of a lot more willing to check out links sent. I get\u00a0so<\/em>\u00a0many links sent to me everyday not just by PR people and other businesses pitching me on their services but also by friends. Why should I look at their links? What permission have they built?<\/li>\n
- Vitrue\u00a0has a blog<\/em>. I too am a blogger. If the PR team wants me to respond to something they\u2019re doing \u2013 maybe they should link to me in a post prompting a discussion? The chances I would respond are very high and it would be more a discussion (and a better way to change my perspective).<\/li>\n
- The pitch itself is short \u2013 Jennifer did well there (you wouldn\u2019t believe the number of 1000 word pitches I get sent \u2013 my friend\u00a0Eric Friedman\u00a0and I have an ongoing back channel about these things that provides a bit of amusement).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Now a few things about the content being pitched since they asked\u00a0me to look<\/strong><\/p>\n
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- There is no meaning behind the list other than that proclaimed by Vitrue. I clicked the link to their press release which lacked methodology for how these are put together other than saying \u201craw mentions.\u201d Which is about as meaningful as any other data they release (so, not meaningful at all). We could go through the fact their list isn\u2019t even apples to apples as it has products and brands together. Or the fact there is no mention for how the brands and products are chosen (or how they\u2019ve been compiled). But we don\u2019t need to because Vitrue already has the\u00a0reputation\u00a0for pretty much making stuff up.<\/li>\n
- The video is altogether unsharable. Bad stock music. Takes too long to make a point (and doesn\u2019t really make much of a point anyway). Bland graphics (feels stock). The font text is boring. \u00a0Here it is\u00a0on YouTube\u00a0if you really want to see \u2013 it just feels poorly thrown together. Come on guys if you want to be taken seriously on a stats video or any creative content\u00a0up your game: look at what\u00a0Jess3\u00a0or\u00a0Erik Qualman\u00a0have done\u00a0with\u00a0well produced<\/em>\u00a0and creative videos on stats. \u00a0Finally \u2013 the core content isn\u2019t accurate (or really super interesting or insightful) so\u00a0even if<\/em>\u00a0they had a nice video it wouldn\u2019t matter. Here\u2019s a primer on\u00a0content marketing\u00a0they should probably check out (pay attention to slide 41).<\/li>\n
- The infographic offered is floating around the web too (here it is on\u00a0Mashable). I have the same feedback as the video to this \u2013 it just feels rushed. Again they need to up their game: other brands in their space going after the same market such as Flowtown publish incredible infographics\u00a0on their blog\u00a0multiple times<\/em>\u00a0monthly. Guess what, their infographics are so good (both from a visual and content standpoint) they don\u2019t even need to pitch bloggers on them. Bloggers\u00a0organically share\u00a0them. Flowtown is doing it right, they realize this stuff isn\u2019t a one time event to be pitched, rather they are building permission and\u00a0growing a community.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Look, I don\u2019t dislike Vitrue\u2019s product or team and was fine with leaving them alone (and do appreciate that their team members have\u00a0commented\u00a0on previous threads about their brand). But if they are going to\u00a0<\/em>not just publish inaccurate information for the world to see but also ping me with it,\u00a0of course<\/em>\u00a0I\u2019m going to analyze it.\u00a0Subscribers\u00a0know that\u2019s kind of what we do here, usually to prove a point.<\/p>\n
I still think they\u2019re missing the mark of this category \u2013 yeah they\u2019re getting some press but their content marketing overall lets me down a bit. Maybe my expectations are too high. What do you think?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Remember that company Vitrue? I\u2019ll jog your memory \u2013 they\u2019re the ones who made the hilariously inaccurate\u00a0Facebook ROI calculator. They\u2019re … <\/p>\n