I’ve been following Brian Solis’s ongoing dialogue about popularity versus influence, and he repeatedly and adamantly says, “Influence is not popularity.”  To further back up his claim, he recently worked with Vocus to conduct a survey to determine what makes an online influencer. Today, they published the findings in a report titled, “Influencer grudge match: Lady Gaga versus Bono.”

The reference to Lady Gaga and Bono stems from a question on whether respondents felt influence was different than popularity. More than 90% said indeed there was a difference and one responded wrote in the open ended section of this question, “Lady Gaga is popular, Bono is influential.”

But the report also revealed that this question isn’t as black and white as we might assume. For example, one of the subsequent questions found 84% of respondents said there was a correlation with reach and influence. Does that mean Lady Gaga is influential because of her six million Twitter followers?

This report has some great brain food to feed this thought leadership debate, so be sure to add it to your reading list.

So what do you think? Is influence different from popularity?

In a way that only my wife can do, she responded to me lamenting about my Fantasy Football team’s poor performance on Sunday by suggesting I pretend my team won. That’s a good point, really. If I can pretend I drafted these guys then I might as well pretend they won, right?

At Matter, we’re demonstrating daily that we know how to win. We’re three quarters into our 2010 season and we’re experiencing wins at all levels – from securing an exclusive on CNBC.com on behalf of a long-standing technology client (ATG) to placing a bylined article on a wildly popular Mommy blog on behalf of a consumer-electronics company (Lexar), and everything in between. The “wins” keep coming, and so do the new clients that fuel our rapid growth. I’m excited about the coming quarter and the year ahead.

I’m also excited about seeing our agency – together – at this afternoon’s staff meeting. Our dynamite team from Providence is traveling 95 North to talk shop (briefly!) and hoist a few beers with our equally wonderful team in Newburyport, and I’m looking forward to spending time with the group. PR agencies play a team game – and we are so fortunate to have a deep list of “starters,” all of whom make serious contributions toward their client’s success. I value every contribution our team members make to our agency’s shared success, and greatly respect the smart and strategic counsel they give to our clients.

I’m proud of this group, and look forward to working with them in the 4th quarter. There is no better PR Team than the one assembled at Matter – that’s a reality.

Facebook can control your life. Okay, so that was an exaggeration. But, Facebook did control the life of Meet Eater, an Australian plant that was watered and fed in conjunction with interaction on its Facebook page.

The plant, which was hooked up to a computer, was automatically watered when people became a fan of the Facebook page or wrote comments on its wall. Acts of kindness and adoring Meet Eater celebrity were turned into extra drops of water.

Meet Eater quickly gained popularity, and as a result it was over-watered and died. The plant is now being replaced (for the third time) by a more water resilient species. This is part of an interactive project at the University of Queensland in Australia, which the creator describes the experiment as “a desire to reestablish the connection between human beings and plants.” The plant is even hooked up to speakers so it can purr or splutter, when it’s happy or being overwhelmed.

Now this is an extraordinary use of Facebook. But is it too much? How are you using Facebook?

Just a few short months after we in the Matter Providence office toasted our colleague Christina Beavers‘ wedding, it was time today to raise a glass of bubbly for our own Julie Sellew! We wished Julie the best on her upcoming wedding to her sweetie Tim (and asked her to take many photos during their awesome honeymoon to Hong Kong and Thailand!) . That brings our office’s life milestone count to four beautiful babies, three engagements and soon to be TWO weddings in recent years. We are certainly a lucky bunch, and we appreciate our good fortune.

If you know us at Matter Providence well at all, you know that in 2010 we’ve turned into some serious cupcake connoisseurs. In a truly Julie-centric twist for this bridal shower, we had her do a blindfold taste test of three different types of cupcakes and try to select the one from Nancy’s Fancies here on Federal Hill (the planned favors for her wedding guests!). As Andy Meltzer predicted, it wasn’t even a contest, and she correctly named the cupcakes from Cup ‘n Rol and Stop & Shop as well!

Here are a few shots of the festivities. It was great to share some laughs with our co-workers!

The bride to be!

“When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” – Ernest Hemingway 

When I was 19, home for summer break from college, my dad gave me a copy of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. If you haven’t read it or can’t guess from the title what it’s about, the book outlines seven habits that help a person lead an effective life.  One part I tend to re-read is Habit 5, which is the art of listening to understand. I read it often because like many people, listening completely is not one of my innate strengths.  I am frequently guilty of listening only for what I want to hear, or listening only for an opportunity to make my next point, rather than listening to understand what’s being communicated.

To illustrate, let me share a story. Last week, in the chaos of rushing the kids out the door to school (late), my daughter Grace asked if it was okay for her to put her giant backpack into the back of our SUV. “Sure, toss it back there and hop in, kiddo. We’re late!” She opened the back, deposited the bag, and dutifully hopped into her seat in the car. “All set Mom,” she said, as she fastened her seat belt.  I heard exactly what I wanted to: we were clear for takeoff.

 I backed out of the garage, mentally ticking through my to-do list while answering a question about three-year-old Will’s new teacher – activities that were abruptly ended by a loud, ripping crack as the open tailgate of the car crashed into the garage door. When Grace said “All set, Mom” what she meant was, she was ready to go. She’s nine. She’s not tall enough to shut the back door. If I had been really listening to her in that moment, I would have avoided the hours, money and headache expended to repair the car. (And yes: I am aware that checking the rear-view mirror before backing out might also have averted the incident, but that doesn’t help me make the point I’m going for here.)

In public relations, as in life, good listening is essential to effectiveness, and to avoiding headaches. The practice of thoughtful, results-oriented PR requires careful and empathetic listening – to clients, to reporters, to analysts, to customers, to competitors. Taking time to understand the audience you’re engaging is crucial to connecting, and connecting is the key to sharing information and gaining credibility.

I’m not unique in suggesting that listening is crucial to PR, there have been and – I hope – will continue to be many articles written about the importance of listening in our field. Further, the advent and adoption of social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook forces companies and PR professionals listen to their stakeholders in a whole new way – as Eric Qualman, author of Socialnomics says, “…it’s about listening first, selling second.”

Truly listening as part of the way we communicate is the best way to achieve the results our clients expect, whether we’re creating a spot-on positioning platform for a technology company, or generating excitement about a new brand of body wash, or finding just the right story angle to help illustrate a key value of a client.

After the garage door incident, I re-read the key points of Habit 5 and resolved to listen better, in each moment, whether at work or at home. Oh, and I’ll also be sure to check the rearview mirror before backing out of the garage.

Here at Matter we’ve been hiring. We’ve been fortunate to bring in some cool new accounts and grow some existing accounts. The hiring process and interviews have gotten me thinking about traits that impress me in PR candidates. Here’s what I look for:

1 – Be talkative: Can you tell a story? Doesn’t matter what it’s about. If you can tell a good story about your apartment search or fantasy football league, you can tell a good story about our clients that’ll lead to coverage.

2 – But not too talkative: Know when to zip it. Make your point and stop yakking. (Also an important trait once you’ve been hired. In internal meetings. On client calls. In phone pitches.)

3 – Listen: I’m amazed how often candidates don’t listen. Maybe they’re nervously preparing their next answer. Or thinking about the answer they just gave. Doesn’t matter. If you can’t hold an engaging two-way conversation during a job interview, how well will you listen in a meeting with the client?

4 – Do your homework: I know, I know. This is Interview 101. But if a candidate knows the industry award that Matter just won, it tells me they’ll do their homework before sending that pitch to the New York Times. I don’t think a candidate who researched which accounts I work on and where I used to work will spam reporters once we hire them. I just don’t.

5 – Be assertive. Stand up for yourself. If you’re a strong advocate for yourself, you’ll be a strong advocate for our clients. Believe in your skills.

6 – No fragile flowers: If you’re flustered and timid in the job interview, what are you going to do after a reporter hangs up on you?

7 – Think on your feet: An employer once asked me what ducks and refrigerators have in common. I think that type of question is contrived and silly. But if you can tell me how to respond to the reporter who declined to cover our apparel client’s event because of a NASCAR race the same weekend, I’m listening.

8 – Reporter rapport: Be interested in reporters and what they do. Think about their jobs. Care about the news business. Treat them as people, not tools. OK, as a former reporter, this is personal. But I’ve got little use for PR people who view reporters as foes. If you do, it tells me you’ve pissed off enough reporters to have lousy relationships with them. So I’m wondering, “What’d you do to screw up that relationship?”

9 – Show some personality: One reason Matter’s a great place to work is because of the interesting people who work here. One colleague went to clown school. I’m not making this up. Another sips Russian vodka and reads Tolstoy – but only in the winter. Another fronts a grindcore band. What makes you different? All of us work a lot. Why not surround ourselves with interesting personalities?

10 – How’s your jump shot? After-work basketball is a favorite pastime at Matter. So hoop skillz are a key asset in landing a job here. Note to HR department: JUST KIDDING. All our hiring decisions are made solely on the basis of PR skills and experience. (But seriously, how’s your crossover dribble?)

Everyone’s interview checklist is different. What did I leave out? What do you look for in a PR candidate?

Launching into Q4, many of our clients are already looking ahead to 2011. That means we at Matter will be spending plenty of time brainstorming creative ways to out-shine our 2010 campaigns and results (who knew it was possible?). And while some of those creative ideas sound great during our brainstorm sessions, sitting down to tactically plan their execution can be rather sobering.

But, it’s that process of poking holes in our own ideas – asking ourselves how and why this makes sense for our client’s business – that make our plans concrete, actionable and focused on PR and business results. If we ourselves aren’t sold on how our ideas connect with the client’s ultimate PR and business goals, then we shouldn’t be recommending them.

So as 2011 planning meetings come into full swing, let’s not be afraid to get those creative juices flowing. But at the end of the day, if that great idea can’t be tied to your client’s business goals, then maybe it shouldn’t make it out of the brainstorm and into the plan.

First, a disclosure: I am an unashamed Google fan-boy.  And, as a service, I’m sure Gmail Priority Inbox will shine like most of the others. The problem is, it is just one more crutch for individuals to use in dealing with too much email.

Rather than relying on advanced technology or systems for processing our email overload, let’s collectively change the behaviors that lead to it. In my own personal dream world, we’d have a standardized set of email rules of engagement that would include:

- We will use email for sharing information and documenting decisions, not for debate and deliberation

- We will reasonably possible, we will endeavor to talk first, type second

- We will emulate Jerry Seinfeld in the episode entitled “The Face Painter“, in which he declares ” I’m taking a stand against all this over thanking.” In email, we will assume that the “Thanks.” is implied or sign off with some version of “Thanks in advance”

- We will require that all e-newsletters, promotional emails, etc. must be opt-in

- We will really think about whether “all” need to see the message before using “reply all”

Those five rules alone would likely eliminate the majority of what drives us crazy about email.

What do you think? Are these rules reasonable? Am I really dreaming to think we could collectively change our behavior in a meaningful way?

Last week, I wrote about the evolution of online customer engagement over the past decade. I advocated that your customer – not your website – needs to be at the center of your online marketing strategy.

Most companies embrace this principle and believe they adhere to it. But time and again, I see two very basic – but extremely costly – mistakes being made.

Mistake 1: Not knowing enough about your customers’ online lives

Sure, it seems that “everybody” is online today. And maybe they are, but for vastly different reasons. Before you spend the time, effort and money with a full-scale online blitz, do some research. Assuming you know a fair bit about who your customers actually are (many companies don’t, but that’s a topic for another post), you then need to make sure you understand their online lives. There is a wealth of information from the likes of comScore, Nielsen, Pew Internet and Simmons about what different demographic and psychographic groups are doing online.

Things like gender, age, family size, profession and household income can have a dramatic impact on how many of your customers are online, what they are doing (researching products and services, shopping, looking for jobs, looking for coupons, socializing, etc.) and what types of media they prefer to consume (written, video, audio, photo).

Oh, and as I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, the internet is all about rapid change, so be sure to confirm or adjust your learnings regularly (at least once / year).

Mistake 2: No knowing what your customers want from your brand

What are there biggest problems / questions / needs? How can you best meet them? Do they want information? Entertainment? Access? Deals?

Don’t assume you know. Ask.

Already have a Facebook fan page or Twitter account? Poll your fans and followers. Have an email database? Survey them.

Don’t worry that you are “bothering” them. If you are truly interested in providing more value, your customers and prospects will appreciate it. (Of course, depending on how much info you are asking for, a little incentive for responding can’t hurt!)

The proliferation of – and hype around – cheap and easy online marketing tools creates an almost irresistible urge for companies to “just do it”. And I certainly advocate for a “ready-fire-aim” approach in many cases. But it’s worth first knowing where the target is.

The PR industry has changed rapidly in the past 10 years. On one hand, technology has made our lives easier by providing us with instant access to information and new forms of communication. On the other hand, it makes your head spin.

On any given day, I’m monitoring several print pubs, and dozens of websites and blogs. I’m answering two phones and a Skype line, texting, writing blog posts, checking two email accounts, responding to instant messages, following LinkedIn group strings, and Tweeting and Facebooking from several accounts. This doesn’t even account for all the client calls and team meetings, and all the work that has to get done.

So, how do you avoid the drinking-from-a-fire-hose mentality and leave at the end of the day feeling as though you have been productive, efficient and effective?

For me, there have been two key behavioral/thought process changes that have helped curtail the madness (which I secretly adore, by the way).

The first is all about focus. Shut it down, turn it off, ignore it, and focus on the task at hand. My colleague, Julie Sellew, said it best in a recent post about monotasking. I highly recommend that you refer back to her piece, but in short, it’s about not trying to be everything to everyone, all of the time.

I’ve always taken great pride in my ability to multitask. I’m certain that the word “multitasking” was in the resume that helped me get this job … and every gig before it. Staying cool under pressure is one thing, but finishing the projects you start can be extremely challenging when information is coming at you from every direction. Focus on one project and complete it before you let something else grab your attention. It sounds easy enough, right?

I’ve also changed the way that I think about every task at hand. One of the biggest challenges PR pros have now is that with all these new communication channels comes the need to communicate through them on a regular basis. We’re writing press releases, pitches, blog posts, newsletters, Web and brochure copy, speaker abstracts, articles, and anything else that a client might need.

The key is to avoid reinventing the wheel every time you need to come with that new content. Think of blog posts as pitch topics, and use excerpts of bylined articles as newsletter articles. It’s about cross-utilizing some or all of the content that we create and ensuring that we make the most of the insights that our clients share with us. So, rather than thinking of every task or assignment as a siloed project, I try to think, “What else can I do with this?”

All of this is about working smarter. It can be tough to slow down and think about what you are doing and how you are doing it when the pace quickens, but in the end, it can save you a lot of time – and make life a little easier.

Now, about that email …