Mel Hopkins

Did someone say "Conference"? Did you know my perfect idea of vacation is at a conference, convention and/or seminar! One of my most "funnest" job was exhibit coordinator for Penguin USA... So here's an idea - how about first checking your events list to see if it triggers one those annual association meetings that we can piggyback. For example, @Troy have you thought about pitching a breakout session for one those established meetings or events...You can negotiate for meeting space and honorarium. Or it doesn't have to be a one-time event either but where ever we hold it, adding a hangout or youtube live will allow others to attend who couldn't make the trip. We could start out small with gotomeeting (they have a free 30-day trial) to format an agenda and then begin promotion to gauge interest. Whatever way I can assist, I will!

Sara, my pleasure! I'm with you on the production thing! I'm using all that I'm learning on here in our community and putting it into action!

Here it is: "METHODOLOGY The insights in this article were derived from three sources. Nielsen+ESSENCE Custom Survey 2014: The custom data used in this report is composed of a collection of surveys. 1.) Survey of Adults 18+ that was collected from a nationally representative online panel, plus an additional oversample of African-Americans. 2.) Survey collected in person at the 2014 ESSENCE Festival in New Orleans. 3.) Interviews conducted in person at the 2014 ESSENCE Festival in New Orleans. Television Methodology: “On Traditional TV” includes live usage plus any playback viewing within the measurement period. Third-quarter 2014 television data is based on the following measurement interval: 06/30/14-09/28/14. As of February 2011, “DVR Playback” has been incorporated into the Persons Using Television (PUT) statistic. Mobile Methodology: Nielsen’s Electronic Mobile Measurement (EMM) is an observational, user-centric approach that uses passive metering technology on smartphones to track device and application usage on an opt-in convenience panel. Results are then reported out through Nielsen Mobile NetView 3.0. There are approximately 5,000 panelists in the U.S. across both iOS and Android smartphone devices."

Thank you! I'm looking forward to the video. I'm consolidating my blogs into 2 . I just set up a wordpress blog through godaddy dot com hosting. This info will come in handy. I have a disqus account too so I'm looking forward to your report on that one as well.

Nielsen reports that African-Americans outpace all groups when consuming media through multi-platforms. According to the audience measurement company, African-Americans watch more television, access their favorite websites, many of which feature financial or career content, through apps and/or mobile browsers. "On a monthly basis, blacks spend close to 56 hours using apps or mobile Internet browsers on their smartphones and about two and a half hours watching videos on their smartphones. Additionally, 81% of African-Americans are more likely to show support for a favorite company or brand using social media, and 76% are more likely to share opinions by posting reviews and ratings online." ~nielsen I MULTIFACETED CONNECTIONS: AFRICAN-AMERICAN MEDIA USAGE OUTPACES ACROSS PLATFORMS Other Nielsen findings conclude African-Americans : "flock to best-fit media outlets for news-gathering and entertainment" Watch 200 hours of television per month - choosing live programming and video-on-demand prefer print and still choose a variety of newspapers and magazines featuring heritage and cultural content continue to connect through radio with more than 70 % listening to Urban Contemporary, Adult Urban Contemporary, RnB contemporary, and 90 % tuning in for the Gospel and Urban Oldies format are likely share opinions for their favorite brand (81%) through social media and 76% likely to leave an online review/ratings. are avid users of popular social media and blogging channels smart phone penetration is at 81% - 7% higher than the rest of the groups. One more thing of note; Nielsen reports that mainstream media outlets establish niche websites that have culturally rich content. Translation: PWM (Predominately White Media) create websites that cater to African-Americans in an effort to advertise to the purse holders of that est. 1.7 trillion dollar purchasing power.

Astute observation! I think the hardest thing is not getting swept up in the "conversation" for example; I got caught up in the political implications of Justice Scalia's death allow for President Obama to make a move before he leaves office ... If I would have taken the opportunity to first blog about it then tweet from my blog...I could have capture some passers-by in my excitement. It isn't a habit I've cultivated it - but thinking about my online property as a platform first then sharing my ideas - is what I need to work on.

Off-topic but not really... The same day I tweeted the best black blog list... my own blog - www.dailymindf-ck.com got 786 page views within a few hours... I NEVER get that many page views in one day, ever and that's my most popular blog on blogger ...(I have about 4 on blogger and 1 on wordpress. All of which I'm in the process of consolidating). When I looked at my traffic sources it linked back to aalbc.com with my blog name. The dailymind is the one blog I uploaded to the huria blog list. I think I added blog.theleadstory.net too Even if I faked it, I still couldn't make sense of how I got all those pageviews. The tweet only had 85 impressions and 0 clicks on the link I'm going to wait a couple of days and again tweet the list again to see if happens again.

OR even better, if that is that how we can use this page? http://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/

I agree... maybe start a topic... "Did you update your blog today?" and whenever a blogger post something new they can link it there - and even give a quick synopsis. For example If I updated my blog with this recent post, "Amazon Associates continues to troll me" < My 50-11th time Amazon Associates denied my application and closed my account > Read more Then it would be a reminder of who is actively blogging and we community members and lurkers could check us out.

Powerful reporting!

I got a bit verklempt reading this piece of "HerStory". Thank you for sharing you with us! It is amazingly beautiful how being present and deliberate in your steps clears the path for so many to come. Thank you.

Chris, I get your frustration -but it's the nature of media. Your story hasn't placed because you've put too much information in it. A pitch is really a headline such as the one I wrote for you. Once the editor hears it - s/he usually says tell me more. and that's how you know you're going to get placement. Then make sure you have an ear. A lot of folks think "Spray it and pray" but to get coverage it is an intimate conversation with...one news editor/director at a time. Wait? You did a website for a local Oprah ? Please tell me she put you on! Do me a favor, just one favor use the pitch I wrote for you (of course fill in the blanks but don't make it any longer.) Call your favorite local news editor/producer act as your own publicist (meaning you don't have to say you are you unless they ask) and pitch them the story idea. Now one or two things might happen - you'll get the story - but you'll also be ripe for radio/tv/print salesperson to come after you next. Still editorial and sales are supposed to be separate so you'll be able to keep them at bay.

Since this is an open-forum and I'm a stickler for usage I need to recap. Also since we have so many PR peeps such as the PR person who approached you with a lot of misinformation I feel a need for clarity. What's worse she didn't even bother to learn your business before she made a pitch. (Yes, I'm still smarting over that) I want to make sure authors who read this page are equipped with the proper information so they can weed out the competent from the incompetent PR practitioners. Public Relations maintains the public image of the company and is responsible for communicating with the public which includes the stakeholders, customers, clients, etc . Public Relations usually exist under the umbrella of Corporate Communication. You @Troy as the founder seem to be holding down the Corporate Communication department in its entirety. There's Media Relations. Media Relations is a component of Public Relations and the Media Relations specialist maintains a relationship with the Press. Public Relations= Company <-->Publics Media Relations = Company <-->Press Next there's Marketing, Social Media, Advertising & Sales. Social Media is about relationships, warming the market and attracting traffic to your product. At one point, Social Media was relegated to customer service. (I still believe that's the best place but i don't get a vote) Social Media is usually under the Marketing Department but it also has a communication component so often times you'll find Social Media Managers in Corporate Communication. Company=Advertiser <--> Paid spots/space in Editorial Content. The Advertiser is the company and they pay the editorial content owner for spots/or space and s/he earns the ad revenue. For example, those 100 top black websites provide the content and google's AdSense program (contextual advertisements) and amazon associates program (Link Advertisements) provide some of the advertisements. When I was in news, local companies sponsored some of my special projects - that's another form of advertising. Here's where I say remember your goal when using either social media and advertising. Social media : The Content is "what can I do for you..." Advertising: The Content is "here's what you can do for me." Today companies such as Delta Airlines, Marriott, and other large companies also have an internal News department which are headed by a Editorial Director, Senior Manager, News. Again, this all comes under the heading of Corporate Communication. (communication not communications because communications refers to electronic transmissions) In Corporate Communication, the News Department is now packaging their own news content to compete with websites such as the 100 black websites you've mentioned. Check out the Marriott Traveler . Instead of waiting for Conde Nast Traveler to pick up a story on the Marriott; the Marriott said bump this we have our own publication! Packaging and specialization is a surefire way to get traffic both online and off . This is why I packaged Chris in that pitch. No matter how far we get from our origins we still communicate through symbols. Symbols send messages to our subconscious and allow us retain and act on it. Troy, there are so many ways I can package you. For example The Griot, comes to mind When I think of you. I think Troy's the holder of the stories. He's the Digital Librarian, who is bringing writers, readers together and helping us use technology to get the word out about the stories we love - even the stories we write. I suspect folks will never tire of gossip. So yes those 100 top black website may never go out of style. But who cares? We have something else to offer the world so I'll use #KeepPounding and #KeepPushing to remind us to do our thing. But back to Social Media. What's the most effective use of social media? Again, as you noticed Troy - your tweet went viral because it offered a solution to today's burning and trending topic :"Diversity in Media" . Also I have to quote @CDBurns "the Power of a Tweet only works when you’ve truly invested yourself into a community.~ Currently, this is the only community I'm investing in... Why? 1- It is a community. 2- I'm re-learning a lot of what I already know but forgot. 3 -And the information you all are sharing is allowing me to learn a lot more.

I meant to quote this one and it's most difficult to do on the phone!! But the comment on the other one is still valid. Not really leaving anything out. My information is all over the net. What I speak of here Is a snapshot of my pitch/placement success and it is my own - no backers no infuencer; only me doing my consultant thing. I work as a marketing consultant and have since the late 80s and my USP, my focus, is helping creatives, sometimes hightech entrepreneurs, soft sell through media. My niche is media. (Dam it feels weird to write that but it is the truth and that one skill set has taken me so many places) What's missing is the fact, that sometimes I will take employment if the position interest me And those employers hire me to use my communication ability...if I included my accomplishments when working with an employer you'd think I was telling a tale. But yes my resume is impressive. But I digress . Media placement is low cost way to sell. you don't buy ads you simply get folks to talk about you,. I don't get so wrapped in stats when I look at my amazon associates or adsense report i look for one thing How Much did I earn! Did someone buy? I compare the cost of sale to the return on investment. In media placement the cost is time. Do you know how much a full page ad in Black Enterprise cost? That is the stat you are concerned with when an editor decides to run a story on you. My "pitch" "bought" me space. Someone is talking about me - not me talking about myself. Other stats you concern yourself with is how much time did you spend compared to how many people saw that article or broadcast -(impressions) Then you determine if it's still available on-line. Can you leverage it? After self-publishing my novel, In the first six months I sold about 1000 print books through soft sales. No handselling -some direct sales through appearances and the rest through distributors -personal distributors and established distribution channels. No hardsell. Now I average less than 1 sale a month but then again I'm in the process of restructuring my entire company. Also in an effort to make an accurate measurment you have to define the clients' goals. For example my clients used the print and broadcast placement to advance their careers.. My young clients included their media clips in college applications. My tech client was raising funds for his communications company. His appearance broaden his market and invited more backers. I even pitched directly to potential backers on his behalf. ( Media, as you know is plural and has many channels. I use all on my clients'behalf. ) As he went on to get government (military) funding for one of his products - mainstream media coverage provided legitimacy -because there is a paper trail. He used the ebony, black enterprise spread as leverage for commercial appeal. This particular government grant ask that his product also appealed to the private sector. My film producer expanded her territory - or at the least she was able to speak with women directly in Chicago and that allowed for more DVD sales. Roland Martin is an excellent journalist so our half-hour was fun! Imagine how much it cost to purchase 30 minutes of airtime on WVON in chicago! Her cost was only my fee - and i'm sure that was less than .1 % of the cost of 30 minutes airtime. As for stats to my website -melhopkins.com it is a static website Last month I had 200 unique visitors and the only reason why that happened is because my new twitter handle is "melhopkins dot com" <something so simple lol> But the bottomline in my business is getting attention. I do that well!

Quick tutorial on how to pitch get placed.and get clips.. 1) start w/local media - identify your favorite broadcast station/ tv/radio / print daily, weekly, that also has an online presence and features local stories (all do -but distinguish between syndicated broadcast and local broadcast) who are the decision makers? 2) listen /watch and determine why the news editor/producer choose the local features ? What is the angle of the story? 3) what is the local temperature? What is going on in your area? You have to strike when you know you can capture the mental real estate - mery streep made news and was trending topic yesterday because a reporter used her words as clickbait for his headline (lack of diversity in hollywood is hot topic) ii user the opportunity to promote a book I'm reading. 3) understand what you are selling. - you are NOT selling shoes anymore than nike sells sneakers and athletic wear. Your shoes are the keys that loosed the shackles of the w-2 chains You are not writing blogs or books...you are LEADING A MOVEMENT to help others free themselves from 9 to 5 slavery. In this job market , I just read that eligible workers have given up looking for job - they are the longterm unemployed these folks are your market! Your media pitch? "A Memphis entrepreneur is lacing up his own designed running shoes and lesding others to find their own economic freedom.. CD Burns of (shoe business name) is .teaching young men to become their own boss...and if they become distributors of his product in the process that's just a win win - Burns says it is his way of helping others realize their dream...blah blah... Note: yea I clean up "good" but when I pitch no one sees me - I don't know these folks. so I'm just words. My folks get placed (in print or broadcast) because I fill time and inches. In short, I just help editors get their job done. You can help editors too once you start thinking like them. In the process, you'll get more clips to share with those you are helping to free themselves.

I think the founder of Medium.com who is also twitter co-founder probably thought the same. When a twitter follower urged me to start writing at Medium in 2013, I remember the sign up was through the twitter account. All my twitter followers with Medium accounts became my Medium followers instantly. Now more of my twitter followers are on Medium.com so we are able to tweet stories from each other onto the twitter platform. I'm on twitter strictly because I'm a media junkie, and because Twitter breaks news first and globally. By the way, cool observation. I betcha that's probably why Medium.com was 'born'

Below is the truth of SOCIAL MEDIA. This is the crux of that billion word article... (just teasing you) "the Power of a Tweet only works when you’ve truly invested yourself into a community.~ @CDBurns

It is only difficult because of lack of experience in the media relations arena... The on-air thing came as a result of my marketing gig...I was pitching stories to news before I started reporting it. The news director who hired me noticed I had an eye/ear for news. One gig led to another because I'm writer. So that's my only edge. No influencers; I know what stories to pitch and I know what won't work. Still I pitch stories that editors consider and then kill. I once pitched a story to Black Enterprise about this dude who put together a deal; a big deal for vodafone. It was a great story all the parts where in place and vodafone folks were ok with the publicity but the american contingent ,dude's boss, wouldn't let him take the credit publicly even though it was his deal... Story was dead on arrival. I pitched a story to essence about vasectomies and black men - I had the expert doctors lined up to go on record and everything. I even had young men willing to talk about the snip -the editor was game at first but then she quickly lost interest... The truth of vasectomies I think would be discouraging to her readers but it had a legs... So see these people aren't my friends - they have a job to do and I know how to help them get their job done. When the BE editor picked up my story it was 2006 - no one was doing social selling... it was new and different. But I was actually pitching a story about my client a techie author (it don't get no boring than that lol ) when the editor noticed my HTML email signature promoting my book. It was no big deal to me. I was just getting the word out about my book ...but he liked it did a full page feature on me and my book!!!- and my client got a 1/4 page on a chipset he co-created . Still good though because I'd already placed my client in a full page-picture spread in Ebony. Here's how I pitched him - I told the editor do you know that commercial running about "fewer drop calls in your network" Well Meet my friend, blah blah the black scientist, wireless LAN expert who holds 25 patents to make sure you stay connected.. It was true and verifiable but a scientist doesn't know that's a news story- but a media person does. If I were to look at your stories I'd probably could tell you in a minute who to pitch to and how. Plus there has to be a hook. no one cares if you made a sneaker - no cares that you write articles but there is something about that folks will care about. That's what I do I find that thing that people will want to read. When you pitch a story it has to have two of the three elements - New, Novel or a Change component or it has to be straight out effing shocking.

I did it... and Black Enterprise did a story on me. (Click the black enterprise link) and I was about as unknown as anyone can be when I self-published my first novel . What's worse is my novel dealt with the occult! Do you know how hard it is to sell the occult to a bunch a church going women LOL! I networked with direct marketer who put me on stage; I got social (Xanga, MySpace, Facebook, blogtalkradio, ), Print (Ebony, Black Enterprise, Chicago citizen, ) broadcast (podcasts and radio) and live media exposure..and this was 2006 mind you. My book was even adopted by 2 chicago book clubs. My nielsen bookscan rank was pretty decent in the first 6-months to a year after publishing - and I didn't even actively sell. Soft selling came through my "relationships" and public "appearances". Is it time consuming? Heck yeah! But what else you have to do but sell your product you're an entrepreneur! but to answer your question YOU PREPARE A COMMUNICATION PLAN and follow it! Before I took my 8 year hiatus I handled the media program for others...mostly for creatives and high tech folks though. One of my clients' work is now featured in the Library of Congress. Yep he's immortalized I mentioned for another client/partner , together we built a facebook fan page to 100,000 - and we even had Malcolm Jamar Warner chimed in on our page... But here's the key; you have to know your product and once you do you have to use that information in communication full-court press. One cannot solely rely on one media channel. This is why I said social media is NOT a strategy - it is a tactic in a communication plan. As for twitter accounts, again remember social media has social in it - social = relationship... J.K. recently went to twitter to defend casting a black woman has hermione . She has about 3,000 tweets now. I follow a lot of writers on my twitter account - and some prominent writers (screenwriters, songwriters, politicians) follow me - what I've learned about established writers, such as Hand of God's creator Ben Watkins @_benipedia_ , is they connect for relationships. Ben gets that more of us that reviewed his show on Amazon the better his chances at a second.

Thank you for sharing this ... Social Media Campaign is a misnomer. Especially, since Social Media 'marketing' is only one tactic in an overall communication plan. And make no mistake social media is in the communication section of a marketing plan Sadly, many new creative producers (musicians, authors, writers, etc) don't know how to market their product and that makes /her/him an easy mark. Marketing is not PR and PR is not Social Media... and none are SALES! As for authors not selling their books on social media - that's correct. Social media is a communication channel where the author "sells" her expertise. She doesn't say "buy my book." any more than United tweets "buy my tickets" or Chase tweets "deposit your money" or Beyonce post on instagram anything but lifestyle and fashion. Remember her infamous "the link is in the bio" on Instagram? The "BeyHive" is real. But I digress. Social media is for building relationships. Using Social media, an authors illustrates how her book can solve a problem, take a reader on an adventure, teach a lesson, etc. Social media is for helping those in your market achieve their goal. One can do this with any book...fiction or nonfiction - every book has something to teach. My first novel "Sleeping with a D-Man", illustrates how a young woman can survive the ensuing apocalypse after conjuring up hell on earth just by dating a wanted man. The whole time I was on Xanga, Myspace and a little on Facebook all I talked about were "relationships". I even co-hosted a popular blogtalk radio show "relationship playbook" and grew our page to more than 100,000 followers. I wasn't really a relationship expert - I helped people to see the unseen in their relationships and that's how I ended up soft-selling my novel. A good PR consultant would have advised this author of that one key tactic to reach her market and gain followers...help someone realize their dream and they will sell your product by their word of mouth. That is what Social Media is Word of Mouth Marketing and it is taboo to talk about yourself - you let others do it for you. If a PR person is advising her client to "sell" anything on social media then her client isn't going to experience much success.

Welp...a bbc reporter also noticed what I did about storytelling on a digital platform -His story "Is self-publishing coming of age in the digital world?" appeared today (note to self : more folks read AALBC.com forum than we know dude took my angle and ran with it) He featured white authors who also began their stories on blogs that became feature flicks... Digital platforms are perfect for succinct storytelling and the immediate feedback allows the writer to know if they are reaching the masses. Which of course, reaching the masses should be the goal of every writer!

@Troy it is in my original post: You can find it on the sentence - "the viral twitter story is here" click on the "here".

I got the kindle version of "African Unconscious" and as I'm reading it - I'm beginning to realize the "threatened return of the repressed" isn't limited to whites many direct descendants of Africa struggle with their own origin... I hear it our "us versus them" conversations. it is exhibited in "I'm not like those kind of blacks" type mentality. I hadn't thought of how some of us have our own internal struggle with being black...but once you hear/see it is hard not recognize it in your own.

I heard 50 Shades of Grey also started as a blog. Of course, sex sells there is no disputing that but this writer's success isn't about erotica or sex. This is a testament to "Zola"'s storytelling and her ability to use the platform to captivate an audience in 148 tweets . She spun a tale filled with drama, suspense and brought attention to a social ill.

Some writers work all their life to produce the great american novel and others, such as Aziah "Zola" King (Wells), tells her story in 148 tweets and now may get a movie deal. According to a news report in The Guardian, James Franco is reported to have signed on to direct a "potentially controversial true-life drama based on a wild and unsavoury stripper road trip to Florida that went viral on Twitter." The viral twitter story is here but the one Franco is said to direct is based on the Rollingstone interview with Aziah "Zola" Wells. It is a fantastical tale about 4 on a road trip, "Zola" and Jessica who work at hooters, work as part-time strippers and part-time sex workers, Jessica's violent Nigerian pimp and her boyfriend who allegedly attempts suicide. The tale deals with sex trafficking, prostitution, attempted suicide and murder. "Zola" is now 6 months pregnant with her first child and goes by the name Mrs. King . When interviewed she appeared more like a struggling writer than "server-turned-stripper-sex-worker". She said the first time she tweeted her "true" story no one paid attention. She said she removed it spiced it up and then posted again... Her "confession" reminds me of that line in "Finding Forrester"..."No thinking - that comes later. You must write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head".. Seems like Zola's final edit was good enough to get her the attention she sought even that of Director Ava DuVernay