Its generating a lot of buzz – and prompted everyone on twitter to try to get onto the skittles homepage by tweeting something about skittles.  Pretty brave when you think about it, with apparently no means of moderating the tweets Skittles has opened the door for open communication on their company homepage.

We like the idea…its a great PR stunt – get people talking about your brand in a completely new, trendy and different way.  However there is real potential for this plan to backfire.  First of all, Skittles isn’t active on Twitter, neither is its parent company Mars.  For a social media strategy to work long-term it’s got to be a 2-way conversation, which isn’t happening at all here.  What they’ve done is pull up a stream of anyone using the word ‘Skittles’ in their tweet.  Because of this there have been a few incredibly inappropriate tweets showing up – including offensive language and links to ‘adult’ sites.  Furthermore, what happens when the initial “wow” factor wears off and people aren’t tweeting about skittles every second?

Skittles also should have thought about the Fail Whale a bit before launching this.  Twitter, although getting better on this front, is notorious for not being able to support the amount of traffic it draws on a regular basis.  Especially with all the buzz surrounding this…is it worth relying on Twitter to keep your homepage up and running?

It’s a great PR stunt, but is it a good social marketing strategy?  We’re not sure…

Impact – Ken McArthur - “Some people spread a simple message that is so compelling that their voice is not solo for long. People rally around their message and spread it like wildfire.” This one is all about how to make an impact in a crowded marketplace.  The book is very easy to follow with step-by-step lists and bullet points, but with relevant stories thrown into the mix as well.  With an emphasis on online marketing the book is more practical than conceptual…which is why it’s on our list.

How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie – “This grandfather of all people-skills books was first published in 1937. It was an overnight hit, eventually selling 15 million copies.” This one is a classic and it’s been called the PR person’s bible by more than a few.  The techniques and strategies presented in the book are just as relevant today as they were more than 70 years ago.  Stop what you are doing right now and go read it.

Can We Do That?! – Peter Shankman – “What would you do to get your business noticed?” A funny, insightful look at some of the more ridiculous PR campaigns of the past and why they worked or didn’t.  If you are looking for a How-to book, move on – it’s not this one.  But the book is entertaining to read and can motivate you to get creative and develop inspired ideas of your own.

The New Rules of Marketing & PR – David Meerman Scott – “This excellent look at the basics of new-millennial marketing should find use in the hands of any serious PR professional making the transition.” Out with the old, in with the new.  New Rules focuses on how PR has changed with the advent of online marketing, blogging and social media.  It’s a great overview of new terms and strategies that will bring everyone up to speed in terms of PR online.

Writing Effective News Releases – Catherine McIntyre – “Would you like to have your business featured in hundreds of newspapers and magazines, and on radio and television stations around the country?” Catherine McIntyre provides practical advice and step-by-step guides to writing releases that will get you placed.  There are also plenty of real examples to learn from – all in all a must read guide.

Guerrilla PR – Michael Levine – “The manifesto for waging a street-smart publicity campaign with no- or low-cost strategies from one of Hollywood’s most successful publicists. “ This one is an oldie, but goodie.  It covers all the basics (except Internet – which wasn’t a factor when the book was written in 1993).  The conversational style and logical organization make it a great reference, but the witty advice and real-life examples and stories is what makes this a must read.

Did we miss your favorite?  Let us know in the comments…

We didn’t make this up, check out Save the Sea Kittens, the online home of PETA’s latest campaign.  The campaign centers around asking the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to stop promoting fishing.  Saying “it’s high time that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) stop allowing our little sea kitten friends to be tortured and killed.”

It’s generated quite a bit of buzz…and isn’t that the goal of any PR campaign?  The jury is still out if this will have any success- mainly due to the slightly ridiculous and ‘make-fun-of”ability factor that has been a feature of more than a few past PETA campaigns.  However it is drawing attention to their cause, does that make it a winner?  What do you think?

Example: You’ve got an awesome new product/service etc. so naturally you write up a press release.  Now you can either submit it to Oprah and wait for them to find and notice yours out of the thousands they receive daily and call – OR you can tweak your release to be SEO-friendly and submit it to a distribution service.  Ensuring that your press release reaches a wide variety of search engines, blogs, websites and even journalists who are actually very interested in your product/service and will write about it.

Maybe you do both, but the point is that you’re going to be better off diversifying and letting a larger number of people find you, even though they may be in smaller niche markets.  David Meerman Scott had 2 ideas on how PR is evolving that are particularly applicable to this strategy (from his blog):

1. The old ways to get noticed were to buy expensive advertising and beg the media to write about you and your products.  The best way to get noticed today is to publish great content online.
2. Don’t talk about what your products and services do.  Instead talk about how you solve problems for your customers.

PR and the world of the press release is changing, traditional media sources are on the decline and online distribution methods are more accessible and producing better results than ever.  That is why we say go ahead and reach for that low hanging fruit.  While all your competitors are fighting each other for access to the top you’ll be building a solid base of customers and attention.  And who knows, maybe if enough of the small-time players are singing your praises the big media outlets will take notice eventually anyway.

First up is Online-pr, a great site with lots of information on making your PR campaigns better and less expensive.  Someone also suggested Manta.com, a great way to gather background information on both private and public companies online.

Last up for this set of additions is AdHat, where you can enter a keyword, brand name or agency to find appropriate promotional campaigns on display. Great for inspiration and brainstorming!

We’ve had a great response to the PR Dashboard so far, and we’ll post new additions here from time to time, but we can’t list them all so make sure to check back often.  And keep sending in suggestions…