Get your tweet on!

Blueprint has recently signed on to be a part of an awesome event here in Dallas called the Dallas Twestival.

Don't worry, we hadn't heard of a Twestival either until a few weeks ago. So here's a quick definition to fill you in.

Twestival is a combination of the two words "Twitter" and "Festival". It's also a combination of what the words "Twitter" and "Festival" mean...a social media/networking party.

Basically, you tweet, meet, and give back to the community. We're already on our Twitter accounts enough as it is, why not throw in some local support at the same time, right? Right. So I'm urging everyone to get in touch with your tweetness and check out the website to see what it's all about.

What is Blueprint doing with the Twestival? So glad you asked. Since we are public relations and social media pros, we'll be taking care of the PR, Marketing, and Communication Chair position for the event. So, if you hear anything about the Twestival around Dallas, chances are we're behind the buzz!

As with any charity event, the more the merrier--and we'd love to have help spreading the word and getting involved! Here's what you need to know and do:

-Put down September 12th, 2009 as busy in your calender since you'll be at the Twestival!

-Buy your tickets for the Dallas Twestival here

-Check out the Twestival website and blog

-The local charity for this year's Twestival is The Women's Musuem

-Follow the Twestival on Twitter

-Add a twestival twibbon to your Twitter profile picture to support the Twestival

-Message the Twestival organizers from their Twitter page if you want to get involved or help out, or I can pass the message along too!

We'll be keeping you updated with what's going on with the event so stay tuned for more in the upcoming weeks!

Until next time,

Sloane and Chelsea

Kourtney (should) hand a big fat check to her PR team

There's a reason Kourtney looks so smug...

"Helloooo high ratings!"

Because all of you care so much about Kourtney Kardashian, I thought I'd make your day and give you an update since last week.

In case you missed the big news--Kourtney is pregnant. Try not to jump out of your chair from excitement.

Quick review on why you're even reading this celebrity gossip on my blog--I'm claiming that she withheld her pregger news (and who the father is) until right around the time her show, Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami, debuts on E! to draw people in for the drama that is Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian.

This is what we call smart public relations. Use your news to your advantage to make moolah and get good publicity.

Anddddd guess what. It worked. The show was E!'s highest watched show since 2002's Anna Nicole Smith Show. Approximately 2.7 million viewers tuned in which was a 60% jump from the Keeping Up With the Kardashian's premier.

Goes to show that sometimes keeping a secret for a little bit longer is not a bad idea...

"Shh! I've got a little secret up my sleeve!"

BE BOLD OR GO HOME

Get your #2 pencils out cause I've got a pop quiz for you!





Did Perez Hilton achieve his successful blogging site Perezhilton.com by:








a.) Delicately commenting on Hollywood gossip and stars

b.) Becoming a grammatically correct and beautiful writer

c.) Boldly speaking his mind and constantly pushing the limits.

Answer is.....


C!

An awesome fellow blogger, Copyblogger, declares in a recent post that blogging boldly is the way to keep people interested and coming back for more.

Audiences want to be entertained. So dilly dallying around your point, novel descriptions of what you ate/did last night/saw at the movies/your crazy dream, random uninteresting news, and not letting your personality show in your blog are sure ways to lose your audience. Try to avoid them at all costs.

Check out Copyblogger's site for more info on the subject.

COMING SOON: List of sites and blogs that excel at keeping readers around.

Until next time,

Sloane and Chelsea

Obama School Cont...

I've gotten some feedback since posting this morning about the possible renaming of the Billy Earl Dade Learning Center in South Dallas to the Barack Obama Middle School:

One person tweeted about being OK with the name change if the school shares the same vision as the President Obama.

One person exclaimed, "It's way too soon! What if he turns out to be like Hitler??! Then what would the school do??"

Both responses have completely different views.

Person #1 is thinking about vision and meaning, what Obama stands for. If those align with what the school is striving for, then what's to lose?

Person #2 is thinking about branding. The school could gain a negative image and representation should Obama slip during the remainder of his term.

Interestingly enough, DISD isn't thinking about branding. They're more in Person #1's mind frame. They state that this particular school shouldn't be a tribute to Obama since it's already a tribute to Dade, make another school the tribute to Obama. Others agree, but say to wait a while since Obama has only been in office 6 1/2 months.

I'm leaning on Person #2's viewpoint. Let's think long term here, people. 20 years down the road are we going to be happy to have a school named after Obama? We don't know. And that's why it shouldn't be done.

**We love getting responses and feedback on our posts so thanks to those who let us know their thoughts! Keep em' comin!

Until next time,

Sloane and Chelsea

School renamed as Barack Obama Middle School--good idea or bad?

I ran across an article this morning that reeked of BAD IDEA so much that I could not believe it was actually a real issue. Let's discuss it, shall we?

What: DISD school board trustee, Ron Price, wants to rename a school in Dallas "Barack Obama Middle School".

Why: "Overwhelmingly, the parents and the kids said we want Barack Obama and when you see those kids eyes, their eyes just started glowing, and even the parent's eyes were glowing just for the fact that their kid would one day go to the Barack Obama school," Price said.

When: Currently being debated now.

Response (PUT YOUR POLITICAL VIEWS ASIDE): I say absolutely not, stick to original name. For now.

"But why?" you ask, "Why not name it after our current president that has achieved so much for our country? Who has preached about hope and change, making a real difference, and changing the way things are done in DC?"

I'll tell you why. Because he's still preaching those things. Why is he still preaching those things? Because it's not even been a year since he was sworn in. Meaning? We barely know what he's done because he's barely had enough time to do anything! He's got more than 3 years left! Sure, he could follow through and become the amazing president that everyone has hoped for. He could also dig himself a hole deeper and deeper until he's barely able to breathe by the end of his term. Who's to say what will happen--which is the exact reason a school, much less anything, should be named after such a famous, public, figure.

Not convinced? Here are a few names of people that started off being known as positive, awesome people. We'll pretend schools decided to rename their schools after these people.

Michael Vick High School



















Tonya Harding Elementary



















O.J. Simpson Preparatory School



















Hitler Academy (a little extreme, yes, but hey, people liked him for a while over there in the beginning!) I'll spare you the picture of this mustached madman.

You get the idea. Obama will probably be an amazing president. But just in case he's not, hold off on changing the identity of anything until you're positive it will be a positive change for long after. You want as much positive association with your brand as possible and should stay away from anything that has the teeniest, tiniest bit of chance to label it as something negative.

Bottom line: When it comes to naming something after famous people--wait several, even decades in some cases, years before renaming.

Until next time,

Sloane and Chelsea

Get pregnant to get publicity, kinda.

If you keep up with celebrity gossip then you've heard that Kourtney Kardashian is preggers.

My guess is that she's been preggers for quite some time and only just now announced it. Why? Her new show, Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami, premiers on E! this Sunday.

What does that have to do with anything? Well let's see...

-Everyone knows Kim Kardashian. Kourtney and Khloe? Not so much. Until now, since the media is jumping all over the new addition to the Kardashian clan. Now people will want to find out more about Kourtney. And oh, convenience, they can start finding out more on Sunday.

-For a while there we were left wondering if Kourtney's crazy partying antics we've been seeing on the previews for the show resulted in babyville. Who wouldn't want to tune into a show to watch drama like that unfold?

-Kourtney only just now revealed that her boyfriend, Scott Disick, is the father. Who cares at this point? Peole are going to tune in anyway to see the drama around the baby news.


-On every website and TV channel that Kourtney's new announcement has been talked about, they also mention her new show. Hello free advertising. Just go to E!'s website--the feature story is Kourtney's news and her appearance on the Today Show.

So what have we learned? What's the common theme of each of these points? Get pregnant to get publicity.

(Octo-mom photo courtesy of Perezhilton.com)

Just kidding! Bottom line is the promotion of Kourtney's show.

It's a common PR tactic to use information like this and tie it into a feature/show/book/movie/appearance etc to bring in the mass publicity.

Just watch. Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami will bring in high ratings this Sunday. Maybe Kourtney's pregnancy was unplanned, but revealing it to the public was well planned.

Side note: Will Kourtney name her baby something that starts with a K? What's with that anyway?

Until next time,

Sloane and Chelsea

Google Gets Caffeinated

Caffeine [ka-feen, kaf-een, kaf-ee-in] noun, a white, crystalline, bitter alkaloid, usually derived from coffee or tea: used in medicine chiefly as a nervous system stimulant.

OR

Caffeine, noun, Google's improved search engine that provides speedy results and a larger index which results in excited, hyper behavior by the Googler.

While Microsoft's Bing has been generating buzz these past few months Google has jumped on the We're Better Than You bandwagon by creating an even better Google than they already have. Always one step ahead, aren't ya Google? That's why we like you.

Check out their blog which announces, "For the last several months, a large team of Googlers has been working on a secret project: a next-generation architecture for Google's web search. It's the first step in a process that will let us push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions. The new infrastructure sits "under the hood" of Google's search engine, which means that most users won't notice a difference in search results. But web developers and power searchers might notice a few differences, so we're opening up a web developer preview to collect feedback."

Here's what I like about this:

1. While Microsoft has been basking in the hype of Bing, Google rises to the challenge and begins work on making their genius work more genius. There's never an end limit with them.

2. Most users won't notice the difference with the updated version, meaning it's under the same brand as the current Google search engine. Users will simply notice faster and larger results. In sum, Google isn't looking for a ton of compliments and rewards, just customer satisfaction. (which will bring them rewards and compliments--sneaky, but smart)

3. They're asking for feedback from their own kind. Forget pretending they know all, they just want to make sure it works well, and if not, what changes to make. Again, customer satisfaction.

Google looks to be striking gold with Caffeine. And the name isn't too bad either. After all, who wouldn't become hyper and excited after finding endless results in less time?

Until next time,

Sloane and Chelsea

Top 5 List of Twitter Need-to-Knows

Everyone has heard of Twitter. Not everyone knows how it works. Here is a list of the Top 5 things you need to know if you're a person who's curious about using Twitter.

1. Show Twitter the love. When I say love, I mean the real thing. No passive aggressiveness, no fighting, no complaining, no yelling, no hating. Think of you and Twitter in an endless honeymoon stage. Spend hours learning as much as you can about Twitter. Become enthralled. Enthusiastic. Excited. Enlightened. The more time you spend with Twitter the more you'll understand about Twitter. In return, Twitter will give love back to you. See how that works? Who said relationships are hard?

2. Show your profile some love. Spend an hour or so showering Twitter with presents. Presents that come in the form of designing your personal Twitter page. Make sure one of those presents is a profile picture because otherwise you'll just make Twitter seem sketchy to everyone else. If you have trouble drawing stick figures than maybe consult one of your artistic friends who could help you out. There's always the Internet as well for those questions. And, Twitter of course. That's a good Tweet right there--"Anyone know how to easily create your own profile for Twitter?" And speaking of Tweets...

3. Filter your Twitter thoughts. It might seem really easy to quickly type a 140 character Tweet that you've just thought of. Well, hold that thought. Make sure it's one of your "I should write that down somewhere" thoughts and not one of your "Um...good story..." thoughts. Food, for instance, falls in the "Um...good story..." category. Unless you did something AMAZING with it, like build a workable desk out of apples or write a press release for Frito Lay using only potato ships shaped into words, then chances are no one cares about your food intake.

4. Channel your frustration into Twitter success. Don't get overwhelmed by your Tweet Deck constantly telling you every other second that 375637856378563 people have just updated their Twitter and there's no way you can read every single one. Half of those updates probably aren't even worth your while anyway. So. Focus on the ones that are. Then go back to those OFTEN. ReTweet those people. If they have blog they reference, follow it. Become a Twitter companion. The more REAL friends you have, the better your life is, right? And when life gets tough, you lean against those friends. So don't take your frustration out on Twitter.

5. Never underestimate your Twitter knowledge. You don't know a lot about Twitter. "Yes I do!" you exclaim, "I spend 4 hours on Twitter every day!" Well, while you're on Twitter, Twitter headquarters, who, by the way, is the top social media company in Fortune 100 companies, have put their thinking caps on to come up with even better ways to use Twitter. Make sure to check their links, pages, whatever else they offer on their site to see what they're up to. And don't forget to keep up on the web outside of Twitter. You don't want to become a Twitter addict, just a Twitter genius.

Until next time,

Sloane and Chelsea