Spin Sucks

Introduction 1 Part I TELL YOUR STORY WITHOUT SEX OR EXTORTION 5 1 Sex Sells 7 How Communication Has Changed 10 Your Customers Control Your Brand and Your Messaging 10 Tell Your Story Without Spin 12 Use the Formula of Fiction Writing to Tell Company Stories 15 Take Your Story from Idea to Concept 16 Develop Company Characters 17 2 The Google Drama 27 Along Came Panda 28 And Then Came Penguin 29 Marathon Mentality 32 When Duplicate Content Gets You in Trouble 33 What Constitutes High-Quality Content? 35 3 Shareable and Valuable Content Creation 37 Paid Media 39 Earned Media 40 Shared Media 43 Owned Media 44 Create Calls-to-Action 46 Shareable and Valuable Content 50 The News Release 54 Part II SCAMMERS, LIARS, AND BEGGARS 57 4 Whisper Campaigns and Anonymous Attackers 59 Trolls and Anonymous Attackers 64 Public Attackers 66 The Trolls, Critics, and Attackers 69 Seven Steps to Dealing with Criticism 71 5 Media Manipulation 75 Build Relationships and Let the Rest Fall into Place 77 DIY Media Relations 80 6 The Dark Side of Content 83 Content Farms and Robots That Write 86 The People Who Steal Your Content 87 Manage the Content Scrapers 89 Plain Old Plagiarism 91 Safely Syndicating Your Content 92 Part III YOUR BRAND; YOUR CUSTOMERS 95 7 Your Customers Control the Brand 97 Understand What Your Customers Think About You 99 Communications Done Well 100 Your Customers Are Active and Passionate 102 Your Brand Is How Customers Feel About You 104 Part IV SPIN SUCKS 107 8 The Convergence of Media 109 The Convergence of Media 110 On-Page SEO for Your Content 112 What Is On-Page SEO? 113 How Does On-Page SEO Work? 114 Content of the Page 114 The Title Tag 115 The URL 115 The Images' Alt Texts 116 Tools to Use 116 Shared Media Through Community 116 9 Crisis Communications: Trolls, Critics, and Detractors 119 Tips for Managing an Issue 125 Begin to Repair Your Online Reputation 128 10 The Future of Communications 137 Real-Time Marketing 139 PR Becomes More Tangible 141 Content

Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, a Chicago-based integrated marketing communications firm. She also is the founder of the professional development site for PR and marketing pros, Spin Sucks Pro. Gini is the author of the PR and marketing blog, Spin Sucks, which has been named the number one Cision Top 50 PR Blogs, the number three Listly Top 50 PR and Marketing Blogs, an annual Readers Choice Blog of the Year, a Top 42 Content Marketing Blog from Junta42, a top 10 social media blog from Social Media Examiner, and an AdAge Power 150 blog. She is also co-host of Inside PR, a weekly podcast about communications and social media, and where they all meet and intersect. One of the top rated communication professionals on the social networks, Gini writes for Crain's Chicago Business, OpenForum, AllBusiness Experts, and for various PR and marketing blogs and publications. She delivers numerous keynotes, panel discussions, coaching sessions, and workshops around the globe on the subject of communications in the digital age. Gini is also the coauthor of Marketing in the Round, released by Que Publishing in May, 2012.