Archive for the 'PR' Category

Ian Capstick posted an excellent piece about news releases and online newsrooms in the PR column of the PBS MediaShift blog yesterday. (And of course we were delighted that he chose a release about the Social Media Roadmap webinar series I did with Marketwire as his example.)

News Releases

Looking back at the history of the press release one can see that the way we format a release to reach the media has changed as the media has changed. Back in 1906 press releases came into being. They were specifically formatted as a way to get information to newspapers. They were crafted for that medium The releases were written in the news story format of an inverted triangle and the need to fit pieces of news into the layout of the paper was taken into account.

Then came radio. PR agencies started to add recorded interviews and sound bites to releases sent to radio stations because that was what the medium demanded. If you wanted radio coverage you figured out what radio journalists and editors wanted and you supplied your news in that format. Nobody thought this was weird or that the press release had died. It’s just smart PR.

Along came TV and the Video News Release was born. Another smart move on the part of forward thinking PR people who stayed abreast of technology and the need to evolve with a new medium. Sending a TV newsroom a video news release in the exact format that made it easy for a news editor to use often got you the coverage you wanted. Companies sprang up to service this need and PR people had to learn a new skill – video news.

So why is the Internet and social media any different? Why is a social media news release a strange and foreign idea? It’s not a case of killing the press release. It’s just presenting your news in the format that gets the best results.

As long as there are newspapers a press release will exist. Radio stations still like audio releases and sound bites. But now there are so many online opportunities for exposure and most of them require content in multimedia format with embed codes. It just makes good PR sense to use a social media release.

Journalists today are under pressure. Newspapers and magazines all have websites. A website has a voracious appetite for content. As an example, most stories in the Wall Street Journal say ‘More on wsj.com’. Print publications are extending their coverage online. They have podcasts and video on their websites. Tthey have blogs Facebook pages and Twitter feeds. And that means they need more content and they need it in new ways.

Online journalists, editors and bloggers want access to news in a way that makes it easy for them to use it. PR people need to acknowledge the shift and learn to present their news in the format that best suits this new medium.

It’s not rocket science. It’s just good PR.

Newsrooms:

The same evolution has applied to how we supply access to all our news content. It started with printed press kits we painstakingly compiled and sent off to the media. Then we had Electronic Press Kits in digital form, often on a CD. Once websites became mainstream this moved to an online newsroom. That’s been the PR standard for at least six years now.

But once again we’ve seen a big shift in technology. It’s time to move up a notch and make your newsroom a social media newsroom.

• Offer links to all your social content. (A recent analysis of Fortune 100, INC 500 and Entrepreneur Hot 100 sites shows that less than 20 percent of the companies that are active in social media have links to this content on their websites.)
• Publish all news releases in social media format on your own website
• Add all multimedia assets to your newsroom
• Add these to your press releases
• Optimize your news content for search so it can be found
• Syndicate all news content in RSS feeds
• Provide embed codes with images and video so bloggers or journalists can easily use your content

Take a look at the Society for New Communication Research social media newsroom

It’s not rocket science – it’s just good PR

Although we’re bombarded with information about social media from all sides, and we do hear about successful programs, it seems that in too many cases we’re still stumbling in the dark. Almost half of the worst PR blunders of 2009 had an online component.

“The biggest lessons learned this year are in the social media sphere,” says Michael Fineman, president of San Francisco-based Fineman PR. Each year, Fineman PR publishes a list of the “Top 10 PR Blunders” of the year.

“There are at least four or five blunders directly related to working with the Internet—or not knowing how to work with the Internet,” Fineman says.

The two worst social media fiascoes were:

United Breaks Guitars: although the end of the saga was played out online, it could have been avoided if United had handled the problem promptly. Not only was the video United Breaks Guitars seen by more than 3 million people in a week, the story caught the attention of mainstream media. Ben Mutzabaugh of USA Today described Carroll’s success as demonstrating “just how quickly the Internet can help a disgruntled customer turn the tables on a company and its effort to manage its public image.” Views are now up to almost 7.5 million.

Dominoes Pizza: Again the company was way too slow to respond. This video had over one million views in just 48 hours. After two painful days, Domino’s finally reacted, launching its first corporate Twitter account and posting a public apology on YouTube.

Constant monitoring of social media, being prepared for an online crisis, fast reaction times and knowing how to respond should be paramount in 2010.

One of the predictions that came out of the report by Stevens Gould Pincus on M&A activity in the PR industry is that there will be an increasing need for new media/interactive divisions in PR firms. The report also highights that training will be high on the list for 2010.

They predict that PR practitioners – whether agencies and in house – who grow in this area will stay ahead of the competition.

Are you ready for 2010?

Follow me on Twitter

A case study about their 72 hour fare sale

The trick to good PR and social media measurement is to work very closely with the online marketing team.  Learn to use tracking links and landing pages for each press release and social media channel.  That way you can track the results and the success of each activity.

This sale was so successful that the traffic shut down the southwest.com site.  Southwest rankied on Google Trends and a trending search term. $25 fare was the lowest fare in their history – and saying that their fare was the same as others charge for bags!

The sale resulted in 5000 bookings . Twitter and Facebook were about 80% of the bookings. Employee email came in next with 18%.

The PR department has produced a simple one-sheet report that goes to the CEO each month that shows major points – followers and fans, messaging, commenting, perceptions about the brand.

Shabbir Safdar is giving tips about how to monitor and deal with a crisis online.

Content that  gets posted online stays online.  Forever.  If Google sees it as the most relevant content it will still be there years later. You can move it off page one by posting lots of positive content.

Ben Popken’s (Consumerist.com) 3-step systen for fixing a corporate gaffe:

1. Admit you were wrong
2. Stop doing the wrong thing
3. Make a material gesture of apology

A good example is Circuit City and Mad Magazine. When Mad did a spoof on Circuit City was badly handled and it hit the AP wire. The communication department then dealt with the crisis in a very smart way – they did a ‘mea culpa’ in a very amusing way and the AP update was very postive.

Motrim Moms – some moms got offended and it escalated online.  (Tip:  Use Google insights for search to see spikes of searches for your brand.)

How to do it wrong.

• Attempt to suppress some statement online.  Particularly criticism, parody or satire, which are protected by the 1st Amendment
• Cease and desist letters – those who try to suppress content online only make them more popular
• Enforce your trademark like a bully.  (You get bonus points for picking on brand evangelists!) 
• Talk about the critism publicly – repeat the allegations or criticism
• Refuse to acknowledge a burgeoning crisis
• Go silent on all fronts – don’t put out any other content

PR should make partnerships with customer service and legal.  Good customer service can avert crises – for example if United had admitted wrong doing and apologized the video about United Breaks Guitars would never have seen the light of day.

Educate legal and customer service – show them some case studies.  Work out a plan ahead of time. 

And build a community of fans before you need them.

Anne Carelli, Digital Comm Manager for Coke is talking about their social media activities

Several years ago Coke realized that Coke.com is not their home page – it is Google.com, digg.com and YouTube.  Take the time to keep abreast of what is showing up for your brand in thee new social sites and search engines.

New mantras that have arisen out of social media-

1. Fish where the fish are.  Don’t build new communities and micro sites.  Go where the people already are.
2. Keep fans first

Cokes social media strategy revolves around 4Rs

1. Review – listen to what’s being said
2. Respond – what to respond to and who should respond. Be accurate and transparent.
3. Record – create more compelling video content. People are 7 – 10 times more likely to click on a video than text.
4. Redirect.  Search and SEO are very important. Make sure the right content is found when people search.  User generated content is getting more search attention.

Yesterday when Anne won her award for Digital Communication she said that if she were given an extra $500 000 to spend she’d put it into SEO and video.

Coke’s new social media program for 2010 is Expedition 206 - Happiness Goes Around.  They conducted a search online for 3 young people to be Happiness Ambassadors.  They’ll  travel to 206 countries in 365 days and report back on what makes folk happy in each place.  They’ll be blogging and tweeting as they go.

  Stay tuned and watch how this program rolls out.

More about the program on Mashable

Sam Ford of Peppercom:

Listen at all opportunities – make every moment a listening moment. We’re talking to our customers all the time but are we listening?

We have new media platforms – blogs, Twitter, Amazon, Yelp and Get Satisfaction. Everyone is a publisher. Technology has changed the way people communicate.  It’s changed the way we find news and information.  It’s changed the source of influence.

Now that the customer has a voice and a publishing platform customer service issues become PR issues.

You can use new media platforms to do traditional PR activities – like surveys.  You can do online focus groups.  Communispace is one way to build an online community for focus groups.   These are managed conversations.  And you should be listening to organic conversations as well.

How does listening help a company?

• Product development – getting insights from your cusotmers can help improve products
• Improve customer service
• Solifying/Adapt messaging
• Crisis Preparation
• Outreach
• New Business opportunities
• Finding new audiences/markets

Learn to share information internally. Set up systems so that different departments can listen and share what you find.  Who are the stakeholders internally that need to share this info?  Make a comm chart that connects these people.

Questions:

Who should you respond to?  Look at their motivation, is it isolated or is it gathering comments, how prominent is the blog, what is their traffic, who links to them – all these things will give you a sense of their influence.

I am in Washington DC today at the PR News How-To conference.  The first session starts at 9 am with How to Listen to your Stakeholders.  The trainer is Sam Ford Director of Customer Insights, Peppercom and he will cover:

The way people are finding news and information has changed dramatically.  Search engines are paying attention to the fact that a very high percentage of people say they are looking for discussions and opinions from others  on a subject when they search.

To stay ahead of this curve Bing andGoogle recently made deals with Twitter and Facebook

When you do a search in Yahoo! they display the latest news for that search term  – with tabs for news, images, videos and Twitter.

Why is this important?

Whether you participate in social media or not, others are.  And they’re doing it in rapidly increasing numbers.   These conversations are gaining in influence.  And as the search engines tap into this stream of social content everyone who does a search for your company, product, or even your generic category, could come across the discussions going on about you.

Understanding search and SEO is fast becoming a modern PR skill.

And if you are in the Chicago area, there are two excellent sessions about search, social media and PR at Search Engine Strategies on December 7  and 8.

And here is an interview with Vanessa Fox (ex Google) about her new book.  About half way into the interview she talks about  search and social media and why it is so important.

Predictions are that over 80 percent of companies and organizations will be using social media marketing in 2010.  Who is going to take these companies to the next level - move them from the random ‘dipping a toe in the social media water’ approach to a strategic business activity with actions tied to outcomes, benchmarks and measurement?

Will this be  PR, advertising or marketing?  One of the speakers on this panel was Joseph Jaffe, a dyed-in-the-wool Madison Avenue man and author of Life After the 30-second Spot and Join the Conversation.

In another session about social media Rob Keys of Converseon said that 2008 was the trial and error phase, 2009 was the checklist phase (I’ve got a Facebook page, I’ve got a Twitter feed, I’ve got a blog) and that 2010 will be the year social media finally ‘grows up.’

Social media is not going away – it is only going to get bigger.

There are 25% less journalists today than there were in 2001.  Media relations in the Internet age demands new skills.

PR people are excellent at creating content and building relationships.  But to win this race we also have to learn how to monitor online PR and measure the results.  This is where Joe Jaffe and his Madison Avenue cohorts could take the prize. They understand digital measurement.   Since social media is all about collaboration and sharing, perhaps the best answer is not to try to win the race, but to collaborate internally too.

If you want to lead the charge in your company get started now and prepare a complete social media strategy.

Related links:

Measuring Engagement

Why Digital Agencies are Ready to Lead

The PRSA National Conference got off to a good start in San Diego yesterday with a thought-provoking keynote session.

Arianna Huffington spoke about her views on new media, old media and the need for ethics in PR.  Then she interviewed Wendell Potter about his change of heart and the decision to embrace transparency and honesty.

Arianna opened with the statement that the news business is at an amazing turning point.  People consume old media sitting on a couch. We engage with new media – and it’s fast. Like galloping flat out on a horse.

In this new media world it can be more effective to give your news to a select few (online reporters and bloggers) than sending out a press release.  PR people have to learn how to use these new tools and techniques.  As the news business changes, so the practice  of  PR has to change.

One thing that’s changed is that in social media you don’t tell the story once and move on – you tell the story bit by unfolding bit, and then mine all the conversation around that story.

New media reporting has become more personal.  It’s not ‘just the facts, jack’ anymore.  We’re back to the model of meeting and sharing  information in the town square.

Touching peoples hearts is more powerful than touching their minds.

Use facts and statistics, but also  tell the human story behind the facts.  Include the drama of those involved.  People are looking for real stories and human drama.  It’s not enough to report that 10% of people are out of work or 50 000 lost their homes.   Find the people who have compelling stories to tell.  Show how that ripples into the community.  Success in new media is all about compelling content that people will want to read or watch – and then share.

And you want your content to be shared and passed around.  While promiscuity is not good for a relationship, it’s very good for online content. The more people who see it, read it and share it the better.

One major change new media is ushering in is truth and transparency  PRSA has always had a firm code of ethics, but there have been instances of spin, flackery and downright dishonesty.  Arianna emphasized the need for honesty in PR and the need for people who have a change of  heart or a strong opinion to stand up and be counted at the time. Don’t write a book two years later and tell us how right you were then, she says.  Do it right when it happens.

A case in point is Joe Biden’s disagreement about increasing troops in Afghanistan. She recently wrote a post with the headline Why Joe Biden Should Resign.

And to fully illustrate this point, she interviewed Wendell Potter on what he calls the spin and flackery in the healthcare industry. Potter left his job as head of communications for one of the nation’s largest health insurance companies to assist organizations advocating meaningful health reform.

AH:  We all have the capapcity to make a change – what led you to your change of heart?

WP:  I had lost my moral compass. I dealt in numbers and was not looking at the human reality of what I was doing.  The health care reform debate heated up and some very devious PR  campaigns were in full swing – campaigns with front groups, false information and disinformation.  I found I was doing things I was not proud of and then numbing myself so I would not have to face that.

My advice: when you are in constant fear that you’ll do or say the ‘wrong’ thing – do an ethics check.  Something is way off base.

Related links:

An interview with Wendel Potter on PBS In his first extended television interview since leaving the health insurance industry, Wendell Potter tells Bill Moyers why he left his successful career as the head of Public Relations for CIGNA, one of the nation’s largest insurers, and decided to speak out against the industry. “I didn’t intend to [speak out], until it became really clear to me that the industry is resorting to the same tactics they’ve used over the years, and particularly back in the early ’90s, when they were leading the effort to kill the Clinton plan.”