Traditionally the relationship between journalists and PRs has been one of professional respect. Granted, there has always been tension with journalists taking the moral high-ground and often referring to PR as ‘the dark side’ but by-and-large both have considered each other as a necessary evil and played the game required to keep the peace.
This practice has changed dramatically in the last few years. There are numerous cases of journalists openly attacking the PR industry in general and sometimes specific PR practitioners.
The shift in the media landscape has not only changed the way media is delivered, it has also changed the way media respects embargo notices.
Embargoes were a fantastic way for journalists to formulate stories and prepare pages for a news item that, for whatever reason, could not be made public until a certain time. In the automotive industry embargoes were common place with manufacturers giving magazines all the information they required on a new model sometimes weeks before it’s official launch comfortable in the knowledge that the publication would hit the newsstands after the embargo had lifted.
The same ideology applied in the finance sector with AGM reports and even for the Government with various announcements. The embargo was a valuable tool for both journalists and PRs alike. It gave journalists the time they needed to digest the information and it provided PRs with the ability build relationships and to have the information published in a timely way.
Sadly, the concept of an embargo when it comes to media releases has gone. It’s Finished. Finite.
The emergence of bloggers (who don’t have to answer to editors/publishers/shareholders) and the 24 hour news cycle have changed the rules when it comes to embargoes to the point where it no longer exists. Some bloggers act like it’s a badge of honour to break embargoes, others like to flex their muscles to prove who really wields the power in the media world.
Social media has also played a significant role in the demise of this once revered PR practice.
A great example of this comes from “Pitchit2me Blog”.
It’s a great story about how a tourism company offered an exclusive scoop, under public embargo, for publication in the Fairfax publications “The Sydney Morning Herald” and “The Age”.
The (unnamed) tourism company alerted their partners of the news and someone blogged it the day before it was due to run – effectively blowing the public embargo and, as a consequence, their cover story in the Fairfax flagship publications.
Vale embargoes. Professionalism in the media space will mourn your loss.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
The Shifting Sands of Social Media
Just when PR professionals think they've got a handle on the whole social media thing and are lining up to score, the goalposts move again.
In the last few days there's been two events that have the potential to significantly shift the social media world yet again.
First and foremost, Google has released an invitation only preview of it's social media platform Google+. This is undoubtedly a full frontal assault on Facebook.
Many of it's features are similar to Facebook however there is the introduction of a couple of very interesting and useful features.
Circles is based on the concept that in real life you have circles of friends. One of the great criticisms of Facebook and other social media sites is that, once you add someone to your network, they can see everything you share. In real life, most people have different conversations - and share different parts of themselves - depending on their circle of friends. Google+
Circles allows you to do this in the virtual world as well.
Hangouts is also potentially huge with users being encouraged to engage in video chats.
Google is very gun-shy about unleashing Google+ as a product, given it's string of failures in the SM world however there is real potential for this to create a seismic shift in the landscape.
Mashable's take on it can be found http://mashable.com/2011/06/28/google-plus-review/.
The other big event is that News Corp has sold MySpace to an ad-targeting firm called Specific Media LLC for a reported $35M. This has got to be one of the worst business acquisitions of all-time given News Corp purchased it only 6 years ago for $580M.
It remains to be seen whether MySpace can recover to be, in the words of Specific Media CEO, Tim Vanderhook, "digital media company on par with Yahoo, AOL, Facebook and all the other big names out there."
Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304584004576415932273770852.html#ixzz1QjYXYmmH/
In the last few days there's been two events that have the potential to significantly shift the social media world yet again.
First and foremost, Google has released an invitation only preview of it's social media platform Google+. This is undoubtedly a full frontal assault on Facebook.
Many of it's features are similar to Facebook however there is the introduction of a couple of very interesting and useful features.
Circles is based on the concept that in real life you have circles of friends. One of the great criticisms of Facebook and other social media sites is that, once you add someone to your network, they can see everything you share. In real life, most people have different conversations - and share different parts of themselves - depending on their circle of friends. Google+
Circles allows you to do this in the virtual world as well.
Hangouts is also potentially huge with users being encouraged to engage in video chats.
Google is very gun-shy about unleashing Google+ as a product, given it's string of failures in the SM world however there is real potential for this to create a seismic shift in the landscape.
Mashable's take on it can be found http://mashable.com/2011/06/28/google-plus-review/.
The other big event is that News Corp has sold MySpace to an ad-targeting firm called Specific Media LLC for a reported $35M. This has got to be one of the worst business acquisitions of all-time given News Corp purchased it only 6 years ago for $580M.
It remains to be seen whether MySpace can recover to be, in the words of Specific Media CEO, Tim Vanderhook, "digital media company on par with Yahoo, AOL, Facebook and all the other big names out there."
Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304584004576415932273770852.html#ixzz1QjYXYmmH/
Monday, June 20, 2011
PR + SEO = Happy CEO
Search engines have emerged as the first choice for people wanting to find news. In fact, more than twice the number of people use a search engine as their first port of call for news over traditional newspapers, magazines, TV and radio combined.
Search Engine Optimisation is far more than something the IT guys do to your website or a cool phrase, (“Yes of course I’m optimised for SEO, who isn’t these days?”) it is a valuable tool that can help you connect with both media and consumers directly.
It’s vital to have the correct infrastructure in place, such as a Wieck Online Newsroom, but that is only half the equation. The way communications initiatives are delivered also plays a major role in getting your ranking up.
So naturally, as part of your PR strategy you have identified a set of 25-30 keywords for your news releases to ensure they rank highly with the God, Google. Right?
OK, so perhaps not.
No need to worry. There’s a free tool that’s just right for you: Google AdWords Keyword Tool.
Here’s how it works;
Say you own a coffee shop in Sydney. You might put in coffee, cafe, cappuccino, sydney into the ‘word or phrase’ and you’ll return around 100 results showing you how many people search for those terms globally. You’ll get two or three times that amount if you log in with your Gmail account. Plus, when you log in, you can export the data to Excel. You can drill down into these results and see which ones are popular locally.
This will give you a good guide as to the most frequently searched for terms related to your business and the ones you should be keeping in mind for use in your website copy and headings, press release headlines and copy, and, of course, in social media. Here’s where you should drop these keywords: your Facebook page, Twitter bio, YouTube channel, and blog’s URL. Use those keywords in your blog posts.
Of course, you should include the important keywords for your business, like the name of the business, its owners, product or brand name(s), etc.
To learn more about keywords, check out this 18-minute video by Wordtracker. Take some notes, and be sure to apply your keyword list to your newfound SEO knowledge.
Search Engine Optimisation is far more than something the IT guys do to your website or a cool phrase, (“Yes of course I’m optimised for SEO, who isn’t these days?”) it is a valuable tool that can help you connect with both media and consumers directly.
It’s vital to have the correct infrastructure in place, such as a Wieck Online Newsroom, but that is only half the equation. The way communications initiatives are delivered also plays a major role in getting your ranking up.
So naturally, as part of your PR strategy you have identified a set of 25-30 keywords for your news releases to ensure they rank highly with the God, Google. Right?
OK, so perhaps not.
No need to worry. There’s a free tool that’s just right for you: Google AdWords Keyword Tool.
Here’s how it works;
Say you own a coffee shop in Sydney. You might put in coffee, cafe, cappuccino, sydney into the ‘word or phrase’ and you’ll return around 100 results showing you how many people search for those terms globally. You’ll get two or three times that amount if you log in with your Gmail account. Plus, when you log in, you can export the data to Excel. You can drill down into these results and see which ones are popular locally.
This will give you a good guide as to the most frequently searched for terms related to your business and the ones you should be keeping in mind for use in your website copy and headings, press release headlines and copy, and, of course, in social media. Here’s where you should drop these keywords: your Facebook page, Twitter bio, YouTube channel, and blog’s URL. Use those keywords in your blog posts.
Of course, you should include the important keywords for your business, like the name of the business, its owners, product or brand name(s), etc.
To learn more about keywords, check out this 18-minute video by Wordtracker. Take some notes, and be sure to apply your keyword list to your newfound SEO knowledge.
BP’s Former CEO Talks about Dealing with Vicious Media
The story of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the subsequent PR nightmare that unfolded is the monster in the closet that keeps many communications types up at night.
The way this played out in the public’s eyes is now written into the text books of what not to do when facing a crisis but rarely do you ever get an insight into what was happening inside the machine when the wheels fell off.
Now that it’s all over and he has his life back, Tony Hayworth, former CEO of BP and one time “most hated man in America”, has spoken about what it was like trying to deal with the “vicious” media storm of this environmental crisis from inside the fish bowl. Hayward spoke to some communicators at a networking club hosted by a UK PR agency called the Loewy Group. Lucky for us, someone present summarised Hayward’s comments in a blog.
One of the biggest problems at the time was not only keeping the media informed of unfolding developments but also tackling the inaccurate stories proliferating. At its height, there were 50 people at BP working around the clock purely on countering “inaccurate” information being posted on Twitter, Facebook and other social networking platforms.
The appetite for information was insatiable. The apparent inaccuraies in some of the reporting fuelled public hysteria and hysteria fuelled more hyteric reporting. “We were at war with the media every day. There’s no other word for it,” he said.
Possibly the most profound lesson learned is one that all CEOs should heed. He volunteered that despite utmost efforts to communicate clearly, transparently and at breakneck pace, many mistakes were made. “What would I have done differently? I would have had more of the senior team around me to handle communication with the media.”
He said that one of the main communications lessons learned for all large corporations was that plans for crises such as these must be made and tested regularly. BP wasn’t sufficiently well prepared with communications processes and resources to handle what happened, and it showed.
The full report can be found here: http://www.speedcommunications.com/blogs/earl/2011/06/16/deepwater-horizon-inside-the-vicious-media-war/
The way this played out in the public’s eyes is now written into the text books of what not to do when facing a crisis but rarely do you ever get an insight into what was happening inside the machine when the wheels fell off.
Now that it’s all over and he has his life back, Tony Hayworth, former CEO of BP and one time “most hated man in America”, has spoken about what it was like trying to deal with the “vicious” media storm of this environmental crisis from inside the fish bowl. Hayward spoke to some communicators at a networking club hosted by a UK PR agency called the Loewy Group. Lucky for us, someone present summarised Hayward’s comments in a blog.
One of the biggest problems at the time was not only keeping the media informed of unfolding developments but also tackling the inaccurate stories proliferating. At its height, there were 50 people at BP working around the clock purely on countering “inaccurate” information being posted on Twitter, Facebook and other social networking platforms.
The appetite for information was insatiable. The apparent inaccuraies in some of the reporting fuelled public hysteria and hysteria fuelled more hyteric reporting. “We were at war with the media every day. There’s no other word for it,” he said.
Possibly the most profound lesson learned is one that all CEOs should heed. He volunteered that despite utmost efforts to communicate clearly, transparently and at breakneck pace, many mistakes were made. “What would I have done differently? I would have had more of the senior team around me to handle communication with the media.”
He said that one of the main communications lessons learned for all large corporations was that plans for crises such as these must be made and tested regularly. BP wasn’t sufficiently well prepared with communications processes and resources to handle what happened, and it showed.
The full report can be found here: http://www.speedcommunications.com/blogs/earl/2011/06/16/deepwater-horizon-inside-the-vicious-media-war/
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
PR Pros' Prose Provides Perspicacity
"Public Relations 2011 Issues Insights Ideas" is a great (and free) publication that offers advice from PR professionals with a wide variety of backgrounds and specialities. The brainchild of Craig Pearce, an award winning strategic public relations professional, it brings together opinion pieces from some of the most recognised names in the business.
The articles are intended to broaden your knowledge of strategic and tactical approaches to the practice of public relations. Indeed there are many thought-provoking nuggets of knowledge to be found inside it's pages.
To give you a bit of an overview:
Professor Jim Macnamara argues that the emphasis for PR education should be on more theoretical elements, rather than on practical experience. He points out that "doing the right thing is more important than doing the thing right”.
Paul Roberts brings PR back to basics, suggesting it is driven by strategy – essentially comprised of the who, what, when, where, why, how of communication and engagement. Simple right? Maybe, but the implementation of this basic tenet is crucial to success.
Paul Seaman casts a critical eye over the virtues of transparency, CSR and better corporate governance. He examines the crisis of trust in Western firms, governments and other institutions and ponders the difference between healthy scepticism with lack of trust. He suggests that throwing away trust in the name of transparency is retrograde and corrosive.
Craig Pearce has 4 articles in this document. First up he tackles the interconnection between PR and CSR. CSR is related to more than what an organisation actually ‘does’, the notion of articulating this is the domain of external PR and the combination of the two is a valid way of getting change to occur.
He follows this up later with a piece on the importance of the PR professional in the corporate structure and how social media is emphasising this. Pearce argues "it is such as important opportunity that we’d be completely remiss not to go for the jugular… because effective application of social media can help achieve two-way symmetrical communication. A major benefit of this approach is that it helps organisations operate in a manner more likely to contribute to society interests, rather than organisational interests alone."
His third contribution emphasises the importance of "the public relations professional is the conscience of an organisation." However he warns, "Without exhibiting leadership, you will never be the best possible public relations professional you can be."
Finally he examines James E. Grunig's models for public relations, concluding: "Applying the two-way symmetrical communication model is the best way to build and sustain long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships between an organisation and its stakeholders, make a meaningful contribution to society and, most importantly, prompt society to become more satisfying and more equitable to greater numbers of people."
Mandi Bateson gives some tips on social media engagement, pointing out that the "audience doesn’t care that your organisation has very separate PR, marketing, sales and customer services departments" and "As guardians of the brand or product messaging, PR professionals are well placed to own the social media strategy".
Judy Gombita examines the results of the Edleman Trust Barometer and suggests "21st century PR regime really needs to be looking to the internet as a legitimate outlet for ‘earned media’". She looks at how PRs can leverage other findings to fine-tune strategies such as who to use as the spokesperson and how to 'don the (internal) journalist cap' to better service their communications efforts.
In another article, she compares personal interaction at networking events with social networking in the digital world. Gombita suggests "Optimum public relations and social media (a.k.a. digital PR) revolve around humanising an organisation... in as comfortable and intuitive a way as possible."
Trevor Young goes into bat for consultancies, suggesting that (despite the growth of in-house communications departments, in both size and importance) external agencies are a vast resource of knowledge that shouldn't be ignored - especially when it comes to social media.
Dwight Whitney questions whether Facebook (and other social platforms) should actually be called "anti social media" on a number of levels from cyber-bullying to the fact intimacy and emotions are being replaced with a mega mall concept of friendship where ‘more is better’.
Dr. Tony Jaques provides some interesting case studies about how social media is having a dramatic effect in the field of issue management. He argues that "social media have changed the community’s expectation of what is acceptable corporate behaviour, as well as increasing the community’s capacity to communicate those expectations".
Jane Jordan-Meier explores the pros and cons of wheeling out the CEO as the public face of the company. In a crisis situation "their physical presence sends two powerful messages: “I care and I am accountable” however never forget "as a basic rule, go for the person that is most credible, most believable, most authentic and has the genuine interest of the affected community/consumers/constituents at heart."
Dr Catherine Sweet's article talks about how her academic experiences have impressed upon her the "the power of ‘story telling’ as being the best form of PR and communication there is." She notes that while online engagement is necessary, "Face-to-face story telling is more persuasive because more emotional connection is possible" and "Eye contact matters –it’s that trust thing and it creates a connection that online just can’t replicate.
For the full document, simply subscribe to Craig Pearce's blog
The articles are intended to broaden your knowledge of strategic and tactical approaches to the practice of public relations. Indeed there are many thought-provoking nuggets of knowledge to be found inside it's pages.
To give you a bit of an overview:
Professor Jim Macnamara argues that the emphasis for PR education should be on more theoretical elements, rather than on practical experience. He points out that "doing the right thing is more important than doing the thing right”.
Paul Roberts brings PR back to basics, suggesting it is driven by strategy – essentially comprised of the who, what, when, where, why, how of communication and engagement. Simple right? Maybe, but the implementation of this basic tenet is crucial to success.
Paul Seaman casts a critical eye over the virtues of transparency, CSR and better corporate governance. He examines the crisis of trust in Western firms, governments and other institutions and ponders the difference between healthy scepticism with lack of trust. He suggests that throwing away trust in the name of transparency is retrograde and corrosive.
Craig Pearce has 4 articles in this document. First up he tackles the interconnection between PR and CSR. CSR is related to more than what an organisation actually ‘does’, the notion of articulating this is the domain of external PR and the combination of the two is a valid way of getting change to occur.
He follows this up later with a piece on the importance of the PR professional in the corporate structure and how social media is emphasising this. Pearce argues "it is such as important opportunity that we’d be completely remiss not to go for the jugular… because effective application of social media can help achieve two-way symmetrical communication. A major benefit of this approach is that it helps organisations operate in a manner more likely to contribute to society interests, rather than organisational interests alone."
His third contribution emphasises the importance of "the public relations professional is the conscience of an organisation." However he warns, "Without exhibiting leadership, you will never be the best possible public relations professional you can be."
Finally he examines James E. Grunig's models for public relations, concluding: "Applying the two-way symmetrical communication model is the best way to build and sustain long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships between an organisation and its stakeholders, make a meaningful contribution to society and, most importantly, prompt society to become more satisfying and more equitable to greater numbers of people."
Mandi Bateson gives some tips on social media engagement, pointing out that the "audience doesn’t care that your organisation has very separate PR, marketing, sales and customer services departments" and "As guardians of the brand or product messaging, PR professionals are well placed to own the social media strategy".
Judy Gombita examines the results of the Edleman Trust Barometer and suggests "21st century PR regime really needs to be looking to the internet as a legitimate outlet for ‘earned media’". She looks at how PRs can leverage other findings to fine-tune strategies such as who to use as the spokesperson and how to 'don the (internal) journalist cap' to better service their communications efforts.
In another article, she compares personal interaction at networking events with social networking in the digital world. Gombita suggests "Optimum public relations and social media (a.k.a. digital PR) revolve around humanising an organisation... in as comfortable and intuitive a way as possible."
Trevor Young goes into bat for consultancies, suggesting that (despite the growth of in-house communications departments, in both size and importance) external agencies are a vast resource of knowledge that shouldn't be ignored - especially when it comes to social media.
Dwight Whitney questions whether Facebook (and other social platforms) should actually be called "anti social media" on a number of levels from cyber-bullying to the fact intimacy and emotions are being replaced with a mega mall concept of friendship where ‘more is better’.
Dr. Tony Jaques provides some interesting case studies about how social media is having a dramatic effect in the field of issue management. He argues that "social media have changed the community’s expectation of what is acceptable corporate behaviour, as well as increasing the community’s capacity to communicate those expectations".
Jane Jordan-Meier explores the pros and cons of wheeling out the CEO as the public face of the company. In a crisis situation "their physical presence sends two powerful messages: “I care and I am accountable” however never forget "as a basic rule, go for the person that is most credible, most believable, most authentic and has the genuine interest of the affected community/consumers/constituents at heart."
Dr Catherine Sweet's article talks about how her academic experiences have impressed upon her the "the power of ‘story telling’ as being the best form of PR and communication there is." She notes that while online engagement is necessary, "Face-to-face story telling is more persuasive because more emotional connection is possible" and "Eye contact matters –it’s that trust thing and it creates a connection that online just can’t replicate.
For the full document, simply subscribe to Craig Pearce's blog
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
It's Always been a Matter of Trust
The 2011 Edelman Trust Barometer provides some interesting insights into how consumer perception of a business affects their willingness to believe news and information about that business - put simply, they need to trust you to believe you.
This is hardly earth shattering news however what is interesting is the more subtle findings that could prove to be highly beneficial in the way external PR initiatives are shaped and delivered.
Edelman polled 5075 people in 23 countries on 5 continents. They were between 25-64, college-educated and in the top 25% of household income per age group in each country.
Perhaps not surprisingly, financial services, banks, insurance and media are the least trusted industries. On the other end of the scale, technology, automotive and telecommunications are the most trusted. In the case of automotive, this result comes despite the financial bail-out of the 'Big 3' in the US and numerous model recalls across the sector. Telecommunications must also be celebrating when you consider the amount of complaints registered against them.
Quality, honesty, trust and treatment of employees are all rate highly when it comes to corporate reputation, while returns to shareholders are the least important factor.
When it comes to the question of who to quote in a release or put in front of the wolves, an academic/expert (75%), technical expert within the company (64%), industry analyst (53%) and CEO (50%) rate as the most credible sources.
Online search engines have become the go-to for news with 29% rating that as their first source when it comes to news about a company, a little odd considering this method requires knowing what to search for. Online news sources comes in second place with 19%. News from the company's website (11%) ranked just behind traditional media outlets of radio/TV (12%) and print (15%) suggesting that the importance of having an effective online newsroom is almost as important as traditional media outlets when it comes to corporate reputation.
Also surprising is that social media ranked last with only 5% saying they would use that as their first source of news.
One of the most significant findings is how profoundly trust protects reputation. When a company is distrusted, 57% will believe negative information while only 15% will believe positive information after hearing it 1-2 times.
Conversely, if the company is trusted, only 25% will believe negative information and 51% will believe positive information after hearing it 1-2 times.
Clearly consumers are more willing to have their opinions reinforced than they are to have them changed.
The full survey can be downloaded here.
This is hardly earth shattering news however what is interesting is the more subtle findings that could prove to be highly beneficial in the way external PR initiatives are shaped and delivered.
Edelman polled 5075 people in 23 countries on 5 continents. They were between 25-64, college-educated and in the top 25% of household income per age group in each country.
Perhaps not surprisingly, financial services, banks, insurance and media are the least trusted industries. On the other end of the scale, technology, automotive and telecommunications are the most trusted. In the case of automotive, this result comes despite the financial bail-out of the 'Big 3' in the US and numerous model recalls across the sector. Telecommunications must also be celebrating when you consider the amount of complaints registered against them.
Quality, honesty, trust and treatment of employees are all rate highly when it comes to corporate reputation, while returns to shareholders are the least important factor.
When it comes to the question of who to quote in a release or put in front of the wolves, an academic/expert (75%), technical expert within the company (64%), industry analyst (53%) and CEO (50%) rate as the most credible sources.
Online search engines have become the go-to for news with 29% rating that as their first source when it comes to news about a company, a little odd considering this method requires knowing what to search for. Online news sources comes in second place with 19%. News from the company's website (11%) ranked just behind traditional media outlets of radio/TV (12%) and print (15%) suggesting that the importance of having an effective online newsroom is almost as important as traditional media outlets when it comes to corporate reputation.
Also surprising is that social media ranked last with only 5% saying they would use that as their first source of news.
One of the most significant findings is how profoundly trust protects reputation. When a company is distrusted, 57% will believe negative information while only 15% will believe positive information after hearing it 1-2 times.
Conversely, if the company is trusted, only 25% will believe negative information and 51% will believe positive information after hearing it 1-2 times.
Clearly consumers are more willing to have their opinions reinforced than they are to have them changed.
The full survey can be downloaded here.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Burson-Marsteller must now wish there was more Privacy than Pitch
The tale of Burson-Marsteller's botched smear campaign against Google commissioned by Facebook is a very interesting study into the concept it all revolves around - Privacy.
It all began with Burson-Marsteller pitching a story about "Google’s sweeping violations of user privacy" to both mainstream and niche writers, namely privacy advocates. BM were so willing to help their client, they offered to ghost write pieces for those wanting to run the story but were hard pressed finding the time or resources to give it the attention they thought it deserved.
The thing they didn't factor in was the suspicion privacy advocates have regarding anyone trying to push a story about privacy. Enter Christopher Soghoian, a noted blogger on Internet privacy. He questioned BM on who the client was for the campaign and the reply was ""I’m afraid I can’t disclose my client yet". This prompted Soghoian to publish the entire email conversation online, effectively pulling the pin on a grenade that went off in BM's face. USA Today ran the story of the subterfuge and both Burson-Marsteller and Facebook copped a shellacking from media outlets and PR industry bodies alike.
Debate raged for a couple of days about unethical practices and how campaigns like this are a blight on the entire PR industry. Just as things were dying down and most of the fervour had dissipated, Burson-Marsteller themselves reignited the furore by getting caught deleting negative comments from their Facebook page.
Amongst it all, noone seems to have asked about the ethics of confidentiality between PRs and the media. Does the Digital Age and the world of New Media mean that everything is on the record or is this a unique case?
It's well worth following the links reading up on this debacle to help avoid making the same mistakes Burson-Marsteller did. No doubt they would have preferred this whole thing to have remained private.
Also worth reading:
http://prbreakfastclub.com/2011/05/17/smear-campaigns/
http://prdaily.com/Main/Articles/Why_all_of_PR_will_pay_for_WhisperGate_8255.aspx
It all began with Burson-Marsteller pitching a story about "Google’s sweeping violations of user privacy" to both mainstream and niche writers, namely privacy advocates. BM were so willing to help their client, they offered to ghost write pieces for those wanting to run the story but were hard pressed finding the time or resources to give it the attention they thought it deserved.
The thing they didn't factor in was the suspicion privacy advocates have regarding anyone trying to push a story about privacy. Enter Christopher Soghoian, a noted blogger on Internet privacy. He questioned BM on who the client was for the campaign and the reply was ""I’m afraid I can’t disclose my client yet". This prompted Soghoian to publish the entire email conversation online, effectively pulling the pin on a grenade that went off in BM's face. USA Today ran the story of the subterfuge and both Burson-Marsteller and Facebook copped a shellacking from media outlets and PR industry bodies alike.
Debate raged for a couple of days about unethical practices and how campaigns like this are a blight on the entire PR industry. Just as things were dying down and most of the fervour had dissipated, Burson-Marsteller themselves reignited the furore by getting caught deleting negative comments from their Facebook page.
Amongst it all, noone seems to have asked about the ethics of confidentiality between PRs and the media. Does the Digital Age and the world of New Media mean that everything is on the record or is this a unique case?
It's well worth following the links reading up on this debacle to help avoid making the same mistakes Burson-Marsteller did. No doubt they would have preferred this whole thing to have remained private.
Also worth reading:
http://prbreakfastclub.com/2011/05/17/smear-campaigns/
http://prdaily.com/Main/Articles/Why_all_of_PR_will_pay_for_WhisperGate_8255.aspx
Thursday, May 26, 2011
CAS2011 Proves to be a Winning Formula
The inaugural Corporate Affairs Summit has concluded with high praise from delegates.
The main theme that emerged from the two day conference was 'transparency'.
In the opening address by Consulate General for the US, Neils Marquardt, spoke candidly about issues of Open Government, the Wikileaks scandal and the lessons learned during that incident. Mr. Marquardt reinforced the need for Governments to be more transparent however cautioned that, as with business, the need to protect sensitive information, intellectual property and business plans is vital. The key is finding the balance between security and transparency, something that's often perceived differently between the generations.
The addresses by former QANTAS CEO and now Tourism Australia Chairman Geoff Dixon and the Chairman of Investec Bank, Coca-Cola Amatil, ASK and Director of Westfield Group, Singapore Airlines and Ingeus, David Gonski AC were inspiring.
Mr. Dixon provided some key insights into the importance of public affairs executives. Some of his more memorial pearls of wisdom were;
Mr. Gonski echoed these sentiments going as far as saying that "if boards (of Directors) do not embrace the need to include corporate affairs in strategy the entire concept of the board as we know it will disappear". He also reinforced the need for transparency noting that "public companies rarely fail because of greed but because of a lack of openness", citing the Barings Bank disaster as an example and arguing that Nick Leeson was more interested in hiding his mistakes than he was in outright gain.
As you might expect Social Media played a big part in the discussions. While the way to implement social media strategy varied, the need to include it as part of strategic planning was without question.
The Roundtable format also proved to be popular with most proving to be enlightening and entertaining, prompting lots of questions from the delegates. The session we were involved with "Thriving in a Networked World: New Tools and Tried and Tested Rules for Media Relations" allowed us to express the need for an online newsroom as an integral tool to help connect communicators with both traditional and new media. All panelists agreed that a clear and consistent message is vital during any PR activity - something an online newsroom can play a vital role in disseminating.
Across all areas up for discussion, from social media to crisis management to investor and government relations, the concept of "it's no longer a monologue, it's a dialogue" was demonstrated to be the most important understanding in a Corporate Communicators arsenal.
The main theme that emerged from the two day conference was 'transparency'.
In the opening address by Consulate General for the US, Neils Marquardt, spoke candidly about issues of Open Government, the Wikileaks scandal and the lessons learned during that incident. Mr. Marquardt reinforced the need for Governments to be more transparent however cautioned that, as with business, the need to protect sensitive information, intellectual property and business plans is vital. The key is finding the balance between security and transparency, something that's often perceived differently between the generations.
The addresses by former QANTAS CEO and now Tourism Australia Chairman Geoff Dixon and the Chairman of Investec Bank, Coca-Cola Amatil, ASK and Director of Westfield Group, Singapore Airlines and Ingeus, David Gonski AC were inspiring.
Mr. Dixon provided some key insights into the importance of public affairs executives. Some of his more memorial pearls of wisdom were;
- "Good communications is vital to any business - bad investments you can recover quickly, bad PR can destroy a company or at least take years to recover from."
- "Good news travels slowly but bad news is almost instant."
- "Having a public affairs operator involved in strategy discussions is vital to assess whether an idea is a good one or bad one."
- "Public Affairs executives should always be the custodians of transparency, accountability and ethics."
- "Try not to have any secrets because it'll always get out. Far better for you to leak it yourself than have some do it for you and then try to recover."
Mr. Gonski echoed these sentiments going as far as saying that "if boards (of Directors) do not embrace the need to include corporate affairs in strategy the entire concept of the board as we know it will disappear". He also reinforced the need for transparency noting that "public companies rarely fail because of greed but because of a lack of openness", citing the Barings Bank disaster as an example and arguing that Nick Leeson was more interested in hiding his mistakes than he was in outright gain.
As you might expect Social Media played a big part in the discussions. While the way to implement social media strategy varied, the need to include it as part of strategic planning was without question.
The Roundtable format also proved to be popular with most proving to be enlightening and entertaining, prompting lots of questions from the delegates. The session we were involved with "Thriving in a Networked World: New Tools and Tried and Tested Rules for Media Relations" allowed us to express the need for an online newsroom as an integral tool to help connect communicators with both traditional and new media. All panelists agreed that a clear and consistent message is vital during any PR activity - something an online newsroom can play a vital role in disseminating.
Across all areas up for discussion, from social media to crisis management to investor and government relations, the concept of "it's no longer a monologue, it's a dialogue" was demonstrated to be the most important understanding in a Corporate Communicators arsenal.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Correct usage of language is everything in PR
Here's a bit of fun for all of the wordsmiths out there. Even if you've seen all or part of this before, it's a good way to remind yourself why English is so hard to learn and even harder to use correctly!
Let's face it: English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger
Neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
And while no one knows what is in a hotdog, you can be pretty sure it isn't canine.
English muffins were not invented in England
Nor French fries in France.
Sweetmeats are candies
While sweetbreads, which aren's sweet, are meat.
We take English for granted
But if we explore its paradoxes
We find that quicksand can work slowly
Boxing rings are square
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea, nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write, but fingers don't fing and hammers don't ham?
If the plural of "tooth" is "teeth", why isn't the plural of "booth", "beeth"?
One goose, 2 geese. So, one moose, 2 meese?
Is cheese the plural of choose?
One mouse, 2 mice.
One house, 2 hice?
If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Why do people recite at a play, and play at a recital?
Ship by truck or car, and send cargo by ship?
Have noses that run and feet that smell?
Park on driveways and drive on parkways?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
How can the weather be hot as hell one day,
and cold as hell on another day?
When a house burns up, it burns down.
You fill in a form by filling it out.
An alarm clock goes off by going on.
You get in and out of a car,
yet you get on and off a bus.
When the stars are out, they are visible.
But when the lights are out, they are invisible.
And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it
But when I wind up this note, I end it?
English is a crazy language.
It doesn't know if it is coming or going!!!
Let's face it: English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger
Neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
And while no one knows what is in a hotdog, you can be pretty sure it isn't canine.
English muffins were not invented in England
Nor French fries in France.
Sweetmeats are candies
While sweetbreads, which aren's sweet, are meat.
We take English for granted
But if we explore its paradoxes
We find that quicksand can work slowly
Boxing rings are square
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea, nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write, but fingers don't fing and hammers don't ham?
If the plural of "tooth" is "teeth", why isn't the plural of "booth", "beeth"?
One goose, 2 geese. So, one moose, 2 meese?
Is cheese the plural of choose?
One mouse, 2 mice.
One house, 2 hice?
If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Why do people recite at a play, and play at a recital?
Ship by truck or car, and send cargo by ship?
Have noses that run and feet that smell?
Park on driveways and drive on parkways?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
How can the weather be hot as hell one day,
and cold as hell on another day?
When a house burns up, it burns down.
You fill in a form by filling it out.
An alarm clock goes off by going on.
You get in and out of a car,
yet you get on and off a bus.
When the stars are out, they are visible.
But when the lights are out, they are invisible.
And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it
But when I wind up this note, I end it?
English is a crazy language.
It doesn't know if it is coming or going!!!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Journalists Warming to Social Media but not for PR pitches
The Society of New Communications Research (SNCR) and Middleberg Communications have announced the results of the 3rd Annual Survey of the Media in the Wired World. The study examined the effects and impact of social media, new media and communication technologies on modern journalism. Responses were received from 200 journalists, primarily in the US.
Even thought the pool of respondents is relatively small, the shift in attitude from journalists towards the benefits of social media for information gathering is clear.
Key findings include:
This survey is more evidence to suggest that, while it’s vital to understand social media, it’s still critically important to keep more traditional lines of communication open with journalists.
For full survey results, visit http://www.slideshare.net/sncr/how-are-media-journalism-evolving.
Even thought the pool of respondents is relatively small, the shift in attitude from journalists towards the benefits of social media for information gathering is clear.
Key findings include:
- 75% of journalists use Facebook as a tool to assist in reporting, a 6% increase from 2010 study.
- 69% of journalists use Twitter as a tool to assist in reporting, a 21% increase from 2010 study.
- 68% of journalists believe that reliance on social media has increased significantly.
- 95% of journalists believe that social media can be a reliable tool for sourcing stories.
- 69% of journalists use mobile technology to search, use social networking apps, and capture videos and pictures for reporting.
This survey is more evidence to suggest that, while it’s vital to understand social media, it’s still critically important to keep more traditional lines of communication open with journalists.
For full survey results, visit http://www.slideshare.net/sncr/how-are-media-journalism-evolving.
Monday, May 9, 2011
As Newsrooms shrink, PR grows to fill the gap
There is a fascinating and well researched article on ProPublica.org by John Sullivan titled “PR Industry Fills Vacuum Left by Shrinking Newsrooms”.
While it’s fairly lengthy, Sullivan examines the relationship between the diminishing amount of journalists and the rise of the PR profession. He proposes that rather than the premise new forms of reporting will eventually fill the void left by traditional newsrooms, the void that is created by the collapse of traditional journalism is being filled by public relations.
Some of the more interesting points are;
While it’s fairly lengthy, Sullivan examines the relationship between the diminishing amount of journalists and the rise of the PR profession. He proposes that rather than the premise new forms of reporting will eventually fill the void left by traditional newsrooms, the void that is created by the collapse of traditional journalism is being filled by public relations.
Some of the more interesting points are;
- The birth of PR and how the rise of the “publicity agent” created deep concern among America’s leaders, who distrusted a middleman inserting itself and shaping messages between government and the public. US Congress was so concerned that it attached amendments to bills in 1908 and 1913 that said no money could be appropriated for preparing newspaper articles or hiring publicity agents. This sentiment changed rapidly during WWI and the value of the PR professional has grown significantly ever since.
- Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the number of journalists has fallen drastically while public relations people have multiplied at an even faster rate. In 1980, there were about .45 PR workers per 100,000 population compared with .36 journalists. In 2008, there were .90 PR people per 100,000 compared to .25 journalists.
- Census data to track revenues at public relations agencies between 1997 and 2007 found that revenues went from $3.5 billion to $8.75 billion. Those figures include only independent public relations agencies — they don’t include big companies, lobbying outfits, advertising agencies, non-profits, or government.
- The Newspaper Association of America reported that newspaper advertising revenue dropped from an all-time high of $49 billion in 2000 to $22 billion in 2009.
- Research from the Pew Research Center that focused on when the University of Maryland announced on July 22, 2009, that it would test the new swine flu vaccine. Of the 19 stories Pew reviewed that covered the development of the vaccine, three contained significant new information, another three had new details, and the rest either repeated the same basic facts as the press release or were identical stories appearing on a different platform.
- In 2005 and 2006, the New York Times and the advocacy group PR Watch did separate reports detailing how television news was airing video news releases prepared by corporate or government PR offices, working them into stories as part of their newscasts. PR Watch listed 77 stations which aired the reports, some of them broadcast nearly verbatim.
- It took Drew Armstrong, a health-care reporter for Bloomberg, months to nail stories showing how the health-insurance industry had funded efforts by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to fight against changing the health system. Armstrong dug into tax records to show what had previously been hidden — that AHIP contributed a whopping $86.2 million to the Chamber to fight against the Obama health-care plan. Neither group would confirm that it was the same money but no one called for a correction.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Isn’t it time you were Offering Video as part of your Media Strategy?
Video is emerging as one of the most sought after content types on the Internet. Youtube reportedly receives 35 hours of video content every minute.
While it’s easy to dismiss this evidence of people’s affinity for the moving image as irrelevant to news media, a recent survey by D S Simon, suggests there are vast opportunities for PR to catch a ride on this wave of popularity.
According to their survey of 1,000 media across TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and web media properties 85% use online video content to cover the news. That’s 33% more than last year.
Of those that use video content, 84% say they are using third-party video in addition to in-house created content. Predictably, radio stations, magazines and newspapers are the biggest users of externally provided video.
Douglas Simon, CEO of D S Simon, says, “The 2011 Web Influencers Survey illustrates the shift from textual or static communications to video communications by media websites. It appears that almost all forms of media have transformed themselves into online television networks. It appears this trend will continue to accelerate given the response to our question of whether web media companies planned to increase their use of video footage. Nearly four-fifths of respondents indicated they would use more or much more video in 2011 than they did in 2010.”
This survey is further evidence that the modern PR profession must include multimedia to support their media campaigns.
Having a comprehensive Online Newsroom that provides the media with broadcast quality video and reproduction quality images to support press releases and media alerts is no longer a luxury but a necessary tool.
If you aren’t providing video content, and just as importantly making it readily available via an Online Newsroom, there is no doubt you are missing out on opportunities – possibly as many as 85% of them.
Hear about the report form Doug Simon himself in the video below.
The full survey results can be accessed here: http://dssimon.com/whitepaper/filedownload.php?filename=2011_WebInfluencers_FINAL.pdf
While it’s easy to dismiss this evidence of people’s affinity for the moving image as irrelevant to news media, a recent survey by D S Simon, suggests there are vast opportunities for PR to catch a ride on this wave of popularity.
According to their survey of 1,000 media across TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and web media properties 85% use online video content to cover the news. That’s 33% more than last year.
Of those that use video content, 84% say they are using third-party video in addition to in-house created content. Predictably, radio stations, magazines and newspapers are the biggest users of externally provided video.
Douglas Simon, CEO of D S Simon, says, “The 2011 Web Influencers Survey illustrates the shift from textual or static communications to video communications by media websites. It appears that almost all forms of media have transformed themselves into online television networks. It appears this trend will continue to accelerate given the response to our question of whether web media companies planned to increase their use of video footage. Nearly four-fifths of respondents indicated they would use more or much more video in 2011 than they did in 2010.”
This survey is further evidence that the modern PR profession must include multimedia to support their media campaigns.
Having a comprehensive Online Newsroom that provides the media with broadcast quality video and reproduction quality images to support press releases and media alerts is no longer a luxury but a necessary tool.
If you aren’t providing video content, and just as importantly making it readily available via an Online Newsroom, there is no doubt you are missing out on opportunities – possibly as many as 85% of them.
Hear about the report form Doug Simon himself in the video below.
The full survey results can be accessed here: http://dssimon.com/whitepaper/filedownload.php?filename=2011_WebInfluencers_FINAL.pdf
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
High Praise for South West Airline's Online Newsroom in a Crisis
It always is great to get kudos from a client. But when it’s prompted by good result during crisis communications, it makes everybody proud.
And so it was on Monday, April 4, when we received a note from Brad Hawkins at Southwest Airlines. Brad was the Southwest point person during Wieck's design and build of the new Southwest media site that launched last summer. He took the time to pass along an internal email that went to the Southwest news team in praise of that site.
For those who don’t follow much news from the U.S., a Southwest Airlines flight bound from Phoenix, Arizona, to Sacramento, California, lost cabin pressure in flight on Friday, April 1. It was diverted to Yuma, Arizona, and upon landing the flight crew reported a hole had been torn in the top of the aircraft. There were only minor injuries to one passenger and to one flight attendant and both were treated at the scene. But the incident caused Southwest to ground and inspect 79 Boeing 737-300 aircraft; resulting in hundreds of flight cancellations Saturday and Sunday.
The ensuing media scrum was eased by Southwest’s use of its electronic media web site that was custom built for the airline by Wieck Media’s professional development team. It was designed and developed with close and frequent consultations between the Wieck staff and Southwest’s PR and media relation specialists with Hawkins serving as the primary contact with Wieck’s project manager.
It just proves the point that a well-designed media web site, or an Online Newsroom prominently linked to a company’s home page, can be extremely beneficial during times of crisis or other times of high interest and frequent queries from the media.
Here’s Brad’s email to us…
From: Brad Hawkins
Date: Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 7:43 AM
To: Wieck Desk
Subject: FW: Swamedia high praise
Couldn't resist sharing a bit of good news in the midst of a crazy few days.
Thank you all for your help.
And here’s the “good news” in the form of an internal memo he included:
From: Whitney Eichinger
Sent: Monday, April 04, 2011 5:18 AM
To: News Team
Subject: Swamedia high praise
Just a quick not to let y'all know how happy Cynthia Vega was about swamedia! She said it was so helpful, designed so well, and she actually apologized for calling because we had all the information right there!!!
So incredible!
Thought you all would enjoy.
Happy Monday.
Whitney Eichinger
Southwest Airlines
And so it was on Monday, April 4, when we received a note from Brad Hawkins at Southwest Airlines. Brad was the Southwest point person during Wieck's design and build of the new Southwest media site that launched last summer. He took the time to pass along an internal email that went to the Southwest news team in praise of that site.
For those who don’t follow much news from the U.S., a Southwest Airlines flight bound from Phoenix, Arizona, to Sacramento, California, lost cabin pressure in flight on Friday, April 1. It was diverted to Yuma, Arizona, and upon landing the flight crew reported a hole had been torn in the top of the aircraft. There were only minor injuries to one passenger and to one flight attendant and both were treated at the scene. But the incident caused Southwest to ground and inspect 79 Boeing 737-300 aircraft; resulting in hundreds of flight cancellations Saturday and Sunday.
The ensuing media scrum was eased by Southwest’s use of its electronic media web site that was custom built for the airline by Wieck Media’s professional development team. It was designed and developed with close and frequent consultations between the Wieck staff and Southwest’s PR and media relation specialists with Hawkins serving as the primary contact with Wieck’s project manager.
It just proves the point that a well-designed media web site, or an Online Newsroom prominently linked to a company’s home page, can be extremely beneficial during times of crisis or other times of high interest and frequent queries from the media.
Here’s Brad’s email to us…
From: Brad Hawkins
Date: Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 7:43 AM
To: Wieck Desk
Subject: FW: Swamedia high praise
Couldn't resist sharing a bit of good news in the midst of a crazy few days.
Thank you all for your help.
And here’s the “good news” in the form of an internal memo he included:
From: Whitney Eichinger
Sent: Monday, April 04, 2011 5:18 AM
To: News Team
Subject: Swamedia high praise
Just a quick not to let y'all know how happy Cynthia Vega was about swamedia! She said it was so helpful, designed so well, and she actually apologized for calling because we had all the information right there!!!
So incredible!
Thought you all would enjoy.
Happy Monday.
Whitney Eichinger
Southwest Airlines
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
When Spin meets Sensationalism
The good folks at Business Insider seem to have become arbitrator between General Electric and the New York Times trying to get to the somewhat mythical 'truth'. Fortunately for us, they've gone above and beyond to try and extract the real story, ultimately concluding that both sides are full of crap.
This series of exchanges is an excellent example of a variety of do and don't with both PR and journalism.
In the red corner we have GE's PR machine who valiantly tried to explain how it's correct to say both "GE did not pay any federal taxes because it didn't owe any" and "GE paid federal taxes". In the blue corner we have NYT explaining that its assertion that "Its American tax bill? None." is also correct despite GE clearly paying US taxes such as payroll, state and local taxes.
From a PR perspective, it's fascinating tale of how not to use Twitter for PR damage control, why it's important to take care with the technicalities when trying to spin your company's position and how it's necessary to have a clear and complete strategy when trying to debunk negative press.
From a media perspective, it's just as interesting that even an organisation as well respected as the NYT, who "believe in verification rather than assertion", can sometimes be seduced by sensationalism and the ramifications that can flow from this temptation.
It is well worth reading Business Insider's article and following all of the links to get the complete picture of why they are both 'full of crap'.
This series of exchanges is an excellent example of a variety of do and don't with both PR and journalism.
In the red corner we have GE's PR machine who valiantly tried to explain how it's correct to say both "GE did not pay any federal taxes because it didn't owe any" and "GE paid federal taxes". In the blue corner we have NYT explaining that its assertion that "Its American tax bill? None." is also correct despite GE clearly paying US taxes such as payroll, state and local taxes.
From a PR perspective, it's fascinating tale of how not to use Twitter for PR damage control, why it's important to take care with the technicalities when trying to spin your company's position and how it's necessary to have a clear and complete strategy when trying to debunk negative press.
From a media perspective, it's just as interesting that even an organisation as well respected as the NYT, who "believe in verification rather than assertion", can sometimes be seduced by sensationalism and the ramifications that can flow from this temptation.
It is well worth reading Business Insider's article and following all of the links to get the complete picture of why they are both 'full of crap'.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Salt and Shein Survey Suggests Social Media Shift for Movers and Shakers
Salt & Shein is the only Australian recruitment consultancy specialising solely in search and selection of corporate affairs and communication executives.
Every year, they conduct a survey to benchmark changes in the world of corporate communications. The most recent survey, conducted in December 2010, asked 461 communication professionals questions about their jobs and skills as well as their aspirations and fears.
While the bulk of the survey revolves around questions of employment and renumeration, (some of which may be quite depressing, especially if you're not in the Pharmaceutical Industry) there are a couple of interesting results about the attitudes towards social media.
Almost one in four (24.4%) said social media was most significant for corporate brand development, with internal communication ranked next at 18.1% and community relations ranked at 15.1%. Only 7.8% of respondents said social media was most significant for product marketing.
Over half (52.5%) said Online Communication has replaced the focus on "all traditional media" with Industry Journals (16.9%) and Newspapers (15.8%) the most significant segments to suffer from the surge of social media. Traditional broadcasters faired much better with focus away from Radio at only 8.1% and Television 6.7%.
There are also some eyebrow raising responses to questions on the GFC.
Over a quarter of those surveyed (27.2%) believe good corporate affairs is more valued than ever as a result of the GFC and 9.6% believe it's been positive for their business. Additionally, 82% claim their budget has stayed the same or risen since last financial year.
The full results can be found here.
Every year, they conduct a survey to benchmark changes in the world of corporate communications. The most recent survey, conducted in December 2010, asked 461 communication professionals questions about their jobs and skills as well as their aspirations and fears.
While the bulk of the survey revolves around questions of employment and renumeration, (some of which may be quite depressing, especially if you're not in the Pharmaceutical Industry) there are a couple of interesting results about the attitudes towards social media.
Almost one in four (24.4%) said social media was most significant for corporate brand development, with internal communication ranked next at 18.1% and community relations ranked at 15.1%. Only 7.8% of respondents said social media was most significant for product marketing.
Over half (52.5%) said Online Communication has replaced the focus on "all traditional media" with Industry Journals (16.9%) and Newspapers (15.8%) the most significant segments to suffer from the surge of social media. Traditional broadcasters faired much better with focus away from Radio at only 8.1% and Television 6.7%.
There are also some eyebrow raising responses to questions on the GFC.
Over a quarter of those surveyed (27.2%) believe good corporate affairs is more valued than ever as a result of the GFC and 9.6% believe it's been positive for their business. Additionally, 82% claim their budget has stayed the same or risen since last financial year.
The full results can be found here.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Have you got your dose of LinkedIn Today?
LinkedIn has recently launched a fantastic new tool called LinkedIn Today.
The concept is similar to paper.li, a service that grabs all of the Tweets from your Twitter account over a 24 hour period and presents them as a traditional broadsheet newspaper. LinkedIn Today goes one step further incorporating not only Twitter conversations but the most talked-about issues of the day on LinkedIn as well.
The first step to setting up your LinkedIn Today is to personalise it. While the list of topics is not yet complete, there's plenty of fodder for PRs and newshounds alike. It's a simple process of selecting the subjects and organisations you're interested in following and adding them to the list.
The key to LinkedIn Today is that the articles are listed because of the interest they have generated - they are there because real people have shared or tweeted them.
LinkedIn Today reaffirms LinkedIn's title as the No. 1 social media network for business.
Check it out at http://www.linkedin.com/today
The concept is similar to paper.li, a service that grabs all of the Tweets from your Twitter account over a 24 hour period and presents them as a traditional broadsheet newspaper. LinkedIn Today goes one step further incorporating not only Twitter conversations but the most talked-about issues of the day on LinkedIn as well.
The first step to setting up your LinkedIn Today is to personalise it. While the list of topics is not yet complete, there's plenty of fodder for PRs and newshounds alike. It's a simple process of selecting the subjects and organisations you're interested in following and adding them to the list.
The key to LinkedIn Today is that the articles are listed because of the interest they have generated - they are there because real people have shared or tweeted them.
LinkedIn Today reaffirms LinkedIn's title as the No. 1 social media network for business.
Check it out at http://www.linkedin.com/today
Monday, March 7, 2011
Proactive PR - Capitalising on immediacy is not the same as putting out fires
Valeria Maltoni's blog post "The Money for PR is in Immediacy" is an excellent explanation of how to shift from defensive public relations to proactive community engagement.
Maltoni points to examples of real-world successes gained by actively responding to a situation, as opposed to riding out the storm.
Check it out: http://www.conversationagent.com/2011/03/the-money-for-pr-is-in-immediacy.html
Maltoni points to examples of real-world successes gained by actively responding to a situation, as opposed to riding out the storm.
Check it out: http://www.conversationagent.com/2011/03/the-money-for-pr-is-in-immediacy.html
Thursday, March 3, 2011
How much does 'Free' really cost when it comes to Social Media?
As a provider of Online Newsrooms we from time to time hear "Why would I pay for this when I can achieve the same results with social media sites for free?"
Aside from the the fact free social media sites do not provide the ability to download broadcast quality video, few allow high res image downloads and none provide you with the technical and editorial support we offer, there's always a hidden cost to anything free.
Ike Pigott's article on Social Media Explorer is an insightful look at some of the pitfalls of social media campaigns. This article examines some of the myths surrounding social media and clarifies some of the things you sacrifice in order to get something for nothing.
Pigott points out that in order to achieve "free" you have to accept things such as;
There is no doubt social media can be a powerful tool in any PRs arsenal however it should never be the only one.
The old adage, "There's no such thing as a free lunch" applies.
The article is well worth a read - http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/digital-marketing/the-high-price-of-free/
Aside from the the fact free social media sites do not provide the ability to download broadcast quality video, few allow high res image downloads and none provide you with the technical and editorial support we offer, there's always a hidden cost to anything free.
Ike Pigott's article on Social Media Explorer is an insightful look at some of the pitfalls of social media campaigns. This article examines some of the myths surrounding social media and clarifies some of the things you sacrifice in order to get something for nothing.
Pigott points out that in order to achieve "free" you have to accept things such as;
- Potential Instability - when you are building your online presence on someone else’s platform, you run the risk of their associated traffic outages - there's no SLAs with free
- No support - unless of course you're willing to trawl through user forums and FAQs.
- Labour costs - effective social media campaigns require staff to control them
- "Vanilla flavoured" - meaning that you have very little control over how well you can match free platforms to your own branding.
- Starting from Scratch - No campaign, social or otherwise, is likely to work without the support of other avenues.
There is no doubt social media can be a powerful tool in any PRs arsenal however it should never be the only one.
The old adage, "There's no such thing as a free lunch" applies.
The article is well worth a read - http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/digital-marketing/the-high-price-of-free/
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Did Techcrunch cross the line of professionalism?
There's quite a bit of buzz at the moment surrounding TechCrunch's attack on Timothy Johnson. Seems the general consensus is that both sides are at fault but nobody likes it when someone decides to air dirty laundry.
Here's a couple of the more interesting responses:
http://www.waxingunlyrical.com/2011/03/02/when-did-professionalism-go-out-the-window/
http://www.swordandthescript.com/2011/03/confessions-and-media-relations.html
http://www.spinsucks.com/communication/what-is-wrong-with-pr/
Here's a couple of the more interesting responses:
http://www.waxingunlyrical.com/2011/03/02/when-did-professionalism-go-out-the-window/
http://www.swordandthescript.com/2011/03/confessions-and-media-relations.html
http://www.spinsucks.com/communication/what-is-wrong-with-pr/
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Public Release Buzzwords are the Ideal Solution
Being an award winning, leading provider of the best, state of the art, real-time solution we feel it's incumbent on us to share Adam Sherk's findings of the most abused and overused PR buzzwords.
Sherk crunched the numbers on press releases from 10 wire services and distribution services, representing 60+ technology and media companies and in a 24 hour period compiled the following table:
For the full story see http://www.adamsherk.com/public-relations/prfilter-press-release-search-engine/
Sherk crunched the numbers on press releases from 10 wire services and distribution services, representing 60+ technology and media companies and in a 24 hour period compiled the following table:
| Buzzword / Overused Term | Matches (Past 24 hours) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | solution | 243 |
| 2 | leading provider | 217 |
| 3 | leading | 116 |
| 4 | award winning | 84 |
| 5 | real-time | 59 |
| 6 | best | 52 |
| 7 | state of the art | 45 |
| 8 | cutting edge | 35 |
| 9 | leader | 31 |
| 10 | smart | 25 |
| 11 | unique | 21 |
| 12 | flexible | 18 |
| 13 | innovative | 17 |
| 14 | innovator | 17 |
| 15 | dynamic | 17 |
| 16 | innovation | 16 |
| 17 | extensive | 16 |
| 18 | premier | 15 |
| 19 | fastest | 15 |
| x | biggest | 0 |
| x | easy to use | 0 |
| x | exclusive | 0 |
| x | great | 0 |
| x | largest | 0 |
| x | top | 0 |
For the full story see http://www.adamsherk.com/public-relations/prfilter-press-release-search-engine/
Monday, January 24, 2011
Social Media provides a Sea of Information in the Queensland Floods
As the water level was rising in the recent Queensland floods, so was the reliance on social media as a source of the most up-to-date information.
Queensland Police used Twitter and Facebook to provide regular updates and everyone both in the mainstream media and social media users quickly started following the hashtag #qldfloods and retweeting @qpsmedia official information. This service was particularly helpful to people who were without power or landline telephones as they were able to use their mobile devices to keep informed of the rising tide.
The activity recorded certainly underlines the need for effective social media strategy as part of a broader disaster management plan for any situation.
Streetcorner.com.au has published a very interesting article on the subject and compares the social media engagement of various state police departments.
Check it out http://streetcorner.com.au/news/showPost.cfm?bid=20421&mycomm=ES
Queensland Police used Twitter and Facebook to provide regular updates and everyone both in the mainstream media and social media users quickly started following the hashtag #qldfloods and retweeting @qpsmedia official information. This service was particularly helpful to people who were without power or landline telephones as they were able to use their mobile devices to keep informed of the rising tide.
The activity recorded certainly underlines the need for effective social media strategy as part of a broader disaster management plan for any situation.
Streetcorner.com.au has published a very interesting article on the subject and compares the social media engagement of various state police departments.
Check it out http://streetcorner.com.au/news/showPost.cfm?bid=20421&mycomm=ES
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Journalist tells PRs how to show their Arts
Arts people can be a funny lot and it's hard to say whether Britt Douglas, Arts writer for the Houston Chronicle is genuinely annoyed or trying to help - after all he's a very busy man!
Britt thought he should give PRs a lesson in how to communicate with journalists in a concise 1400 email. He even fancies himself as a bit of a Jerry Maguire with the quip "help me help you".
Jokes aside it raises the question about how far PRs should go to promote their product or service. Where is the line between promoting and spoon-feeding?
Here's the email:
"From: "Britt, Douglas" Date: September 10, 2010 5:09:32 PM CDT To: "Britt, Douglas" Subject: Houston Chronicle art coverage in the post-Preview era - Part 2
Hi all,
As promised, here's some PR 101 on how to help me help you get more and better art coverage in the Chronicle. Some of you already do some of the things I'm about to recommend; others don't. I would strongly suggest copying this e-mail to a Word doc or something you can save on your hard drive, as well as printing a copy and keeping it handy. I don't have time to say all this the first time, let alone a second, third, fourth time.
Keeping me informed about your shows:
As I said in the last email, everything starts with 29-95. Any reviews I'm going to put on the Culture Scene pages or plugs for the Hot Picks pages (like the ones that ran yesterday for the 4411 Montrose openings and Nestor Topchy's Iconic Portrait Strand) have to be filed – done – in the can the Thursday before the issue runs. If I don't have images and info before then, you don't even have a fighting chance of getting in. So if you have a show scheduled to open Friday, Oct. 1 and close Saturday, Oct. 30, you'll want me to have images and info no later than Wednesday, Sept. 22.
NOTE: That doesn't guarantee I'll be able (or willing, as the case may be) to use it in the Sept. 30 (or whatever week's) issue of 29-95, but if I don't have the images/info, I can't use it. In other words, Here's the procedure you should follow for upcoming shows:
1) Email hi-res JPEGs with caption info (artist, title, photo credit if needed) for EACH image. If Suzie Smith made the artwork in every image you sent, put Suzie Smith's name in the caption for every image. Otherwise, when I do a search in the system for Suzie Smith, Suzie Smith's art won't show up, and I'll say "Oh, well. Next!" and review Jane Jones' show instead, because Jane Jones' gallery didn't think following simple instructions was too much trouble.
2) Email me with a heads up as to when you'll have the show installed. If I can see the show before it opens, that's a big help, especially when the show has a short exhibition run.
3) It IS a good idea to keep spamming me with press releases. They sometimes have useful info and seeing them come in jogs my memory about shows I want to see. Just make sure I have the JPEGs.
4) Do NOT email me the invitation. We don't publish invitations in the paper. Never have. Never well. I'm amazed at how many of you seem to be under the impression that a) I don't get enough invitations and b) that we run invitations as reviews. Email JPEGs of the actual artworks on view in the show.
5) Again for Mac users: DO NOT USE MACMAIL TO SEND THE IMAGE. Send it from a web-based account like Gmail or Yahoo or Hotmail in the web browser. If you don't know how to do this, find someone (not me) who does and have him teach you how.
6) Do all this automatically. Don't make me ask. And when we exchange emails, let's try to take care of business with as few emails as possible.
Remember, I have two beats (society and art) that throw themselves at me 24/7.
Break through the clutter; don't add to it:
1) If this is one of your biggest shows of the season, tell me why – and make the "why" be about the importance and quality of the work – not the fact that the artist is really old, really sweet, taught at UH for 20 years or was so-and-so's student. Not about the fact that the consul of Belgium bought one of his pieces or Peter Brown might buy one. Make it about the work. The work. The work. The work.
2) You don't need to tell me that you'd really like a review. So would every other art space in town. See No. 6.
3) Don't nag. Don't ask why I haven't replied to your last email, or when am I coming in (unless we're arranging an interview with a curator, in the case of museums, or something like that). If you've been nagging me, don't apologize; just go ye therefore and nag no more. And for god's sake, don't ask me to call unless it's earth-shattering.
4) When the social season is in full swing, which it now is for all intents and purposes, I'm afraid I can't come to the after party, or dinner with the artist – unless we're talking about Ed Ruscha, John Baldessari or someone in that league – or the VIP-whatever. (During the summer, or the winter break between seasons, that's another story – then we can try and make it a society event. But from now until December there are two many galas going on.
When I'm at your gallery, make the most of my time there:
1) I know this is going to sound catty, cranky and misanthropic. But PLEASE STOP ASKING what it's like covering society, how do I do it all, how many times I go out a week, if I'm having fun, when do I sleep, etc. The answer, which will never change, is that doing both is like trying to thread a needle while swatting flies – all while being shot out of a cannon. Now you know.
1a) And PLEASE STOP TELLING ME how busy I am (I know), how prolific I am (I know), what a breath of fresh or stale air I am, etc., etc., etc. Every second we spend on that kind of chatter drains the life out of me, frankly makes me uncomfortable AND DOESN'T TELL ME ANYTHING I NEED TO KNOW. No more limping out of galleries after a 30-minute conversation in which I leave knowing no more than I did when I came in.
2) Tell me something interesting about the art I'm there to look at. Then, tell me something I don't know about what's going on in the art scene. And chances are you know plenty I don't, because I'm always chained to the desk here.
3) Big-picture talk is good too. How do you think HAA's doing? Are you glad/sad/mad about the state of the Menil/CAMH/the MFAH? What do we need to do to get some decent signage in the Museum District? What do we need to do to make sure the city isn't humiliated next year when Houston hosts the American Association of Museums conference the year after Los Angeles did? What are other cities' art scenes doing that Houston's isn't?
4) What other shows have you seen in Houston (or elsewhere) that impressed you? Word of mouth helps, both from an informational standpoint and from the standpoint of letting me know you know it's all about you. It's not that I don't want to talk. I do. I just want to talk about substantive stuff. I get all the empty chatter I can stand at society events.
I know how crabby this email sounds, but actually I'm feeling more upbeat than I have in a long time about the prospects for doing some really interesting, at times important coverage – IF I can plug the thousand time leaks that sprout every day because I'm too busy emailing people back and forth or putting out various small fires. And I would say the Chronicle is more responsive to art-related feedback, and to demands for more art coverage, than I've ever seen it. I'm also getting faster and more streamlined at handling my society duties. There's potential to raise the profile of art writing at the paper if we're all smart about it.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go put on a suit and go to a society event. Have a great weekend, everybody.
Douglas Britt
Society/visual arts writer
Houston Chronicle http://blogs.chron.com/socialclimbing
http://blogs.chron.com/peep/art"
Britt thought he should give PRs a lesson in how to communicate with journalists in a concise 1400 email. He even fancies himself as a bit of a Jerry Maguire with the quip "help me help you".
Jokes aside it raises the question about how far PRs should go to promote their product or service. Where is the line between promoting and spoon-feeding?
Here's the email:
"From: "Britt, Douglas" Date: September 10, 2010 5:09:32 PM CDT To: "Britt, Douglas" Subject: Houston Chronicle art coverage in the post-Preview era - Part 2
Hi all,
As promised, here's some PR 101 on how to help me help you get more and better art coverage in the Chronicle. Some of you already do some of the things I'm about to recommend; others don't. I would strongly suggest copying this e-mail to a Word doc or something you can save on your hard drive, as well as printing a copy and keeping it handy. I don't have time to say all this the first time, let alone a second, third, fourth time.
Keeping me informed about your shows:
As I said in the last email, everything starts with 29-95. Any reviews I'm going to put on the Culture Scene pages or plugs for the Hot Picks pages (like the ones that ran yesterday for the 4411 Montrose openings and Nestor Topchy's Iconic Portrait Strand) have to be filed – done – in the can the Thursday before the issue runs. If I don't have images and info before then, you don't even have a fighting chance of getting in. So if you have a show scheduled to open Friday, Oct. 1 and close Saturday, Oct. 30, you'll want me to have images and info no later than Wednesday, Sept. 22.
NOTE: That doesn't guarantee I'll be able (or willing, as the case may be) to use it in the Sept. 30 (or whatever week's) issue of 29-95, but if I don't have the images/info, I can't use it. In other words, Here's the procedure you should follow for upcoming shows:
1) Email hi-res JPEGs with caption info (artist, title, photo credit if needed) for EACH image. If Suzie Smith made the artwork in every image you sent, put Suzie Smith's name in the caption for every image. Otherwise, when I do a search in the system for Suzie Smith, Suzie Smith's art won't show up, and I'll say "Oh, well. Next!" and review Jane Jones' show instead, because Jane Jones' gallery didn't think following simple instructions was too much trouble.
2) Email me with a heads up as to when you'll have the show installed. If I can see the show before it opens, that's a big help, especially when the show has a short exhibition run.
3) It IS a good idea to keep spamming me with press releases. They sometimes have useful info and seeing them come in jogs my memory about shows I want to see. Just make sure I have the JPEGs.
4) Do NOT email me the invitation. We don't publish invitations in the paper. Never have. Never well. I'm amazed at how many of you seem to be under the impression that a) I don't get enough invitations and b) that we run invitations as reviews. Email JPEGs of the actual artworks on view in the show.
5) Again for Mac users: DO NOT USE MACMAIL TO SEND THE IMAGE. Send it from a web-based account like Gmail or Yahoo or Hotmail in the web browser. If you don't know how to do this, find someone (not me) who does and have him teach you how.
6) Do all this automatically. Don't make me ask. And when we exchange emails, let's try to take care of business with as few emails as possible.
Remember, I have two beats (society and art) that throw themselves at me 24/7.
Break through the clutter; don't add to it:
1) If this is one of your biggest shows of the season, tell me why – and make the "why" be about the importance and quality of the work – not the fact that the artist is really old, really sweet, taught at UH for 20 years or was so-and-so's student. Not about the fact that the consul of Belgium bought one of his pieces or Peter Brown might buy one. Make it about the work. The work. The work. The work.
2) You don't need to tell me that you'd really like a review. So would every other art space in town. See No. 6.
3) Don't nag. Don't ask why I haven't replied to your last email, or when am I coming in (unless we're arranging an interview with a curator, in the case of museums, or something like that). If you've been nagging me, don't apologize; just go ye therefore and nag no more. And for god's sake, don't ask me to call unless it's earth-shattering.
4) When the social season is in full swing, which it now is for all intents and purposes, I'm afraid I can't come to the after party, or dinner with the artist – unless we're talking about Ed Ruscha, John Baldessari or someone in that league – or the VIP-whatever. (During the summer, or the winter break between seasons, that's another story – then we can try and make it a society event. But from now until December there are two many galas going on.
When I'm at your gallery, make the most of my time there:
1) I know this is going to sound catty, cranky and misanthropic. But PLEASE STOP ASKING what it's like covering society, how do I do it all, how many times I go out a week, if I'm having fun, when do I sleep, etc. The answer, which will never change, is that doing both is like trying to thread a needle while swatting flies – all while being shot out of a cannon. Now you know.
1a) And PLEASE STOP TELLING ME how busy I am (I know), how prolific I am (I know), what a breath of fresh or stale air I am, etc., etc., etc. Every second we spend on that kind of chatter drains the life out of me, frankly makes me uncomfortable AND DOESN'T TELL ME ANYTHING I NEED TO KNOW. No more limping out of galleries after a 30-minute conversation in which I leave knowing no more than I did when I came in.
2) Tell me something interesting about the art I'm there to look at. Then, tell me something I don't know about what's going on in the art scene. And chances are you know plenty I don't, because I'm always chained to the desk here.
3) Big-picture talk is good too. How do you think HAA's doing? Are you glad/sad/mad about the state of the Menil/CAMH/the MFAH? What do we need to do to get some decent signage in the Museum District? What do we need to do to make sure the city isn't humiliated next year when Houston hosts the American Association of Museums conference the year after Los Angeles did? What are other cities' art scenes doing that Houston's isn't?
4) What other shows have you seen in Houston (or elsewhere) that impressed you? Word of mouth helps, both from an informational standpoint and from the standpoint of letting me know you know it's all about you. It's not that I don't want to talk. I do. I just want to talk about substantive stuff. I get all the empty chatter I can stand at society events.
I know how crabby this email sounds, but actually I'm feeling more upbeat than I have in a long time about the prospects for doing some really interesting, at times important coverage – IF I can plug the thousand time leaks that sprout every day because I'm too busy emailing people back and forth or putting out various small fires. And I would say the Chronicle is more responsive to art-related feedback, and to demands for more art coverage, than I've ever seen it. I'm also getting faster and more streamlined at handling my society duties. There's potential to raise the profile of art writing at the paper if we're all smart about it.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go put on a suit and go to a society event. Have a great weekend, everybody.
Douglas Britt
Society/visual arts writer
Houston Chronicle http://blogs.chron.com/socialclimbing
http://blogs.chron.com/peep/art"
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Now Facebook has decided to BranchOut, LinkedIn needs to Worry
BranchOut is a jobs and career networking feature built on Facebook and looks set to take on LinkedIn as the social media network for professionals.
Facebook has always been about connecting with friends on a social level. Unfortunately some employers have used this information to screen job applicants and, in some cases, of people have lost their jobs for comments made about their superiors or the company they work for.
BranchOut aims to be your professional profile on Facebook, meaning you can have both your personal life and professional life on one platform.
Not only does BranchOut draw on the connections made through Facebook, it can also import information from LinkedIn. All you have to do to set up your profile is click one button and it imports your LinkedIn profile and formats it perfectly into one simple CV.
While it remains to be seen how harmoniously work and play can co-exist, BranchOut is likely to grow very big, very quickly.
Facebook has always been about connecting with friends on a social level. Unfortunately some employers have used this information to screen job applicants and, in some cases, of people have lost their jobs for comments made about their superiors or the company they work for.
BranchOut aims to be your professional profile on Facebook, meaning you can have both your personal life and professional life on one platform.
Not only does BranchOut draw on the connections made through Facebook, it can also import information from LinkedIn. All you have to do to set up your profile is click one button and it imports your LinkedIn profile and formats it perfectly into one simple CV.
While it remains to be seen how harmoniously work and play can co-exist, BranchOut is likely to grow very big, very quickly.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)