25 posts tagged “pr”
Nate Cochrane pens his rules for social media etiquette on iTNews. And in a style true to the very fundamentals of social media which encourage active sharing and participation, he has made a point to list the rules he outlines as a work in progress and has opened it up for discussion on the site.
One of the rules that he points out is one that we tend to forget: ‘Quality NOT quantity’. Too often PRs get flack for doing a last minute dash to sign up as many people in their network to become friends/ fans on their clients’ Facebook groups and pages or on their Twitter handles.
As PRs, we need to continue to educate our clients that the real value does not lie in the sheer volume of people we sign up but rather in the quality of the people we engage (even if it’s only a handful!).
Consider who your target audience is, where do they frequent and how to reach them. Who is in your fans/ friends extended networks. Are they the right audience to target?
Using Twitter as an example, it’s important to do the analysis and drill down into who the person is that you want to connect with, get to know them, follow them for a while and find out what they write about. Also have a look into who follows that person, are they the appropriate person for your client to be reaching out to or is there someone in their Twitter network that is better?
The following tool can help you determine the most appropriate people to follow:
http://flowingdata.com/2008/03/12/17-ways-to-visualize-the-twitter-universe/
If we want to get some real and long lasting results for our clients, the key is to make sure that we’re speaking to the right audiences!
A big thanks to Julian for pulling together the latest blog list - Advertising Young Minds: The Top 27 blogs of people under 27.
Happy to see that I have been bumped up the ranks a few spots from number 25 to number 19 this year. Now I just need to keep up my end of the bargain and make sure that I allocate a decent amount of time to keeping my blog updated.
I promise in between renovating a house and planning a wedding to make ample time to do my blog and my fellow readers well.
Watch this space my friends!
All the best,
Lex
The hot topic at the moment is the uncertain economic environment - something that is rearing its head in all industries and all walks off life today. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I am keen to explore over time what impact this changing landscape will have on the PR industry next year, particularly in Australia.
As PR budgets are typically the first to get stripped in organisations, will we see PR evaluation and measurement become an even more crucial tool for reporting in this uncertain economic time? Will we increasingly use it as a means for us, as PR professionals, to justify our worth?
And as my MD, Graham White, put it nicely: "More than ever we need to be accountable and in a recession, PR has to be part of the effectiveness mindset."
I'll be interested to see if the big agencies create, brand, package and sell PR measurement methodologies unique to their businesses and to their clients. If PR agencies are not already using PR measurement as a fundamental tool for measurement and follow-through on client campaigns and projects, surely it is something they will look to in the coming year.
Despite the importance of PR measurement and evaluation in this uncertain time, I would have to agree with many wise people before me that historically PR measurement has been (and still is) elusive. The complexities of measuring PR are never black and white.
I am interested in your take on this topic. Will we iron out the problems we have historically had with PR measurement? Will evaluation become second nature for PR professionals (if it isn't already)? Will PR take a hit from the economic downturn?
What impact will the changing economic environment have on the PR industry? Will companies be less inclined to put budget towards PR?
Historically we have seen that if our clients’ budgets are sliced, it is usually PR that feels the brunt of the impact. However, despite the current financial environment, it has actually been predicted that the industry will grow from $3 billion to $6 billion by 2010. And despite the current uncertainty over the economic landscape, PR salaries are actually on the way up – because of the high demand versus the talent shortage in this particular industry. This in itself is indicative of growth.
More and more companies are looking for counsel from PR – in particular for brand and reputation management and corporate profiling as a way to promote board members, products or services. I believe this will become more critical as companies realise the dire need to cut through a crowded marketplace in light of an economy in a state of flux.
This is just some food for thought for now. I’d be very interested to get your thoughts.
I’ll be following this space!
Sorry Brad for not acknowledging your B&T feature on Australian marketing blogs earlier!
Although it's a fast moving target, I was happy to see myself also come in at #44 in the Top 50 Australian Marketing Blogs - compiled by B&T. And thank you Brad for my closing words :)
Shout out to the following top 10 that made the Top 50 Australian Marketing blogs:
- Banner Blog
- Servant of Chaos
- Young PR
- Laurel Papworth
- Get Shouty
- Copy Write
- Corporate Engagement
- Better Communications Results
- Ettf
- Online Marketing Banter
Keep up the good work Aussie bloggers!
I have mentioned the benefits of using social bookmarking sites before but I think it's beneficial to mention it again - mainly people seem to be more receptive to using online Web 2.0 tools these days. And more and more, we are seeing people use these tools in a professional sense.
For example, PR practitioners and journalists in Australia are now frequenting Twitter as part of their daily grind. Journalists are using Twitter to put a shout out for spokespeople for stories they are writing. PR practitioners are shouting out news announcements and interview opportunities in a bid to get media interest.
Back to social bookmarking sites... There are sites such as Digg and Del.icio.us which are great tools that let you share and find content, including video and news articles, from anywhere on the web.
I'm a great fan of Digg. For those newbies out there, a ‘digg’ is similar to a favourite.
The content on Digg is submitted by the consumer and is voted on by other consumers. The more ‘diggs’ you get on content that you have uploaded, the higher up it climbs in the Digg ranks. If you're content is absolutely fabulous and many people are 'digging' it, it can even be promoted to the front site page for millions of site visitors to see.
Digg is a fantastic example and proof point of a successful online community!
Leveraging these sites as a PR professional or a journalist
PR professionals
If you receive a fantastic piece of online media coverage for a client of yours, you can upload it to Digg. You will then be asked to submit the content along with a title, description and a tag that is suitable for the content.
What are the benefits? More journalists today are using social bookmarking sites to research specific categories. And It's a tool you can use to try and generate additional media coverage for a client.
Journalists
If you aren't already doing so, I would suggest that you join Digg. Upload your published online content to the site. By submitting stories here you are extending your reach to a truly global audience. You can even build a cult following in Digg - those that will get to know and love your stories, read them and share them on with others.
Bloggers are using Digg as part of their daily beat as well. Increasingly, we are seeing instances of where bloggers or journalists pick up others news stories from Digg and reference it in their blogs - increasing the popularity of the story and the site origination.
I encourage you all to set up a Digg account and start experimenting. I'd love to hear your thoughts on social bookmarking sites? Can it really work to leverage stories? Can you really generate additional media coverage by submitting content to the site?
Andrew Maiden from Telstra made a comment at this morning's Frocomm session on CEO perspectives regarding the importance of new media. The comment was around how it is no longer about 'work life balance' but that it is about 'work life integration' these days - and I couldn't agree more.
We are noticing this shift more and more thanks to new technologies such as smartphones and the plethora of other mobile devices that provide you with the capabilities to access email, IM, social media applications such as Twitter, social networking sites and other emerging technologies that are making it easier than ever to connect with work and friends from pretty much any environment.
Ultra-portable, ultra-light notebooks such as the Toshiba Portégé R500 or MacBook Air are also making it easier to take your work with you. The exciting thing here is that technology is actually keeping up with the changes of today's lifestyle. The iPhone and other MIDs are perfect examples of this.
I could spend time going into the debate about whether or not these devices and technologies are infringing on our personal lives and making it impossible to balance work and life but I’m not going to. Reason being – I don’t think this is a relevant debate anymore, at least not entirely. Thanks Andrew for point this out.
I’m not sure that people are still seeking work life balance these days. It’s idealistic and rather utopian if you ask me. By the way, feel free to slam me here if you completely disagree but I am more inclined to believe that today’s workers are happy to tip the scales one way or another from time to time. Let me put this point to life using me as an example:
I wake up early in the morning and check my email when I’m still in my pyjamas or house clothes (call it what you will). I then drive into work, get a coffee, read the Fin Review, the technology headlines and log on to my PC at the same time. I tend to emails mostly, action the important ones, talk to my teams regarding priorities, and then I review and respond to emails some more. It’s then on to client meetings, conference calls, internal and/or external WIP meetings and that will quite safely take me to the end of the day when I head home. Sometimes I go home and log on to email after dinner to do a quick check to see the emails that have hit my inbox from the APAC countries that I work with – but sometimes I don’t.
Sometimes I wake up in the morning and tend to emails before heading to work. Once at work I check my emails and do more of the stuff I talk about above. I then have lunch for an hour, come back and do some work and then leave at 3pm to take my grandma to the doctor – and no, I don’t come back to work and sometimes I don’t even log back on to work emails from home.
I’m a good example of a worker that integrates work with life. I don’t try and squeeze or build my life around work instead I make sure that both complement one another. Some days I may work longer hours but such is the nature of work or responsibility, and any responsibility for that. A relationship takes time and effort – you have to put in the hard yards in these too.
I have the flexibility at my workplace to do these things and I think we are starting to see this happen across more organisations and industries.
Anyway, this is my rant. I’d love to get your thoughts on the shift from work life balance to work life integration. Do you agree/ disagree?
Andrew Maiden from Telstra made a comment at this morning's Frocomm session on CEO perspectives regarding the importance of new media. The comment was around how it is no longer about 'work life balance' but that it is about 'work life integration' these days - and I couldn't agree more.
We are noticing this shift more and more thanks to new technologies such as smartphones and the plethora of other mobile devices that provide you with the capabilities to access email, IM, social media applications such as Twitter, social networking sites and other emerging technologies that are making it easier than ever to connect with work and friends from pretty much any environment.
Ultra-portable, ultra-light notebooks such as the Toshiba Portégé R500 or MacBook Air are also making it easier to take your work with you. The exciting thing here is that technology is actually keeping up with the changes of today's lifestyle. The iPhone and other MIDs are perfect examples of this.
I could spend time going into the debate about whether or not these devices and technologies are infringing on our personal lives and making it impossible to balance work and life but I’m not going to. Reason being – I don’t think this is a relevant debate anymore, at least not entirely. Thanks Andrew for point this out.
I’m not sure that people are still seeking work life balance these days. It’s idealistic and rather utopian if you ask me. By the way, feel free to slam me here if you completely disagree but I am more inclined to believe that today’s workers are happy to tip the scales one way or another from time to time. Let me put this point to life using me as an example:
I wake up early in the morning and check my email when I’m still in my pyjamas or house clothes (call it what you will). I then drive into work, get a coffee, read the Fin Review, the technology headlines and log on to my PC at the same time. I tend to emails mostly, action the important ones, talk to my teams regarding priorities, and then I review and respond to emails some more. It’s then on to client meetings, conference calls, internal and/or external WIP meetings and that will quite safely take me to the end of the day when I head home. Sometimes I go home and log on to email after dinner to do a quick check to see the emails that have hit my inbox from the APAC countries that I work with – but sometimes I don’t.
Sometimes I wake up in the morning and tend to emails before heading to work. Once at work I check my emails and do more of the stuff I talk about above. I then have lunch for an hour, come back and do some work and then leave at 3pm to take my grandma to the doctor – and no, I don’t come back to work and sometimes I don’t even log back on to work emails from home.
I’m a good example of a worker that integrates work with life. I don’t try and squeeze or build my life around work instead I make sure that both complement one another. Some days I may work longer hours but such is the nature of work or responsibility, and any responsibility for that. A relationship takes time and effort – you have to put in the hard yards in these too.
I have the flexibility at my workplace to do these things and I think we are starting to see this happen across more organisations and industries.
Anyway, this is my rant. I’d love to get your thoughts on the shift from work life balance to work life integration. Do you agree/ disagree?
I read a really interesting article on the emerging social media trend of ‘dark marketing’ which takes a very much ‘covert’ approach. It provides examples of companies that have implemented stealth tactics in order to reach and sway influencers and potential influencers without engaging them directly with a brand.
Dark Marketing was defined as “…discretely sponsored online and real world entertainment intended to reach hipster audiences that would ordinarily shun corporate shilling” by Tom Edwards in this article.
In order to give a balanced account of this marketing approach, I have provided a couple of positive and negative examples. Sony recently launched a ‘Fake Tourist’ campaign in which it seeded Sony camera users in a central location and asked them to engage with people to take their picture with the desired goal to lead to a ‘pseudo-pitch’ around the product. This approach faced widespread criticism as it was considered a sly tactic to try and drive up sales of Sony’s latest camera product.
Another example is Vespa in the U.S. (which isn’t listed in this particular article I am referring to). Vespa actually hired attractive models to ride around on its scooters and up to bystanders in order to lure them, with their looks, into asking for their phone number. At this point, the Vespa driver would hand out a phone number and ride off (kind of like what you would expect to see in a movie). The catch? When the bystanders called the number, they were actually directly connected to a Vespa dealership!
Don’t be disillusioned. There are examples of this sort of activity that can work – but importantly, the activity needs to be ‘smart’ and cannot offend consumers.
An example used in the article of where this stealth tactic has worked is McDonalds and its recent ‘Lost Ring’ campaign. The Lost Ring was a virtual reality viral game targeted at youth and aimed at subtly promoting the McDonald’s brand and its partnership with the Olympics. It was in fact so discrete that it was almost (and still is) impossible to attribute this back to the McDonald's brand. Not one single instance of a golden arch. The interesting thing here is that even post-campaign period – the site has a really simple survey mechanism to solicit feedback from site visitors – and still subtle in its branding.
Marketers are getting smarter – and so they must – especially if they (and we) want to be able to reach out to and make an impact on relevant brand influencers both online and offline.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on covert/ stealth marketing. Do you think it's right/ wrong?
It is becoming increasingly evident that more business users are jumping online during the work day to frequent social networking sites, using it as an online hub to conduct business and connect with other users for work purposes. For example, Twitter is becoming not only a hang out place to connect with friends but from a professional standpoint I am seeing that PR practitioners and journalists are using it as a portal to tap into useful networks, scoop out stories, identify spokespeople and generate outcomes.
Interestingly enough, as we see this trend escalate, eMarketer predicts that advertisers in the US will spend $40 million this year to reach the business audience on different social networking sites. And according to its forecasts, this spend is expected to reach $210 million in 2012.
The very nature of a social network is that it connects like-minded people and those with common hobbies and interests. It is therefore no surprise that we are seeing this behaviour among the business audience. And what's more, the very nature of social network sites is providing advertisers and marketers with great opportunities to reach out to the exact audience they are wishing to tap into, as social networking sites become even more purpose-built and niche.
Another example is LinkedIn. LinkedIn describes itself as "A networking tool to find connections to recommend job candidates, industry experts and business partners...". This site is a recruiters dream! With its member subscription having doubled in the last year, this is the ideal environment to scope out and head hunt potential talent.
I recently viewed by profile on LinkedIn and I was able to track not only how many people viewed my profile in the last 27 days but it also told me who these people were. One was 'someone in the Human Resources industry' and the other was an 'Account Director at Howorth Communications'. Nothing is sacred anymore.
These are just a few proof points that indicate the power of social networking sites in business and how sites such as LinkedIn and Twitter (and others) are increasingly becoming poweful tools that facilitate important business connections.
Do you think this trend will continue to escalate? Or are social networking sites merely fad? Would love your thoughts.
