Why PR Agencies Don’t Like Social Media

In an industry based on a series of carefully choreographed set of moves, the moves are no longer the same. There’s a new partner on the dance floor now, and where everyone was doing a waltz, they’re doing the tango. And people are liking it.

Change, as is often said, is inevitable. But that doesn’t mean we have to like it. For decades the Public Relations profession has operated like any other professional, well-established industry, with a set of Best Practices and processes that enable it to function economically and socially. PR agencies have helped shape corporate and celebrity images, guiding the “conversation” with the public. Or the PR professional has worked for corporations in-house, acting as the director in the corporate movie. There is an elegant series of moves in the dance with the journalist, the steps are known and each party accepts them.

A PR professional had to work only with newspapers, magazines, radio and television journalists. Then perhaps put some information on a Website. The channels were defined, the medium known and understood. Feedback mechanisms were few, largely controlled and time-delayed. All factors allowing sober second-thought and time to remedy or let a story be forgotten. But somewhere, some smart geek clicked her heels and we’re not in Kansas anymore.

One of the most important assets in a PR firm, perhaps the most important, is it’s contacts with media. Many PR firms will even focus on certain industries and the media that covers those industries. They coveted, coddled and protected those contacts fiercely. They still do, rightly so. But now media can uncover more information, faster and check the facts and details faster. They don’t necessarily have to even speak to a PR professional; they can choose their dance partner now, and there’s a lot more dancers.

It’s not just the issue of media contacts and those carefully nurtured relationships that is having an impact. The PR professional has been the conversationalist of the public and private sector institutions. They could set the tone and manner, define the language and help impart carefully developed messages. I’ve been through the media training with bridging techniques and message management. These rules still apply, it’s just that new rules are being added to the conversation.

The challenges Social Media represent are numerous, and no rule book has been defined yet. Bloggers, citizens, anyone at all, can quickly start a PR crisis or boone on the Web in just a few minutes. Citizens can say whatever they want, unbound by the code of ethics and best practices recognized and accepted amongst professional media and PR professionals. Among the many new steps on this dancefloor, is that citizen bloggers and voices don’t know the workings of the PR profession and traditional media. They don’t accept the process of fact checking and attempting impartiality. Citizens in Social Media just want to speak when they have something to say.

It is dealing with these new moves that will have the PR industry facing increased turmoil and reeling dizzily across the dance floor for a few more years yet. But as the new channels evolve, no doubt new skills, approaches and tactics will evolve, and so will a new guide book. The PR professionals that can understand Social Media and integrate their practices with traditional media, defining new steps and leading the dance floor, will be incredibly successful and infinitely valuable to private and public sector organizations.

Does a Corporate Blog Humanize The Business

The short answer is a definite maybe. It’s all about the strategy and who is doing the blogging, followed by the choice in tone and manner, and the desire to engage. These are the key elements to developing a more “human” corporate blog. The challenge facing most organizations is that they recognize Social Media and it’s potential impact, but don’t necessarily comprehend and understand it. This is the crucial different to overall success with a corporate blog. Continue reading »

Social Media Vs. Professional Media; Who Will Win?

The discussion between the validity of Consumer Generated Media {CGM} (a.k.a User Generated Media) and professional journalists has been raging for a few years now. Journalists shun many a blogger for lack of facts and accountability in reporting. While bloggers often discount journalists under conspiracy theory tags for being in the pay of big corporations. While there are some arguments on both sides, the fact is, Social Media and CGM is only going to grow. With the proliferation of mobile devices and increasing availability of Web access anywhere this is pretty much guaranteed. How will this shape the future of media? Who will win? Continue reading »

Blogs And Corporate Social Responsibility Metrics

Some have called Corporate Social Responsibility the “New PR Campaign” for the corporation. Our experience shows it’s far more than that. When a company like Novartis reaches out to support NPR programming, they are taking time to invest in the broader community. Brewery, Molson, leverages a comprehensive blog to communicate it’s CSR programs. But few members of the general public leave comments, even when they are enabled. Does this indicate apathy or lack of trust of Big Corporate? Blogs can play a vital role in CSR, but our experience shows it is not where the company should necessary play actively.

The Molson CSR blog is just one example of a blog run by an Enterprise that is pushing a message, but no one responds, other than family or employees. The very nature of a blog is to invite 2-way conversation. What makes a blog highly successful is not just readers, but participants actively commenting. They don’t have to be meaningful comments on an entry, simply one-liners or “I agree” type statements – the key point here is that they convey a sense of activity, of engagement. In research of over 15 corporate sponsored and run CSR blogs, only 3 had any level of engagement. Meaning comments outside of recognizable family or employees.

A corporate sponsored blog detailing CSR activities is a key part of a communications strategy, and opening it up for direct comments is an excellent way to invite communication. Our findings however, indicate the usual views of the general public; that commenting on the corporate sponsored blog is not really a way to get ones message across. Most tend to feel that it is more viable to find an individual blogger who is not sponsored by the corporation in question, and to engage there.

So while a corporate sponsored CSR blog is a good strategy, since it enables quick and timely communication and leaves the door open to engage, a company is better off monitoring the blogosphere than it is building and simply monitoring its own CSR blog. Participating in those independent blogs is a whole other strategy and process. But monitoring is key to the PR team. We’ve seen several companies simply monitor their own CSR blog and use unique visits as a metric for success – but this doesn’t give a viable measurement. People may view a corporate CSR blog, but the whole idea of Social Media is engagement, and evaluating negative, positive and neutral commentary.