Best Practices, Reputation•
on August 25th, 2009•
At least, these are the ones we’ve found to work with clients. You might also have seen them mentioned somewhere else; no claims to being the first to think of them. They do, however, work and work well. Enough that I think we can at least put a stake in the ground for these four. The rules are being written daily.
1. Transparency: Be out front. Be real about who you are and why you’re company is involved in Social Media. Transparency means not hiding behind the old cloak of PR spin.
2. Authenticity: Don’t hire a flock of ghost writers to pretend they’re “you” or use a fake “personality” in campaigns. You’ll be found out and it will cost you more to repair the damage than it did in success. In this sense also, don’t pretend you’re not trying to sell me something when you are. Marketing has been deceitful enough these past 40 years.
3. Trust: If you’re business is transparent and your actions are authentic, you will build trust. The old bait and switch tactics are, well, old. Be original.
4. Respond: Social Media is “communications” which implies a two-way set of behaviours. If as a business you don’t want to respond then use one-way media; advertising in broadcast mediums.
5. Listen: Do this before you do anything in Social Media. Seriously. Start with a good long, deep listening to what is being said, who it’s being said about, why, where and in what context.
They aren’t a complicated set of principles and I’m sure there’s more. Let me know, I’ll add them or we can carry on the conversation in Twitter. But we’re starting to establish some principles that we know work in ongoing Social Media activity. Aren’t we?
(Author: Giles Crouch, Managing Director)
Thunking•
on March 25th, 2009•
Any of us working in the world of Social Media have heard many times from business clients “I just don’t get it.” Many of us have chimed in that Social Media isn’t just “marketing” it’s communications. What I often find that we forget is that Social Media is simply an extension of human behaviour in the real-world.
Social Media or the Social Web, is about people forming into groups, sometimes for a long time, other times simply for a brief conversation. We might form a community on Ning, such as many educators have done. Likely these are teachers of various types, but some of them may also belong to a local sports community on Ning, or even a knitting community. In real-life these people teach at a school, play on a local footsie team or knit for R&R. They form into groups to connect about what matters, to share ideas and knowledge…to grow. Sometimes groups form around a cause and create online petitions.
We’ve often found the most success with clients on Social Media strategies when we look at how groups form, why they form and what keeps them going. This may sound simple, but it’s not. Especially if you hope to rally a group around a product, this is very hard. It is an artful blend of the right value/promise, tools and how the “rules” of the group are developed and governed…then we can drill down into group tensions and frictions…and on.
But essentially, if you look at the groups you belong to in the physical world, translate that to how you can communicate on the Web – the knowledge component of footsie (as in rules discussions) or knitting (as in discussing techniques) and you’re on your way.
(Author: G. Crouch, Principal)
For decades the role of PR professionals and communicators/marketers has been to shape the corporate message; whether it be for a press release or marketing campaign. The professionals did the research and prepared the message and off it went to any combination of newspaper, wire service, television, radio…it was put out there and it pretty much stayed that way. The corporation could control the message. Not anymore.
Those heady days of crafting The Message and then watching a successful campaign take hold in traditional media are fading away with the advent of Social Media and Consumer Generated Content (CGM.) The message truly belongs to the masses now. This puts entirely new spin on “the medium is the message.”
A PR pro can spend hours painstakingly crafting the key message(s) for a press release or an ad creative doing the same for a new ad campaign. The client approves The Message, the team is prepped, the ad buy or wire service selected and off goes the message into the public doman. With the Web today, anything in text, audio or video format will end up on the Web. Once it’s there, it’s fair game for anyone to re-purpose. If it’s really good or really bad, it will be re-purposed. How? That’s up to the imagination and capabilities of the people who want to re-purpose it. This is where control is lost and “guiding” becomes the only option.
Your message may be edited in completely unpredictable ways. The Message may be turned into a parody, put into a mash up or simply sent all over the Web. If the re-purposing is interesting enough, it may end up back on television in news coverage or on the radio or a podcast.
Sometimes this may not happen at all. That can be both good and bad. Maybe the message didn’t appeal to the target or they didn’t think it needed changing. Perhaps the message was so well crafted it simply spread virally, which is excellent. But even having your message re-purposed is good, as long as it still carries back to you and is positive. If it’s negative, there isn’t much you can do. Sometimes you migh have legal recourse. This does not happen very often however.
There are strategies to manage your message (not control it) and thinking about how your message might be adopted once it hits the public domain is good practice – but don’t spend too much time fretting over it, you’ll be on the valium far too quick. This is yet another example of how Social Media is shifting the old rules of the communications game. It’s not your message anymore.
Best Practices•
on July 4th, 2008•
For decades we’ve had the Corporate Spokesperson; groomed, media trained and prepped to deliver a single message repeated at least 3 times in an interview. Or just the “face” we always saw. This worked for Traditional Media, but with the growth of Social Media and the blurring lines between professional and social media for what consumers read, this is changing radically. The “Corporate Spokesperson” may be evolving to be the “Corporate Conversationalist” who has brand status similar to that of the corporation itself. read more
Best Practices, Blog•
on June 29th, 2008•
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.