harnessing social media for business communications · social media for business communications....
TRANSCRIPT
PRIA Brain food breakfast30 April 2010
Nick LeighAssociate Director, Digital Media UnitCur<n University of Technology
Harnessing social media for business communications
Ques7on 7me <a bit about you>★ What does social media mean to you personally?
★ And what does it mean to you professionally?
★ Are you an ac<ve listener..?
Reveal 7me <a liJle bit about me>★ Background in visual comms
★ Survived Web 1.0 (and the Perth storm)
★ Stop me for a chat at any point!
Context 7me <the interwebs today>★ Whatchoo talkin’ ‘bout Willis?
★ Major cultural change and impact -‐ the ‘democra<c web’
★ Informed, smart and scep<cal audience
★ LOLS (much)
More than 25% of search results on Google for the world’s 20 largest brands are links to user-‐generated content.(SES Magazine, from Social Media Today, 09.04.10)
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Reality 7me <in case you missed it>★ The social web is not new...or social. It’s just the web
★ However, it is instant and global..and so is the impact
★ It’s happening whether you like it, know it or neither
★ The impact on the media and business is, well, let’s see...
In the world of communica<ons, the democra<sa<on of media is pu\ng the ‘public’ back into public rela<ons.(Brian Solis, Engage)
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Panic 7me <or is it?>★ Share of voice and reputa<on are becoming harder to achieve
★ Marke<ng, news, PR, customer service are all touch points
★ The use and role of PR is changing -‐ or is it?
★ Relinquish control (you never had it)
★ Conduct, responsiveness and transparency are cri<cal
In a world where an Internet video of a piano playing cat can get more public aJen<on than a mul<-‐million dollar television adver<sing spot, how do marketers, businesses or anyone who has an idea they want to spread get the right aJen<on?
(Seth Godin)
Interlude.“”
1. Get reading★ Find your change agents, case studies. Subscribe
★ Understand your (new?) opera9ng environment
★ Get to know your stakeholders and markets...again
2. Get listening★ Find your channels
★ Seek out your influencers and champions
★ Set up a monitoring service
3. Get analysing★ Get your facts straight -‐ data not opinions
★ Trend monitoring, industry insights
★ Do your business analysis and set objec1ves
4. Get buy in★ Get strategising, prepare your company. Teach/learn
★ Train every touch point in transparency and empathy
★ Allocate resources -‐ not token, not try hard
5. Get going★ Start small! Controllable project or issue
★ Stay focused on clearly defined goals and objec9ves
★ Communicate, collaborate, network, par9cipate, build, listen, respond, add value...engage
6. Get measuring★ Subjec9ve, qualita9ve and quan9ta9ve measures
★ Report -‐ review, discuss, learn, develop
★ Establish a cycle and build into your opera9ons
Interlude.“”★ Look up the next gen authors/bloggers/influencers
★ Seek out the latest digital data and analysis -‐ Nielsen, Hitwise
★ Subscribe to email alerts -‐ Google, Mashable, SM Today etc
★ Get networking and learning at conferences
The ‘Twit Pitch’ is limited to 140 characters and involves pitching a story to a blogger or journalist via Twitter – a social networking and micro-blogging service.
While the Western Australian PR world hasn’t quite caught up to our American PR counterparts, Twitter is certainly starting to take hold with WA media and PR professionals.
So what’s changed over the past year? I spoke to two Perth journalists to find out how they are embracing Twitter.
Gareth Parker, deputy online editor of thewest.com.au, is one of the most active Western Australian journalists on Twitter (@G_Parker).
He sees Twitter as a way to encourage meaningful interactions between the readers, the newspaper and the journalists who write the articles. In his role, Twitter helps facilitate a two-way exchange of information linking readers and the newspaper, instead of information trickling down from on-high to the people.
“One of the great benefits of Twitter is we can see what people are saying about us, and then respond to that feedback in a timely manner,” said Gareth.
“I think that engenders positive feeling when people know their concerns and opinions are being heard and acted on,” he said.
was spotted in Leederville when she was in town at the end of September. Sandra monitored the tweets and pinpointed where Beyonce had visited.
“Because Twitter offers a live feed of events and news, the Beyonce sighting was a scoop for PerthNow,” said Sandra.
“A few of the Perth people I follow started to tweet her whereabouts and I was able to go back to them in real-time and ask specific questions such as what she was wearing and where did she shop. This information formed the basis of my story, which wouldn’t have been possible without Twitter,” she said.
However, while there has been a solid uptake of Twitter amongst the Western Australian media, it should not be a vehicle for PR professionals to abuse. It isn’t simply another channel through which you can pitch journalists and blast out your media release. Communication needs to be personalised, honest and straightforward.
In the US, Twitter has become so intertwined with PR that not having an account is akin to not having a fax number in the 80s or an email address in the 90s. In fact it’s becoming the norm – particularly in the PR world – that new business cards include your Twitter handle, such as @bonniebullock.
For the most part, local PR operators still rely on traditional tactics for media relations – namely media releases and personal relationships with journalists. Twitter probably won’t change this dynamic in the short term but it does create an avenue for journalists and PR professionals to connect in a purely social, ‘human’ way.Campaign Brief
PR professional’s dream – a goldmine of potential influencers. However, Twitter isn’t simply another channel through which you can pitch editors. Communication with bloggers needs to be personalised and brief.
The “Twit Pitch” is limited to 140-characters. And while that may seem impossible, it certainly improves your ability to tell a story in a few words. Most journalists I know would kill for a media release of only 140-characters!
While many of our American PR counterparts are embracing blogger relations, the traditional media release is alive and well in Western Australia. Local PR operators still rely for the most part on media releases and personal relationships with journalists.
Sure, some of us are trying our hand at targeting bloggers, but more often than not companies are interested in a local media relations strategy and most of the major blogs are national.
While in Philadelphia, I spent some time with two influential PR opinion leaders including Margo Mateas, The Media Relations Maven. She believes the public relations industry in the United States is split into three camps.
The first camp is the early adopters, who are eager to embrace this type of communication. For them, social
media involves a less direct, “sales”-oriented approach to journalists. Building relationships with bloggers allows them to communicate directly with their audiences without having to try and reach them through mainstream press channels.
The second camp consists of those PR practitioners who are trying to figure it all out and what it all means. To these “old school” operators, Web 2.0 feels very overwhelming. They are used to working directly with journalists to place stories and feel out of their comfort zone with the new medium. The world of digital media is still a Wild West frontier for PR practitioners in this group. They accept the fact that engaging with and tracking social media are now standard PR practices, but they are fumbling for the best ways to implement it on a day-to-day tactical level.
The third camp is in denial. They’re waiting for the buzz to die down and for PR life to return to normal. You hear them say: “Who has time to Twitter? Why do I care what someone else is doing right now?” They feel confused and resentful that the old paradigm is being ripped away from them and a new one is taking its place. These PR practitioners are trying to plug into social media by applying traditional media relations, which is stressful and difficult.
Intrigued by Mateas’ assessment of the PR industry, I also spoke with Jack Horner, President of Jack Horner Communications.
He agrees that PR professionals are in the midst of a generational divide. Those of us who grew up reading newspapers can’t imagine our day without them. Those of us who grew up with a laptop in our backpack can’t imagine why we’d bother getting our hands dirty.
As the second group enters management, advertising spending will continue its migration from traditional media to online (as long as online can prove and assign a measured value to its readership). This shift will upsize online and downsize traditional media, but both will continue to coexist and intermingle indefinitely.
Within the space of the last five years, Horner has witnessed blogs emerge as a media category unto itself. Either the mainstream media validated the blogosphere by citing them and society followed or perhaps the world started blogging and the media noticed. Nevertheless, blogging is now an undeniable channel and another way to get messages out.
But does he think the media release is dying?
“Bloggers have officially joined the ever-expanding rolodex of reporters’
sources. But the press release is not dead. It’s just not as likely to produce feature coverage as it once did,” said Horner.
Horner has found that consumer and issues management clients target online media, blogs and social websites more than other sectors.
“Blogs can lead to buzz, often an effective strategy for a consumer client. Arguably, if you follow a specific blogger with any regularity, it’s because you have an interest in what he or she writes about. You’re demographically segmenting yourself by that interest and more likely to respond with engagement, such as trying a new product or rallying behind a cause,” he said.
Just like tailoring a pitch to a journalist’s round, Horner emphasises that it must make editorial and thematic sense to target a particular blog.
“More and more we see blogs and other websites used as resources, and attributed as such, for mainstream traditional media,” said Horner. “This means successfully targeting bloggers and websites can indeed lead to coverage in other places.”
However Horner believes online coverage is still valued less by many clients when measuring impact.
“Make no mistake. Organisations
www.google.com/analyticswww.blogsearch.google.com www.blogs.com I also paid a visit to Bonnie Heneson
Communications in Baltimore, Maryland - home to my first step on the PR career ladder where I started out as a coordinator after graduating university.
Courtney Dunevant, Director of Media Relations at Bonnie Heneson Communications, likened targeting blogs to targeting consumer magazines. Both are very narrowly focused but receptive to the right pitches.
She claims the media release is as dead as the stove top was dead when the microwave was invented.
Courtney agrees blogs have become extremely influential over the last three or four years, but warns you have to be very careful pitching to bloggers as they are sensitive to PR types.
“You need to prepare thoughtful pitches, respectful to the subjects the bloggers cover or it could mean disaster for your relationship with the blogger.”
She cites The Baltimore Sun as example. It has 13 sports blogs alone, each dedicated to a particular sports subject.
The blogosphere contains over 185 million blogs with 1.3 million blog
A TYPICAL DAY IN THE life of an American PR professional includes at least one ‘Twit Pitch’ – pitching a story to a blogger via Twitter, a real-time short messaging service.
With over 12 million registered users, Twitter could easily be labeled a
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Campaign Brief
Networking 7me <old skool>★ TwiJer is just like networking in real life
★ Build rela7onships
★ Get your name known
★ Be available for comment
★ Be proac7ve and helpful
★ But most of all…have personality ;)
TwiRer 7me <it’s about you>★ It’s about who you are
★ Who you talk with (not to)
★ How you talk with them
★ What you talk about
★ When you talk and when you listen
Advice 7me <for 140 char or less>★ Facebook = those you know. TwiRer = those you’re yet to
meet. LinkedIn = those you want to engage professionally
★ It’s not just about the business, story, or the pitch...
★ It’s about connec7ng
★ Once you’ve connected, you have an audience recep<ve to your ideas. Develop trust and ‘rep’ and you’ll be followed
Twitpitch 7me <keep it real>★ Twitpitch: 140 characters is too short to pitch a story. But…
★ You’ve built the rela<onships (first!) so then pitch an idea
★ Never pretend to be your own fan
★ Always iden7fy yourself as a company member
★ Don’t send unsolicited pitches (or MR’s) to bloggers
LinkedIn 7me <behind the scenes>★ LinkedIn: Professional networking site (not social/Facebook)
★ Note – you can’t just follow people like TwiJer
★ Add those you know, request those you WANT to know
★ Join forums on your area of interest and exper<se
★ Post. Comment. Talk. Network. Add value...
LinkedIn 7me <behind the scenes>★ LinkedIn: Professional networking site (not social/Facebook)
★ Note – you can’t just follow people like TwiJer
★ Add those you know, request those you WANT to know
★ Join forums on your area of interest and exper<se
★ Post. Comment. Talk. Network. Add value...
(thanks to Jen Robson)
Interlude.“”★ Essen7al: define what ac<vity, when, where and with who
★ How can PR use SM? How about ‘how can SM inform PR?’
★ Adop<on should be planned and be long term
Reminder 7me <politely, of course>★ Don’t get overwhelmed. Just focus on your arena/channels
★ Don’t let the technologies or tools drive the ac<vity
★ Don’t fall back on control -‐ let it go and run with it
★ Don’t forget mobile -‐ always on
★ Don’t forget to play nice and be a customer (to) yourself
Thanks for your time today.“
”Nick Leighn.leigh@cur<n.edu.au@nixstuff