“I’m like God — I can do and say whatever I want.” Thus spake the tech columnist for a large print daily. It was the mid-1990s. I’d called to ask why he’d flagrantly quoted someone out of context. Fortunately there are fewer of these byline clowns in operation today. And that’s the real value of the online revolution displacing traditional media. The Gaddafis of media are holding out a bit longer, but ultimately they’re marked men.
‘Twas a time when, merely by accession to the throne of an important print or broadcast media outlet, a journalist exercised God-like powers. Still happens, but less so. Continue reading →
Lately I’ve been thinking a great deal about social media impressions. More specifically, I’ve been wondering why they don’t really exist.
There are blog posts and seminars cropping up every week that want to teach you about this thing called social media measurement. And while the lessons are not always identical, I find that the overarching message is the same: there is no silver bullet. There are general guidelines, examples and maybe even best practices. But there’s not one easy solution.
Social media is still an untamed beast, and we have a lot to learn before we can truly make a connection between a specific blog post or tweet of Facebook message and some kind of consumer behavior. This is pretty much considered the holy grail of social media.
If I decided to try a new brand of sweet tea, I’m sure the company would love to be able to tie it back to one of their Facebook status updates. Unfortunately, without asking me at the grocery store which post drove me to buy, there is no real way to be sure. Continue reading →
I’ll never forget the day I found out that I had been hired for my first PR internship in New York City. For me, the opportunity was more than just a way to earn three college credits, but rather a chance to kick start my career in what I considered the PR capital of the world.
Like millions of students across the country, working in NYC is something I always wanted. And growing up only an hour from Manhattan, I knew I would get here sooner or later. But when you live hundreds of miles away, the Big Apple dream can often end up being just…a dream.
A couple of high-profile incidents last week once again raised questions as to whether PR is, in effect, “controlling” the national media. Personally, I don’t buy that notion, but the facts do bear some soul-searching.
The week began with a new website, Churnalism.com, aimed at exposing how the British media falls prey to PR’s supposedly sinister efforts to promote client agendas at the expense of fact-based reporting. Essentially, you paste a press release into the site’s search engine and it provides a percentage of that release that appeared, verbatim, in the UK national media. PRWeek (UK) has full coverage and commentary.
Also last Monday, a scathing article in POLITICO reported that Kurt Bardella, deputy communications director for Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), was leaking private e-mails from certain journalists to a New York Times reporter who is writing a book on Capitol Hill journalism. The hub-bub around that story quickly escalated, and Bardella was summarily fired (rightly so, IMO). Continue reading →
We all hate career fairs. They’re intimidating, uncomfortable and sometimes, just plain awkward. But what if they didn’t have to be?
In this digital age, we’re constantly thinking of new ways to reach our target audiences. What if you could recruit the best and the brightest from the comfort of your very own home? No stuffy suits, no long lines of resumes being thrown in your face. It’s a win-win. PRSSA hopes to help you do just this as part of the #PRSSA “Digital Career Fair” during the monthly chat Wed., March 23 at 9 p.m. ET. Continue reading →
Did I lure you in with my snazzy headline? Yes? Okay great. Now I’m going to spend the first few sentences using buzz words so that you will keep reading my social media post. Then after you’ve gotten through the first couple of paragraphs, I’m going to provide you with these awesome bullet points packed with information that you already knew. Lastly, I will summarize the topic which pretty much has nothing to do with my headline that I created for SEO purposes.
Does this situation sound familiar? Every day my inbox and RSS feeds pile up with articles about social media. The articles seem to always be about the same topic but recycled, rehashed, rewritten – they are offering me nothing of value. If you are like me, you’ve probably about had it. Continue reading →
Tenure at PR firms is rare. I suppose that is why I get frequent questions about mine. I’ve been with BlissPR since 2003. Last week I was asked why, three separate times. My answer has always been the same: there are lots of reasons but essentially I like and respect the people I work with. Upon reflecting further I have three reasons which can also be things to look for in your own workplace: Continue reading →
A roundtable discussion of agency executives from the Worldcom Americas Region Health Care Practice Group indicated that interest, expectations and budgets for leveraging social media are increasing considerably across all sectors of health care clients, and budget increases are being instituted for 2011 programs. Agency experiences – coast to coast – were almost universally the same.
Worldcom is the world’s largest partnership of independent public relations firms with 112 offices located on five continents. The Worldcom PR Group’s Health Care Practice Group has 50 members worldwide, all of which have a specialty in the market segment. A dozen of the 20 Americas Region firms participated in the roundtable. Continue reading →
We’ve had it on our calendars for months. March 10-15, Austin, TX. South by Southwest.
Maybe you have a client making an announcement there. Maybe a new, young startup out to change the world. Maybe you represent a global brand rolling into town with a caravan. As a communications pro, you have a game plan. You’ve got your metrics and deliverables all set. It’s time to put those away for a minute.
It’s time to figure out how you’re going to be a part of the amoeba-like mass that manages to keep in a constant state of motion. How do you, as a PR/communications counselor extract personal and professional value from an event such as SXSW?
Meeting in meat space
Jason Falls and Becky McCray at SXSW 2009. That's how I get down..
I can’t stress enough just how important relationships are. Even in today’s world of perpetual connectivity, it can be difficult to foster and grow a relationship without being present. Without being part of the conversations that happen in the real world. Without interaction. That’s why in order for you to extract value from SXSW, you need to embrace the subtitle of the conference: Interactive.
Set up coffees/happy hours/brunches with the folks that will be there that are outside your core list of media. Recognize other influencers such as the corporate bloggers of your company’s customers or analysts that tend to create more real-time content.
It’s really hard to be a part of the mix from our offices. It’s difficult to maintain the currency of the PR industry — relationships — when the majority of people that we interact with are based at least two states away. There is inherent value to meeting with somebody in person.
Disconnect and connect
Me and @Hawaii, aka Ryan Ozawa at SXSW, 2009.
As you look at the events that your clients want to be a part of beyond SXSW, keep a part of your planning dedicated to “how can I serve my clients aside from hosting meetings?”
You’re going to recap the event. Why not add a little color to it? If you’re at a tradeshow, fire up the video recorder of choice and take a tour of the show floor. Set up a Tumblr, Posterous account or posts for your company or agency’s blog to document the event in real time. I also like to take pictures at the events I go to.
A few folks have written posts recently either defending why to go to SXSW or why not to go to SXSW. In my opinion, it is one of the single-most conferences you can attend as a PR person.
Conversations go both ways
Do you follow folks on Twitter? Do you subscribe to their RSS? Maybe it’s as easy as having a two-sentence “nice to meet you” email in your drafts you can send 30 seconds after you connect with somebody. The point is, you just met somebody, foster that relationship. You never know who you’re going to meet.
A community or relationship does not occur spontaneously. They must be curated, maintained and developed. By having a strategy in place of how you as an individual communications counselor can continue to build your own little community after each event, you will see a significant increase in your event ROI.
As we look forward to South by Southwest, community building should be one of the guiding factors of our presence down there. In order to influence the conversation, we must be part of the conversation. We must become influencers ourselves in order to influence the influencers. This is why we go to SXSW.
Perception is a huge game changer in the public relations industry. If you can swing the public’s opinion of a brand from a negative view to a positive light, you’re essentially golden. Perception is not black and white—in fact that is hardly the case—and it definitely does not always have to be viewed as just positive or negative. Sometimes PR pros have to change the public’s opinion from one overarching association to the realities of the day-to-day mission. This can be tricky especially when media coverage tends to be higher during the anomalies.
For the American Red Cross, this game of perception has become increasingly challenging. The public sees the organization as a humanitarian non-profit that deals with blood and large scale disasters. While this is true, it does not represent the single largest disaster that the Red Cross responds to across the nation. And quite frankly, people need to know the truth. Home fires destroy memories every 80 seconds. Continue reading →
