PRIA  Brain  food  breakfast30  April  2010

Nick  LeighAssociate  Director,  Digital  Media  UnitCur<n  University  of  Technology

Harnessing social media for business communications

The intro bit.“”

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)

The juicy bit.“”

(Peter  Harris)

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)

“

”

Interlude.“”★ Google  what?  Why?

★ User-­‐generated  what?

★ The  stats...today...

Interlude.“”★ Google  what?  Why?

★ User-­‐generated  what?

★ The  stats...today...

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...

The gory bit.“”

Past  

Source:  PHD

Today

Source:  PHD

(thanks  again  Peter  Harris)

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)

“

”

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.“”

The serious bit.“”

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 PR bit.“”

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

The don’t bit.“”

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