Another FREE Web 2.0 Tool to Leverage Clients’ Brands
Last week I revisited the concept of Facebook that was one of the basic Web 2.0 concepts from my first post. This week I am going to focus on Wikis.
Just to review:
•Wikis: Term means “quick” and “fast.” It is a type of website that allows users to add, remove, and edit all content without need for registration. The most famous example being Wikipedia-(www.wikipedia.com).
Wikipedia is a great FREE tool to leverage clients’ brands. It has become common practice to add a company-(your clients’) as well as information about their products, services, technology, etc. to Wikipedia or other wikis.
Wikis are effective tools for collaborative writing because they allow anyone that visits the site to easily add, remove, and edit information.
PR practioners that want to jump on the wiki trend should:
•Research wikis relevant to your client, their products, services, industry topics.
•Make sure your purpose for the wiki is clear and narrowly focused.
•Enter company information as well as information regarding their products, services, etc. in Wikipedia or other relevant wikis.
•Monitor wiki entries to make sure important information isn’t altered.
•Enter and edit information on your clients’ behalf to other revelevant wikis.
Here is a link to “The New PR/Wiki" site: http://www.thenewpr.com/wiki/pmwiki.php?pagename=Main.HomePage which contains pertinent information about how Web 2.0 is changing PR practice and is a collaboration tool and open forum for PR professionals to ask questions, post ideas, or start a project.
In addition to free wikis, there are a multitude of wiki products in the market, ranging from hosted services and back-end appliances, to do-it-yourself open source implementations – each ranging in cost and complexity too. It is up to you to determine which service meets your unique needs, however, most companies prefer the hosted services offered by commercial providers like JotSpot (http://www.jot.com/) and Socialtext (http://www.socialtext.com/). With the hosted services there’s no installation and no set-up, you just need a few minutes and a credit card and your wiki is born!
Friday, November 16, 2007
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Social Media Branding
The Use of Facebook in Leveraging Your Client’s Brand for CHEAP!
Let’s go back, way back, to my first post on September 29th where I defined some basic Web 2.0 terms. One term I highlighted was the concept of social networking sites, such as Facebook and My Space. This week I want to delve deeper into the Facebook craze.
To give a little background, Facebook is a website that allows users to keep track of friends and send them messages, share photos, etc. It was started by Harvard students in 2004 as a tool for meeting-- or at least discreetly ogling--other Harvard students.
So how does Facebook pertain to PR professionals?
Well, signing up for Facebook and starting a group is a FREE way to aggregate audiences and get them talking about your client’s brand. Of course, you need to check to see whether a community regarding your client’s brand already exists. If not, you are free to begin your own group and promote it through invitations for other “Facebookers” to join. Your friends have an opportunity to see which Facebook groups you join, and this may make them curious enough to investigate, spreading news of the group to their friends.
Invitations and private messages can also drive interest in your client’s group. You can also use “Facebook flyers,” which are priced on a CPC model and can be targeted to specific Facebook profile information.
With fairly minimal effort, you may be able to attract brand enthusiasts to a social networking group over a short period of time.
Here is a link to an interesting post from a PR professional’s point-of-view on Facebook: http://www.prnewsandviews.blogspot.com/
Let’s go back, way back, to my first post on September 29th where I defined some basic Web 2.0 terms. One term I highlighted was the concept of social networking sites, such as Facebook and My Space. This week I want to delve deeper into the Facebook craze.
To give a little background, Facebook is a website that allows users to keep track of friends and send them messages, share photos, etc. It was started by Harvard students in 2004 as a tool for meeting-- or at least discreetly ogling--other Harvard students.
So how does Facebook pertain to PR professionals?
Well, signing up for Facebook and starting a group is a FREE way to aggregate audiences and get them talking about your client’s brand. Of course, you need to check to see whether a community regarding your client’s brand already exists. If not, you are free to begin your own group and promote it through invitations for other “Facebookers” to join. Your friends have an opportunity to see which Facebook groups you join, and this may make them curious enough to investigate, spreading news of the group to their friends.
Invitations and private messages can also drive interest in your client’s group. You can also use “Facebook flyers,” which are priced on a CPC model and can be targeted to specific Facebook profile information.
With fairly minimal effort, you may be able to attract brand enthusiasts to a social networking group over a short period of time.
Here is a link to an interesting post from a PR professional’s point-of-view on Facebook: http://www.prnewsandviews.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Social Media Press Releases
A Web 2.0 Face Lift On the Traditional Press Release
Traditional press releases have steadily been loosing their effectiveness as social media and digital technology have gained popularity. We are now in an age where journalists and bloggers are now fully adapted to using the World Wide Web for research purposes.
In May 2006, SHIFT Communications, a mid-sized independent PR agency, became the first agency to offer a free template for use by PR professionals looking to evolve traditional press release formats into the ones that are more compliant with the social media age.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
How to Effectively Pitch Bloggers
Blogger and PR Relations
Also, make sure that you check the blogger’s pitching preferences; some prefer to be pitched via http://del.icio.us/ -(a social bookmarking site) or others will allow you to submit a profile right on the site. Josh Hallett, a well-recognized thought leader in the convergence of social media and corporate public relations and marketing, warns that “sending a blogger a link to 'check out' or a press release is one of the worst things you can do. When I engage in blogger relations I rarely send anything, I ask. If the blogger has written about a subject or expressed interest in the topic I ask if there is anything else I can assist them with. There is a big difference between saying, ‘Here is our latest press release’ and ‘How can I help you?’” (http://hyku.com/blog/archives/001675.html).
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
An Interview With A Leading PR Professional
Rob Key, CEO of Converseon Discusses the Emerging Blogosphere
A found a very interesting Q&A session on Global PR Blog Week, featuring Rob Key, President of Converseon, a website that includes a stream of blog entries, news stories, pictures, podcasts and video clips, loosely coupled through hyperlinks, and accessible on-the-spot through RSS syndication. Rob was once an employee at a big PR agency and has formulated proprietary online communication tools that can give a company an edge in the new digital PR battles.
Here’s a brief excerpt from the interview:
Global PR: How do you think blogs will change traditional PR agency practices?
RK: Right now there's a Blog mania, and not enough strategy around how they are used strategically. We see new "blog practices" emerge at agencies. We have big brands asking us for "blog and RSS strategies" but are unclear about their objectives. One of our top global petrochemical clients told us that one of the PR agencies suggested a CEO blog, which they believed, and I concur, is probably one of the worst ideas
Blogs are incredibly powerful content syndication tools. They can help establish thought leadership and build community. hey can articulate points of view and better engage key constituents in conversation. There are myriad strategic uses, but in the end they are just another form of a website. The creative application of Blogs is where there is fertile ground for communications innovation.
Blogs can be much more efficient at syndicating content than traditional PR releases. But PR firms will need additional skill sets: RSS fluency, search engine optimization skills, tracking/monitoring and data-mining capabilities, along with sophisticated monitoring of consumer generated media to make this successful. I don't believe the tactic, in isolation, will revolutionize the industry.
Global PR: What are the important new skills necessary for the effective public relations account executive of the future?
RK: We're in a fast changing environment. A key skill for public relations will be to not see every problem as a nail and every solution as a hammer.
A critical skill will be embracing new concepts, approaches and technologies and fully understanding them. These can range from search engine algorithms to social networks. All are having significant impacts on brands and reputations. The PR executives we look for look on this new frontier as opportunity, not fear.
Truly, also, the best communications leaders will be those who can bring the best fusion of creativity skills from PR, with the discipline and metric driven approach of direct response, with the brand managing and building skills of advertising. It's difficult to delineate where one marketing discipline leaves off and the other begins in the digital realm.
Our programs pull on elements of all the disciplines together with an aptitude for new technologies.
Of course, underlying all of this is still the power of the content and information that one must develop. You can utilize all the technologies in the world but if you're not communicating authentically, creatively or effectively, you won't be successful. The "big ideas" that the best of the public relations industry has produced over time is perhaps more important today than ever.
Global PR: How do you define public relations today as opposed to five years ago?
RK: We evolved out of the "Innovations Group" at a public relations division of Young & Rubicam but by 2001 had recognized that so much had changed in the communications world that we needed a new model and new definition to what we needed to achieve to be successful for our clients. So we sat down and asked ourselves, if we were to get rid of all preconceived notations about what a communications agency should look like in a digital environment where the way people gather and act on information has dramatically changed, what would the agency look like? We decided that it would look very little like many of the traditional PR firms we had grown up in.
As such, we brought together the best public relations/reputation minds together with the best technologists from search engine optimization, web development/RSS, datamining and more. The fusion of the two has given us much greater latitude and influence to achieve client communications goals.
We now define what we do as capitalizing on the changing ways consumers and businesses gather, synthesize, share and act on information. We influence all touch points as opposed to just a small portion of the spectrum. It can be an article, or a search engine result, or microsite, or blog or other form of digital content. We sometimes also describe what we do as helping our clients successfully engage in the digital conversation. Markets clearly are conversations. There are conversations occurring all the time about products and brands. Companies face a pretty stark choice to either ignore the conversation, or join it. But to join it, one has to embrace new technologies, and innovative communications approaches. Change is always challenging and even frightening to companies who had a pretty clear, but narrow, definition of what communications and public relations was. But we're seeing more and more brands taking the plunge.
It's an exciting time for the communications industry. Never has the industry had so many tools and technologies to influence target audiences. We've also never had the opportunity to "listen" to target audiences and track our effectiveness. Some agencies will evolve, and surely some will not. The PR industry certainly isn't immune to Darwinism.
Global PR: What is the most important recent technological breakthrough to aid the practice of public relations?
RK: Conversation mining tools, without doubt, must become essential elements of any thoughtful and strategic public relations program.
With the proliferation of consumer generated media, companies' have an unprecedented opportunity to capture, understand and act on the "conversation" that is occurring about their brand and products in the digital realm.
Converseon, for example, utilizes proprietary monitoring tools that scour public, online discussion areas to capture, understand and report the products, issues and opinions that consumers share between and among themselves. Understanding this unaided, unprompted and unstructured "conversation" that is occurring among and between key constituents is critically important to:
Understanding brand/product perceptions
Providing "early warning systems" regarding brand or product issues
Gleaning intelligence for communication and product strategies
Measuring effectiveness of communication and advertising efforts
Mobilizing "allies" and "evangelists"
Informing content, search engine optimization and public relations strategies
For far too long, companies have been talking past or over their target audiences. It's analogous to walking into a cocktail party conversation and just begin talking without understanding the conversation. Who are the influencers? What do they care about? What are the critical issues? Not understanding the communications environment has far too often created a dissonance between PR messaging and the issues most important to their audiences.
These new Conversation Mining tools truly do provide that ability to listen by providing a window into what target audiences feel and desire, but also how effective your messaging is and who it is that you most need to influence. Only by listening first, can public relations programs be effective.
Global PR: Can you name recent successes that PR agencies have had in using blogs for clients or agency administration? Where are agencies falling short?
RK: We have built a series of blogs for clients for a variety of purposes, including search engine listings, acquisition (driving sales), and generating overall visibility and "POV." I haven't reviewed enough PR agency blogs to comment.
Global PR: Examples of how you augment traditional PR practices with Converseon practices and how it benefited a client and the agency.
RK: We approach the PR practice very differently than most agencies. We first utilize created a "conversation audit" using our proprietary tools to map the online consumer generated media conversation. In many cases, we identify about 10 percent of the population as advocates or potential allies/thought leaders; and 10 percent what we can determined. The 80% in the middle are influencible. We also understand what they key issues are which informs a communications strategy. Our strategy to engage in communications triage. We mobilize the potential allies and transform them into evangelists, and we minimize the visibility and effectiveness of detractors. And we then influence the persuadable.
We mobilize, minimize and influence through an array of strategies and technologies, including affiliate and word of mouth marketing, search engine optimization (which makes content visible), RSS/Blog strategies, viral promotions and more. Behind it all we have sophisticated tracking that enables us to understand with a good deal of preciseness how effective we are, and how we need to optimize and evolve the programs. We look at all touch points where are target audience gathers and shares information, and try to influence them across the continuum.
A found a very interesting Q&A session on Global PR Blog Week, featuring Rob Key, President of Converseon, a website that includes a stream of blog entries, news stories, pictures, podcasts and video clips, loosely coupled through hyperlinks, and accessible on-the-spot through RSS syndication. Rob was once an employee at a big PR agency and has formulated proprietary online communication tools that can give a company an edge in the new digital PR battles.
Here’s a brief excerpt from the interview:
Global PR: How do you think blogs will change traditional PR agency practices?
RK: Right now there's a Blog mania, and not enough strategy around how they are used strategically. We see new "blog practices" emerge at agencies. We have big brands asking us for "blog and RSS strategies" but are unclear about their objectives. One of our top global petrochemical clients told us that one of the PR agencies suggested a CEO blog, which they believed, and I concur, is probably one of the worst ideas
Blogs are incredibly powerful content syndication tools. They can help establish thought leadership and build community. hey can articulate points of view and better engage key constituents in conversation. There are myriad strategic uses, but in the end they are just another form of a website. The creative application of Blogs is where there is fertile ground for communications innovation.
Blogs can be much more efficient at syndicating content than traditional PR releases. But PR firms will need additional skill sets: RSS fluency, search engine optimization skills, tracking/monitoring and data-mining capabilities, along with sophisticated monitoring of consumer generated media to make this successful. I don't believe the tactic, in isolation, will revolutionize the industry.
Global PR: What are the important new skills necessary for the effective public relations account executive of the future?
RK: We're in a fast changing environment. A key skill for public relations will be to not see every problem as a nail and every solution as a hammer.
A critical skill will be embracing new concepts, approaches and technologies and fully understanding them. These can range from search engine algorithms to social networks. All are having significant impacts on brands and reputations. The PR executives we look for look on this new frontier as opportunity, not fear.
Truly, also, the best communications leaders will be those who can bring the best fusion of creativity skills from PR, with the discipline and metric driven approach of direct response, with the brand managing and building skills of advertising. It's difficult to delineate where one marketing discipline leaves off and the other begins in the digital realm.
Our programs pull on elements of all the disciplines together with an aptitude for new technologies.
Of course, underlying all of this is still the power of the content and information that one must develop. You can utilize all the technologies in the world but if you're not communicating authentically, creatively or effectively, you won't be successful. The "big ideas" that the best of the public relations industry has produced over time is perhaps more important today than ever.
Global PR: How do you define public relations today as opposed to five years ago?
RK: We evolved out of the "Innovations Group" at a public relations division of Young & Rubicam but by 2001 had recognized that so much had changed in the communications world that we needed a new model and new definition to what we needed to achieve to be successful for our clients. So we sat down and asked ourselves, if we were to get rid of all preconceived notations about what a communications agency should look like in a digital environment where the way people gather and act on information has dramatically changed, what would the agency look like? We decided that it would look very little like many of the traditional PR firms we had grown up in.
As such, we brought together the best public relations/reputation minds together with the best technologists from search engine optimization, web development/RSS, datamining and more. The fusion of the two has given us much greater latitude and influence to achieve client communications goals.
We now define what we do as capitalizing on the changing ways consumers and businesses gather, synthesize, share and act on information. We influence all touch points as opposed to just a small portion of the spectrum. It can be an article, or a search engine result, or microsite, or blog or other form of digital content. We sometimes also describe what we do as helping our clients successfully engage in the digital conversation. Markets clearly are conversations. There are conversations occurring all the time about products and brands. Companies face a pretty stark choice to either ignore the conversation, or join it. But to join it, one has to embrace new technologies, and innovative communications approaches. Change is always challenging and even frightening to companies who had a pretty clear, but narrow, definition of what communications and public relations was. But we're seeing more and more brands taking the plunge.
It's an exciting time for the communications industry. Never has the industry had so many tools and technologies to influence target audiences. We've also never had the opportunity to "listen" to target audiences and track our effectiveness. Some agencies will evolve, and surely some will not. The PR industry certainly isn't immune to Darwinism.
Global PR: What is the most important recent technological breakthrough to aid the practice of public relations?
RK: Conversation mining tools, without doubt, must become essential elements of any thoughtful and strategic public relations program.
With the proliferation of consumer generated media, companies' have an unprecedented opportunity to capture, understand and act on the "conversation" that is occurring about their brand and products in the digital realm.
Converseon, for example, utilizes proprietary monitoring tools that scour public, online discussion areas to capture, understand and report the products, issues and opinions that consumers share between and among themselves. Understanding this unaided, unprompted and unstructured "conversation" that is occurring among and between key constituents is critically important to:
Understanding brand/product perceptions
Providing "early warning systems" regarding brand or product issues
Gleaning intelligence for communication and product strategies
Measuring effectiveness of communication and advertising efforts
Mobilizing "allies" and "evangelists"
Informing content, search engine optimization and public relations strategies
For far too long, companies have been talking past or over their target audiences. It's analogous to walking into a cocktail party conversation and just begin talking without understanding the conversation. Who are the influencers? What do they care about? What are the critical issues? Not understanding the communications environment has far too often created a dissonance between PR messaging and the issues most important to their audiences.
These new Conversation Mining tools truly do provide that ability to listen by providing a window into what target audiences feel and desire, but also how effective your messaging is and who it is that you most need to influence. Only by listening first, can public relations programs be effective.
Global PR: Can you name recent successes that PR agencies have had in using blogs for clients or agency administration? Where are agencies falling short?
RK: We have built a series of blogs for clients for a variety of purposes, including search engine listings, acquisition (driving sales), and generating overall visibility and "POV." I haven't reviewed enough PR agency blogs to comment.
Global PR: Examples of how you augment traditional PR practices with Converseon practices and how it benefited a client and the agency.
RK: We approach the PR practice very differently than most agencies. We first utilize created a "conversation audit" using our proprietary tools to map the online consumer generated media conversation. In many cases, we identify about 10 percent of the population as advocates or potential allies/thought leaders; and 10 percent what we can determined. The 80% in the middle are influencible. We also understand what they key issues are which informs a communications strategy. Our strategy to engage in communications triage. We mobilize the potential allies and transform them into evangelists, and we minimize the visibility and effectiveness of detractors. And we then influence the persuadable.
We mobilize, minimize and influence through an array of strategies and technologies, including affiliate and word of mouth marketing, search engine optimization (which makes content visible), RSS/Blog strategies, viral promotions and more. Behind it all we have sophisticated tracking that enables us to understand with a good deal of preciseness how effective we are, and how we need to optimize and evolve the programs. We look at all touch points where are target audience gathers and shares information, and try to influence them across the continuum.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Where Do We Go From Here?
Applying New Media to Public Relations Initiatives
As stated in my previous post, the use of new media continues to expand at an escalating rate among the public and PR professionals need to jump on this trend in order to leverage clients in the most effective way possible. Now that we have an understanding of some basic new media terms, we can now start to discuss how using those media outlets can benefit clients:
· Blogs- A blog is a great communication tool that allows you and your client to participate in a variety of online conversations. PR practitioners can use blogs to promote their clients’ services, products, etc., participate in any conversations related to their company, and make and sustain contact with important user groups and other blog authorities. Before you start blogging for your client, it is important to research who else might be talking about the same topic that you would like to focus on for your client. Once you decide on a topic you can go to: http://www.blogger.com/ to select a website and set-up your blog using various templates. Once you have established the blog, there needs to be regular posts-(at least two times a week) in order to make an impact.
· Podcasts- Podcasts are a great and inexpensive PR and marketing tool. They allow you to promote your clients’ products, services, etc. directly to their customers as well as other digital media users. Your client could host a podcast on a hot topic related to their business and invite experts to be part of the podcast. When creating a podcast, try to be both informative and entertaining, and make sure that the podcast does not sound like an online advertisement. To understand a little more about podcasts go to: http://www.podcastalley.com/what_is_a_podcast.php
· Wiki-Wikis are popping up fast and some sites are credible and professional and others are not. It is important to do some research on credible ones that pertain to your clients and enter information about your clients’ products, services, etc. onto wikipedia- http://www.wikipedia.com/ or other relevant wikis. Once client information is posted, it is important to monitor wikis so that information is not altered.
· Social Network Sites: (Facebook, MySpace)-Social networking sites enable contact between both people we know as well as an extended network of personal and professional contacts. Social network sites are also a way for PR professionals to get in touch with journalists. In order to begin extending your contact network, go to http://www.myspace.com/ and create an account. You can add as many contacts as you like to your account—some could be reporters, some could be fellow PR professionals, etc. PR practitioners can also add clients to their social networks as a way to keep in touch with past, present, or future clients.
As stated in my previous post, the use of new media continues to expand at an escalating rate among the public and PR professionals need to jump on this trend in order to leverage clients in the most effective way possible. Now that we have an understanding of some basic new media terms, we can now start to discuss how using those media outlets can benefit clients:
· Blogs- A blog is a great communication tool that allows you and your client to participate in a variety of online conversations. PR practitioners can use blogs to promote their clients’ services, products, etc., participate in any conversations related to their company, and make and sustain contact with important user groups and other blog authorities. Before you start blogging for your client, it is important to research who else might be talking about the same topic that you would like to focus on for your client. Once you decide on a topic you can go to: http://www.blogger.com/ to select a website and set-up your blog using various templates. Once you have established the blog, there needs to be regular posts-(at least two times a week) in order to make an impact.
· Podcasts- Podcasts are a great and inexpensive PR and marketing tool. They allow you to promote your clients’ products, services, etc. directly to their customers as well as other digital media users. Your client could host a podcast on a hot topic related to their business and invite experts to be part of the podcast. When creating a podcast, try to be both informative and entertaining, and make sure that the podcast does not sound like an online advertisement. To understand a little more about podcasts go to: http://www.podcastalley.com/what_is_a_podcast.php
· Wiki-Wikis are popping up fast and some sites are credible and professional and others are not. It is important to do some research on credible ones that pertain to your clients and enter information about your clients’ products, services, etc. onto wikipedia- http://www.wikipedia.com/ or other relevant wikis. Once client information is posted, it is important to monitor wikis so that information is not altered.
· Social Network Sites: (Facebook, MySpace)-Social networking sites enable contact between both people we know as well as an extended network of personal and professional contacts. Social network sites are also a way for PR professionals to get in touch with journalists. In order to begin extending your contact network, go to http://www.myspace.com/ and create an account. You can add as many contacts as you like to your account—some could be reporters, some could be fellow PR professionals, etc. PR practitioners can also add clients to their social networks as a way to keep in touch with past, present, or future clients.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
PR 2.0 101:
Glossary of digital media terms for PR professionals
The rise in popularity of blogs, and social networking sites such as Facebook and My Space, are rapidly changing the way PR professionals assist clients. Clients expect their PR consultants to be on top of this trend and offer unique suggestions on how to integrate their brand into new media outlets. Digital media is constantly transforming and it can be a daunting task to stay ahead of the digital media game, however, with some insight into the nuts and bolts of new media, PR pros can find social media that is relevant to clients and become empowered and knowledgeable all at the same time. Before we dive into ways to use digital media to leverage our clients, lets first lay some groundwork with a glossary of basic terms:
Web 2.0: Term that is applied to the ongoing transition of the Internet from a collection of websites to a network of web-based communities which aim to foster connections between users.
Blogs: Personal websites consisting of updated entries, usually on a daily basis-(almost like an online diary or journal). Blogs are mostly created by independent writers, however, the popularity of blogs have propelled newspapers, magazines, companies, etc. to also start blogs of their own.
Podcast: Term was created by combining Apple’s “iPod” with “broadcasting.” Podcasting is a way to publish files to the Internet and then allow users to subscribe and receive new files automatically-(usually at no cost). Podcasting is mostly used for audio files, but video files are becoming popular to share-(think YouTube).
Wikis: Term means “quick” and “fast.” It is a type of website that allows users to add, remove, and edit all content without need for registration. A popular example of this is Wikipedia-(http://www.wikipedia.com/)
For more Web 2.0 definitions, visit: http://www.socialsignal.com/blog/alexandra-samuel/web-2-0-glossary
For those that want to discuss Web 2.0 in more detail, the Rutgers University Masters of Communication and Information Studies Graduate Student Association is hosting a panel discussion, “New media, Web 2.0, and social web sites –prospects and perils for organizational communication.” Speakers for the event will discuss student blogs, videocasts, and reporters /editors bloggers. This event is a great way for Web 2.0 novices, and even experts to talk about the effects and implications of social media. The panel will meet Saturday October 13, starting at 6:00pm in Rutgers Student Center, Rm. 411, College Ave. Campus.
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