It’s that time again…#PRStudChat is almost here. Our next discussion is 3/17 (on Happy St. Patty’s Day) and we have a great session planned. Our #PRStudChat special guest is Beth Harte(@bethharte). Beth, formerly the community manager at MarketingProfs, just took a new role at Sergenti Communications. With a wealth of knowledge and experience, she will answer questions based on the various PR positions she’s held over the years. Our session is focused on our PR students, who are graduating in May, and what they should expect when they enter the real world of business, from the roles and responsibilities to how to reach new influencers on behalf of their brands. Our PR pros and educators will also be on hand to guide the discussion from their particular areas of expertise.
A few of the questions that we’re going to discuss on March 17th include:
1. Now that everyone has a microphone, do we treat influencers different than traditional media?
2. How do you identify those influencers you are trying to target?
3. What jobs are available, if you are interested in social media?
4. What titles do I look for and what are the roles and responsibilities?
5. What expectations are tied to an entry-level social media position? From the employer & employee POV?
6. What is a fair entry-level salary in this economy and what factors affect income potential?
A wide gamut of opportunities are available for today’s graduating communications students. Although social media has changed the way we communicate in PR today, at the same time, it has helped to expand opportunities within our organizations. #PRStudChat aims to uncover the best opportunities that PR has to offer and to help young professionals identify the right career path.
As always, Valerie (@valeriesimon) and I welcome your comments and feedback here, or in our #PRStudChat LinkedIn group. Thanks and we hope to chat with you on the 17th!
There’s a little song I learned back in Girl Scouts (yes, I was a girl scout… rocked the cookie sales, horrid when it came to crafts!). Make new friends, but keep the old. One is sliver and the other gold.
I’ve been thinking a lot about that little song lately. Participating in social media has allowed me to build new relationships at an accelerated pace. And the convenience of communicating wherever and whenever helped maintain relationships that might have otherwise fallen by the wayside.
But what are the limits to the number of people with whom one can maintain a stable social relationship? Social media has thrown a new wrench in the work of anthropologists such as Robin Dunbar and Peter Killworth who have developed formulas to address this question. I hold the term relationship in high regard, and while there is certainly a wide gamut of feasible relationships, those relationships of value require an investment of limited resources- time and money.
So what can we do to assure that we receive the greatest return on our investment? What steps can we take to assure that the relationships we build remain strong connections? One of the most valuable lessons I have learned, is the amazing power of community in developing relationships. Whether you are a part of a Twitter chat, an active member of a LinkedIn group or Ning network, blog or subscribe and comment on a favorite blog, participation in a community is an opportunity to engage with a larger group. While one on one conversation is limited, by listening and sharing within a community you can create regular and consistent communication with greater numbers.
You have no doubt made many new relationships as a result of your own participation in social media. Which relationships stick? Where will those relationships be in 5 years? And perhaps most importantly, what steps are you taking to make sure that the relationships you build today continue to have meaning tomorrow?
We started talking about our first #PRStudChat Tweetup when we heard that Mikinzie Stuart (@mikinizie) was visiting the area. She’s coming to New York/New Jersey as a part of a college assignment to shadow a professional (me). In honor of her visit to the east coast and also because it’s time for our other graduating PR students to get out there and meet professionals, we thought that the Wine Library would be a perfect networking opportunity. So whether you are a student interested in learning more about the PR environment directly from professionals, or you’re a PR pro interested in making more connections in the NY/NJ community, we have a fun, friendly #PRStudChat event organized for you.
I hope you will join me, Valerie Simon (@valeriesimon) and other colleagues in the PR community for a wine tasting and an evening of networking with your PR friends. Please note that Gary won’t be able to be there on 3/10, but you are welcome to visit the Wine Library on Saturday 3/27 to meet him in person for a special book signing from 1-4 pm!
Here’s a special video announcement on #Chatmixer that will take place on Tuesday, March 9th at 8:00 p.m. EST. Looking forward to chatting with all of the different Twitter chat communities!
Unless you are a brand new start up with a clean social media slate, chances are you will have something to fix before you even begin your new social media outreach program. Fixing first can be a big part of your strategy before developing and implementing new and exciting programs. I think that fixing comes naturally with the web 2.0/PR 2.0 collaborative communication.
In traditional PR, communication was so much slower! Of course, that was always one of my biggest complaints. Communication developed by the marketing/PR team, whether it was a media alert or internal employee marketing bulletin would get caught up in the red tape and bureaucracy of the organization. The larger the company, the longer it took to get through the channels for a final approval. Many times, the news and information would be stale by the time the approval came back to the communications team. However, today that’s not the case or the manner in which communication moves through an organization. Most of the time, executives will point out the tweets, blog posts, Facebook comments and LinkedIn discussions come from people that aren’t even a part of the communications department. That’s the beauty of 2.0 and we should embrace and celebrate the voice of the people.
But, this is also one of the main reasons to realize the immediacy of a social media strategy and how important it is to have a plan in place not only for new outreach but to create a stronger more unified program moving forward. For a company, hearing Joe in the Accounting department tweeting about his day (and it was a really rough one) or Megan in the art department talking about a new project (giving more specifics than maybe she should), and hinting about a new concept initiated by the company, is a wake up call (as it should be). Remember, these voices are very important because every company has an opportunity to build an army of brand champions, by having a strategic plan and communicating to the entire staff the value of social media and what’s in it for them.
I urge you to take a look at your own organizations. Are you working with a cross functional team on your social media policies? It’s important to act, whether you are just building a policy or revaluating what’s in place and discovering what else needs to be included due to the dynamic nature of conversations. Do you have your strategic social media plan in place and have you come up with a program to educate your employees on their participation, specific roles and responsibilities? Are the different divisions, units or department in your organization following any kind of standards in their social media outreach? Are you providing guidelines (including how you want your brand represented visually right down to how to tag content appropriately)? Did you build a toolkit for the different divisions of your company, so they can understand how to approach the collaborative web with their own social communications?
If the answer is no, then you might want to take a good look at what’s already out there and “fix” what you can. If that means making company profiles consistent or even having employees place a statement on their personal blogs that says their opinions do not represent the official opinion of the company (this is language that may appear in a social media policy). Sometimes the strategy is to fix it first…to clean it up and then move forward with a stronger more unified platform and an army of social media communicators. Of course, because the communication on the web is never in one place and easily creates depth and breadth far beyond your own community, just do the best you can for a good foundation moving forward.
Next, you can identify your new opportunities by analyzing those people, channels and the type of communication that will result in an experience or behavior that you want to create. It’s never too late and there’s no time like the present to start. By reviewing the landscape and making a few necessary changes, your communications effort will be stronger when you move forward with your new programs. What do you think about fixing first before you start something new?
I know I’ve blogged about the concept of Working on your “PR 2.0 Raw” in the past. I remember, as if it was yesterday, when a former journalist (now turned blogger) was asking me a few questions at a tweetup about little while back. After our discussion, he said, “I can tell you’re a PR person… you need to work on your raw.” I didn’t take this as an insult; on the contrary, it was a call to action to “Be Myself.”
Today, when I interviewed with Tatyana Gann (@smokinhotpr), on her SmokinHotPR BlogTalkRadio show, we discussed how you have to “Be Yourself.” The discussion stemmed from something I read on Tatyana’s blog. I noticed that her blog had an About Section that included a Personal Development Manifesto. Three important attributes to development are mentioned:
1. We must be committed. We must have the right mindset and believe in ourselves not someone else.
2. Commitment will bring clarity. We must be clear all disbeliefs. We must clear the path to success by eliminated dirt, mud and weeds growing on the way.
3. We must be consistent. It will teach us to overcome fears. Fear is the biggest doubt people have.
Toward the end of her piece, one of the last statements, which for me, captured the essence of what we all need to learn about social media. She said, “One more thing…do not forget to be yourself.”
Think about it: Be Yourself. No more canned messages. Media training doesn’t work in the blogosphere.
Can we all learn to be ourselves and not revert to our messages after years and years of training in the PR profession? I think we’re able and quite capable, as soon as we realize that social media communications is less about what we want to communicate and more about really helping someone and offering valuable information. When you’re a peer in a community, you interact on a level that allows natural and transparent communication…very open and human.
Now, this doesn’t mean that we don’t abide by the social media guidelines, policies and procedures developed by our companies. Of course we should always have respect and responsibility and yes, there will be those who are “official” representatives of the company designated to discuss specific areas of expertise or to give the company’s official point of view. However, it’s important to keep in mind that as you are participating in social networks that you should be able to develop your own unique voice.
When I think about the way that brands allow their employees to participate in social media outreach, the same holds true. I also believe there is an instant conflict between the true nature of social media communications and how brands want the corporate representative (the media trained or polished representative) speaking on behalf of the organization in social networks, or designating the corporate representative as the only person authorized to post on the company blog. My immediate reaction, “the media trained corporate representative, doesn’t work in the social sphere. That’s a disservice to the brand. If there’s no transparency, then there’s no trust.”
I’ve been through the media training process, and was taught how two bridge back to corporate messages, how to get an elevator pitch across in 30 seconds or less and how to answer rapid fire questions. There’s still a time and a place for our executives to use this training, it’s just not how we should represent ourselves or our brands in the social economy. Media training does not give you a unique social media voice or personality.
When we work on our PR 2.0 raw, the benefits translate into real conversations with people and actions, behaviors and outcomes that have value. The real value is in the relationships that we forge, as we tear down the layers, lift up the veil and let others know what we think and feel. This is PR 2.0 raw and it needs to be a part of our social media best practices approach. Have you worked on your PR 2.0 raw lately?
I know why David Meerman Scott (@dmscott), author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR and World Wide Rave is one of my favorite marketing/PR authors…it’s because he writes a book that has me absorbed in every page. Congratulations David on World Wide Rave, another book really well done!
One of the reasons why I like World Wide Rave so much is because it’s one of those little books that offer great higher-level concepts with practical examples. The book gets you thinking so much that your mind feels like it’s going to explode with ideas on how you can create your own world wide rave.
One very clear and strong message stood out and was reinforced throughout the book: World Wide Rave teaches readers to think differently and that you…yes you…can create a world wide rave of your own. When I first heard the title I thought how many people actually create something worldwide? But, that’s the beauty of a world wide rave; it could mean a rave that captures a town, a region, a community online, the United States, another country or the entire world.
David gives great advice on how to start a world wide rave with several key concepts:
No one cares about your productsand services
I love that David reminds us that “no one cares about your products and services.” I’m in PR and marketing for 21 years and I couldn’t agree more! It’s never about what you want to tell people or what you think about your own products and services. But, it is up to you to figure out what people need, what they want from you, what will help them in their daily lives and ultimately make them feel better (solve a problem, give them a solution, make them smile). This is about people. As much as marketers think clever campaigns (and often very expensive ones) directly from the boardroom result in leads/sales, that’s not what makes people want to do business with a company.
No coercion required
A world wide rave is about offering something selflessly. Giving away great content that helps someone or group of people. For example, Lisa Genova, who wrote the book Still Alice, which is a novel about “a young women’s decent into dementia due to early onset Alzheimer’s disease” and shared it with the National Alzheimer’s Association, or the story of Matt Harding who invited people to dance with him in 42 countries from Bhutan to Zanzibar, which made people happy and feel good. They both created a world wide rave by giving good information and/or in Harding’s case sharing his silly dancing on video and inviting others to join him. When you lose control, another really strong message in the book and give more to the people that matter, you’ll see your content spread virally. It’s that principle of give to the universe and the universe will give back to you.
Lose control
It was great how David talked about how companies/executives need to open up their frame of reference to their employees’ use of social media. He asks the questions: do you trust your employees? Companies need to trust their employees with social media and allow them to participate. If you close off Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, for example, you will never achieve a world wide rave. He even says that as an employee of a company, if you take your reasons to the top and the company still wants to shut the social networking down, then it’s time to find a new job. I couldn’t agree more. Social networking and employee participation go hand in hand for a brand. The greatest example (which is the example that I tend to use myself in my presentations) is IBM and how this global brand trusts its employees, empowers them to use social channels and gives them the tools to be a part of the social sphere.
Another excellent message in the Lose Control section of the book is that executives should stop using Return on Investment (ROI) as an excuse. It’s so true…I hear this all of the time and David is right that it’s making marketers way too “cautious and boring.” Creating a world wide rave can lead to tremendous value for an organization. But, the rave is new and experimental and sometimes that is difficult to “sell” to the executives who sit at the top of the company. I laughed out loud when he gave an example in the book discussing when CEOs push back about ROI. He says, “What’s the return on investment of the army of landscapers who are constantly at work on the plantings around your corporate headquarters.” I think a lot of people are going to be “stealing” this very question and using it to fight the ROI battle!
Create triggers that encourage people to share
In this section of the book, David makes another interesting point. You have to think like a Venture Capitalist (VC). I never really thought about social media and the VC way of thinking. David’s point, which is well taken, is that VCs know that only one out of how many ventures will end in a profitable company. You invest in many start ups to actually land one big (that’s the one that goes public). Well it’s the same principle with the world wide rave. You may have many ideas (and this is all about great ideas and content) but perhaps only one will take off and make you recognized for the information you’ve shared.
Overall, I like David’s writing style. He is honest and very transparent. Toward the end of the book, he admits that if someone had Googled his full name when he started his business, the result would have turned up zero hits. After The New Rules of Marketing & PR was published as an ebook, it was downloaded over 250,000 times, was recognized by marketing & PR professionals, and by bloggers and the media. It became a world wide rave. And, to this day, his book is still #1 in the PR category on Amazon. As a result, a subsequent search for his name revealed over 200,000 entries about David, his ideas and his work.
There are so many reasons to read this book. I feel energized and motivated to do more (and I only get 4.5 to 5 hours of sleep each night as it is). But, when you read a book like World Wide Rave you realize that you can easily create that great content and get your own rave under way. David is right when he says, “Anyone can trigger a world wide rave.”
World Wide Rave is a book that introduces some powerful ways of thinking and provides some great, simple and easy to digest examples of how people were successful in their world wide raves. The examples and the people cited in the book could have been you or me. It’s not because the people involved had lots of money, spent their years in the marketing profession or had acute knowledge of social media. And, it’s not because these people were necessarily highly respected visionaries or well-known public figures. Regular people, who grasp the concepts in this book, can find themselves generating some great ideas that just may be the next world wide rave!
I’ve been following @adamvincenzini’s experiment, a year without newspapers, for several weeks. With a strong interest in media and the changing PR landscape, I decided to interview Adam to learn more about his motivation behind this project.
For those of you who don’t know Adam, he is a PR consultant with more than 10 years experience on both sides of the globe. His career has included stints with Hill & Knowlton in both Australia and the UK, managing PR for the Australia cricket team, and currently is a consultant at London-based Paratus Communications (www.paratuscommunications.com) where he is increasingly blending traditional media with social / digital channels.
Adam launched his own Blog, The Comms Corner in November 2009 to look at the evolution of PR on the back of the surge in social / new media adoption, while passing on some advice / help along the way. As part of this ‘journey’ he decided to give up newspapers for 12 months from January 1, 2010, to see what a ‘newspaper-less’ life would be like…
Here is my Q&A with Adam:
Q1: How did you come up with the idea/experiment to stop reading newspapers for an entire year?
It was New Year’s Eve and I was doing some pre-party shopping with a friend. On the way back the train station I spotted a newsstand, had some spare change in my pocket and bought a copy of The Sun (the UK’s most popular daily). We got talking about New Year’s resolutions on the journey back (while I paid more attention to my paper, obviously) before I jokingly said: “Wouldn’t it be funny if I gave up newspapers for a year.” After initially laughing it off, I thought there might be something in it, especially due to the timing. The year 2009 had been an incredibly tumultuous year for print media, with bad news about its future becoming an all to regular occurrence. But, as far as I could tell (based on a quick search), these worrying forecasts were predominantly based on quantitative indicators as opposed to qualitative ones.
Upon further investigation, I couldn’t find anyone (from a media-related field) who had ever done something similar and chronicled the experience. Time was ticking at this stage and I had to get ready for my NYE party so I had one last flick through that copy of The Sun, took a deep breath and said goodbye to newspapers for 365 days…hoping (aka praying!) that my little sacrifice would be worth it…
Q2: Do you think the experiment is harder or easier than you expected it to be?
Like any ‘habit’ it has been a very difficult one to break. For as long as I can remember, my day has started with a newspaper (or two), another one or two over lunch and then another one on the way home. That’s maybe an hour of newspapers a day? So to begin with, the tangible / physical element of the experiment was incredibly challenging (represented by the video I shot during week two http://thecommscorner.blogspot.com/2010/01/mission-impossible-avoiding-newspapers.html). Once I dealt with my ‘separation’ issues, the intangible challenges came to the surface, most significantly being the ‘narrowing’ of knowledge I feel I am experiencing.
I’m just not taking in the same breadth of news as I was, which no matter how you look at it, can only be a negative thing. I could also argue that it has been easier than I expected because it’s been exactly 50 days since I read a paper and I haven’t come close to caving in…yet.
Q 3: Now that you are not reading newspapers, what is your next best source for news and information?
People, definitely, followed by Twitter, Google Reader and All Top. My BlackBerry has also become even more integral in my news gathering routine, making the most of apps / sites that deliver news straight to my handset. The one that has surprised me has been breakfast radio – my initial plan was to religiously listen to the radio each morning as their programmes are essentially dictated by each morning’s papers, which would mean I’d get my fix that way.
But, I haven’t done that as much as I thought. I’ll try and catch some breakfast TV if I can, but it has mainly been people – either in person or via Twitter / Social Media – that have filled the void thus far.
Q4 – How do you feel about the subscription based newspaper model? Do you think that would help newspapers to be more profitable and would consumers adopt this model?
The experiment has confirmed one fear I had from the very start: by taking newspapers out of the equation, quality would be replaced by quantity. So, from that perspective, I’d happily be a poster child for Rupert Murdoch and the subscription-based model. But would the average consumer see it that way? I’m not so sure. The best indication I think we have is the way music is obtained / consumed. For guaranteed high quality music, you’d head straight to iTunes and happily pay what the ‘product’ is worth. If quality is not a factor for you, a method of obtaining music without paying (i.e. via a file sharing client) is probably the way you’d go. @TrevorYoung shared a term with me recently which, for me, sums up it up really nicely: we are experiencing a ‘niche-ification’ of media consumption at present, and subscription-based models are just one element of this evolution.
Q5 Would you ever consider a year without consumer magazines, books or trade publications? How hard/easy do you think this experiment would be?
Great question and easy to answer…for me. I think I could get by without magazines and trade publications, but I think I’d really struggle without books. Actually, to be more specific, I couldn’t live without books about people. I read Michael J Fox’s biography, Lucky Man, at least once a year to remind myself of how lucky I am. I’ll reach for High Concept, the biography of the now deceased Hollywood producer, Don Simpson, to remind myself of the perils of excess.
Without being too over-the-top, there’s no way I’d be who I am today without the influence of the books I’ve read over the years. As people, the one thing we have in common, is life’s ‘journey’ and nothing can give you that perspective like a book can…or as I’m finding, newspapers for that matter!
It’s that time again…#PRStudChat is almost here. Our next discussion is 3/17 (on Happy St. Patty’s Day) and we have a great session planned. Our #PRStudChat special guest is Beth Harte (@bethharte). Beth, formerly the community manager at MarketingProfs, just took a new role at Sergenti Communications. With a wealth of knowledge and experience, she will answer questions based on the various PR positions she’s held over the years. Our session is focused on our PR students, who are graduating in May, and what they should expect when they enter the real world of business, from the roles and responsibilities to how to reach new influencers on behalf of their brands. Our PR pros and educators will also be on hand to guide the discussion from their particular areas of expertise.
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