The Future of PR – Are You Ready?

Brian Solis, a public relations veteran in San Francisco, wrote a fascinating article entitled, “The State of PR, Marketing and Communications:  You Are the Future.”  He writes on a variety of issues dealing with the public relations industry, how some social media has become “spam,” and tells of the need for communication practitioners to transform themselves into something more than press releases and newsletters.

A key point in Brian’s social media discussion is – as I’ve said many times in the past – there are too many people claiming to be ’social media experts,’ when they don’t adapt or change their views in an ever-changing world.

I’ve often wondered how people can dub themselves experts with something that evolves on a (literally) daily basis?  What makes one person an expert when another discovers an innovative way to utilize new media?  Does one claim expertise when they use social media every day?  Trust me, I’m no expert.  I’m still trying to wrap my head around the concept.  I think, as an industry, we’ve barely scratched the surface.  Every time a light bulb goes off, something new pops up and makes the light bulb blow.  The question may be, in my humble opinion, “how does one keep up?”

Brian describes social media as being:

…bigger than simply integrating a Blogger Relations branch to your PR strategy. It’s an opportunity to engage directly customers and peers who either purchase or recommend the decisions of others. Engaging and inspiring these individuals requires new techniques, methodologies, and an undeniable understanding of who they write for and why they should care about what you represent.

Many senior level communicators don’t want to learn new, and potentially effective, ways to spread their message.  “Let the new guy learn about ROI and blog mining.  Those college kids already know how, and I’m too busy to learn.”  Honestly, do you want your company’s message to be left to the new guy?

We, as integrated communicators, must remain vigilant to our task  – delivering quality, concise, correct information to the target audience.  We must take it upon ourselves to learn more, adapt to an industry that is changing at light speed and invent new ways to deliver.  We may not become “experts” but we need to understand the playing field.  Solis concisely states this when writing, “Don’t contribute to the atrophy of our industry.”

The article makes many great points.  I can only hope that communicators everywhere take the time to read it and walk away with something.  The WORLD is watching what we do, literally.  Don’t we owe it to ourselves to shine?

10 Lessons From the Corporate World

10 Lessons From the Corporate World

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Social Media – A Valuable Opportunity? Part 1: Internal Communication

Corporate transparency is (slowly) becoming the norm.

Social media, when utilized efficiently, becomes a two way communication super-highway.  Customers can provide real-time feedback on products/services; and companies are given the opportunity to quickly respond.  This also allows shortened time for product engineers to improve shortcomings, utilizing the real-time feedback.  For example, the online community can post their questions on a company’s hosted forum, so that others who have the same issue, have the ability to research concerns, comment, or get the situation resolved without inducing labor costs. Think about the new iPhone platform hitting this month.  Apple utilized the online community’s feedback via emails and blogs, turning negatives (like no video capability) into a deliverable product, within a reasonable timeframe.  (Apple iPhone site)

One thing to point out – social media doesn’t involve blogging alone.  It’s literally ANY interactive medium:

• whether between senior management and the workforce (Sharepoint message boards, web casts, intranet blogs, company sponsored Facebook groups)
• a company and its customers (interactive blogs, twitter, RSS feeds from a site)
• a place for employees to discuss workplace issues, for better or worse (I hate starbucks)

A fantastic example is what they do at Merrill Lynch.  Earlier this year, I worked for their Global Wealth Management department, not only at the time Merrill announced the Bank of America merger, but also when stocks started crashing and the economic downturn began.  Both Merrill and Bank of America were the focus of enourmous media criticism.  Executive management stepped up to the plate.  In brave efforts with their communications department, senior executives delivered up-to-date messages in hopes to establish fact from fiction.  They provided live, call-in web casting 2-3 times a week, sent daily mass e-mails and updated message boards.  Employees were armed with information in efforts to keep the chatter to a minimum and keep clients informed.

This works for not only vertical communication but for peer-to-peer information delivery.

I feel it’s extremely important for employers to provide a medium for employees to discuss issues or ideas.  Employees talk amongst themselves, whether on or off the clock.  The difference is that chatter isn’t taking place by the water cooler any more…it’s in a virtual space. Wouldn’t a company want to directly know what’s going on, address issues quickly, improve employee satisfaction and decrease turnover?  Wouldn’t it make sense for a company to create an open culture instead of one being provided for them (user generated Facebook groups, anonymous blogs, etc)? This could facilitate the generation of new ideas, shared to the entire entity, quickly.  It would allow for sharing of company information, notification of events, and facilitate the delivery of best practices.

Additionally, wouldn’t it benefit communicators/marketers/human resource folks to read some of the independent blogs/forums where disgruntled employees rant?  In my mind, it would be a huge resource.  They may be able to stop problems before more people get burned.

This is the first part in a series regarding social media uses.  Part 2 will discuss advertising and positive brand image.  As always, comments are welcome.

It’s amazing what coffee will do…

First off, this isn’t a topic I would normally post but I found the idea somewhat compelling.  I could write a book on ethical consumption (hmmm…) but in the interest of time and boring you to death, I’ll keep things short and sweet.

Being unemployed provides me with the gift of time.  And when I have time, I tend to think…a lot. What job was do I want, discovering my “purpose,” dieting, deciding to exercise – you know, all the easy stuff.

When I was thinking about my jobs in the past, I looked around at all the people in the cafe and wondered what they did.  I made a little game out of it, trying to guess what each person did.  The majority were students with a few professionals sprinkled in.  Then, I began to think about the workforce in general.  As I set my cup down on the (relatively) clean tabletop, I tried to guess how many people it took to deliver this particular beverage.

I came to the conclusion that it was too many to count.

Think about it – there are coffee growers, the roasters, packers and distributors. There’s the people who designed the cup, the lid, the scientists who created the plastic coating keeping the cup “leak proof,” the cardboard sleeve, the team who created the message on the outside of the cup and the printer who puts it there. Not to mention there’s the construction team who designed and built the store, and the small army of employees brewing, pressing and tending cash.

…all so I can have a tall americano, right here, right now.

My point is (and I know you were looking for one) that we’ve become so numb to convenience, we fail to realize the numerous, every day tasks necessary to complete our final product.  Our culture has become so elitist, so instantly gratified, we barely give thought to the amount of labor that goes into one cup of coffee.  We don’t appreciate things, or people, because our conveniences have become disposable.

I wonder if purchasing habits would shift if the public took a minute to understand the myriad of ideas, the numerous visits to the “drawing board,” and the buckets of capital that goes into each and every product on the shelf.  Would we purchase more domestically manufactured goods? Would more companies invest money into domestic labor, instead of outsourcing? Would the “green” movement gain faster momentum? Would the “convenience” paradigm shift more towards appreciation, thereby curbing frivolous spending? Who’s to say.

Next time you go to the mega-super store, as you pass by the countless items on the shelf, try to imagine what took place to put it there.  And, think about whether or not purchasing that product makes you a better person.

For a comprehensive look at “what is a blog?”

I’m sitting in the airport, conducting some research for my informational interviews, and wanted to see how many blogs are created each and every day.  I came across this detailed report from Technorati that outlines the state of the blogosphere.  The 2008 report provides an in-depth perspective on what blogs are, how many are out there, who posts what and what makes blogs more successful than others.

Technorati defines the bloggosphere as,

“the ecosystem of interconnected communities of bloggers and readers at the convergence of journalism and conversation.”

I found this to be a fairly credible, academic interpretation – even though they cite non-academic sources like Wikipedia to help them in their description.  I also enjoyed their comprehensive standpoint on “going beyond the numbers” helping average people like myself understand what and how blogs work.  Please enjoy!

Click here to read the report.

IABC/Pittsburgh board appointment

Mary Cvetan, co-president of IABC/Pittsburgh, recently asked me to become co-treasurer for the organization effective this June.  I couldn’t be more excited.  I look forward to a prosperous, exciting year and thanks to those who recommended me for the task!

Congressman Paul on the Recent Swine Flu Scare

Congressman Ron Paul provides some insight into what the U.S. government has been planning, in regards to the recent Swine Flu issue.  Having worked in health care, this “pandemic” has reason for concern, but no more than the avian flu.  This disease is easily treatable, if caught in its early stages.  As time goes on, I wonder more and more if the entire scare is just exacerbated media hype?

more about “Congressman Paul on the Recent Swine …“, posted with vodpod