THE NEW PR:HOW SOCIAL MEDIA ARE CHANGING THE

COMMUNICATIONS ENVIRONMENT

Martin Waxmanenergi PR, Communications, Digital

Presented to Loyalist College March 2011

© 2011 energi PR Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The blogosphere – a view from above

“I’m old enough to know a lot of things, just from life experience. I know that newspapers are where you get your political news and how you look for a job. I know that music comes from stores. I know that if you want to have a conversation with someone, you call them on the phone. I know that complicated things like software or encyclopedias have to be created by professionals.

In the last 15 years, I’ve had to unlearn every one of those things and a million others, because those things have stopped being true.”

-Clay Shirky, Here Comes Everybody

What is PR?

An industry definition

• According to the Canadian Public Relations Society: Public relations is the strategic management of relationships between an organization and its diverse publics, through the use of communication, to achieve mutual understanding, realize organizational goals, and serve the public interest.

(Flynn, Gregory & Valin, 2008)

It’s all about relationships!

We are also…

• Storytellers

• Personal trainers

• Trends experts

• Guardians of reputation

• Trusted counselors

What is social media?

My erstwhile attempt at a definition

Social media is a democratic, transparent and conversational way for people and organizations to interact and build relationships and communities of mutual benefit - usually online.

(from my(PR)Palette)

It’s all about relationships!

What else?

• It’s similar to MSM (mainstream media)– Influencers spread stories to an audience you

want to reach

• It’s different from MSM in that there are even less checks and balances and anyone can do it– Facts? What facts?

• It can leap across traditional country borders in a single bound– Link to MW article for International Public

Relations Association

And…

• Social media uses many of the same tools as MSM, except it’s mostly DIY (Giovanni Rodriguez)

• Cost of entry low, or practically non-existent

• Two-way, more conversational, long-term commitment

• Word spreads fast online; need to stay connected

• Tag to be search-engine-relevant

Why is social media important?

• Listen: monitor what’s being said and decide on response

• Converse: adds human element to companies and helps develop credibility and trust

• Engage: develop relationships with influencers/customers across a variety of platforms to help build your brand

Where to begin...

A few considerations

• Intersection of personal and professional (Joseph Jaffe)

• Need to establish parameters; social media policy

• New tools, old rules– Ethics– Professionalism– Transparency– Production values/writing/style

Develop a plan

Start with strategy and goals• Ask questions:

– Who?– Why?– Who are the influencers?– Do you have a strong relationship

them?– Are you in it for the long haul?– What’s your budget, staffing?– Which of your partners can best help

you bring it to life?

Then pick the tools

The glue

Real Simple SyndicationRSS = subscribing

Now vs. Then

Blogging Writing and publishing

Podcasts Radio/audio

Video/streaming TV

Virtual communities Actual communities

Twitter IM… telegrams

Smartphones Telemarketing

Reaching bloggers

• All about relationships (like PR)

• Join the community, listen and then participate

• Important to be transparent, honest, credible and conversational

• Disclosure – new FTC rules in U.S.

• Never, ever spam a blogger – or journalist – or ANYBODY

Joseph Thornley

Todd Defren

Jay Baer

Gini Dietrich

Reaching bloggers

• Use Social Media News Release to distribute information– Similar to traditional news

release but with added features – links, visuals, video, audio, quotes

• Consider social media newsroom with RSS feed on your website as useful media resource

Podcasts

• Pre-recorded, downloadable audio shows• Self-produced using free software• Like blogs, can cover virtually any topic

– Education– PR– Politics– Beauty/fashion– Cars– Sports– Entertainment– Cooking– Shopping – You name it

• PR industry examples: – Inside PR– For Immediate Release

• Five years old April 23, 2010, the day the first video was uploaded!

• 2nd most popular search engine

• 24 Hours of video uploaded to YouTube each minute

• Three times as many unique monthly viewers than its second-place competitor (Yahoo)

Tips for creating and distributing online videos from my(PR)palette:

• Content, content, content!

• Production values should match

• Promote on multiple platforms

• Sponsorship is OK as long as it’s not a commercial

Age of Facebook

• 600+ million users; 15.6 million Canadians ; reach 10 to 11 million Canadians every day

• Fastest-growing demo? Your mom!

• Personalized web enables people to ‘like’ products on other sites; shows up in a news feed and friends see it

• Privacy concerns: new social tools mean more data is being shared. Canada’s Privacy Commissioner is monitoring.

• 190 million subscribers; Toronto 6th largest Twitter community

• @anywhere new function that lets you build in Twitter apps into your website

• Promoted tweets, new ad platform lets businesses pay for tweets

• 65 million tweets per day; Twitter donated archive of public tweets to the Library of Congress

• Search.twitter.com – monitor what’s being said

Mobile

• Optimize website for mobile devices?– Design, compatibility, image size, ease

of use

• iPhone users spend 65 per cent of on-device time NOT making calls

• Video accounts for 69 per cent of mobile data traffic

• People who use FB on smartphones are twice as active on FB than regular users

• Location, location, location and the rise of Foursquare

John Doerr, Kleiner Perkins

ROI

• How do you determine whether or not you’ve been successful at reaching your goals?

• Have you reached your influencers and had an impact on perceptions, behaviour (outcome vs. output)?

• No definitive measurement tool… yet

• New definition of ROI: ‘Risk of Ignorance’ (Todd Defren)

PR students

• Think about your online footprint

• Have you built a relationship with us?

• New skill set required: telling stories visually and not just with words, understanding of and comfort with the tools

• Some things don’t change: judgment, morals, strong writing, creativity, smart business thinking

Jumping in

• Develop a social media strategy and then use the right tools that help achieve your objective– Not everyone needs to be a blogger, video producer, podcaster– Don’t get caught up in the shiny, pretty things– Who do you call for help?

• Become part of a community that means something to you– Try it out– Ask questions– All it takes is a bit of clicking, patience and time

• Test and learn, repeat

• Don’t get lost in the traffic jam– if your head is swimming, you’re probably headed in the right direction; you will

get there

Resources

Suggested reading:• The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell• Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel• Groundswell by Charlene Li & Josh

Bernoff• SocialCorp by Joel Postman• Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble

and Shel Israel• Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky• Content Rules by Ann Handley & CC

Chapman• The Long Tail by Chris Anderson

And…

Questions?

Contact: Martin Waxman martin.waxman@energipr.com

Blog:my(PR)palettewww.energipr.com

Twitter: @martinwaxman www.facebook.com/energipr