Do you remember when you were a kid and for some reason (normally something mundane) your mother wouldn’t let you go out and play, and you’d sit in the house and hear lots of laughter from kids (probably not even your friends) playing outside.
That’s how I feel today, it seems that everyone is at the New Comm Forum… Thank god for computers.
You see here’s the thing. When you write something in an e-mail, you need to realize that you are putting something in the public domain. When I give talks on the “new” PR tools, I always remind people that e-mail is part of the disclosure process for litigation. I also remind them that once you compose and send an e-mail you don’t have any control. It’s time we all started understanding that.
Want an example? OK.
Phil Harvey, news editor at the widely read Telecoms outlet Light Reading has a fantastic example for you. Click on it, read it, understand it and alter your behaviour…. Thanks to Phil for the public service.
Many strange phrases have entered into the Interweb consciousness, think of “jump the shark”, “the long tail”, “markets are conversations”, so I have a new one: “Kicking the dead dog”**.
“Kicking the dead dog†describes the preponderance of people online to continually talk about the same thing over and over and over again. Given this is my phrase I’m giving it two meanings. It also describes the continual wave of posts that declare something is now “deadâ€.
In the world of PR there are two topics that have people kicking the dead dog. The death of PR and the death of the press release. I struggle to generate the energy to read these posts and whenever I do I need strong coffee and painkillers.
The latest person kicking the dead dog is declaring that the press release is… sorry I’m too bored to go into any more detail, I’ve added some links below, the first link is the offending post, the subsequent posts I’m glad to say have some common sense.
Let’s just post a single phrase from the original post:
“I have a disruptive role to play in mainstream PRâ€
Okey dokey… I … errr have a … emm.. narky, angry role to play in dealing with silly blog posts.
Follow the first link at your peril, read it, then forget it. The press release is alive and well folks, in fact it’s “walking the live dog” so to speak. I’m swimming in press releases, you can have them anyway you want them, in e-mail, on a website, in RSS, by fax, by post, by courier, I’ll even read it to you. But it ain’t dead…
**Long-time readers (hello mum) will remember that I’ve tried in vain to create a massive Internet groundswell around new terms in the past. I think I’m missing the money element. Most of the others promise loads of cash. Mine doesn’t. That explains it then.
In the latest of my vain attempts at keeping up to date with all the interesting content appearing online, here’s the latest miscellany of links…
Podcastic
Well the world of PR podcasting is following in the footsteps of “boring” old blogs with a whole range of new blogs to kill time on your commute…
It’s not often you get the chance to weave William Shakespeare into a post about PR so I’m taking this chance while I have it.
In ‘The Merchant of Venice’, Shakespeare teaches us that just because something is shiny, and bright looking, it doesn’t mean it’s the best choice. As Portia’s suitors must gain her hand by choosing whether the gold, silver of lead casket holds her picture. The golden casket bears the inscription: “Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire.” – and of course it’s the wrong one to choose.
OK I know you may be wondering where I’m going with this so bear with me. The practice of crisis communication, issue management and reputation management is not something to be taken lightly.
The online world has created an environment where crises or certainly issues, arise far more often than ever before. Furthermore, the established best practices in dealing with a crisis are well established (get the facts, get decisions makers together, provide clear and complete information, don’t speculate etc..). What’s changed is we now have to merge online and offline communication. But just because we have new communications tools does not mean that they are necessarily the best way to approach issues management. Od course we must take into account the online nature of any crisis that arises today and act accordingly.
Research points to the fact that at a time of crisis, consumers are as likely to visit the web site of the company involved, as they are a news or media web site. This is a very significant issue. If you look at one of the industries that is arguably at the forefront of major crisis management – the airline industry – they have adopted the “dark site” as the most effective means of clearly communicating at the outset of a major crisis (read an air disaster). The dark site is, at its most simple, and arguably its most effective, a single web page with the corporate logo, a clear statement on the current situation (based on the facts that are available) and contact numbers, fax numbers and e-mail for those with questions. This page replaces the front page of the site and is update as more facts become available.
So where do blogs some in? Well I think that we can agree that blogs, and specifically corporate blogs, are at their best in providing an engaging new way of reaching and building conversation with an audience – no disagreements so far I imagine. The obvious extension, but not necessarily the correct one, is that they might be good communication practice in a crisis. Not so fast. The answer is it depends.
In many situations the worst thing to do is to begin or engage in public discussion around a crisis when all the facts haven’t been uncovered. This is where speculation enters as an issue, particularly in an online world where it’s increasingly hard (read impossible) to take back what you’ve written.
Rather than just assuming that ‘hey blogs are great for communication, let’s add them to the crisis tools’, we need to think about this. In my opinion the best mass online communication tool for a crisis is the dark site. It’s clear, factual and provides those impacted with the information they urgently need. That’s good communication. What you do not need is a “dark blog” which rapidly turns into an online rubbernecking incident.
So do blogs have a role? Yes I think they can, but the key question is precedence. If you have a well established blog that, as part of its modus operandi, discusses your business, then there *may* be an opportunity to include it in your crisis communications plan. But only when it’s appropriate – typically in more minor crises.
A simple example of this was then GM pulled advertising out of the LA Times because they had issues with how they were being treated by the editorial staff. Not a major crisis I think you’ll agree, and a decision I passionatley disagreed with. But to their credit GM discussed the matter on the FastLane blog – a blog that discusses their business. Now from a personal perspective I disagreed with their decision, but I admired the fact they were willing to provide their reasons and discuss it. I still don’t agree, but I am less critical. A good example. For more serious issues it becomes more complex.
What’s for certain is that, in my opinion, the single worst thing you could do is role out a brand new blog at a time of crisis and cause more noise over an issue that more importantly needs factual information. Blogs are about building conversations, that takes time and effort. Just because they’re the shiny (read golden) new toy doesn’t mean they should be used for everything. Life is never that simple, and remember that Portia’s picture was in the boring old lead casket which bore the inscription: “Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath” – a euphenism for honesty perhaps.
Notes:
So it’s Friday, busy week in more ways than one, so what to write about? Any interesting news about? Some.
The intersection of tools such as blogs, RSS and podcasting, which foster conversation and communication, with Public Relations, which is all about helping people and organizations to communicate, continues to take place at a rapid pace. (I’m not even a professional poet)
So what best illustrates this intersection? What happened this week that really shows PR people taking blogging seriously? Maybe not what you think – but we’ll get to that later.
Step Forward, Harold Burson. A statesmen of the public relations world, who this week is celebrating eighty five years on the planet and managed to find time to kick off a blog. Fantastic. Now before you all start shouting, I realizing that one entry does not a blog make, but hats off in any case. At the very least it’s great marketing from the folks at BM and deserves more air play than it’s getting.
So on to the second most interesting PR-blogging related story of the week. If you’ve read one single blog this week, you’ll already know that Edelman had acquired A-list uber-blogger, Steve Rubel. This acquisition followed hiring PR blog pioneer Phil Gomes as well as Guillaume du Gardier in France. It’s a bold (and possibly expensive) move for Edelman and along with Richard’s own blog it clearly sends out a message that Edelman, problably more than any other agency, are serious about embracing the world of online communication. Kudos to them.
I used the word ‘acquisition’ in the previous paragraph for a reason. Steve has done an amazing job building his blog from zero to one of the top one hundred blogs in the world. He’s done it through a lot of hard work and it’s great to see someone’s hard work paying off. But of course Edelman didn’t just hire Steve, they negotiated the purchase of Steve’s blog Micro Persuasion from his former employers CooperKatz, illustrating just what a good job Steve has done building his online brand. So hearty congratualtions to both Edelman and Steve.
Postscript
Of course there is a personal downside to this announcement. Steve kindly referenced me in his announcement. So I guess I now know how the marketing folks at WordStar felt when WordPerfect kicked their butts :-).
It’s clear that the benefits of many of the new online tools – blogs, RSS and in particular podcasting – are becoming apparent to a growing number of PR practitioners. Having just returned from Philip Young’s “Delivering the New PR” event in Manchester, it really is fantastic to see the interest in how these tools can impact reputation and communication.
There were great questions, great discussions and while people see the potential of these tools, they also clearly see the potential issues.
For me personally, one of the highlights was catching up with Chris, Elizabeth, Neville, Philip and Stuart (as well as Nicky and the team at Don’t Panic)
At this event, and in other speaking engagements I’ve done over the past few weeks, one of the most interesting things is seeing people really think about the benefits, but more importantly, the implications of “new media” – a term I really don’t like. Yes conversation is good, Yes these tools (podcasts are particularly hot right now) open new avenues for organizations, but there are also issues. If you engage in a conversation then you are going to have to reliquish some control. That’s a major behvioural change for many PR people, but at least everyone recognizes it. There were a lot of interesting questions both on the floor and during the tea and lunch breaks, many of which I’ll discuss here in the future.
It was a great event and the good news is that we’ll be attending a third event in London in May. So someone is listening!
Todd Defren… you’ll get yours… 🙂
Four Jobs I’ve Had
Four movies I can watch over and over
NEW CATEGORY: Four movies I HAVE to watch over and over
Four TV Shows I Love to Watch
Four Places I’ve Been on Vacation
Four Favorite Dishes
Four Websites I Visit Daily
Four Places I’d Rather Be
Four people I am Tagging
My mammy
My dog
My cat
Unfortunately their blogs aren’t up yet, so this meme branch ends here….
Just think about that for a moment… 350 PR blogs. That’s a lot of potential advice, discussion and wisdom. We should make use of it.
Here’s one for the bad pitch blog. Irish journalist (and blogger) John Collins recounts a recent example of the massive value add offered by many of my PR brethren:
pr: “his this is x from y agency, i’m just ringing to see if you received the release from our client that we sent out this morning?”
me: “ah, yes, i think i saw that one alright”
pr: “ok, thanks” [hangs up]
Ah yes, fantastic. Of course (fast becoming an older person every day) I remember when I can admit to using the “e-mail must have got lost” excuse a few times back in the early 1990’s, but it’s not really expanding the media relations experience is it?
Of course, in fairness to the poor innocent who made the call, I’m sure they were probably forced to do it by their muppet manager who makes them call up all the journalists on the e-mail list so that they can put it in the monthly report. For the love of Jebus (Jebus isn’t a real religious figure is he? I don’t want loads of protestors on the blog so if he is, apologies in advance – if you can’t read this I’ve already deleted the reference in a failed attempt to avoid widespread condemnation – now where was I… oh yeah..) when will people stop and think about what they are doing?
If you are wondering why our poor maligned profession continues to fail in efforts to improve its image, this is a great example.
Murphy's Law 