“Untargeting”
It’s a struggle for the PR industry to avoid the bad old habits of yesteryear. In the old days, we knew that each client had a set group of mainstream media targets in mind; PR proposals and plans focused on WHERE to place stories, and WHEN. The WHO, WHY and HOW were incidental; to be figured out later.
But Social Media has given the PR industry much more insight into the fundamental aspects of relationship-building. It flips the model.
Now we know a whole lot more about WHO. We can interact with reporters on Twitter; see their Flickr or Facebook entries; read their blogs. We can increasingly get to know them as people. Thus we should do a better job of understanding what they like and dislike; what motivates them; what bores them; what angers them.
The more you know about the WHO, the more you pay attention to the WHY (as in, WHY would this person be interested?) and the HOW (as in HOW does this person like to be contacted, if at all?). The WHEN and WHERE now become incidental.
You can argue that “that’s what PR was supposed to be about all along.” And you’d be correct. As it gets easier to do things right, the excuses for taking short-cuts dwindle.
Posted on: May 27, 2008 at 10:36 am By Todd Defren
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Great post.
I think this is exactly what I was looking for in the recent blog that you responded to. I appreciate the feedback.
However, logistically, how is it possible to gain a personal relationship with hundreds of bloggers?
I understand the theory and the importance of this relationship, but how is this physically possible when also launching the types of campaigns you talked about in you Million Dollar blog post?
My public relations class recently had the opportunity to sit down with a couple of reporters from two of Portland’s alternative weeklies. It was interesting to hear what motivates them to write a story, and what the best way is to communicate with them. Interestingly enough, neither of them are on twitter.
For reporters who are involved online, I agree that social media can be great way to gain insight. However, I worry that sometimes reading a twitter stream or using a facebook message might be crossing a personal boundary and alienate reporters. How do we get to know someone, but avoid crossing that line?
@ xavier – I agree with the fact that such a model means you have to be in contact with 100s of bloggers/social network groups…but ‘you’ is the important word I think in your sentence. It doesn’t mean the account executive..the model has to change..may be it’s in cooperation with the client and its workforce. Kind of like an HR /quality department doesn’t manage the company’s people but provide support/guideline/direction.
I see, so what are you going to change inside your agency’s infrastructure to make this happen?
I’m asking because it’s hard to disagree with what you say, but I don’t see how you can be so close to an individual (blogger) when you have to be in close contact with hundreds of them, which is the case for your account executives.
Psycho-socially speaking, i don’t think it’s feasible. Advertisers know that we are all driven by the need to get sex, get food, and feel secure. And they rarely go beyond that, because once you try to know more about each and every individual, you find yourself facing the Abyss of human infinity.
At least that’s what I think
This may be unpopular, but the blanket email approach does have its place sometimes. Some of our clients have truly amazing stories to offer rather than something salesy.
Unfortunately, we don’t have time to establish a relationship with someone. We’d love to, because that means a better understanding/relationship with the client may come through in the final product. However, sometimes we just need to get the news out there ASAP and connect on the follow up. Maybe, and sadly, not everything requires the special touch. Hopefully, one day, that can change.
Are you saying that it’s not about targeting anymore (in the sense of finding the when/where in the media) but it’s about relationship building (Who they are, why they like/dislike)…it’s a big shift, especially because social media is much more fragmented/niche than other media.
Great post, Todd.
Social media gives PR professionals news ways to engage journalist and analyst contacts with the goal of building a mutually beneficial relationship. Of course, it still requires an investment of time and an understanding of the market.
@xavierv – My point is that we need to think LESS about targeting – i.e., the media/bloggers are not BULLSEYES but people, and we’ll more likely “score” when we understand their motivations vs. simply knowing their email address and phone #.
Nice post, Todd. I like to call this “Web Who.0″ and started to try and wrap my head around it just over a year ago.
You can see my blog post below, on why Web 2.0 has always been about the users rather than what’s going on.
http://makejohnnycash.blogspot.com/2006/12/web-who0.html
Thanks,
John.
And so…
What do you call untargeting?