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A few weeks ago, with the gorgeous Olympic Mountains as a backdrop, I was sitting in a meeting with my client, RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser, along with Bill Hankes, the company’s VP of Corp Comms.  We were talking about Social Media; about the need for engagement; about our progress to-date.

I pointed to the launch of RealPlayer11 as an example of a “pretty good” success.  RP11 launched last year with supercool features like the ability to download DRM-free videos in virtually any format to your hard-drive, i.e., you could build your own YouTube library.  RP11 was also free of the old bloatware and upsell pop-ups that plagued earlier, flawed versions of the videoplayer. 

But, those previous versions of RP had burned a lot of bridges with online consumers.  Although the coverage by bloggers and mainstream writers was generally positive, the subsequent comments by end-users were invariably bitter.  One commenter went so far as to suggest that “Every time you launch RealPlayer, God kills a kitten.” (And worse, if you can believe that.)  Harsh!

But, we’d seen it coming.  Although never as promptly nor as broadly as we would have liked, we did do our best to ensure that the RP11 product manager responded to those posts (with sincere mea culpas for past indiscretions).  We also encouraged him to start-up his own temporary RealPlayer Blog to candidly address complaints.

Glaser agreed that our RP11 effort had been as successful as possible, given that our spokesman had been nominally available to help us out.  “How do we do better over time?” he asked.

At this point I made my pitch for a full-time Community Relations position.  The last year had been an exciting one for Real in terms of rehabbing its reputation through better offerings (including today’s news of the Rhapsody MP3 store), but, by taking a largely top-down, mainstream-media focused approach, the Company would never experience the groundswell of consumer support it needed to truly thrive.  (I should note that this pitch had the full and enthusiastic support of the VP of Corp Comms!)

To his credit, Glaser didn’t even blink.  “Do it,” he said, automagically funding fresh headcount for the Corp Comms group.  “Write-up the job description and make it happen.  Just make sure you hire the right person.”

I grabbed Bill’s arm and scurried out of there before Glaser could change his mind.  I knew exactly who they should hire for this newly-minted role.

So let me introduce you to Lacy Kemp.  She’s held a variety of roles at RealNetworks, from admin to media producer.  I got to know her when she was Bill Hankes’s assistant.  Lacy was far from typical: she was edgy, funny, savvy, smart, engaged.  She quickly made her mark within Real; she was well-known and universally applauded.  She maintains a personal blog but is just getting started with Real’s “official” blog and Twitter account.

We’re just now getting Lacy set up with professional monitoring tools, a reading list, a Flipcam, etc.  It’s premature to expect immediate changes on Lacy’s watch, especially at such a large company – but for my part, I am enthused to know that someone as approachable and cool as Lacy Kemp will be a new, public face. For Real.

Posted by Todd Defren at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

As promised, this week’s grammar post will take up the cause of proper usage of “i.e.” and “e.g.” as well as “etc.” and its overlooked cousin, “et al.” 

Prepare to be bored.

The “i.e. vs. e.g.” confusion was never a problem for the Romans.  That’s probably because they knew what these abbreviations originally meant!  The “i” and “e” of “i.e.” literally stand for “id est” … which is, simply, “it is.”  Easy!  You use “i.e.” when you mean to say, “in other words;” i.e., you are about to clarify your previous statement.  (See how I slipped that in?)

Good old “e.g.” is Latin for “exempli gratia” – it’s shorthand for, “for example.”  The best way to use “e.g.” is when you want to provide at least one example of what could easily be a longer list.  So, say you’re describing all of your favorite marketing techniques, e.g., direct mail and search engine optimization… You could have also listed a dozen other favored programs, but a couple of examples sufficed.  So you used “e.g.”

To sum up: use “i.e.” when you mean, “in other words.”  Use “e.g.” when you want to say, “for example.”

There are lots of places on the Web to learn such things.  I got the best info on the “i.e. vs. e.g.” issue from About.com.

Now, on to “etc.” and “et al.” 

“Etc.” means “and so forth,” or, “and other such things.”  When you’re using “etc.” you’re telling your readers that “this list (of items, concepts, etc.) could go on and on, but you get the gist.”  (Again, see how easily these ancient expressions slip into our modern writing?  Did you even catch it?  It’s been happening throughout this post.)

You can also spell it out: “et cetera.”  What you don’t want to ever do is precede “etc.” with an “and.”  That would be redundant.

“Et al” is trickier, which is why it is less frequently used.  It’s often unwittingly bumped aside by our friend “etc.” 

“Et al” means, “and others.”  It’s most often used when signifying a list of people related in some way, e.g., “Who’s on the Blogosphere’s A-List? You’ll often hear names like Scoble, Arrington, Rubel, et al.”  See how “etc.” could have easily taken the place of poor, misunderstood “et al?” 

Phew! 

While I am thankfully tapped-out on Latin stuff, I do have ideas for at least a couple more of these types of posts.  But, if you want to see this series continue any further, gang, please leave your own pet peeves in the Comments section.  Thanks!

Posted by Todd Defren at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)

Today is Twebinar Day.  The twebinar is a web-based Social Media Seminar conducted via online video sessions and in parallel via Twitter.  It’s sponsored by Radian6 and hosted by the irrepressible Chris Brogan. 

It starts at 2pm EST today.  Go sign-up. 

I was truly honored to be asked to participate along with a stellar cast-of-characters such as Rohit Bhargava, The Two Shels, Tim Ferriss, Chris Heuer, Dell’s Richard Binhammer, Paul Gillin, Kami Huyse and many others.

Some of my colleagues have already written up the details, such as Kami and Jason Falls, and Radian6’s own vp-marketing, David Alston.  Those posts all sum up the event nicely.  So, beyond asking you to visit those links and the Twebinar’s official site, I’ll pass on chatting up the details.

Instead I want to briefly look at the POST methodology of the Twebinar.  I do so without having spoken with Alston, so maybe he can weigh in via the Comments if I mess this up.  (POST is Forrester Research’s angle on how to think about social marketing strategies: it stands for People, Objectives, Strategy and Technology).

Radian6 is a “social media monitoring” firm.  The People they want to reach are, generally speaking, “marketers (in-house and agency) concerned about Social Media.” 

Thus the Objective of the Twebinar is to educate the decision-makers and decision-influencers among these marketers, and in so doing augment Radian6’s own expert credentials. 

Secondarily, Radian6 is trying to show that they have the leadership aura to attract all the cool kids to their brand.  The People who are concerned about how Social Media will impact Marketing are enthusiastic adherents to at least a subset of the experts presenting via the Twebinar.

The Strategy is based on “Content Marketing” and “Engagement.”  Provide high-value content, give it away for free, and provide legitimate avenues for discussion that will draw additional consumers into the fold.

Technologically (and tactically), the “high-value content” comes in the form of thoughtful video interviews with Social Media stars, which will be archived for future viewings.  These videos will be freely delivered to all participants, who need only register for free (can you say, “database marketing?”) … But, if the users don’t care to see the videos, they can still interact in a live & lively discussion with all the Twebinar’s experts, via Twitter. 

Radian6 is smart to not force the issue vis a vis registration.  The people who follow @twebinar on Twitter will likely wind up registering to see the vids anyway, when they see all the fun conversations going on!

So Radian6 is offering both archived video content that can be mined for ideas, and a time-delimited session of direct engagement with experts via Twitter.  All great content.  All for free.

Benefit to Radian6?  A big-time brand boost that will likely reverberate for weeks to come.

I’d hate to compete with Radian6.

DISCLOSURE: SHIFT Communications is a Radian6 client.  But I was not asked to write this post, nor did I collaborate with Radian6 in its development.  

Posted by Todd Defren at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Right now all of Marketing is hip-deep in the assimilation of Social Media principles.

While there will be laggards, companies of all sizes are thinking about blogging and microblogging … They are reconsidering budgets to emphasize content production … They are at the very least starting to listen intently to the voices that discuss their brand; they are investing in monitoring tools and discussing techniques for engagement.

With all this hubbub, many marketers are wondering about what the “loss of control” will mean to their company, and even to their own employment.  How heavily should they invest in this Social Media stuff?

Meanwhile, some have argued, pretty convincingly, that the volume of chatter about Social Media has risen a li’l too quickly.  The carpetbaggers are coming to town.  

So on the one hand: huge pressure to conform to the Wisdom of Crowds.  On the other hand: maybe all this new-agey stuff about the loss-of-control is getting out of control? 

When this storm has finished wreaking its havoc, what will be left?  Will there still be a PR industry?  Will we still produce professional thirty-second tv commercials?  Will we still have telemarketers and direct mail and email marketing campaigns?   

Yes, Virginia, there will be a job in Marketing.

Humanization – customization – adaptation.  These are the watchwords for the future.

The faceless corporation will be “humanized” – that’s what blogging, tweeting, etc., are engendering.  Consumers will become as loyal to a brand’s employees as they had been to its excellent products. 

Tomorrow’s marketers will embrace human2human interactions as a means to communicate the good/bad about their brand.  This humanization process will create goodwill that attracts new buyers and will comfort the loyalists when stuff goes awry.  In fact, those loyalists will become the brand’s staunchest defenders.

“Customization” – it’s all about giving the people EXACTLY what they want: each one of ‘em.  In a globalized commercial society, plain folks have an earnest desire to be respected for their individuality. 

So you’ll still send an email blast, but rather than being mass-produced, it will be mass-customized, to meet the predetermined, opt-in preferences of the consumer targets.  Some folks will only want to hear from the brand if the communique comes with a coupon; some will want to hear about latest products, etc.

“Adaptation” – Social Media and other technology innovations are going to force those traditional marketing tools and techniques to change; ironically, more and more marketing activities will migrate online, to support more effective humanization and customization.

This is happening already.  For example, advertisers are seriously researching ways to ensure that their 30–second commercials still have impact when viewed in fast-forward mode (i.e., on digital video recorder like Tivo).  

I’m no futurist, but I play one in the blogosphere.  And while we’re engaged in the current upheaval, I see nothing but opportunity for tomorrow’s marketers.

Posted by Todd Defren at 01:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (1)

This weekend (June 22) marks the 4^th anniversary of this blog. 

Before drafting today’s post, I took a look at my post from 1 year ago.  If you bother to click through to last year’s anniversary entry, you’ll see that I used the opportunity to engage in some blatant linkbaiting!  But more importantly, I was struck by how much the concluding paragraph from that day still rings true for me a year later:

Working on PR-Squared has been inspirational to me.  This blog thrust me down the Social Media path, even as that path was first being hacked through the impenetrable weeds of the “1.0 Era.”  It’s been a journey of discovery that rekindled a belief that we PR pros are capable of greatness.  And that’s a feeling that comes from interacting with great people.

When I wrote that paragraph, Twitter did not exist (at least, not to my knowledge).  The subsequent rise of microblogging has not only vastly expanded the universe of marketers that I now know and respect, but also reconfirmed my belief that our industry is changing course.

We’re getting smarter, faster, better.  It’s becoming ever more clear that most PR people are happy to be authentic, honest, and o-u-t from behind the curtain.  Yes, we need to get better at writing, targeting, etc., but the sunlight of Social Media is slowly and inexorably disinfecting our industry. 

Huge differences have occurred in just a year.  The amount of change we’ve undergone in FOUR years is incalculable.  It’s a great time to be doing what we’re doing.

Posted by Todd Defren at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

We’re always looking for better ways to do things at the Agency.  How can we move faster, get more efficent?

Generally these innovations impact internal processes, but every now and then (and often from left field), some star bangs out something that could help out anyone & everyone in the PR industry.  Something simple, but effective.

If you’ve got a press tour planned in San Francisco or New York City, click those city links to access an interactive Google Map of the office locations of the major publications in those media-heavy metros.  We’ll get to Boston at some point in the near future, too.

Have a good trip.  Hope this helps.

Posted by Todd Defren at 02:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

I was talking about Social Media strategies with a big tech client yesterday. 

In the course of the conversation they rolled out a slick-looking report, chock-full of truly interesting data about their industry.  They plan to make it available online.

I asked, “How?  What’s the plan?  Can I guess?  You’re going to post it as a PDF on your website, right?”  They confirmed that this was the planned approach.

I agreed that they should, indeed, post it as a PDF for folks who might want to read the whole document in its original, beauteous form. 

But, couldn’t they also post the entire document on a web page – with each paragraph/factoid serving as a distinct element of content, using hashtags/permalinks to organize them (such as sometimes used at Dave Winer’s blog)?

Or, better yet, would they consider posting it online as a blog, with each major content section represented as an individual post?

The benefits of this “atomization” of content should be clear to long-time readers of this blog: by converting each factoid in the report into a standalone content element, the company could empower its consumers to use any or all of the report’s content as they saw fit. 

If a blogger is really interested in factoid #27 (but could care less about the rest of the report), and wants to discuss it with their readership, they should be able to point directly to that factoid (and only that factoid) …  The alternative would be to tell their readers, “Here’s a link to a 40–page report (PDF); go to page 27 and read the 3^rd paragraph, to see the factoid in its original form.”

By contrast, atomized content exists on its own, and can be readily ripped for use by others. 

To continue with our client example: if the content in their report were converted into individual blog posts, each factoid could be discussed on its own merits; bloggers could link to each factoid from their own sites, and the ensuing conversations and trackbacks would boost both the client’s readership and overall SEO.

To net it out for you: if you have good stuff to share, share it in small bits.  And give each of those bits their own permalink.

Posted by Todd Defren at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

I got a pretty good reaction with my post last week about common grammatical/spelling errors.  Due to popular demand, I’ve decided to do this on a semi-regular basis.  (Read: when I am short on time, or ideas, for meatier posts.  I’ll even use the same graphic.)

Thinking about “press release language” for a second, many PR folks desperately search for alternatives to descriptors like “industry leading.”  A big alternate play is "premiere."  But that’s not the right spelling, folks.  “Premiere” is akin to “debut,” as in “Angelina Jolie showed up at the big movie premiere.”  You want to use “premier” which means “first in rank.”  I suppose you could launch a product from a top-tier brand by saying it was “the premiere of the (XYZ) from the premier name in (XYZ)” but that would sound cloying.

Irregardless of how you spell it … oh!  wait!  whoops!  “Irregardless” is not a real word.  (Actually, that is debatable, but do you really want to go to war over it?  Use “regardless.”)  

Last one for today, and I can’t believe I did not cover it last time: for some baffling reason, many people use THEIR and THERE interchangeably.  It’s one thing to confuse “premier” and “premiere” (I’ll admit I screw that one up too!), but THEIR and THERE have completely different meanings. 

Put in its most simple terms, “there” is a place or state-of-being; “their” denotes possession.  You can “go there” … you can “take it from there.”  But when you use “their,” you’re talking about ownership:  “There they go, riding off on their two-seater bicycle.”   

While the reactions to my last rant were generally positive, some folks wondered if I was being too rigid, especially in the age of IM and SMS? 

look, fwiw i cn txt w the bst of em, bt vrythg has itz place. in biz comms we shld @ lst tri 2 b prof?   

By the way, most of the errors covered in this post came from the comments on my last post, so please leave your personal grammar grievances here, to flesh out future posts.

Next time:  i.e. vs. e.g., and, etc. vs. et al.  Get excited!

Posted by Todd Defren at 02:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

Imagine you’re back on the school bus, on the way to your high school.  Towards the back of the bus, the “cool kids” are eagerly poring over a hidden object.  You overhear one of them saying, “It’s really expensive, but I figured out how to get a free one.”

You’re curious, right?  And you want to be part of that crowd, eh?

This is the genius of Dave Balter, founder and CEO of BzzAgent.  For the launch of his new book, “The Word of Mouth Manual, volume II,” he asked twenty really cool people if they’d post something about the book today.  I am honored to be part of that group.

The ingenious twist was that Dave wouldn’t tell each “thought leader” who else was on the list until after they’d committed to help out, and even then revealed the full list only a couple of days ago.  Dave knew that “people in the know” want to be – well, “in the know.” 

Crazy like a fox, that Balter. 

The Word of Mouth Manual, volume II, is going to be available for a whopping $45 bucks, and will be printed in very limited quantities.  But you can have a copy for FREE!

Clearly, Balter’s throwing a kitchen-sink’s worth of WOM techniques at this book promotion. 

It’s crazy-expensive = perception of value

It’s barely available = perception of scarcity

It’s purple cowish = waterproof book cover (?!)

It’s being released for free, ONLY through industry thought leaders = buzz marketing

And there’s a competitive element, too: each of the thought-leaders have a unique code for the free download, so Balter can inform us after the fact who did the best job of flogging his book to their readers.  By the way, “VOTE FOR ME” by downloading the $45 book for free using THIS FRIGGIN’ LINK.

You’ll note that I did NOT use this post to discuss the book itself, or my thoughts on it.

That’s cuz I want you to click the friggin’ link, and then would love it if you’d tell me YOUR thoughts on it?  I’ll share my own review later.

Posted by Todd Defren at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

As is his wont, SiliconValleyWatcher’s Tom Foremski stirred the pot recently in discussing PR firms who offer “social media consulting” yet who don’t blog or otherwise actively participate.

This led to posts by Voce’s Josh Hallett (here and here).  Josh sets an even higher bar; the gist of which was to call out firms who are overproud of even the most minimal online efforts:

“Sure it's nice that some agencies and 'consultants' are 'walking the walk' but if your only example of social media experience is your own agency/personal blog, well then...er, sorry.  Let's try running instead of walking, as in what programs have you 'run' for clients?”

Josh is, as usual, spot-on.  However, I am in a sanguine mood.  I’d like to give folks the benefit of the doubt.  Here is an excerpt of my reply to Josh’s second post:

“The fact that so many agencies are starting to blog, tweet, etc. is something we should only applaud, yes? There will always be frauds & phonies and they'll be known as such in the end.

“There will also be plenty of firms who try/fail/try/fail and yet ultimately do great things, and I don't fault them for the trying (or even the failing - unless they habitually fail to learn the important lessons).

“Meanwhile, most agencies are not allowed to talk publicly about the great work they have done for clients. So the ‘public’ stuff we see can't always be viewed as the be-all/end-all of that agency's capabilities.”

I’ll use my own agency as an example.  I’ve been blogging for four years, and have been graced by this site’s relative success (thank you, loyal readers!!).  Many other SHIFT employees run their own well-respected blogs, such as SocialTNT (which includes a blip.tv channel), Social Honeycomb, and DougHaslam.com.  And scores of SHIFTers (not just me and @DougH) are on Twitter.  We’ve also hosted an official employee blog, UnSpun, for about 2 years, and just soft-launched a fun, unofficial one (Slice) as well. 

These are our agency’s public faces.  We’re experimenting with tools, technologies and ideas.  And you’re damn right we bring those personal experiences to bear for our public relations campaigns. 

Yet, how many case studies do I get to point to?  Way too few.  That’s not because we’re not running successful programs; it’s because getting clients to agree to approve our case studies is like pulling teeth.  We rarely even bother to ask anymore.  Ya’ll only get to hear about the occassional pratfalls!

As I noted to Josh, “We can all do a better job of ‘running the run’ yet also need to remember that we're engaged in a marathon, not a sprint, eh?”

What are YOU up to?  Can you tell us all about it?

Posted by Todd Defren at 01:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

A radical suggestion for the Social Media Release: don’t put any Social Media Releases out over the wires. 

While I sincerely applaud how far the wire services have progressed in all-things-social, I am unconvinced that “distribution” is the Big Issue for Social Media Release adoption.  It’s not about distribution, it’s about empowerment and conversation. 

I recommend you put out a well-written “traditional” release over the wires, with a built-in link to the “social media version” at the company’s online newsroom.  Thus you can bypass the wire services’ outsized SMR fees without giving up on their distribution platform.

To do this, however, you first need to create a Social Media Newsroom, using a blogging engine. 

The social media version of the release, posted to a social media newsroom, can allow for everything from rippable multimedia (video, audio, graphics, etc.) to sphere-this to del.icio.us links to moderated comments.  Additionally, with each news item posted as a blog entry, you can aggregate all conversational elements about that news in one spot, via trackbacks and other social media tracking tools. 

This approach offers the added benefits of being a lot less expensive; maintaining full control of brand identity; and turns your newsroom’s “version” of the release into the truly official version. 

With so much potential activity happening around each release, it’s more likely that anyone who writes about your news online will link directly to the newsroom, versus linking to the heretofore “official” release that comes from the professional news wires.  This boosts SEO.  (In fact, you might also consider an AdWords campaign to drive additional web traffic directly to your most important news releases.)

Jeremiah Owyang’s recent post about how the Social Media aggregation and engagement prowess of FriendFeed is what the SMR should be, really hit home for me.  He’s spot-on in terms of what the SMR should do for companies, and he really drives many of the points I’ve been making for two years – though I’ve often been misunderstood.

However I respectfully disagree with Jeremiah that FriendFeed will enjoy widespread corporate adoption.  Given the relative “newness” of FriendFeed, one could suggest that the SMR (done right) offers a stepping stone to FF’s additional functionality, or (as Brian Solis suggests in the comments section of Jeremiah’s post), perhaps FF could complement an SMR.  We’ll see.

I can point to some amazing examples of Social Media Release experimentation.  Widespread adoption is a longer-term story.  But as I’ve said a million times, we’re talking about the “webificiation” and “socializiation” of the humble, 100–year old, text-based press release: if you believe in the Web; if you believe in Social Media, you can’t help but agree that the SMR is on the right side of history.

Posted by Todd Defren at 07:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (22) | TrackBacks (0)

It’s “you’re” when you mean “you are,” and it’s “your” when you mean to signify possession.  “Are those your sunglasses?” … “You’re the best.”

The apostrophe in “it’s” is a contraction for “it is” – I know it is strange, but when you see an apostrophe in “it’s,” it is NOT intended to imply possession.  “It’s hot outside.” … “Put the baby bird back in its nest.”

When you want to say something is really cool & important, you might write it down as having “cache.”  But “cache” is “a hiding place; a secure place of storage.”  You probably meant to say “cachet,” pronounced ka-'shay, which means “prestige.” 

While you’re digesting this, maybe reconsider how you spell “rapport.”  It’s a great word – pronounced ra-‘poor – denoting a harmonious connection, as in, “The client and the editor quickly established a warm rapport.”  But I’ve seen it mis-spelled far too creatively.

Yes, I am a grammar geek.  Yes, I frequently consult the Merriam-Webster search add-on in Firefox.  And it’s not just because I am a bonafide lover of the English language.  It’s because clients and the media take notice of these little errors.  It causes clients to question how well you’re representing them in public.  It gives the media yet another reason to think poorly of PR practitioners. 

It’s about being a pro.

UPDATE: More than one commenter has rightfully taken me to task for forgetting another big grammar gaffe.  “Loose” denotes ease, or slackening of pressure; “lose” is used as in a loss.  So it’s “It was a shame to lose a client due to silly grammatical errors” … “Let’s keep the meeting agenda loose.”  You might “loosen” a knot but you never “loose” something, you always “lose” it.

(This concludes my high-falutin’, holier-than-thou, Monday morning sermon.)

Posted by Todd Defren at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (25) | TrackBacks (1)

Hi gang.  I am swamped writing proposals and such, so here’s some Friday Fun to take you into the weekend.  This video is great for all Social Media geeks.  It rings a little too true!

Posted by Todd Defren at 01:03 PM | Permalink

Wish I’d thought of this…

Found this press release via John Paczkowski and, via a quick wordcount, realized that this Softbank/iPhone deal could have been announced via Twitter, with 17 character spaces to spare!

This is something small that could herald the start of something big.

Posted by Todd Defren at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

Fantastic speech tonight.  Congratulations.  Your supporters have big ambitions for an Obama presidency.  REALLY big ambitions:

(This video is a bit snarky but hysterical even to an Obama fan like me.)

Posted by Todd Defren at 10:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

You’re familiar with the SWOT Analysis?  It’s a way to think about the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of your company or project.  It’s often used in message development as well. 

Given the high-flux state of the Public Relations industry nowadays, I thought it might be wise to do a little self-reflection, SWOT-style.  Please note that in consideration of my readers’ need to “snack” on media, this is not going to be a full-blown analysis.  These are my top-level thoughts only. 

STRENGTHS – PR, done correctly, is custom-built for the Social Media era.  My simplified definition of “PR” would suggest that it’s all about developing relationships that lead to positive, public proclamations by influencers and consumers.  PR is good at telling the truth in a way that is palatable to appropriate audiences. 

Whereas Advertising is about the big interruption, PR is about the gracious reduction:  PR focuses on synthesizing a big message in a way that is both brief and of distinct value to every individual it reaches.

WEAKNESSES – I’ve been talking about this forever, but the single biggest weakness of PR in the Social Media age is related to scale.  As I noted back in June 2006, “[How can] PR practitioners possibly find the time & energy to create, monitor and nurture the hundreds of relationships that might (or might not) aid their clients?”

This is an unyielding structural weakness. No firm can afford to hire enough people to do a diligent job of nurturing relationships with the thousands of content creators whose opinions might impact any one of their scores of clients.  As much as PR agencies invest in training and monitoring and technology and good practices, they will still always be forced to rely on the kindness of strangers to overlook their intermittent foul-ups.

OPPORTUNITIES – Depending on whom you ask, Social Media is either the end of PR or its biggest opportunity.  As an unapologetic optimist, I’m in the latter camp.  For the first time in Marketing’s history, the “sizzle” is less important than the steak.  PR sells steak.  PR not only has a unique opportunity to step into the light and interact directly with consumers, but in so doing is gaining the authority to guide the overall corporate communications approach.

Tactically, PR has an unprecedented chance to lead on the content creation side, as well.  Used to be press kits and releases were the sum of our effort.  Today we can help devise blogging strategy; produce podcasts and vlogs; participate openly via microblogging platforms like Seesmic, Utterz, Twitter, etc.  In addition, in part via its content creation experiences, PR is also gaining a stronger hand in SEO approaches (and we all know Search is king).

Crisis Communications – often regarded as a strength – is also an even bigger opportunity nowadays.  Because the mainstream media now closely monitor the blogosphere, memestorms are fraught with ever more risk – they require rapid response; and PR is adept at planning for crises.  We can pull-the-trigger on a pre-approved response strategy within minutes of identifying the challenge.  

THREATS – PR’s biggest threat is a lack of adaptation to the big changes wrought by the world’s biggest game of smallball.  The storied firms that deserve much credit for vaulting the PR industry to prominence (and even some respectability) are now scrambling to do adjust to a “new reality” that’s overturned the apple cart in just 2 years’ time. 

Those firms that continue to operate behind closed doors are closed-off to this opportunity.  Those firms that try to falsely exploit this opportunity will be closed off.

Another threat is the perennial question of Measurement.  This is not a threat because PR does not add value; it’s a threat because we (still) do not have a consistent answer as an industry.  (And we probably never will, given the varied objectives of our clients.)

Again, these are just top-level thoughts (here are some more).  What have I missed?

Posted by Todd Defren at 09:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (17) | TrackBacks (0)