Where’s the Disconnect?
Working in the trenches of PR, I receive a lot of training-related emails. Vendors like Bulldog Reporter, PR NEWS, Pro Marketers, etc. are constantly offering sign-ups for teleseminars, webinars and other coursework related to “Social Media Bootcamps” and “Getting Started with Business Blogging” and “PR Writing for the Web.”
On the one hand, I am heartened to see our industry’s hard lean into Social Media territories. Every agency gets these emails, which means that even the mom-n-pop PR boutiques are getting the message that Social Media is the future of communications.
Personally, I don’t sign-up for these courses. And the folks at SHIFT who have attended routinely suggest that our internal training is more helpful (but that’s a necessity, given our focus). Still, these courses are not worthless — in fact, I know and respect many of the speakers, so my assumption is that the content is helpful to the uninitiated. I also reason that if the vendors continue to offer these courses, it means that somebody’s buying them: there’s an audience for this stuff.
Yet we continue to see too many examples of PR folks getting it wrong. Spamming. Ignoring the research on how-to succeed in Social Media. Following-up too relentlessly. Sending unasked-for attachments. Leaving anonymous comments in blogs and YouTube. Rushing past the need to create relationships with bloggers and web-native journalists — even cynically (or ignorantly) exploiting their targets’ openness.
I truly do think Social Media is dramatically and relentlessly changing the practice of Public Relations for the better.
I just wish it weren’t taking so long.
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Perhaps we are now entering the era where it’s not new. It’s just people doing it well, or conversely, doing it poorly.
I agree. I think that many PR practitioners are rushing to the social media scene without participating first and forgetting one of the key fundamentals of PR–relationship building. I believe the fundamentals of relationship building (whether it be with traditional media or social media and bloggers) are the same—as many (if not most) of the journalists are moving towards blogging as a mainstay versus print stories. We are always very careful to maintain our relationships, follow our targeted journalists blogs, and recommend the same to our clients.
Todd,
I couldn’t agree more. The amount of spam I get from PR University/Bulldog Reporter and others goes against EVERYTHING that their speakers often preach. They send so many emails that I get copies in both my inbox and my spam filter, many that have come through at the same time.
But clearly, it’s working, as you note.
As to the efficacy of the courses, I have to say that many of them fall short. All to often, one of the panelists has a personal agenda of pushing their services, and tends to shout down or talk over everyone else. This happened during a teleseminar for which I signed up mainly to hear Rohit Bhargava, and he only was able to answer a single question because the one of the other speakers completely dominated the conversation. It was such a waste of money.
And yes, I’ve filled out their surveys every single time I’ve taken a course.
There are so many books and websites out there right now, such as your blog, that are amazing resources. It wouldn’t take an agency that many internal resources to developing an internal training team like yours.
Great post! I receive tons of these emails too for webinars and training courses. And, as you mention, I usually don’t sign up for them. However, I do read blogs and there are several great “free” webinars that one can sign up for if for nothing else, to see who is saying what out there.
I believe PR is stuck in the land of media relations. In other words, getting a hit for a client is the only thing PR can do. PR means so much more. It is experiental, grassroots, media relations, crisis communications and most importantly, it does own a space in the social media arena.
Public Relations is all about conversations and what better place to converse then in a social media setting or on a blog. Building relationships does take time. I am working on a business model to illustrate this process and how we can “shorten” the cycle without losing any of the necessary steps or beneftis that building relationships can reap.
In today’s world of instant access to information, the relationship-building process doesn’t have to take as long as it used to.
Todd,
I think one of the reasons we keep !#%^$&* this up is because there are those (many?) who believe taking a class or reading something in a book or on a blog is a substitute for actually getting their hands dirty and actually walking the talk.
Your closing comment on social media changing PR for the better is, I believe, spot-on. It forces the best PR pros — and those striving to be the best — to abandon the old crutch of “Oh, I’m just the PR person” and accept that the role now requires being and open, visible and active participant in the conversation.
Mike
People probably rushed into TV, radio and print much to fast to establish how things are done right. They still get it wrong with inaccurate reporting and sensationalizing the news.
I think it’s taking longer because most of us are trying to correct the mistakes as they happen and slowly build a good foundation. Patience is a virtue. (gosh I can’t believe I just used that line.) Imagine if all industries were so careful to immediately correct mistakes and do everything ethically and strategically. We should be so lucky!
This mystifies me too. At first, I attributed it to social media being new and people weren’t familiar with it yet. Then, I attributed it to PR people being so busy (I worked for a big agency and know how stretched one can end up feeling) that the time necessary for really learning wasn’t there.
At this point, it’s bordering on PR malpractice to not understand the basics that you’ve outlined.
I don’t know what the answer is…but I agree that it’s taking far too long.
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Where’s the Disconnect? [link to post] So true, So true .
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Thanks for the great insight, Todd! This is something that is one of my hot-button issues as I come across people in PR (and marketing) all the time who just want to ’sell’ at every opportunity, rather than taking the time to build a relationship first. You can’t sell until you’re trusted! I’m sharing your post here with friends and colleagues.
You’re not the only one Todd – imagine what it’s like on my side of the fence? Oh wait – I wrote about that a few weeks ago and was told I should be more forgiving. Right. After 17 years? I think not.