Are PR agencies ruining Facebook?
Last week I picked up on Daniel Stein‘s original article on DigiDay to write a response on Tempero to the question ‘Are PR Agencies ruining Facebook‘.
My thoughts? Stein was bang on the money that advertising agencies create content and then try to work out how to socialise it afterwards, while many PRs are boring fans to death with branded small talk.
Why? My belief is that most PRs are so used to talking to 3rd party media (newspapers, magazines, TV producers) who are in charge of creating the final content read by the audience, that PR has forgotten how to talk to directly to consumers*.
Paul Armstrong amplified the debate over on PR Week by re-posting both articles and conversation kicked off.
“To me, this is a rather dim and short-sighted view of what public relations has been doing for decades. The fact remains that at the heart of our jobs, we are storytellers. And good storytellers are able to speak with, empathize and understand a variety of audiences, whether that’s customers, stakeholders, clients or the media.” Keith Trivitt
“This question is a bit like asking if technology-inept parents are ruining Facebook. Think about it: they’re perpetually confused, they clog up our News Feeds with pictures of cats, and are not quite sure why they’re on Facebook besides the fact that someone told them they should be. In short, it’s not that they are particularly bad at communicating, but they’re not using the platform the right way.” Faith Chihil
“I’m going to say no. Some PR agencies have got a bad rap for attempting to jump on the social media bandwagon without understanding the platforms or establishing objectives and a strategy. But some are also doing a spectacular job, having dedicated specific resources to recruiting expertise and leading best practice.” Beth Carroll
“I wonder if:
Agencies are having to do far more with less. Less visibility to big plans, less money, less time, less resources. Less gusto and passion for their work after one too many knock backs. Or are they doing less because they run an agency more like a factory than a consultancy“. Shannon Boudjema“Can’t we all just get along? People speak of the media like it’s this great machine that you need to know how to communicate with. The person reading the news is a person, the editor is a person, the journalist is a person. And they are all consumers.” Samson Adepoju **
So, a mix of opinion then. Despite the fact that I think PR does a lot of good work and is too easily attacked for failing it still surprises me when a debate like this crops up how many people are prepared to say the majority of agencies are doing it well when evidence (or lack of) suggests the contrary.
For example I hear PR agencies talk a lot about how they are ‘masters of storytelling’ but the reality is that in many cases that supposed storytelling is just putting the audience to sleep.
Overall I don’t really care if people agree with my opinion or not. The fact so many people are happy to debate the ins and outs of this only serves to drive the industry forward – or keep it in it’s top spot, based on how well you think PR is performing in Social Media 
*PS Just because I think it’s broken doesn’t mean I think it can’t be fixed. Often with only the smallest amount of education.
** This was the most confusing response to me. Samson – you’re a PR Manager. If there’s no skill in communications is there no such thing as a communications professional then? i.e. Anyone can hold the PR role?
[Image credit: markhillary]
Social Media: Advice to all PR agencies
we can haz comms profeshionils? kthx
Since I started #fixPR back in January I’ve had a lot of feedback on some of the tips I provided but I’ve also been hearing a similar theme in response
“We know we should but…”
I hate to get all Tony Robbins but… knowing and doing are completely different things. How do you help your agency get to grips with social media? Make it compulsory.
I used to be all soft & fluffy on this issue (honest) but it’s 2010 and I’m still seeing PRs uncomfortable with the word RSS. The only thing for it is a shift in agency culture.
Switch the daily ritual of reading the papers to reading online feeds and social bookmarking, create a simple social media policy and insist people use services like Twitter. Make it happen.
You might run into some resistance so I’ve scripted some handy responses:
Excuse 1: “We don’t have time on top of everything else”
Internal Response: FFS. You’ll have all the time in the world in 2 years time when we’ve lost all our clients and are sat round here twiddling our thumbs. Would that be a more convenient time for you?
Actual Response: “Sure, but there’s actually some real time-saving benefits to getting social. For instance pulling in all our mainstream media into RSS readers cuts down on reading time, the team can collaborate more effectively on finding & sharing stories, we can even reduce our heaving Inboxes by using social bookmarking instead of sending links round the company on email.”
Excuse 2: “My client doesn’t want social media.”
Internal Response: Are you freakin’ kidding me? Aren’t you a media consultant? You should be helping them understand where it’s relevant to them and what’s worth doing and why.
Actual Response: “Maybe not today but we need to be educating them and moving them towards it in the future before some groovy digital agency swoops in and pitches them leaving them thinking ‘Why didn’t my PR agency tell me this?’”
Excuse 3: “I’ve read Twitter, I get it, I just don’t want to be using it personally.”
Internal Response: Yeah, that’s what my gran said, unfortunately I wouldn’t trust my gran to consult with clients after having ‘read a few of the twitters’ and I don’t trust you either.
Actual: “Hmm, yeah, I’d argue that as media professionals unfortunately we have to go above and beyond consumer understanding of media and really get to grips with features, etiquette, community etc. You don’t have to share your personal life, you could develop your professional profile online, our social media policy has some guidelines.”
Excuse 4: “We have a specialist digital team working on social media briefs.”
Internal response: Yeah, I saw that digital account exec sizing up your corner office the other day. Good luck with that.
External response: “Sure, and your skills and knowledge are still relevant but with online channels playing a bigger and bigger role in media consumption it would be good if we all had a decent base level of knowledge.”
Excuse 5: “I’m just not techie.”
Internal response: No sh*t. I saw you getting flustered with your Nokia 3310 but I’m sure even you use Google on a daily basis right?
External Response: “That’s OK, you don’t have to understand the techie bit behind how everything works, you just have to know how the average person uses it.”
Ok, so what I’ve written is a bit harsh and bit scary. Don’t get me wrong, no one knows how hard PRs work than me. I think what most PRs do is great and I’m not saying throw the baby out with the bathwater and everything you know is useless. What I am saying is that I want to see you getting to grips with new media, socia media, digital, interactive marketing, whatever it is this thing is called. No ifs no buts, you’re better than that.
[Image credit: captainsubtle]
Why PR is losing the social media battle: Day Two
Part two in a series of posts looking at PR’s bad rap when it comes to social media. Where did it go wrong and how to fix it…
PR doesn’t understand the internet
PRs, I love you, but you still don’t understand the internet. I don’t mean in the way that my mum doesn’t understand the internet, but basic stuff like Google.
A few years ago we worked with a national newspaper to get a write up on a client, this included that all important link from the publication’s website to the client’s website. Links are good right? Between patting ourselves on the back I called the client
Me: “We got [national newspaper] to write about you and they linked to your site!”
Client: “Meh. Yeah we only got about two traffic referrals from the article so big whoop. BTW I just spoke to our SEO agency, could you instead get us coverage from [other major news site] and [another niche site]?”
After smashing the phone in frustration while dying a little inside hanging up I decided to call my client’s Search agency. SEO is considered as evil, if not more so, than PR. I didn’t know what to expect but here’s how it went…
Me: “We do PR for CLIENT and I need to know what you need us to know”
SEO: “Wow! Thanks for calling! It’s so great to hear from a client’s PR agency. You guys do great work which is very valuable to us.”
The internet: Revolutionary but not evolutionary
I’m sorry - Great work? Valuable? The SEO agency went further than stroking our egos. They sent over a list of the top sites, ranked in order of importance, where it was important for our client to be mentioned or linked from. They also sent us a list of keywords we should be including in all campaign activity and offered to check over press releases and make sure they were optimised.
Basically they’d handed me an online media target list, tweaked our messaging, and profiled our target audience in some detail. And they weren’t just being nice [Incidentally they were nice but were mainly giving me the info to support their work].
That’s when I realised that for all my lofty ideals about social media and communities, influencers and engagement; I didn’t really know how the internet really worked, yet I was trying to harness it for clients.
At the heart of this point is Search, but also the ways people use the web to collate and share information once they’ve found it, and online purchasing processes where E-Commerce is in place.
Nothing illustrated more to me recently that PRs still don’t get important concepts like Search more than a recent PR week debate around SMNRs [SMRs. Worth they paper they're printed on?]
Some PRs were talking about SMNRs as if they were just a paper press release on the internet. Many looked at it with an old PR mentality without considering how they might be part of a wider online marketing mix. Of the six opinions captured, and a host of comments, only a few showed an understanding of how an optimized and online release might fit with new PR methodology (Adam Zand, Ian McKee, Mark O’Toole, Ann Krauss – you stood out to me).
Yeah, yeah, I’m no expert but I have tried to broaden my knowledge of the web and internet marketing over the years.
What I know now can still only fill the back of a napkin but here it is:
- When PR and SEO aligns they maximise each other’s value
- PR actually creates content (great for Organic vs. Paid Search) which is beneficial online over time - not just the duration of an Adwords campaign
- The internet is tracking lots of useful stuff, go find and use that data
- Social media activity can work with online sales [Just don't use it as the only yard-stick. More to come on measurement]
- Most social features aren’t just ‘nice to have’ web add-ons but powerful tools which serve important functions
- Knowing how to do even a basic Boolean Search has to be learnt I’m afraid
- There’s usually a tool, service, or application that can make your job easier. Example: Nobody has to read 50 blog posts a day, use an RSS reader people! (I’m not joking it still kills me how many PRs don’t know about this) Paid or free, 9 times out of 10 there is a tool you could be using – and where there isn’t, well, you might have identified a potential revenue stream by creating it and reselling to others
Who could fix this?
- Agencies: Invest in extensive internal education. Don’t stop there, create partnerships with specialist service providers who complement your expertise
- In-house: Internally, make sure you’re working with your web team. Externally, connect relevant agencies to work together
SOLUTION? Gone are the days of keeping everyone in their boxes. If we’re going to benefit from everything the internet has to offer, we have to use everything the internet has to offer.
Crib notes:
- At a minimum PR and SEO should be working together
- The data’s out there somewhere. Find it and use it
- The web’s a wonderful place, your PR team’s knowledge should reflect that
- You can’t do it all on your own: use good tools and work with good people
Should PRs pitch on Twitter?
No.
Well, that’s what I always tell PRs when I run training sessions. Why? Because I find it impossible to explain to twitter newbies exactly how and when it *might* be OK to do so. But am I too hardline?
Maybe.
I mean when I run training sessions most people are new to Twitter full stop, forget the marketing applications (ick) of the service. But could PRs have an authentic and relevant conversation about a client on Twitter? Hmmm…
Willing to accept I am not the Social Media equivalent of a Delphi Priestess I instead asked some of my on- and offline writing contacts to “B*tch about the Twitter Pitch”. Over to them……
PR: Is it really so hard to be nice?
I say that in PR you always get the short straw. Being the liaison between journalists (who can be a tad tough to deal with sometimes) and a client who may not always understand how important it is that you get the correct pricing, stockist and hi-res image in 30mins for a deadline is tough.
I’ve lost count of the times I’ve heard “PR is incompetent”. The reality is that you do your best, working on behalf of a number of people’s interests, and always having to put on a happy face.
You can’t exactly say
“sorry, my client thinks you’re Tier Three press and hates your reviews”
likewise to the client
“The journalist didn’t even want to include your cr*ppy product in their feature.”
Despite the amount of un-niceness there is working in public relations, the role implys you can actually relate to the public. Which is why this story about a PR rep telling a blogger that images of them wearning the designer’s clothes were bad publicity had me astounded.
Is it so hard to be nice? It doesn’t matter if you’re a blogger, write for Vogue or just someone posting pics to your Facebook profile. Surely this is not an example of bad practice in blogger relations it’s an example of just bad relating.
Unfortunately when it comes to bloggers there is still an ingrained attitude of agression from PRs. Could we all be a little nicer to eachother?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYLsyNBnE5M]
2009 (Digital) Resolutions
Alpacas. The new LOL cats?
Kerry has started a meme to share resolutions for social media and digital blah in 2009. Ordinarily I probably just wouldn’t do it but then that’s already…
…My 1st Resolution: Enjoy doing more of the fun stuff on the web and less o’ the work side
My 2nd Resolution: Give up explaining why I use Twitter to non-users. Like with everything else just try it yourself and decide
My 3rd Resolution: Bother to show my friends more of the cool/useful stuff on the web. This will help with my 1st Resolution
My 4th Resolution: Express my opinion more even if it’s *shock horror* a tad negative. As a PR you can get a little paranoid that a) you are creating a problem for another PR b) will never work in this town again
My 5th Resolution: Trim out people in my communities who are unpleasant about PRs. Yes, we make mistakes but there should still be space for people to mess up without all this stoopid ‘naming and shaming’. Personal attacks on, quite often, junior people just starting out in their careers and following instructions, are rubbish. This includes PRs who are quick to cannibalise each other.
Could I suggest we spend 2009 victimising call centre support staff instead? Let’s face it everyone gets fed up with customer service, we’ll never find out their real names and we might get some vouchers from ranting.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
In line with 1st Resolution going to tag some non-marketers to see what they’re planning. Over to you Jess, Stuart, Steve, Leila and Ferdy
Free marketing and PR resources online
Sharing is caring
Something I like about working in this industry is that PR & Marketing agencies, who traditionally are a tad competitive and protective about IP, suddenly get great at sharing knowledge when it comes to social media.
The concept Wikinomics explains the business benefits of mass collaboration and if you’re one of the agencies still not open to the idea of sharing anything at all, then read it. Here’s a round-up of some of my favourite resources on the web. In the spirit of sharing what’s your favourites?
- Nixon McInnes eBooks: Currently 7 chapters in their series “A marketers guide to Social Media”
- iCrossing eBooks: 2006′s “What is Social Media” is still relevant for newbies and they recently added “Brands in Networks”
- Fallon Brainfood: Planners from the award winning agency have a monthly lunch and the fruits of their thinking have been shared; from live tweeting, to video and slidecasts
- SEO Chicks’ “How to lists”: Not just Search tips
- PNeo introduction to Online PR: Every single post full of “how to” and “what is” explanatory goodness
- Immediate Future Social Media Glossary: Even if you know your “above the fold” to your “XML“ you might still want to point colleagues and clients here to brush up
- e-consultancy: Not an agency but my ultimate go-to destination for useful information
- TED: Again, not an agency, but worth mentioning. The inspiring talks covering technology, entertainment and design are of interest for anyone in business or education
I’d also like to include a couple of my clients who have created some useful resources themselves.
FRUKT, the music and branding experts, recently began a series of talks called the ‘FRUKT Sessions’. The slidecasts from their 2nd event are here and I’d love to hear your feedback.
Don’t forget Attentio’s free blog topic trend tool, Trendpedia, and they now have a series of whitepapers about social media and industry specific trends.
How to meet bloggers: The London Bloggers Meetup
On Tuesday night I attended my 2nd London Bloggers Meetup which I can’t talk about without first mentioning the event’s sponsor – Qype. Qype are currently adopting what I like to think will be known as the Stormhoek approach to marketing; bloggers + free booze = reviews. And why not, PRs have been expensing journalists for years. It seems to be working for them Qype is currently getting a lot of word-of-mouth buzz.
Lots of PRs are always wondering “how to meet bloggers” and this would be a good place to start. They should be rushing down their with their company credit cards to pick up the shortfall when the sponsor’s tab runs out and also looking at which clients they can get to sponsor the event.
The event was a good mix of people with a brief but interesting talk from a solicitor [I stupidly didn't note down names so hopefully Andy Bargery will fill in the details] to illuminate bloggers on some of the legal aspects of blogging. He had a really good understanding of the issues specific to the social media space. My main outtake was that the law still needs to catch up with the technology though.
All in all a good night and I have finally experienced the Coach and Horses which seems to be the meet-up venue of the moment.
From Beta to beautiful – are web brands taking care of the consumer?
I’ve recently chatted to friends and family about web applications they’re trying out. It got me thinking – are web brands thinking enough about end users?
Assuming most web brands are aiming for mass consumer take-up I’m not convinced they’re ensuring the market can use, and share, their product.
The Beta process is great in that it enables valuable feedback to refine a product but I think taking it to the next stage of usability is where you create a “killer app”.
There are a host of web applications doing similar things. Becoming the market leader and achieving much desired word-of-mouth buzz is reliant on the user experience.
About:
I'm Darika Ahrens and I help brands develop marketing strategies for Social Media. My background is in Public Relations for companies like Orange, Microsoft, Philips, HTC, Yell.com, and Estee Lauder. I've worked with and trained some of the UK's top agencies.