PR_skills « MyMediaInfo’s Blog

Posts Tagged ‘PR_skills’

Post-Recession: Effective PR Tools in a Recovering Economy

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

recovery1 The great recession has come and gone, leaving unemployment, stock market crashes, mountainous losses, and inflation in its wake. Nevertheless, according to an article in Monsters&Critics.com published on 2 December 2009, the Federal Reserve has released a survey which claims that “most parts of the United States have witnessed some improvement in their economies over the last months”.

Although the rest of the economy is still in the process of picking itself up and dusting off the effects of the recession, the PR industry has proved to be pretty resilient throughout the whole ordeal. IsleNews.com carries an article to this effect. Some 2000 Chartered Institute of Public Relations members were surveyed, and the following results were found:

- Many areas of the PR industry have expanded in spite of the recession, with the digital PR sector seeing the greatest growth.

- Around 33% of the consultants have been successful in retaining more than 10 regular clients, and some 60% have added between two and five clients.

- The budgets for Communication in most PR firms have remained stable through the recession.

That the PR industry has emerged relatively unscathed is obvious from the survey. Now that growth is imminent in the global economy, there is more scope for innovation and value-adding techniques that could take your PR company to greater heights. When a PR company is seen as evolving, adapting and innovating in spite of an economy in rebound, the faith of the stakeholders and the public is strengthened.

To keep this confidence alive, a PR company should look for the best PR strategies on offer. Press releases and editorial opportunities take on monumental importance. At the same time, one cannot help but give prime importance to online PR solutions like media and editorial calendar databases, and the all-pervasive social media.

One such source of ideal PR campaign solutions is the MyMediaInfo Media Database. MyMediaInfo already has close to 300,000 editorial opportunities for the year 2010 alone. The database also has close to 200,000 editorial contacts. The resilience of the PR industry has spurred us on to refine the media database further to include the Twitter handles and feeds of journalists, enhancements in the profiles and addition of images, and refinements in the Google-like search of the tool. Search suggestions are just one of the additions made to the search feature of the database. Customization options in saved lists and drafts of press releases that have been distributed are some of the new features added to the Autumn release of MyMediaInfo.

With the promise of the ideal PR solution for an exciting campaign, your booming PR practice will more than surpass the recovering economy in flying colors.

Tags: Fall Release, innovation, MyMediaInfo, PR_skills, Public Relations, recession, recovering economy
Posted in PR and News, Tips | 7 Comments »

Can PR ride the Google Wave?

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

Google Wave, to be released to 100,000 members of the public on September 30 (if you want to be one of them, sign up here), promises to change the concept of online communication as we know it. Ever since the Google Wave team introduced the product to the world at the Google I/O Developers Conference held in San Francisco in May of this year, Google Wave has been creating tidal waves all around. Online forums, blogs, and social networking sites have been full of speculations as to how the world would receive it, and whether people really want to let go of almost every online network, to work solely on Google Wave. So…

What is Google Wave?

Lars and Jens Rasmussen

The brain-child of the team that created Google Maps (i.e. brothers Lars and Jens Rasmussen), Google Wave emerged from the teams question, “Why do we have to live with divides between different types of communication… Could a single communication model span all or most of the systems in use on the web today, in one smooth continuum? How simple could we make it?” In Lars’ own words, “A ‘wave’ is equal parts conversation and document, where people can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more”.

Google Wave combines aspects of email, instant messaging, wikis, web chat, social networking, and project management into one platform. To your wave, you can include any number of friends or business partners to hold discussions, share files, chat on real time (one of the most well-received features of Google Wave), or comment on any of your post on any forum. Take a look at any complete guide to Google Wave on the blogosphere (including Google’s write-up), to get a peek into the product’s amazing plugins, extensions, applications, and embeds; and learn the terminology (oh,yes!).

Now, Google Wave has been getting some great reviews, appreciation for its features, and some serious ’standing-up-for’ against negative reviews hinting at Google’s ‘evil-ness’. The question uppermost on everyone’s mind, though, is, “Is the world ready for Google Wave?”

Google Wave promises to change the very concept of email and web communication. Should the world get ready to relinquish its email inbox, forget about logging into its social networking sites, and abandon its blogging dashboard? Wave promises that you will never have to log in to any of these sites, because everything becomes accessible through your waves. It also guarantees that every aspect of the web, including forums, the commenting system, customer support and the education system, could get a new look.

Which brings us to the question…

What does Google Wave mean to PR?

Even as the PR world is trying to learn the ropes with social media, it is suddenly forced to come to terms with another phenomenon that looks to change the entire picture of online PR. Google Wave;, which integrates micro-blogging, blogging, Twittering, RSS, and any other conceivable social media tool; will definitely have an impact on the PR industry. The very method of passing on information becomes different where Google Wave is concerned. No more will PR be the sole right of PR pros. With real-time functionality, any and every Google Wave user or member of the public will become a true creator of PR! News will be reported by a by-stander as much as a licenced journalist! Google Wave will redefine the process of sending out thousands of PR emails each day! To quote Valeria Maltoni from Conversation Agent, “[Google Wave] treats media as a process, where the truth could emerge from many voices, and forms”. Ms. Maltoni asks the daunting question, “Will Google Wave Eliminate the need for PR as Media Relations?”

The Google Wave is already taking the online world by storm, and it hasn’t even been released yet. What do you think this Wave will do for the PR industry? Should the PR industry revamp its methods, join the crowd, or stick to its tried and tested methods?

Tell us what you think.

Tags: Google, GoogleWave, innovation, PR_skills, Public Relations, social_networking
Posted in PR and News, Social Media | 74 Comments »

Kanye West - A PR Machine?

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

If you’re talking about PR strategies, “I’m a let you finish”, but Kanye West is the best PR Machine ever! The man unwittingly made a whole bunch of people popular, created opportunities for some crazy Twitter apps, and even boosted Obama’s public image! If that’s not PR, what is?

If you were anywhere near the Internet in the past few days, you definitely could not have missed Kanye’s outburst at the MTV Video Music Awards, where he interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech after she got the award for best singer. Kanye stormed on stage, grabbed the mic from Taylor, and declared, “Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’m a let you finish. But Beyonce has one of the best videos of all time !” (Yeah, what was he thinking!!) leaving Ms.Swift with a bewildered expression, and handing VMA its YouTube moment on a platter!

The video got millions of views on YouTube, and also created quite the controversy. And the world would be a boring place if things just stopped at that!

People started digging up other similar stunts that Kanye West has pulled in the past. They even did a study to prove that his comment about George Bush not caring about Blacks was the most controversial! Of course, Twitter went crazy, with a million tweets on the outburst threatening to halt Twitter… again!

As if this hype wasn’t enough, President Obama had to step into the picture. Cut to the scene of an interview with CNBC, and an off-the-record moment when the interviewer asks the President what he thought about Kanye’s outburst. President Obama’s response, “The young lady seems like a perfectly nice person, she’s getting her award, what is he doing up there? He’s a jackass”, put the media on its second wave of frenzy. ABC’s Terry Moran tweeted the comment, but promptly deleted it, and the channel apologized for the slip-up, but the tweet was picked up by hundred of his followers, and then there was no stopping it!

Then, TMZ decided to do its part for the common good, and released the audio of the President’s comment. And this is all happening very quickly, so try to keep up! Anyway, now CNN feels that seeing is indeed believing, and airs the video of President Obama actually making the comment.

Since then, Kanye has apologized on Jay Leno’s talk show, Taylor Swift has spoken about her feelings (she feels better now, thank you!), Russell Brand (equally interesting personality) has come to Kanye’s rescue, Jimmy Carter (!) has spoken out on his opinion of the young man, and one website that lets Kanye insult your own website called Kanyelicio.us and another that lets Kanye ruin your Twitter avatar have launched.

As said earlier, Obama’s comment has even shone the President in good light, for having made an honest (some say rare!) comment that hasn’t been heavily filtered.

Moral of the story? If you’re in the PR industry, you’re every move is watched. Goodwill takes years to build, but with the rise of social media, it just got harder. And, we all know, Every Opportunity is a PR Opportunity!

Tags: Barack Obama, CNN, Kanye West, micro-blogging, PR_skills, Public Relations, social_networking, Taylor Swift, Twitter, VMA
Posted in PR and News, Social Media | 6 Comments »

Do PR with Twitter Hashtags!

Friday, September 4th, 2009

Every day, some new trend, application, or celebrity user takes the Twitter world by storm. Some stay, while others fizzle out. Nevertheless, with all the new Twitter trends and applications surfacing, the Twitter-sphere is possibly the fastest evolving social media tool. One of the trends that has come to stay is the hashtag.

What are Hashtags?

Hashtags are a community-driven convention for adding additional context and metadata to your tweets. They perform a similar function like tags on Flickr, but appear in line with your post. To create a hashtag, simply add the hash symbol before a word, and it immediately becomes a link. This categorizes relevant or related Twitter updates; similar to creating a group. Adding a hashtag in your update increases the chances of your update being viewed by users interested in the topic.

How to use Hashtags?

Before actually creating a hashtag for a topic, search Twitter to see if anyone is talking about the topic using a particular hashtag. If no one has picked up the topic or created a hashtag for it, create your own. Use a hashtag with a relevant word that clearly mentions what the posts are about. For example, #goodnight. In your initial tweets, you could probably explain what the hashtag is for. This way, when people search for the hashtag, they can follow the discussion without being interrupted by other tweets.

Hashtags for PR

Almost anything on the social media can be useful to a PR pro. Why should the Twitter hashtag be any different? A hashtag brings all PR-related tweets together in the same place. This way, you know who are the people interested in PR and related topics. When you use that hashtag in your PR-related updates, you are essentially reaching all these users on Twitter. That’s instant PR! You can also initiate your own conversation or discussion using a hashtag. For example, the hashtag #journchat is a weekly conversation initiated by Sarah Evans between journalists, bloggers and PR professionals. The discussion goes on from 7-10pm CT every Monday. 10 hashtags that PR pros could follow are:

Hashtag Etiquettes

Granted there are no hard and fast rules as to how you use your hashtags. Nevertheless, if you want more people to follow your updates, hashtags can work wonders with a little foresight, orderliness, and planning.

Always make sure that a hashtag you create does not have an equivalent on Twitter. If it does, it is probably best to use that hashtag, as it already has a head start on the discussion.
Try not to create hashtags for every update you put up. It only dilutes your updates and makes the whole thing pretty ridiculous.
Also, a good reason to avoid adding hashtags to everything is because users will almost surely assume that you are spamming!
Always introduce a new hashtag, as this encourages people to use it when they have something to contribute.

Places to find popular hashtags

The best place to find the most popular hashtags is on hashtags.org. Which means that this is the place to find out whether your hashtag is really trending or not. You can also follow @hashtag on Twitter.

Twemes.com is another useful resource. Here you can find new and interesting hashtags, and the website also offers RSS subscription to any hashtag stream.

Wthashtag.com is a user generated wiki of hashtags. The site explains when the hashtag was first discovered, its description, external links, and live stream using the hashtag.

Get the most out of your hashtags to increase your online visibility.

Some really popular hashtags

wthashtag

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Read Up on the Twitter Hashtag:

Explore the Twitter Hashtag

Ultimate Guide to Twitter hashtags

Why and How to use Hashtags on Twitter

Twitter hashtags for emergency coordination and disaster relief

Tags: ideas, micro-blogging, networking, PR_skills, Tips, Twitter
Posted in PR and News, Social Media, Tips | 15 Comments »

New Skills for PR Professionals

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

A PR professional steps into the industry well-armed with the traditional PR skills that he was taught and trained in at the graduation level. These basic skills were sufficient for a professional to survive, even excel in his field. Not anymore. If you are a PR professional, you have to step up your game with these 5 new skills.

Digital Readiness: a PR professional should have familiarity with almost all aspects of online content generation. A knowledge of HTML won’t hurt either. Added to this, efficiency with other technological advancements keeps the campaign one step ahead.

Establishing Online Presence: the traditional methods of PR cannot take a company very far these days, as any PR professional should know. An online presence is important. Working out strategies to create and maintain a positive online presence that generates good PR should be the priority of a PR professional. Social Networking sites can create double the amount of networking and credibility that old-school PR did, in half the time.

Understanding of micro-blogging sites: Twitter has been mentioned separately from other social networking sites, because it is all about ‘what you know’ as much as ‘who you know’. Everything from the headlines, to the latest trends hits Twitter first. To be in the know, Twitter is the place to be.

SEO and Web content Management: SEO allows you to garner media coverage, create quality keyword anchor backlinks for your website, rank in Google and Yahoo News for your keywords, and bring content to your audience.

Social Media News Release: a social media news release, as opposed to the traditional one, is hyperlinked, has a wider reach, and creates an interactive PR tool.

iPressroom’s 2009 Digital Readiness Report draws the following conclusions:

- 82% of hiring managers said social media relations expertise was either important or very important

- 80% said knowledge of social networks is either important or very important

- 72% said an understanding of micro-blogging services like Twitter are either important or very important

- Hiring managers ranked SEO (62%), email outreach (56%), web content management (52%), and social bookmarking (51%) as important skills and knowledge for PR professionals in today’s job market.

- 18% of hiring managers have no interest in traditional PR skills.