Posts Tagged ‘facebook’

Social Media, PR, Clients and Disclosure: Tips for Keeping on the Right Side of the Law

Sunday, October 30th, 2011

Fully Disclosed

Posted by Tom Gable

PR firms are often the driving force behind helping clients build buzz, brand identity and even sales volume through promotional blogging and tweeting, Facebook pages, product reviews, restaurant and hotel tips and more. Beyond advancing the art of social media, firms need to ensure that they are equally up to speed on FTC guidelines or face possible legal action, according to two lawyers from Davis & Gilbert, New York, during a presentation to a quarterly meeting of IPREX recently in Toronto.

The lawyers, Michael Lasky and Gary Kibel, told the PR pros from more than 40 firms on three continents that the FTC has continued to update its guidelines about bloggers and others being truthful and reliable.

“And this isn’t just a feel good; it’s a legal requirement,” said Lasky, who chairs the PR practice at D&G. He provided a handout that summarized the FTC guidelines, including this summary:

“The Guides have been updated to ensure truth in all media, including blogs, social networking sites, and other new media. The basic principles of the Guides remain the same — endorsements must be truthful and not misleading and if there is a connection between the endorser and the marketer that would affect how people evaluate the endorsement, that connection should be disclosed.”

Clients and their PR firms can be held liable for unsubstantiated claims, so Lasky and Kibel stressed that PR firms need policies and procedures about expectations for proper behavior on both the agency and client side of the equation. This includes working with third parties, such as hiring people to blog and tweet about a company and its stock price, services or products, or take negative shots at its competition as well.

The lawyers provided an example in one of their publications about complaints being filed against Ann Taylor for giving gifts to bloggers and asking them to blog about an event. The FTC found that several bloggers posted about the event without disclosing the gifts. No action was taken because Ann Taylor had created a written policy stating that it would not issue gifts to bloggers without first instructing them they must disclose the gifts. There was a sign at the event instructing bloggers to disclose the gifts if they posted about the event. Case closed.

Lasky and Kibel outlined several top blogging practices clients and their PR firms should follow:

  1. Have a policy.
  2. For bloggers, be forthright — disclose any material connection.
  3. For clients and their agencies, monitor their bloggers to make sure they make the necessary disclosures. If you see something misleading, unsubstantiated or not reported accurately, take action.
  4. In hiring a blog service, companies and their agencies must provide guidance and training about the necessary disclosure.
  5. Employees of the marketing or its PR firms should clearly disclose relationships. Such as PR firms blogging about a product from a client.
  6. Even street team members who get consideration (reward points, etc.) for their work must disclose the details.
  7. When celebrities are paid, they must disclose (Lasky and Kibel provided the example of Armstrong Williams, commentator, who was hired by a PR firm to promote the “No Child Left Behind” program on CNN).
  8. Have spokespeople go through extensive media training to ensure they understand the disclosures.
  9. On level of disclosure, analyze the audience.
  10. You don’t know it all. Seek legal assistance.

In another case, an agency was hired to endorse a client’s gaming application. Its people gave the game high ratings. The agency failed to disclose that it received a percentage of sales of the games as compensation.

Disclosure can be as simple as adding parenthetical notes in the copy (“Company X gave me this product to try.” “Product Y was sent to me by the manufacturer.” “Wineries whose names are preceded by an asterisk * provided samples.” “Agency Z is providing blogging and other services for Client A.”).

Some use hash tags in their tweets and Facebook posts, such as #ad, #paid and #sponsored.

Bottom line: disclose, and have the disclosure displayed where it can be easily found. The lawyers said trouble awaits when the disclosure is buried three levels deep on a website.

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Posted in Authentic PR, Brilliant Counsel, Client Service Results, Social Media | Comments Off

Eight Easy Ways to Damage Your Brand Image, Lose 1 Million Customers and $8 Billion in Market Cap the Netflix Way

Monday, September 26th, 2011

Blowing up the Brand

Posted by Tom Gable

Recent analysts reports, coverage in the major media and the Twittersphere are being less than kind to Netflix and its two recent corporate announcements: raising prices by 60 percent; and coming back two months later to apologize while announcing the split of the company into two (Netflix and Qwikster). In looking at it from a strategic planning and PR perspective, the best companies incorporate image as a part of corporate strategy, especially when one has built such a strong brand. They do things right and also do the right things. Netflix appears to have advanced toward bursting its own brand bubble through eight easy steps:

  • Raised prices seemingly without much consideration for the existing customer base, its needs, wants, expectations
  • Went for a big number rather than incremental increases
  • Provided a rationale that didn’t ring true and made many long-term customers feel betrayed by the brand
  • Did it all top down and one-way in a CEO voice rather than human voice
  • Didn’t join the conversation; didn’t use social media to actively engage its many audiences
  • Waited a couple of months to apologize and then do it with an amazing lack of sincerity
  • Seemingly as an afterthought, changed a successful business model to confuse customers, analysts, and the stock market
  • Gave competitors openings to attack, reposition the company, declare pricing advantages

And if you are really successful, here’s what you can expect: 50 percent drop in stock price and market capitalization, enmity versus admiration, lack of support in the financial community (buy and sell side analysts), a zillion Twitter and Facebook comments, a Hitler meme or two, and confusion among consumers on how to order and from whom when you split the company, create a new brand name and dilute the brand image.

David Pogue, columnist for The New York Times, parsed the apology:

“Ah. O.K., good. We’ve seen this movie before. Corporation bumbles, apologizes, makes things right. Business schools take note. Life goes on. But this time, Mr. Hastings did not follow the formula. He only pretended to. He goes on to say that the new higher prices will stick — and, worse, Netflix is about to break off its DVD-by-mail feature into a completely separate entity, called Qwikster.”

The PR and marketing blogs offered good insights.  Mr. Media Training cited six reasons why the apology failed.  Liz Goodgold, of Redfirebranding, provided four ideas Netflix should have used before going down the primrose path to greater profits.

In summary, another NYT story delved into the reasons for raising prices (to generate more income for acquiring content from the major studies for streaming). The “self-inflicted” wounds could have been avoided with better planning for an integrated and strategic evolution of what were in actuality major change initiatives at Netflix.

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Posted in Authentic PR, Brilliant Counsel, Client Service Results, Crisis PR, Horizon Management, In the Beginning, Social Media | Comments Off

Social Media the New Sock Puppet? Or Part of a Strategic PR Tool Kit?

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

Tool Time

 

Posted by Tom Gable

The blogosphere, Twittersphere and mainstream media are waking up to the fact that the hot new item they fell in love with not too long ago is starting to remind them of infatuations of old. The packaging might be brighter, more exotic and stimulating to the senses. But this hot new item could be a time sink; with hours and days disappearing with little of value to show. Yes, the titillation has been stimulating. But could this hot item simply be distracting us all from more serious, important and strategic activities?

Sound familiar? Remember the first encounter with The World Wide Web and Mosaic (pre-Netscape)? Then came Netscape, email, Yahoo, Google and a million new websites that bragged about capturing eyeballs (but no income), ad infinitum. Many firms, Gable PR included, succumbed to the siren songs of the web. So many pretty new faces are now tired or gone. Is the hot new item – social media – heading for the same fate?

Experts seem to agree that we are seeing the evolution of the social media phenomenon into the development of a commoditized set of tools to add to the PR arsenal for strategic use as needed.

Peter Shankman, of HARO fame, wrote that he would never hire a social media expert, and neither should you.

“Social Media is just another facet of marketing and customer service. Say it with me. Repeat it until you know it by heart. Bind it as a sign upon your hands and upon thy gates. Social Media, by itself, will not help you. We’re making the same mistakes that we made during the dotcom era, where everyone thought that just adding the term .com to your corporate logo made you instantly credible. It didn’t. If that’s all you did, you emphasized even more strongly how pathetic your company was.”

The Sysomos blog offered this guidance:

“In simple terms, social media as a standalone activity is coming to an end. If you are a social media consultant, you need to be really, really good at providing strategic counsel, as well as have in-depth knowledge of the tools and services need to execute tactically. For everyone else, they will need to offer than just social media strategic and tactical services. Instead, they have to offer services that embrace communications, marketing and sales strategies and goals.”

Even Steve Rubel, who grew up being a social media consultant and blogger ubber alles, noted that:

“It was fun while it lasted. But I totally agree that the future is all about integration. We need more systems thinkers who can see the big picture.”

I led a workshop at the recent PRSA Counselors Academy annual spring conference where we discussed PR as the ultimate platform for building image and reputation and social media as part of the tool kit.

The metaphor was PR as the Internet of communications. PR starts with a solid, authentic foundation using traditional methods (e.g. Media relations) and then layers on new applications (websites, email), leverages off other platforms (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and connects with people from all angles to move perception and behavior in the desired direction.

The senior PR counselors attending the workshop agreed that the “start” button for authentic PR was strategic planning brilliantly synchronized to support client business and marketing goals. The strategies, tools and tactics can be far-ranging to support building reputation and driving results with multiple target audiences. The obvious basic list included internal relations, pro-active media relations, social media integration, special events, breakthrough promotions, cause marketing, community relations, trade relations, investor relations, speaking engagements, conferences, trade shows, crisis PR and issues management.

In delving deeper into the hottest topic – the social media component – the Counselors discussed media disintermediation and the rise of what was characterized as the PR Publishing House – a powerful emerging force in marketing communications and public relations. Think of PR as content developer for many communications products, all integrated within unified themes. PR pros serve as creative directors. They develop their own editorial calendars and control multiple channels that bypass traditional media filters. When done strategically, the work of the PR publishing house advances education and knowledge, building trust and credibility through authentic conversations in a human voice that build long-term relationships.

What’s next? The gurus noted the end of the social media gurus, which does have a touch of irony to it. The workshop talked about communications at the speed of light and the two-second news cycle. There will surely be new layers of digital tools that drive faster actions and forms of communications we haven’t yet imagined. And it will be up to the PR pros to manage those new tools within a brilliant strategic context.

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Posted in Authentic PR, Brilliant Counsel, Clutter Busting, Horizon Management, In the Beginning, Social Media | 4 Comments »

PRSA Counselors Academy Confab Drives Authenticity, Values; Sharp Contrast to Facebook-Google PR Fiasco

Saturday, May 14th, 2011

PR Pros

LAKE LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Senior counselors from throughout North America gathered here May 12 through 15 for the annual spring conference of the PRSA Counselors Academy, which produces a content-rich program each year aimed at sharing knowledge and setting new standards for the public relations profession.

The program was packed with sessions on the importance of PR evolving as a vital, authentic, strategic force in helping clients of all sizes build long-term images and reputation. Experts covered how to translate solid corporate values to many audiences and walk the talk with no empty claims or unethical tactics.

This was in sharp contrast to the negative coverage being given one of the larger PR firms in the country, Burson-Marsteller, for launching a whisper campaign on behalf of an unnamed client (later revealed to be Facebook) to get media to report that a Google Gmail feature ostensibly trampled the privacy of millions of Americans and violated fair trade rules. The PR fiasco soon blew up and was covered in USA Today, Media Bistro, New York Times and many other outlets.

There was concern that the Burson fiasco would be damaging to the overall image of the profession. But this dissipated as the counselors delved into the programs that demonstrated the growth of the profession in driving strategic and authentic PR programs for clients of all sizes, shapes and needs.

Yours truly was part of a workshop that included a focus on image as a part of corporate strategy. Establish strong core values – what do you stand for – and then demonstrate proof of principle over time (e.g. if you are a high-quality, community-oriented company, how do you demonstrate those values?).

Think about core values as the essential element of building any image and reputation for the long term, like carbon in the universe.

The mission of strategic PR is to delve into the heart and soul of an organization to tell its authentic, credible stories through multiple means and build reputation for the long-term. Agencies use a robust arsenal to achieve the strategic mission, which can include; changing perceptions and behaviors, positioning new companies, repositioning companies that have become stuck, launching new products and services, building brands, managing a crisis, driving value and much more. Processes, built on a foundation of solid values and corporate culture, build image over time.

Other sessions delved into: how to grow counselors, not tacticians; approaches to delivering stellar client service;, integrating new approaches into multicultural strategies; taking control of your reputation in the new stakeholder economy; and new strategies in media relations measurement.

Janet Tyler, president of Airfoil Public Relations, Detroit, conducted a session on value-driven leadership and translating personal values into brand strategies. The concept: establish core values, which are used to build vision and mission. She provide a list of 374 traits, attributes and values and asked the audience of senior PR counselors to identify 20, then prioritize to their top five. From there, she suggested that they adapt those values to the everyday operation of their firms. Her firm, a hot tech shop with some 60 on staff, listed: collaboration, accountability, learning, leadership, service and fun.

Janet said the values are then applied to three key elements for driving the firm: people, processes and performance. The values are used to differentiate and connect with clients. Airfoil also consults with clients getting their values aligned with stakeholder needs – the heart and soul of authentic PR, which was evident everywhere at Lake Las Vegas during the conference and spoke volumes about the profession.

(Search Twitter using #caprsa for running commentaries on the sessions, links to valuable information)

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Facebook as the largest news organization ever? LOL!

Friday, April 8th, 2011

News or Not?

Posted by Tom Gable

In journalism, there has always been a tension between getting it first and getting it right.

– Ellen Goodman

The quote from the Pulitzer Prize winning columnist is cited here to establish a framework for a response to a recent Harvard Business Review blog by Joshua Gans that “Facebook is the largest news organization ever.”

He writes:

“News organizations do two major things, commercially speaking: they use news to grab attention and then sell that attention to advertisers.”

Gans says Facebook provides a platform whereby individuals became reporters, editors, and publishers. But a lot of what is being communicated is trivia, such as commuting delays, bad food experiences, hassles with the job and a sick child. People joke, whine and commiserate. They post opinions.

Gans asks the rhetorical question on who would be interested: you and your friends and family. So what? This lures advertisers to Facebook who can target ads to pop up when you, your family and friends are communicating.

I’d argue that Facebook is a powerful platform for communicating in many ways about anything. Some news may exist that appeals to broader audiences, but most of what pops could be called the digital equivalent of the coffee klatch (or an extended version of The View).

If one goes to Anwers.Com or Dictionary.Com

Noun

1. New information, especially about recent events and happenings: advice (often used in plural), intelligence, tiding (often used in plural), word. Informal scoop. See knowledge/ignorance, words.

2. Something significant that happens: circumstance, development, episode, event, happening, incident, occasion, occurrence, thing. See happen.

Professional journalism traditionally aims for accuracy, enlightenment and fairness. Some Bloggers and Twits claim to practice citizen journalism, which others dismiss as fluff, hype and churnalism. Legitimate media, including top bloggers, post corrections and updates when stories are wrong. Doing a search for corrections on Twitter doesn’t turn up much. Younger consumers of news and information may have difficulty discerning the difference between professional journalism and faux fast news. The race to be first is having an impact on financial news coverage as well.

Tim Carmody, in a piece titled “Twitter, tech bubbles, and the nostalgia of the technology press” for Nieman Journalism Lab, wrote that the technology press is getting pushed in new directions and helping inflate bubbles, “worrying over them, and watching them burst.”

“ What is new, according to Federated Media’s John Battelle and Thomson Reuters’ Connie Loizos, is how the accelerated news cycle of blogs, Twitter, and other digital media forces the technology press to work at the same speed as the investors they cover — with the same worries about getting in early and beating competitors trumping the real value of the product. In this case, though, the product is their own journalism.”

Carmody quoted an email from Loizos about Twitter and Quora spreading good and bad information equally quickly, and in volume. “The first story out wins.” She notes that journalists no longer compete against one another but “also against savvy investors and entrepreneurs who know they can reach just as broad an audience by delivering their news themselves via Twitter and their blogs.”

Battelle commented that Churnalism is a much bigger problem than just press releases and wire stories. It’s everywhere — and creating an echo chamber unprecedented in its size and reach.

Carmody wrote:

“…blogs and social media offer both entrepreneurs and journalists new modes of engagement with each other and a different kind of conversation with their readers. At the same time, the demands of traditional news formats can actually push us into stories that privilege new forms of manipulation. Reporters seeking a news peg for an analysis-driven story about a popular company can find quotes from blogs, Twitter, or Quora as easily as they can from a company’s press release, putting the same texts and voices into circulation.”

Whom do you trust?

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Managing a PR Crisis in the Age of Social Media

Saturday, February 12th, 2011

Instant News Channels

Posted by Tom Gable

The above title of the CommNexus event in San Diego was intriguing and the syllabus promised to deliver tips and actionable insights to help PR people and others prepare for the unexpected. Is it possible, given the instant news cycle we live in today? Yes, according to members of a panel that represented the news media, a major client and an international PR firm.  And the results are worth sharing.

Liya Sharif, moderator and director of marketing at Qualcomm, outlined the challenges of today’s instant communications and direct attacks on brands, such as Toyota during its recent issues with recalls. It developed a social media strategy after the fact. What should companies thing about and do?

Alex Pham, who’s been with the Los Angeles Times for 11 years and seen it all, outlined her six key tips for being successful in managing crisis in the era of social media.

  1. Have a plan
  2. Be honest
  3. Walk the talk
  4. Respond quickly and aggressively if needed
  5. Hire a pro for an outside point of view
  6. “No comment” doesn’t work

Monte Lutz, senior vice president with Edelman Digital, Los Angeles, said his firm advises clients to first have a plan in place. The pace and cadence of the news cycle has changed to the “24-second news cycle,” so the players need to be ready to move. If an organization doesn’t respond to a crisis almost instantly and accurately, negative information can pop up onto the first page of results generated by any search engine.

“There is a vacuum for content and people are ready to fill it,” Lutz said.

Speed and Persona

He said speed was No. 1, followed by persona. Respondents can’t be “snarky” and should try to adapt a friendly demeanor. Building trust is essential because trust is a major differentiator. He noted that the Edelman Trust Barometer continues to fall as companies and organizations do a poor job connecting authentically with their many target audiences.

As an additional tactic, he suggested buying ads on the search engines with links back to credible background information on the company website.

Rachel Laing, former journalist and now deputy press secretary for Major Jerry Sanders, said to work on trust and relationships early – get people engaged before you need the connections. Be active in Twitter. Follow people in the space, engage new contacts, gain trust and credibility with intelligent Tweets and re-Tweet relevant information for further credibility.

Harnessing Twitter

Laing said government is always in a crisis mode so be prepared. Control the fan page. Never delete comments but you don’t have to respond to “nasty-grams” and perpetuate the madness. If someone is Tweeting badly, follow them back and then direct message (DM) to them with your phone and email to follow up with the facts.

Pham agreed on the use of Twitter and said the tone can differ based on the audience. But “corporate speak” doesn’t work and the responses have to be authentic and friendly in the social media space, to include restating facts since the social media doesn’t operate under the same rules as traditional media.

Traditional media will call, email and conduct extra research to get the facts behind the story. Cooler heads are at work, versus those personally involved and passionate about an issue, or someone who wants to be first with the news, whether totally correct or not. A lot of bloggers aren’t interested in accuracy, she said, so sometimes companies have to go into “hand-to-hand combat.” If you have been engaged and developed loyal followers, they will become your advocates and defend you in times of crisis.

Responding to Traditional Media

The traditional media is also working on the 24-second news cycle. As a result, Pham said companies need to get back to the media faster than ever before, even if it’s to clarify the information that is needed and promise to get back with details as soon as possible. A key: asking “what’s your deadline.”

Have a clear contact on the website so that point person can be found in 10 seconds or less.

Lutz advised companies to anticipate disaster and have dark website pages and dark tabs on Facebook with facts ready to go on a moment’s notice. Planning with the PR firm should include working on the tone and conducting rehearsals. The company can be prepared to be hits own publisher and broadcaster, too, using the different channels (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, PR, media relations, website, etc.) to get out the word. Embed news releases with pictures, graphs and video if they will help tell the story.

If the opposition has posted a video to YouTube, post your response using the same title and tags as the hit piece. This ensures your quality response shows up immediately.

Organizing the PR Crisis Team

Dan Novak, vice president of global marketing, PR and communications for Qualcomm, said internal plans need to include having a core communications team at the ready and a committee waiting in the wings to be convened that includes legal, government, public relations, investor relations, human resources, IT, and other key units. The plan needs to be based on high values and accountability. The process for launching the plan into action needs to eliminate speed bumps, which can hinder many organizations.

During Q&A, one of the audience asked about how to get clients to commit to a social media program.

The panel’s response: it’s happening whether you participate or not, as evidenced by what happened to BP, Toyota and United Airlines (the guitar incident) when they didn’t respond.

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Posted in Authentic PR, Brilliant Counsel, Client Service Results, Crisis PR, Hype Free PR, News and Media, Social Media, Team Play | Comments Off

Social Media Usage Grows Up, Just Like We Do

Tuesday, November 9th, 2010

Social Evolution

Posted by Lauren Miller

If you sit back and visualize about how you keep current on what your friends are doing or check the latest entertainment, recreation, industry specific or other breaking news, how do you think you spend the majority of your time?

The latest results from eMarketer show the world spends more time on social media than email, browsing or other online activities. Once a novelty, social media has become part of everyday life and has even become a verb (i.e., “Facebooking”). The eMarketer study shows 58.1 percent of Americans manage an online profile, with the worldwide number at 61.8 percent.

How did we get here? From Flicker and YouTube to SlideShare and LiveJournal, there is a social media platform for almost every letter of the alphabet and every Internet user. No matter what your platform of choice, you have probably noticed something interesting: Your use of these sites has evolved and migrated along with your life (think about changing demographics, interests, lifestyle, etc.).

Maybe over the last few years you’ve become a parent, started a new job, relocated or have become a job-seeker. If you look back over time, you can actually trace your personal and professional development based on how your posts have changed.

As an example, for young professionals currently in their 20s, in high school the craze was all about MySpace – the pictures you uploaded, the music on your page and the number of friends you had. Most teenagers posted fun party pictures that sometimes straddled the line of inappropriate. But there was no privacy on MySpace, anyone could join the site and they weren’t always who they said they were.

Moving forward to college we found something new – Facebook. You couldn’t have a Facebook page unless you had a college email account – and not every University had Facebook available to its students. Facebook, when it first launched, not only looked very different than it does today, but the purpose for most was a way to stay connected to your high school friends and new college friends.

Slowly, Facebook began to evolve and anyone with an email account could create a Facebook page. The early adopters of Facebook started seeing their parents and aunts and uncles joining Facebook and wanting to be friends with them. Then, potential employers started looking at Facebook to see if those recent college graduates applying for a job seemed like the kind of person that the company wanted representing them. All of a sudden, you saw seniors in college and recent grads changing their Facebook pictures, their content and their status updates. It went from “Party at Joes!” to “Working Hard.” Facebook no longer was just a fun way to post pictures and chat with friends. It evolved into a community with more depth. It became a way for families to keep in touch and also offered businesses, institutions and organizations the opportunities to create personalities to promote their products and services in new ways.

College grads and young professionals then stumbled upon the next social platform that could be value to their careers – LinkedIn. LinkedIn allows professionals to discuss hot topics in their industry, probe other industry professionals for their ideas or advice and is another source for job listings. With LinkedIn you don’t post crazy pictures or status updates, it’s purely a way to put your resume and qualifications out there for the business and professional world to see. LinkedIn also took on a higher professional aura as organizations and those of like interests formed discussion groups (much like the Internet bulletin boards of old, but with considerable more class).

As with any form of communications and connecting, social media users continue to evolve with their favorite platforms over time. Social media and social network sites can prove to be very effective ways to open new doors. You never know – The new lead singer of Journey landed his gig from a video he posted on YouTube of him belting out the band’s classic “Don’t Stop Believing.” There is more focus and thoughtful content today than ever before as we learn to post content that projects the right image and is something you would be comfortable with your 90 year-old grandmother and potential employer seeing.

(Editor’s Note: Lauren is 24 years old, a 2009 graduate of the University of San Diego and has changed her photos and content significantly in the past few years).

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Posted in Client Service Results, Clutter Busting, Hype Free PR, Social Media | 1 Comment »

“I Like It on the What?” — Good PR fun, no payoff?

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010

Posted by Lauren Miller

This week the phrase “I like it on…” has dominated women’s Facebook statuses all over the U.S. and left many men in the dark, wondering “what the heck?” This provocative campaign was launched with the intention of raising breast cancer awareness during October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Organizations around the U.S. that support this cause are getting very creative and some have wondered if they have lost sight of their objectives in driving education and, more importantly, fundraising.

As reported in The Washington Post and elsewhere, women are posting where they like to keep their purses when they come home, but they conveniently leave out the word “purse.”

While we must appreciate the creative techniques and fun “members only” campaigns many organizations pursue, we must also ask tough questions such as are these campaigns relevant or useful? Posting a status such as, “I like it on the floor,” while provocative and no doubt a conversation starter, doesn’t clearly relate to breast cancer or awareness of cancer for that matter. How does writing a provocative, ambiguous message draw attention and awareness to a disease that, according to the American Cancer Society, will claim approximately 38,000 women’s lives in 2010?

Many critics argue that creativity for the sake of creativity campaigns don’t work because they lack relevancy. While people are talking about the messages and the innuendos, they miss the true meaning and point of the campaign. Is there a logical transition to encourage women to sign up for yearly mammograms, encourage individual involvement or donate money? Proponents argue that the causes are being discussed and through these titillating off-the-wall social media campaigns, more people are getting involved in one way or another — joining a team, hosting an event at their office, or as simple as making a donation.

Whenever a company, a charity, or an organization is brainstorming on new ways to raise money for their cause they need to ask “how will this plan and medium help us accomplish our goal? “ The Facebook campaign for breast cancer awareness, while not directly relevant, has garnered lot of attention from the media and the average person who used Facebook on a regular basis. The cause is being talked about and women are participating in the Facebook campaign with their comments, which is easy to do. Whether or not that leads them to get more involved in the cause is another story. At least the main objective of brining awareness to this disease and shedding light on it during this month has been accomplished.

And for the record, I like it on the kitchen table!

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Posted in Authentic PR, Brilliant Counsel, Client Service Results, Clutter Busting, Leverage, News and Media, Social Media | Comments Off

Facebook Follies: Making Sure Social Media Fits Within Your PR Strategy

Friday, April 2nd, 2010

Rolling out new tools

Posted by Laura Woods

The public relations profession is at a wonderful and challenging crossroads in its evolution. No longer can the traditional approach of solely using press releases be effective in building a client’s reputation and media presence. Now PR professionals have to be comfortable integrating all aspects of social media — blogs, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other tools – into their strategic arsenal. Beyond proactive approaches, PR pros need to be diligent in setting high standards for all communications and monitoring for questionable or negative impacts. (more…)

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Posted in Authentic PR, Brilliant Counsel, Client Service Results, Hype Free PR, Social Media | 2 Comments »

In Crisis PR, It’s Not Always How You Start But How You Finish

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

Shrinking image?

Posted by Tom Gable

The news media, auto industry analysts and elected officials have been aggressive in going after Toyota for its delays in responding to a growing crisis about sudden acceleration in some of its models from gas pedal and floor mat issues.

NPR opined that “the carmaker that could end up doing long-term damage to the sterling reputation it has painstakingly built up for several decades.” It cited a slow response time in dealing with the problem and communicating. (more…)

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