PRacticum

Much of the craze surrounding digital PR tactics involves participation in some form of an online community, such as Facebook and MySpace. However, Steve Rubel of Edelman has an excellent post analyzing some of the issues that are involved with PR campaigns on sites such as these. In particular, he points out that “most online communities haven’t stuck,” and warns PR practitioners that the Internet will always be changing, making it a difficult tool to leverage effectively for PR purposes. His post is definitely worth reading, and if you haven’t already subscribed to his blog, Micro Persuasion, I highly recommend doing so.

Steve’s post also notes that Edelman has just launched a new blog called Authenticities, which is an interesting name given the company’s history with blogging (see my previous post). In any case, the blog seems to be fairly intriguing, and I enjoyed reading about Edelman’s plans for it, despite the touch of irony that I see in all the company’s talk of being “authentic.” Needless to say, it will be interesting to see where the blog goes in the coming weeks and months.

[Image: www.edelman.com]

Many of you are probably familiar with the Edelman and Wal-Mart blogging fiasco from a few years ago. (In short, Edelman started blogging for Wal-Mart without making the blog’s authorship clear.) This whole incident really turned into a PR disaster for both Edelman and Wal-Mart, and has had a lasting impact on both companies.

Well, fast forward to 2008. Wal-Mart is giving blogging another try, and this time it’s looking a lot more successful. The new blog is called Check Out, and it’s written mostly by mid- and low-level employees of the company, giving it a unique style and voice. A few weeks ago the blog was even used to break the huge news story that Wal-Mart was deciding to exclusively stock the Blu-ray format of next-generation DVDs, essentially ending the format wars between Blu-ray and HD DVD.

For more information about Wal-Mart’s new approach to blogging, The New York Times has an excellent story putting the issue into perspective, and examining some of the possible risks and rewards. I encourage you to take the time to learn more about this innovative blogging style.

[Image: nytimes.com]

Last week I blogged about the importance of Consumerist for those in the PR field. This week, I have a real world example of a major corporation that successfully turned a negative Consumerist story into a happy ending.

It all started when a customer was “unlawfully detained at Home Depot for not showing [his] receipt.” With the help of Consumerist, this customer got a tremendous amount of publicity for his story, and emailed several top Home Depot executives complaining about his experience.

Well, his efforts at getting the attention of Home Depot worked spectacularly. Check out the Consumerist follow-up story for an excellent example of how the company deftly made the customer happy while simultaneously turning around the focus of a story that was originally very negative.

[Image: consumerist.com]

In the hopes of revitalizing the company’s flagging performance, Starbucks has recently undertaken an ambitious PR campaign highlighting its devotion to the customer experience. One tactic of the campaign came on Tuesday night, when 7,100 Starbucks stores across the country closed at 5:30 for a lengthy employee training and pep talk. Although it was labeled by some as a simple PR stunt, it was effective in achieving significant media coverage, thus getting the message out that the company is focused on going back to the basics.

While it remains to be seen if Starbucks will actually be able to improve its financial performance, it’s clear that the company has sucessfully taken an important first step in changing its customer’s perceptions about the brand. As the company continues to focus on this effort, I’m looking forward to seeing and evaluating the development and success of its PR tactics.

[Image: www.buytaert.net]

The last ten years have given way to a tremendous change in the role that public relations play for a company. Although there are many contributing factors, this shift is primarily a result of the impact of the Internet and other new technologies.

A great example of this is Consumerist, which is an extremely popular blog that reports on consumer issues and complaints. Consumerist, which is part of Gawker Media, has taken on the role of a modern day consumer advocate — the site’s slogan is “Shoppers bite back.” One main focus of the site is praising companies that go the extra mile to help their customers, while shaming those who practice shady business tactics or poor customer service.

The site’s popularity has made it a remarkably effective PR tool for companies who are able to get favorable stories posted. On the other hand, when an upset customer contacts Consumerist with a complaint about a company, it can quickly turn into a PR fiasco.

Take a moment to browse the site, and if you like what you see, consider adding it to your RSS reader — I think that Consumerist can provide extremely valuable learning experiences for anyone in the PR field.

[Image: www.concurringopinions.com]

If you work in public relations for a small business, or if you’re just a small business owner trying to get more savvy about PR, Microsoft has good news for you. With the recent launch of Office Live Small Business, Microsoft has created a set of tools that puts a digital PR campaign easily within your reach. This can be especially helpful for those who struggle with the technical aspects of setting up an e-mail list, search engine listings, or a blog.

The New York Times’ tech columnist, David Pogue, does an excellent job of summing up the beauty of Microsoft’s new offering:

“Office Live Small Business (O.L.S.B.) is a centralized Web site where you can set up all of those small-businessy things — a Web site, an online ad campaign, e-mail promotions, in-company communications — all by yourself, even if you’re not very technical. For the first time, these big-league tools are within your reach, partly because you don’t have to hire somebody to set them up and partly because many of them are free.”

In other words, there’s no longer an excuse to not have an online presence as part of your small business PR efforts. Check Pogue’s column for real examples of tactics that have been created with O.L.S.B. — the results are impressive.

[Image: http://smallbusiness.officelive.com]

If you pay much attention to the blogosphere, chances are that you may have heard about the potential perils of blogging. However, if you haven’t, and if you’re at all involved in blogging, now’s the time to educate yourself.

Simply put, if you maintain a blog, you should be aware of the high likelihood that your employer might not be very pleased about it. In fact, you might get fired as a result of your blog.

A recent example of this is the fascinating story of Chez Pazienza, a CNN producer who just last week lost his job because of his blogging habit. Despite never saying a critical thing about his employer, Pazienza’s blogging apparently violated an obscure CNN policy that “states that any writing done for a ‘non-CNN outlet’ must be run through the network’s standards and practices department.” Without warning, and apparently without consideration of his glowing performance reviews, Pazienza was fired. Although it’s a long read, his story is well worth your time.

[Image source: www.aroundthecontroller.com]

As I mentioned in my last post, it seems that social media is the next big thing for PR. Everywhere I look, companies are beginning to blog, podcast, and participate in other social media tactics, in the hopes that they can successfully jump on the bandwagon. But if you’re a PR professional who is trying to figure out how to capitalize on the craze before it’s too late, where do you start?

Given the range of tactics that can be used as part of a social media strategy, it might feel a bit overwhelming when first deciding what to do. How do you get your foot in the door without blending in with the crowd? This can be a difficult question to answer.

Fortunately though, you’re not alone if you feel confused, and helpful advice is widely available (check the PR blogs in my blogroll). For a good introduction to the topic, Todd Defren of PR Squared has an excellent post on making an entrance in social media. For a longer read, check out A Journey In Social Media, a blog that details the evolution of “a comprehensive social media strategy at a large company.” Both are well worth your time.

[Image: libizblog.wordpress.com]

The social media craze has (rightfully) taken the PR world by storm in recent years. It seems to me that everywhere I look, more and more companies are blogging, creating Facebook pages, and setting up podcasts.

Blogging is perhaps the most prevalent social media tactic for PR purposes, but actually creating and writing a blog isn’t always as easy as it might seem. This is especially true given the important legal considerations that a company must pay attention to when blogging. Fortunately, there is ample legal advice available for bloggers who aren’t quite sure of what’s okay and what’s not.

Creating a blog can also be a challenging endeavour for those who come from a journalistic background. It’s not always easy to make the transition from a print medium with clearly defined rules to an online medium where it sometimes can seem like anything goes. Good news though: Poynter Online has more information on blogging best practices for journalists. This is actually a fairly good list of tips — check it out, and let me know what you think.

[Image: reconstruction.eserver.org]

Up until about a month ago, I had heard of Twitter but still wasn’t exactly sure what all of the buzz was about. If you feel the same way that I did, then this post is for you.

According to its homepage, “Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?”

This description sums up Twitter fairly well — the site consists of small updates that individual users post and then broadcast to their group of friends. For those of you familiar with Facebook, Twitter is essentially a standalone version of Facebook’s status updates.

Twitter is applicable to the world of PR in several different ways. First, it can be helpful for brainstorming and sharing ideas with colleagues who are working on the same project as you. Secondly, a Twitter profile can also be created for an organization and then used to broadcast creative updates to those who are interested in the latest news about that organization.

If you want to learn more about the potential uses of Twitter within the PR world, take a look at this blog post, courtesy of Tech PR Gems.

[Image: www.twitter.com]