Social media isn't new, so PR people shouldn't be afraid

Social media is too new for us,we can't take risksStuart Bruce MCIPR

Blogging – seven years today
Started PR blog on July 8, 2003
One of the first 10 in the world
Started UK’s third political blog April 24, 2003 – first by a councillor

History of the social web
Email lists
BBS - bulletin board systems – late 70s
Commercial online services – CompuServe – 1979
Usenet newsgroups – 1979
IRC – internet relay chat – 1988
Internet forums
Weblog 1997 – Blogger - 1999
Social networks / media sharing
SixDegrees 1997 | Friendster 2002 | MySpace 2004 | YouTube 2005 | Facebook 2006 | Twitter 2006
All from Wikipedia so don’t blame me if they are wrong, you can’t expect me to know all these dates!

Grunig and Hunt
One way asymmetrical
Two-way symmetrical
Uses persuasion and manipulation to influence audience to behave as the organisation desires.
Uses communication to negotiate with publics, resolve conflict, and promote mutual understanding and respect between the organisation and its public(s).

You need great content
Shakespeare
Hans Christian Anderson
Aesop

… but you’ve got to tell the truth

Convincing the CEO
"Why would any person want to use this ungainly and impractical device when he can send a messenger to a local telegraph office and have a clear written message sent to any large city in the United States?“
From the report to the President of Western Union written by the committee charged with investigating potential purchase of Bell's telephone patent for $100,000
http://www.telephonetribute.com/telephonetrivia.html

One good question…
Are your prospects, customers, stakeholders or competitors active on social media?
Some of your stakeholders ARE, and the rest probably are as well!

Who knows what ROI means?
Return On Investment
is the ratio of money gained or lost (whether realised or unrealised) on an investment relative to the amount of money invested

What’s the freaking ROI?
http://www.webinknow.com/2010/01/roi-rant.html

Have a communications objective
“Your media and comms work was brilliant”
Alan Johnson MP, former Home Secretary

Bad pitches will out

… but bad pitches never worked!

Modernised media relations

New media landscape
Declining print and TV audiences
Growing online audiences
Mainstream media must change or die
None have the ‘golden egg’
Search delivers 40% of traffic
Third of visits to ‘news’ content more than three months old

What does it mean for us?
Multimedia = new content
Speed = constant
Two-way = community
Analytics = more focussed
Search = new writing style

What should we do?
Practice what we preach – PUBLIC RELATIONS
Become data driven using analytics and search
More open, less controlled
New types of content
Closer relationships via social media
New ways of distribution
Use new media to ‘accelerate’ traditional media

Social media newsroom
Visitors
a week
5-20
before
2,400+
after

Crowd sourcing
…the wisdom of the crowd solves everything…

Crowd sourcing
We crowd source everything…
…because we don’t have any ideas
… and we don’t give a damn!

Say no to a social media strategy
… and yes to integrating social media into your corporate communications strategy

Six word social media strategy
THINK BIG
START small
ACT NOW

Any questions?
Stuart Bruce
www.stuartbruce.biz
0845 838 7282
www.wolfstarconsultancy.com
@stuartbruce
Winner Best Use of Social Media 2009
Chartered Institute of Public Relations
President’s Grand Prix Award

Social media isn't new, so PR people shouldn't be afraid

by Stuart Bruce

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