TV as we know it, or more specifically the networks themselves, is dead. But TV as a medium is not fatally wounded, Dan Ilic told Frocomm’s 2010 New Media Summit and a move from ‘network’ TV to ‘networked’ TV, such as peer-to-peer TV, is on its way. The predicted death of the networks is attributed to the high cost of broadcasting compared to the internet’s ability to offer cheap, and also live, viewing. But it is also the networks’ descent from flourishing cultural hubs to organisations lacking accountability, credibility, independence and creativity that has sealed their fate.

It is a fundamental part of any Facebook communication strategy to leverage the potential viral dimensions of content featured on the Page, said Edelman’s Matthew Gain at Frocomm’s 2010 New Media Summit. The more it lends itself to viral promotion (i.e. endorsement) the more fans will be attracted to the page (with all of the attendant benefits this can deliver).

This emphasises the need for a well thought out, long term and big picture content strategy. Issues to address include:
• What is the approach to the generation and usage of content across all communication mechanisms, for instance, including the corporate website?
• What communication platform gets the ‘exclusives’?
• I have even asked is PR missing the main digital game by focusing on social media and not the corporate website?

The key to engaging stakeholders through Facebook, said then Weber Shandwick’s, but now Edelman’s, Matthew Gain at Frocomm’s 2010 New Media Summit, is identifying existing communities where fans can be recruited, forming strategic alliances, leveraging off existing communication platforms and utilising Facebook advertising. This post focuses on tactical aspects of utilising Facebook for public relations results.

Public relations professionals external to an organisation can ‘control’, facilitate and contribute to an organisation’s social media activity as effectively as any in-house professional. (In fact, even marketers can do this if they can actually get their head around the notion of true dialogue.) So I was flabbergasted to read of marketers making the claim that it is best that social media should not be run by consultants.

Public relations should own marketing communication because: the traditional one-way communication characteristic of marcomms tools is more effective if applied in a two-way manner; communication is conversation and PR knows these ropes best; direct marcomms can be enhanced by the thought leadership and narrative powers that are embedded in great PR programs.

It’s interesting to observe that the traditional divide between the marketing (paid messages) and public relations (third party endorsement) professions still seems to be alive and well judging by their positioning in most organisations. Each profession is usually either placed in an independent organisational silo, or PR is positioned as a subset ‘add-on’ of marketing, which as we know inevitably leads to turf wars. However this need not be so in practice and it is worth the effort to step across the silos, as the following case study demonstrates…explains Sue Corlette, an experienced professional communicator and educator, in this guest post.

It should come as no surprise to hear that Google, one of the most potent organisations in the world, has trust as one of its positioning lynchpins…yet in a (business) world still coming to terms with the fact that those defining a brand are more often its stakeholders than the brand itself, this is still close to being revolutionary, especially if it is being effectively put into action, rather than simply being pontificated on.

Free report on PR and social media…Trust, crowds (utilisation of, communicating to, segmenting of…), integration (or not) of social media and corporate websites, the death of ‘networked’ communication, content generation issues and the challenges of change within social media were some of the primary themes that were either explicitly stated at the 2010 Frocomm New Media Summit, bubbled under its surface or were notable not for their articulation, but by their surprising absence…

There is no guide, or overarching process, for how one should go about producing the content that goes on corporate websites…from strategic business planning, public relations or marketing perspectives. This is an almost unbelievable ‘informational gap’ due to the power that has been placed at corporate websites’ discretion due to the mind-bending capabilities of search engine optimisation.

In the rush to become social media experts, and to grab the largest slice of its revenue, responsibility and thought leadership pie, public relations pros are at risk of missing the main digital game: that of providing meaningful, resonant and useful content for corporate websites that is search engine optimised and customised to the needs of organisational stakeholders.