Comments for Public relations and managing reputation

Comment on Free report: PR at war – opinion explosion at social media summit by Online crowds: trust, influence and utility for professional communicators | Bluegrass Consulting: Grassroots Public Affairs

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:23:25 +0000

[...] A full report on Frocomm’s 2010 New Media Summit, featuring leading Australian marketing, PR and social media pros and can be downloaded at Public relations and managing reputation). [...]

Comment on PR screws up: missing the main digital game by Online crowds: trust, influence and utility for professional communicators | Bluegrass Consulting: Grassroots Public Affairs

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:23:10 +0000

[...] Meerman Scott has argued for the corporate website side of the debate and I have also asked is PR missing the main digital game by focusing too much on social media at the expense of corporate website [...]

Comment on Social media: insights for crisis communication by Justin

Justin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 04:11:35 +0000

Thanks for your insights.

In my own research on the impact of New Media on Crisis Communication, I have found that the New Media has impacted the information environment by (a) compressing the media cycle; (b) creating a perfect information environment; and (c) providing multiple platforms for news and imformation. As a result of this, effective Crisis Communications must now comprise the following 5 key elements – open, timely, truthful, broadly communicated and internet presence.

Comment on Setting meaningful public relations objectives: authority interviewed by Sean Williams

Sean Williams — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:19:34 +0000

Craig and Angela – There just is no argument!

When I was corporate-side (where I’ve spent most of my career, present 16+ months notwithstanding), unless the research cost nothing, it wasn’t ordered. One boss said, “that’s why we hired you. Your the expert.” I relied on environmental scanning, direct individual feedback, the Yahoo! message boards and other DIY methods to figure things out as I built the plan.

However, two years in, I convinced everyone to let me do a comms survey myself, and two years later for the followup, got a few bucks to spend on professional statistical analysis. As it worked out, we got a lot of actionable info and used our research to change what we did in the plan.

Keep fighting the good fight!

Cheers,
Sean
@commammo

Comment on Setting meaningful public relations objectives: authority interviewed by Angela Sinickas

Angela Sinickas — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:32:59 +0000

And, as Plato said, “Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others” so even more people do the right things.

Comment on Setting meaningful public relations objectives: authority interviewed by Andy O'Hearn

Andy O'Hearn — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:47:38 +0000

I love Angela’s emphasis on actions as the drivers of the other metrics. In one of the pioneering texts of interpersonal communications — Watzlawick, P., Beavin, J., Jackson, D. (1967). Pragmatics of Human Communication: A Study of Interactional Patterns, Pathologies & Paradoxes — and also in the works of anthropologist Gregory Bateson, they repeatedly make the point that you cannot really tell a person’s state of mind, but you *can* deduce it from their actions. Per Aristotle: “”We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.”

Comment on Setting meaningful public relations objectives: authority interviewed by Angela Sinickas

Angela Sinickas — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:49:34 +0000

I totally agree with you, Paul. Communicators don’t realize how easy and cheap highly effective evaluation can be. For example, a toxic waste disposal government entity each month placed ads in all local community newspapers and sent out news releases as well on a particular material they wanted brought in that month, like used engine oil or old car batteries. Of course, not all releases resulted in stories. I suggested a pilot program one month where they placed ads in only the newspapers serving the eastern half of the community. By comparing the percentage of the population who brought in the requested toxic material that month by postal code of the citizen, they could discover how much difference in impact there was in areas that had just an ad, just a news article, both, or neither. It cost less than a usual month’s budget because they spent only half their budgeted advertising dollars. The only time it took was to look at the computer report of postal codes from the forms people always needed to fill out at the waste dump and do the math to calculate the percentage of the local population that represented. No cost and very little time. I agree we need to stop making these excuses and just get more creative with our measurement approaches.

Comment on Setting meaningful public relations objectives: authority interviewed by Angela Sinickas

Angela Sinickas — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:40:21 +0000

Craig, while clients may not need to measure the success of a project because their management doesn’t require it, I find it’s much easier to explain the need for doing audience research before the campaign to make sure it will achieve the client’s objectives. That research can include a lot of very low-cost steps, from scanning social media comments to having the client talk to 10 people in the target audience asking questions you give them. Often, when clients start hearing unexpected answers to questions, they begin to understand the need to do more formal upfront research, which could be focus groups or a survey, to be sure the campaign will be on point.

Comment on Setting meaningful public relations objectives: authority interviewed by Paul

Paul — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 07:52:18 +0000

Finally a conversation on measurement that does not mention AVEs. Agree that the only way to measure successfully is to set objectives and KPIs that can be measured.

Too often PR blame budget and time as a rationale for not measuring and evaluating a campaign – no other business department could get away with that excuse and neither should we. It just needs to become part of how we do things.

Comment on Setting meaningful public relations objectives: authority interviewed by Craig Badings

Craig Badings — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 06:58:31 +0000

Craig, Angela makes a lot of sense, however, most consultants know that when it comes to measurement, 90% of clients cut out the research/measurement element citing budget.

I would love to research all campaigns, particularly before they start so one can properly benchmark the changes in behaviour, attitude and knowledge. Sadly it is the first part of a campaign the client cuts.

This creates a vicious cycle for PR measurement and the profession because the alternative is often flaky measurement criteria without the proper research to back it up.