Public Relations

Netiquette and Debbie Weil’s email

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Debbie Weil is a terrific writer and blogger. But she made one small slip a few weeks back that had some people –bloggers, mainly– jumping all over it crying foul. Her crime: Allegedly attempting to "seed" a blog with comments.

The debate around "comment seeding" is not in the same league as, say, someone ratcheting up a company’s image with fake posts, as did Whole Foods’ CEO’s Yahoo postings. But in the touchy blogosphere that is admirably the cheerleader for transparency, it comes off looking that way.

What Debbie did, as this accompanying post suggests, was send a few people an email asking for their reaction and/or comment. The reactions were swift and some severe –on her blog. Her email soliciting comments was posted.

As Debbie says, she was only using email as a back-channel, and didn’t mean to deceive anyone.

There are two big issues here:

First the expectation of privacy. When someone contacts a professional colleague or ‘friend’ (itself an ambiguous term in the MySpace and FaceBook era) there is a tacit understanding that those conversations will be "off the record." But as any experienced PR person will tell you, there is no such thing as "off the record" anymore. Sadly so.

Second: Social media Netiquette. "What’s that?" you ask. In this huge, rough experiment we are engaging in, netiquette (which got attention when email and forums were the biggest things) has been dispatched to the basement. Dan York, wrote a related post around the same time that Debbie Weil was being harangued. It was about the need for updating netiquette to embrace social media realities. Is it OK to email a professional colleague about your organization or client, or would that be considered a shameless pitch? Or to turn it around, is it OK to decline to participate in the back-channel? Or are all the back-channels including IM and Twitter, no longer back-channels?

Debbie’s slip, which is more a poorly worded piece of communication than anything else teaches us a lot.

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Stop slamming Arizona!

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Needle
While I was away on vacation, taking pictures of some amazing cities, celebrating their positive side, the Economist
magazine trashed my stomping ground and I am not a happy puppy. I am
particularly annoyed, since they conveniently ignored so many good
things that are happening here.

If you haven’t seen the Economist’s July 26th article on Arizona (“Into the Ashes”) go read it and come back.

Going by some letters in response to its editorial last Wednesday in the Republic, readers
were as critical. Two out of three letters criticized the editorial for
not facing reality. One, however was a letter from a couple who thought
the criticism was undeserved. They signed off as being “London by
birth, Arizona by choice.”

Why such a paucity of positive commentary? More pertinently, where
was our PR clout when this kind of ‘rubbish,’ as the Brits say, was in
the works? How does someone from a magazine like this get to slant an
article so bad, when some of the points raised are actually good: less
smog than LA, new schools emerging, the opportunities that Light Rail
will bring etc. They paint us as a “crime ridden mess” apparently
because of the Light Rail system construction , snowbirds who leave
their homes unattended, and clueless visitors.

That’s like saying London is the armpit of England because of the
overcrowded subway system, clueless tourists, constant terrorism
issues, and Crossrail construction –conveniently ignoring the amazing positive sides of this colorful, cosmopolitan city.

Why are positive stories hidden from view, tucked in the back of the paper —like this today, about the growing state economy? It’s time we started telling telling our own stories, if no one else will.

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Where SEO meets social media meets PR

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Yesterday, IABC’s Phoenix chapter
put together a terrific meeting on something that’s on everyone’s
radar. I suspect the topic (“Using SEO & Other PR Tactics to
Communicate with Social Communities in a Web 2.0 World”) was
intentionally long and geeky to make a point. More on this later.

MarketWire
had pried open the controversial but hot topic of Search Engine
Optimization (SEO) and Social Media. Whenever these two buzz phrases
occur in one sentence, advertising agencies, media relations people and
marketers get a little hot around the collar. I know, because I used to
work for a SEO-meets marketing company. There are lots of myths and
concerns out there. Just a year ago SEO seemed like a lot of pixie dust
before things like Twitter and User generated Content showed up. “Social bookmarking” sounded like something Paris Hilton does when thumbing through National Inquirer.

Unfortunately, the world inside corporate marketing is still looking
at what’s unfolding before us as pixie dust 2.0. Look around you. The
world of marketing and PR is roughly divided into people who think “we
don’t have a budget for this crap” and those who go “could we upload
this sucker to YouTube?” So it’s about time we discuss Google Juice, and Digg, and the social media press release, and what in the world is Facebook up to, trying to upstage our beloved search engines.

Could people game the search engine, someone asked? Do “Diggs” mean
anything a few days after the story breaks? Was there some ‘white-hat’
way to get better rankings on search results? Everyone probably knew
the answer to that last one. Sure, there are black-hat methods of
sneaking past the algorithm, and there’s marketing.

You don’t need to know how this algorithm thing works, but if you
accept the logic behind it, then you gotta work on it. Good case in
point: Southwest Airlines.
Three years ago, they optimized a press release by editing it based on
search terms they had been tracking. They tracked the results and saw a
direct correlation to a spike in sales. They won an award for this. It’s a matter of crafting headlines and knowing where to drop in a hyperlink, and a meta tag.

Which brings me to the MarketWire topic. Google (or Yahoo) the words
“SEO PR social media” and see if IABC Phoenix is anywhere in sight. Now
Google (or Yahoo) the topic (Using SEO & Other PR Tactics to
Communicate with Social Communities in a Web 2.0 World) and see what
pops up at the top of your search results. Brilliant huh?

Or is it still pixie dust?

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Why we Google –and how!

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Here are the results of our survey in June
about the kinds of things and people we search for online. We asked
ValleyPRblog readers, and communicators on social networks such LinkedIn and MyRagan to tell us a bit more about their Googling habits.

  • 46.9% of respondents said they Googled a company or web site of a person.
  • 100% searched for a person by name.
  • 34.5% of people Googled a person they may do business with.
  • 18.8% Googled someone within their organization ("Someone I don’t know in my organization, but am curious about")

When asked whom they most Googled in the last month, 63.3% said they checked out the same people in their organization, as above.

And how often do people Google someone?

  • 32.3% said they do it several times a month.
  • 22.6% said they do it many times a week.

But here’s what’s equally interesting. People sent me emails about
whom they Googled, many admitting they regularly Google themselves. One
user said he Googles someone 25-40 times a month! Others wrote to say
they look up potential employers, social contacts, someone being
profiled (a media person’s response.)

What this might mean: People seem to be placing enormous
weight on online reputation systems, and even ranking. We didn’t ask
respondents if they were looking for negative or positive factors, but
from the tone of the emails and open-ended answers, combined with the
stats above, a picture emerges: we do worry about what might pop up -at
least when we Google (or Yahoo) ourselves!

People also seem to be doing some degree of due diligence about whom
they come into contact with, or may be doing business with, using
search engines to gather some ‘context’ before they meet a company, a
potential employer, or a date. At the enterprise level, given the
potential for organizations to leave unsightly digital trails, we see a
whole industry of media monitoring, and reputation management taking
off.

What do you think of all this?

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Thinking beyond the iPhone

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Iphone
Al Ries must be keeping his fingers crossed.

Now that the blogosphere and the media is all abuzz about the iPhone’s activation problems, the Positioning guru must wonder if he is right, after all.

Before the launch, he had declared that the iPhone was was "going to be a major disappointment" not in the activation department mind you, but because it was technology going off in the wrong direction. He believed that technology that took the path of divergence would succeed as it had in the past, but this new gizmo on the ‘convergence’ was bound to fail.

With all respect to Mr. Ries, I don’t think it’s good to predict  the future on the past. Not with Apple, the company that’s defied going with the flow. It’s got to where it is by not been fixated on the rear view mirror. Its Graphical User Interface was its way of sticking the middle finger at the geeky DOS world. It’s

A smart phone is a convergent phenomenon. I don’t have a problem with that. It happens to look like a phone, but it is anything but.  Even before the iPhone, we were able to do a Google search, maintain contact databases, use text messaging and email, and play music on these convergent devices. Millions of users didn’t think it was headed in the wrong direction. Why? Because the interface simplified their lives.   

If you’ve been awed by the iPhone’s stunning multi-touch interface, Jeff Hann’s multi-touch sensing demo will give you a glimpse of where we are headed. It’s not on a phone. But it’s guaranteed to blow your mind!

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The other Olympic logo, and what it teaches us about checking with Joe Public first.

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

 Vancouver2010_2
Discussing what constitutes a good logo, is as safe as discussing what makes up a great cup of tea.

In the latter, it’s anything from the leaf structure, to the mountain elevation in which the shrub is grown, to the fermemtation process of the dry leaf, the water in which it is brewed, the milk you add, to the ritual (and crockery used) in serving the beverage. Tastes change, and ultimately it’s the end user’s perception rather than the ‘tea taster‘s’ that is relevant.

The Vancouver logo could add some perspective. It wasn’t "awarded’ to an agency, but was the result of a competition opened to the public, in the early spirit of, you know, user-generated content. There too, people weren’t happy. (It was called the ‘offspring of the Michelin Man, among other things!)

But there was a difference. In Vancouver, it was the design community that protested most. In the UK it was the hoi polloi that was livid–who said the logo looked like "two characters from The Simpsons engaged in a sexual act!"

Vancouver threw the logo design open to anyone. The brief specified that the logo must."

  • Capture and reflect the unique image and spirit of Canada, Vancouver and Whistler
  • Capture both Canada’€™s passion for winter sport, and the energy and excitement of the Olympic Winter Games
  • Reflect Canada’s love and commitment towards our spectacular natural environment
  • Embody Canada’s values and aspirations, celebrating our diversity and inclusiveness
  • Provide a broad symbolic platform for interpretive storytelling – an emblem that can convey a range of meanings

The winners explained that it represented the "inukshuk" or €œthat which stands in the capacity of a person" — a sort of a guide to help people find their way through the
wilderness. It stands for friendship in Inuktitut.

What does the London logo stand for? It was left to Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the 2012 Olympic commitee, who defending it saying:

"We don’t do bland. This is not a bland city"

That’s it?

Joe Gomez, from the UK sent me this, calling it an ill-fitting jigsaw, and a broken window that is"jagged and wobbly to look good on their laptops, mobiles and TV screens."

If Sebastian Coe is the equivalent of the ‘tea taster,’ I would rather trust Joe Public -you know, people like Joe.

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What to do about Lodon’s ‘ugly’ 2012 Olympic logo

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Orangelondon2012
If you’ve been following the controversy over the 2012 Olympics logo, you’ll see a familiar pattern.

Many new logos, and brand names even, seem odd and –as Londoners complain– say nothing about them.

I have a strong opinion about this one. I think it’s not very inspiring. Vibrant, yes. But hey, I don’t live in London, and it’s easy to be critical when you’re not privy to the brief or the marketing context.

But beyond branding issues, it’s turning out to be a PR nightmare –with the organizers seeming to not want to listen to the protests.

I like the fact that they are now at least asking people to create and submit a logo design.

They welcome user generated content, with ‘downloadable ‘templates’ backed up by a huge section on the use of and removal of content. Yes, they will moderate comments, they say!

In defense of the edgy (or odd) logo, it appears to be in sync with their objectives:

  • "London 2012 will be a Games that make the most of exciting new technology to get people closer to the action.."
  • "The new emblem is dynamic, modern and flexible. It will work with new technology and across traditional and new media networks."

Ugc_1
As for what will happen when a logo isn’t working in isolation and has more context, this is how ordinary people are adapting it, and sending it off, not to the IOC site, but to Flickr.

And for a hilarious look at what might be taking place at Wolff Olins, the brand consultancy  that came up with the logo, click here.

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Marketing or PR: Which wants more control?

/ Angelo Fernando / 3 Comments

Do marketing and PR work in silos? Still? Whatever happened to our love affair with integrated marketing?

Jonah Bloom of Advertising Age has an interesting take on the convergence/divergence thing:

"Ad execs are also becoming more PR-like "listening to
influential consumers before crafting messages and are trying to
facilitate word-of-mouth programs — two tactics some PR practitioners
see as inherent to their discipline. "

At the same time,

"many companies’ PR executives, who once massaged other people’s
messages and left most content creation to the marketing department,
are now building and populating websites, social networks, message
boards, blogs, vlogs and podcasts. They’re no longer just
intermediaries; today they’re becoming media and message originators,
too."

But –and there a huge but– both don’t
share the same view about giving up control, even they have similar
communication and marketing goals. Marketers are more likely to give up
control than PR folk, he says.

Agree? Or violently disagree?

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Googling as ‘due diligence.’ Ever done it?

/ Angelo Fernando / 2 Comments


The folks at Harvard Business Review have a case they want
you to crack.

It’s called called "We Googled You" and is right up your street! It involves googling a potential employee as a background
check, and coming up with search results that could cost the candidate the job.

I think it’s a good what-if scenario not just from an HR
perspective, but about due diligence and reputation systems in the digital age.
What we ‘know’ based on search results, may not often be the complete picture.
Digital breadcrumbs that people leave behind may be skewed by the algorithm.
Would you do business or not with an organization based on its reputation you
find online?

We know that the blogosphere sometimes
gets it wrong; the posts remain, even after the facts have been disproved.

Back to the case study. A fictitious Mimi
Brewster, is googled after the interview, and her dossier turns up with
something no candidate would present at an interview. Problem? Or reality in the digital age?

The case study is open to anyone, and closes tomorrow, June 15th.

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Communicators prefer MySpace over other social networks.

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

Curious about the results of the survey on Social Networks ?

Of the nine social networks, MySpace has the most users. 32.1% consider themselves ‘Active Users.’
An equally high number, 25% are ‘Occasional Users.’

MyRagan and FaceBook nearly tie for second place –12% and 12.5%, respectively.

But…

More respondents claim to be ‘Occasional Users’ of LinkedIn (25%) than any other by a large margin.
In the open ended question, two respondents named Plaxo, and Zaadz as networks they use. (Plaxo, incidentally, is not a social network, per se, but a way to manage an online contact database.)

What does this tell us? My interpretation of these results:

1. For sure, we are experiencing social network overload, and people
are trying out many services, but eventually settle for one.
2. People seem comfortable being occasional users.
3. All these networks expecting us to make them our home page, or the first thing we check when we are online, are dreaming!
4. Communicators will abandon you if you don’t add value, and offer the same old, same old.

Note: This was a survey posted on the Friday before the
Labor Day weekend. Poor timing, I admit. But instead of wrapping it up
in one week, as I did in previous surveys, I kept it open for two. We
had much more respondents this time. Thanks for participating.

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