Richard Bailey, 9 February 2011www.prstudies.com | @behindthespin |

#prlecsm

Public Relations andSocial Media

About this lecture1. What’s changing ‘out there’ (media

landscape)?2. What’s changing inside the corporation?3. Where are the points of conflict and

contention?4. How is public relations evolving?

‘Online public relations is not linear. Stuff happens!’ Phillips and Young 2009

Media landscapeOnce: ‘filter then publish’Now: ‘publish then filter’ (Shirky 2008)

End of the era of mass media, being replaced by masses of media, even ‘me media’

Huffington Post (a blog) has more readers than many newspapers (sold for $315m in Feb 2011)

Facebook has 550 million+ users

21st century mediascape Macnamara 2010connectivity (rapidly approaching ubiquity),communities,co-creativity,collaboration,collective intelligence,communication (two-way not one-way),conducted as...conversation – that is, open discussion that

is authentic, not speeches, lectures, political propaganda, ‘spin’, or corporate-speak

Media evolution‘The late 19th and 20th centuries were dominated by mass media and mass communication that predominantly involved top-down, one-way distribution of information to ‘audiences’ which, in the main, had to passively accept what was given to them. Also, in the mass media model, organisations controlled the messages distributed.‘This has completely changed with development of Web 2.0-based social media.’

Macnamara 2010

Consumer mindset‘There’s no market for messages’This means the end of ‘interruption marketing’ A need for ‘permission marketing’ (Godin 1999)‘Markets are conversations’ (Cluetrain Manifesto

2000)Rise of activists and single-issue campaignsThe end of ‘command and control’?

‘The certainties of consumer expectations, behaviour, segmentation and communications that have underpinned marketing seem to have evaporated. Marketers are struggling to come to terms with splintering social structures, changing tastes and a fragmenting mediascape’. Professor Stephen Brown, Cranfield University

Internet communicationsOne-to-many (broadcast)TV, video, news, celebrity Tweet

One-to-one (conversation)IM, email, DM, Skype

Many-to-manyTwitter, forums, comments on popular blogs, Facebook groups

Many-to-oneRSS, aggregators

One-to-several (network)Blog, Facebook, Twitter, group email

‘The distinction between broadcast and communications used to be clear.’ Clay Shirky

Network complexity

c

a

d

eb

A small network of five members has ten connections.

A ten member network has 45connections; a 15 member network has 105.

‘A group’s complexity grows faster than its size’.

Shirky 2008

Command and control

Dom-inant

coalition

Traditional ‘command and control’ management

Changing organisational structure

Dom-inant

coalition

Networked communication

Based on Phillips and Young 2009

The conversation prism

Brian Solis

Corporate landscapeDownsize or die?Consider the rise of free, open source projects

(Linux, Wikipedia)What’s happening to command-and-control?

‘We see two schools of PR in practice today. One is the incumbent school of “command and control”. This school argues that companies should keep communicating in the same manner and with the same rules that they have always practiced... Some of the smartest are creating a new “listen and participate” school of thought in PR.’ Scoble and Israel 2006

Transparency‘Transparency ... implies openness,

communication and accountability.’ (Phillips and Young 2009)Radical transparency: the management

method whereby nearly all decision making is carried out publicly

Controlled transparency: the controlled posting and release of information to the internet

Institutional transparency: information about an organisation is made available by a wide range of authorities

PorosityInformation has always leaked out of

organisations, but it’s so much easier todayEmail, Twitter, blogs, Facebook, text messages

‘A motivated, informed and alert workforce is the best and probably the only defence against unintentional porosity’ (Phillips and Young 2009)

Porosity is not always bad; it can add to the authentic voice of the organisation

Internet agency‘Agency is the process of transformation of a

message as it is passed from one person to another online’ (Phillips and Young 2009)

Agency can and does change PR messagesControl of the message is lost as it enters the

network

Example: #getgraemeonaplane

TrustThere’s an abundance of media – but scarcity

of attention and trust

From Edelman Trust Barometer 2011

2. Setting objective

s

1. Audit

5. Results and evaluation

3. Strategy and plan

Where do we need

to be?

How do we get there?

How did we do?

Where are we now?

Source: Watson and Noble

4. Ongoing measurement

Are we getting there?

Planning Research & Evaluation

1: AuditThe internet is the first place we turn for

news, competitor and market insight, commentary and real-time views

What is being said about you on blogs, Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia and social networks?Twitter search for “Leeds Met”

What about your web server stats?What about Search Engine Optimisation?How do you compare with your competitors?

2: Setting objectivesSituational theory of publics becomes a valuable

segmentation model since publics are defined by issues rather than consumer behaviour

Are we trying to raise awareness, achieve engagement, change behaviour or all three?

What issues could cause us problems? Is risk and opportunity manageable?

‘Online objectives have to coincide with organizational objectives and values, and to do so in ways that will make both transparent to the world. In addition, these objectives need to chime with an online community that has plenty of other places to go.’ (Phillips and Young 2009)

3: Strategy and plan‘Aims and objectives for online activity have

to be part of a strategic, multi-participant, multi-media approach’ (Phillips and Young 2009)

‘The mass market/mass media mindset is hard to leave behind’ (Phillips and Young 2009)

The programme should be a mix of activities for old and new media (online media, media online)

Strategy is adaptable by nature

4: Ongoing measurementStrategy will include methodologies for

monitoring and reporting‘Online activity can be slow to take off. It can

also be explosive!’Have SEO goals been built in?What about link sharing and affiliate

marketing?

Risk and opportunities

Incr

ease

d lik

elih

ood

of ri

sk

Busi

ness

com

ple

xit

y

Technical complexity

Phillips and Young 2009

Risk and opportunities

Incr

ease

d im

pact

of r

isk

Busi

ness

cri

tica

lity

Campaign size

Phillips and Young 2009

Known unknownsWhat could go wrong that can be

anticipated?Risk analysis should be an ongoing process

Some things cannot be anticipated. There is no plan B.

But is there a monitoring and alert system in place?

Trust is a core element in managing the unforeseen.

Unknown unknowns

5: Results and evaluation ‘There are very good indicators that can

measure the public relations footprint of an organization.’Trends monitoring:

Website/blog visitor numbers Referrals (where the traffic is coming from) Inbound links Subscriptions (RSS)

Keyword monitoringNews monitoring and reporting

eg Cymfony, Radian6

The future of public relationsPublic relations practitioner becomes:Corporate communication specialistCommunity managerConversation managerPublic engagement championDigital brand consultantRelationship managerReputation managerRisk, issues, crisis manager

Job and career

opportunitiesWho do employers

recruit?

Case studiesASDA: social media strategyASOS Life : communityFirst Direct: social media newsroomShell: issues management and CSR

Recommended readingGillmor, D (2010) Mediactive, Lulu.com/Kindle/pdfGodin, S (1999) Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into

Friends, and Friends into Customers, Simon & Schuster Li, C and Bernoff, J (2008) Groundswell: winning in a world

transformed by social technologies, Harvard Business PressLevine, R,  Locke, C, Searls, D and Weinberger, D (2009)

The Cluetrain Manifesto: tenth anniversary edition Basic Books

Macnamara, J (2010) The 21st Media (R)evolution: Emergent Communication Practices, Peter Lang

Phillips, D and Young, P (2009) Online Public Relations: a practical guide to developing an online strategy in the world of social media, Kogan Page

Recommended readingScoble, R and Israel, S (2006) Naked Conversations: how

blogs are changing the way businesses talk with customers, Wiley 

Scott, D (2nd ed 2010) The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasts, Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly, Wiley 

Solis, B (2010) Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate and Measure Success in the New Web, Wiley

Shirky, C (2008) Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations

Thomas, M and Brain, D (2008) Crowd Surfing: Suriving and thriving in the age of consumer empowerment, A & C Black