Public Relations

I’ve worked in the public relations business for 20 years providing service to local, regional and global companies.Before that I was a journalist working in radio/television news. When I made the leap to pr, I came to learn that too many business professionals think the profession is only about working with reporters. They think the “P” stand for press. Truth is that’s just a small part of what we do.

The “P” in pr is for public, or audiences you need to talk to about your business, non-profit or brand. Like others in my business, we work enhance the reputation and image of a company’s brand through word and deed. How? We create a strategic plan that outlines business goals and then addresses audiences. This list is often long and should be inclusive. Reporters are just one audience on that list.

So who else is included in a public relations plan? Here’s one list recently created for client:

• Employees
• Sub contractors and/or preferred partners
• Vendors
• Clients
• Past clients
• Prospect clients
• Reporters

A great public relations strategy creates a company story and communication tools that start from inside any company. That means employees should always be the first to know. They are, after all, first on this list. How many times do you hear people talking about how they read about what’s happening at their company from the Internet or newspaper—the press?

Does that create good-will among employees? Heck no!

The press should be the last to know… your publics come first… your employees, customers and anyone closest to your brand, business and revenue should always be first on your line of communication.

If you want a great public relations strategy, rethink who you’re communicating to first. The rest will listen and follow.

In our client marketing work through my CH Communications partnership, we often talk about how the brand translates to company culture and employee actions. Last week I had to take a last minute trip to Florida. I checked flight costs and schedules and chose Southwest. I hadn’t flown Southwest for years. I stayed away from the airline because I despised the boarding system that was utter chaos. But the flights were cheap and I had to get to Florida fast for an emergency.

Wow was I surprised at the changes in the boarding system. If you haven’t flown Southwest recently, flyers can print out the boarding pass ahead of time (A-B-C with a number). Then there are posts at the gate that correspond. There were even special laptop areas where I could plug in and manage email messages before boarding.

On board the flight crew was attentive, funny and nice. YES I said nice. Recent experiences with other airlines have proven complete the opposite. From grumpy flight crews to attendants checking-in bags. Who needs that! Southwest even chose to hold our flight for 20 minutes so we didn’t leave passengers who were connecting and delayed. Now that’s an idea! Be nice to the customer.

Bottom line, I’m a convert. And I appreciate a brand that actually has employees that exemplify its core messages. Do you and your company?

While reviewing the Sunday New York Times yesterday a front page bottom of the fold article caught my eye… The Tell-All Generation Learns to Keep Things Offline.

HMMM…

As a cusper-generational person leaning toward the bottom of the Baby Boomers I had to read on. Turns out an about to be released Pew study of 2,253 adults late last year finds people ages 18 to 29 were more apt to monitor privacy settings than older adults. They also more often delete comments or remove names from photos.

Perhaps I’m younger than I thought! I figured out quickly how to do it when I signed up for Facebook and other social networks. Glad I did. Soon after I started on Facebook, a high school photo was posted, I was tagged. I wasn’t doing anything odd in the photo (promise!)–just an innocent person sitting in the football stands. The people behind me were, well, acting very high school and a statement was made in the photo caption that wasn’t appropriate. Quickly a current friend made a comment, too (we all of those friends!), and I pulled it all!I also mentioned something to the current friend who was very understanding. He confessed he wasn’t thinking when he typed in the words on the keyboard.

Lesson learned!

If you haven’t checked out privacy settings in Facebook, do. They are very user friendly. You can only allow friends to see photos, only allow friends to access your profile and so on. Facebook also allows you to manage the access settings when you post photos. If you forget do it after. I only wish there could be one more evolution to segment friends by business, personal and so on. Perhaps a feature soon.

Another observation I’ve discussed with friends and colleagues… social networks are similar to being in a crowded room. If you would say whatever you post in a room full of people–go for it! If you wouldn’t… then stop tapping on the keyboard! We were recently on vacation with a large group of friends. One friend was snapping photos and posting them from the beach. I joked with him (but was serious) asking him to not take my photo. I said, “I really don’t want people knowing we’re not at home. We’ll get robbed.” Everyone stopped and said… “HA. She’s right!”

Turns out it doesn’t matter the generation… it’s just smart to keep somethings offline.

Social media is all the rage, yet I keep reading information and statistics that show people are jumping off the band wagon. So what’s the answer? Should you jump on or off the social media wagon?

Here’s the bitter truth…

First social media is one tactic within the larger Web 2.0 (evolving to 3.0) strategy.

Research by Nielsen shows that global consumer usage of social media sites rose by 82% this past year, while in the US average time per person spent on Facebook and Twitter in December 2009 rose by 143% year over year.

BUT

USA Today recently reported some consumers are giving up social media even as overall usage expands.

Dust me off, but I’m old enough to remember computer green screens, no cell phones and certainly no Internet. Each time a new media is released, early adopters jump on the band wagon often discovering for themselves if the tool is right for them or not. If it’s the latter… off they go.

Perhaps the stats above are simply showing the plateau as new media is developed, released, used and discarded by some. Bottom line, we cannot ignore the social media revolution. As I listen to pundits and read the latest research on usage, the truth is it’s going to continue to evolve and change. Keep up!

Ask how Web sites, SEO, Social Media (Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn), blogging and more fit into your business strategy and marketing/communications campaign. Ask yourself if you have the capacity—time—for the tools. Could they meet a business goal? Learn and use.

The truth is, I have clients who’ve resisted. Then when they’ve tried the tools that could work for them, they do! The truth is no one will know if you’re doing it right or wrong because they’re trying to figure it out, too.

I’d love to hear about tools you’re using and how they impact you business—positively.