Cobblers’ children? PR and blogs

Sally Whittle has some interesting observations on how well (or not) PR companies do at keeping their own blogs updated and interesting.

It raises some good questions: do PR agencies need to be active in all areas of social media to qualify as experts in the area? Do we have to maintain blogs, twitter feeds, Facebook groups and flickr profiles? Is blogging evidence enough in itself that we ‘get’ this space?

Without doubt, if we do this stuff ourselves, it helps us give our clients advice on how they should do it – but I suspect that in an attempt to be seen as cutting edge, PR teams are trying to take on more than they can manage effectively. But what we do, we need to do well.

Participating in social media is not just about being seen, but being heard – and building relationships. Potential clients will Google you. They’ll skim through your Twitter posts; check out your Facebook page, your LinkedIn profile, blog and website to get the truth behind the pitch, just as any modern recruiter would do for a candidate. We should be incorporating social media into our overall marketing plans and insuring that we:

1) Only participate in social media that is truly relevant (how many micro-blogging services do we need?)
2) Actively participate by updating our own blogs and profiles whilst contributing to others
3) “Trimming the fat” – regularly assessing what we have signed up to and its assessing its true value
4) Make sure that whatever you take on, you do well.

We’re all guilty of not doing all this – even the biggest agencies. Certainly my new year’s resolution is to spend more time focusing on social media that really works well for me, and for Carrot.

America decides

So the election with what seems like the longest preamble in history is finally upon us. Today is the day that Americans get to vote on the next leader of the free world.

This election campaign is historic. For the obvious reasons - of course - of race, gender, a vice-presidential canditate under investigation until the 11th hour, record amounts of money raised despite (or because of?) the economic crisis. But also for the way that social media has been used by both campaigns.

Voters and candidates alike are twittering, blogging and being your friend on Facebook. They are posting You Tube videos and texting rally cries to get out and vote. Even the traditional podium debates have achieved their widest audiences on record - watched not just on TV, but online, the primary battlefield of this election.

Does this teach us anything about our own campaigns? Okay, our clients may not be running for president. But we are devising communiations campaigns to precipitate action. To engage in debate. We should be taking a lead from the US election campaigns in how to use social media to create advocates of action.

Nokia - PR accident or comment spam?

Nokia appears to have been caught out comment spamming – possibly the work of an over-eager PR person trying to build links and Nokia’s word of mouth PR programme (though this is not certain at the time of writing).

It’s a timely reminder that as part of every agency’s basic account handler training, they should include how to use social media programmes responsibly (and legally). It is increasingly difficult for companies to keep a handle on everything that is being emailed / posted on public forums by eager account handlers, so educating them at the outset of the campaign before you get caught out.

Will sueing make Absolut cool again?

Absolut Vodka is suing Absolute Radio for infringement of its trademark. What’s going on? Last I knew, absolute was an everyday descriptive word (to use trademark language). As you can’t trademark everyday descriptive words in the UK, I’m not sure how it will infringe on Absolut’s trademark.

Although I can understand Absolut trying to claw back its ‘we used to be achingly cool when we were only sold in style bars’ image (and therefore not wanting to be associated with an endless stream of Coldplay and Keane), I’m guessing people can tell the difference between a radio station and a vodka brand.

Oh, and the process of suing makes you look more corporate powerhouse than style brand.

Media shame

Showing an unusually optimistic side to my character, I had hoped that the days of ‘are we being run by a gay mafia’ (The Sun) reporting were over. But the return of Peter Mandelson to politics has shown an unpleasant side to media reporting that seems to be setting us back 10 years. Extra-marital affairs, prostitutes and nazi-themed orgies aside, few straight public figures are subjected to the level of snide comments that Lord M finds himself having to put up with.

While he has had his share of controversy, none of it as far as I know has had any relevance to his sexuality, about which he has always chosen to remain private. Love him or hate him, there is no excuse for the kind of reporting that sees him referred to as ‘Dandy Lord Mandy’, ‘sashaying’ into the House of Lords (and worse), Brown’s ‘new darling’; or that takes snipes at his long-term partner.