Online newsrooms, brand journalism and Gillian Shaw

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on September 28th, 2011

I was fortunate enough to attend a Vancouver CPRS breakfast event where Gillian Shaw, Digital Life Reporter for The Vancouver Sun, spoke about what it is like to be a journalist in the age of social media. It was an excellent event – well run, interesting and I walked away feeling like I had learned something valuable. Gillian Shaw is an excellent speaker – full of knowledge, authentic and she gives the audience information, knowledge and her experience. She isn’t there to impress, she is there to share and provide insight. (Which means she ends up…

Social media – first steps

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on September 26th, 2011

We have had several new business meetings over the past week or so and the discussion always turns to what the organization can be doing in regard to social media.

Not everyone is ready to leap into social media full throttle, but it is important to start the process of listening. See what people in your industry/area of expertise are doing online. Pay attention to the conversations that are happening. It’s a good first step into connecting with your specific community.

Have a critical look at your website. We often get clients calling and asking for a social media strategy…

Crisis communications and social media

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on September 06th, 2011

There is a great article on Ragan.com that focuses on the results of a study that says most companies are not prepared for a social media crisis. It’s worth a read.

How and when an organization responds and reaches out using traditional communications vehicles and through social media is crucial. One of the challenges is that social media has turned the world into a 24/7 news cycle. Many organizations aren’t prepared for that. How do you strategically and authentically respond if you aren’t prepared?

There are many steps an organization can take to put processes in place…

How to sell social media to the C-suite

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on August 29th, 2011

It might seem archaic to those of us living in a social media world, but not everyone sees the benefit or value. We often hear from communications professionals that they want to incorporate social media into their overall communications strategy, but they can’t get buy in from their senior executive team. It’s not as unusual an occurrence as you might think. And if it’s happening to you – you aren’t alone.

When we work with clients that have this challenge, we focus on what the senior team needs to hear. While every team has its own idiosyncrasies, there are some…

Who Should ‘Own’ Social Media?

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on July 11th, 2011

Social media has changed the game for everyone in the marketing, PR and advertising world. There is a different approach to how we communicate and what consumers expect from a brand or organization.

Social media is a big part of what we do at AHA. Whether a client organization should participate in different areas of social media or not depends on the organization, their stakeholder groups and their communication objectives. However, every communications plan that we develop has a social media component to it – at the very least for monitoring the conversations online.

We often partner with ad agencies…

What Does Google+ Mean For You?

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on July 06th, 2011

There is always something new in the world of social media. Google+ is a new opportunity (or challenge, depending on your perspective) in this arena. At AHA, we are in the middle of checking out Google+ and what it will mean for our clients and for us, as a PR agency.

I was thrilled to come across this piece by Shel Holtz on the implications of Google+ for public relations and marketing. It’s definitely worth a read.

Planning Out Social Media Engagement

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on April 25th, 2011

At our Vancouver PR agency we have been working with several clients to define social media usage policies and strategies. While each organization is different – and the policies and strategies need to reflect that – it is interesting to see the trends in how social media is being perceived and use today. It is certainly more commonplace as organizations from government to large private companies to small businesses move towards integrating social media into their overall marketing and communications outreach. For some organizations it appears that throughout the organization – including the senior executive – there is a better understanding…

Is Your Blog Still Relevant?

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on February 21st, 2011

There has been a great deal of discussion regarding a Pew Internet study that says that young people are moving away from blogging and are more focused on using Facebook and Twitter.

The New York Times has an interesting piece on it as well.

We have had an interesting discussion on this study and the response it has received here in our Vancouver PR agency. While the report itself does show that young people prefer the fast, short updates provided by Facebook and Twitter – it appears to me that we are missing some context here. While Facebook…

Social Media is a Part of Your Communications Strategy

Posted by Paul Holman of AHA Creative Strategies on January 28th, 2011

Social Media is a Part of Your Communications Strategy from AHA Creative on Vimeo.

In today’s video, Ruth talks about social media as a part of your overall communications strategy.

Social Media Networks & Opportunities

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on January 04th, 2011

Happy 2011.  We are happy to be back at work here at our Vancouver PR agency. We loved the break, but we’re ready to get back to business and we think 2011 is going to be an exceptional year!

There was an excellent blog post on SEOmoz.org that created some discussion in the AHA office today. The post talks about the importance of looking at a range of social media networks and opportunities, and ensuring that you don’t get caught up in the “Facebook and Twitter are the only tools out there” attitude.

It has…