There is an interesting piece in Mashable about @SilentClark, who has decided to remain silent for a month. He’s only communicating through social media as a fundraising effort. It’s an interesting approach and one that is breaking through the clutter to generate some media attention for @SilentClark.
I just read one of the best blog posts ever at lostremote.com. Before I get into that, I have to say that I just discovered lostremote.com today and love it. It is definitely on my must read list now.
The post is by Steve Safran and it is a worthwhile read for any communicator – whether in house, agency or consultant. In this piece, Steve talks about the importance for PR people to develop a good pitch: “signal not noise.” It goes on to talk about how we, as communicators, deal with the challenge of perception. If the CEO believes being on TV is a good thing, then it’s our job to get him or her on TV…or is it?
In yesterday’s post, I talked a bit about the information my friend and colleague Della Smith presented at the CPRS event this week. One of the key points she made was the value of establishing your credibility with the senior team. I think that Della’s point fits well with Steve’s. I see our role as helping to inform our clients – or if you’re in house, your CEO or senior executive – of the value of certain types of coverage from online to TV to newspaper. It’s not always an easy thing to do. Let’s face it, we’re in a shifting world, one that we’re still learning about. That makes for a challenge when you are presenting the rationale to your client or senior executive about why being profiled in a blog or doing video blogs is of value, compared to say, being profiled on the local morning news.
Our friend and colleague Della Smith of Della’s Q Workshops gave an excellent presentation last night for the Canadian Public Relations Society. In the presentation, Della discussed how a communicator can (and should) integrate social media into the communications plan for their organization.
Della and I have developed an interactive workshop for organizations that addresses the challenge that communicators face: How do you integrate social media into your communications plan? This workshop is unique because it takes participants through the planning process and, at the end, they walk away with a first draft of a communications plan that supports their organization’s overall objectives. It’s a working session that educates, informs and creates an end result that will be used. It provides the opportunity to put social media where it belongs, as a part of the overall communications strategy – as a tool.
Della’s approach last night was focused on strategy and, even though Della and I spend lots of time discussing this area, I found the session very valuable. From my experience speaking with clients and other communications professionals, there is a misperception around social media and its role.
We are often asked to develop a social media strategy for clients. In my opinion, you can’t develop a social media strategy. You need to develop a communications strategy that includes a social media component. Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, video, podcast, blogs – whatever you use, it’s a tool. Just like a newsletter, town hall meeting, event or news release. All tools or tactics need to support your overall strategy.
The online world has given us more options and more opportunity. The pace, response time and language may have changed, but at the core of everything we do as communicators is strategy.
Some of you will be excited, others will be freaked out. Have a look at the video called Social Media Revolution 2 (Refresh). It’s an update to the first video that received nearly 1.9 million views on YouTube.
The information that stuck with me most is: “The ROI of social media is your business will still exist in five years.”
Some of the stats are truly mind-boggling and definitely worth a few minutes of your time. It will definitely get you thinking!
Stats Canada recently released new information on how many people in Canada use the Internet on a regular basis. The Vancouver Sun has an overview on it here.
According to Stats Canada, in 2009 usage jumped up to 80% (or 21.7 million Canadians) up from 73% in 2007. The increase shouldn’t come as a big surprise to anyone.