Online Communications Archives - Page 17 of 34

Planning Out Social Media Engagement

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 that social media can’t be controlled. That’s an important shift and one that is opening up new approaches to social media.

I came across this interesting case study on how Texas Instruments works with employees to help them understand social media and their role online. This U.S.-based organization is providing training for employees, helping them to become conversation agents.

There is a balance that needs to happen for social media to work in any size organization. In a larger one, it does take some additional planning. There is an expectation that those participating in social media on behalf of an organization or brand will have some freedom to be themselves, to share information and stories about the organization and their role there, and to authentically engage. As important as that it, it is also crucial that anyone representing your brand or organization understands what is acceptable and what isn’t. If you don’t let employees know what is ok to share and what isn’t, you aren’t providing them with the proper knowledge to participate effectively on social media sites.

What happens when 100 or 1000 people are social media ambassadors for your organization? How can a communications team make sure that valuable, relevant, interesting information is being shared? That’s where training and planning comes in. A great outreach campaign isn’t random, it’s effective and efficient – and great content needs to be planned out. This doesn’t mean that individuals can’t be themselves, but it means that they aren’t tripping over each other and they are providing information that matter to stakeholders – which is the main reason you are using social media, right?

Get organized, define your voice, identify your boundaries, plan out your content like a magazine or TV news show would and your stakeholders will be much more interested in what your organization has to say on social media sites.

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At our Vancouver PR agency, we’re big fans of Ragan.com and we love surveys and reports. That means that today was a great Monday, when I saw the daily Ragan PR news come in and there was a piece entitled 3 Social Media Challenges For Communicators To Face by 2015. And it is backed up by a report.

If you are interested in building an online community or network, this is an important piece to read. It has some solid information on the benefits and challenges, and along with being able to download the entire report, you can also download a tips and hints document.

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Recently, we at AHA have been working with several clients to develop communications strategies that include social media and issue and crisis components. The clients are in diverse industry sectors and have very different stakeholder groups. For each organization, we had to define what engagement meant for their specific “community” when it comes to traditional public relations outreach and for social media.

That’s an important definition to make – what engagement means to your stakeholders or community. For some, engagement is truly a verb and they are very active in participating – responding and creating opportunities for conversation, discussion and, yes, even discourse. In fact, for some stakeholder groups, discourse, disagreement and even conflict drive them. It doesn’t necessarily mean that their organization or brand is perceived negatively. It does mean that they live in an active world, where ongoing communication is key. In this type of environment, it is crucial for an organization to be proactive in keeping stakeholders up-to-date. It is important to participate in online and real world conversations about their industry, field of expertise or what their organization is doing in areas of concern or importance.

There are many ways that people participate online. Some are more active – like content creators (there can be a real opportunity for your organization to effectively engage with this group), some comment or participate, and some just consume.

Not every organization has a stakeholder group that falls into a nice, neat demographic range. (In fact, with a few exceptions, I can say that for the most part, AHA clients have external communities that are incredibly diverse.) It’s important to have an overall communications strategy, and it’s equally important when you are working out the tactics and tools that you look at the groups and subgroups within your stakeholder group. Facebook contests may work to move some of your community to participate, but others may just be following along and not participating at all.

If a campaign that you recently ran didn’t hit the participation numbers you were expecting, it may be because some of your stakeholders are not participants. Defining what segments of your stakeholder group are likely to participate fully, to comment or respond, or whether they may be following along – even sharing information and telling people about the campaign, contest or event – without “joining in” before you launch is important for measurement. Asking yourself what segment of your stakeholder group you want to connect with and can realistically expect to connect with – and how that will happen – is an important component of the planning process.

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AHA Creative Strategies is participating in #Blog4NZ, a three-day blogging extravaganza that spotlights New Zealand as a fabulous tourist destination. (To see other tweets and posts from travel bloggers around the world, visit Twitter here.)

As the Canadian PR agency for Tourism New Zealand, we connect with Canadian travel journalists on a regular basis. We work with Tourism New Zealand to create the opportunity for leading travel journalists to visit New Zealand and to share their experience with their readers and/or audience. Recently, we have been fortunate to have received coverage about New Zealand in The Toronto Star, Canada AM, The Vancouver Sun, The Globe and Mail, Sympatico.ca, Canoe.ca and The Discovery Channel and many others.

Without fail, what we hear back from travel journalists that visit New Zealand is how incredible the country is, how beautiful the landscape is, how delicious the food is, how amazing the wine is and how many things there are to do in New Zealand. One of the fabulous things about New Zealand is that there is something for everyone.

Below is an article that we wrote and distributed free of charge to media across Canada. Hope you enjoy it!

Five Things You Might Not Know About New Zealand

You probably know New Zealand for its adventure, adrenalin, and the great outdoors, but there are also a lot of interesting things that most people might not realize. Here are five fun, funky, and unforgettable things about the land of the long white cloud.

The South Island city of Dunedin celebrates chocolate for a whole week during the Dunedin Cadbury Chocolate Carnival (July 11 – 17, 2010). One of the highlights has organizers letting two sets of 25,000 Jaffas loose. As the chocolate candies roll down Baldwin Street – the steepest street in the world – thousands of spectators eagerly await their arrival. (Just for the record, Dunedin is known as the “quirky capital of New Zealand” and this small city also boasts the country’s only annual naked rugby game.)

North Island’s Napier is known as the “Art Deco City” and maintains that title because of the local Art Deco Trust. The buildings in Napier underwent massive reconstruction after an earthquake in 1931, which almost leveled the city. Art Deco was in fashion at the time and it greatly influenced the rebuilding. Now Napier and South Beach in Miami, Florida are considered the two best preserved Art Deco towns in the world.

New Zealand is well-known for wine tours and tastings, but for those who like their drink with a little hop, there are also a wide range of microbreweries and brewery tours. For beer aficionados, there are many different types to choose from including North Island’s Galbraith’s Alehouse in Auckland, Waiheke Island Brewery on Waiheke Island, and Sunshine Brewery in Gisborne. The South Island brew opportunities include The Twisted Hop in Christchurch, Moa Brewery in Blenheim, and Bays Brewery in Nelson. Asking what local microbrew to try in any local bar or pub is sure to make you new friends.

New Zealand is predator-free, which means no cougars, bears, wolves or snakes. A walk in the forest is much less worrisome than a stroll in the woods in North America. There’s nothing waiting up around that bend except more flora and fauna, and perhaps a waterfall.

And last, but certainly not least, New Zealand makes exceptional espresso-based coffee drinks. According to locals, it has only been over the past five years or so that the country has embraced great coffee. (But when Kiwis decide to do something, they do it right!) Even in little out of the way coffee shops, you can get an exceptional Americano, latte, cappuccino or flat white (similar to a “wet” cappuccino). The best of the best are honoured at the annual New Zealand Coffee Awards.

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