03.29.06
Posted in General at 9:51 pm by Paloma Cruz
Before there were blogs, there were personal journals and bulletin boards and usenets and mailing lists. Before there were blogs, I monitored the Web, I tracked conversations in what is now Google Groups and I subscribed to popular mailing lists to see what was being said about my clients.
Now, thanks to the improvements in search engines and the availability of RSS feeds (customizable), my job has gotten much easier. Now, thanks to the ease of creation and maintenance of blogs, my job has gotten much bigger.
A little over a year ago I wrote about a strange lunch where a room full of PR professionals didn’t know the first thing about blogs. A month ago I attended a workshop where the topic of discussion was the benefits of monitoring what is being said about you and your organization online.
Are we still debating the merits of watching the Web? That alone scares me. The question in your organization shouldn’t be whether or not you shoud be watching the Web. The question you should be asking is: who in your organization is monitoring your online reputation? If you don’t have an answer, you need to take a moment.
The conversation I reference above:
This comes two weeks after a strange conversation I had with a group of public relations professionals about using blogs to promote an issue campaign.
In public relations networking is practically a law. For me, networking with other public relations professionals has always been helpful. I make good connections for future projects, have a group of people to bounce ideas against, and get caught up on what other PR people are doing to get the job done.
At a lunch a few weeks ago, one of my colleagues was asking for feedback on ways to promote a new issue campaign her organization began recently. The lunch crowd on that day was small, only six or seven people, myself included. We all gave her ideas, based mostly on things we’d done ourselves previously that had generated good results. All was well until I suggested to her that she do a search for blogs covering her topic to pitch the story to them.
Silence.
“I don’t really know what a blog is,” she told me. A statement that, frankly, flabbergasted me. In a world where bloggers are making the list of journalists to watch, and where Sony is dishing out $25,000 a month for exclusive advertising rights on a blog, the idea that someone who promotes for a living didn’t know what they are surprised me. When all but one of the PR professionals there on that day said the same thing, I was shocked.
It got worse.
The one person who said she knew what a blog was called them online diaries, in condescending tones. She spoke briefly about her experience with one, years ago, and how she started a blog, lost interest and let go of the project.
I cut her off before she did any more damage. I lectured for several minutes on the use of business blogs, blogging for public relations and the new order of online journalism. I talked about the necessity of adding blogs for customer relations, the immediacy of providing information in this manner and the personal touch this adds to an otherwise impersonal relationship with customers.
Blank stares.
“You know more about this than anybody I’ve met,” I was told. It wasn’t a compliment.
A few years ago my biggest concern was the new crop of public relations professional that didn’t know what AP stood for. (By the way, that’s Associated Press… and please don’t ask me why that’s important.) Today, it’s the crop of PR people who aren’t paying attention to how society as a whole is consuming information. Small bytes, niched and specialized, targeted and directed, most of all, it’s consumer-driven.
I do this for a living.
Wow! I do do this for a living.
By the way, check out Andy Beal’s Online Reputation Monitoring Beginners Guide if you want to get started and haven’t already.
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03.28.06
Posted in General at 6:28 am by Paloma Cruz
What are you rights when the media comes knocking? According to the Rockford Register Star, you should expect to have an engaging discussion, “beneficial to both parties, no matter what the topic is.”
What else? Apparently, when a reporter calls you, you have the right to:
- Know the topic of the interview.
- Know the angle of the story.
- Know whom else the reporter is talking to.
- Know who is conducting the interview.
- Know where and when the interview will take place and how long the reporter expects to take.
- Know when the story will run.
Are these “rights” or just a good to do list?
While none of these rights guarantee that you will like the end result of the interview, they will help prepare you for the discussion.
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03.27.06
Posted in General at 11:09 pm by Paloma Cruz
SCOUT Corporate Blogging has “10 Tips for Becoming a Great Corporate Blogger” to help you become a better blogger.
Successful blogging is not just about being the best writer on the web or even the most prolific. Being a successful blogger is about creating a connection with an audience by providing relevant content, nurturing that relationship with comments and links and keeping the dialogue flowing. Here are ten tips to get you started.
The condensed version of the list:
- Understand the fundamentals of Blogger Relations
- Create value
- Grow and sustain your audience by providing real analysis
- Report on community opinion
- Respond with comments to build relationships and traffic
- Track your conversations
- Don’t be afraid of criticism
- Conduct interviews to generate content and ideas
- Promote your blog
- Monitor the web for brand names and references
Found via LifeHacker.
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03.21.06
Posted in General at 11:01 pm by Paloma Cruz
I tagged this story because I wanted to get back to it at some point and give my comments. It’s been waiting for a little bit.
The KPRC Local 2 Troubleshooters e-mailed surveys to more than 18,000 employees at the Houston Independent School District, the area’s largest district. The survey asked teachers, principals and staff about violence on campus in an effort to get an inside look at what is really going on at school.
But hours after the survey was sent, HISD tried to stop the story, criticizing the Troubleshooters for asking the questions directly to the employees and ordering employees not to respond.
The story covers the results from the respondents they did receive. They do a good job of making it sound like HISD didn’t want employees to respond because they aren’t interested in the results. At no time is the HISD policy about dealing with the media discussed at all.
There’s very little room for gray area in what HISD posted about their policies:
The Press Office shall coordinate news coverage of the school district. The department is responsible for overseeing official communications between the school system and the news media by initiating story ideas as well as facilitating requests for news coverage from media representatives and district personnel.
The Press Office provides assistance and training to school administrators regarding effective relations with the news media.
The Superintendent of Schools (or a designee) serves as the primary spokesperson for the district on all matters of districtwide interest. The President of the Board of Education serves as the primary spokesperson for the Board of Education. The district superintendent is the primary spokesperson regarding issues related to the schools in his or her individual district. The principal is the primary spokesperson regarding issues related to his or her individual school.
All news conferences and public events of a districtwide nature in which news coverage is requested must be coordinated by or through the Press Office. District personnel should submit story ideas to the Press Office as early as possible prior to the desired coverage date.
Sounds to me like the press tried to circumvent HISD procedures and then HISD had to remind employees what they were supposed to do (or not do). How shocking! The school district tried to enforce policies that have been in place for quite a while. Policies that are well-known and easily-obtained.
Of course, all of this is speculation based on 10-12 years of doing what I do.
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Posted in General at 6:53 am by Paloma Cruz
I’m a big fan of pointing you to others who know when I don’t. Mike’s Points covers Corporate Blogging 101 in a way that’s good enough to share.
- Have an internal blogging policy in place
- Choose the software or blogging service
- Plan the blog’s look
- Plan the contents, at least the initial ones.
- There should be strong collaboration between the corporate executive(s) blogging and the company’s public relations personnel
- Post at least twice a week
- Post for one or two months before aggressively promoting the blog
Of course, their post covers details.
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03.20.06
Posted in General at 10:28 pm by Paloma Cruz
“Do’s and don’ts of corporate blogging” from CNN Money.com:
- First, know thyself
- Then, know your audience
- Engage your audience
- Stay current
- Cover your rear
Found via MicroPersuasion.
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Posted in General at 12:24 pm by Paloma Cruz
SCOUT Backbone Media, Inc. has posted “10 Tips for Becoming a Great Corporate Blogger.”
Successful blogging is not just about being the best writer on the web or even the most prolific. Being a successful blogger is about creating a connection with an audience by providing relevant content, nurturing that relationship with comments and links and keeping the dialogue flowing. Here are ten tips to get you started.
Here’s the short version of the list:
- Understand the fundamentals of Blogger Relations
- Create value
- Grow and sustain your audience by providing real analysis
- Report on community opinion
- Respond with comments to build relationships and traffic
- Track your conversations
- Don’t be afraid of criticism
- Conduct interviews to generate content and ideas
- Promote your blog
- Monitor the web for brand names and references
Found via MicroPersuasion.
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Posted in General at 10:09 pm by Paloma Cruz
I like this quote, recently picked up from On Message:
Sometimes, you just have to ignore what people are saying or writing about you.
Good advice. What this covers is advice about whether PR pros should respond to bloggers. Actually, should we respond to negative blogging?
Analyze first, then decide about responding
The key to blog monitoring is thoughtful analysis. What is being said? Who is saying it? What relationship does that person have to our organization? What is the blogger’s agenda and how does that color his/her point of view?
You must answer those questions before you can consider whether to engage the blogger via comments, trackbacks or e-mail.
Then, you must determine whether or not you can solve the problem or smooth over a situation. Taking on a blogger without the capability of fixing the issue is just asking for trouble.
Amen! Sometimes, it’s best just to say nothing. Reacting without a plan, every time someone says something negative about you, your organization or your product is asking for trouble.
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03.06.06
Posted in General at 12:59 pm by Paloma Cruz
Since my boss was let go a couple of weeks ago, and since her replacement isn’t in place yet, my weekly meeting quota has gone up significantly. As a professional communicator I know that meeting time is essential. However, it’s a bittersweet task. Whatever you accomplish in the meeting only means more work, a longer “to do” list and more projects to take on. And when I already have several hundred things on my “to do” list already, the last thing I want is more.
Productivity, effectiveness and getting things done have taken on an entirely new importance in my daily life.
42 Folders has 9 tips for running more productive meetings that seem helpful:
- Circulate an agenda
- Have a theme
- Set (and honor) times for beginning, ending, and breaks
- No electronic grazing. Period.
- Schedule guests
- Be a referee and employ a time-keeper
- Stay on target
- Follow up
- Be consistent
The one I think will help the most is “No electronic grazing. Period.”
Laptops closed. Phones off. Blackberries left back in the cube. You’re either at the meeting or you’re not at the meeting, and few things are more distracting or disruptive than the guy who has to check his damned email every five minutes. Schedule breaks for people to fiddle with their toys, but fearlessly enforce a no grazing rule once the meeting’s back in session. Emergency call to take or make? They have to leave the room. No exceptions. If you’re too busy to be at the meeting everyone else has made firewalled time for, just leave.
And I’ll hope that I get some reprieve from meeting imprisonment soon.
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