My Advanced PR Writing students are just three weeks from wrapping up their academic careers. What a perfect time for some self-reflection… and fortunately, they’re blogging about it!
Balance from Believing is Art
Live to Work or Work to Live from Diane
Help Me Help You from Alyssa
Brain vs. Heart from Chris
I want to laugh… I want to cry… I definitely want to forward to my W-E friends and see if PR Lady is “on message.”
This is a guest post from Dr. Tiffany Derville, Assistant Professor of Public Relations at the University of Oregon. I think this is her first blog post. I’m thrilled to be the venue. Tiffany can be reached at derville (at) uoregon (dot) com.
Tiffany is responding to Kami Huyse’s conversation prompt and my tag.
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DISCUSS: Do you think measurement of social media is important, and why?
Measurement of every public relations activity is important to discover its effectiveness.
RESOURCES: What are your favorite resources for social media measurement? Do you recommend any methodologies? For those of you that have them, can you point to posts about measurement you have written in the past?
As Kelli mentioned, Google Blog Search and Google Analytics are helpful for conducting a content analysis of the number of people mentioning you, the context of their discussions, and the amount of traffic your blog receives.
Traditional qualitative methodologies, such as interviews, focus groups, and content analysis of your stakeholders’ comments, can provide feedback about what works and what needs to change.
You might be surprised what you discover. In a study I recently completed, I found that an advocacy organization’s abundant use of online resources made many of the organization’s members feel excluded. Several members did not know that one of the main reasons for the organization’s heavy use of online media was to attract the next generation of members. Traditional research helps you see blind spots in your communications program. In this case, the organization needed to explain to its senior members why it was investing in online resources.
Surveys are also important because a randomized sample with a statistically significant number of people allows you to generalize your results.
Moreover, quantitative and qualitative research methods can be conducted online – provided that your stakeholders are Internet users. We have tools like SurveyMonkey for quantitative research and chat rooms for qualitative research.
EXAMPLES: Do you have any examples of measurement you have used in a social media campaign? Did these campaigns have any positive business outcomes (ROI) and/or relationships)?
Not yet, but I hope to have some examples by the end of 2008.
Here are some things we know about information sharing, which social media accomplishes:
– Openness contributes to trust (Dimmick, Bell, Burgiss, & Ragsdale, 2000; J. E. Grunig & Huang, 2000)
– Openness contributes to satisfying relationships (Ledingham & Bruning, 1998)
Kelli and I are on Windy Hovey’s thesis committee at the University of Oregon. Windy will use interviews and a focus group to study the effectiveness of an advocacy organization’s use of social media. Stay tuned for her results next summer!
Kami Huyse recently gave a presentation on social media measurement and talks about it here. And, along with Geoff Livingston, they have started a wider conversation on measurement and asked some very very smart people (and me) to answer some questions.
So here goes! (and it’s a long post… enjoy!)
DISCUSS: Do you think measurement of social media is important, and why.
I don’t think the importance of measurement can be understated. It’s taken me about a year or so to figure out the whole social media sphere – and I’m still a novice in comparison to some of the other folks responding to these questions. In between classes, and my agency and my toddler, social media has really been a hobby.
But, the more I’m immersed, the more I’m able to turn my attention beyond the technology basics and “1st level” understanding, I am focusing more on issues like measurement and ethics of social media and understanding how these tools are changing the way we communicate (and how the way we communicate is changing the tools we use).
Let me back up a second. I often create my own lingo for concepts I use in my classes. By “1st level,” I mean understanding the tools, their functions and their fit into public relations. In Kami’s presentation she calls this level “analytics.” My classes are still at this “1st level” of understanding.
I look forward to the day when we can move to “2nd level” understanding. And I suppose by that I mean how to measure the quality of conversation and dialogue – the relationships.
RESOURCES: What are your favorite resources for social media measurement? Do you recommend any methodologies? For those of you that have them, can you point to posts about measurement you have written in the past?
My favorites are Google Analytics and Google Blogsearch right now. My students and my clients are still beginners and this is where we start. I’ve had some great success helping both understand the importance of measurement and demonstrating results with these two tools.
I also use Technorati, Delicious and Flickr.
I have not written much about measurement…yet! I rely on Kami’s posts and KD Paine’s posts, particularly to help me establish a solid grounding in this area.
EXAMPLES: Do you have any examples of measurement you have used in a social media campaign. Did these campaigns have any positive business outcomes (ROI) and/or relationships)?
I have one very very rudimentary example, but it’s gone a long way to convincing a client that they need to blog, specifically.
I was pitching a new client recently. As part of that conversation, we talked a lot about blogging and how it worked, why she should pay attention and how it might help her in all the ways that blogging can help organizations communicate with their stakeholders.
That evening, I set up a Google Blogsearch alert on the organization. The next morning – I kid you not… the very next morning – there was a post including the name of the company. It was a very positive post, with the blogger talking about how much she loved the company’s product. (Whew!) I forwarded that post to the company’s owner and told her this could be a great opportunity to comment on the post and create an even better relationship with this customer.
Long story short, she did. The blogger was shocked that the owner found her and commented and proceeded to write another post showcasing all of her products from this company with photos and commentary about how much she loved them. The whole thing took about 48 hours and now the client is a big fan of blogging. She had fun participating and saw the results of that interaction.
Like I said, pretty rudimentary, but it was a ton of fun and made a indelible impression on this client.
I’m going to expand the conversation circle a bit. I’d love to hear what Robert French thinks (particularly how he’s talking to students about measurement) and I’m also going to tag Dr. Tiffany Derville, our newest addition to the PR faculty at the University of Oregon. Tiffany doesn’t blog, so I’ll solicit her feedback and include it here as a guest post. Tiffany’s area of interest is relationship management and I imagine she can add to this discussion!
Kami’s presentation:
This week’s posts are a hodge podge, but I find them all interesting, insightful or just fun. This week I’ll leave the pontificating to you.
If you’re one of my students, choose one to write a response, if you’re not, leave your comment on this blog – or even better, on the blog linked to. Enjoy!
Public Relations Gone Wrong. Note to Zina Eva, Not All PR is Good PR.
Goodwill Targets Upscale Consumer for Stores, Web (from PR Week)
Communicating by Listening: It’s all about the audience, folks.
Build Your Wild Self Hooks Kids and Parents:
Fun, interactive site. Watch out, you might learn something.
The Internet Causes Global “Shrinkage”: Why it matters to have a conversation.
What You Can Learn from the Primaries: Political primaries that is. From Seth Godin.
A good deal of the type of communication that we do in public relations involves telling a story.
You need to be able to help the editor you’re pitching understand the value and interest of a story about your client or organization.
Or, the story you’re telling might be part of a community outreach program to help your organization’ neighbors understand its activities or initiatives.
Finally, the focus for this post – you need to be able to tell a story to a prospective employer that explains how a project you worked on fit into the big picture for a client and help achieve results. This, my friends, is the story of your portfolio.
Putting your senior portfolio together can be intimidating. How much do you include? Do you talk about class work and internship work? How do you organize it?
My best advice – and I’ve given this advice a lot – is to think about your portfolio as an opportunity to tell a story. It’s the story of your academic career and that story is composed of smaller stories about particular pieces, projects and campaigns.
Each page in your portfolio is a bookmark. Each page is a piece of the plot and helps you tell your story.
For more tips on portfolios:
Creating a Winning Marketing /PR Portfolio
Creating a Portfolio (Forward Blog)
PR Portfolios (from a Spring 07 students’ post)
Despite the “fact” that all PR people suck, there’s still some great stuff being talked about this week. There seems to be a distinct focus on blogger and media relations in this week’s news and in this week’s linky love, so we’ll call it a theme!
Here are my faves:
To start some tips for young PR people. In his standard (and much appreciated) proactive style, Todd at SHIFT isn’t trying to steal other firms clients, or whining about it not being PRs fault. He has posted some great blogger relations tips for download.
Screaming Headlines starts a series of 20 “brass tacks” tips for media relations and starts with this post. And here’s the first tip on news value.
The PRs fight back: 10 Tips for Travel Writers. A great list from two anonymous PR Pros who work in travel.
We always hear that media relations is supposed to be a two way street. Peter Shankman, one of the most connected men in PR, always has some great idea for going the extra mile for journalists (even when one of his clients isn’t necessarily getting the credit). This is no different. Oh! And look! it’s about using Facebook for something besides spring break pictures. I really hate to say I told you so, my beloved students, but I will.
Darren at Problogger has 21 tips for pitching bloggers. Different perspective – not a PRo or a journalist – just a guy (with a great blog!) helping people blog better.
As usual, Susan Getgood’s take on the week’s events is insightful. I love this:
The best social media marketing people won’t be PR people. Or marketing people. They will have a skill set that blends both disciplines. Whether you are at an agency or in a company, start developing this — in yourself, in your teams.
To veer off the theme (or maybe not, depending on your perspective), I am inspired by this post – Living the “Pay it Forward” Life. As students, it would benefit you to adopt this kind of philsophy early in your career. The rewards you’ll see over the next 30 or 40 years will be immeasurable.
Consumers International (CI), the international federation of consumer advocacy groups, has announced the winners of its annual International Bad Product Awards.
Member organizations submit nominations for awards that aim to “highlight failings of corporate responsibility and the abuse of consumer trust by internationally recognised brands.”
This year’s winners:
Coca-Cola – for continuing the international marketing of its bottled water, Dasani, despite admitting it comes from the same sources as local tap water.
Kellogg’s – for the worldwide use of cartoon-type characters and product tie-ins aimed at children, despite high levels of sugar and salt in their food products.
Mattel – for stonewalling US congressional investigations and avoiding overall responsibility for the global recall of 21 million products.
With the overall prize going to:
Takeda Pharmaceuticals – for taking advantage of poor US regulation and advertising sleeping pills to children, despite health warnings about pediatric use.
From Richard Lloyd, Director General of CI:
“These multi-billion dollar companies are global brands with a responsibility to be honest, accountable and responsible. In highlighting their short-comings Consumers International and its 220 member organisations are holding corporations to account and demanding businesses take social responsibility seriously.”
I’ve been a Netflix subscriber for a couple of years. I also hate Blockbuster.
So I found this post a little bit fun.
Thoughts?
We’re reaching the end of week 2 of the class blogs and the students are doing some good work. Check it out…
Kim Brown – http://marketkim.blogspot.com/
Sean Fouts – http://seansglobblog.blogspot.com/
Diane Gaines – http://dianegaines.blogspot.com/
Jennifer Gerwick – http://stumblingoverthesoapbox.blogspot.com/
Alyssa Green-Carter – http://alyssagreencarter.blogspot.com/
Heidi Griffith – http://soko022.blogspot.com/
Amy Heintz – http://amylynnj452.blogspot.com/
David Schott – http://david-imjustsaying.blogspot.com/
Chris Schroeder – http://blogprty.blogspot.com/
Patricia Zabel – http://internoffice.blogspot.com/
