Social Media News Release in Consumer PR

The SMR template is designed to present various types of communication about the brand. It can be used to direct the journalist and help them to access the information quicker but most of all it is a very important consumer tool. It makes it easier for the public to share and spot interesting information in their social networking communities. SMR gives brands the opportunity to communicate direct with the consumer, which will encourage further promotion of the brands amongst the consumers in their forums.

According to a new 2010 Cone’s report sixty-three percent of a new media users are more aware of the brand if they can interact with it on the social networking sites. The majority of them express their positive attitude and are willing to share information about the company if there is interaction between them and brand. In the end the interaction will lead to the most desirable outcome, which is increased sales. Fifty-nine percent of participants express their willingness to purchase a product after good online dialogue with the company that produces it.

Press Release vs Social Media Release

I have just bumped into an article in PR Week about the state of the Press Release. I have read the introduction to the article: 'With the changing media landscape, today's press release has evolved into a virtual Swiss army knife of communications tools that can address a myriad of marketing challenges.'

I wanted to read more but unfortunately I do not have an access to Business Wire - the source of the report. As a result I can not tell you what Vice President of New Media Monika Maeckle thinks about the state of the press releases. What I can share with you is the results of my own research about the future of the social media news release.

New Trends in Corporate Reputation Management

Corporations are struggling to build trust among all of their stakeholders in the middle of the global economic crisis. The panel of speakers, which includes Paul Bergevin (VP, Sales and Marketing Group & General Manager, Global Communications Group, Intel Corporation), Peter Diamandis (President, Chairman & CEO, X PRIZE Foundation), Richard Edelman (President & CEO, Edelman Public Relations) and Frank Shaw (Corporate VP of Corporate Communications, Microsoft) have spoke out on the most current trends and strategies for managing corporate reputation and sharpening stakeholder engagement.

The event ‘What the Public Believes’ was a part of The Churchill Club, the premier business and technology forum on the 1^st of March 2011.

Why sustainability matters to business

Market competition today has changed and providing great quality products or services is no longer enough to maintain a successful business. There is a huge demand from customers to government agencies for companies to take on corporate responsibility. Stakeholders are expecting companies take responsibility for their impact on the environment and society. The companies that ignore environmental and social issues may limit the value of their business through loss of opportunities.

The companies can embrace sustainability through philanthropy, as part of a risk management strategy, or by integrating sustainable practices into the business model itself. It is important to realize that it is not always easy to integrate sustainability initiatives. Challenges include dealing with increased transparency, measuring results in an efficient manner, including sustainability into decision-making and business processes and retaining momentum. 

This is a video in which Stephen Howard, CEO of Business in the Community, talking about his views on sustainability and what businesses needs to do to ensure an enduring and profitable future. The movie was recorded as a part of a nine day debate ‘Start Summit’ that took place in September 2010 in the London’s Lancaster House. This is an initiative established by HRH The Prince of Wales, which together with partner IBM, aimed to show what a sustainable future for business might look like.

Re-election of Barack Obama

US President Barack Obama has announced his intention to stand for the 2012 re-election bid. 

Barac Obama, re-election campaign

The campaign starts with a video that Mr Obama's team released on his official website and sent an e-mail to supporters announcing his plans. Mr Obama does not appear in the video, posted on YouTube and the campaign website. The supporters look back to the 2008 campaign and talk of their hopes for 2012. The individual voters talk about what they can do to help their man - ending in the slogan "it begins with us." The president has an online network of millions of Americans and his web campaign was widely seen as a key plank of his election success in 2008.

Mr Obama's re-election campaign is reportedly seeking to raise as much as $1bn (£620m), an increase on the $750m raised for the 2008 campaign.

It is a good time to remind us how his campaign looked back in 2008 and which PR activities helped him to be successful. 

The smallest brain in the world

We think nowadays that using the internet, searching and connecting with people via the web is cost free. The BBC documentary ‘The Virtual Revolution’ shows that sharing private information online is very valuable. The programme demonstrates that by using even basic search engines like Google, we create a huge database about ourselves every day. The web stores an enormous amount of information about our private lives such as where we live, what we like, where we go to school and do our shopping. We give out this kind of information routinely, every single day for free and it is happening on a enormous scale across the world. As a result we are changing into an online product that is traced and targeted by the advertisement, which is created and tailored to fit our preferences. We are judged and scanned while surfing on the internet. ‘Cookies’ are now a reflection of who we are and what we are portraying about ourselves via our facebook profiles.

The truth is that we are using the web for free, but the information about us is highly priced. We are exchanging our life for the convenience of using web. We exist on the web as a number that can be matched to our computer. We can be traced and indentified by this number using the information that we place online.

 

This great documentary programme did not stop me for using internet, but it will make me think twice before I put any private information into the Google search box.               

‘The Virtual Revolution’ BBC, Episode 3 Part 1 (see more on YouTube).

Media helps but does not solve the problem

J.E.Gruning in the book ‘Excellence in Public Relations and communication management’ wrote: ‘Excellent public relations needs the media less than poor public relations does’. Further in book author describes that the public uses mass media mainly to get attention when making issues out of a problem. In order to get attention they stage protests, marches and strikes. 

He is not the only one claiming that media strategy is not the most important and essential element in leading a successful Public Relations campaign. Gruning quoted Steven L. Vibbert from the meeting of International Communication Association, who said that the media plays an active role only in two of the four stages through which issues progress. The media polarizes two sides of the issue and forces people to identify with one of the sides. The first two stages ‘definition’ and ‘legitimating’ generally take place without media engagement. 

When thinking about media usage in any NGOs campaign, public relations practitioners have to remember that media do not play the most important role. Sean Kidney during his lecture at the University of Westminster pointed out that the media helps to build the climate and atmosphere around the issue, but very rarely they help to combat the problem. He admits that  according to his experience and knowledge very few people change their behaviour because of media. Media coverage aims to get people’s attention and build solid foundation under the behaviour change, but the overall strategy has to be focused on something more than just getting media coverage.

Sociologist, Dr Reiner Grundmann, talks about his research into the media's reporting of climate change: