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.

Celebrity endorsement and NGO

  

Stephen Fry raising money
for Red Nose Day

NfpSynergy by publishing its new survey, questions one of the most effective and quickest methods of bringing attention to an organisation’s cause, which is celebrity endorsement. The research shows that only one in five young people aged 11-25 would support a charity because a celebrity happened to endorse it. Furthermore, the number of people supporting charities because of the person representing it decreased with age. Two of the most ideal celebrities to support an organisation’s cause are Stephen Fry and David Tennant. 

As the ‘Celebrity Endorsement and support for charities’ survey shows it is not enough to put a ‘face’ to a charity’s cause in order to get funds. A celebrity’s popularity changes quickly and today’s ‘in’ celebrity might quickly become liability. That is why when deciding to use a celebrity for a campaign it is essential to select the person carefully. 

The demand for celebrity endorsement will not pass, even though there is proof that it is not as profitable as people think. After the survey was been published, PRWeek at the begging of February revealed that Cancer Research UK is seeking an agency to launch a celebrity campaign, while Save The Children appointed House PR for a brief that includes celebrity engagement. The question is why celebrity endorsement is so popular within charities? The answer is obvious, we are live within a celebrity culture. Charities have had to become more commercial, because society has become more commercially orientated and as a result the charities have had to adapt to this.

What to look for when choosing a celebruty for your cause:

Social media, new crisis management tool

There is no simple set of rules that will manage to solve every crisis. The worst thing for the public during a crisis is not knowing. That is why social media is becoming a more popular tool in order to keep people informed during a crisis. Social media allows issues to be identified and managed extremely quickly online, as well as allowing for quick and direct interaction with all stakeholders providing information about the current situation.

During the Icelandic volcano eruption in April 2010 two brands within the same company (SkyTeam) Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines showed radically different approaches to using social media during this travel industry crisis. 

KLM showed an effort to keep its customers updated. The information pages were constantly modified, with clear information on the options available to stranded passengers. There were some problems with changing the booking but in a crisis of that scale it is forgivable. The most impressive thing was KLM’s outreach through social media, primarily Twitter and a Facebook. 

On the 20^th of April 2010 KLM published on its facebook profile a video from KLM’s CEO & President Peter Hartman with a message to customers.

Here you can watch the message (source Youtube):

 

The company did not stop at that. The wall on facebook was constantly updated with the latest news and even opportunities to rebook flights through facebook. 

The company added a Question & Answer tab to the Facebook page in order to take more inquiries and make the communication process quicker.

KLM was highly involved on Twitted by posting news about the situation, re-booking trips, information and links as to where passengers could get more detailed information. As a result KLM’s response was favourable. There were lots of comments appreciating the company’s efforts. The reputation of the company had risen and people got to know that in a crisis they are not alone. 

Air France completely ignored the social media communication channels, which surprised its customers. The company posted a few notes on its facebook profile but the information was very poor and general.

There were no posts being Twitted and the company did not reply to any comments. It was very clear that The Air France was not interested in using social media. What was even worse, the official Air France web site was rarely updated and contained very little information about how to rebook or get a refund. No information and poor communication resulted in call centres becoming over run with the amount of telephone inquiries.  The company lost its good reputation and many clients were disappointment with the poor performance while dealing with the crisis, especially comparing it with KLM’s effort.

When a crisis hits it is important to have a plan in place and a way to deal with complaints. A well established presence in social media as shown in the example above can make it easier to handle the crisis and talk to stakeholders. Without social media presence it is more difficult to take part in dialogue. In order to provide customers with the best possible service during a crisis, it is essential to engage them through social media platforms beforehand, that way they know that this is the place to go when they need information about the situation.

Social media is a powerful platform and can be a great tool to approach customers while facing a crisis. Many corporations and government bodies have found social media tools to be a great way to communicate quickly and regularly with the audience.

Crisis management in PR

The word ‘crisis’ in Chinese is written by using two symbols in which one means ‘danger’ and second ‘opportunity’. As Pam Williams, our core teacher at the University of Westminster said that every crisis that a company faces is a threat, but at the same time it can be an opportunity to show the power of the PR department. If the company  handles the crisis well, it can help it to strengthen its image, but most of all it shows the value of PR. It might be a chance to raise the profile and status of the PR practitioners within the  company. 

The question is, is it a price worth paying to potentially damage to the reputation of a company? Even if the company will handle the crisis the financial health of the company might suffer and the market value of the company might drop.

In order to manage the crisis prevention, planning, testing, evaluation and maintenance to mitigate and minimize the consequences are required. The only good way to fight the crisis is to be prepared for it and have a plan that can be put in place straight away. The plan should be short, to the point and contain information, stating what every member of the team has to do. The first hours after a crisis breaks are crucial, working with speed and efficiency is essential at this point, and the plan should indicate how quickly each function should be performed.  

More about using social media during crisis management in next post.

Embedding as a powerful PR war tactic



Reporter Mervyn Jess at the media

operations centre in Camp Bastion.

Source: BBC News Website

During the movie ‘War Spin’ described in the previous post, one of the PR tactics used by the military in the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was to embed the journalists in with the Coalition forces. The aim was to provide the media with a detailed and interesting view of the war for their audience. 

It was also the easiest way for military to control the information and show the public what they would like them to see. By putting them with coalition forces the media were under their control. Independent journalists tended to be more suspicious, attempting to find information the army did not want publicised and embedding them proved to be a useful technique. In the movie, BBC journalists who were travelling with the coalition forces through the Iraq war zone said that it was very hard to stay objective about the military action while you being protected and feed by the soldiers. Essentially the journalists lives depended on the soldiers. As a result, getting the journalists closer to the military work and allowing them to join the forces helped to control the messages spread by the media.


At the end of the documentary there is a very importance sentence that embedding the journalists allowed the military to maximize imagery, whilst providing minimal insight. The images from the field are powerful and very desirable by viewers but show a very subjective point of view. They do not have any great factual value and would be better compared to a Hollywood production, then the work of a journalist. The images from war aim to shock, provoke emotions and mainly take the audience’s attention from the negative side of war.



My first ever YouTube video

My first ever YouTube video, getting there. I am becoming a social media beast.