White Hat PR
I n the online world, “white hat” strategies are for the good guys — ethical hackers, security experts, and site optimizers looking to build long-term results with honest help for users and search bots alike. While Black Hats manipulate and game algorithms, White Hats think strategically to put useful information in front of audiences who want it.
The best PR work — online and offline — lives by the same code: Be sharp. Be honest. Use the best tools and use them well.
Social Engagement: Thinking Big Can Be Very Small
I read too much, I’m sure, about technology, big data, and the various threads of the social economy that interest me. And from a PR flack’s perspective, I’m amazed at how often people think so big that they forget that the great part about having scads of numbers is the ability to get granular. Any communications professional probably hears the same questions all the time: Is Facebook worthwhile? Is Twitter worthwhile? How many eyeballs glazed, er, pored over our last press release? What is the reach of this ad? I’ll...
read moreSocial Engagement: The Big Event, When PR Isn’t Virtual
As Jim mentioned in a previous post, I’ve just come off a stint as the New Hampshire media coordinator for the Ron Paul campaign. It was unbridled fun, and also a great reminder of what can and can’t be accomplished sitting in front of a keyboard. Much is written these days about relationships — with customers, with clients, and with media — and technology offers truly amazing tools for building and maximizing those connections from afar. But while I love the social toolbox, at some point interactions become hands on,...
read moreSocial Engagement: Twitter – Useful PR Tool or Total Waste of Time?
It’s fair to wonder about a communications tool that seems designed to refer to its users as “twits.” “Tweeple” (not “twerps”?) may be a kinder sobriquet, but how useful is the “twitterverse?” And at what point (if ever) does Twitter rise above thumb-twiddling? You’ve likely already seen the most touted story lines — Twitter boasts more than 100 million active users, is growing at an alarming rate, and is almost absurdly well-suited to smartphones and mobile devices… So...
read morePReality: A Gentle Reminder that PR Isn’t Everything
‘Tis the season for top ten lists. And while a few of these annual roundups are useful, some — like the one put out by PR Daily yesterday — should remind folks to take off their industry goggles every once in a while and remember reality. “Top 10 PR Blunders of 2011” is a fine idea, but my head spun when I saw even the thumbnail of the article image on Facebook: Penn State’s problem was a PR blunder? Seriously? Twitter misfires, advertising snafus, BofA’s tone-deaf debit charge, and Netflix’s...
read moreIf Social Engagement Is Just for PR, You’re Doing It Wrong
Like everyone and his brother, I’m currently plowing through Walter Isaacson’s terrific biography of Steve Jobs. Too many blogs have been written about Jobs already, but most of those have focused on the “value of vision,” and a sort of genius-CEO worship. Interesting, but in the end, not all that instructive. Jobs was a (regularly unpleasant) powerhouse of imagination and tyrannical motivation, but what he really got that made him stand out was something different and rather shocking for a man of his prickliness: a...
read moreSocial Engagement: Finger on the Pulse or Finger in the Wind?
Do you serve the market? Or create it? It’s a tough question because it’s so easy to go wrong in both directions. But the explosive growth of social communications as a kind of constant focus group has tilted the scales in favor of professional servitude. And let’s just say I’m a little skeptical. There’s a real potential genius in the idea of crowd-sourcing, exponentially expanding the pool of both ideas and feedback. And I’ll admit, when I heard the word “Wiki-brands,” I got excited about a new...
read moreSocial Engagement: When Discretion is the Better Part of Valor
That snarky tweet about your company is right there — in the public view and oh-so-tempting to respond to with an @reply. But hold your fire, bucko. Engagement is terrific, but kicking a hornet’s nest is still a stupid thing to do. One of the great reasons to really get steeped in social media is to keep a watchful eye on what is being said about you and your company. Rumors, opinions, complaints, kudos — you want to be aware of them all, and it’s increasingly irresponsible to turn a blind eye. But while social media is...
read morePR Sense: Why Marketing Is Advertising Is Public Relations
I worked with a client some years back who had an impressive media budget, a growing customer base, and enviable attention from well-placed journalists — and still managed to fizzle rather than explode. Here’s a quick tutorial on how to avoid that fate. The central problem was an insistence on departmental boundaries that defied all sense of media logic. Not only did the left hand not know what the right hand was doing, but the feet were moving in opposite directions, and one side of the mouth wasn’t on speaking terms with...
read moreThanks for the Unfollow: A Twitter Reality Check
I did something very unsocial this morning — I unfollowed nearly a hundred people on Twitter. It felt good, and not in a spiteful kind of way; rather, it was honest and, I hope, informative. Call it constructive criticism via social media. It’s become apparent recently that my own Twitter account is something of a cluttered mess because of impulsive following habits — an interesting tweet or two, maybe a cool product or great blog post, and I click the button. And then, over the next weeks or months, I plow through the...
read moreTech PR Genius: Steve Jobs and the Value of Vision
We live in a communicative era, and folks like me spend a lot of time telling folks like you how important it is to talk and listen to your customers, your peers, and your market. But the tidal wave of reflections on the legacy of Steve Jobs in the past 36 hours has put forward a point that is equally important — and somewhat to the contrary: There is nothing, nothing more important to the success of your company than having a brilliant vision, and following through on it with a top quality product. Friendliness and responsiveness...
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