E-business
For me, this presentation really made more sense to the idea that internet is a socio-economic community, as well as a channel for e-commerce. And the diagram on the left proves that nowadays it is unavoidable for companies to be on the web. Actually, internet is a very useful tool that makes media relations much easier, as it can be displayed online the latest company news, product and service information, biographies of key executives, copies of any recent executive speeches, statistics and reports, podcasts, consumer opinions and of course, endorsements from third party advocates. This is where PR plays its role, and I guess “e-PR” will have a more and more central role, as more and more people are looking on a company’s website when they want to get some information about this company. That is what PR resources on the Internet are for, like Romeike Media Intelligence: www.romeike.com, Advance Features: www.advancefeatures.com or Factiva: www.factiva.com.
Viral PR
It’s Yiting who told the class about viral PR: she explained that it is the use of viral marketing in Public Relations: according to Steve Jurvetson, viral marketing is network-enhanced word of mouth. And Yiting added that this was made through existing on-line social networks, like emails or facebook. I think viral PR can be wonderfully powerful once you’ve found a hook good enough to make people circulate the video or picture to their friends. A very good example of that is the Subservient Chicken website, a viral marketing campaign launched by Burger King:
http://www.subservientchicken.com/. You can for example enter phrases like ‘sit down’, ‘switch off the lights, or ‘dance’ to the little box, and the guy in a chicken costume would do what you asked him to do… The outcomes of this campaign were a real surprise: the website had 1million hits only one day after released to the public and 20 million hits in one single week! However, I’m not sure if Burger King’s sales have risen as much… I think it can be a great way to raise awareness, so make latent public an aware public, but it is more difficult to make them an active public with just a fun video… I think where viral PR may be the most useful is for NGO campaigns, as raising public awareness is crucial to them; moreover, I think good videos may make people taking actions more for the third sector cause than taking action by buying products or services… I still remember very well this dreadful video from Peta that I received on facebook, against cruelty on animals in China for the sake of fur traffic. I circulated it to my friends straight away, feeling like a missioner: ”people have to know!”… Here below is the video:Search Engine Optimization
Concerning SEO, Ran gave us very useful tips about how and why making a press release available on-line: first, millions of visitors search for a story by using a search engine; then, editors may contact you based on your properly optimized press release; moreover, your chosen keywords build brand awareness, it’s a good PR strategy and it’s cheaper. Furthermore, it drives traffic directly to your site, though you shouldn’t forget to personalize your release, to publish it on your website too, as well as study your web stats in details… These were definitely very interesting points that I’ll bear in mind in my future PR jobs, thanks Ran;-)
Social networks
When came the part on social network presented by Ameesha, I was really surprised to learn that British businesses are lo
osing up to £6.5 billion in productivity, because of employees being on social networks! Also, one FTSE-listed company reported up that to 30% of its internet capacity is clogged by its social-networking employees… That definitely makes you less guilty to have a quick conversation on msn at work around lunch time! The good news for PR is that these networks offer a specialized and a more willing audience; also, messages can be presented uniquely and the direct monitored contact with the audience makes easier to get feedback. Also, 62m people on Facebook are averaging 28 minutes a day it, so it’s a shop window that business can’t ignore. But I remember that one of our teachers, Trevor Morris, had highlighted to us that companies must be very careful using these networks, as they are some privileged areas for some people on the web, and these people may not always welcome every kind of ad or PRing on their network, especially coming from a company which doesn’t really understand the network and “try to be cool”.Blogging
The blogging part was presented by Candace. She said that if you want to use blogs for PR purposes, you need to personalize your messages to bloggers, to respect bloggers’ time and intelligence as you would do for mainstream media, and to learn the blogging hierarchy in your field (you can check Technorati for finding the top 10 influential blogs in each specialty); also, you should participate in the discussion in your field on these blogs or on your own one. She also said that quality always wins over quantity, and that in the blogosphere transparency is Key; indeed, PR must be transparent in blogosphere, where it might not be in traditional media, as failing to be transparent will result in negative backlash. Well, I was not persuaded by this last argument, as I don’t see how we can spot all the people not being transparent in blogs, or those supposedly having a neutral blog whereas the blogger is working for the interest of a company… I think it’s very difficult to check all blogs all the time, isn’t it? However, it can be a lethal weapon from the public to the companies, and can seriously damage a company’s reputation, whether it’s justified or not. That is why compan
ies need to be extremely vigilant so they can react quickly to any attack. A good example of the reputation damage, followed by a decrease of sales, was against Sony and their bad customer services. Then Sony had to make a real effort to gain a more trustworthy image. I even heard that some companies being criticised by bloggers invite these bloggers to take part in their work and decision making. Bloggers are usually flattered and then neutralised. But I guess there will be always other bloggers accusing the first ones of corruption.Also, I think blogs are a wonderful step towards democracy, as any ordinary people can become an influential citizen journalist. But I think blogs are more completing traditional media than fighting for influence, as I personally believe that we still need official sources of information.
Virtual worlds
Then Julius told us about virtual worlds on the web: they are computer-based simulated environments intended for its users to inhabit and interact through avatars; the best example of these worlds is Se
cond Life, where millions of people are living a second virtual life, and where even some lead brands are present. He explained that virtual worlds may appear similar to the real world or some hybrid fantasy world. They have an increasing number of users, and therefore provide a source for businesses and governments to gather and collate information for their use. I may seem old-fashioned, but this idea of virtual worlds scares me: I can’t help thinking they are made for people who want to escape reality because they are too weak to face their real life and its problems. Well, it’s only my opinion, of course. I understand that for people who have a boring life, it can bring some fantasy and fun to it; but I still think that the concept is a bit dangerous: we have plenty of great and useful things we can do in our real world, if we want to, so why staying in front of our computer and living some fantasy? Anyway, back to PR issues, I guess virtual worlds can offer interesting parallel opportunities; also, observing what’s happening there can certainly give key findings about audiences: what they like to do, what are their dreams etc… But let’s not forget that virtual worlds would make no sense without our real world, so my guess is that PR will always aim to make its truth a “real reality”.Sources:
- Yiting Xu, Ran Huo, Ameesha Lathia, Candace Hughes and Julius Dake’s 26th March 2008 presentation, University of Westminster
-Francis Mulleady’s 8th January 2007 presentation, London School of Public Relations
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