Saturday, October 10, 2009

Social Media and Corporate Image


Let’s talk about social media damaging a corporation’s image. This past week I heard a shocking story about a Jetstar employee requesting a young passenger on a plane. Check out the article in the Sydney Morning Herald, . Last week my blog focused on social media and the impact it can have on an individual’s career, now I am focusing my attention on the impact an individual employees social networking can have on a company. Obviously the employee should not have went out of his way to look up a passengers information and contact them outside of the airport, what makes matters even worse is the age of the young passenger. What could Jetstar have done to prevent this behavior of one employee from impacting their reputation? I think that companies are going to need to have a social media/privacy clause in their employee contracts now that social media is here to stay.

This is an interesting and relevant article on who owns a company’s social media
, it raises all sorts of questions, when a social media strategist is hired at a company do they own the fans/followers or does the CEO. Often a social media consultant will be hired due to their popularity and following on their own personal sites/blogs/twitter. Who should decide what goes onto companies social media sites? It makes sense for public relations people to be in charge of social media because it functions as a microphone for a company, it is equally and sometimes more important than “traditional” media when it comes to reputation because it is so easy for anyone to instantly update or tweet and damage a reputation.
In the end reputation can be enhanced or ruined though social media.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Your Fired! Thanks Facebook

This past week I learned a lot about Marshall McLuhan. He is best known for the “medium is the message” quotation, however I found this one interesting and relevant to the ongoing discussion on social media, “Publication is a self-invasion of privacy.” Marshall McLuhan. It seems that he was predicting today’s society and the merging of the public and private sphere. I am an active user of Facebook, I don’t give away any personal details I wouldn’t share in my “real” life. However there have been many cases where people have been fired over something they said (posted) online.

This is a video about Dan Leone who said he was fired from Lincoln Financial Field after expressing his opinion on Facebook about being upset a free-agent was not chosen (his own preference, which he thought was private from his employer).



We do have a choice about what we post on Facebook, and should realize our profile can impact our career in a negative way (especially in public relations, which is focused on reputation). The once private is now very public.

Thinking about this another way, all of the personal details we choose to share on Facebook and other social networking sites are a online marketers dream! There is often no need to conduct market research when your target public are already willingly pre-established into distinct groups.

Facebook is being open and honest saying they are allowing advertising, however there is not much information about peronalization of ads yet.



I have noticed lately that my Facebook ads seem to be very targeted specifically to me. For example, I Googled shoes in Sydney and the same day was bombarded with ads for shoes in Sydney on Facebook… coincidence?

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Continuing with the theme that social media has changed the way we receive our news, I want to highlight the MTV Video Music Awards (VMA's) that took place this past week. I am living in Australia, and with only 5 cable channels (I opted out of getting Foxtell) I spend lots time watching neighbours reruns, or more commonly going to my computer to look up news and entertainment headlines. I mentioned before I have certain cites I like to frequent, however after the VMA's one of those sites failed to update me in a timely manner!

I am talking about the Kayne West Taylor Swift onstage incident, for anyone who does not know, Kayne stole the mic from miss Swift as the as she was in the process of doing her acceptance speech to slur that Beyonce deserved to win the award. Taylor looked like she was going to cry then her sound was cut off and she was ushered off stage.



Beyonce later gave Taylor her speech time to make an acceptance speech, but moving on, lets talk about how this news broke!




I logged onto Facebook and saw my friends updates about "Kanye is a jackass" (something President Obama later reinforced), "Beyonce is a class act" and "poor Taylor". I immediately knew something had happened at the MTV awards and wanted to know more. I turned to Perezhilton.com (the self proclaimed Queen of Gossip) however there was nothing posted on the story yet! I checked back for a few minutes and eventually turned to Twitter for instant updates and reactions from people around the world.

I later learned that it was a journalist who first broke the news on Twitter as his update. Check out this MSNBC article the Twitter age of journalism

This leads me into thinking about Habermas public sphere versus the private sphere, if the journalist was trying to update his friends "off the record" it sure didn't work out that way. Whatever we post on social media sites is public information, and never off the record. Our private identities are now rather public.

It is interesting that social media, which seems to erase all time and space divides still has different functions, some that make receiving news much quicker than others. It would have taken a few hours for this story to make it onto the evening news, it would likely have been on the same news stations website within the matter of hours. It could take 5 minutes for Perez Hilton to post a link on his blog, or I can receive live by the second updates on Twitter and Facebook.

If this is how people are receiving their news these days, in quick real time, public relations practitioners and journalists alike should be more focused on social media and understand it is here to stay! In the past when music videos first aired they threaten taking over radio, today both co-exist. Do you think social media and online is taking over traditional news forms, or will both continue to co-exist.

I pose the question, can mediums co-exist peacefully, of will one inevitably take over another? How do you get your news?

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Pitching to Social Media

There are numerous press agencies that operate online.
For example,
Thomson-Reuters
24-7 Press Release
Xinhua News Agency.

Have you ever wondered where press releases came from? Here is an informational video from PRWeb about the shift from traditional press release to online PR releases:


These agencies are often an untapped resource for the media relations practitioner. Press releases can often be submitted for free. Electronic distribution is a great way to increase readership and reach the target public.
International online press agencies should be taken advantage of by the general public as well as anyone interested in pursuing a career in public relations. These sites offer up to date headlines from a variety of perspectives. Most current news stories are covered on international online agencies. Whether this is due to the economy and cost factors, or simply a shift in the way we receive our information, online news agencies and social media pitching is being practiced in public relations.
So we know news is going digital. How are social media press releases and pitches difference from traditional media press releases? For one they are much more interactive! Adding links and background information via website links is very easy to do. It is important to make your release stand out, but make sure the key information is there as well! I think it is still best to stick with the traditional format of putting a lead sentence at the top and the background information closer to the bottom.

Here is what some other experts think:
PR Week has an article about whether or not to pitch to social media

Here is another video from the UK about the social media news release:

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

How do we get our "news"

The other day I logged onto FB (Facebook), and saw an update from my friend saying, "RIP AM". I scrolled down and came across more messages of condolence. I then began researching. I logged onto http://perezhilton.com/ then checked out http://tmz.com/. I then checked out the DJ's last post on Twitter. Sure enough, I learned that DJ AM had passed away, the report was confirmed by the NY Police. The DJ was famous for his music as well as his love life (dating Nicole Ritchie and Mandy Moore). I had seen him play a couple of sets in Toronto and Las Vegas. The news was even more tragic since just last year DJ AM aka Adam Goldstein had survived a terrible plane crash.



It is interesting that because I wanted information so quickly I turned to the Internet to do research. Entertainment television shows would not air for hours, and blogs were appearing immediately. There are problems with social media and authenticity, in the case of DJ AM there have been numerous rumors surrounding his death popping up everywhere. Who can we trust on the Internet, and can we really trust traditional media more? Are we better off with alternative new media as opposed to traditional corporate run media? What do you think.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Obama Mania and Social Media

As the buzz from the U.S. Presidential election settles and the hard work begins, I have to ask did social media help get Obama elected? Check out this interview on the impact social media had in the election.



You can follow Obama on Twitter and usually he will follow back, well his people will at least.

This presidential campaign seemed to be so successful because Obama captivated the people through media they actually use. The youth turnout was exceptionally high this year, Obama became a brand in the fashion industry, celebrities endorsed Obama publically through traditional media and also on blogs and Twitter accounts. The inauguration speech was streamed live all over the world, and clips were uploaded onto YouTube for further viewing.

The world went Obama crazy through the use of social media!

Monday, August 24, 2009

Social Media Gone Wrong

This week I take a look as social media gone wrong. Last year in Toronto, Canada a social media campaign for a horror movie had to be taken off the Internet after it resulted in numerous phone calls to the police. The promotion was for the movie The Saw 5 and was run by LionsGate. People could go onto the movies website www.saw5.com and download the recording of a fake phone call, which they then used to prank call friends and even random strangers. The whole problem with the campaign was the user could actually type in a persons name and state they were holding a loved one (whose name they could type in and the voice would generate).

The script went like this, "Hello, [ Your Friends name ] . Do you want to play a game? You think it's over but the games have just begun. I'm here with your friend [ Your Friends Name ]. My work will continue in a way you never saw coming. You won't believe how it ends.”

The people at Saw probably thought that the phone call would be interactive and promote the movie, however this is once social media campaign that backfired and did more damage than good. There are tales of once lady having a stroke after picking up the phone call http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/519775. There were numerous articles in the paper and on the news warning people these calls were not real via a public service announcement. The police ultimately ended up shutting down the campaign.

Why did this campaign go wrong? Not everyone knew about it so they were tricked and worried by it, it verged on illegal activity (threats), the people behind it did not anticipate the results of the campaign. Did Lionsgate really think people were not going to call the police after receiving such disturbing messages? Or maybe they wanted the police to get involved, to generate buzz in the media? This tactic wasted police time that could have been better spent dealing with real crisis. When launching a social media campaign it is very important to look into your audience and consider legal and ethical implications.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

How PR practitioners get their story made into an issue, the Kiva case

This week my class and I had a discussion about the media setting the agenda. What is really newsworthy and who decides what stories are important, what are the issues that people care about. One of the main goals of public relations practitioners is to get media coverage! The field is largely about attention seeking. How can you get into the media if you are working for an organization with a limited budget? How can you get coverage on a story that seems to have been told a million times before? Let’s say you are working for a not-for-profit group and want to get the issue of poverty covered in mainstream media in a first world country.

How can you as a PR person get people to pay attention to an issue “over there’ in another country. I think humans often choose to ignore problems they don't think they have control over or an ability to change. It is much easier to turn a blind eye than to subject yourself to painful issues and then feel helpless in ending conflicts. As PR people we can empower and unite our audience by giving them the tools to solve these problems, or at least begin to make an impact. The issue must affect your audience directly. By holding an event (30 hour famine, earth hour) PR practitioners have successfully created awareness, got media coverage, and mobilized their publics to act.

I came across an organization I really like last year, Kiva. (http://www.kiva.org/) The mission statement or goal of the group is “lend to a specific entrepreneur, empowering them to lift themselves out of poverty.”

The website is a perfect example of social media connecting a public to a groups cause. I can go online, search stories and look for someone I want to lend money to (via online banking). There are many people looking for loans to open a business. In the past, I have tended to lend to women on the site that are looking for funds to open clothing stores or markets. The problem for the people on the site is there is nowhere to apply for loans, which is where overseas contributors come in. The best part iof Kiva is once you donate to someone and they open a business and are successful, you get your money back from them! Along the way Kiva users take pictures and update (blog) about their business status.




The website was mentioned on Oprah Winfrey and as a result donations increased significantly. Why did the producers at Oprah cover this story? Oprah is interested in world issues, poverty is a topic which she covers often on the show in order to create awareness. I think Kiva was covered because it was able to turnthe larger issue of poverty into a relatable problem which the audience felt they could actually do something about. This was done through the use of social media. "Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe. “ (http://www.kiva.org/) PR is about moving audiences to act, and that is exactly what happened with the sucess story of Kiva.


What other issues could gain media coverage through similar methods?

Monday, August 10, 2009

The Fashion Industry and Social Media

This week I explore the fashion industry and the influence social media has had on it. I have noticed lately that more and more designers and fashion houses are engaging with their target audience via the Internet.

Did you know fashion companies hire social media strategists?


The whole premise of fashion is that is reflects back what is happening in society, its issues, politics, and movements are often the inspiration for collections. As our world evolves with social media it is no surprise the fashion industry would be on top of the movement. Many people recognize with the economy the way it is, social media is a cheaper option than traditional advertising for companies to explore. But why do establish successful companies need to adopt social media? An ad campaign in Vogue magazine will get many eyes. I wonder if a mention from Vogue Magazine on Twitter could achieve similar results.

Luxury fashion rises from haute couture which dates back to Paris in the nineteenth century. The premise of couture lies in the individual and the unique. High fashion originally catered to the same trend. It was for the elite, unobtainable for many. It could be due to the rise of the celebrity endorsements or simply the increase in advertising, but at some point high fashion became more visible to the general public. Through print more and more people became familiar with fashion houses and logos, Gucci, Louis Vuittion, Fendi, Chanel, Prada… the average person today can picture these companies logos and identify their signature material, pattern or silhouette.

The fashion industry is always changing and evolving. It was only in the last decade that online shopping existed. Sites like EBay created a marketplace aside from traditional stores. Today, more and more designers have Facebook fan groups, forums and blogs. Many of these initiatives are created by PR and communication professionals and have a specific goal in mind, to create buzz about a new product launch, to inform its fans of trends, but mostly social media initiatives are taken on to build reputation and a community.

The first fashion giant to join Twitter was Louis Vuitton. There are now Twitter profiles for Betsy Johnson, http://twitter.com/xoBetseyJohnson
Karl Lagerfeld, http://twitter.com/Karl_Lagerfeldand countless others.
Who would have thought Coco Chanel would go digital.

I came across a very interesting interview with Luxury Society co-founder Imran Amed recently on business of fashion. http://www.businessoffashion.com/2009/07/luxury-society-and-the-social-media-revolution-in-wwd.htmlAmed explains how companies have to adapt to social media and actively listen to consumers as much as they “sell” to them. He states that when using social media, It is not effective to simply post links to products weekly and expect them to sell themselves. Amed points out “It’s about social listening: using the tools to listen to the conversation and take feedback. The real meaning of your brand lives in these conversations.” What better way to receive feedback from a target market than through social media.

Oscar De Renta builds on this,““Customers can feel like they are part of the brand’s extended family, and therefore the brand itself, while the interactive element further deepens that relationship,” said Alex Bolen, chief executive officer of Oscar de la Renta. “These characteristics address and satisfy that ‘tribal’ part of the fashion consumer — the way in which people identify themselves by the brands they buy.” http://www.digital50.com/news/126896The premise of social interaction sites such as Facebook are to connect and build and maintain relationships. If high fashion brands like to think of themselves as a clique or community they need a forum to do this.

One great example of an excellent social media campaign is Juicy Couture “Club Couture”. It allows users to click and create outfits for themselves and email them to friends. http://www.juicycouture.com/shoponline/clubcouture/pg1 This is a prime example of engaging and interactive audience. The company benefits by seeing what colours and pieces users are interested in and customers feel they have choice and individual options.

I think Twitter and the like have created a social space for the fashion industry where feedback is constant on ongoing. It is up to companies to use the tools to listen instead of just promote products. Social media works so well with fashion beacause fashion is largely about being innovative and creative.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Social Media and Corporations

Welcome to my page!

This blog will focus on corporations increasing use of social media as a way of reaching their key public(s).

In recent years, the media has shifted from traditional forms (television, radio, movies) to being a more interactive two way model of communication (with the rise of the Internet). As the media changes, corporations must adapt to new mediums or risk loosing their audience.

I am interested in looking at big organizations as well as not-for-profit companies and researching how they have chosen to use social media and whether or not this has been beneficial for them. This blog will provide links to interesting and current social media campaigns that I come across.

My topic was inspired after I was hired at a company based on my ability to use social media. My former boss realized that the generation of today receives their media in a much different way than she did growing up. She wanted to keep up with the times and reach a new younger audience through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc. (all websites I will be explaining and referring to in my blog).