Transcript Public Relations in the Blogosphere

Public Relations in the Blogosphere
Neville Hobson
www.nevon.net
12 October 2005
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The New Media Ecosystem
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“Social software”
Informal networks
Conversational media
Online diaries
Personal expression engines
When you want,
where you want,
on your terms
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The New Media Ecosystem
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Blogs
Wikis
RSS
Podcasts
Videocasts / Vlogs
Moblogs
MMS
Tools that facilitate:
■ Communication
■ Engagement
■ Transparency
■ Trust
Tool that are:
■ Complementary to traditional
communication activities
■ Used by organizations who
recognize the social
characteristics of effective
communication
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The Old World
Influencers
Potential Employees
Investors
Customers
Employees
MESSAGES
Competitors
Prospects
Partners
Press/Analysts
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The New World
Influencers
Potential Employees
Investors
Customers
Employees
MESSAGES
Competitors
Prospects
Partners
Press/Analysts
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Business: Major Influencer
You cannot afford to close your eyes to
them, because they're simply the most
explosive outbreak in the information
world since the Internet itself.
And they're going to shake up just about
every business - including yours.
It doesn't matter whether you're
shipping paper clips, pork bellies, or
videos of Britney in a bikini, blogs are a
phenomenon that you cannot ignore,
postpone, or delegate.
Given the changes barreling down upon
us, blogs are not a business elective.
They're a prerequisite.
Business Week, 2 May 2005
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The Blogosphere: July 2005
12-Oct-05: 19.2 million
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X
14+ million blogs (English language)
80,000 new blogs every day
900,000 posts per day
37,000 posts per hour
616 posts per minute
10.2 posts every second of every day
Doubles
every
five
months
= a lot of people talking and connecting
= more output than Reuters, AP, etc
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Podcasts – The Influence of Voice
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Delivered via RSS
Time-shifted – listen when
you want
Detach and go – listen
where you want
Wide appeal kicks off in June
2005 – Apple adds podcast
support to iTunes
Going mainstream – Yahoo!
Podcasts in October 2005
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Who’s Podcasting…?
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Growth Drivers
1.
2.
3.
4.
It’s
It’s
It’s
It’s
easy
inexpensive
portable
available
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The PR Impact
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If You Don’t Pay Attention…
And if you do…
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Don’t be Lame…
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Get It Right
“
Our only goal was to engage the
public regarding our products
and services. The blog has
become an important unfiltered
voice for the company, our
customers and auto enthusiasts
… We're learning on the run, but
now we have an unfiltered voice,
a direct line of communication. It
has become indispensable.
”
Bob Lutz
Vice Chairman
General Motors
April 2005
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People are Talking About You
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“Citizen Journalism” Milestones
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Why Blog?
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Build a genuine community
Personalize your customer relationships
Thought leadership in your industry/profession
Make knowledge management easier
Test new product ideas
Improve search engine rankings
…
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Why Podcast?
■ Complementary extension of existing communication
and marketing activities
■ An appropriate channel to market
■ Reach niche audiences otherwise (financially)
unreachable
■ Attract new, younger customers
■ Create buzz, build viral marketing effect
■ Be perceived to be at the leading edge
■ Be the first to market with a cool new medium
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Who Should?
■ Corporate communications, PR, marketing, HR,
investor relations, sales, employee communication,
customer service, public affairs, community
relations…
> Externally: engaging with customers
> Internally: thought leadership, sharing thinking and
knowledge; news, information
■ Who else?
> What about the CEO?
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There Will Be Objections
■ “Another way for employees to waste time”
■ “We’ll have no control – think of the risks!”
■ “We don’t need this, we have the website, the email
newsletter, the press release …”
> Worse: “Hey, we can stop doing press releases now that we
have blogs!”
■ “We can’t allow employees to blog – we have official
spokespeople”
■ “It will cost a lot in time and money to maintain”
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Current Thinking
PR/Blogger Surveys
■ Technorati-Edelman Blogger Survey 2005
> September; 821 responses; worldwide participation
> https://extranet.edelman.com/bloggerstudy/Default.aspx
■ Blog Relations PR Survey
> August; 50 PR bloggers worldwide
> http://www.blog-relations.com/2005/09/26/responses-toblog-relations-pr-survey/
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Current Thinking
PR/Blogger Surveys
Source: Blog Relations PR Survey, August 2005
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What The New Media Ecosystem Is Not
■ A replacement for press releases, brochures,
bulletin boards/email lists, public websites or
intranets
> But blogs can be replacements for static websites or
brochureware sites
■ A substitute for traditional communication tools and
channels
■ A surrogate for face-to-face communication
■ The answer to all your communication prayers
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What The New Media Ecosystem Is
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A giant global focus group
A tool to engage with your
publics
A dynamic, complementary
communication channel
Create connections, develop
influence
Empowerment for your
employees
Empowerment for all your
publics
Build genuine community
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Communication Choices
Engage and Participate
vs.
Transmit
Advocate
vs.
Preach
Influence and Persuade
vs.
Command and Control
Informal and Conversational
vs.
Formal and Instructive
Build Community
vs.
Tell Your Audience
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Conversation…
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Neville Hobson
Amsterdam
www.nevon.net
+31 629 323 282
+44 20 7558 8222
+1 202 470 2425
nevonskype
[email protected]
This document is protected under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license. No commercial use, no changes. But feel free to share it, post it,
print it, or copy it. Details: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/.
This presentation was created for the session “Public Relations in The Blogosphere” at Emerce Eday, Amsterdam, 12 October 2005.
Information: http://www.emerce.nl/eday/.
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