The Twitter debate seems to be gathering momentum so it’s time for my take on the matter I think.
Recently, my tutor wrote about the new wave of social media, for Behind the Spin, recognising both its dangers and uses. Recently, she has started to ‘teach’ Twitter and is currently rethinking first year modules to take into account the impact of the internet and social media on the PR industry. It is, she says, something we have to be aware about whether we like it or not.
Reluctantly, I signed up to twitter a few weeks ago. I am still unsure as to its purpose and full range of uses; however, I have started to use the site a lot more without any reasonable explanation or insight as to why.
Perhaps it’s because a graduate from my university was given a job due to his research into social media’s impact on PR? Perhaps it’s because I’ve been told that anyone who is anyone in the world of PR is Twittering (or ‘tweeting’ as it is officially known)?
Perhaps one of the main attractions to Twitter for the general public is the ability to ‘follow’ celebrities. Jonathan Ross is on there with Lily Allen, Alan Carr and the entire cast of US show ‘The Hills’. This, however, leads us to the question of authenticity.
The Twiter debate is bound to rage on for a while. Whether or not the print industry will survive when technology-literate, time-short professionals can read the daily headlines in bite-size chunks is yet to be seen. What can be sure is that Twitter seems to be growing and, in that vein, maybe it’s time to start thinking more seriously about the internet and its uses for our industry.
As a PR student I dread the moment a future employer/placement superior does the unforgivable and asks me to phone up a journalist to enquire as to whether they received a press release was sent.
I am assured by my tutors that this will happen at some point and, as can be guessed, it’s up to the less-experienced members of the team to lead the awkward exchange- the juniors and interns.
Guardian journalist Charles Arthur last week suggested that such phone calls from PRs can only be expected by journalists. The PRs, like car manufacturers, call up media outlets, like part suppliers, to check that their order (for media coverage) is to be supplied on time. Fair point?
The idea of calling up a busy journalist for them to treat me with a polite, silent hatred still petrifies me in spite of this analogy.
CIPR President Kevin Taylor disagrees with Arthur. He says, and I agree, that this is really quite bad practice within the industry and, instead of making pointless calls, the only calls we should be making should “impart some information” that’s of some value to them.
Does this mean, as one of my tutors suggests, that we should be calling up and asking if a journalist needs any more information from us or is this just as bad?
Personally, I’d rather take Taylor’s advice and call up before hand, have a chat with whoever I need to, find out the person I need to send the press release to and then have a bit of a chinwag with them if I can. Then at least I’ve broken the ice. Surely that’s better than just cold-calling (or rather cold-press releasing) or, even worse, ringing someone who resents my call to ask a pointless question.
They say that staff are like mini-PR machines for the companies they work for. If an employee comes across badly to a customer, or dislikes their job enough to slate their company, they can give out a negative image which impacts upon that company.
I wish someone would tell this to some of the employees of T-Mobile UK.
By no means am I saying that only T-Mobile employees do this, or that all T-Mobile employees are like this, but my recent experiences have not been good.
For example, today, in the Huddersfield branch, a member of the sales staff was more than a little bit rude to myself and, a little more surprisingly, his colleagues.
I shall not go into the intricacies of the matter but, suffice to say, I have came away feeling like I don’t want to renew my contract and would rather pay more money to Orange, 02, etc than carry on funding the organisation that pays his wages.
Here’s where I have to tread carefully because the rules of this site say I can be deleted for shameless self-promotion.
So, let’s talk in a hypothetical style.
Little B is running for the position of newspaper editor in his upcoming Student’s Union elections. He is looking for a new, innovative way to connect with the voters- fellow students. Does he set up a Facebook group like previous candidates? Of course he does. Anyone else who stands will make one, why not make the most of the Facebook PR advantges?
The challenge is, how does he go that little bit extra?
Currently, so I’m told, he’s set up a blog with a few pages so people can follow his editorial quest. Will this work though? As far as he’s aware, previous candidates haven’t tried this and, hopefully for him, no-one will think of it.
PR Week have reported that 49% of industry bosses had increased their PR budgets in 2008, as a percentage of clients’ total marketing budgets. Admittedly, only 2% of these companies said their PR budgets had significantly increased, but surely this is a step in a good direction?
Perhaps more interestingly, though maybe only to me, Richard Dean (LexisNexis Corporate Marketing Executive) told PR Week that “[Public Relations] is considerably easier to measure than advertising”. I’ve always been told PR was notoriously difficult to evaluate?
91% of the industry bosses said they considered PR to be more cost effective which definitely can only mean good things. As we all know, and have for months, we’re in the throes of a lovely recession whose impact is bound to last for another few years at least. It’s comforting to think that maybe PR will be one of the few industries that might actually benefit from it and that maybe, though maybe I am reaching for the stars here, it will be a little easier for me to find employment upon graduation than my colleagues studying other disciplines?
Touch wood!
The PR Week article I’ve been reading, and making wild assumptions from, is here.
Is it just me or are Cadbury completely exhausting the whole concept of the shock factor.
The first time I saw the close-up of that musical gorilla, I was perplexed. Was this a real gorilla? How had they gotten so close up to it? Then, when it started to bash out its tune on the drums, I was nothing short of amazed.
It seems now though, what with their ‘Trucks’ advert and the re-release (and shoddy re-editing) of the two with different sound tracks, Cadbury might be running out of ideas? I’m really just bored of it.
It’s not Cadburys fault. It’s like a one-hit wonder trying desperately to cling onto their fame. Try as they may, no matter how good their first hit, their second will always be judged in its shadow and, therefore, a failure.
The recent addition of ‘Eyebrows’ above seems quirky enough- and don’t get me wrong, the balloon bit impresses me more than a little- but it seems that Cadbury dug themselves a mighty big hole with the success of their first gorilla ad, which is now, it seems to me, proving increasingly hard to fill.
Once more I am venturing into the world of the blog. This time though, I’m going to stick at it.
For someone who could never keep a diary or journal as a child, the very idea of keeping a blog going was somewhat ludicrous. I guess I’m just that type of person though. The person who throws themselves into something 100% at the start of a project, only to discover that his ideas collapse like a flan in a cupboard.
My previous blogs never really had a theme, though. In the most they were a bit of an excuse to write about the general happenings around my life. Since that’s not an overly interesting affair though, I think it all needed a rethink.
So here I am. I’m a PR student so I might as well blog about something I’m getting to know. It might even make me better at it.