Last month a client of ours, in the online publishing space, was complaining about staff spending time on Orkut while in office. He wanted this to stop…
We recommended, as part of our strategy, that it be made a part of the KRA for the team to spend time - every day- on not just Orkut but on other social networking and book-marking sites - participating & gaining insights from conversations they pick up; creating, managing relevant & synergetic communities.
The initial shock from both parties however led to quick adoption and whilst deployment of many of our suggestions is still pending, on account of technology enablement, traffic and search ratings for the site are already up and motivating the team to adopt this new form of outreach.
It is a completely new environment out there with social media, technology enablement is making the world flat, giving smaller players the ability to match bigger competitors with nimble outreach initiatives; big players too in-turn have the ability to reach a much larger global audiences (as do the smaller players for that matter) with their messages. Most of these tools are free so the focus is on skills and not on money.
Public relations is arguably the most dynamic of all communication tools and the new environment consolidates its position on that count some more. For communication professionals it means an opportunity to earn the client’s respect by making business impact. It truly puts public relations in the center of the client’s 360 degree initiatives.
So where do we begin?
1. We are all on social networking sites, aren't we? Well, let's begin from there – try and find communities dedicated to your client’s brand
5. Get your hands dirty- create a blog for yourself
By Rajesh Lalwani.
(Rajesh is a marketing communication professional, presently based out of New Delhi, India.He has helped brands and corporates manage & enhance their reputation by building effective messaging and strategy and has worked with some of the best media, entertainment and communication companies in India managing some of the most prominent global brands. Rajesh has a keen interest in emergent communication including word of mouth, blogs and his new offering Blog\Works delivers strategic social media know-how to brands & corporates.)
Technorati Cosmos: other blogs commenting on this post
We recommended, as part of our strategy, that it be made a part of the KRA for the team to spend time - every day- on not just Orkut but on other social networking and book-marking sites - participating & gaining insights from conversations they pick up; creating, managing relevant & synergetic communities.
The initial shock from both parties however led to quick adoption and whilst deployment of many of our suggestions is still pending, on account of technology enablement, traffic and search ratings for the site are already up and motivating the team to adopt this new form of outreach.
It is a completely new environment out there with social media, technology enablement is making the world flat, giving smaller players the ability to match bigger competitors with nimble outreach initiatives; big players too in-turn have the ability to reach a much larger global audiences (as do the smaller players for that matter) with their messages. Most of these tools are free so the focus is on skills and not on money.
Public relations is arguably the most dynamic of all communication tools and the new environment consolidates its position on that count some more. For communication professionals it means an opportunity to earn the client’s respect by making business impact. It truly puts public relations in the center of the client’s 360 degree initiatives.
So where do we begin?
1. We are all on social networking sites, aren't we? Well, let's begin from there – try and find communities dedicated to your client’s brand
- How big are they?
- Who are the people talking about your brand/s? What seem to be the demographic and psychographic profiles of these people?
- What are they saying about the brand? Positive and negative both have value
- Go make sense of it
- Try Technorati and Google’s blog search, to begin with
- Have you established a need first?
- What is the 'real need' – remember a blog is just a tool
- What is the competition doing?
5. Get your hands dirty- create a blog for yourself
- Nothing teaches you the game better than actually doing it
- You can create a blog for free at Wordpress and Blogger
- Still thinking if you should? Remember your blog also works as your resume too ;)
By Rajesh Lalwani.
(Rajesh is a marketing communication professional, presently based out of New Delhi, India.He has helped brands and corporates manage & enhance their reputation by building effective messaging and strategy and has worked with some of the best media, entertainment and communication companies in India managing some of the most prominent global brands. Rajesh has a keen interest in emergent communication including word of mouth, blogs and his new offering Blog\Works delivers strategic social media know-how to brands & corporates.)
Labels: PR2.0
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Technorati Cosmos: other blogs commenting on this post
Hi,
I quite agree with your idea. The trouble is in getting the client/ bosses to see things this way. But it surely looks like social media will b the next big thing in the coming few years.
Amen.
Very Informative. People can not only develop their professional contacts but also interact with them on the personal front.Blogging
attempts to connect the readers with the bloggers from different backgrounds and different organizations.
Very informative.Blogging attempts to connect the readers with the bloggers from different Professions and different organizations. It not only inhance professional relations but also personal ones.
Hi!
I'm glad to notice that you've provided some constructive solutions at using the online socialising media. Traditionally, I believe that Orkut tends to reduce productivity at workplace, since its highly addictive. But you've carefully articulated on using them skilfully.
Good post!
Thanks to Rajesh. The post makes one think again about these social networking sites before just banning them outright in office. Maybe he will write here again :-)
:) - might just do so!