Why Public Relations And Media Relations Don't Mean The Same Thing Anymore

Don't get stuck in the past. PR folks need to keep up with the ever-evolving digital world to stay relevant.

Public relations is evolving faster than an out-of-control science fiction character. Yet many PR companies in my experience are stuck in the past.

They still think of public relations as straight media relations with maybe a dollop of social media added, along with a sprinkling of branded content.

Don’t get me wrong. Media relations remains a viable part of public relations. But it’s just part of what the profession can do. Unfortunately, companies that don’t recognize that are missing a major opportunity.

“Today PR often encompasses everything from social media to content marketing and even native advertising in some cases,” says Rebekah Iliff, chief strategy officer of AirPR, the PR marketplace and technology platform.

While once the stepchild to its more glamorous sibling advertising, PR today can in fact far surpass the performance of advertising thanks to its ability to turn more traffic into leads.
For example, AirPR's data show that PR generates conversion rates 10 to 50 times that of advertising conversions.

A recent Nielsen-inPowered study showed that earned media--which is just a fancy word for PR--is more effective than branded content at all stages of the purchase funnel.
This isn’t a prescription to overdose on PR. But PR, because of its third-party endorsements, adds built-in credibility. A mistake some companies make, however, is to think third-party validation means only the media and maybe a few celebrities.

“Many people just consider industry luminaries and the ‘rock stars’ when thinking about influencers,” Sarah Skerik, vice president of strategic communications and content at PR Newswire, told me.

Skerik says she’s had better results by getting something shared on LinkedIn than by having it retweeted by big names on Twitter.

Adjusting To Today’s Digital World

The challenge today for public relations is adjusting to the constant drum of news from social media and mobile. No longer are episodic, big budget launch campaigns the ticket to success. Instead, brands must widen the net and maintain an always-on presence. This means using a combination of third-party validation, along with branded content and social.

As Heidi Sullivan, senior vice president of digital content at PR software company Cision, told me, “There is no silver bullet today. Getting mentioned in a big daily newspaper doesn’t reach your entire audience.”

At the same time that the role of public relations has morphed into a bigger job, technology is helping to transform PR into something you can measure.
No longer do companies have to rely solely on media placements as the only evidence of PR success; today armed with the right tools, they can understand the impact of PR on leads and ultimately sales.
Yet many companies in my experience would as soon measure their employees’ bathroom habits as they would their PR effectiveness.

“This is the one thing I see missing the majority of the time,” Iliff told me. “A company says to a PR pro ‘we want to see our sales go up' but then gives them no access to how to actually make that happen."

By: Wendy Marx (For Fastcompany.com)

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http://www.fastcompany.com/3034498/the-future-of-work/why-public-relations-and-media-relations-dont-mean-the-same-thing-anymore

About us:
L&B Consultation: is a full service Multimedia Marketing & Consulting
company focusing on publicity, radio promotion,
brand identification, brand management

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You Need A Social Media Manager On Your Team

There is added value in having a strategist and a communicator representing your company's brand

There are two job titles floating around the business world: social media manager and community manager. While they bear similarities, a community manager is the public face of brands, interacting with a community and generating buzz for their companies. A social media manager is a strategist and communicator, with the ability to measure and analyze effectiveness. Large companies will have both an SM and CM, while startups and small businesses are lucky to be able to fulfill even one of those positions.

Many small business owners have adopted a “do-it-myself” mentality when it comes to social media. This just leads to greater burn out. The reality is that you need someone on your team –be it a social media manager, a community manager, or a combination of the two–who represents your company on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google, etc., and who is responsible for responding to comments/questions.

Below are just a few reasons why your business needs team member handling social media:

Act As Voice of the Brand. You want to have someone who is charged with managing your brand’s social media accounts in order to generate traffic and conversations. They’re the voice of the brand and act as the brand, not as their own persona. Also, this is the person who would work to create or add to the community, by generating leads and sales.

Create and Manage Accounts. This includes developing and posting content, such as Facebook updates, Twitter messages, and Instagram photos. Also, this is about following and interacting with other social media accounts, especially “influencers” and “thought leaders” in your field.

Share Video Content. If you have YouTube, a social media manager would post videos, respond to comments, and interact with other YouTube accounts, including commenting on their content and adding their videos to your company account’s playlists.

Increase SEO. In the social media training process, a strong manager will understand what it takes to boost SEO and improve your search rank. They will be able to create unique content and be able to navigate through search engines and other social media platforms that will help your company’s productivity.

Build Campaigns. This person also should be able to develop campaigns and strategies from the ground up and to see through the company’s social media endeavors. He or she should have the proper social media training to monitor campaigns in order to see what is working or what is not working and strive to improve the company’s online presence.

Focus On Automation. You want someone on board with social media training who is well-versed in different management tools and strategies (apps and content automation tools) to maintain a strong online presence for your company.

Monitor Trends. You also want someone who can stay ahead of the game by focusing on social media trends and researching best practices. This person should be able to implement new techniques for boosting your company’s online reputation and progress.

Manage Company Reputation. In the social media world, this means monitoring location listings like Google+ Local as well as tracking and responding to mentions of your company’s name and relevant keywords and reviews on sites like Yelp and Foursquare that get pushed to Twitter. A social media manger would respond to reviews as needed.


by Carolyn M. Brown  (For BlackEnterprise.com)

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http://www.blackenterprise.com/small-business/you-need-a-social-media-manager-on-your-team/


About us:
L&B Consultation: is a full service Multimedia Marketing & Consulting
company focusing on publicity, radio promotion,
brand identification, brand management

Check out www.LbConsultation.com
Follow us on Twitter @LBConsultation

6 PR lessons from Mr. T

I didn't know it at the time, but many of the lessons that have shaped who I am today came from the TV shows I watched as a kid. In some cases those shows taught me a bit about my future career, too.
Yes, I am saying I learned PR lessons from '80s television.
Those of us who grew up in the '80s recall our favorite sitcoms with great pleasure; they were full of heartwarming, yet humorous, life lessons. As a child growing up on an apple orchard miles from town, TV meant the five channels that came in via a rabbit-ear antenna. But it was all I needed for hours and hours of Saturday morning cartoons and an endless number of sitcoms.
Of these, one of my favorites was "Silver Spoons." Starring the great Ricky Schroder as Ricky, "Silver Spoons" began running in 1982 when I was 10 years old. During the fourth episode we were introduced to a celebrity who would become a childhood hero: Mr. T.
Here are a few PR lessons from the great Mr. T:

1. Stay on message.
"First name 'Mr.,' middle name 'period' and last name 'T'!"
Mr. T played a bodyguard whom Ricky's father hired to protect Ricky from a bully. In an inspired scene, Mr. T shows up to class to protect Ricky and has a run in with the teacher who inquires about his name. Mr. T's response was simply brilliant: "First name 'Mr.,' middle name 'period' and last name 'T'!"

There you have it: a PR lesson from Mr. T. In that statement, Mr. T exemplified the art of staying on message. Sure, he could have offered a long answer about how his real name was Laurence Tread, but as a professional bodyguard he was known as Mr. T. But that sort of explanation didn't make sense for Mr. T's character or brand. He needed a clever, terse and funny response-and he delivered.

2. Words matter.
"Love is a verb… and verbs show action."
Mr. T, let's be clear: "Love" is also a noun, but we get your point. Love is not just a word—it's an action. OK, yes, that is a life lesson rather than a PR lesson, but the PR lesson is that words matter. Mr. T had a true hold on words and used them well. While he could be brief, he was on message and usually made sense. He clearly stated his point in a manner that even children understood.

3. Don't miss a big opportunity because of cost.
"You gonna lose a deal over $35? That's chump change! My lunch cost $35!"
The PR lesson here is simple: Some things are not free, so don't lose a story or deal based on minor expenses. Sure, none of us want to pay for PR—earned media is our holy grail—but we should never think of PR as free. Earned media is earned. With that in mind, we always need to be willing to absorb a cost, whether it be it dollars or time, to get the results we want.
If something costs more than you expect but the value of the story is high, don't miss out. For example, when I was in consumer product PR, I cannot tell you how many times I rushed to FedEx to get my package into the last overnight shipment to make sure my product was in the hands of a producer or reporter the next morning. The cost was high, both in shipping fees and time spent rushing to the airport terminal, but the reward-often as awesome as a "Today Show" feature-was almost always worth the trouble.

4. Don't hate your competition.
"No, I don't hate Balboa, but I pity the fool."
This is fantastic Mr. T advice from "Rocky III." We have competition, but we should never be haters. Always take the high road.
When you are neck-and-neck with the competition for coverage, or featured side-by-side in a story, never hate. Just love them for making you a more competitive person, and then pity them because you are awesome and will obviously win.

5. Stay focused.
"I got no time for the jibba-jabba."
This is good advice, Mr. T. The life of a PR pro is very busy; we do not have time for distractions or "jibba-jabba." We need to stay focused and save the idle conversation for later. And as any good PR pro knows, jibba-jabba can often lead to over-sharing and going off message. We certainly don't want that.

6. Face your fears.
"I ain't getting on no plane, Hannibal!"
On "The A-Team" (another great TV show of the '80s), Mr. T learned one lesson time and time again: Face your fears. B. A. Baracus, his character on the show, was terrified of flying on planes, and the other characters often tricked him into flying. Every time, Mr. T realized it wasn't so bad. He didn't usually admit it when things worked out, but you could see he knew it inside. I always believed he was proud that he'd tackled a fear.
PR folks need to confront their fears every day. Our fears are wide and varied, ranging from the fear of rejection when pitching to the fear of public speaking or failing on a project. But we can, and must, overcome them. Face the fear head on.

By Marc Cowlin (for PRDaily.com)

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http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/16730.aspx#



About us:
L&B Consultation: is a full service Multimedia Marketing & Consulting
company focusing on publicity, radio promotion,
brand identification, brand management

Check out www.LbConsultation.com
Follow us on Twitter @LBConsultation