You never make mistakes

Of course you never get it wrong. Neither do we, but for those colleagues who do here a view pointers.

Press release or social media

Everybody hates writing press releases. They're usually dull, self-serving, full of insider speak, silly acronyms and when the news is really important, it leaks well in advance of the official document. What to do?

PR firms number one source for media

A recent poll shows that journalists are increasingly relying on social media for their sources, but it’s still not as influential as PR. 500 journalists were polled and 47 percent said they use Twitter (up from 33 percent a year ago) and 35 percent use Facebook as a source (up from 25 percent a year ago).

Still, social media isn’t the first source —only four percent said they use Twitter, Facebook, or blogs as their first source in researching a story. The No. 1 resource that journalists in this study are using for sourcing was PR agencies, with a whopping 62 percent. More.

IPO and tablet ... go digital

I see the words 'IPO' and 'tablet' in one sentence and I am interested. In this article all info on how digital will indeed be the platform. Forget media, be a medium yourself.

Beware of hijacked media – the changing language of marketing

The traditional framework of ‘paid’, ‘owned’ and ‘earned’ media is outdated, according to a recent report by McKinsey & Company (requires registration).

Two new media types need to be added: ‘sold media’, where a company invites other marketers to place their content on its owned media, and ‘hijacked media’, where a company’s asset or campaign is taken hostage by those who oppose it.

The emergence of newer media means that consumers are engaging more often in real-time conversations, particularly on social networks and other digital platforms. Helping consumers to express themselves is a scary and significant reversal of the control marketers and PR professionals have traditionally tried to maintain over brands.

How to be digital

For many financial communications professionals social media is still a slippery slope. Especially for listed companies how to deal with the 'digital world' is not easy. Here some blog pointers.

Getting the story right is just as important as ever

The advent of social media and the rise in viral marketing has led to firms scrambling for a social media strategy, often at the expense of mainstream PR. But the basic principle of PR – to develop a newsworthy story and share it with those who can provide valid outside endorsement and via targeted distribution - ring true in both worlds. Successful PR campaigns will be based on the integration of the two disciplines.

A study by George Washington University found that journalists increasingly use social media to research stories. However, they trust these sources less than traditional ones.

Don Bates, founding director of the GWU Strategic Public Relations Programme, says: “Social media provides a wealth of new information for journalists, but getting the story right is just as important as ever. As PR professionals increasingly utilise social media as a means of communication, they have an even greater responsibility than before to ensure the information they provide journalists with is accurate and timely.”

Meanwhile media consumption is also becoming more diversified, with people getting their news from many different sources. In an attempt to filter this information, people are looking for authoritative sources and they find those at content rich sites. According to a study from the Online Publishers Association, most people who are online spend the majority of their time at these content rich sites.

Therefore communicating with authority and relevance is a must if you are to reach your target market.