Online PR: News and Views from ://CORPORACT

Online PR: Always Read the Small Print

A word of warning to those who don’t read the small print when they click to agree online terms.

The welcome VAT reduction to 15 per cent was a nice carrot.  But watch out for the stick.  Gordon Brown certainly has got to take some.  His "secret" tax plan to re-fill what Conservatives describe as the “large black hole” in public finances seems to have mistakenly been revealed online in the small print. 

A legal document set out before Parliament and signed by Stephen Timms, a junior Treasury Minister, states that although the rate of value added tax will revert to 17.5 per cent it will subsequently increased to 18.5 per cent in 2011.

By reading this small print you agree to a promotional discount on the online services of award winning corporate comms company, ://CORPORACT for a five year term at whatever rate they deem appropriate for your level of income.  The promotion may be withdrawn at any time during this period and fees may increase to above their current rate in year two.

Online PR Blog: Converging Marketing & PR Services

The public relations industry has always sold itself on the fact that public relations offered a third party legitimacy that advertising never had because it secured exposure for brands in credible third-party outlets such as traditional media.

With advertising revenues falling faster than expected there are increased pressures on newspapers and broadcasters.  This week has seen across the country, newspapers and broadcasters laying off staff.  Analysts predict there is worse to come. 

These cut backs will mean there will be a growing reliance by traditional media on news agency and PR material; material that is often published unchecked, undermining independent journalism and the third party legitimacy that PR has traditionally promoted.

In spite of the threat this poses to the “reputation” of the public relations professional, there may be a few PR people out there who would gleefully clap their hands at this prospect. 

However, with marketing budgets being scrutinized there are a lot of advertising and web people looking to develop their diminishing roles. 

In this business climate and with public relations moving into the online area, the convergence of traditional and social media in PR could mean the convergence of online marketing budgets and consolidation of services into one digital proposition.

Online PR Blog: Labour Party look at Obama's Online PR tactics

The Labour party is set to mimic the Obama style campaign.  According to PR Week , UK strategists and consultants have visited the US to pick up comms tactics and campaign tips.

The Labour Party strategists are going to need more than good online PR tactics to win votes.

The Obama style campaign was well conceived but also well funded and supported by him winning over thousands of small donors. Many contributed money for the first time, giving only what they could afford.  The average donation was $68 (about £45).  

It’s difficult to imagine who the PM has in mind to target for funding his next election campaign.  The recently redundant city workers; the middle-aged, middle class people sitting on a diminishing private pension and property assets, who face a longer working life when the state pension age increases to 68; pensioners living on the poverty line; single parent families; over-taxed small business executives or social media savvy students?

It will be a hard job convincing these group to contribute a bean to the Labour Party’s election campaign. 

Maybe much easier to introduce another stealth tax such as a political reality TV show with premium rate phone-in charges?  Reality being the watchword.

Online PR Blog: Using Social Media to Engage with the Public

There is a view within UK marketing circles that social media interaction is superficial and marketers need to use a variety of marketing methods to further engage with their stakeholders. 

But with social media playing such an integral part in President-elect Barack Obama’s successful campaign there is an argument to suggest that it should be used as standard in any comms campaign that needs to connect with the public. 

Barack Obama’s comms team used social media very maturely indeed.

He was in touch with his ‘people’ via his well compiled, constantly updated blog.

His micro-blogging connected with over 125,000 followers on Twitter.com alone.  His latest ‘thank you’ has a feel good factor about it too.

- ‘We just made history. All of this happened because you gave your time, talent and passion. All of this happened because of you. Thanks. -

Images on Flickr  were real images taken by real people and campaign volunteers who took photos of the campaign from their perspective and contributed with follow-up conversations.

Video was used extensively by him on You Tube to publicise speeches, run campaign team footage of queues of voters and engage further with people on the ground.

Linked in groups were set up such as Obama for America.

In summary, Barack Obama really got his online strategy spot on, using social media wisely to listen and engage with his public.  In getting it right he also demonstrated that social media has really come of age.

Social Media has traditionally comprised a number of closed communities but now we have sites such as Friend Feed and YouMeO  that aggregate communications and allow web users to control all their social places from one location, it can only develop further over time. 

It may still be a little early to imagine the UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown activating such an engaging online PR programme though.  Watch this space - or should I say watch MySpace?

://CORPORACT is an award winning London based online corporate communications company.

Online PR: Definition and Ownership

Online PR or Internet PR continues to be a developing service and its definition, services, solutions and ownership and definitions vary depending on the communications professional or organisation presenting its case.   

Public Relations professionals and PR organisations view social media and blogs as important as they are about news, opinion and news sharing. 

Traditional Public Relations agencies support the concept of online media relations and integrated campaigns thus extending their service proposition to clients by effectively incorporating online media into brand campaigns.

Search Engine Optimisation agencies tend to focus on generating back links and reciprocal link building for search engine optimisation, often employing dedicated online PR specialists to develop content and viral seeding.

Full service digital agencies consider a single commercial goal and cover a complete online marketing strategy incorporating PR and both the advertising and promotional element.

Monitoring specialists focus on reputation management, market intelligence and measuring engagements using the internet’s channels, tools and technologies.

Technicians favour new technology based solutions and web based tools and applications that identify , monitor and encourage dialogue with internet users.

A client side communications department or in-house PR will compete with an IT department for budget ownership. 

So who is right and where should ownership lie?

A service offering will, of course, always need to be tailored to a client’s requirements.  But in order for it to be effective and diverse, online PR services should be supported by a specialist agency with a qualified workforce offering a mixed skill set.  A blend of communications and technology skills is a pre-requisite for today’s communications professionals.

Traditional methods and people generally don’t fit a ‘new’ media. By using online PR as a proactive approach to marketing and integrating traditional methods with new e-strategies and technologies, you will get successful, measurable and efficient campaigns that build brand equity, increase online visibility and drive visitors to websites.  The added advantage of technology is that campaigns can be monitored, very results-driven and focused around solid deliverables and quantifiable standards of success.

Online Public Relations services will continue to develop as new ideas and technologies advance while traditional PR skills and techniques will become increasingly irrelevant. 

Ultimately public relations will only be online and a new breed of communications professional will emerge.

://CORPORACT is an award winning London based online corporate communications agency.