Strategic Communications Solutions PR announces 10% discount on public relations programs

From now until the end of June, Strategic Communications Solutions PR (one of the Toronto Area's leading public relations and communications firms) is pleased to announce a 10 per cent discuount if you book a consultation and sign on for a PR program of six months or longer.

To book your appointment, call 905-901-9218 or email info@stratcommsolutions.ca

Why social media should be administered by PR professionals

As mentioned in a previous post, social media is quickly becoming a key way of communicating with clients, customers, potential customers, stakeholders, etc. It's quick, it's instant and it can be used to direct audiences to specific information:

• A website
• A media release
• A video
• etc.

The potential for bringing companies, public figures, non-profit organizations and others closer to the public is fantastic. But so are the dangers. A tweet gone wrong can undo the reputation of a brand that's been around for years.

It's all very well to say that things can go wrong, but what can cause IT to hit the fan?

1. Quite often feelings get vented online via social media sites. It's easy to let people know when you've had bad customer service or if a product you've bought doesn't live up to how it was billed. Companies are wise to monitor what is being said about them or their products in the online world. They can then use social media to engage people, set the record straight, and prevent negativity from tarnishing the reputation they've spent years building. It should also be noted that it's wise to respond to negative comments in the online environment with factual answers that aren't influenced by emotion. What you say online tends to stay around for a while and could end up coming back to haunt you in the future.
2. It's fine to have an opinion on a topic. And everyone enjoys a good discussion of differing viewpoints. However, it might not be the best idea for you to use your corporate Twitter account to discuss controversial issues. You have to keep in mind that your personal views might not entirely mesh with that of your customer base. You wouldn't want them to stop buying your products or services simply because they have a different point of view on something that's in the newspaper.
3. Along the same lines, if you are representing an organization that has to work with multiple levels of government, it's probably best not to get involved in online discussions about politics and endorse specific candidates. At the end of the day, you have to work with whoever is elected. Such antics could leave you with accusations of partisanship, conflict of interest, and (if you hold public office) dealings with an integrity commissioner.
4. Some organizations have multiple people who tweet on their behalf through the corporate website. As long as these people are well versed in what the organization's social media goals are, this could work. However, I have heard of situations where employees have mistakenly logged into the corporate account thinking it's their own and sent out tweets that reflected badly on the company. These mistakes can happen, even to the best of us. How you handle the response to such situations is what can make or break you.

At the very least those who are using social media to build relationships with customers and potential customers need to talk to a public relations professional about key messaging, how online communications fit with ongoing communications and marketing initiatives, and a protocol for dealing with social media gone wrong. At Strategic Communications Solutions PR, we treat this the same way we do our traditional media training sessions - a seminar involving interactive demonstrations, discussion and case studies.

In an ideal world, when we - at Strategic Communications Solutions PR - are working with clients who want to use social media as a communications tool, we include it in the communications plan as a tactic that is used to implement strategies geared towards reaching particular goals. While we've tutored many clients in how to use social media themselves, we also manage a lot of client accounts for them. We are able to do this because if flows easily out of our key messaging sessions where we develop the core information to communicate on behalf of a client. Once we've refined a client's key messages, we can present them from multiple different angles. This serves to keep the messages fresh and also reinforces them at the same time.

Where an individual might be tempted to send/tweet a response immediately, we act as a filter - a kind of 'sober second thought - mitigating the risk of damaging tweets or messages.

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Are you using a social media company for your Twitter & Facebook? You may be opening yourself up to huge headaches...

There's no denying it, social media is having a huge impact on everyone's lives. Twitter and Facebook are setting new records for numbers of users all the time. Companies, politicians and not-for-profits are turning to social media outlets to grow their brands and better communicate with target audiences.

People tweet about their experiences and interactions with global brands. Messages and videos go viral on Facebook and YouTube. It's wise for the business world to both monitor what people are saying about them and respond/interact.

While the medium is new, the concept of communicating on behalf of a company is not. There must be a clear strategy. The organization should be presented in a professional manner with messages that are consistent with other marketing communications activities. In other words, your social media strategy must fit into your wider communications strategy.

If you have a social media company managing your online brand, you may run into problems as their efforts could contradict your overall communications strategy. In fact, things could go drastically wrong. One wrong tweet can undo everything you've been working for years to build. Just think of the example of Damian Goddard, the SportsNet reporter that was fired for tweeting his opinion on same sex marriage. Or a tweet originating from Chrysler's official Twitter account suggesting that people living in Motor City (Detroit) didn't know how to drive. Adding insult to injury, the tweet used an expletive.

When trusting communications on behalf of your brand or organization, it's best to work with communications professionals. Yes, that means even when it comes to social media, you should trust a public relations specialist. Not only will a PR professional make sure that your social media strategy is consistent with all your other marketing and communications activities, they'll ensure that your online presence stays on message.

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It's the simple things

Sometimes it's a good PR move to simply take your laptop and go work at a local cafe. You could run into clients, potential clients, former clients, and reconnect. It's a simple way to get some work done, do some additional networking and visibility building. You never know who you're going to meet.

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Who needs public relations?

Is there a certain size a company needs to be before they can utilize public relations? Is public relations only for established companies? Is public relations just for business? If I'm doing marketing, do I need to do public relations?

These are all good questions. In fact, they're questions that many small and medium size business owners ask themselves.

Let's start by addressing the question of size. This is an instance where size DOESN'T matter. Public relations can benefit an organization of any size. Whether you're a one person company or have a fully staffed office.

If you're in the stages of starting up your business and don't have the budget to hire someone to do your public relations, you can easily manage some basic PR yourself by making contacts with industry media, drafting press releases, getting involved in your community events, etc.

A mid-sized business might consider hiring an agency (perhaps a boutique agency as they tend to be much more affordable) to be their virtual PR department. Such a company might have a point person within their organization to coordinate with the agency.

Whether you're a small or medium sized company, your public relations efforts will build visibility, credibility, and motivate your customer base to interact with you - moving them towards a purchase.

Public relations isn't only for established companies. In fact, it is amazingly successful in helping new companies become noticed, bringing attention to new products, and re-defining brands. Public relations helps to shape the public's opinion/view of your organization, so it can be used by an organization at any stage of it's life cycle. Different strategies can be tailored for each organization's specific goals.

But what if you are your product; you are the brand. Can public relations help you? The answer is yes. Public relations helps people to build visibility for their books, for speaking engagements, establishes them as industry experts, and helps them spread their message.

Speaking of getting the message out, many companies already have marketing departments and wonder if they're doing marketing, should they do any PR. The answer is overwhelmingly YES. Public relations and marketing are two different things. But, they complement eachother well when done together. Public relations raises visibility and awareness of the brand while marketing works to keep the brand, organization or individual in mind. With both marketing and public relations working together, the likelihood of gaining a client or making a sale is dramatically increased.

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