Category: Development

Culture Vultures and the PR Agency Hygiene Factor

Culture Vulture

To begin with, colleagues are the culture and vice versa. It surely all starts with the senior management and how they interact with each other and those below them. It’s also got a lot to do with what being inspired by people around you who possess complimentary talents. The more I work with designers, for example, the more I’m amazed by what they do. It gives me a buzz to see someone do something I never could. I grew up being told to try and be good at everything (why did we have to learn Pythagoras’ theorem?) and not focusing on my strengths. I now believe that once you realise what you’re good at, you should stop everything else and focus on being the best at whatever that is. Continue reading →

Lessons from the PR frontline – what I’ve learnt so far

Lion

With the recent rise in social and digital work, it has been easy to forget the fundamentals of modern PR. As this blog post from social media monitoring tool Sysomos says, some brands don’t lend themselves to being social. But every brand needs PR because they all have a public, be it the traditional kind of mass market or something more niche like a group of investors. Every company is looking to influence/engage (choose which word you prefer; they both mean the same thing) with a group – that’s the fundamental bridge of making business work. It’s why the old phrase ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know’ still rings so true. And it’s why PR is still at the core of every business, whether they call it by that or another name. Here’s a recent example of how a PR disaster can decimate a business almost over night – in this case, social bookmarking service, Delicious. Continue reading →

#markchat Summary: Personal Authenticity vs Professional Brand – Where Do They Meet & Diverge?

Crossroads

This week’s #markchat was all about the blur between personal authenticity and professional brand. How do you ‘keep it real’ online while at the same time not losing professionalism?

I personally tend to steer clear of talking about my personal life online, especially on Twitter, LinkedIn and on blogs like this that are to do with work. This isn’t because I am worried that a client will sack me if they knew I was hungover from too many mojitos last night. It’s more to do with whether people in my overlapping yet different networks would be interested in what I’m saying. For example, I assume most people following me on Twitter do so because I discuss marketing, PR, social media and media in general. They mainly have shared interests to me, in some way, shape or form. This is why I re-tweet stories I find useful about media stuff or ask questions I think have relevance to my community. Continue reading →

#markchat : Personal Authenticity vs Professional Brand – Where Do They Meet & Diverge?

I want you!

We all have perceptions about ourselves that aren’t necessarily what we would want them to be. Think you’re known for being really creative? Maybe you are. Or maybe you’re known for being really resourceful, but lacking the spark that generates relevant ideas.

Either way, how others perceive you is, ultimately, very important when it comes to your business life. Whether you like it or not, your personal brand impacts heavily on your business brand, whatever sector you’re operating in. This is especially true for those of us who operate at least part of the time in the online marketing world.

So, have you ever gone back and re-read your personal tweets, Facebook or LinkedIn updates from the last month? And, if you blog, have you taken a look at what the content of the few months of blog posts has been like? No? I hadn’t either so I thought it wise to take a look and see whether it gave the impression I would want to project.

To use the example of Twitter, I separated my updates into the following categories:

· @’s where I was asking or answering questions to people in my network

· Re-tweets

· Independent updates where I wasn’t asking or answering questions (this consisted mainly of my own, self-absorbed musings)

· Sharing personal links (i.e. those related to Bullet PR or other associations I’m involved with like Social Media Club)

· Sharing other links to sites on the web with which I have no relationship

NB – I excluded #markchat updates as there were so many and I felt this would skew the results Continue reading →

Are location based services the next wave of social media or just hype?

Man Lost

Interesting guest post here on Mashable from Chris Treadway, about the future of location based services.

It raises interesting and salient points around, say, the number of people using LBS only manifesting itself into relatively small groups of people in individual areas.

The article also touches upon an ongoing, but rarely discussed, issue for PR and Social/Digital Media: are we just talking into an echo chamber? Continue reading →

Not mobile optimised? Then you’re not in business

Nielsen

Research giant Nielsen recently released a study that confirmed what we have all probably known for some time: optimising your site for mobiles is the next game-changer for global business. The research features on Australian SME website, Smart Company and highlights several salient points, notably the relevance of Google maps via smartphones. As Matt Bruce, managing director of Nielsen’s online business, says:

“Google is making big plays in mobile, both in terms of maps and mobile search. I think businesses need to pay attention to local business listings, and that type of activity, because people are increasingly using these tools to get around.” Continue reading →

Is it a trend or is it a ‘megatrend’?

trend

In the media we are always speaking about ‘trends’. Twitter was/is a trend; Google Wave is a trend; apps that drive core business revenue also seem to be an increasing trend (just take a look at the Pizza Hut app )…but what’s a ‘megatrend’? Well, according to Adam Kleinberg , CEO of a Traction, a creative agency out in San Fran, it’s something that transforms society as we know it; “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” and all that malarkey. Continue reading →

WordPress 2.6 now released ? Corporate blogging made easier

The much awaited WordPress version 2.6 has just been released and is now running on Bulletpoints!
Here is a brief overview of the new features that are relevant to the public relations practitioner:

  • Post Revisions: Wiki-like tracking of edits
    This is a great feature, especially if you have a multi author blog.
  • Press This!: Post from wherever you are on the web
    With a move to make blogging more and more accessible this feature makes blogging really easy, no excuses now for marketing communicators and mobile warriors!
  • Shift Gears: Turbo-speed your blogging
    This feature utilizes Google Gears, which basically downloads as much of the sites files 7 scripts so that they run locally, this dramatically speeds up load times on pages.
  • Theme Previews: See it before your audience does
    Another great feature for those who are very active in improving and upgrading their blogs, check that new theme without the whole world knowing!

There are also a few smaller features that might come in handy, such as a word count which saves copying and pasting back & forth from word.

For more information visit the official WordPress blog

WordPress Content Managent System (CMS) – Not just a blog

As I get more familiar with WordPress I find myself recommending it for just about any type of website. It’s important to think of WordPress as a highly customisable CMS not just a blogging platform. I have created a simple New Zealand CMS theme that could easily be used for a basic website. To modify the theme you can find all the WordPress template tags here.

Click here to download the WordPress website theme.

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