In the current PRSA newsletter, former Beehive colleague Katharine Mudra published a great article about the evolution of the newsroom (download article/PDF). Her point that PR professionals must be nimble and creative to meet newsroom needs is well taken – the news community is ever faster, more resourceful and publishing in more channels every day.

But as every great PR person knows, there is a fine line between meeting the needs of the media and meeting the needs of your clients. So, navigating the evolving newsroom is only part of the game. Here are three perceptions we can change to help clients minimize fear of the new news climate and demonstrate the value of the changing coverage mix:

Perception: If we aren’t talking about it, nobody will cover it.
Reality: The days of “command and control” communication are long gone. A news tip is only a click away, so the chances are pretty good that SOMEBODY’s talking, even if you aren’t.

However, this is not always a bad thing. By monitoring both traditional and digital media (using either paid tools like Cision, Radian 6 and Nielsen’s Buzz Logic or free tools like Twilert, Google News and Technorati), you can keep an eye on what’s being said about your business or brand, as well as your competitors and any trends or issues that might be of interest. In this case, listening to the conversation can inform your communication strategies – when, where and how to participate to tell your best story and reach your most important audiences.

Perception: If we aren’t in the newspaper or on mainstream TV nobody gets our news. (Or, if we aren’t on Twitter we’ll never reach anybody.)
Reality: We are seeing a shift in the media mix, due to the economy, new tools and the changing needs of consumers. The honest truth is that there is great value in both traditional and digital media coverage. Abandoning one for the other is rarely the right choice. Looking at your audience, your goals and how you will measure success should inform your communication strategy and give you a foundation to demonstrate how PR, marketing, sponsorships and advertising are working together to meet business goals.

Perception: You can’t measure PR, especially not social media.
Reality: Yes, you can and should be measuring PR and social media. If you are clear at the outset about what you want to achieve you should be able to measure both the effort (how many placements, where, were key messages delivered, was branding included, what was the ad value, etc.) and the result (was there a sales spike, were there more visits to the Web site, what percentage of promotions were redeemed). The key is to set goals and establish measurement criteria early and integrate agency and corporate resources to arrive at the big picture.

The bottom line is that even though the newsroom and the media mix are changing, there is still a powerful opportunity to tell your story, when and where it matters most.

Nicki Gibbs
Group Director

Social Networks Moving Up the Ladder

A March 2009 study from Nielsen on social networks boasted some sweeping, but perhaps not surprising, numbers. Let’s take a look:

• Social networks/blogs now fourth most popular online category – ahead of personal e-mail
• Social networks account for one in every 11 minutes online
• Orkut in Brazil has the largest domestic online reach (70%) of any social network anywhere in the world
• Facebook has the highest average time per visitor amongst the 75 most popular brands online worldwide

This Nielsen study could provide a week’s worth of Waxings, but I’m going to focus on one interesting stat:

• Social network and blogging sites are now the fourth most popular activity on the Internet – ahead of personal e-mail

(In case you’re wondering what’s ahead of social networking and e-mail? Search. General interest portals and communities. Software manufacturers.)

These figures and changes continue to have a profound impact on publishers and marketers alike. AdWeek sums up the research under the appropriate heading: “As online paradigm shifts, advertisers must find a way to add value, rather than follow the ‘push’ model.” Copy that.

What’s interesting, however, is that here we have information showing social nets as more popular than e-mail, yet many of the social networks, microblogs and other services rely on it (e.g., you need an e-mail address to sign up for Facebook; Twitter sends you e-mail notification if you have a new follower, etc.). So while more time may be spent in other online categories, many would argue that e-mail is still the foundation for all electronic communication. And perhaps that’s why some social networks are toying with having their own branded e-mail.

Inbox Insanity

I found this study of particular interest in light of a recent e-mail marketing presentation in Minneapolis (thank you, MIMA). Jeff Rohrs, VP of marketing for Exact Target, described what has become a time of inbox insanity. Think about the many “inboxes” you have – home e-mail, work e-mail, cell voicemail, work voicemail, text message, IM, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, RSS reader and [insert your network here]. Oh, and don’t forget about your postal mail box.

Many of these inboxes will likely continue to grow as online activity continues to rise (especially across demographics) – and we’ll continue to need to check those feeds and inboxes and respond to the content that is in them (the relevant content that is).

The Social Inbox

Is it sustainable? According to Jeff, no. Time is too much of a commodity. And so we’re starting to see consolidation more and more – this time in the form of a social inbox.

While many desktop applications like AlertThingy and plug-ins like Xobni have helped provide much-appreciated aggregation and consolidation for social networking activity, none have proven to be the true “catch-all” for online social activity. So e-mail providers are hoping to bring that to users via “the social inbox.” A place to house and provide one-click access to your e-mail, search, RSS, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, SMS, Wordpress and more. A more useful place, with more time-efficient ways of interacting with contacts online.

Yahoo has a beta site for its social inbox. From Ars Technica…

• the new Yahoo Mail is positioned as a dashboard for one’s increasingly diverse digital life
• these changes turn Yahoo Mail into a dashboard for watching contact activity at social sites

Microsoft is making strides with Windows Live and Gmail is working on it too. Bebo launched its’ social inbox in late 2008, integrating content and helping to efficiently keep track of friends’ activities/posts. Oh, and there’s the iPhone.

The iPhone: social media and network consolidation – photo from iLounge

What This Means for the Communications/Marketing Industry

So let’s get to the heart of this – what does this all mean for communication, PR and marketing pros using e-mail marketing to reach and connect with customers? Here are some key takeaways from what Jeff shared at the e-mail marketing event:

• The social inbox gives consumers more control and marketers less control.
• So, relevancy will be key; otherwise, you’re a spammer.
• E-mail marketing still plays a role. There’s the potential for terrific ROI, measurement and reach. There’s also research – companies can take the opportunity to learn from their customers.
• In a down economy, more retailers and brands will resort to e-mail marketing because it’s inexpensive and can hit a large population/demographic.
• But, to see real results and cut through the clutter, marketers must focus on: 1) customer personalization and permission AND 2) really relevant and resourceful content.
• Yes, e-mail marketing should be driven by the demands of consumer segments. Subscribers rule.
• “Batch and blast” is a thing of the past.
• Communication, content, frequency and channel delivery should be determined by customer preference and permission – based on strong data.
• Again, precision marketing and customization is key – use data and behavioral info to craft messages of relevance to specific customers.
• Customers need to be able to opt-in to e-mail relationships – so create touchpoints and opportunities allowing them to do so.

This shift is yet another reminder that to be effective today, authenticity, adding value, two-way communication and relationship building must drive marketing and PR efforts at every step.

Katharine Mudra

Account Supervisor

The Minnesota PRSA Annual conference last week went very well. To summarize:

• Peter Shankman – the founder of Help A Reporter Out – keynoted, sharing great examples of how companies and brands should be involved in social media and Twitter. (Speaking of which, here are some good examples.) Check out an impromptu interview with Peter from the event (video courtesy of Arik Hanson). For companies/brands not sure where to start with Twitter, listening is a great place to start. See what customers are saying and learn from them. Peter’s key takeaways for today’s businesses: transparency, relevancy and brevity.

• Paula Prahl from Best Buy also presented in the morning, emphasizing the importance of companies “knowing thyself,” staying grounded, (really) understanding your audiences and being real and patient. I enjoyed the section on being accountable to employees and earning your reputation.

• Beehive CEO Lisa Hannum was part of the agency panel and discussed how to help organizations understand and explore the changing media world. Panel consensus: companies need to be engaged because the marketplace expects involvement in new media. However, it can’t happen just because the tools/technologies are available – social media and communication strategies must tie to business objectives and resources. Also, patience is required to launch and sustain the effort, and ROE (return on engagement) considerations must be in place.

• On the media panel, representatives from MinnPost, WCCO-TV and Star Tribune talked about the changing traditional media landscape (including the shrinking newsrooms we’re unfortunately hearing about locally) and the growing importance for communicators to share information with reporters that is clear, readily available and relevant.

• The media/journalism panelists also discussed how Twitter is providing their news followers another way to stay connected, and how reporters are using the service to get feedback from audiences on ways to pursue stories. As communicators and media contacts for many of our clients at Beehive, we’re excited to hear from journalists as they develop their stories and share their experiences and preferences.

Several folks were twittering from the event. Search #mnprsa or check out @minnesotaprsa or Beehive’s Twitter account (it’s new!) – @beehivepr – to track some of the conversations. You can also check out the MN PR Blog or the Minnesota PRSA Web site for more information/visuals.

And that’s a wrap!

Katharine Mudra
Account Supervisor

Hello from Motor City. Ayme Zemke and I are participating in the annual PRSA International Conference. We’re each spending our Saturday in different all-day seminars. Ayme is digging in on the latest in measurement strategies. And I’m deep diving into the most promising new media channels for businesses. Both are critical considerations for our clients’ businesses and our own brand.

Eric Schwartzman, founder and chairman of iPressroom and managing director of Schwartzman & Associates, is leading the new media workshop. He’s a recovering PR agency guy who’s been focused on new media for a decade. He’s pragmatic, honest and humorously cynical. The 50 people in the room – not so much. My industry peers — for the most part — are professionally overwhelmed and afraid. And each is likely a reflection of his or her organization.

Navigating these new media channels can be like trying to read a road sign in Ireland — 26 arrows pointing in every direction in multiple languages. Who knows which way to go? It feels risky. It can’t be controlled. How do you measure it? There is just too much to follow, learn and understand. 

Wikis, Google, YouTube, flickr, twitter, blogs, facebook, delicious, LinkedIn, RSS, podcasts, slideshare and more. The list is growing all the time. These services, applications and tools are generally free and easy to use. And they’re being used every hour of every day to share information about your brand, whether or not your organization approves.    

And there is also a lot of discussion in the room about who owns new media channels — the Web in general — inside their organizations. The corporate communications department? Marketing? IT? Brand? The turf battles are fierce, and thinking runs the gamut from “not my job” to “only IT can put information on our company’s Web site.”

So what’s an organization to do? Schwartzman’s advice is refreshingly simple. He recommends focusing on the channels that are most used by your target audiences. In this order, that’s: 1. your organization’s Web site; 2. e-mail. 3. search. And everything else after that. Schwartzman cautions: “the biggest mistake organizations make is putting the [new media] tools before the organization’s objectives.”

Research shows that an organization’s Web site is still the single most credible source of online information. (In fact, according to the 2008 PR Week Media Survey, eighty-nine percent of media gather information about a company through its Web site. And nearly sixty-five percent of media consider the company Web site “extremely” or “very” important when researching a story.) 

The Web site navigation has to be simple, and the content has to be compelling, interesting, brief and clear. Schwartzman notes, “there is no algorithm for humor, wit and irony online.” The Web site content, as well as the news and information you’re pushing to the marketplace, has to be relevant — use keywords your audiences use. Doing so helps readers digest content and also improves search engine optimization (SEO). Example: What would you search … “cheap airfare” or “low-fare leader?” You get the idea. As for e-mail? Nearly everyone uses it, and many people have multiple accounts. So use it to reach your target audience, but be sure it’s valuable, personalized and includes robust links to something the recipient will value.

New media channels are the present and the future of communicating and marketing everything. Think of the Web as the wheel, and emerging new media channels as the spokes. You need both to move your brand.

Lisa Hannum

CEO

Kids born today will possibly not know what it’s like to be lost, learn how to read a map or even ask for directions, thanks to advancing and ever-present GPS technology. This same technology-savvy generation also will be faced with distinguishing the difference between paid product placement, product integration and the “old fashioned” commercial.“For younger kids, it’s not even clear what the distinction is between ads and regular programming,” says Robert Weissman, director of a watchdog group called Commercial Alert. Since the 1980s when product placement became commonplace, consumers and audiences have, for the most part, had the luxury of identifying and determining the products being marketed to them through commercials and blatant product placement.

Now, with the popularity of Tivo and DVRs allowing viewers to skip through commercials, the lines are becoming blurred as consumer product companies are increasing their spending (up 13 percent in 2007) on product placement and integration. The “you can run, but you can’t hide” theory is becoming a battle cry in c-suites of Fortune 500 companies. American Idol is the king of product integration with 4,349 placements during its’ 2007 season. Can you guess which brand? If you guessed Coca-Cola you are correct, and it’s exactly what the folks in Atlanta were determined to do – have the consumer associate their brand and product with TV’s most popular and “coolest” show. This is not product placement, it’s product integration.With product integration becoming more prevalent and better “hidden,” it begs the question of whether or not disclaimers are needed every time we see a product placement on television. It’s possible, but how do you run a disclaimer during live television – like an interview with a NASCAR driver after he gets out of the car and just happens to be thirsty for a Mountain Dew while on camera?

Is it okay for the next generation to not know when they are being marketed to? I can’t see constant disclaimers being the appropriate fix (unless we’d like to see a permanent scroll while watching American Idol), but in this age of political correctness and full disclosure, we can expect to see some significant changes in how our children’s nightly viewing experience is presented to them, the consumer.

Matt Hansen
Account Supervisor

As I sat in a boat on Leech Lake, bundled in five layers of clothes, rain gear and mittens, I wondered if the Minnesota DNR, or the state legislature, ever seriously entertained the idea of pushing back the fishing opener in an attempt to appeal to casual fishermen not keen on dodging icebergs and snow flakes during the annual fishing opener. One would think if we were actually fishing in open water with temperatures above freezing it would help the resort owners, bait shops and the rest of the state that relies on tourism and others’ enjoyment of the outdoors.

For years the DNR has been trying to encourage Minnesotans and out-of-state visitors to hit the lakes and cast a line with hopes of boosting the number of people buying a license and enjoying the outdoors. They’ve tried direct mailings, advertising campaigns and electronic countdown clocks until the opener. But I don’t think a flashing neon countdown clock is going to convince me, or the dad looking to take his son fishing, to head up north for the opener and brave the snow, 20 degree temperatures and partially frozen lakes to catch Mr. Walleye.

As a result of this year’s weather, newscasts leading up to the fishing opener reported on the ice still covering northern Minnesota lakes while resort owners reported cancellations – not great PR for the in-state friends of the outdoors, and definitely not a warm invitation for the out-of-state to folks. So, why not move the opener back a week or two and build off the current PR (and advertising) campaign around it? While there are no guarantees the weather will be better a couple of weeks later, at least there’s a better chance. Plus, the fish are a week bigger, right? It would give the DNR and the state a good reason to get people truly excited about being outdoors and disconnecting from their busy lives, which is partially blamed for the decline in fishing.

Of course, there are no guarantees the later date would boost the sale of fishing licenses, but neither is a countdown clock to icebergs and the possibility of shoveling snow out of your boat.

Matt Hansen
Account Supervisor

Several years ago when blogs began to hit the media scene more than ever before, it was common in the PR and media industries to discuss the role of “the journalist” and “the blogger.” I recall heated discussions where industry professionals – including Web developers, PR counselors and journalists – debated whether a blogger could in fact be called a journalist. Each side stood their ground stating reasons of timeliness, credibility, reputation, ethics, objectivity and more.

Clearly, there was more black and white than the gray we see now.

It’s been quite fascinating in just a few short years to see the lines between journalism and blogging fade away. Traditional journalists are less defending themselves and the stature that comes with traditional reporting and more often joining the ranks of the millions of bloggers and citizen journalists – whether for personal or professional reasons.

As media organizations stay competitive with – dare I say – alternative media, we’re seeing more and more journalists turn bloggers as publishers encourage staffers to use the medium to attract, keep and engage readers from all walks of life. It’s becoming a required reporter responsibility. The guard has come down and the definition of a journalist is blurrier than ever before.

The 2008 PR Week / PRNewswire Media Survey brings this state of transition to light further. In fact, when reporters were asked if they contribute to other mediums outside of their “official duty,” 55.8 percent responded yes. And when asked what has affected their jobs the most over the past few years, 38.2 percent answered that they are expected to contribute more to their title’s online version.

Those stats offer an upside to brands looking to tell a story in more than one channel. Dave Armon, COO of PR Newswire, explains the new opportunities:

“[The survey shows] that reporters [are] obviously writing a lot more for online, as well as for the traditional outlets. For a PR person, it [is] very encouraging; the possible hole [for reporters] to fill is much larger now. So story ideas that don’t make it into the [print] publication have a home not only on the online site, but possibly also on the reporter’s own blog. And that just makes for a much more vibrant 24-hour news environment for anyone in media relations.”

Because of the fundamental changes in news reporting – thanks to a swiftly-moving Internet and adoption of new applications, as communicators we too have had to reinvent ourselves and our work much more often than in decades past.

Let’s use the Target media policy shift as a local corporate example – it restructured its communications department earlier this year to increase the number of spokespeople available to the nontraditional media, including trade publications and blogs.

This move was more a reactive than proactive response to the changing media industry. Nonetheless, it reminds companies how close bloggers and journalists can be to one another in both their job responsibilities and their mutual ability to make a positive or negative impression on audiences. It’s also a reminder for why companies should be focused on more than one media segment.

So while roles have increasingly merged and the MSM (mainstream media) vs. blog debate has tired, it’s been exciting for agencies and companies alike that are offered increased opportunities to find the right channel – blog, newspaper or both – to share a good story.

Katharine (Kaboord) Mudra
Account Manager